Uprooted Palestinians are at the heart of the conflict in the M.E Palestinians uprooted by force of arms. Yet faced immense difficulties have survived, kept alive their history and culture, passed keys of family homes in occupied Palestine from one generation to the next.
"...The Muslim Brotherhood ran the conference in Antalia and the statement that spoke about the "civil state" is not going to fool me because US representatives in Antalia (yes they were there) pressed for an inclusive statement. This is exactly what US tried to do in conferences by Iraqi exile opposition before the Ayatullah Sistani republic was set up in Iraq. One should not make his/her opposition to a particular regime (Arab or Iranian) a blanket endorsement for the dominant opposition movement. Instead, we should be criticizing those opposition movements that try to hijack a popular uprising. The branches of the Muslim Brotherhood are all bad: but the Syrian branch is one of the worst, by far. It is the most opportunist of them all."
RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Dirar Abu Sissi, 49, the Gaza power plant director who was abducted by Israeli Mossad agents in the Ukraine earlier this year, has demanded his release from solitary confinement and medical attention.
Abu Sissi has been jailed at the Eshel prison in Beer Sheva after his mysterious disappearance.
He told the lawyer of the Gaza prisoner affairs ministry during a visit that he was brutally tortured and maltreated by investigators in Petah Tikva and Ashkelon and that they also threatened to kill his wife and family.
Seeking residency in his wife's native country the Ukraine, Abu Sissi was abducted by men wearing civilian and military clothing while he was boarding a train in the capital, and they informed him that he was being arrested by the Israeli Mossad.
He said he was detained for six hours and then transferred to Israel where he was held for twenty days of questioning. Then he was taken to Ashkelon prison where he was tied and tortured and deprived of sleep.
Abu Sissi has held that the charges held against him are illegitimate.
Moreover, the Gaza resident has developed a conditions in the heart, bladder, and kidney as well as in the stomach, low blood pressure and pain in the left eye.
A couple of weeks ago, Americans were treated to a remarkably clear demonstration of the power of the Israel lobby in the United States. First, Barack Obama gave a speech on Middle East policy at the State Department, which tried to position America as a supporter of the Arab spring and reiterated his belief that a two-state solution is the best way to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The next day, he met with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who rejected several of Obama's assertions and lectured him about what "Israel expects" from its great power patron. Then Obama felt it was smart politics to go to AIPAC and clarify his remarks. It was a pretty good speech, but Obama didn't offer any ideas for how his vision of Middle East peace might be realized and he certainly never suggested that -- horrors! -- the United States might use its considerable leverage to push both sides to an agreement. And then Netanyahu received a hero's welcome up on Capitol Hill, getting twenty-nine standing ovations for a defiant speech that made it clear that the only "two-state" solution he's willing to contemplate is one where the Palestinians live in disconnected Bantustans under near-total Israeli control.
Not surprisingly, this display of the lobby's influence made plenty of people uncomfortable, and some of them -- such as M.J. Rosenberg at Media Matters offered up some personal tales of their own run-ins with Israel's hardline backers. In response to Rosenberg's sally (and the hoopla surrounding the Netanyahu visit), Jonathan Chait of The New Republic has fallen back on a familiar line of defense. After conceding that there is a lobby and that it does have a lot of influence, he argued that "the most important basis of American support for Israel is not the lobby but the public's overwhelming sympathy for Israel." In other words, AIPAC et al don't really matter that much, and all those standing ovations on Capitol Hill were really just a genuine reflection of public opinion. He also said that John Mearsheimer and I believe the lobby exerts "total control" over U.S. foreign policy, and that we claim groups in the lobby were solely responsible for the invasion of Iraq.
To deal with the last claim first, this straw-man depiction of our argument merely confirms once again that Chait has not in fact read our book. I don't find that surprising, because a careful reading of the book would reveal to him that we weren't anti-Israel or anti-Semitic, had made none of the claims he accuses us of, and had in fact amassed considerable evidence to support the far more nuanced arguments that we did advance. And then he'd have to ponder the fact that virtually everything The New Republic has ever published about us was bogus. So I can easily see why he prefers to repeat the same falsehoods and leave it at that.
But what of his more basic claim that the "special relationship" between the United States and Israel is really a reflection of "the public's overwhelming sympathy?" There are at least three big problems with this assertion.
First, even if it were true that the public had "overwhelming sympathy" for Israel, it does not immediately follow that United States policywould necessarily follow suit. U.S. officials frequently do things that a majority of Americans oppose, if they believe that doing so is in the U.S. interest. A majority of Americans oppose fighting on in Afghanistan, for example, yet the Obama administration chose to escalate that war instead. Similarly, numerous polls show that the American people favor the "public option" in health care, but that's not exactly the policy that health care reform produced. Public opinion is an important factor, of course, but what public officials decide to do almost always reflects a more complex weighting of political factors (including the intensity of public preferences, broader strategic considerations, the weight of organized interests, etc.)
Second, to the extent that the American public does have a favorable image of Israel -- and there's no question that it does -- that is at least partly due to the lobby's own efforts to shape public discourse and stifle negative commentary. The lobby doesn't "control the media," but "pro-Israel" groups like the ADL and CAMERA work actively to influence how Israel is portrayed in the United States, aided by reliably supportive publications like The New Republic. (As its former editor-in-chief Marty Peretz once admitted, "there's a sort of party line on Israel" at the journal). That's their privilege, of course, but groups and individuals in the lobby have also tried to silence or smear virtually any one who criticizes the "special relationship," and all-too-often those efforts succeed (if perhaps less frequently than they used to). If Americans were exposed to a more open discourse -- such as the discourse that prevails in Europe or in Israel itself -- Israel's favorable image would almost certainly decrease (though by no means disappear).
Third, and most important, the evidence suggests that the American people are not in favor of a one-sided "special relationship" where Israel gets unconditional American backing no matter what it does. Although there is no question that Americans have a generally favorable image of Israel and want the United States to help it survive and prosper, they are not demanding that U.S. politicians back it to the hilt or show the kind of craven adulation that Congress displayed last week.
For starters, many Americans recognize that one-sided support for Israel is a problem for the United States, and that figure is even higher among "opinion leaders." A Pew survey in November 2005 found that 39 percent of Americans saw the special relationship as a "major source of global discontent," and 78 percent of the news media, 72 percent of military leaders and 69 percent of foreign affairs specialists believed that backing Israel seriously damages America's image around the world. A 2003 survey by the University of Maryland reported that over 60 percent of Americans would be willing to withhold aid to Israel if it resisted pressure to settle the conflict with the Palestinians, and 73 percent said the United States should not favor either side. In fact, a survey conducted by the Anti-Defamation League in 2005 found that 78 percent of Americans believed that Washington should favor neither Israel nor the Palestinians. A 2010 survey by the Brookings Institution found similar results: although 25 percent of Americans thought the United States should "lean toward Israel" in its efforts to resolve the conflict, a healthy 67 percent believed the United States should "lean toward neither side."
Needless to say, such figures are hard to square with the robotic enthusiasm displayed by Congress, or with the Obama administration's timid approach to entire problem. But the behavior of both the executive and legislative branches are entirely consistent with the normal workings of interest group politics in the United States. In a democracy where freedom of association and speech are guaranteed, and where elections are expensive to run and where campaign contributions are weakly regulated, even relatively small groups can exercise considerable influence if they are strongly committed to a particular issue and the rest of the population does not care that much.
Whether the issue is farm subsidies or foreign policy, in short, special interest groups often wield disproportionate political power. Because countervailing forces are much weaker (as is the case when it comes to Middle East policy), groups like AIPAC and others have the field to themselves. Consider that in the 2010 election, "pro-Israel" PACs gave about $3 million to candidates from both parties. By comparison, Arab-American PACs gave less than $50,000. You can buy a lot of applause when the balance is stacked that way.
When you combine these facts with the sometimes thuggish tactics used against people who don't subscribe to the party line on this issue, you have a situation where politicians and appointed officials will bend over backwards to support the special relationship (or just remain silent), even when they know it's not good for the United States or Israel and when most Americans (including plenty of American Jews) would support a more normal relationship. In short, a relationship that would be healthier for the United States and Israel alike.
And the saddest part, as I've noted repeatedly, is that some people who care deeply about Israel and who see themselves as loyal defenders are the ones who are enabling its own self-defeating intransigence and threatening its future. Chait is a smart and well-informed guy, and his views on many subjects are thoughtful and nuanced. Which makes his failure to face the facts on this issue all the more surprising ... and regrettable.
IOA disallows lawyers visits to Palestinian detainees
[ 07/06/2011 - 10:23 AM ]
NABLUS, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) blocked lawyers from visiting their Palestinian clients at the pretext of Jewish holidays, one of the lawyers said on Tuesday.
Ahmed Al-Tobasi, a lawyer for the Tadamun foundation for human rights, said that the Israeli administration of the Hawara detention center denied him access at the pretext that it was a Jewish holiday.
Tobasi said that the IOA blocks visits for detainees at the pretext of Jewish festivities while allowing its occupation forces to sweep various West Bank areas and arrest more detainees on the same occasion.
The ban was imposed only hours after the Israeli occupation forces rounded up Hamas MP Ahmed al-Haj and university lecturer Mustafa Al-Shinar and took them to the Hawara center.
NABLUS, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) raided the home of an elderly Hamas MP in the eastern suburb of Nablus city and detained him after blasting their way into his home.
The daughter of MP Ahmed Al-Haj, 72, told the PIC reporter, that the soldiers broke their apartment’s door in a pre dawn raid on Tuesday after encircling the building and took away her father.
She held the IOF responsible for the life of her father, who was previously held by the Israeli occupation authority on ten past occasions the latest in 2008 when he was held in administrative custody, without charge, for 15 months.
The occupation troops also arrested Hamas leader and university lecturer Dr. Mustafa Al-Shinar from his home west of Nablus city at the same time.
Shinar was frequently arrested by the IOF and was released from administrative detention in late 2009.
He wrote on his facebook page last night that reconciliation would not progress as long as political arrests continued in the West Bank. Shinar was kidnapped three times by the PA security, which negatively affected his health condition. He underwent cardiac catheterization.
In the same context, the website of Hebrew daily Yediot Ahronot said that IOF soldiers rounded up 13 Palestinians in the West Bank on Tuesday.
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Palestinian government in Gaza has called on Egypt to reinstate measures to ease movement on the Rafah border crossing.
The call comes as the crossing has been closed for the third consecutive day.
“We call on [our] brothers in the Egyptian leadership, headed by the Supreme Council and the Egyptian government and the general intelligence service and the military and foreign intelligence, and all good parties to restore easing travel restrictions [at the Rafah border crossing],” said Hassan Abu Hashish, the media bureau director in the Gaza government, during a press conference on Monday.
Abu Hashish highlighted that the Gaza Strip is “an integral part of Palestine identified by its historical and geographical borders”. He assured the “firm position” that the government in Gaza does not wish to exempt Israel of its responsibilities towards the Strip as an occupying force through Gaza's interaction with Egypt.
“We in the Palestinian government are highly confident in all levels of the Egyptian leadership, and we are waiting for a wise decision from Egypt to restore the crossing's function according to the eased travel restrictions declared by them,” Abu Hashish said.
The official also made it a focus that more than ten thousand Gazans are registered to travel with the interior ministry as the summer and pilgrimage to Makkah approach.
Egypt has reneged on a transit agreement with the Gaza Strip curbing business in the Gaza Strip for the last few days.
The press release ahead of the “Tahrir Square to Jerusalem” event in Logan Hall London promised to be an “imaginative production that will transport us from Tahrir Square through Jenin and to the heart of the new Jasmine Revolution sweeping the Arab world”.
Razanne Carmey the artistic director and Mohamed Masharqa the producer certainly kept their promise. It was indeed an incredible evening, and probably the biggest Palestinian cultural event since the 2005 Deir Yassin Annual commemoration event. Once again we saw a room entirely full with an enthusiastic, dynamic crowd, supporting a stage that was exploding with Palestinian talent.
The night was a commemoration for the great Juliano Mer Khamis, and a celebration of the power of cultural resistance. In the spirit of the ongoing regional Intifada in the Middle East, we saw hundreds of highly motivated Palestinians and other members of the Arab community rising together, believing in themselves and their cause.
The talent on stage was incredible: we enjoyed moving performances from Aymen Safieh, an incredible Palestinian modern ballet dancer, Al Zaytouna, enthusiastic Debka group, fabulous Nizar Al Issa and the outstanding Amal Murkus and her world class band, all of whom lit up the evening.
But, there were also a few issues of concern that should be raised: the truth of the matter is that, prior to the evening’s entertainment, I had been quite worried about the potential success of the show, because, generally speaking, tickets sales are very slow in Britain at the moment. But, I also knew that the PSC and CAABU (both production partners) hadn’t managed to sell many tickets in the run up to the show.
Eventually though, it was clear to me that there had been no real reason to worry: the Arab community got it right, and Logan Hall turned out to be very busy on the night.
And yet, I still want to express some concern: even though the event was strongly supported by the diverse Arab communities, how is it that out of more than 3000 PSC members, not that many UK people came out to support the event and to support these expressions of Palestinian culture? This is a serious question and it better be addressed by people who claim to support Palestine and Palestinians.
In Logan Hall, I met an old friend of mine, a much respected PSC activist and a very insightful woman. We both knew the truth: the Arab community had supported the event -- but the English and the Jewish activists were just not there. I asked my friend, how is it that all those Jewish fiery enthusiast activists who join every BDS call to boo Israeli artists off stage -- had failed to support the crème of Palestinian culture and artists? I do understand the reasoning behind Israeli boycott activity, and yet, isn’t it equally important to support Palestinian artists?
My friend’s answer was simple: “They may call themselves Palestinian Solidarity campaigners -- but in reality, they are largely interested in Jewish anti Israeli solidarity,” she said.
The $1,202,614,324,202 dollar cost to date and counting, for the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan is the low estimate, or rather the literal cost. This does not include the cost of borrowing that money, or the cost of 5 or 6 decades of medical care and disability pensions for several hundred thousand American soldiers.
These figures don’t include the health and education services and other social programs which were robbed to pay for the war, which will probably never be funded again. And most important, the direct costs and the opportunity costs to the Iraqi people and their economy, including the lost income and pain and suffering of more than a million dead and many million Iraqis turned into refugees in an illegal assault on their nation.
Suddenly, life in the U.S.A. doesn’t seem so stable anymore, if you believe half of what you read in the press and there is no reason not to.
Unemployment is as high or higher than it has ever been, and this is reflected in statistics of which enumerating procedure is ever-changing in order to minimize the impression and impact. Those hundreds of thousands of healthy, trained, capable and willing “workers” who are unemployed and looking for work, taking anything they can to earn enough to put something on the table, are probably even greater than they were during The Great Depression in 1929.
The “real” numbers of unemployed, have always been manipulated to hide the hard truths because it is simply impolitic to let the people know how badly off they actually are. It is one thing to worry about not having enough to feed, clothe and house the kids, it is another thing to know that it is endemic, and that there is little hope that things will improve at any time in the foreseeable future.
American Industry, one of the most powerful in the world a hundred years ago, has,with the support of years of American government policy, exported overseas almost all of America’s jobs in the search for ever more profitability at any costs to anyone but the American Corporate elites and the career Government oligarchy who manage the system.
Think of the $25 billion that the US automakers would like to borrow, and have been denied by Congress. That same Congress has agreed to pay that much money, every month for more than 100 months, for the illegal war in Iraq. US automakers lack the chutzpah to ask Congress, which better serves US interests and National Security?
Most Americans have been equally victimized by the Bank and Stock Market manipulators, actually very same people, who seeing the profitable housing mortgage business evaporate along with the loss of employment and subsequent inability of their clients to buy even bigger and more expensive homes in order to keep up with the Joneses and “The American Dream,” reengineered the Housing Mortgage Industry in such a deceitful and illegal manner that it not only preserved their already immense profits, but raised them to heretofore unseemly and unimaginably obscene levels!
All at the cost, of course of not only the default of the mortgages and loss of the homes of thousands of people, but also the loss and bankruptcy of millions of worldwide investors in their Ponzi styled Mortgage and derivatives schemes. It looks to me as if the entire “disaster” was a scam set up to take the American depositor, and someone has stolen, not only his homes, but his savings, and his investments.
Under the “new” hate laws, it will be “anti-Semitic” and unlawful to call Bernie Madoff a “thief” or a “crook.” but not unlawful to refer to Muslims collectively as “islamo-fascist terrorists” and Christians who profess that Jesus was actually crucified as “anti-Semitic Jew–baiters.” Read Americans Divided By Hate Crimes Bill.Just how ridiculous can US Law become? “The meat of the hate crimes bill is a $10 million grant for the establishment of a federally funded surveillance center” says Karin.
Guess who will receive all of this money, and be placed in charge…
You got it! Who is in charge of everything else in America?
It is incredible that the one thing that Democrats and Republicans can unite on in Congress is, blind allegiance to the Israel Lobby AIPAC (American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee).
Oh, how I love to quote Israel Shamir who correctly advocates: Hang ‘Em High! Just look at the titans of Wall Street, AIG (Mr. Alan Greenberg), Bernie Madoff, the junk Bond King Michael Milkin, Ivan Boesky. “They were proud that the financial charts of the United States and of the world were drawn up in a small room by Henry Paulson of the Treasury, Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan of the Federal Reserve, by Maurice Greenberg of AIG. They built their world surrounded by Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Marc Rich, Michael Milken, Andrew Fastow, George Soros, et al.
Their exciting new world of Lexus and Nexus was glorified by Tom Friedman of the New York Times. They gave the Nobel prize in Economics to Myron Scholes and Robert C. Merton, proud board of directors of the now infamous Long Term Capital Management hedge fund that was bailed out by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to the tune of $ 3.6 billion. President Bush rewarded them for their unaccountability by releasing them from the burden of taxation.”
I believe Barnum completely understated the situation when he remarked that “…there is a fool born every minute, and two to take him.”
The fools are lining up more frequently, and the lines to take them are even longer.
Not a single banker, CEO, Chairman or major investor of any of the banks which have taken such disastrous hits in this economic “crisis” will move into the “poor house,” or be consigned to Debtor’s Prison. Go figure!
The Taxpayer in the meanwhile, as a diversion from their personal problems while sitting amongst their displaced possessions at the curbs in front of their former homes, worrying about how and what to feed the children, they are being warned of dire and threatening “terrorists” movements who are forever preparing to blow up what little they have left, invade what is left of their country, and destroy the remnants of “The Dream.”
As if they did not have enough problems with housing, work, and those terrorists who envy their high, rich and advanced American Lifestyle, they are at this moment being warned of the threat of Irans’ nuclear program or ambitions, and the devastating effects they will have on the lives, freedoms and lifestyles of each of them, wherever they live in the world!
This threat, of course, provides about the only remaining opportunity for the young, fit, healthy and able young American, to find some means of providing for the fiscal security of the family, to wit, Military Service, in which they are offered fiscal security in exchange for physical risk to their personal survival and well being. Oh well, don’t fret, because you will be told: “But there is another issue here…and that is these people were not drafted. They volunteered…and should have known what they were getting themselves into. Sure, the recruiters focus on the educational and free health care benefits…but when they sign their name on the dotted line they are buying a lotto ticket for death, injury of PTSD.”
Sure. Soldiers march off and go to war for many reasons… illusions for the most part, few of which last very long after they arrive in the field. After that, they fight for one or two simple things, to stay alive, and to keep as many of their comrades and other unfortunates-in-arms alive as they possibly can.
I know of Veterans Today in their 6th and 7th decade, who were twenty-year olds when recruited and who have taken a pretty bad beating, physically and emotionally, from the experience. It is men like them who are paying for what America has done, and become today, and who those who sit on their fat asses and holiday in nice places like Hawaii should give thanks, while these men struggle to stay sane, feed their cats and stay alive!
There will be many more of them coming down American streets. They are making them by the thousands, every day.
You are “wounded” only if a piece of foreign military metal tears your flesh and you bleed. To many, that would be the simplest kind of wound. The others are not considered wounded, get no pretty blue ribbons with enameled hearts dangle, treatment, or disability pension with which to feed themselves and their offspring.
Those who survive, sane and in one piece, will survive! Those who do not will be presented with a small medal, a wheelchair and a prosthesis… or a flag, the flowers, the eulogy of heroism, and the small plot of land are free!
Yes, indeed. The American taxpayers are being raked over the fake war coals again and again and are being victimized by those who manage the system more so every day.
It would appear that the American Dream and the Great American Economy were both built on one gigantic and unstable fault line. And the core is trembling! Read more by Debbie Menon
Former Minister Karim Pakradouni to Al-Manar Website: Syrian Regime Won’t Fall… But Things Will Take Some Time
Golan Incidents Bore Syrian - Palestinian Message Targeting Syrian Stability Means Pushing Region into Wars Some People Seek to Weaken Miqati so that Hariri Returns Cabinet Crisis to Continue Until Matters Are Seriously Handled Berri’s Step Responsible as We Must Protect Our Economy!
The former head of Lebanon’s Phalange party, former minister Karim Pakradouni, said that Naksa Day events in the Golan heights June 5, bore two messages: a Palestinian one reflecting the Palestinians’ despair of the negotiations’ choice and a Syrian message stating that targeting Syria’s stability is tantamount to threatening the stability of the whole region, and therefore, pressuring Syria could turn into a regional war.
In an exclusive interview with Al-Manar Website, Pakradouni said he was confident the current Syrian regime would resist all forms of pressure. But he expressed belief that what’s happening was organized and prepared, and therefore, would take some time. “The regime will not fall. However, settling issues would take some time,” he noted.
Locally, Pakradouni stressed the need to hold a meeting between the leadership of the March 8 bloc and Prime Minister-Designate Najib Miqati. He said that the current style of “indirect” meetings was not suitable and that the imminent future would reveal how the head of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc MP Michel Aoun was not the reason behind the delay in the cabinet formation process. He spoke of external pressure and stressed some politicians were seeking to weaken the premier-designate to pave the way for the head of the caretaker government Saad Hariri to return to the premiership once again.
While hailing Speaker Nabih Berri’s call to hold a parliamentary general session as a responsible initiative, he said that he personally favored the amendment of the Taif agreement, but that this was not a top priority at the time being.
PRESSURING SYRIA COULD TURN INTO REGIONAL WAR
During his interview with Al-Manar Website, Pakradouni said the Golan events on the fifth of June sent a double message. “
“First, there’s a Palestinian message reflecting the Palestinians’ despair with the so-called peaceful negotiations with the Israeli enemy. But, at the same time, there’s also a Syrian message stating that pressure targeting Syria could drag us into a regional war,” he explained.
On the 44th anniversary of Naksa (setback) Day, Palestinians and especially in Syria marked this anniversary on Sunday with protests near the Golan Heights in which the Israeli occupation fired on the protesters and martyred 23 people.
The former minister said he was not surprised by the American support to the Israeli enemy following the Golan events. “This support has been on the table since the establishment of the so-called Zionist entity,” he emphasized. “Whoever says that the United States could distance itself from Israel is simply deluded,” he added. “The American commitment to Israel’s security is a red line. Indeed, what concerns the US in our region is the security of Israel and then, oil.”
Asked whether the Naksa Day events were aimed at taking the attention from what’s happening in Syria, Pakradouni said it was more a message. “It’s not a tactical issue as it is a message. Syria is sending a strategic message to the US and Israelis, that targeting its stability is tantamount to threatening the whole region. Syria is a stability factor for the region. Therefore, the fall of the regime in Syria would embroil the whole region in a stage of non-stability, chaos and wars,” he warned.
Pakradouni stressed the Syrian regime still had many winning cards. He said he was confident the regime will not fall, but expressed belief that what was taking place was very well organized and prepared, and therefore would take some time to fix.
MANY OBSTACLES HIDDEN BEHIND AOUN
Turning to developments in Lebanon, Pakradouni warned that whatever targets Syria would have its repercussions on Lebanon. He said that what was happening in Syria puts Lebanon’s stability under a serious threat, regardless of whether the government in Lebanon was formed or not.
According to Pakradouni, the cabinet crisis was a translation to the current deadlock, whether in the region or in Lebanon. He didn’t expect an imminent solution unless politicians decided to handle issues “seriously.” He stressed the need to hold a meeting between the March 8 leadership and Prime Minister-Designate Najib Miqati to discuss the crisis in depth. Pakradouni also criticized the indirect way of directing the crisis, and said that such style was good at the beginning, but not today as the crisis has exceeded 100 days.
The former minister hinted that General Michel Aoun was not responsible for the current delay in the cabinet formation process. He spoke of many obstacles “beyond Aoun,” and said the imminent future will reveal that the Free Patriotic Movement leader was not behind the delay.
Pakradouni said he was also convinced there were foreign obstacles and external pressures standing in the way of the cabinet’s birth. He stressed “some politicians were still seeking to push the PM-designate to fail in his mission, to pave the way for the head of the caretaker government Saad Hariri to return. Those include the March 14 bloc as well as all those who were opposed to the toppling of the government of Saad Hariri, starting with Saudi Arabia and the Americans. Miqati is facing this very complicated situation.”
He said the new majority needed to put a plan to deal with the situation and end the cabinet formation process as soon as possible.
BERRI’S INITATIVE… RESPONSIBLE While warning that keeping Lebanon without a government or under a caretaker government was very dangerous, Pakradouni hailed Speaker Nabih Berri’s call to hold a general session at the parliament next Wednesday as “responsible.”
Last week, and despite fierce opposition from the part of the March 14 bloc, Berri called for a parliamentary session on June 8 to discuss legal proposals and draft laws.
Pakradouni said the June 8 session was constitutional. He added that “article 69 of the constitution stipulates that whenever the government is considered resigned, the Parliament becomes exceptionally convened until the formation of the government.”
“Therefore, Berri’s call is one of the rights of the Parliament Speaker, in addition to setting the meeting’s agenda,” Pakradouni noted. “Yet, the most important thing in Berri’s call is extending the term of the Central Bank governor,” Pakradouni noted. “This is a responsible step from a statesman who insists on protecting Lebanon from a possible void at the level of the Central Bank governorate, similar to the ministerial void.”
“Whatever were the reasons, we must protect our economy through fulfilling the Speaker’s call to renew the term of the Central Bank governor,” he said.
TIME NOT SUITABLE FOR TAIF AGREEEMENT AMENDMENT
The possibility to amend the Taif Agreement was raised with Pakradouni at the end of his interview with Al-Manar Website. He said that, in principle, everything was open to discussion including the amendment.
However, Pakradouni said the amendment was not priority right now, although he was personally in favor of it. “We wonder whether amending the Taif Accord was priority at the current stage or are there other priorities such as the need to form the government, face the international tribunal, and safeguard the stability in the region facing revolutions here and there?” he asked.
BEITHANOUN, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - It is a scene replayed weekly in Palestine. In Gaza, groups of chanting demonstrators walk towards the boundary with Israel, singing, chanting, dancing. Ayat al-Masari, 20, walks with the masses. An English major at Gaza’s Aqsa University, the young woman is among many women who regularly attend Palestinian protests.
“I joined this demonstration and the one on Nakba Day because I am Palestinian and we have been refugees for over 60 years,” she says referring to the 1948 forced expulsion of approximately 750,000 Palestinians from their land to make way for the Jewish State of Israel. Smiling but firm, the young woman voices what Palestinians have been saying for decades: “We suffer from the occupation; it is time for it to end.”
While the protests throughout many Arab nations are being called a Facebook revolution and are analyzed as movements of the frustrated and Internet-savvy youth of oppressed countries, the protests in Palestine are extensions of protests past, the continued call for justice, the end of the Israeli occupation and the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their land.
The latter right is enshrined in various United Nations resolutions, including UN Resolution 194 passed the year of the Nakba, Resolution 242 passed in 1967, the year of the Naksa or “setback,” and Resolution 3236, passed in 1974 and stating “the inalienable right of the Palestinians to return to the homes and property from which they have been displaced and uprooted, and calls for their return.” History of popular struggle
During the first Palestinian intifada (uprising), Palestinians used techniques like nonviolent protests, as well as general strikes, and boycotts of Israeli goods to protest the Israeli occupation and control of Palestinian land.
Since mid-2000, Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have organized weekly nonviolent protests against the wall Israel is building throughout the West Bank and against assaults and house-occupations by Israeli colonists.
Since 2008, unarmed demonstrators in the Gaza Strip have protested Israel’s imposition of a “buffer zone” of 300 meters along Gaza’s boundary with Israel, opposing the no-go zone itself and the reality that Israeli soldiers shot on Palestinian farmers and civilians even up to two kilometers from the boundary.
As a result of these protests, many have been killed and hundreds wounded, many seriously, by Israel’s firing of live ammunition, and close-range firing of rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas canisters and sound bombs at unarmed protesters’ bodies and heads. Basem Abu Rahme, 29, from Bilin village near Ramallah, was one of many who was killed when an Israeli-fired, high-velocity tear gas canister struck him in the chest when fired from just forty meters away.
June 5, the Naksa, (the day of the setback) is the anniversary of the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the subsequent forced expulsion of 300,000 more Palestinians from their land.
While Lebanon’s demonstrations were prevented by Lebanese security, demonstrations went on throughout the occupied West Bank as well as by Palestine supporters worldwide.
At Gaza’s demonstration, protesters gathered on the road to Erez but were stopped by Palestinian police before nearing the border.
Rachad, 25, from Jabaliya in Gaza’s north, helped to organize the two demonstrations in the Gaza Strip. “Our committee coordinated with Palestinians in the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan to hold protests on Nakba and Naksa days,” he said.
Use of force against demonstrators
Protesters at Qalandiya near occupied East Jerusalem said Israeli soldiers repressed the demonstration with live fire, rubber-coated steel bullets and the chemical water cannon used on Gaza’s fishermen. Reports from ongoing protests in the Syrian Golan Heights cite at least 22 killed by Israeli soldiers, including one child, and more than 325 wounded, according to Al Jazeera.
Prior to the 5 June protests, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had the right to defend its borders and Israeli soldiers would use “necessary decisiveness” to protect the border. Critics and Palestinian protesters ask, what are Israel’s borders, when Israel continues to occupy the Golan Heights, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip?
“Our message is simple,” said one of Gaza’s protest coordinators, Rachad. “The life in refugee camps is terrible, whether in Lebanon, Syria, or Jordan. We want justice, we want freedom, we want Israel to abide by international law and UN resolutions and allow Palestinian refugees to return to our homeland.”
All rights reserved, IPS - Inter Press Service (2011). Total or partial publication, retransmission or sale forbidden.
أن تقول إسرائيل، ومعها الولايات المتحدة الأميركية والغرب والسوريون والعرب، إن ما جرى في الجولان في 15 أيار الماضي وأول من أمس، ما هو إلا سعي من النظام السوري إلى حرف الأنظار عن مشكلته الداخلية، ففي ذلك إشارة هي الأقوى إلى أنّ كل أصحاب هذا الرأي هم فعلياً من الذين يتوافقون، من حيث يدرون أو من حيث لا يدرون، على إفراغ كل الانتفاضات والثورات العربية من مضمونها السياسي الوطني. يطلب منا هؤلاء أن نصدّق أن التغيير إنما يقتصر على مسائل تتصل بالوضع الداخلي، وبالتالي، فإن أصحاب هذا الرأي يعتقدون أن هناك فصلاً فعلياً بين المسألة الداخلية وبين المسألة الوطنية، بينما هم ظلوا، ولا يزالون يعتبون على النظام السوري لأنه لم يطلق رصاصة باتجاه الجولان، وبعضهم يقول إنه لم يتحرك منذ 44 عاماً. يتناسى هؤلاء أن سوريا هي التي خاضت حرب تشرين عام 1973، وأن خيانة أنور السادات ومسارعة الولايات المتحدة وإسرائيل الى إشعال الحرب الاهلية في لبنان، كانتا تستهدفان في مكان ما محاصرة سوريا وعزلها ودفعها الى تقليد السادات. ومشكلة اصحاب هذا الرأي، أنه عندما وافق الحكم في سوريا على إتاحة المجال، ولو سلمياً، لأبناء فلسطين أو للسوريين من أبناء الجولان التعبير عن حقهم بالعودة الى أرضهم المسلوبة، والتحرك من خلال تظاهرات ومسيرات العودة، حتى صار الأمر عيباً: احترنا يا قرعة منين بدنا نبوسك!
الواضح أن هناك حاجة فعلية إلى إعادة النظر في كل المعايير. وأن هناك حاجة إلى أن نغادر العقل الكلي، الذي يعتمد صورة واحدة ونسقاً واحداً في مقاربة كل ما يحصل من حوله. فلا يحاول أحد أن يأخذ مسافة قليلة الى الخلف لمراقبة المشهد من زاوية أخرى. وبات المتحمسون للانتفاضة السورية، كيفما قامت، لا يهتمون لكيفية حصول الأمر، ولا لمن يتولّى قيادة الشارع، ولا لمن يسعى، وباشر الاستثمار، ولا الى موقف أعداء الأمّة مما يجري: ألا يكفي ترحيب الولايات المتحدة وإسرائيل، ومنذ اليوم الأول، بالانتفاضة السورية لتكون مدعاة للقلق؟ بينما ظل الأميركيون والغربيون يعملون بكل قوة لحماية أزلامهم في مصر وتونس وربطوا تدخلهم في ليبيا واليمن بأن يكونوا شركاء كاملين في اي تغيير سوف يحصل.
لكن السؤال الأساسي يتعلق بأصحاب هذا الرأي، وخصوصاً منهم الذين يعلنون أنهم ينتمون إلى معسكر المقاومة للاحتلال الأجنبي وللاستعمار الاقتصادي والتبعية الثقافية للغرب، وهو: هل تريدون فعلاً تغييرات تقتصر على حقوق خاصة بالأفراد والجماعات على طريقة فرقة «بدي عيش» المنتشرة منذ عام 2005 بين لبنان ورام الله ومصر والأردن ودول الخليج؟
وبالتالي، إذا كان الأمر كذلك، فلماذا تعترضون على فكرة أن الإصلاحات التي تنوي الأنظمة المستهدفة تنفيذها غير كافية؟
المشكلة مرة جديدة، هي في أن عملاء أميركا وإسرائيل من حكام ومثقفين وإعلاميين، جهدوا منذ لحظة اندلاع النار في جسم البوعزيزي، إلى رفض وجود أي مضمون سياسي وطني للانتفاضات العربية. وساروا في الركب الأميركي نحو بناء ثورات مضادة تقوم على أن تنشغل كل دولة، وكل شعب بمشاكله الداخلية، وألّا يفكر في أي أمر آخر من حوله.
وهو فخ وقعت فيه قوى كبيرة، منها حركة «الإخوان المسلمين» المقبلة على انقسامات لم تعرفها في تاريخها بسبب السياق الانتهازي* الذي تسلكه في كل العالم العربي وتريد تعميمه حتى على فلسطين.
وهو الفخ الذي يشغل مصر مثلاً، في انتخابات نيابية يعتقد الانتهازيون أنهم سيرثون بموجبها الحكم القديم. ثم لا يلبث هؤلاء أن يقبلوا بكل السياسات التي كانت قائمة سابقاً. فلا تكون هناك مشكلة في مصر مع استمرار كامب ديفيد وصفقة الغاز لإسرائيل، إذا ما أتيح اتخاذ قرار بمنع الاختلاط في المدارس. ثم لا يهتمّ هؤلاء، وخصوصاً المحرّضين على ثورة عمياء في سوريا، إذا ما كانت النتيجة حرباً أهلية مديدة، وتقسيماً وناراً تحرق الأردن ولبنان وتأتي على قوى المقاومة في دربها. ثم يطلقون كذبة ويصدقونها: أصلاً الغرب لا يريد سقوط هذه الأنظمة لأنها لا تمثّل خطراً عليه؟
ولو كانت هذه الخلاصة صحيحة، فما الذي يدفع الولايات المتحدة وكل دول الغرب وكل دول العرب ـــــ أميركية وإسرائيل وتركيا وأجهزة عالمية الى الانشغال 24 على 24 في متابعة ما يجري في سوريا؟
المشكلة هنا، هي في رفض المحتوى السياسي للثورات. وفي رفض العلاقة الحكمية بين أي تغيير داخلي وبين هوية الفريق الذي يحكم. فهل يعقل أن نقبل بحكم جديد في سوريا تكون نتيجته عزلها باسم حقوق شعبها، والانتقال الى مشكلات داخلية تؤدي الى حروب أهلية بديلةً من القمع الحالي؟
منطقتنا وبلادنا لديها مشكلات كبيرة بدأت بعد قيام اسرائيل. وكلما تعمقت ازمة هذا الكيان، ازداد الضغط على الحكومات والأنظمة والشعوب عندنا. ومن لا يرد أن يرى أن هناك من سقط وهناك من صمد، يكن من الفئة التي تصحّ فيها الدعوة الى الهجرة والتنظير عن بعد. أما وقائعنا الحالية فتقول إن مسيرات العودة فتحت الباب أمام معركة جديدة، ستكون أكثر قساوة، وبكلفة باهظة أيضاً، لكنها ستعيد الاعتبار الى المعنى السياسي الحقيقي لكرامة المواطن العربي، وليس لهذا المعنى من معبر آخر سوى المقاومة!
===============
فجر عضو في جماعة الإخوان المسلمين المصرية مفاجأة مدوية عندما قال إن أسباب استقالته تتعلق بصفقة عقدتها قيادات من الجماعة مع عمر سليمان نائب الرئيس السابق وقت الثورة المصرية لتخليهم عن الثورة في مقابل منحهم وعدا بتأسيس حزب سياسي وجعل الجماعة التي ظلت محظورة قانونا لسنوات جماعة شرعية.
President Obama is now exploring avenues for a faster withdrawal from Afghanistan. American is flat broke, busted and our allies in Afghanistan have proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they are far worse than our enemies. Karzai can’t bring his army up to speed because he is an American kleptocrat and oil company stooge making presidential noises nobody wants to hear.
A bigger issue we wish the president would face is the farcical nature of the war itself. Notwithstanding that Osama bin Laden was never a terrorist leader, died in 2001 and never took credit for 9/11 despite the ravings of Larry King and the childish parroting of Barak Obama, the entire idea, overthrowing a government whose only crime was tough oil company negotiations isn’t a first for America. Neither is the corruption and drug dealing that followed the American occupation.
This wasn’t a war, it was and is an occupation. There was no substantive enemy to fight, not until we occupied the country and put a usurper into office. Then the people rose against us, kicked our tail and, here we are, years later, doing the Vietnam thing again.
If Obama had done what was right, investigate 9/11, and talk facts instead of his “you can’t handle the truth” game, we could have cleaned our own house back here instead of losing thousands and killing countless innocents.
When you take over office from a pack of war criminals, you can’t call Bush and gang anything else, you don’t do more of the same. Doing what war criminals do, imprison, torture, murder, wage aggressive war, this makes you a war criminal too. How does it feel having a Nobel Peace Prize when you can read the papers every day and learn how many children you have killed?
Anyone see the irony here?
Do we need to mention Iraq? No weapons of mass destruction, no nukes, nothing, all lies, all known to be lies, always lies. Bush knew. He lied, our troops and a million civilians died. Our troops are still dying as are our veterans, now an embarrassment and inconvenience as they always are when the parades are over and the real face of war, crime, racketeering, greed, lies, phony terrorism, oil theft, drug running, profiteering is seen.
We went in, stole oil, stole everything, built nothing other than a walled Disneyland called the Green Zone where we hide out for years and take our payoffs. The whole thing is childish, sick.
I have driven Iraq looking for all those orphanages and power plants, the ones Americans paid hundreds of billions for. They don’t exist. Anyone ever see photos of the American projects? No? Ever wonder why? Go there yourself, its not hard. Every reporter that has been in Iraq, thousands of them, they all know. We built next to nothing there, left the country with a hopelessly assailed government, fighting for its life. Iraq isn’t a primitive country, not hardly. Iraq was secular, totally westernized, very modern and very rich.
No longer. This was our doing.
Outgoing Secretary of Defense Gates and our Pentagon Princes are asking for years to get out of Afghanistan. I have always been a supporter of Secretary Gates but when I see someone ignore an $80 billion dollar heroin industry that grew up under his watch, I begin to ask questions.
It’s time we all asked questions. We have been down this road before too, Central America, planeloads of cocaine cooked into crack, buying our police, our courts and, if we are honest, more than one presidency.
We are told that between $200 million and $400 million of heroin cash from Afghanistan was laundered into our last congressional election, mostly to Tea Party candidates whose pre-election rhetoric is exposed for what it was and is, empty and vile. Why would heroin money fund candidates working for the insurance lobby, big coal, nuclear power and Wall Street criminals?
Is that because they are behind the $80 billion dollar business that grew from nothing under America’s watchful eyes to now provide 92% of the world’s illegal narcotics?
Do you want to blame the Taliban?
Do people seriously believe they are flying heroin out of Afghanistan from US controlled air bases? Does anything think people known for executing television sets are banking billions of dollars? Has anyone ever met a rich Taliban? Ever hear of a Taliban banker being arrested?
Where do Taliban shop? Dubai? Where do they keep the things they buy? We see poppies all over Afghanistan but when was the last time the US pulled a Taliban member over for speeding in his Ferrari?
What it looks like is that Gates is afraid of interfering with the billions of dollars in heroin business, a business not run by the Taliban but by Americans along with bankers in Zurich and Tel Aviv.
With Americans gone who is going to keep the crops safe, who is going to keep the heroin flowing?
We can’t move on without rehashing a thing or two. Let’s spend a moment on bin Laden.
Spin. Everything is spin.
Even the cover story, SEAL team breaks into unguarded hovel and guns down unarmed man, has an unpleasant aspect to it. We are told the FBI is now trying to promote, on their website, that bin Laden had connections to 9/11. Get real.
Picture 9/11 as a boxing match. When one fighter swings and misses and the other fighter falls to the mat, we all know the fight was fixed.
This is Building 7. For years Americans were told two towers were hit and two towers fell. Three towers fell.
One was blown up. We all know this now, it was admitted publicly, even Geraldo reported it, Fox News no less. When sections of heavy steal beams weighing dozens of tons, flew hundreds of feet in the air, up in the air, not “down to the ground” some of us thought “explosion.” To Bush it was another law for him to violate in the name of “national security. This time it was the law of gravity.
What we can now prove is that all three were blown up. Next time they try that game, they had better get three planes and write a better cover story.
If we let them get away with it, you can be assured of this; there will be a “next time.”
The point is, who do you trust? Do you trust a government that lied about Iraq? Do you trust the Pentagon, they lost nearly $3 trillion dollars before 9/11 and never found time to look for it. Do you trust a government that kidnaps and tortures people, uses the evidence they give and later releases the same people saying they were arrested out of mistaken identity?
OK, let’s put this out there again. Almost all of the evidence used to support the war on terror was gotten through torturing people we later admitted knew nothing about terrorism at all. Yes, that’s right. Our intelligence sources for the past decade have, for the most part, been people we later admitted, had no connection to terrorism at all?
Then why did we base our War on Terror on the information they gave or was it “given” at all? Is it hard to guess, we told them what they were to say and tortured them until they said it. After that, our plan was to convict them in “kangaroo court” military tribunals and lock them away forever. Instead, hundreds were released and have spilled their guts. No plan is perfect, no matter how utterly criminal and debased the American elected officials are who put it in motion, especially when most of them are utter morons.
American papers seldom report this or anything that isn’t handed to them, however. News is suppressed, deeply censored in the United States. “Journalism” is the new “four letter word.”
I can tell you what we can prove. If Osama bin Laden was in Pakistan, alive in Pakistan, he was in a CIA “safehouse.” We have direct testimony that bin Laden was working for the CIA on 9/11 and had nothing to do with 9/11. We have hard proof. If he was killed, then the United States murdered a CIA asset who had been sequestered because America had used him as an excuse for two illegal wars and the building of a massive drug empire.
Were bin Laden actually killed, we murdered “one of our own” because he was no longer useful, no money left to steal, our military too weak to invade Iran, our economy so broken nothing will ever be able to really put it back together.
What would be nice, whether we killed an American ally or simply threw a frozen “dead guy” into the water, a corpse stored for a decade, is that our lies might actually be used for something good for a change. If the phony death of the phony bin Laden can now allow Obama to get America out of its criminal war in Afghanistan where puppet Karzai can sink or swim in his own cesspool, then the right thing was done.
Eighty policemen were martyred by "armed gangs" in the northwest Syrian town of Jisr al-Shughour where security forces have been carrying out operations for three days, state television said on Monday.
Jisr-Shaghour near Turkish border
"The armed groups are committing a veritable massacre. They have mutilated bodies and thrown others into the Assi river," the broadcaster said. "They have burned government buildings."
According to Syria’s state news agency (SANA), the armed groups used machine guns, medium-sized weapons and hand grenades.
According to preliminary information, 20 security and police personnel were ambushed on their way to Jisr al-Shughour in response to a call for help from civilians who were terrorized and fled their homes towards police and security stations.
Eight other martyrs were guards of the post office and were killed when the office was bombed by the armed gangs using gas cylinder bombs.
SANA also said that security reinforcements were sent to the area where the ambush was set, adding that security forces and police are surrounding some houses in which the armed men are hiding and firing on soldiers and villains.
The armed groups attacked a security post in Jisr al-Shughour where many civilians sheltered from the groups who terrorized civilians and vandalized public and private properties. The groups positioned on rooftops and opened fire on civilians, policemen and security forces.
SANA said that the groups committed a real massacre, adding that they mutilated some bodies and threw others in the Orontes River.
The Syrian news agency also reported that intense clashes took place between center's personnel and these groups, adding that the groups are using medium-sized weapons, machineguns, hand grenades and rocket-propelled grenades (RPG).
SANA quoted an official security source as saying that police and security forces are confronting hundreds of armed members who temporarily controlled some neighborhoods, and lifted the siege imposed on one of the neighborhoods. The source added that clashes are taking place between the police and security force on one hand and the armed gangs on the other.
Supported, funded and armed by Washington, Israelis terrorize Palestinians daily. From late May to early June alone, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), Palestine News Network, and others reported:
– an Iraq Bourin village child wounded;
– in Bil’in village, one resident wounded, another 15 arrested, including eight international human rights activists against Israel’s illegal Separation Wall, stealing up to 12% of Palestinian land when completed;
– on May 29 at 1AM, Israeli forces stormed Bil’in village, panicking residents with sound bombs while they slept;
– on June 3, IDF troops attacked weekly Bil’in anti-Wall protesters with tear gas, sound bombs, rubber bullets, and sprayed sewage water, injuring six and many others from asphyxiating fumes;
– Israel conducted 47 incursions into West Bank communities and one in central Gaza, arresting 29, including four children and two women;
– two Jenin charitable organizations were closed and eight artisan wells destroyed;
– a Qalqilya construction materials shop was bulldozed;
– Israeli vessels fired on Palestinian fishermen, crashing into and destroying one boat in Gazan waters, injuring its occupant, rescued by others nearby;
– Israeli tanks, military vehicles and bulldozers breached Gaza’s border east of the al-Buriage refugee camp, terrorizing residents and razing agricultural land gratuitously;
– Israeli soldiers shot and wounded a Gazan man in Gaza City’s al-Zeitoun neighborhood;
– extremist Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian shepherd in Madma village, burning four dunams of farmland there;
– other settlers attacked a Palestinian youth in central Hebron’s al-Dbuya area, injuring him;
– almost daily other settler attacks occur, protected by Israeli soldiers; and
– IDF forces conduct regular West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza incursions any time day or night, terrorizing nonviolent civilians, including women and children.
Alarmed by Netanyahu’s extremism, former Mossad chief Meir Dagan went public on concerns he finds most alarming, saying when still in office with other recently retired top officials, they “could block any dangerous adventure. Now I am afraid that there is no one to stop Bibi and Barak.”
It’s not the Iranians or Palestinians who worry him. It’s Israel’s leadership, in recent comments made to journalists and a Tel Aviv University audience, calling these no ordinary times. In his view, it’s one minute to midnight, a frightening thought by someone well versed on policy who knows. Israeli Naksa Day Terror
Annually, Naksa Day (June 5) commemorates the “day of the setback” when Israel forces occupied historic Palestine, militarizing it repressively to assert control, violating fundamental human rights law by attacking a nonbelligerent state illegally.
For 44 years, it’s remained a ruthlessly terrorized armed camp, Palestinians resisting it courageously nonetheless. Ahead of this year’s commemoration, Haaretz writers Anshel Pfeffer, Jack Khoury and Avi Issacharoff headlined, “IDF on high alert as Palestinians prepare for Naksa Day,” saying:
Israel’s Northern Command prepared for “possible attempt(s) by thousands of (Damascus-based) Palestinian refugees to storm the” Golan border with Israel.
In addition, Central and Southern Command forces mobilized “in case of an outbreak in violence near the West Bank and Gaza Strip respectively,” even though significant incidents aren’t likely unless Israel deliberately provokes them.
Weeks earlier on Nakba Day, IDF troops attacked peaceful demonstrators in Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and along the Lebanese/Syrian borders, killing over 20 and injuring scores more.
On June 5, Khoury, Eli Ashkenazi, Amos Harel and Haaretz Service headlined, “5 Palestinians killed, 10 hurt in clashes with IDF” on Syria’s border, saying:
Israeli soldiers preemptively “opened fire at hundreds of Palestinians amassing near Israel’s border with Syria on the Golan Heights….firing tear gas and other demonstration dispersal weaponry,” including live fire against nonviolent Naksa Day demonstrators.
IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich called it “controlled fire from commanders on the ground,” first firing warning shots, then aiming directly at protesters. In response, senior military officials dismissively omitted numbers killed or hurt in further statements, and didn’t explain that troops got direct orders to fire freely at nonviolent demonstrators, a criminal act by any standard.
On June 5, Israel National News said Netanyahu told a Sunday morning Cabinet meeting that “we will not allow extremists” to violate Israel’s borders, showing his intolerance for anyone not Jewish, even Israel’s own citizens.
Military officials accused Syria of instigating violence, Netanyahu saying:
“Unfortunately, extremist forces around us are trying today to breach our borders and threaten our communities and our citizens. We will not let them do that.”
In fact, AP reported that Palestinian and Syrian supporters marched peacefully to Israel’s border, remaining on their side of a barbed-wire lined trench. In response, Israeli troops attacked them with live fire, Lt. Col. Leibovich claiming they “clash(ed) with the soldiers.”
A later June 5 Khoury, Ashkenazi, Harel. Haaretz Service report said Israeli forces “opened fire at hundreds of Syrian-Palestinians amassing near Israel’s (Golan) border with Syria,” killing up to 18 and injuring hundreds. At 10PM Moscow time, Russia Today reported 20 killed, a fluid rising number as some of the wounded die. An early June 6 Haaretz account said 22 were killed on Sunday.
As usual, Israeli officials blamed Palestinians for IDF violence, opening fire at point blank range on unarmed civilians, causing a largely ignored bloodbath in America’s media.
On June 5, the Jerusalem Post said “Activists (also) clash(ed) with border police at (Qalandia) crossing” between Jerusalem and Ramallah Sunday afternoon. Israel’s Channel 10 and Maan News reported tear gas, shock grenades, and rubber bullets freely used to disperse crowds. At least two protesters sustained serious injuries, dozens more needing treatment for tear gas inhalation.
Throughout the West Bank, hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated against militarized occupation they want ended. Palestinian Democratic Union member Jamal Abu Nahl told protesters to stay unified, resist, and not compromise on demanding Israel’s occupation end.
On June 5, AFP reported thousands of Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv against 44 years of occupation Saturday.
“The predominantly Jewish crowd marched through the (city center) calling for the creation of a ‘Palestinian state in the interest of Israel’ along the borders prior to the (June 1967) Six Day War….”
In fact, they carried placards mocking Netanyahu with a caricature of the Pied Piper of Hamlin, saying: “Netanyahu, you are leading us into catastrophe.” They also waved Israeli and Palestinian flags, chanting: “Israel, Palestine: two states for two peoples” and “Solidarity with the Palestinians.”
Organizers included Meretz Party members, anti-Zionists, and anti-occupation/colonialization groups, including Peace Now.
In addition, West Bank Christians organized a “peace and justice” religious service, denouncing the occupation at a military checkpoint near Bethlehem.
As worldwide opposition to Israel’s occupation grows, ending it one day draws closer, what can’t happen a moment too soon.
Final Comments
On June 4, International Middle East Media Center writer Saed Bannoura reported former Hamas Minister of Detainees Wasfi Qabha saying indications of reconciliation with Fatah aren’t evident. In fact, PA security forces are still detaining and interrogating Hamas members and supporters, acting as Israel’s enforcer.
Moreover, despite promising to release political prisoners, dozens are still being held. Qabha said this defeats reconciliation, telling the Palestinian Information Center that Abbas must act responsibly “to protect unity and national interests.”
On May 16, Israeli and Egyptian vessels interdicted the Malaysian owned Spirit of Rachel Corrie ship (officially the MV Finch), carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, forcing it back to Egyptian waters where it remained anchored offshore.
Unable to deliver their cargo, three activists on board returned to Malaysia on May 30, the other nine expected back Sunday night.
Sponsored by the Perdana Global Peace Foundation (PGPF), headed by former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed, PGPF chairman Tan Sri Norian Mai said:
“Although this mission cannot be said to be 100 percent successful, it managed to break Israel’s illegal siege (by) enter(ing) Gazan waters before” interdiction. He added that PGPF will keep trying to deliver essential aid, including MV Finch’s cargo – vitally needed plastic sewage pipes to restore what Israel’s Cast Lead attack destroyed. Under siege, restoration can’t happen without help.
Undeterred, it’s coming, including 15 ships and over 1,000 activists from dozens of countries sailing from various ports in late June, Israel again planning interdiction.
No matter. Dr. Mahathir said “we don’t respect Israel’s blockade.” Neither do millions of others, many determined to breach it to deliver essential to life aid until Gaza is again free. Nothing Israel does can stop it. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
The Progressive News Hour
Mickey Huff is Professor of History at Diablo Valley College, CA, as well as new Director of Project Censored (PC) and the Media Freedom Foundation. Both support media democracy, First Amendment freedoms, and investigative research to communicate real news and information to a global audience.
Major world and national issues will be discussed.
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Few Rolex rumors spread faster than whispers about the GMT-Master II
“Pepsi.” It happens almost every year. Someone claims production is ending,
Reddit lig...
Report on Beth Israel vigil 02-21-26
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*Vigils continue, non-stop*
Just because we don’t get Vigil Reports out at the same rate as years'
past, we remind readers that we show up every Saturday ...
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Hello all,
It is with great sadness that I share with you the passing of our beloved
sister, Mother, and Grandmother, the individual that you all knew ...
Best Horror Podcast
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Best Horror Podcast Introduction: Horror podcasts […]
The post Best Horror Podcast appeared first on Copper Shock Horror Podcast.
Ikhras Endorses Muntadhar Al-Zaidi
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“Oh parties of banditry and sectarianism and corruption, we have come and
our goal is to destroy you.” Ikhras formally endorses Muntadhar al-Zaidi,
Iraqi j...
Prince Charles: Foreign Jews behind bloodshed in ME
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In May, 2017, British Crown Prince Charles declined an invitation from
Zionist entity’s president Reuven Rivlin‘s to attend the 100th anniversary
of the no...
Palestinian Women – One for All, All for One
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Honouring All Palestinian Women by Honouring Three: Hanin Zoabi, Ahed
Tamimi, Samah Sabawi Vacy Vlazna “Palestinian women have always stood side
by side ...
US’s Saudi Oil Deal from Win-Win to Mega-Lose
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By F. William Engdahl Who would’ve thought it would come to this? Certainly
not the Obama Administration, and their brilliant geo-political think-tank
neo-...
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*Mordechai Vanunu wins human rights prize of Brazilian Press Association *
* http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/features/updates/7038-mordechai...
Abdul Aziz Rantissi:
"My ultimate wish, my God, is to attain martyrdom,"...God granted him his wish on April 17, 2004, at the hands of Israeli assassins.
Uprooted Palestinian
