Uprooted Palestinians

30 years after the Massacre at Sabra-Shatilla Lebanese politicians still block Palestinian rights

2012-01-29T01:50:00.000+04:00

Franklin Lamb

Shatila Camp
Graphics by Alex
Al-Manar

We all know is it not just American and Lebanese politicians who use Palestinian refugees as political footballs during electoral campaigns. But they are currently the two most egregious apart from most Zionist politicians in temporarily occupied Palestine.

In the US, it would not be a difficult task to find even more revolting and groveling intellectual “half-men” to borrow a phrase from Syria’s beleaguered President Bashar Assad than Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich during their recent “debate” in Jacksonville Florida.

While a high percentage of Republican Jewish voters will go to the polls in this winner take all primary, Mitt and Newt are also pondering their national fundraising networks as they gratuitously misrepresented history and betrayed their claimed religious and moral beliefs.
Romney repeated his screed that President Obama “threw Israel under the bus” by following international law, seven UN Security Council Resolution and World opinion by designating the pre-1967 borders as the starting point for peace talks. He also complained that America’s President “disrespected” Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu when Obama spoke recently at the UN and mentioned in passing illegal Israeli settlement building but did not discuss retaliatory rockets being fired from Gaza into occupied Palestinian territory.

"Native" Gingrich

Genuflecting just as obsequiously to the Zionist lobby, Gingrich insisted to Florida voters once again that “Palestinians are an ‘invented people who historically were considered Jordanians and Syrians.” No one in the audience was so impolite as to remind the claimed student of history that Jordan did not even exist until created by the pro-Zionist British occupiers of Palestine, well into the 20^th Century, while Palestinians have lived in Palestine for more than 3000 years. While more than 95% of Zionist colonists have zero historical links to Palestine and their genealogical roots are in Europe, Russia and elsewhere, despite the fact that millions have invaded Palestine seeking free land and US government funded cash and housing handouts. Morally and legally these colonists have no right to even one grain of sand in Palestine.

Source:
In the 1890. At this time, the number of Jewish immigrants to Palestine was still negligible by all accounts.
The Jewish population mainly due to immigration to about 10% .
During British Mandatory the Jewish settlement raied sharply specially between 1930 and 1947

Approximate population growth in Mandatory Palestine

Year	Source	Total	Moslems		Jews		Christians		Others
Year	Source	Total	(No.)	(%)	(No.)	(%)	(No.)	(%)	(No.)	(%)
1922	Census	752,048	589,177	78.34	83,790	11.14	71,464	9.50	7,617	1.01
1931	Census	1,033,314	759,700	73.52	174,606	16.90	88,907	8.60	10,101	0.98
1937	Estimate	1,383,320	875,947	63.32	386,084	27.91	109,769	7.94	11,520	0.83
1945	Survey²	1,845,560	1,076,780	58.35	608,230	32.96	145,060	7.86	15,490	0.84
1947¹	Projection	1,955,260	1,135,269	58.06	650,000	33.24	153,621	7.86	16370	0.84

Newt again promised his audience that on his first day as President, he will for sure issue an Executive Order moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, another violation of International law.

Florida’s nearly 640,000 Jews are just 3.4 percent of Florida’s population. But because they vote in extraordinarily high numbers, they are 6 to 8 percent of Florida’s general election turnout but not of course when it comes to Republican primaries. Yet one recent poll estimates that 52% of the state’s registered Jewish voters would support a Republican presidential ticket such is their mistrust of Obama and what he might do in a second term with respect to occupied Palestine.

As with his rival Mitt, President Newt’s first foreign trip will be to Israel. With these latter two pledges Newt joins 19 Presidential primary aspirants who since 1967 have made similar promises. Fortunately, for what is left of American Humanitarian values, not one has been elected President.

Lebanese style anti-Palestinian political speech is more sophisticated and subtle, like the Lebanese people themselves, and nearly always devolves to the gut wrenching warning, delivered with a straight face, that “if we allow Palestinian refugees the right to work or to own a home (as required by International Law and currently enjoyed by refugees in 192 other countries) it might encourage them to get lazy and become too comfortable in Lebanon and they might, God save us all, seek naturalization. And this could interfere with the Palestinian refugees internationally guaranteed Right to Return to their homes in occupied Palestine which Lebanese strongly support for their brotherly and sisterly guests.

Lebanese politicians, including every party and religious grouping bar not none, except the Druze and the National Syrian Socialist Party, use voter’s fear of naturalization (in American think immigration) to undercut growing human rights pressure for Lebanon to give Palestinians elementary human rights.

A rare exception for a Lebanese politician shocked many here when earlier this month, to his eternal credit and honor, Social Affairs Minister Wael Abu Faour became the first Lebanese Cabinet member to make an official visit to a Palestinian refugee camp in six years when he toured south Beirut’s Burj al-Barajneh camp before signing a memorandum of understanding with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA). The agreement will enable UNRWA for the first time to work in coordination with the Social Affairs Ministry to provide some services to some of the most vulnerable people in the camps.

The lack of employment opportunities for Palestine refugee prolong and intensify their hardship and poverty. In the five Southern Lebanon camps, according to a recent Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and UN International Labor Organization study, more than 81 per cent of all refugees are living in abject poverty. Young people are particularly affected, with unemployment for Palestinians between 15 and 24 reaching 60%. The employments figures are not must better in the northern camps.

Speaking at the event, Faour called on his fellow politicians to follow his lead and experience firsthand conditions in Lebanon’s 12 Refugee camps. “Whoever wants to rediscover his humanity has to see the living conditions in Palestinian camps in Lebanon” Minister Faour told Lebanon’s Parliament. “We are used to bringing Palestinians to discussions in fancy hotels and then sending them back to the misery in the camps. We decided to invert these traditions by coming to the camps.”

Unfortunately Minister Abu Faour undercut some of the positive contribution of his visit by emphasizing to the media “the difficult relationship between Lebanon and the Palestinian population. The Lebanese government has consistently declined to grant rights to Palestinian refugees for fear that it would pave the way to naturalization, which it argues would diminish their right to return to Palestine.”

It would be difficult to find one Palestinian in Lebanon, or any advocate of human rights here, who truly believes the Lebanese politicians claimed notion of concern for the sanctity of the Palestinians Right of Return justifies keeping a quarter million human being in the most degrading squalor while outlawing even the right to work or to own a home out of an altruistic concern to keep hallow some of the refugees other international rights. Palestinian refugees in Lebanon reject more than any of the politicians here any form of settlement, naturalization, implantation or tawtin. They have a county just across the southern Lebanese border and their goal, now in its 64^th year, is to return without more delay.

Many Palestinians in Lebanon’s camp mention a new energy among their fellow refugees as a result of the continuing, broadening and deepening Arab and Islamic Awakening which erupted one year ago in Tunisia and whose spread continues.

The swelling bud of intifada! is also being observed by foreigners here and as Palestinian camp residents invite Pope Benedict to visit their camps in the Spring during his reported visit to Lebanon, one idea from kids at Ramallah school in Shatila Camp is for the Vicar of Christ to hold a Mass for tens of thousands in the new Cite Sportiff, on the edge this Camp. For it was at this sports center 30 years ago that part two of the Massacre at Sabra-Shatilla was organized by Israeli and Phalange troops on September 18^th and for which, like the other 43 hours of uninterrupted slaughter, no one person has ever been held accountable. (See Children of Shatila - Part 1, Part 2)

It would be an enormously powerful historic event should Pope Benedict fill Cite Sportiff with people of good will, and there are many here like Minister Faour, from all the confessions and political parties, joined by all religious and civil society leaders in Lebanon, and with the Pope’s blessing and admonition for all of us to follow in the path of Mohammad and Jesus and their decuples, that Palestinian refugees in Lebanon might be granted even the most elementary human rights.

Franklin Lamb volunteers with the Sabra-Shatila Foundation and the Palestine Civil Rights Campaign. He is reachable c/o fplamb@gmail.com

He is the author of The Price We Pay: A Quarter-Century of Israel’s Use of American Weapons Against Civilians in Lebanon.

He contribute to Uprooted Palestinians Blog

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The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

UNSC Mulls Syria Resolution, Russia Opposes European-Arab Proposal

2012-01-28T14:49:00.000+04:00

Local Editor

European and Arab countries presented on Friday a draft resolution, to the UN Security Council, backing an Arab League plan on the Syrian crisis. However, Russia opposed the draft, saying the proposed resolution crossed its red lines.

The UK, France and Germany drafted a resolution with Arab states, supporting the League's call for President Bashar al-Assad to hand power to a deputy.

The draft resolution supports an Arab League plan released last weekend demanding that President Bashar al-Assad hand over powers to a deputy so that new elections can be held.

The text demands an immediate end to the violence and "encourages" all states to follow sanctions imposed by the Arab League against Syria in November, but contains no mandatory action.

RUSSIAN STANCE

Russia's UN envoy told reporters after the meeting in New York that the draft resolution was unacceptable, but Moscow was ready to engage in further talks.

Vitaly Churkin said Russia had set out its "red lines" and that the resolution should not contain any threat of sanctions or an arms embargo.
The document "not only ignored our red lines but also added some new elements which we find unacceptable as a matter of principle.”
“The proposed draft resolution cannot be used as the basis of solving the situation,” Churkin said, expressing “deep” disappointment with the draft.
Churkin also accused the Arab League of trying to "impose" a solution to "undercut" efforts to find a political solution to the unrest in Syria.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Just like that! UN to Bashar Assad: 'Leave in 15 days or else!'

2012-01-28T12:31:00.000+04:00

Via FLC

'The Cable has obtained a copy of the draft resolution on Syria currently being discussed inside the U.N. Security Council. It calls on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to hand over power to his deputy and says additional measures would be taken if he doesn't comply within 15 days.

U.N. Security Council diplomats are meeting behind closed doors on Friday to discuss what's being called the Arab-European draft resolution on Syria. The Moroccan ambassador is presenting the draft resolution, which is designed to implement the recommendations of the Arab League transition plan laid out on Jan. 22... ...

Importantly, the draft resolution requests that U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon report on the implementation of the resolution every 15 days and also directs the Security Council "to review Syria's implementation of this resolution [in] 15 days and, in the event that Syria has not complied, to adopt further measures, in consultation with the League of Arab States."...

She indicated the United States was hopeful that Russia, which has been openly supporting Assad and sending him weapons, will work with the rest of the Security Council to produce a resolution that is strong and effective. Russia and China vetoed European resolution on Syria last fall and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said Friday that Russia would veto any resolution that seeks to remove Assad from power..."

Pro-regime Syrians hail Russia (Day Life)

Russia vows to Block UN move on Syria’s al-Assad

(DP-News - agencies)

Russia vowed to block any United Nations Security Council resolution that calls for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to relinquish power.

Such demands “will simply never get approval,” Alexander Lukashevich, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said by telephone from Moscow today.

“This should be a matter for dialogue between the Syrians themselves and shouldn’t be imposed through a resolution.” he added.

The Arab League, which has monitors in Syria, “should be facilitating dialogue” between President al-Assad and his opponents rather than trying to impose a solution, Lukashevich said.

Russia surprises West & proposes Syria resolution to strengthen UN involvement

Russian Warships to Syrian waters

Syrians Pro-regime “Support Rallies”

U.S. against violence by Opposition or Regime in Syria

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that his country wouldn’t back UN decisions that endorsed unilateral sanctions by Arab and Western states or opened the way for foreign armed intervention in Syria.

"We cannot support proposals under which unilateral sanctions are imposed against Syria without any consultations with Russia, China and other BRICS countries," Lavrov said on Wednesday.

Calling the moves by the UN Security Council against Syria "unfair" and "counter-productive," he said that Russia is also ready for dialogue with its partners in the Security Council.

Indeed, Russia presented its own draft of a UN resolution regarding Syria. And as Lavrov said, it remains on the table.

The UN Security Council is expected to vote over the next few days on the Western-Arab draft resolution aimed at making President al-Assad cede power, paving the way for a coalition government with the opposition.

It comes as the Arab League's monitoring mission to Syria suffered a setback after six countries pulled out, calling on the UN to act.

It is expected, however, that the new draft will replace the Russian text, which Western diplomats say is too weak and no longer relevant in light of the Arab League’s call for Assad to hand power to his deputy.

With reports of the continually growing death toll in the conflict, the earlier proposal being floated of increasing the numbers of observers on the ground and providing them with UN training could have been a lifesaving one. But now those plans have been put on hold.

The U.S. has criticized Russia for blocking sanctions against Syria and supplying weaponry to its Soviet-era ally. Syria received a shipment of Russian ammunition this month and has also signed a $550 million deal for 26 Yak-130 jet trainer aircraft, according to the Kommersant newspaper.

Russia has been wary of any UN-backed use of military action, such as the operation that eventually helped topple Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi.

UN diplomats say France, Britain and Germany have been working with Arab nations on a new Security Council resolution on Syria, the main goal of which, they say, is a democratic transition from President Bashar al-Assad's 11-year regime.

Arab and Western nations are seeking to pass a UN resolution supporting the Arab League’s call for Assad to step down and facilitate a peaceful transfer of power. Russia, as a permanent Security Council member, can veto any resolution.

Qatar, the U.K. and the U.S. are among countries seeking to overcome Russian opposition to a change of regime in Syria, where at least 5,000 people have been killed in the past 10 months during the crackdown on anti-government unrest, according to the UN.

The latest UN resolution proposal “condemns the continued and gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms” by Syrian authorities and calls for President Bashar al-Assad to implement Arab League resolutions for a “political transition,” according to a copy of the document obtained by Bloomberg.

But their appeal to the UN does not seem to change the situation radically, as Russia remains firmly opposed to intervention and the imposition of sanctions against Syria.

Russia in October vetoed by a bid at the UN by the European Union and the U.S. to condemn Assad and threaten sanctions, arguing he needed time to implement promised political changes

On Jan. 23, Syria rejected an Arab League proposal to form a national unity government within two months to implement a peaceful handover of power, describing it as a violation of its sovereignty.

Although Damascus allowed the mission to be extended for another month and the observers officially saying they can continue with their task, behind the scenes things are much less optimistic

And with deep divisions – both regionally and internationally – over what action to take to end the violence, hopes of ending the crisis seem to be slipping further and further out of reach.

Having waved goodbye to their Gulf State colleagues, some observers remain – but it’s small consolation.

“Syria didn’t close the doors on the Arab League and I think Syria will give anyone the chance to help Syrians but the last decision is in the hands of the Syrian people – not the Arab League and Security Council – through national dialogue and through reforms,” says Dr. Bassam Abu Abdullah.

Gatilov: Western-Arab draft resolution on Syria unacceptable for Russia..Ryabkov: Russia rejects West's unilateral sanctions approach
President of French National Front: Western media broadcast false allegations against Syria

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The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Call me a Palestinian from Palestine

2012-01-28T11:40:00.000+04:00

Posted on 26/01/2012

by reham alhelsi

Interview with Laila Khaled

Don’t call me homeless, because I have a home thousands of years old.

I have a home in Jrash which you demolished, erased from your map.

I have a home whose stones still stand as witness to your crimes, still stand witness to what once was and to what will be.

I have a home that will be rebuilt with the same stones and on the same spot where it originally was and where it should be.

I have a home in Jerusalem which you occupy, a home that will be liberated.

“My home is in Zakariya”.

I have a home in Hebron which you closed, a home that will be reopened. I have a home in Gaza which you bombed, a home that will be rebuilt.

Palestinian home in Saffuriyya

I have a home carved in my heart. I have a home in An-Naqab, I have a home in Tabaria, I have a home in Bisan, I have a home in Jenin, I have a home in Jerusalem, I have a home in Safad.
Every part of Palestine is my home; every olive field is my sitting room, every hilltop is my balcony, every meadow is my playground, every stone is my chair, every bit of shadow beneath a fig tree is my bed. The land of Palestine is my ground, the sky over Palestine is my roof. All of Palestine is my home, my one and only home.

Don’t call me homeless, because I have a home and it’s called Palestine.
Don’t call me voiceless, because I have a voice even if you don’t want to listen.

I have a voice that roars in the midst of the storm. I have a voice that breaks the silence of those who sing non-stop of humanity, of human rights to every other people and every other nation, but are blind, deaf and mute to the Zionist crimes. I have a voice that silences the lies, silences the hasbara. I have a voice that sings of freedom, of liberation and of return. I have a voice that is louder than the whips of oppression, louder than the bullets of the occupation.

My voice is my heart that beats every second to write in blood the name of my beloved Palestine. My voice is my eyes that see Palestine as it will always be; one from the river to the sea. My voice is my body that stands steadfast, only armed with a belief in a just cause, to face your bulldozer, your bombs, your tanks and your war planes. My voice is my hand that plants the lands you so savagely murder, that waters the olive and the fig tree that you so mercilessly massacre. My voice is my fingers that draw Palestine free of occupation and colonization.

My voice is the children who cherish the keys to their homes,

My voice is the children who memorize the names of the villages you erased, and write these names in their hearts, in their copybooks and on their maps. My voice is the children who cherish the keys to their homes, hold on to them, dream of the homes that are theirs, the homes that once stood under the blue sky of Palestine, and wait for the day to return and rebuild them. My voice is the children who count the number of trees you uproot, and replant a thousand tree for every tree you kill.

Palestinian youths fly kites in Jerusalem by Damascus Gate.

My voice are the children who wake up to the sound of your planes, go to school despite your tanks, play in the alley of Palestine despite your bombs, fly kites despite your F-16, face your machine gun with their slingshot. My voice is the children who continue to dream of freedom and return every day despite your terror, despite your killing machines. My voice is the parent who plants the love of Palestine in the hearts of children. My voice is the youth who raises the flag of Palestine in the face of oppression. My voice is the elderly who passes the heritage of Palestine to the future generations. My voice is the farmer who draws Palestine in every field, on every hilltop, on every flower and on every leaf. My home is the teacher who teachers the children a song about Palestine. My voice is the refugee who swears to return to Palestine.

Don’t call me voiceless, because every cell of me screams: Palestine.
Don’t call me a terrorist, because you are the one terrorizing my family and my homeland.

“a good Arab is a dead Arab”.

You occupy our home, colonize it with aliens and expel us from our birthplace. You kill our children while sitting in their classrooms, you kill our parents while on their way to work, you kill our friends while waiting at checkpoints. You bomb our schools during the day while we are at our desks, you bomb our homes at night while we are asleep, you bomb our streets while we play, you bomb our fields while we pick the olives, you bomb our ambulances while they rush us to hospital. You kidnap our siblings from their beds, from their schools and from their workplace, you torture our comrades and imprison them in dark cold dungeons. You demolish our homes over our heads, uproot our trees and destroy our fields to build colonies and roads for aliens who don’t speak the language of the land. You steal our drinking water, you starve our children and our olive trees to fill your swimming pools and to water you European exported flowers and trees. You walk our roads armed from head to toe, you burn our mosques and besiege our churches, you teach your children that “a good Arab is a dead Arab”. You steal our homeland, steal our homes and fields, steal our heritage. You massacre our songs, our tales, our laughter, our books and our dances. You attack us with phosphorous bombs and F-16 and markavas. You shoot our pregnant mothers, our baby brothers, our children. You threaten our existence every day, every minute, every second.

"Palestinians are an Invented People"

Don’t call me a terrorist because it is you who is the personification of terrorism.
Don’t call me invented, because my roots in this land are as old as the land itself.

I am part of the land and the land is part of me. My blood and sweat have since the dawn of history watered this land, kept it green and blooming and gave the poppies their colour. I have a history in this land that is older than the history of your invented entity and older than the history of the colonial powers that support you. It is my homeland you stole in order to create an invented homeland for yourself.

Israeli best seller breaks national taboo
"Idea of a Jewish people invented, says historian"

It is my cultural heritage you stole in order to create an invented identity for yourself. It is my history you twisted in order to create an invented history for yourself. It is my homes, my villages, my playgrounds you erased in order to create an invented home for yourself. It is my groves, my fields, my flowers you stole in order to invent for yourself a link to this land. It is my olive tree you uprooted and replanted in your colonies in order to invent a place for yourself in this land. You stole my land, you stole my home, you stole my field, you stole my Hannoun, you stole my olive tree. You stole my Yaffa, you stole my Haifa, you stole my Beisan, you stole my Ramlah, you stole my Tabaria, you stole my Tarshiha, you stole my Jrash. You stole my Dabkah, you stole my Dal’ouna, you stole my Thoub, you stole my food. You stole my books, you stole my history, you stole my tales, you stole my songs. You stole my identity and you call me invented? It is you who is invented, living in an invented entity, creating for yourself an invented identity.

Ana min Falasteen.

Don’t call me invented because Palestine is as old as time itself and “Israel” is the invented entity.
Don’t call me Israeli Arab, because there is no such thing as an Israeli Arab.

I am a Palestinian from Palestinian Yaffa. I am a Palestinian from Palestinian Acca. I am a Palestinian from Palestinian Beisan. I am a Palestinian from Palestinian An-Naqab. I am a Palestinian from Palestinian Al-Jalil. I am a Palestinian from Palestinian Beir As-Sabi’. I am a Palestinian from Palestinian An-Nasirah. I am a Palestinian from Palestinian Al-Quds. This land has my features imprinted in every stone, every tree, every cloud, every flower and every creek.

You can force me to speak your language, but the land I walk on, the sky above me, the wind and the rain and the rainbow whisper my name: Palestinian. You can force me to write my name in your alphabet, but engraved in the rocks, drawn in the sky, printed in the leaves of trees is one word in Arab: Palestinian. You can force me to carry the ID card of your entity, but the blood that runs in my veins screams I am from Palestine, Ana min Falasteen. You can force my tongue to sing your invented anthem, but my heart will always sing Palestine. You can force my hand to write “Israel” on the map, but my eyes will only see Palestine. You can force me to study the invented history of your entity, but my mind will repeat the massacres you committed, the villages you erased, the on-going Nakba you are causing.

Uri Avnery
born: September 10, 1923, Beckum, Germany
immigration to Palestine: November 1933
member of the Irgun, 1938-1942

You come from the USA and you claim a right to my homeland. You come from Germany and you illegalize my existence, my heritage and my history in this land. You come from France and you lock me up in ghettos in my own homeland. You come from Russia and you silence my mosques and my churches. You come from Ukraine and you deny me my birthright and my rights. But listen, and listen carefully: I am a Palestinian from Palestine, this is my home and I am here to stay till the end of days.

Don’t call me Israeli Arab, because I am a Palestinian from Palestine.
Don’t call me a Palestinian of the Palestinian Territories because it is called Palestine.

Don’t give me a fraction of my homeland and call it a solution. Don’t give me oppression and call it peace. Don’t give me a Bantustan and call it a home. Don’t give me a prison and call it freedom. Don’t draw the borders of my existence according to your whims and interests and call it a state. My home is not a disfigured result of a till-death-do-us-part-marriage between the occupier and the champions of negotiators-for-life that yields a Bantustan on 20% of my homeland.
My home is not a “lets legitimize the Zionist racist colonization of Palestine and hope they accept us and allow us to live with them one day” tale for the sake of fame and a shoulder pat from “conditional-supporters”, while giving the Zionist usurpers a right to my land which they stole and continue to colonize… a right to my home which they destroyed and continue to destroy…. a right to my village which they ethnically cleansed and continue to do so to the rest of Palestine… a right to Palestine, the Palestine they raped and continue to rape for over 63 years, a rape they are proud of and celebrate very year while denying us even the tears and the memories and the names of the victims they massacred and the villages they erased.
My Palestine is the home that is mine since the dawn of history till the end of history. My Palestine is the home of my ancestors, the home between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River.

Don’t call me a Palestinian of the Palestinian Territories, because I am a Palestinian from Palestine.
Don’t call me a dreamer, because I refuse to surrender and I know that one day Palestine will be free.
Don’t call me unrealistic, because I refuse to surrender and I know that one day Palestine will be free.
Don’t call me crazy, because I refuse to surrender and I know that one day Palestine will be free.

I know that one day, Zionism will be defeated. I know that one day, occupation will be history. I know that one day, justice will prevail. I know that one day, the sun will shine again over Palestinian famers working in Marj Ibin Amer. I know that one day, the sea will hear the whispers of Palestinian fishermen watching the sunset over Acca. I know that one day, the gentle breeze will race the laughter of Palestinian children along the streets of the old city of Jerusalem. I know that one day, Palestinian refugees will return to build their villages and their homes. I know that one day, Palestine will be free of the Zionist colonists, the cowards and racists that they are, for they don’t know justice, they don’t want justice, they fear justice and thus they have no place in this land.

Those who destroy the land, will never be part of the land. Those for whom the land is the parent, the sibling, the child, the friend and the entire existence will always be part of the land.

Don’t act as if I don’t exist because I am here, and here I will stay, forever.
Don’t call me anything but Palestinian because there is only one home for me; Palestine.
Don’t call me anything but Palestinian because there is only one Palestine; from the River to the Sea.
Don’t call me anything but Palestinian because that is what I am: a Palestinian from Palestine.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

'Is there really a pro-Qaddafi uprising in Libya?'

2012-01-28T11:30:00.000+04:00

FLC

'The Wild West in the Sahara'
"... Contrary to many of the headlines, the battle in Bani Walid, which the pro-revolutionary forces now seem to have decided in their favor, was not part of a pro-Gaddafi uprising. Green flags did not, as was first reported, sprout from the rooftops. The issue was the arrest of war crimes suspects. Since the end of last year's fighting, Bani Walid has become a refuge for the waifs and strays of the former Gaddafi administration who are on the war crimes lists of other cities. A pro-government unit in the town had begun to arrest them when on Monday their base was attacked by a local clan. Four soldiers were killed, the rest fled, and the suspects were set free.
Now the National Guard wants them back. "We want to go home, we all want to go home," says National Guard fighter Osman El Hadi, himself from Beni Walid. "But first we need to finish this."
This minor uprising, in short, is less significant in itself than for what it says about the disarray of the post-revolutionary administration in Tripoli. Right now, power on the national level is exercised by the National Transitional Council (NTC). But this latest crisis has revealed once again that the NTC is, at best, a bit player.
The real power in Libya remains dispersed among the country's bewildering array of grassroots military formations. Most are grouped around town or city military councils; Tripoli is divided into 11 district militias. The last time anyone counted, Misrata had 172, ranging from ten-man outfits to the 500-strong Halbus Brigade, with a wartime strength of 17,000. That figure has since plummeted, with thousands returning to their jobs...."

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
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God forgive him… I certainly can’t

2012-01-28T11:07:00.000+04:00

by Paul Eisen

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Khaled Mashaal, intends to run for the Presidency of the Palestinian Authority

2012-01-28T10:47:00.000+04:00

Source

Hamas leader stepping down is ‘pure speculation’

The French newspaper "Le Soir" claimed 23/1/2012, according to a source from Hamas Monday , the head of the movement's political Bureau, Khaled Meshaal, intends to run for the Presidency of the Palestinian Authority.

Serge demeu the author of the article Speculated that "Mashaal declined to renew his chairmanship of the Hamas political Bureau, to prepare for the presidential elections of the Palestinian Authority this year."

Watchimg "Brother" Azmi Bishara

The writer pointed out that this Declaration came for several reasons, including ~~loss of Hamas support Syrian regime~~ (Brotherhood spring) and tensions within Hamas reached un-preceeded level especially between Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmud Zahar, a Hamas leaders and the Commander of the military wing of Hamas, Mahmoud Al-Ja'bari.

Mashaal To brotherhood Suprime Guide
Arab world waits Egypt

The author of the article confirmed that "Egypt Islamists decided to support the Hamas leader's candidacy for the presidential elections, like the rest of the Arab spring states which began to shift towards government led by Islamists" More

Diplomatic and other intelligence sources said Friday on 27/1/2012 that Khaled Mashaal, head of the has already left his headquarters in the Syrian capital of Damascus. But Hamas headquarters in Syria shall never closes and will not declare leaving Syria even though this happened already.

Sources said Meshaal, is currently in Cairo, but until now there is"no agreement to open an Office in Cairo."

The source said that Mashaal shall might be in Qatar which for most of the time until the situation stabilizes in Syria.

Qatar mediation contributed in Mashaal's visit Jordan next week to restore relations with Amman for the first time after more than a decade of expelling Hamas from Jordan.

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The Ziocons & 'shitting the proverbial pants'

2012-01-28T10:46:00.000+04:00

TVia FLC

"...America is a country that has grown complacent in its assumptions about the Middle East and its politics, and too wedded to the idea of having an imperial role in the region (of which CENTCOM is the embodiment) and the world more generally. For several years I have advocated an American withdrawal from the Arab world (FLC believes that this is undergoing but ONLY in the Levant!) The Arab uprisings have made this all the more urgent, although it is a delicate, difficult, and potentially dangerous matter. But that's a debate for another day.

Let me focus now on a few pieces by people who have written very unwise things, and who are the other bigpart of the problem with American foreign policy in the region: those who primarily see US Middle East policy through the lens of Israel.

Robert Satloff, a leading hack of the Israel lobby think tank WINEP, and Eric Trager have a piece in the WSJ you can read here. A few years ago Satloff was all into pressuring Egypt on democracy issues, but now has buyer's remorse – confirming my long-held suspicion that people like him and Elliott Abrams (and many others) were only tactically interested in democracy promotion as a manner to wield greater influence over the Mubarak regime. Now that Islamists have won a majority in Egypt's parliament, they are shitting their proverbial pants...."

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The Global March on Jerusalem – A Call to Join

2012-01-28T10:39:00.000+04:00

by Laura Stuart

31st of March 2012 is what is known as “Land Day“, a day significant in the very full diary of Palestinian suffering. It is a day which recalls when, in the name of security, Israel decided to steal even more Palestinian land, something which they have continued doing until the present day.

Martyrs of Land Day Memorial, Sakhnin

On Land Day, International Peace Activists will take part inThe Global March to Jerusalem and march towards Al Aqsa masjid in Occupied Jerusalem. They will be joined by humanitarians from around the globe, a host of mixed nationalities, religions and political persuasions all uniting to particpate in this historic event. Their aim is to highlight the illegal occupation and other Israeli injustices towards Palestinians.

After the two masajid in Mecca and Medina respectively, Al Aqsa masjid in Jerusalem is the third most important masjid to the world’s one and a half billion Muslims, . Despite Al Aqsa masjid being so important to Muslims, it is almost impossible to visit because of the Illegal Occupation by Israel. Palestinians who live in Israel or East Jerusalem are able to pray in Al Aqsa but others from the West Bank wishing to go and pray, are subject to age restrictions and military checkpoints.

Palestinians from Gaza would not get permission to travel there at all. Muslims from the rest of the world might be able to visit Al Aqsa as part of a tour of the Holy Land, however everyone is subject to the whims of the Israelis issuing visas.

Personally I would love to visit Al Aqsa but am highly unlikely to be issued a visa by the State of Israel due to a series of events I suffered as an unarmed civilian activist at the hands of the Occupation State.

Having been kidnapped from the Mavi Marmara in International waters of the Mediterranean in May 2010 by pirates a.k.a. Israeli Occupation Special Forces, taken to Hebrew speaking Palestine (Ashdod) against my will at gunpoint then imprisoned in Beer Sheba prison for allegedly entering the State of Israel illegally and breaking immigration laws!

Yes, really ! You just couldn’t make that sort of lunacy up! I am now subject to a ten year ban from entering the State of Israel. My personal belongings which were stolen from me such as camera, mobile phone, cash etc have never been returned to me by the pirates, I don’t like to complain about my missing belongings too much since there are 8 widows and 29 orphans in Turkey who lost so much more.

It is alarming to follow the Meir Amit Institute reports about the “Global March to Jerusalem” and see their obvious attempt to portray the march as likely to become rowdy and violent. Given Israel’s tendency to respond to protests with violence, this is hopefully not a pretext for opening fire and murdering unarmed civilians.

This peaceful event is being seen by Israel as a threat to their legitimacy, and well they might because the publicity surrounding it will ultimately awaken more people in the world to the injustices that Israel perpretrates on Palestinians. But for some reason Israel is blind to the reality that it is its leaders and citizens such as the settlers, and their policies of ethnic cleansing, stealing land and apartheid that deligitimises the State in the eyes of the world.

Here below is the call from Palestinians to join the March

Join us as we intensify our struggle against forced exile and the system of Israeli apartheid on Land Day 2012.

We Palestinians have been ethnically cleansed and uprooted from our lands starting in the 1948 Nakba (Catastrophe) which resulted in the creation of the millions of refugees who are now living in the Diaspora. Nineteen years later, in 1967, Israel illegally annexed East-Jerusalem and the West Bank in a move which marked the Naksa (Setback), and subjected the remaining Palestinians to a brutal military occupation.

We are now in 2012, and we are still living in exile or under the Israeli apartheid regime, the illegal construction of colonial settlements is confiscating the remaining parts of Palestine, the Separation Wall divides and separates villages and towns, and Palestinians in Jerusalem are threatened of being driven out of their homes and lands for the mere purpose of the Judaization of this sacred city.

But we will not leave. We will stand and be firm. We will not permit thousands of years of our attachment to our land and our Holy City to be broken. We therefore invite and call upon all persons of courage and good will around the world to stand up and walk, with your fellow human beings, regardless of religion, of political affiliation – to stand up as responsible human beings and walk peacefully towards Jerusalem on the 30th of March, 2012.

We therefore ask all our brothers and sisters throughout the world to join Palestinians on Land Day, 30 March, 2011, in challenging the barriers, borders and procedures that separate Palestinians from Jerusalem and from their homes and lands in all of historic Palestine.

Palestinian National and Islamic Organizations
Al-Rowwad Cultural and Theatre Training Centre, www.alrowwad-acts.ps
Al-Walaja Popular Resistance Committee
The Alternative Information Center – AIC – www.alternativenews.org
BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights: www.badil.org/
Beit Ummar Popular Resistance Committee
Bil’in Popular Resistance Committee www.bilin-village.org
Friends of Freedom and Justice, Bil’in www.bilin-ffj.org
Handala Center – www.handalla-center.org
Holy Land Trust www.holylandtrust.org
International Solidarity Movement: www.palsolidarity.org
Nebi Saleh Popular Resistance Committee
Ni’lin Popular Resistance Committee
Palestinian Centre for Rapprochement between People www.PCR.PS
Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign www.stopthewall.org
Palestine Justice Network www.palestinejn.org
Palestine Solidarity Project WWW.palestinesolidarityproject.org
Popular Struggle Coordinating Committee www.popularstruggle.org/
Siraj Center for Holy Land Studies, www.sirajcenter.org
Youth Against Settlements (Hebron)
Youth Activity Center – Aida Camp (www.key1948.org)
abdm@hotmail.com

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Saudi to recognize, fund SNC; Russia rejects Syria resolution

2012-01-28T05:30:00.002+04:00

Published Friday, January 27, 2012

Saudi Arabia will recognize the Syrian National Council (SNC) as the "official representative" of the Syrian people amid a joint Western-Gulf Arab push to have President Bashar Assad removed, a senior member of the opposition group said on Friday.

"Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told an SNC delegation he met in Cairo last week the kingdom will recognize the Council as the official representative of the Syrian people," SNC executive council member Ahmad Ramadan told Kuwait's Al-Rai newspaper.

Ramadan did not specify when Saudi will make the call, or whether it will be backed by its Gulf Arab allies in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

It was also reported in the UK's The Times newspaper on Friday that Saudi Arabia and Qatar will begin funding the SNC as well as armed groups fighting the regime.

Gulf Arab states have taken a leading role in trying to oust the Syrian president, having this week announced the withdrawal of their members from the Arab League monitoring team in Syria.

Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani is to officially present a Western-backed plan to UN Security Council ambassadors in New York that will request Assad hand over power to his deputy, while a unity government is formed to oversee a full transition.

The improving ties between the GCC and SNC has aroused concerns among some corners of the Syrian opposition that fear Gulf states will turn Syria into a battleground against arch rival Iran.

The GCC oppose the democratic aspirations of the Arab Spring protests engulfing the region, and sent troops into neighboring Bahrain last year to crush a similar uprising there.

It is also unclear how representative the Istanbul-based SNC is of the protesters within Syria, and the level of contact between the internal revolution and external opposition groups.

Meanwhile, Russia has preempted the West and the GCC by already declaring its proposed UN resolution as "unacceptable."

A senior Russian diplomat rejected the plan because it does not take Moscow's position into account, the Itar-Tass news agency reported on Friday.

Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov's remarks were the latest sign that Russia will push hard for changes in the Western-Gulf draft resolution.

The UN draft, which was expected to be distributed to the Security Council later on Friday, contains "no fundamental consideration for our position" and is missing "key aspects that are fundamental to us," Itar-Tass quoted Gatilov as saying.

Russia has previously said it will veto any UN resolution that seeks to impose sanctions on Syria or justify military action.

Russia and China vetoed a European-drafted resolution in October, while the West remains adamant in its push to have Assad removed from power.

(Al-Akhbar, Reuters, AFP)

Gatilov: Any Quick Voting on Draft Resolution against Syria at Security Council Predestined to Fail

President Ahmadinejad: Israel Would Not Be Away from Danger if Syria Came under Aggression

President of French National Front: Western Media Broadcast False Allegations against Syria

Saboteurs Affiliated to Istanbul Council Storm Syrian Embassy in Cairo

Secret Qatari-Saudi Agreement to Supply Syrian Opposition with Weapons

Authorities Confiscate Weapons, Ammo and Communication Devices, Dismantle Roadblocks and

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The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Hamas Divided Over Its Presence in Syria

2012-01-28T04:36:00.001+04:00

(Photo: REUTERS - Asmaa Waguih)

If the advisory council does not nominate Meshal again, the favorite to win could be Moussa Abu Marzook (C), should the council opt for a leader outside of the occupied Palestinian territories.

By: Qasem Qasem

Published Friday, January 27, 2012

Hamas has evacuated most of its administrative personnel from Syria. The justification that Hamas officials gave for the evacuation was that there is no need for these administrators to remain in Syria during a period of political upheaval and that the uprising would have hindered their ability to carry out their work and limited their movement had they stayed.

Hamas has kept a staff of about 100 people in the political bureau, a fraction of the nearly 2000 that were there before.

Despite these measures, Hamas strongly denies that it will transfer its politburo from Syria to Egypt or Jordan, or that it has any desire to leave Syria.

However, everything they are doing suggests otherwise. It appears as if Hamas is preparing for the right moment for its administration to leave Syria.

The strongest indicator of this was the decision to move the families of the members of its politburo out of Damascus over the past months.

Head of the politburo, Khaled Meshal, has moved his family to Amman in Jordan. Meanwhile, his deputy Mousa Abu Marzook moved his family to Egypt.

Hamami from London
Leave Damascus now

One movement official who did not wish to be identified stated that “Hamas does not want to leave Syria, but in the event that we are forced to leave Damascus, it must be at the lowest possible cost to us.”
As far as what this means, Hamas is quite simply “waiting for Syria to expel us,” according to the official.

The debate surrounding moving the political bureau arose with infighting among different wings of Hamas. Meshal’s moderate wing, which wants to move the political bureau, has been weakened by the “security solution” currently being pursued by the Syrian regime.

Meshal announced Hamas’s opposition to the Syrian regime’s security measures during a visit to Tehran in October of last year.

On the other hand, Meshal’s more hard-line deputy Abu Marzook’s stocks have risen. He supports moving the bureau out of Syria, and has also proposed that Hamas distance itself from Iran.

For the first time since its foundation, the conflict between Hamas’ different wings has become public. This is due to recent leaks from inside the organization that Meshal does not intend to run for his post again.

According to movement members, this news was leaked by “those close to Abu Marzook.” They add that the motivation for the leak was to prevent Meshal from later “going back on his word.”
Yet, Meshal’s announcement that he does not intend to run does not necessarily mean that he will not be a candidate.

According to one Hamas official, the organization’s advisory council “could decide to nominate him again, at which point Abu Walid [Meshal] will be forced to yield to the opinion of the council.”
If the advisory council does not nominate Meshal again, the favorite to win could be Abu Marzook, should the council opt for a leader outside of the occupied Palestinian territories. Alternatively, Ismail Haniyeh could be nominated, should the council prefer a candidate from within Palestine.

However, despite current tensions between Hamas and the regime in Syria, the movement has made some headway in Jordan.

Hamas supporters are awaiting the results of the meeting that will be held between King Abdullah II and Meshal next Sunday in Amman.

The meeting, which is being billed as a “reconciliation” meeting, will likely see the reopening of Hamas’s offices in the Jordanian capital, bringing the organization closer to its constituency in the West Bank.

The meeting, arranged nearly a year ago with the help of the Qataris, has been delayed several times by the Jordanian king due to media leaks.

Some Hamas members deny the possibility of the political bureau being transferred to Egypt, as the country is still experiencing turmoil of its own.

One Hamas member said, “Egyptian intelligence announced that it is unable to host Hamas’s political bureau in Cairo. But they will allow the movement to conduct meetings with international officials on Egyptian soil.”
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.

According to Syrian opposition circles in Cairo, Hamad bin Jassem, in a meeting with members of the Syrian National Council in the Egyptian capital, presented an analysis stressing that Hamas ended as the movement of armed resistance. Hamas exit from Damascus, which has become confirmed will put an end to hamas as a resistance movement.The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt will not be able to protect Hamas as an armed resistance movement because of the Camp David and Egyptian army presence and the large economic vulnerability in Egypt as well as the Egyptian society is not psychological ready for going to war on the border with Palestine, moreover the Jordan brothers can't embrace Hamas because Jordan cannot bear this burden.

Zahhar: Shura Council will Choose Next Hamas Chief

No renewal to Mishaal: external pressures and internal differences

Hamas to leave Syria & Meshaal could step down

Rats desert a sinking ship, fools ride

"Is it a pre-condition to recognize Israel in order to govern?"

Brothers of America

Khalid Amayreh: "The Syrian regime must change, or it will be changed"

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Deir Yassin Remembered - The Film

2012-01-28T03:14:00.005+04:00

Source

Deir Yassin Remembered

33:17-5 years ago

Early in the morning of April 9, 1948, commandos of the Irgun (headed by Menachem Begin) and the Stern Gang attacked Deir Yassin, a village with about 750 Palestinian residents. The village lay outside of the area to be assigned by the United Nations to the Jewish State; it had a peaceful reputation. But it was located on high ground in the corridor between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Deir Yassin was slated for occupation under Plan Dalet and the mainstream Jewish defense force, the Haganah, authorized the irregular terrorist forces of the Irgun and the Stern Gang to perform the takeover. In all over 100 men, women, and children were systematically murdered. Fifty-three orphaned children were literally dumped along the wall of the Old City, where they were found by Miss Hind Husseini and brought behind the American Colony Hotel to her home, which was to become the Dar El-Tifl El-Arabi orphanage.

Embed video

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Let’s be Fair

2012-01-28T02:17:00.000+04:00

Let’s be Fair

by Francis Clark-Lowes

My heart sinks when I hear that phrase, ‘let’s be fair.’

‘Let’s be fair, George Bush had no alternative but to smash Afghanistan and Iraq.’

‘Let’s be fair, what would you have done faced with that massive hostile gathering at Amritsar on 13th April 1919 or that dangerous looking civil-rights march in Londonderry on 30 January 1972 (40 years ago on Monday, by the way)?’

‘Let’s be fair, the Jews needed a safe haven, and so they had to organise a transfer.’

Nevertheless, let’s indeed be fair! I’m thinking particularly about what used to be called ‘the Jewish question’. Once Jews had been emancipated in most of Europe in the nineteenth century, there was a debate both among Jews themselves, and in the wider host societies within which they lived, about what their role should be, and even about whether or not they should remain a recognisable group.

Theodore Herzl, the founder of modern political Zionism, recognised the problems which arose from remaining distinct within a host society, and at one point favoured the conversion of the mass of Jews to Catholicism. Many Jews today would also like to throw off the last vestiges of their Jewishness. Whether they succeed or not remains unclear.

But is it reasonable to ask a people with a long history and a recognisable culture to suddenly forget their identity? Is it even practicable? Of course not. Even those, the majority, who have abandoned all but the last vestiges of their religion, still have an awareness of being Jewish, and nothing non-Jews do is likely to change that. However much our modern identities may have multiple components, the parts which we inherit through our parents are always likely to be prominent.

In his book, The Wandering Who? Gilad Atzmon very clearly indicates the dangers inherent in aspects of Jewish culture today. He sees Jewishness as having become an ideology, and I suggested in my appeal speech a week ago that this ideology is also unsinkable. Whichever way you try to criticise it you end up in the wrong. This is a very effective survival strategy in the short term. But is it so in the long term?

Jewish history has indeed been one of periodic suffering. But it has also been one in which Jews have very successfully negotiated with the holders of power in their host societies. The two are not unrelated. There has been a wave motion in the fortunes of Jews, sometimes good, sometimes bad, with the bad being at least partly a reaction to what happened in the good periods.

We are living in a ‘good’ period for Jews. You need go no further than Mearsheimer and Walt to recognise the degree to which Jews, collectively, have been successful in controlling Western foreign policy, for example. But Jews and non-Jews alike know that this situation could turn nasty. How long will non-Jews tolerate so much power in the hands of a tiny minority?

So, let’s be fair. In all humanity, we don’t want a repeat of past pogroms. How, then, should Jews and non-Jews alike work toward a solution not solely based on all of us becoming universalists (an unlikely scenario). This will require a modification of Jewish culture, and where necessary also of non-Jewish cultures, in such a way that they can live in harmony with one another.

The role of non-Jews and Jews will be to criticise Jewish culture when they dislike what they see (just as Jews have very often criticised non-Jewish cultures), and not to be deterred by cries of ‘anti-Semtism.’

The task is not an easy one. But sticking our heads in the sand and treating the whole subject as taboo will get us nowhere.

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The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Can foreign gangsters bulldoze your home…

2012-01-28T02:02:00.000+04:00

Can foreign gangsters bulldoze your home…

by Stuart Littlewood

…without warning and get away with it?

And then do the same to all your neighbours?

There can be few things more despicable than robbing a family of their home then destroying it in front of their eyes. But this is Israeli policy.

When the following news item arrived in my inbox I was more than usually interested. The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) took me to see Beit Arabiya, the much demolished and rebuilt Bedouin home, nearly six years ago. Of course, it has been bulldozed and rebuilt a few times since then.

I’m reproducing the whole thing so that you get the full flavour of Israel’s evil. And it’s from an impeccable Israeli source too.

You can also read it at here.

ICAHD Peace Center “Beit Arabiya” Demolished for the Fifth Time

24 January 2012

Israeli authorities demolished Beit Arabiya (“Arabiya’s House”) last night (Monday, January 23rd) for the fifth time, along with structures in the East Anata Bedouin compound. Beit Arabiya, Located in the West Bank town of Anata (Area C) just to the northeast of Jerusalem, is a living symbol of resistance to Occupation and the desire for justice and peace.

As its name suggests, Beit Arabiya is a home belonging to Arabiya Shawamreh, her husband Salim and their seven children, a Palestinian family whose home has been demolished four times by the Israeli authorities and rebuilt each time by ICAHD’s Palestinian, Israeli and international peace activists, before being demolished again last night.

At around 11p.m. Monday, a bulldozer accompanied by a contingent of heavily armed Israeli soldiers appeared on the Anata hills, to promptly demolish Beit Arabiya, along with residential and agricultural structures in the nearby Arab al-Jahalin Bedouin compound. 3 family homes were demolished along with numerous animal pans, and 20 people including young children were displaced, left exposed to the harsh desert environment. While standing in solidarity with Palestinians, ICAHD staff and activists were repeatedly threatened by Israeli soldieries. ICAHD Co-Director Itay Epshtain was beaten and sustained minor injuries.

Beit Arabiya was issued a demolition order by Israeli authorities back in 1994, following their failure to grant a building permit. It has since been demolished four times, to be rebuilt by ICAHD activists. Following a reissue of the demolition order last Thursday, came last night’s fifth demolition. ICAHD Director, Dr. Jeff Halper, standing astride the ruins, vowed to support Salim and Arabiya in rebuilding their home.

“We shall rebuild, we must rebuild forthwith, as an act of political defiance of the occupation and protracted oppression of Palestinians”

said Halper.
Beit Arabiya has become a symbol of resistance to the Judaization of the Occupied West Bank and Israeli demolition policy.

“ICAHD is as determined as always to rebuild the home, and endure in its struggle to bring about justice and peace” added Halper.

Salim and Arabiya, along with their neighbors and friends stood last night and watched as this tragedy unfold once again. Arabiya and Salim have dedicated their home as a center for peace in the memories of Rachel Corrie and Nuha Sweidan, two women (an American and a Palestinian) who died resisting home demolitions in Gaza. In the past decade ICAHD has hosted numerous visitors at Beit Arabiya, and based its annul rebuilding camp at the house, rebuilding 185 demolished Palestinian homes.
Only earlier this month, ICAHD extended an invitation to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing to visit Beit Arabiya during her country visit to the Occupied Palestinian Territory scheduled for later in the month. “It is our hope, that while we cannot extend the same hospitality to the Special Raporteur Raquel Rolnik will visit the ruins of Beit Arabiya, and report on the utter cruelty, and illegality of Israeli policies and practices, and that members of the international community will follow in her footsteps”. ” said ICAHD Co-Director Itay Epshtain.

For more information and coordination of visits to Beit Arabiya, kindly contact Itay Epshtain at itay@icahd.org or +972-54-2623306

Additional Information

House demolitions and forced evictions are among Israel’s most heinous practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). In 2011, a record year of displacement, a total of 622 Palestinian structures were demolished by Israeli authorities, of which 36 per cent (or 222) were family homes; the remainder were livelihood-related (including water storage and agricultural structures), resulting in 1,094 people displaced, almost double the number for 2010. The Jordan Valley sustained the largest number of demolitions (32 per cent of total structures demolished, 40 per cent of residential structures demolished, 37 per cent of people displaced), with 199 structures demolished and 401 people displaced.

Israel now controls 40 per cent of the West Bank through 149 settlements and 102 outposts, housing more than 500,000 Jewish Israelis, as well as through closed military zones and declared nature reserves. In addition, house demolitions, forced evictions, and land expropriation, exacerbated by settler violence and the economic effects of movement restrictions, have left Palestinian communities struggling to make a living. Palestinians live in constant fear of displacement and dispersion, while Israel secures its domination and control.

The demolition of Palestinian homes is politically motivated and strategically informed. The goal is to confine the 4 million residents of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza to small enclaves, thus effectively foreclosing any viable Palestinian state and ensuring Israeli control, and to allow for the expropriation of land, the ethnic displacement of Palestinians, and the Judaization of the Occupied West Bank.

The recent ICAHD report ‘The Judaization of Palestine: 2011 Displacement Trends’ provides a political analysis of the root causes and consequences of Israel’s house demolition policy, focusing on the demolition of Palestinian homes and other structures in the Occupied West Bank. Click here to read the report.

Back in 2006 I arranged to go on one of ICAHD’s tours of house demolition sites, a programme for journalists and students then run by one of Jeff Halper’s colleagues, another amiable American known to everyone as “JJ”. I wrote it up for my book, Radio Free Palestine, as follows:
The tour with JJ took us to Anata… If you thought Jenin was bad, you should see Anata. This is a blighted and doomed Palestinian township, not shell-blasted like Jenin but strangulated, poverty-stricken, earmarked for destruction and on its last legs. There were umpteen demolition orders on Palestinian homes, some newly built.

Not content with persecuting the Palestinians, the Israelis are driving the Bedouin out of the Negev desert.

“They are destroying our homes and stealing our land and trying to concentrate us in small reservations in order to take our land and give it to Jewish settlers. Some of these so-called unrecognized villages predated the state of Israel. I wonder who needs recognition from whom,”

said Talab al-Sani’e, a Bedouin and a member of Israel’s Knesset.

“Israel has created 140 Jewish towns and villages in the Negev. And now they want to destroy Bedouin villages.”

Israel stands accused of illegally confiscating more than 98 per cent of Bedouin land and committing “ugly acts of racism” against Bedouins. Israeli aircraft sprayed herbicides over large areas of crops belonging to Bedouin tribes in the Negev for over 10 years. This was stopped after Bedouin leaders and human rights activists petitioned the Israeli high court, citing the herbicides’ harmful effect on humans and animals. After the court ruling the Israeli Land Authority turned to using tractors to destroy the crops just before harvest time, according to Bedouin leaders. “They refuse to connect our villages with the national power grid, they refuse to connect us with the national water carrier, they refuse to allow us to open streets. Our children are denied schooling.”

Meeting and shaking hands with peace campaigner Jeff Halper, a professor of anthropology at Ben Gurion University and director of ICAHD, was for me a high point of my visit to the Holy Land. An American Jew, Jeff went to live in Israel in 1973 after attending rabbinical school. He had been a Vietnam war resister, and when he became an Israeli citizen he refused to bear arms during his military service and refused to serve in the occupied territories.

ICAHD works with other Israeli groups such as Bat Shalom, Rabbis for Human Rights, Taayush and Gush Shalom, and with Palestinian organizations. ICAHD resists the demolition of Palestinian homes, with Jeff himself frequently confronting the bulldozers and Israeli soldiers. He and ICAHD organize Palestinians, Israelis and internationals in rebuilding some of the demolished homes to underline their political resistance to the occupation. Their deep knowledge and research has successfully exposed the injustice.
He and his Palestinian counterpart, Ghassan Andoni, a physics professor at Birzeit University and co-founder of the Palestinian Centre for Rapprochement between People, were both nominated for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. In response to the nomination Professor Halper said:
I am chilled by the prospect of my country imposing a new apartheid regime on another people, by the prospect of my people, the Jews (of all people), becoming the new Afrikaaners. I must also be concerned over the rising frustration and fury in the Arab and Muslim worlds, fuelled in large measure by American and European support for Israel’s occupation policies that both deny the Palestinians their right of self-determination and turn my country into a pariah state.
ICAHD, as Israelis, block the destructive bulldozers, chain themselves in the houses, conduct campaigns to mobilize opposition to the policy in Israel and abroad, turn to the courts and, when demolitions finally occur, join the Palestinians in rebuilding demolished homes to show solidarity and resistance.
We have come to see house demolitions as the very essence of the conflict between our two peoples: Israel’s exclusive claim to the entire country in the name of the Jewish people at the expense of another people living in the country … thisis what gives the policy of house demolitions its special significance.
When, as Israelis, we resist home demolitions and rebuild demolished homes as acts of civil disobedience, we are acknowledging the rights of both people to share the country. We are affirming our recognition that Palestinian claims carry equal authority to our own. And we are proclaiming loudly: We refuse to be enemies!
God bless Jeff and ICAHD. If in Jerusalem be sure to visit this remarkable man and his organization

What it’s like to be on the receiving end of an Israeli demolition order

Here’s a further note from that visit to ICAHD:

Palestinians do not have the luxury of home-delivered mail (even in East Jerusalem), so demolition orders are distributed haphazardly. A building inspector may knock on the door and hand the order to anyone who answers, including small children. More often the order is slipped into the doorframe or left under a stone near the house. Palestinians frequently complain that they never received the order before the bulldozers moved in, and thus were denied recourse to the courts. In Jerusalem a favourite practice is to “deliver” an order at night by placing it somewhere near the targeted home, then arrive early in the morning with the Caterpillar.

America and the rest of the West should understand clearly why Caterpillar has become the hated symbol of dispossession, ethnic cleansing and oppression, and has been the target of disinvestment campaigns.
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The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East

2012-01-28T01:45:00.000+04:00

Friday, January 27, 2012 at 8:47AM Gilad Atzmon

In May 2010, all 189 signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty – including Iran – tacitly agreed to a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East and called for a conference in 2012 in Finland. But Israel has refused to support a nuclear weapons-free zone for the region, reluctant to give up its own. Israel also is not a signatory to the NPT. These facts have arguably destabilized the region, leaving open the possibility of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East

Antiwar.com reported today that former Saudi intelligence chief has called for a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East. Prince Turki Al Faisal urged the five permanent U.N. Security Council members to guarantee a nuclear security umbrella for Mideast countries that agree to a nuclear weapons-free zone and impose sanctions on countries that develop or maintain nuclear weapons.
Though it is clear that an Iranian nuclear weapons program would certainly be a concern to Saudi Arabia, it also must be mentioned that the opinion of the U.S. intelligence community, the Obama administration, and the latest IAEA report is that Iran’s enrichment is so far civilian in nature.
It seems as if Israel and its relentless lobbies are the biggest threat to world peace.

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Turkey and Its Neighbours

2012-01-28T00:22:00.000+04:00

“Turkey spent years repairing relations with neighbors under the banners of ....“zero problems” ....however, under the impact of the so-called “Arab spring”, that policy was abandoned virtually overnight. It has been replaced by ....support for an armed group seeking the overthrow of a government with which Turkey had friendly relations until very recently”.

Yusuf Fernandez

The relations between Turkey and its neighbours have entered an uncertain future. When Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his party, the AKP, came to power in Turkey, they promoted a “zero problems with the neighbours” policy. However, Turkey´s tensions with these countries appear to have effectively nullified that doctrine.

Actually, Turkey finds itself in a international precarious situation. Firstly, its interests are clearly ignored by Europeans, who have put the country´s bid for membership in the European Union on indefinite hold. The crisis with Cyprus, an EU member, is getting worse. Ankara has recently threatened military action in response to this country´s oil exploration activities in a disputed maritime area. In a recent meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in New York, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was told that the United States supported Cyprus´ right to explore in the area, which is led by an American company. In January, France passed a law against the so-called “armenian genocide” and Turkey´s protests were treated with disdain.

Ankara always claimed that it had alternatives if the EU closed its doors for Turkey. It was assuming a predominant role among the Muslim nations and using its political and economic power to become a conflict mediator in the region. However, this role could become impossible if Turkey continues to alienate its neighbours. Currently, the deterioration of relations with Syria, Iraq, Russia and Iran appears to be more or less serious and could have far-reaching consequences.
When Erdogan became PM in 2004, Turkey started to court its neighbours, especially Iran, Syria and Iraq. Ankara reconciled with Damascus after decades of mistrust due to the strategic alliance of Turkey with Israel.

The Syrians then became the neighbours with whom the Turks developed their closest ties. Their armed forces conducted joint maneuvers, while their foreign and defense ministers set up a “strategic cooperation council.” Both countries signed economic agreements worth billions of dollars. According to the newspaper Hürriyet, Turkey had never cooperated so closely with any other country.

However, the romance did not last. After the unrest in Syria broke out, Turkey embraced the opposition, gave up on Assad´s regime and announced sanctions against its old ally. Later, it started to openly promote a regime change in Damascus and hosted Syrian political and armed opposition groups. It allied itself with Syria´s main Arab enemies, especially the Arab Gulf countries. This policy meant the official “denouement of the Erdogan/Davutoglu investment in Bashar al-Assad” and thus it was the “end of what has been billed as Turkey’s transformative diplomacy,” wrote Steven A Cook in The Atlantic.

“For the first time in the life of the Turkish republic, a Turkish government has adopted a policy of open, unprovoked confrontation with a neighboring country”, wrote Ankara-based writer Jeremy Salt.

“Turkey spent years repairing relations with neighbors under the banners of soft power, strength in depth and “zero problems”. At every level, the outcome was very positive. Months ago, however, under the impact of the so-called “Arab spring”, that policy was abandoned virtually overnight. It has been replaced by threats, belligerence and support for an armed group seeking the overthrow of a government with which Turkey had friendly relations until very recently”. While Turkey once threatened to go to war unless Syria expelled Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), it “is now supporting a man, Riad al Assad, whose “Free Syrian Army” is doing exactly the same across the Syrian border”, he added.

There are different reasons for the deterioration of links with Damascus alongside with the “altruistic” goal of “helping Syrian people”. Syria´s strong axis with Iran under Assad's leadership makes it difficult for Turkey to play a meaningful role in the region. Ankara also sees Syria as a rival that competes for influence in Iraq. Syria´s influence over Palestinian and Lebanese parties and organizations, including Hamas and Hezbollah, also limits Turkey´s capacity to become a decisive actor in Palestine and Lebanon.

Although some media has spoken of a possible Turkish military intervention in Syria, there are some factors preventing Turkey from taking such a step.

Firstly, Turkey understands the importance of avoiding a miscalculation over Syria. If there was chaos in Syria, it would be Turkey that most suffers the consequences.

Secondly, Russia and China made it clear in their joint declaration issued in Moscow after the recent visit by President Hu Jintao that they will not allow the West to repeat the Libyan scenario in Syria. Russian President Dmitri Medvedev has said that it will use veto if the Western countries press for a resolution on Syria at the UN Security Council. “What I will not support is a resolution similar to 1973 on Libya, because I am convinced that a good resolution has been turned into a piece of paper to cover a senseless military operation,” Medvedev said.

Ankara has worked hard in last years to develop its relations with Moscow and shares important economic and energy interests with this country. Turkey has also increased its energy links with Iran and both countries exchange human and technical intelligence on the Kurdish armed organizations operating along their respective frontiers, diplomatic sources told the Hürriyet Daily News. On the whole, Russia and Iran provide 70% of Turkey´s energy imports.

However, Turkey´s embrace of the bid by NATO to station an anti-missile radar on its territory has already angered both countries, which have also become increasing suspicious of the new Turkish policy towards Syria. In this way, Turkey is not clearly interested in further antagonizing Russia and Iran by starting a military adventure in Syria.

Problems with Iraq

After the serious deterioration of his relations with the Syrian leadership, Erdogan has started another verbal war with his Iraqi counterpart, Nouri al Maliki.

Turkey has its own agenda on Iraq, which is widely determinated by the Kurdish issue. Ankara´s main focus is the prevention of an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq, the elimination of attacks on its territory by PKK fighters across the border and the protection of the Turkmen minority that resides mainly in Mosul and Kirkuk. To achieve this goal, Turkey does not need too much from Baghdad. Only its aquiescence when it invades northern Iraq to attack PKK bases.

Turkey also wants to increase its leverage over this country. But it cannot influence the Shiite forces and parties that control the Iraqi politics now. This is why the Turkish government worked behind the scenes to help build the Al Iraqiya coalition, which was supported by ex Baathists, Sunni secular nationalists and Turkmen. Turkish support for the coalition prompted protests from the leaders of Shiite and Kurdish organizations, which sent messages of discontent to Ankara.

When the election result was known the Turkish government was taken by surprise. Although Al Iraqiya came first, it did not gain enough seats to form a government. Therefore, Ankara failed to turn their support into a political triumph. Even after the election, Ankara kept on ignoring the Shiite groups and Kurds and instead insisted on strengthening its ties with Al Iraqiya. Finally, the Kurds and Shiites parties sat around a table and found common ground to set up an executive.

According to Cengiz Candar, a prominent Turkish expert on Middle East affairs, Ankara also wanted a Sunni president, especially Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, instead of Kurdish Jalal Talabani. However, both Talabani and the other Iraqi Kurdish leader, Massoud Barzani, supported the first one´s bid for presidency and Turkish plans failed.

At a point, Erdogan seemed to realize that if Turkey wanted to expand its influence in Iraq, then it needed to reach out to Shiites and Kurds. This is perhaps why Erdogan became the first Turkish PM who visited Najaf, the religious center of the Shiites in Iraq, and Irbil, capital of the Kurdish autonomous region. However, he was unable to overcome widespread suspicion towards Turkey´s intentions.

The relations between Turkey and Iraq reached another lower point when Erdogan publicly supported Iraqi Hashemi, who has been accused of having links with terrorist groups by the Iraqi authorities. On December 19, 2011, an investigative committee within Iraq´s Interior Ministry issued an arrest warrant for Hashemi after three of his bodyguards made confessions of taking orders from him to carry out the terrorist attacks. Hashemi later fled to the Kurdistan region.

On January19, Erdogan warned Maliki that Ankara would not remain silent if he promoted a sectarian conflict in his country. Maliki´s office responded with a statement again criticizing Turkey´s “interference” in Iraq's affairs. “This is not acceptable in the dealings between officials of different states and especially from heads of state,” Maliki´s office said. “Erdogan has to be more careful in handling the usual protocols in international relations.”

In a posterior interview with al-Hurra television in January, Maliki said: “Turkey is unfortunately playing a role which may lead to disaster and civil war in the region.”

The tension with Iraq could have serious economic consequences for Turkey, which has already lost the Syrian market. It is noteworthy to point out that Iraq is now Turkey´s second biggest export market after Germany, with trade volume between the two reaching nearly 12 billion dollars in 2011. In the political field, the conflict is likely to further diminish Ankara´s influence over its neighbour.
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Can the Assad Regime Survive?

2012-01-27T21:19:00.002+04:00

'The crime of this trio ( alliance of Tehran, Damascus and Hizballah.) is to have dared challenge America’s military hegemony in the Gulf and Israel’s military hegemony in the Levant." Patrick Seale
DP-news – middle east online

Support Rallies to Comprehensive Reforms
Led and Masterminded by President Bashar al-Assad

President Bashar al-Assad of Syria does not seem to be in any immediate danger of collapse or overthrow. In spite of confronting a popular uprising at home and severe pressures from abroad, he has -- for the moment at least -- weathered the storm. His difficulties, however, are immense. In a speech on 10 January he described the crisis he is facing as “a battle unprecedented in Syria’s modern history.”

Russia vows to Block UN move on Syria’s al-Assad

Syrians Pro-regime “Support Rallies”

U.S. against violence by Opposition or Regime in Syria

Media turn Caustic as Syria clashes with Gulf States

Several authoritative sources, both inside and outside Syria, share the view that, having held his enemies at bay since last March, Assad stands a good chance of survival for several more months. His longer-term prospects, however, remain uncertain.

As a skilful tactician, he has played for time. His agreement to allow in Arab League monitors has relieved him of some pressure for a month, and possibly two. In dealing with the protesters, he has used carrot as well as stick, such as his recent amnesty for political prisoners, his offer of an immediate dialogue with the opposition, and his renewed promise of a revised Constitution, to be put to an early referendum, followed by multi-party elections in the early summer. Two new parties were granted licenses this week.
Assad’s long-term survival, however will depend, sources say, on whether Syria’s close ally, Iran manages to stand firm. Already under crippling Western sanctions, Iran faces what looks like an attempt, not just to halt its programme of uranium enrichment -- which Israel sees as a challenge to its own nuclear weapons monopoly – but to change the Tehran regime altogether. The United States and Israel -- supported by a number of European and Arab nations, who have joined in for their own commercial, sectarian or strategic interests -- have launched a determined assault on the tripartite alliance of Tehran, Damascus and Hizballah. The crime of this trio is to have dared challenge America’s military hegemony in the Gulf and Israel’s military hegemony in the Levant.

The three allies – Iran, Syria and Hizballah – know that they stand or fall together. The battle is likely to be fierce.
Iran is facing a systematic campaign aimed at subverting its nuclear facilities by cyber attack, the murder of its scientists, and the undermining of its economy by a boycott of its oil exports and Central Bank. Israel and its American friends are also sparing no effort to trigger a U.S. attack on Iran – much as they pushed the United States into invading and destroying Iraq. If Iran cracks under the pressure of sanctions and military threats, Syria could fall. Hizballah in turn, stripped of its external patrons, could then face another Israeli attempt to destroy it, as in 2006.

Bashar al-Assad’s attention is focussed on the danger to Syria from this ‘foreign conspiracy’. As he explained in his speech, it is only the latest of many such conspiracies: When Iraq was invaded in 2003, “Syria was threatened with bombing and invasion”; the same enemies exploited the assassination of Rafiq Hariri in 2005 to expel Syrian forces from Lebanon and attempt to bring down the Syrian regime; in 2006, Israel invaded Lebanon; in 2007, it bombed an alleged Syrian nuclear facility; in 2008, it attacked Gaza, each time exposing Syria to danger. But, Assad declared defiantly, “We will never allow them to defeat Syria... Resistance is the core of our identity.”
Assad sees his domestic opponents as allies of his foreign enemies, rather than as legitimate protesters against corruption, police brutality, severe youth unemployment and a lack of basic freedoms. That some of these opponents have taken up arms, killed soldiers and policemen and destroyed public property has served him well. He is resolved to “strike these murderous terrorists hard... There can be no compromise with terrorism.”
Such is his mindset, and such his justification for the bloody repression of the past ten months -- the large-scale killings, mass imprisonment, beatings and torture. These brutal methods have opened up a profound rift in Syrian society; they have sharpened sectarian tensions. They have gravely damaged Syria’s image and its international reputation. The internal wound will be difficult to heal. How will Syrians learn to live together again?
One Syrian source compared the situation with that which the French faced when, once the German occupation had ended, résistants and collaborators set about rebuilding their fractured society after World War 2.
Tourism in Syria has collapsed, the stock market has lost 50% of its value and the exchange rate for the dollar has fallen on the black market from 49 to 67 Syrian pounds. Fuel supplies are running short and the budget deficit has surged. But Syria enjoys a large measure of food autonomy and, if it tightens its belt, can probably survive sanctions and boycotts.

The most important asset which keeps the regime afloat is the continuing loyalty of the army and security services. Defections have been few. So long as this remains the case, the opposition will be unable to topple the regime. Nor can the opposition count on foreign military intervention: No Western or Arab nation is prepared to use force. Turkey might possibly consider intervening if its own vital interests were threatened -- by, say, active Syrian support for the PKK, the Kurdish Workers Party which has taken up arms against the Turkish state.

At the UN Security Council, Russia and China will protect Syria by vetoing any resolution authorising the use of force. Syria can probably also count on Iraq, Algeria and Sudan to prevent any internationalisation of the crisis. America’s decline – its retreat from Iraq, its failure in Afghanistan, its weariness with foreign adventures, its defence cuts -- are also much to Syria’s advantage.

The regime has two other important advantages: the opposition’s failure to unite behind a single leader or a single political project, and the fact that a good slice of the population still supports the regime. Minorities such as Alawis, Christians and Druze, as well as civil servants, officers, leading merchants in Damascus and Aleppo, and the new bourgeoisie -- comprising some tens of thousands of people, created by the neo-liberal economic model of the past decade -- are all wary of regime change.

They do not feel represented by the street protesters or the exiled opposition.
When Syrians see the terrible devastation caused by the civil wars on their borders in Lebanon and Iraq, they dread suffering the same fate. The fear of a sectarian civil war is on everyone’s mind. The Syrian Muslim Brothers, by far the strongest element in the opposition, are evidently waiting to avenge the crushing of their uprising at Hama in 1982. Beginning in the late 1970s, they mounted a terrorist campaign against the regime of Hafiz al-Assad, Bashar’s father. In one of their terrorist operations, 83 Alawi cadets were gunned down in Aleppo in 1979. When they seized Hama, they massacred Ba‘ath party members and officials. The government sent in troops to retake the town, killing over 10,000 people. The exact numbers are in dispute, but the specter of Hama hangs over the scene to this day, inflaming passions on both sides.

Patrick Seale is a leading British writer on the Middle East. His latest book is The Struggle for Arab Independence: Riad el-Solh and the Makers of the Modern Middle East (Cambridge University Press).

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The big lie of Iran 'two-tracks policy!'

2012-01-27T20:27:00.000+04:00

Via FLC

Week after Israel’s Visit, Dempsey:
Iran War Deeply Destabilizing

"... There is a common conception of Western policy as based on a two-pronged, carrot and stick approach: one a diplomatic track and the other a military threat....But by all appearances, the Western approach is solely designed to achieve Iranian capitulation to Western demands that it dismantle its nuclear research program.... ... ...

So there is not a two-track policy regarding Iran. There is instead a one-track policy with two facets. On the one hand, there is a program of sanctions and covert war designed to intimidate and bloody Iran into capitulation. But if that doesn’t work (and it surely cannot), there is a military option designed to destroy Iran’s nuclear program. It’s no surprise, then, that the Iranians see their enemies closing in on them like a vise. An enemy who believes he has no options left is very dangerous. He is likely to lash out in unforeseen ways. Such desperation is precisely what could fuel not just a bilateral military conflict, but a full-scale regional war.
There is another misconception about Western policy. The liberals among us talk about a “military strike” as an option of last resort. The more clear-eyed, like the Brookings Institution’s Bruce Riedel, talk of a potential war against Iran. Neither is precisely right. As Israeli journalists have pointed out, there already is a war under way against Iran. It is bought and paid for by a $400 million allocation by the Bush administration in 2007. It has funded all the tools in the Mossad arsenal that were used to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program and foment general unrest inside the country...

Though the cable doesn’t mention the Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK), the Mossad clearly views it as a potent force with an extensive internal network within the country, whose muscle could be exploited to further Israeli interests.

Mark Perry recently published an expose of one particular Mossad project, a false flag operation in which it recruited the leader of Jundallah, a Sunni terrorist group operating in Iran, by posing as NATO and CIA agents. When the Bush administration discovered the nature of the program, it was furious. But ultimately it decided it had other fish to fry and would not make a major stink about the danger the duplicitous operation posed to U.S. agents in the region.

Such Israeli tactics suggest that Israel pursues its own interests with little or no regard for how its behavior will impact friend or foe. For example, it utilizes the MEK as a partner in many of its terror operations inside Iran, even though U.S. State Department officially designates the MEK as a terror group.
This, of course, doesn’t stop the MEK and its well-paid domestic allies in the United States from pursuing an aggressive campaign to delist it as a terror group. Millions of dollars have been spent to further this goal, including enlisting prominent figures on both the Democratic and Republican sides to shill for delisting. The MEK appears to believe that terrorist activities in which it may be engaged inside Iran will not have an impact on its delisting by the United States. This is all the more reason for journalists in Israel and outside to make known its cooperation with the Mossad, so that the U.S. government can make an informed judgment about whether or not the MEK has renounced terrorism as it claims.

Some analysts have called this a black ops campaign or covert war. Whatever we call it, it is war by another means. If the United States is serious about seeking a diplomatic solution with Iran, then why would it both encourage and fund such a powerful campaign of terror inside Iran?... ...

After following Iranian-Western relations for years, I believe the diplomatic track is a mirage and that the sanctions regime, which the West has pursued without success for 30 years, will not gain Iran’s capitulation. That leaves only two options: war, or Western impotence in the face of Iran’s implacable determination to pursue a nuclear option. Either option is bad, but the first is far worse than the second.

The fallout from a war with Iran has been widely discussed.......
Since the United States doesn’t appear prepared for a real negotiation with Iran regarding its nuclear program, there is only one real approach short of war: containment. The United States adopted this approach during the Cold War against the Soviet Union. Though it was never optimal, considering the dysfunction in the relationship between the superpowers, containment worked reasonably well until the Soviet collapse in 1989.

As former Defense Department Undersecretary Colin Kahl argues in his latest Foreign Affairs article, the United States already has the assets in place in the region to pursue a policy of containment ... Containment still isn’t an optimal approach, but it’s the least bad one considering the current dysfunction characterizing relations between Iran and the West. In the future, Iran may turn to a reformist, more democratic government that might approach these issues differently. Or the climate in the West may change so that it would be willing to seriously engage with Iran on a similar basis to the Khatami 2003 proposals. But given the almost lunatic tone of the Republican presidential debates concerning Iran, and the fact that Barack Obama appears convinced that he must maintain impeccable national security credentials to protect his right flank, the United States is unlikely to adopt a more reasonable, pragmatic approach to Iran.
Under the circumstances, containment is the only remaining option that doesn’t lead to regional war, stalemate, and deeper dysfunction."

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"The buzz of victory & the agony of defeat!"

2012-01-27T15:11:00.002+04:00

Via FLC

Hariri took off his jacket and his tie, rolled up his shirt sleeves
and spoke to his supporters in Lebanese Arabic.
Feb 14, 2011
He confirmed via Twitter on January 14 that he will be returning to Lebanon soon.

Former PM Saad Hariri broke his left leg while skiing in the French Alps, said his press office in a statement on Saturday.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Independent Libyan Fact-Finding Mission

2012-01-27T13:03:00.000+04:00

by Stephen Lendman

A joint report was released by the Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR), Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), and International Legal Assistance Consortium (ILAC).
Their mission investigated alleged widespread international law violations since mid-February 2011. Its mandate included investigating those committed by:

the former government;
NATO; and
insurgents.

It also sought to identify human rights issues, requiring Lybian and international attention.
Investigators included “leading international jurists and lawyers with expertise in international human rights law, international humanitarian law, international criminal law, transitional justice, and the development of legal systems in post-conflict environments.”

Information obtained from witnesses, victims, and other parties were kept confidential unless already revealed and available.

Investigations weren’t meant to be comprehensive. Rather, the mission tried “to convey the considered observations of its members, in order to facilitate, and prompt, the work of other bodies and authorities.”

Investigators included:

Raji Sourani: PCHR Director, Arab Organization for Human Rights President (AOHR), International Federation for Human Rights Vice President, Executive Committee of the International Committee of Jurists member, as well as other credentials.
Amin Mekki Medani: Sudanese lawyer and former AOHR President. He also held various UN posts.
Mohsen Awad: former AOHR Secretary-General and Egyptian Human Rights Council member.
Amina Bouayach: Moroccan Organization for Human Rights President and International Federation for Human Rights Vice President.
Agneta Johansson: International Legal Assistance Consortium (ILAC) Deputy Director.
William Meyer: ILAC Chairman and former CEELI Prague Institute Executive Director.
Daragh Murray: Republic of Ireland IRCHSS Scholar and head of PCHR’s International Unit.
Hany Abu Nahla: head of PCHR’s Translation Unit.

From November 15 – 22, investigations and interviews were conducted in Western Libya alone, in and around Tripoli, Zawiya, Sibrata, Khoms, Zliten, Misrata, Tawergha, and Sirte. Significantly, Benghazi was omitted, an area plagued by insurgent crimes.

Findings revealed “significant” international law violations. However, imposed constraints prevented investigators from reaching “definitive legal conclusions regarding individual incidents.” Nonetheless, they believe crimes of war and against humanity were committed.

Evidence suggests NATO classified civilian sites as military ones for attacks, including homes, schools, colleges, food distribution centers, hospitals, mosques, and others. In addition, civilians were targeted, notably in Sirte.

In fact, one incident there killed 47 or more non-combatants. This and other incidents raise “significant questions,” requiring further inquiry and disclosure.

Insurgents also violated international law, including civilian killings; torture and other abuses; wrongful detentions; mistreatment of foreign workers, and forced “displacement of suspected enemies of the Revolution.”

Observations about Gaddafi’s Governance

Unfortunately, investigators used dubious sources, calling his authority “one man rule.” They include the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Crisis Group (ICG). Neither functions independently.

The ICC notoriously serves Western interests. As a result, it absolves or ignores their crimes while targeting their enemies like Gaddafi.

Former World Bank vice president Mark Malloch Brown and former US diplomat Morton Abramowitz co-founded the ICG. Now headed by former US diplomat Thomas Pickering and former International Criminal Tribunals chief prosecutor for Yugoslavia and Rwanda Louise Arbour, it functions the same way.

Its Executive Committee and advisors include former US and Western officials, former NATO commander Wesley Clark, and corporate figures like George Soros. They, in turn, reframed responsibility to protect authority in Libya to lawlessly intervene belligerently to establish neo-colonial rule. In fact, UN Charter provisions explicitly prohibit military force for humanitarian interventions.
Investigators also mischaracterized Jamahiriya governance, calling it “an elaborate facade” to hide Gaddafi’s sole authority. Quoting the ICG, they described it as “a highly complex formal ruling system containing a plethora of congresses and committees, often with overlapping powers, that have contributed to a sense of orchestrated and perpetual chaos.”

In addition by calling himself “Brother Leader,” Gaddafi “avoid(ed) accountability.”

They quoted the ICC saying “the Libyan State apparatus of power – including political, administrative, military and security branches – consists of a complex set of units and individuals, all of which are ultimately subject to the orders and control of” Gaddafi.

They ignored Washington’s longstanding regime change policy. As a result, an externally generated insurgency followed. In addition, the National Transitional Council (NTC) was illegitimately established with interim puppet authority for Western interests. Libyans are entirely shut out.
Nonetheless, investigators called it “internationally recognized as the Government of Libya….to oversee the transition to representative democracy.”

In fact, Washington, NATO partners, and complicit regional states don’t tolerate democracy or international law. Ignoring that denies reality.

Moreover, investigators claim “pre-revolutionary Libya (was) characterized by a climate of fear, in which individuals were afraid to speak their mind, where opposition – real or perceived – was ruthlessly crushed, and where security forces committed apparently widespread and systematic abuses with total impunity.”

Sadly, the facts belie this description. Most Libyans supported Gaddafi and still do. During NATO’s intervention, overwhelming numbers rallied openly. On July 1, 2011, 95% of Tripoli’s population (over a million strong) expressed support in Green Square.

Fear restrains them now. Doing so risks imprisonment, torture, and/or death by summary execution.
Libya’s social state was also ignored, including under Gaddafi’s 1999 Decision No. 111. It assured all Libyans free healthcare, education, electricity, water, training, rehabilitation, housing assistance, disability and old-age benefits, interest-free state loans, as well as generous subsidies to study abroad, buy a new car, help couples when they marry, practically free gasoline, and more.

Literacy under Gaddafi rose from 20 – 80%. Libya’s hospitals and private clinics were some of the region’s best. Now they’re in shambles.

Before war began, Libyans had Africa’s highest standard of living. Gaddafi’s Green Book said:
“The house is a basic need of both the individual and the family, therefore it should not be owned by others.” It also covered other social policies, saying:

“Women, like men, are human beings.
….(A)ll individuals have a natural right to self-expression by any means….;
In a socialist society no person may own a private means of transportation for the purpose of renting to others, because this represents controlling the needs of others.
The democratic system is a cohesive structure whose foundation stones are firmly laid above the other (through People’s Conferences and Committees). There is absolutely no conception of democratic society other than this.
No representation of the people – representation is a falsehood. The existence of parliaments underlies the absence of the people, for democracy can only exist with the presence of the people and not in the presence of representatives of the people.”

Green Book ideology rejects Western-style democracy and predatory capitalism, especially neoliberal exploitation. It’s one of many reasons why Gaddafi was ousted.

His impressive social benefits also included free land, equipment, livestock and seeds for agriculture to foster self-sufficient food production. In addition, all basic food items were subsidized and sold through a network of “people’s shops.”

Moreover, since the 1960s, women could vote and participate politically. They could also own and sell property independently of their husbands. Under the December 1969 Constitutional Proclamation Clause 5, they had equal status with men, including for education and employment, even though men played leading roles in society.

Until Washington and rogue NATO partners blocked its approval, the UN Human Rights Council praised Gaddafi in its January 2011 “Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Libya Arab Jamahiriya.”

It said his government protected “not only political rights, but also economic, educational, social and cultural rights.” It also lauded his treatment of religious minorities, and “human rights training” of its security forces.

Throughout most of 2011, NATO’s killing machine destroyed 42 years of achievements. All Libyans benefitted. Why else did Gaddafi have overwhelming support?

His vision marked him for removal. It was just a matter of when, even though he cooperated with Western powers post-9/11 on matters of intelligence and terrorism.

Until vilified and targeted, he was welcomed in Western capitals. In 2003, he came in from the cold, became a valued Western ally, and had meetings and discussions with top officials like UK Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, France’s Nicolas Sarkozy, Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi, US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, and others.

He also participated in the 2009 G-8 Summit in L’Aquila, Italy as Chairman of the African Union. At the time, he met and shook hands with Obama.

Moreover, ABC News interviewed him live, and on January 21, 2009, The New York Times published his op-ed headlined, “The One-State Solution” to resolve the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. He called “living under one roof….the only option for a lasting peace.”

On May 16, 2006, Washington restored full diplomatic relations. Libya was removed from its state sponsors of terrorism list. At the time, Rice called the move:
“tangible results that flow from the historic decisions taken by Libya’s leadership in 2003 to renounce terrorism and to abandon its weapons of mass destruction programs….Libya is an important model as nations around the world press for changes in behavior by the Iranian and North Korean regimes.”

She also praised Gaddafi’s “excellent cooperation” in fighting terrorism. Moreover, he opened Libya’s markets to Western interests by arranging deals with Big Oil giants BP, ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Occidental, France’s Total, Italy’s Eni Gas and others. By all appearances, he joined the club, so why turn on him?

Though on board in some ways, he very much wasn’t on others. He supported Palestinian rights. As a result, he opposed Israel’s occupation and Gaza’s siege.

Earlier he backed South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggles, as well as others in Northern Ireland, Spain, and elsewhere.

He had to die, but Why??

He opted out of AFRICOM’s imperial regional plan. He wanted Libyans to control their own resources and use revenues domestically for all Libyans. His Central Bank of Libya was state owned. It created its own money interest-free for economic growth, not speculation and wealth for predatory bankers.

He promoted pan-African unity, an idea anathema to Washington and Western powers. He advocated a new “Gold Standard,” replacing dollars with gold dinars, and hoped other African and Muslim states would adopt the idea. That alone got him targeted for removal.

He had nothing to do with downing Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. Neither did Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi. Scottish judges knew he was innocent but were pressured to convict.
Gaddafi never admitted fault. He took responsibility solely to have international sanctions removed. To this day, he and al-Megrahi stand falsely accused. Likely CIA /MI6/and/or Mossad involvement is never mentioned.

A Final Comment

Libyan Investigators have legitimate credentials as human rights supporters. Organizations like PCHR do extraordinary work. They deserve praise, encouragement and help.
Their report highlighted international crimes, need for more investigation, and prosecutions for those responsible.

It expressed concern for ongoing abuses in detention, mistreatment of foreign workers, and forced displacements of suspected Gaddafi loyalists. It called for measures to stop ongoing crimes.
Nonetheless, it wrongfully said “Libya is emerging from 42 years of authoritarian rule and governance characterized by injustice, the denial of fundamental human rights, and impunity.”

Libya’s now repressively occupied. A climate of fear prevails. Insurgent killers threaten Gaddafi supporters. Silence best protects them. Nonetheless, Libyans revealed crimes committed by NATO and rebel rat forces.

However, others condemning Gaddafi appear suspect. Indeed, he had enemies, but most Libyans supported him with good reason. As a result, the report tragically falls short. It includes NATO and insurgent crimes but mischaracterizes Gaddafi’s rule.

Hopefully, another mission will follow in less volatile times. Violence still rages. Little gets reported. Western media scoundrels entirely suppress it. Libyans deserve better. Their nation was peaceful until NATO showed up. Now it’s destroyed and all previously enjoyed rights lost.
Mission team members must acknowledge it and point fingers where they belong.

NOTE:

In mid-January, 12,000 US troops were positioned in Malta ahead of occupying Libya. On January 18, Libya SOS said hundreds of American soldiers already arrived. Libya’s Western-appointed foreign minister said 6,000 came to Tripoli’s Mitiga International Airport.
Straightaway, they set up “mobile camps and equipment around oil fields and refineries.” In other words, they’re protecting Western interests, principally oil. Libyans lost their rightful resources and living standard they afforded.

“Tunis Focus” reports that US forces are in Brega, Ras Lanouf, Sirte, and Tripoli’s Mitiga International Airport. Moreover, US and NATO helicopters, warplanes, and drones now patrol Libyan airspace. They’re surveilling and attacking suspicious targets.
Ahead lies occupation, neo-colonization, pillaging, exploitation, violence and repression. It persists wherever America shows up. So does overwhelming suffering and human misery. Libyans experienced it for months. Much more lies ahead.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

The Roots of Christian Zionism: How Scofield Sowed Seeds of Apostasy

2012-01-27T08:38:00.001+04:00

Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 10:19AM Gilad Atzmon

The Roots of Christian Zionism: How Scofield Sowed Seeds of Apostasy from WHTT on Vimeo.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Glad not to be ….. in the PSC

2012-01-27T02:20:00.000+04:00

by Roy Bard

The PSC AGM

Dr. Elias Akleh is a Palestinian. In 1948 and again in 1967 his family were displaced, and like millions of other Palestinians, he now finds himself living outside of his homeland. It is perhaps fortunate that he did not move to the UK and join the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, because after their AGM on Saturday, he would most likely by now be facing moves to expel him from the same campaign that seeks to liberate him.

I say this after reading his recent article The Brainwashing of the Jews, in which he makes a number of strong claims about the Judaic religion and the role it has played in shaping Jewish Identity. In exploring his theme, he draws entensively on the work of Jewish writers Nurit Peled-Elhanan and Lillian Rosengarten, and also cites Atzmon approvingly. But, it is the inclusion of the latter which I think would have necessitated the PSC Star chamber to be reconvened.

Also fortunate not to be members of the PSC are Richard Falk and Prof. Mearsheimer, both of whom not only endorsed Atzmon’s book The Wandering Who?, but went on to refuse to withdraw their endorsements when their ‘mistakes’ were pointed out to them. Tony Greenstein would surely have no compunction in denouncing them to the PSC as anti-semites.

The thought that, had they been members, the PSC might have taken action against a Palestinian and two influential figures in the Palestinian solidarity discourse because they dared to suggest that Jewish ideology is a subject that can and should be debated, is especially ironic when you consider how Ben Cohen bemoans the fact that Jewish Power has failed to damage Mearsheimer, despite even the intervention of the mighty Dersh.

The fact that a controversy did not erupt, that the endorsement of a Holocaust revisionist by a prominent professor at a major university did not lead to calls for his dismissal or resignation or even a chin-pulling symposium in the pages of the New York Times’s “Sunday Review,” represents an important shift in the privileges that anti-Semites and their sympathizers enjoy.

Later he claims:

The truth is that the rising fixation with Jewish power in our time has unwittingly revealed Jewish emasculation instead. Jews do not control the discourse; rather, the discourse controls them.

I think Cohen, in highlighting how this is a struggle for control of the discourse, is dead right. His angle is that as the victim of anti-semitism, Jews should be able to decide what anti-semitism is, -and that that decision should not be challenged. So naturally, he is troubled that an increasing number of Jewish voices are vocally expressing dissent and insisting on opening up the discourse, because, as is clear, there cannot be an easily accepted definition of anti-semitism, when there is disagreement within the group said to be the real victims..

As a Palestinian Dr. Akleh welcomes the fact that more Jewish voices are speaking out against the ideology which with they have been ‘brainwashed’. As a Jew, Cohen wants those voices stopped, and punished.

Now, which side has been taken by the PSC?

In both Cohen and Akleh there are ideas worth considering, ideas which examine the question of anti-Semitism from opposite ends of the spectrum, and I would urge people to read them for themselves. And, if you’re worried about the PSC exec finding out you’re reading Akleh, why not do it under the bed-covers with a flashlight, in the early hours?
You should be safe…… for now.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Laura Stuart: PSC, Racism and the 'Two State Solution'

2012-01-26T20:56:00.000+04:00

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 11:31AM Gilad Atzmon

www.deliberation.info/

Things can only get worse for the PSC. So far, the PSC leadership have faced just the thin end of a derailment campaign which is sure to intensify now they have shown such willingness to bow to Jewish power tactics. Now that PSC has started to censor its own members on such issues as holocaust revisionism and anti-Semitism, the attacks on an already weakened P.S.C. can only increase. My friends who are still members tell me that lately in regional meetings, all too many hours have been spent discussing these topics and despite hours of what should have been active campaigning time spent on these distractions, as predicted by many it has resulted only with the Zionists emboldened to make even more demands.

Outside, Harry’s Place, The Jewish Chronicle and Anthony Cooper hover and squawk over the PSC’s demise like vultures over a corpse, while within, Tony Greenstein and Naomi Wimbourne- Idrissi pass motions that serve only to hasten PSC’s decomposition. How two self-identifying political Jews, both operating in racially-orientated Jewish political groups (Does J.B.I.G. or J.F.J.F.P. have any Palestinian members or indeed any members who are non-Jews?), can lead a discourse on racism is a question we should all be asking.

It is no coincidence that these attempts to delegitimise PSC should occur after the Freedom Flotilla (Mavi Marmara) which hit the mainstream media highlighting the injustice of the siege of Gaza and proving to the world that Israel Occupation Forces can and will kill with complete impunity. No other action since then has had such a huge impact. However, when the Reut Institute, an Israeli Intelligence Agency in August 2010, wrote its report on the Flotilla, it revealed that Israel had woken up to the fact that Muslims, Christians, Jews, leftists and atheists were able to work together in harmony to organise this huge initiative. So, it was decided that, after the flotilla, the main hasbara aim was to “delegitimize the delegitimizers “. PSC came late to support of the Freedom Flotilla, and was represented by only one delegate Sarah Colbourne who found a place on the Mavi Marmara only at the very last minute. Till then, PSC had not supported or even mentioned the mission.
Here is a quote from the Reut Institute Report:-

However it was the ability of its organizers to mobilize leading figures among the liberal progressive elite in the West that bolstered the Gaza Flotilla and turned it into a global and politically explosive event. The big-tent approach of ‘everyone is invited’ resulted in the participation of both extreme Islamists and European intellectuals; Jews, Christians, and Muslims; Arab citizens of Israel; and others. In all likelihood, the vast majority of those present did not aim to promote the delegitimization of the State of Israel.”

So, according to Israeli intelligence agency The Reut Institute, not all those on board the flotilla were against the existence of the Jewish State. Unbelievably, PSC’s Hugh Lanning confirms this. In the Morning Star he states that the PSC fully supports the “Two-State Solution”

But PSC speaker Hugh Lanning hit back. He stressed the need for two states based on the 1967 borders – a demand recently backed by US President Barack Obama but consistently rejected by Israel. “At the moment there is only one state – Israel,” he said. “A two-state solution objectively means the creation of a free, independent Palestinian state which does not exist right now.”

So there we have it in black and white; PSC supports the “Two State Solution” and at the same time proclaims itself as an organisation which is ‘anti-racist’.

The State of Israel wants to be “The Jewish State” and, as I write, is busily engaged in passing even more apartheid laws to disadvantage non-Jews. Many Israelis state openly their desire for 20% of their population who are Palestinian Arabs to be transferred into what would be the new State of Palestine thus making Israel a Jewish state pure and cleansed of Arabs. “Rein Juedischer Staat” in the equivalent Nazi terminology. So, to accept the Two-State Solution with its implicit renunciation of the right of return is, in my opinion, as full a complicity in racist ethnic cleansing as it is possible to be. Should not the truly non racist vision of One Democratic State, where the claimed Semites, the Jews live side by side in harmony with the real Semites, the Palestinians? So much for the ‘anti-racist’ PSC.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Arab Uprisings Await Their Economic Spring

2012-01-26T20:25:00.000+04:00

Demonstrators take part in a protest marking the first anniversary
of Egypt's uprising at Tahrir square in Cairo 25 January 2012.
(Photo: REUTERS - Mohamed Abd El-Ghany)

By: Yassine Temlali

Published Wednesday, January 25, 2012

The working class in the Arab world has accomplished a lot in the course of one year of uprisings. Some of these accomplishments are material, including higher wages and improvements in working conditions. Others are political, such as the right to democratic representation (the rise of Egyptian independent unions and changing the leadership of the Tunisian general workers’ union, among others).

There is no doubt that these achievements are important. However, whether dictators left or became “reformers,” such advances have not yet been accompanied by changes in economic policy. This was the case even in Egypt and Tunisia, where the revolutionary tide overthrew two symbols of authoritarian rule and liberal looting.

In Egypt, the military council acts as though Hosni Mubarak gave up power peacefully and voluntarily, not under popular pressure in which labor strikes played no small part. There is hardly any difference between the budget that the first Egyptian prime minister after the revolution, Essam Sharaf, prepared for the council in July 2011 and that which Mubarak’s last Prime Minister Ahmad Nadif proposed in July 2010.

Even worse, after a “careful reading” by the military council of Sharaf’s proposals – and under the pretext of “protecting the revolution” from itself – the council ordered him to reduce some public expenditures on social programs, which he reluctantly tried to avoid (particularly in the fields of health, housing, wages, and unemployment benefits).

The current Prime Minister, Kamal Ganzouri, is just as bad as his predecessor. Despite the ongoing popular protests in all their forms (labor strikes, protests demanding the supply of gas, etc.), no differences can be detected between the economic policy that is to be implemented under the military’s rule and those implemented under Mubarak’s governments.

The current government’s plan appears to continue to place the economic burden on the poor. This will be done by increasing taxes on the poor and borrowing massive amounts from abroad, which ordinary people and their children will spend their lives paying back.

There is no better indication of the continuity between past and present, and between civil tyranny and military democracy, than reports today about ending subsidies on certain commodities, including fuel. Also, Egypt has accepted a US$3.2 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. This loan, of course, comes with IMF conditions to be allowed to oversee the government’s economic policy (especially public expenditure on social programs).

One year since January 25, there appears to be no retreat from Mubarak’s economic policy (its disadvantages can be summed up in “corruption” and “illegal profits”), and from the privatization of dozens of governmental institutions. The military council has not even thought about requiring businessmen to contribute to resolving Egypt’s financial crisis.

Rats desert a sinking ship, fools ride

According to Ganzouri, their contribution should not exceed the generosity of paying for the energy that their factories consume. It does not seem that the Muslim Brotherhood, who will form the next government, intends to change the direction of the country’s economic policy. On the contrary, the Brotherhood have made promises – to both the military and the US – to respect the laws of investment and encourage investors.

Despite sweeping political change in Tunisia (including heads of the state, parliament, government, and a large number of the old opposition ministers), the economic scene there does not differ much from that in Egypt. As soon as the Islamist government of Hamadi Jebali came to office, it was quick to reassure the business sector (both local and the European) by promising to respect the current investment laws and to encourage investors. Thus, it took the same course as that of Beji Caid el Sebsi’s government before it, which in turn was a mere continuation of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali’s approach.

President Moncef Marzouki will not stand in the way of the government’s promises. On December 23, he called for a “social truce,” by threatening action on the part of “law enforcement” if strikes and protests continue to disrupt production (this statement made in a speech that he delivered before Tunisian employers).

The new Tunisian authorities have done nothing to suggest that they plan to abandon the “Tunisian model,” which has been associated with Ben Ali’s name. It is a model that is based on investment in the coastal areas (near the commercial ports) at the expense of the country’s interior. This model directs production towards exports while assisting economic sectors that do not require a highly skilled workforce, such as textiles and services (which explains the high rate of unemployment among university graduates).

If it were not for the ongoing protests in the northwestern and central provinces, we would have forgotten that the Tunisian revolution, before turning into a gentle romantic “jasmine revolution,” erupted in Sidi Bouzid as a result of Ben Ali’s “economic miracles.”

Such a grim description of the current scene is not intended to blame the working class for its inability to play a role in the political developments unfolding in the region.

Revolution is not as simple as a genie that springs from a bottle to fulfill all the people’s aspirations in the blink of an eye. The intent of the above account is rather to serve as a reminder that the Arab uprisings are still awaiting their social spring, and that capitalist forces, which are terrified of the shift in class forces locally and regionally, have adapted completely to the new Arab situation. What is becoming abundantly clear in this new situation is that religious party leaders have replaced part of the old ruling elite.

The dominant forces in society have shown a considerable amount flexibility. Just as they supported Mubarak’s and Ben Ali’s governments in the past, today they support the government appointed by the “spiritual guides,” including Mohammad Badie, Rachid Ghannouchi, and others, as long as they keep the radical social and political movements at bay.

For this reason, the coming period is extremely sensitive in countries that experienced revolutions. Today, working class and poor people in Tunis and Egypt find themselves for the first time confronting Muslim Brotherhood governments, draped in the cloth of revolutionary legitimacy. Yet, these governments are, to some extent, products of the dominant classes and fully represent their interests.

It may be more difficult now for workers to fight for their rights than when the “Muslim Brothers” were among the opposition. However, they will be spared the mirage of a “religious solution” as they watch the Islamists attempt to distract them with proclamations to uphold their “identity.” They will in fact be trying to divert workers’ attention from the “public interest” that Islamist claims to defend. In reality, these are the “interests of the rich” – those with or without beards.

Yassine Temlali is an Algerian writer.

The views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect Al-Akhbar's editorial policy.
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

PA Political Terminology 101: When Talks Are Not Talks

2012-01-26T19:30:00.000+04:00

Posted on 25/01/2012

by reham alhelsi

In the last couple of weeks, we have been extra blessed with the faces of various PA officials appearing almost every day to comment, give interviews or talks, in which they declare, confirm and strongly stress that what is happening in Amman are not negotiations. No, these are not negotiations.

These are talks.
These are discussions.
These are exploratory meetings (whatever that might mean).
These are breakfasts in Amman.
These are negotiation-less nights in Amman.
These are “how to sell out your country in 20 years” upgrade courses.

But they are not negotiations.

This ass licking

And they should know better, right? In fact, the negotiations-till-death-do-us-part team stressed several times that there will be no return to negotiations until the Zionist entity agrees to stop its illegal settlement activities in the future PA “state”. What is happening in Amman are talks, not negotiations, talks to secure a settlement freeze before the talks on settlements and other stuff, aka the negotiations, resume. See? There is a big difference between talks and talks, and before you judge the PA, you should have read their negotiations handbook: “Birth is Negotiations, Death is Negotiations and all that is in between is Negotiations”, and you would have understood that what is happening in Amman are not negotiations. No, they are talks.

The audacity with which the PA continues to act as if these are not negotiations and continues to stress that negotiations won’t be resumed until Israel agrees to freeze its settlement activities, knows no limits. And despite all forms of protest against these useless negotiations, against the whole negotiations charade, not only do PA officials continue to negotiate, but they also claim that they are negotiating away our land and our rights in our very own name, claiming to be our representatives. And as if not enough, they appear on TV stations, give interviews, talk in local conferences and meetings and declare, in a very strict tone, that there will be no return to negotiations until Israel stops its illegal settlement activities. They swear never to return to negotiations, even if it means resigning, even if it means the collapse of the PA, and countless are the times when we heard the PA-head and the negotiations-head threatening with resignation. But still they continue to return to negotiations, under various names, and continue to threaten and swear never to return to negotiations, while there is not a glimmer of a sign of any resignation.

It is not the first time that PA officials have done this. Wasn’t it only recently that they, for the Xth time, swore never to return to negotiations unless Israel stops all its settlement activity? And when they, as usual, did return to the negotiations (for the sums they get for negotiating away our rights and our Palestine are more important than you, me, every single one of us, they are more important than Palestine itself), they stressed that it wasn’t a return to “direct” negotiations, but a return to “indirect” negotiations! As in: during “direct” negotiations, PA and Israeli officials meet, negotiate, aka Israelis dictate and PA officials nod and sign on napkins, attend a negotiations banquet together, and everyone gets a “direct-“negotiations-trip album as souvenir. During “indirect” negotiations, PA and Israeli officials meet, negotiate, aka Israelis dictate and PA officials nod and sign on napkins, attend a negotiations banquet together, and everyone gets an “indirect”-negotiations-trip album as souvenir. And today, PA officials again treat us, the Palestinian people, as if we were the little children who are easily fooled and tell us: “listen kids, we are not negotiating, we are talking! Wallahi, we swear not to go back to negotiations, so be quiet!”

And while PA officials “talk” in Amman, Palestinian politicians from various PLO factions return from the world beyond, bless us with their faces and voices after long silences and extended absence, and announce their denouncement of these talks, that they are not in the interest of the Palestinian people or the Palestinian cause, and then return back to their daily work of sitting in offices and claiming to represent people and parties and cashing salaries at the end of the month. God bless the PLO! They all claim to represent us, those who are members in the PLO, and those who aren’t or soon will be. And knowing that the majority of Palestinians is against these talks, discussions, negotiations, whatever they are called, they flip a coin and send someone to denounce the whole process, and that’s it: “We did what we do best: we condemned, we denounced”. Yes, all that matters these days is not Palestine, but the salary at the end of the month. God bless the PLO!

And since, according to the PA, talks are not negotiations, except when they are meant to mean so, I suggest preparing a dictionary of PA political terminology. It will help avoid misunderstandings and will help us, ordinary Palestinians, understand what PA negotiators are talking about since their language is beyond our comprehension and help us understand when talks are talks and when talks are not talks. A reference will be made to what every term actually means to the majority of the Palestinians. There are many such political terms out there that need clarifications, but I suggest starting with the following:

Al-Quds

Fayyad participates in first international "Jerusalem" Marathon
in Abu Dis
1. Describes, according to the PA, the Areas Abu Dees and Izariyyeh, and depending on whether Israeli will “give back” Beit Hanina and Shu’fat to the Palestinians, which is most probably not, Sawahreh might be added to the area designated as Al-Quds.
2. The name Al-Quds is used to disguise the fact that when the PA talks about Al-Quds, it is not talking about the eastern part of Jerusalem, and thus won’t cause the anger or the distress of the PA’s partners-in-peace by demanding the liberation of Al-Quds.
3. PA plans to liberate Al-Quds include 15+ years of useless negotiations on everything except the main issues, building a hanging bridge to Al-Aqsa mosque, giving up the Old city of Jerusalem and other areas in exchange for more control in areas B and C so the PA can continue to play king and kingdom.
4. To many Palestinians, Al-Quds remains one, with its eastern and western parts, the only and irreplaceable capital of Palestine.

PA State

1. Describes the area Israel allows the PA president and officials to move within, using Israeli permits to leave and enter, usually areas A and B of the West Bank with possible loss of these areas depending on the mood of the Israeli soldier at the checkpoint or the mood of the Israeli official issuing the permit.
2. Also used to describe Swiss cheese, Bantustans, Ghettos, a prison within a prison.
3. To PA officials, the PA Palestinian state is any piece of Palestine the Israelis have no use of. The Motto of this PA state is: Life is Negotiations. The flag of this state is: My political party is above all. The national Anthem is: Hader ya Sidi! (yes, sir!).
4. To many Palestinians, the only Palestinian state is one with all of Palestine from the River to the Sea.

State-building

Jericho Casino

1. Describes the Jericho Casino, the Rawabi elite “city”, the Muqata’a imperial palace, and the Wadi in-Nar death-trap aka road.
2. This is accompanied with the introduction of night-clubs and bars in Ramallah, the political and economic capital of the PA, as signs of the approaching independence, 5 star hotels and cafes for PA officials, new-age revolutionaries and foreign aid workers.
3. Further signs of state-building include the destruction of local economy, the alarmingly growing dependence on foreign donors who enslave us in return for salaries at the end of the month, the various industrial zones for the enslavement of Palestinian workers, the wide-spread corruption and the building of massive palaces on the hilltops of Ramallah and Nablus whose shadow cools the hot air over the nearby refugee camps.
4. To many Palestinians, the PA state-building is nothing but a form of consolidating and securing the Israeli occupation.

Negotiations

1. Describes “Life” from the view point of PA top-negotiators; every minute of a PA-official’s life is negotiations, it is to the PA as natural as breathing, as drinking, as eating. Without negotiations, the PA will die, will cease to exit since the only reason for its creation is to negotiate away Palestinian land and rights “in the name of Palestinians”.
2. Has other names such as talks, discussions, exploratory meetings and any other term PA negotiators might think of.
3. Also refers to the condition where the oppressor dictates the rights of the oppressed and how much “freedom” and “space” the oppressed is allowed to have and not have.
4. To many Palestinians, negotiations describe the process of selling out one’s homeland, village by village, town by town, house by house, field by field, tree by tree, water drop by water drop, in exchange for an imaginary kingdom, imaginary titles, imaginary ministries, villas in Ramallah and the south of France, various accounts in Swiss banks and Israeli VIP-permits.

Peace process

1. Describes a never-ending process, where one party kills, steals and destroys the other party’s people and land. The word peace is deceptive since this particular peace process has nothing to do with peace. 2. To the PA, the term peace process means an industry, a big business and loads of money regardless of the suffering caused to the Palestinian people because of this process.
3. Also refer to a delusion, a mirage, a charade, a big fat lie.
4. To many Palestinians, the peace process is an instrument of the occupation to continue the ethnic cleansing of Palestine and the theft of Palestinian land.

Resignation

1. Describes a charade by PA officials. PA officials who resign or are made to resign over corruption cases, moral issues, etc., keep away from the spotlights, don’t give any interviews for a few weeks, or depending on the offence committed, for a few months, and then return to their posts, or other posts within the PA apparatus, and act as if nothing happened.
2. Another form of resignation is the recurring threats of the PA-head of resigning that are never actually implemented, e.g. threatening to resign if the Palestinian people tell him to do so (Note: they do this in every form possible, , not to mention that his “mandate” expired long ago), threatening to resign if negotiations prove futile (after 16 years still waiting for them to prove futile).
3. A term that is alien within the PA and PLO systems.
4. Also means: I am staying here till the last breath.
5. To many Palestinians, resignation is a card used by the PA to silence criticism and opposition.

Right of Return

1. Describes the Right of Return as redefined by the PA within the framework of the “peace process”:1. A return of some thousands or hundreds or whatever number of refugees Israel agrees to. 2. A return to Ramallah or Bethlehem or whatever part of the Bantustan aka the Palestinian state the Zionist entity agrees to.
2. To the PA, the Right of Return is negotiable, like all other Palestinian rights and its price depends on the highest bidder.
3. To many Palestinians, the Right of Return describes what is an inalienable and non-negotiable right for over 5 million Palestinian refugees who will never accept less than a full return to their original homes and villages.

Elections

1. Describes a process with international observers and all, after which, depending on the results, the choice of the voters will either be celebrated or ignored and boycotted. Following elections in the PA “liberated” areas, if the winners are opponents of the negotiations process, they get kidnapped by the Israeli occupation forces and the losers, if they believe that “Negotiations are the Solution”, they get to build cabinets with the claim that it’s all for the interest of the people.
2. One example of elections under PA is Local Elections, which are postponed from one year to the next, and most probably will never take place because they know they won’t win.
3. To many Palestinians, elections are a theoretical right bestowed on the Palestinians of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, but practically denied all Palestinians in occupied Palestine and the Diaspora.
And yes, there is a special list of terminology for “activism for Palestine”, where Palestine, resistance, activism and other Palestinian constants are reshaped and redefined to fit what pleases and appeals to others. But that is another blog post.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Intensive Diplomatic Visits to Russia in Attempt to Change Stance on Syria

2012-01-26T16:28:00.001+04:00

Local Editor

Britain, France and the United States are making efforts in cooperation with Qatar and Morocco, and the support of the Arab League Secretary General to release a new decision against Syria in the UN Security council.

The Security Council resolution draft states that it ” supports an Arab League facilitation to a political transition in Syria.”
In this field, Moscow has been witnessing lately a wide diplomatic movement that aim at persuading the country to change its stance on Syria.

Arab ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council are preparing to visit Russia, after Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglou concluded his visit that included talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

Lavrov expressed to Davutolgu his rejection to any one-sided decision against Syria in the UN Security Council.

“We are open to any constructive suggestion for a solution to the crisis in Syria… and we don’t support any suggestion that proposes taking one-sided decisions against Syria, such as the sanctions that were imposed without previous negotiations with Russia, China, and the rest of the member countries of BRICS… any decision against Syria in the international security council must not be seen as a justification to foreign intervention,” the Russian Foreign Minister said.

Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman and his assistant Fred Hof also held meetings in Moscow with Russian diplomats.

According to the US embassy, the two parts agreed on moving on with their cooperation on the Syrian file.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Islamists in power: Old and new experiences. The Examination is Palestine

2012-01-26T13:27:00.000+04:00

by Tallal Salman
Translation, Pics, links by Alex

In its long history the image of political Islam across the Arab world was never bright image accusations and suspicions chased its ideology and practice.

Muslim Brotherhood is accused in its patriotism sometimes, by talking about its link to colonial Western circles, starting with the British and now with the USA and the position towards the Israeli occupation of Palestine, especially as political Islam progressing towards more power from an Arab country wanted to reassure Israelis, via Washington, its commitment to peace treaty with the Jewish State despite Israeli continuing efforts to raze Palestine from the map and perhaps from memory.

It was among the causes of distortion in the image of the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic fundamentalists, including Salafis, is its early clash with revolution led by Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt, which gradually spread to various political parties, Arab nationalism, as well as Marxist political movements and national movements rejecting the inclusion of religious emblem, in a region having multiple identities and religious sectarianism, considering Islamists a tool lifting an Islamic banner to divide the masses and prevents its unity in the face of Western colonialism .

Regardless of right and wrong in these confrontations and wars and its fire extinguished over half a century or more, generations grew on the fear of Islamic organizations, especially with regimes using the Islamic slogan considering Nationalism and «Arabism» even «national» a work of the devil….With promotion for Caliph the only way to unite the House of faith!

It is fair to say that fighting Communism had occupied the Islamists attention more than the Israeli occupation of Palestine and its extension to the territory of other Arab countries including Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan

There is more than one experience to govern in the name of Islam, most notably at the moment-the Iranian regime and the regime in Turkey, each providing a different experience. it is naive to attribute the Turkish experience to the Arab Edition of Muslim Brotherhood, and to attribute the Iranian experience to Shiite Imamiyah theory which was never practiced in Islamic History.

For example, Turkey, now led by brothers, despite the interlocutory vessel Marmara crisis with the Zionist entity, did not alter the fundamentals of its relationship both with the West in General, mainly USA and NATO, and with the Israeli entity. In the latest news about this Maramara incident that was plunged by the Turkish Government, media, and then suddenly withdrawn, the Prosecutor, upon from the Government to freeze all legal proceedings against military and political forums in Israel involved in the attack on the ship Marmara.

According to news, published by the Yediot Aharonot newspaper Ankara had waived its claim against Israel, and even its request for an apology for the described crime the whole world has seen.

Turkey, of course, has the appropriate policy for its national interests, but it is essential that the Arabs deal with this policy in the light of their national interests including certainly the question of Palestine.

Muslim Brotherhood's Turkey... approved recently, what was rejected by many European countries, a US demand to deploy anti-missile missile network in its territory, it is self-evident that this network raises concern Iran and Iraq and Syria, in addition to Russia....

Obviously, this commitment to the security of the West does not correspond exactly to the Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet davutoğlu speculations on New Ottoman, and is not a source to reassure Muslims and Arabs.

In this particular area there is virtually no differences between Arab regimes governing on behalf of the «Salafis» and the Turkish regime which governs on behalf of the «enlightened Islam» basis on the policy of «zero» problems with neighbouring States. Everyone is in the West and with the West, there is no difference between a regime and another other than the logo.

This raises serious questions on political Islam in its various versions and its stand towards Arab issues in General, and specifically the question of Palestine. This should put Islamic Authorities and policies for open discussion: Does the Islamic ruling determine the Islamists policies toward the world, and sort who is the friend, and who is the enemy? or its controlled by interests of the Governor like any another Governor whether secular or Islamist claiming that Sharia is the source of legislation?

But this raises serious questions religion as an Authority in the policies and interests of states, especially when Islamic history is without a valid model proving the success «Islamic state» anytime, anywhere. Apart from the ritual, the Caliph State after the four wise Caliphs had become Caliph an Empire with Islamic logo ruled by a family having Quraish roots for the Governor and his family first and foremost,

Is it an exaggeration to say that the Islamic revolution in Iran has acquired something of its brilliance by raising «Palestine» banner, and cutting its ties with Israel and giving its Embassy in Tehran, occupying the size of an entire neighborhood, to Yasser Arafat?

Its normal for Arab to receive statements by some Muslim Brotherhood leaders in Egypt and Tunisia on peace with Israel and on the Palestinian issue with surprise and rejection.

Of course, people are aware of Qatar Governor, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, proud for being from Bani Tamim, and a Wahabi before Saudis, because he is a grandson of Imam Muhammad bin Abdul Wahab, racing to establish a formal relationship with Israel by opening a representative office in Doha, while confirming his Wahabi roots by building the largest mosques in the world on behalf of «novelty», of the founder of the Saudi Wahhabism, without feeling any contradiction between this show and claiming to be at the forefront of Arab supporters of the «Arab spring» and being a guest of honor at the first anniversary of Tunisia's celebrating Mohammed Bouazizi uprising, who ignited the revolution while burned himself because of the crisis in his poor living in the South of Tunisia.

However, the Islamist regime in Egypt emerging from parliamentary elections, putting the Muslim Brotherhood at the top of the political scene, followed by direct «NOOR PARTY» shall be a turning point, towards testing the Islamists organizations agendas and its compatibility with slogans they raised and fought and suppressed for it until they started bargaining on it during Mubarak era.

Based on transformations undergone by the Islamists, and specifically the brotherhood over the previous decades, it is natural that strong debate erupts, to check the differences that distinguish the brotherhood from the Salafi parties for this or that being so close to govern.

It is a new stage in Arab political history: Islamists are advancing to govern in more than one Arab capital, the stage is open to them to prove their merit without revenge from past persecution, in line with the aspirations of Arab peoples and demands taking into consideration that, politically, Palestine cause is the most dangerous test even if they push forward the socio-economic demands

Hamas to leave Syria & Meshaal could step down

الإسلاميون في السلطة:
تجارب قديمة وحديثة.. والامتحان فلسطين

طلال سلمان

لم يكن للإسلام السياسي عبر تنظيماته المختلفة، صورة مشرقة في الدنيا العربية، على امتداد تاريخه الطويل، وقد طاردته الاتهامات والشبهات في منبته الفكري كما في ممارساته السياسية، تحالفاً أو اعتراضاً. في المشرق كما في بعض أنحاء المغرب العربي، اتهم تنظيم الإخوان المسلمين في وطنيته أحياناً، فتم الحديث عن ارتباط ما له بدوائر غربية استعمارية، بدأت بالبريطانيين وها هي الآن تتركز على الأميركيين، ساحبة نفسها على موقفه من الاحتلال الإسرائيلي لفلسطين، خصوصاً مع تقدمه نحو السلطة في أكثر من بلد عربي وحرصه على تطمين الإسرائيليين، عبر واشنطن، عن التزامه منطوق معاهدة الصلح المنفرد مع «دولة يهود العالم» وبمعزل عن جهودها المتواصلة لشطب فلسطين عن الخريطة وربما من الذاكرة.

ولقد كان بين أسباب التــشوه الذي أصاب صورة الإخوان المسلمين خاصة والأصوليات الإسلامية عامة، وفيها السلفية، الصدام المبكر مع ثورة 23 يوليو بقيادة جمال عبد الناصر في مصر، وهو صدام امتد تدريجياً الى مختلف منظومات العمل السياســي، رافــعة رايــة القومية العربية، فضلاً عن الحركات السياسية ذات الشعار الماركسي (الأحزاب الشيوعية وسائر التنظيمات الرديفة او المتفرعة عنها)، وصولاً الى الحركات الوطنية التي كانت ترفض أن تدمغ بشعـار ديني، في منطقة متعددة الهويات الدينـية والطائفــية، إذ ترى فيه عمـلاً تقسيمياً، يمكن ان يشق الصفوف المطلوب توحدها في مواجهة الاستعمار الغربي والأنظمة الموالية له والتي تحاول تمويه ارتباطها برفع الشعار الإسلامي.

وبغض النظر عن الصح والغلط في تلك المواجهات بل «الحروب» التي لم تنطفئ نيرانها على امتداد نصف قرن او يزيد، فقد نشأت أجيال على الخوف من التنظيمات ذات الشعار الإسلامي، لا سيما أن الأنظمة التي تتلطى خلف هذا الشعار كانت تعتبر «القومية» ومعها «العروبة» وحتى «الوطنية» بدعة من عمل الشيطان وتقاتلها، وإن من موقع دفاعي حتى تتوب عن غيها وتعود الى «الأصول» و«المنابع» مع ترويج حيي أحيانا لبعث «الخلافة» كإطار سياسي جامع لدار الإيمان!

وليس من التجني على التنظــيمات والأنظمـة التي حكمت باسم الإسلام وتحت رايته، القول إن الشيوعية قد شغلتها بأكثر مما شغلها الاحتلال الإسرائيلي لفلسطين ثم تمدده الى أراضي دول عربية بينها مصر وسوريا ولبنان ثم الأردن بعدما حوله ذلك الاحتلال من إمارة الى مملكة.. هاشمية.

وثمة أكثر من تجربة للحكم باسم الإسلام أبرزها - في هذه اللحظة - النظام الإيراني ومن ثم النظام في تركيا، وكل من النظامين يقدم تجربة مختلفة كل الاختلاف عن تجربة الآخر... ومن باب التبسيط المخل بالمعنى أن يُنسب التركي الى تنظيم الإخوان المسلمين بطبعته العربية، وأن يُنسب الإيراني الى الشيعة الإمامية التي لم تعرف لها تجربة سابقة في الحكم.

وعلى سبيل المثال لا الحصر فإن الحكم في تركيا الآن والذي يقوده «الإخوان» لم يبدل جوهره في أساسيات العلاقة سواء مع الغرب عموماً، بالولايات المتحدة الاميركية أساساً ومن ثم الحلف الأطلسي، أو مع الكيان الإسرائيلي. على الرغم من «الأزمة العارضة» التي أثارها اعتراض القوات الخاصة الإسرائيلية طريق الباخرة «مرمرة» حاملة المعونات الغذائية وبينها حليب الأطفال الى «غزة المحاصرة»، وقتل تسعة من المتطوعين على ظهرها، ومن ثم أسرها واعتقال مجموع من كانوا عليها والإصرار على محاكمتهم. وفي آخر الأخبار عن ذلك الحادث الذي ضخمته الحكومة التركية الى أقصى حد، إعلامياً، ثم سحبته فجأة من دائرة القرار، أن المدعي العام التركي قد تلقى - قبل أيام - تعليمات من الحكومة «بتجميد كل الإجراءات القانونية ضد المحافل السياسية والعسكرية في إسرائيل والتي اعتبرت متورطة في الاعتداء على السفينة مرمرة..».

تضيف الأخبار، التي نشرتها صحيفة «يديعوت احرونوت» الإسرائيلية، أن أنقره قد تنازلت عن دعواها ضد إسرائيــل، وحتى عن طلب الاعتذار منها عن هذه الجريمة الموصوفة التي شهد عليها العالم أجمع. لتركيا، بالطبع، الحق في رسم السياسة التي تراها ملائمة لمصالحها الوطنية، لكن من الضروري أن يحاكم «العرب» هذه السياسة في ضوء مصالحهم الوطنية والقومية، وضمنها بالتأكيد قضية فلسطين. فتركيا الإخوان المسلمين ما تزال تقدم التنازل تلو التنــازل للــغرب طلباً لقبولها في الاتحاد الأوروبي فلا تلقى غير الصد، الذي قارب حدود الإهانة.

وتركيا الإخوان المسلمين قد وافقت، مؤخـراً، على ما رفضـته دول أوروبية كثيرة، وهو المطلب الأميركي بنشر شبكة الصواريخ المضادة للصواريخ في أراضيها، ومن البديهي ان تثير هذه الشبكة قلق إيران والعراق وسوريا، إضافة الى روسيا، وهي المعنية أساساً به، بطبيعة الحال. وبديهي ان هذا الالتزام بأمن الغرب لا يتطابق تماماً مع تنظيرات وزير الخارجية التركية أحمد داود أوغلو عن «العثمانية الجديدة»، وليس مصدراً لطمأنة المسلمين في مختلف ديارهم.

في هذا المجال تحديداً تكاد تنعدم الفروق بين الأنظمة العربية التي تحكم باسم «السلفية» وبين النظام التركي الذي يحكم باسم «الإسلام المستنير» معتمداً سياسة «صفر مشكلات» مع دول الجوار... فالكل عند الغرب ومع الغرب لا فرق بين نظام وآخر إلا بالشعار.

وهذا يطرح جدياً مواقف الإسلام السياسي بطبعاته المختلفة من القضايا العربية عموماً، ومن القضية الفلسطينية على وجه التحديد... كما انه يطرح سياسات المرجعيات الإسلامية للنقاش المفتوح: هل تحدد «إسلامية» الحاكم سياساته تجاه العالم، وتفرز الصديق عن العدو، ام تتحكم بها المصالح شأنه شأن أي حاكم آخر، علمانياً كان ام يقول بالشريعة مصدراً للتشريع؟ بل إن هذا الأمر يطرح مسألة الدين كمرجعية في سياسات الدول ومصالحها... خصوصاً أن التاريخ يخلو من نموذج صالح لاعتماده دليلاً على نجاح «الدولة الإسلامية» في أي زمان ومكان. فدولة الخلافة قد تحولت بعد الخلفاء الراشدين الأربعة مباشرة الى إمبراطورية شعارها الإسلام لكن حكمها لعائلة تمتد جذورها الى النسب الشريف، لكن ممارساتها تستند الى مصلحة الحكم والحاكم وعائلته اولاً وأخيراً، وبمعزل عن الطقوس. [[[[[[

هل من المبالغة القول إن الثورة الإسلامية في إيران قد اكتسبت شيئاً من وهجها عبر رفعها «فلسطين» راية لها، وقطع العلاقة مع إسرائيل وتقديم سفارتها في طهران، وهي بحجم حي كامل، الى قيادة الثورة الفلسطينية بشخص ياسر عرفات؟! طبيعي والحال هذه ان تستقـبل تصريحـات بعــض قيــادات الإخوان المسلمين في مصر وتونس حول الصلــح في إسرائيـل والمـوقف من القضية الفلسطينية بشيء من الاستهجان بل والرفض الشعبي، عربياً.

وطبيعي ان يتنبه الناس الى تبــاهي حاكم قطر، الشيخ حمد بن خليفة آل ثاني، وهو كان السبّاق الى إقامــة علاقة رسمية مع إسرائيل عبر فتح مكتب تمثيلي لها في الدوحة، بأنه يتحــدر من صلب الإمام محمد بن عبد الوهاب، وأنه «وهابي» قبل الأسرة الســعودية، فهو من بني تميم، وهو بالتالي الأســاس في الدعوة الوهــابية (السلفية)،

وتأكيداً لهذا كله فقد قام ببناء واحد من أضـخم المســاجد في العالم باسم «جده»، مؤسس الوهابية التي يســتند اليها الحــكم السعودي من دون أن يشعر بأي تناقص بين هذا التباهـي وبين الادّعاء أنه في طليعة مناصري «الربيع العـربي» و«مفجــري الثوــرة العــربية»، وأن يكون ضيف الشرف في احتفال تونس بالذكرى الأولى لتفجر انتفاضة محمد البوعزيزي الذي أشـعل فتـيل الثـورة حـين أحـرق نفسه بسبب من الأزمة المعيشية في بلدته الفقيرة في الجــنوب التونسي. على أن النظام الذي سوف تســتولده الثــورة في مصــر، والـذي برزت مقدماته عبر الانتخابات النيابية التي مكــنت الإخـوان المسلمين من تصدر المشهد السياسي، يليهم مباشرة «السلـفيون» من جـماعة حزب «النور»، سيكون المفصـل في تقـويم تجربــة التنظيــمات الإسلامية ومدى تطابق سياساتها مع شعـاراتهـا التي رفعتــها وناضلت من اجلها فقمعت ثم تمت المسـاومة معها فتـم إشـراكها ـ جانبياً ـ في المجلـس النيابي الأسـبق (قبل الأخير في عهد حسني مبارك).

ومن الطبيعي ان يتفجر النقاش عفياً، مستوعباً تاريخ التجارب والتحولات التي مر بها الإسلاميون، والإخوان منهم تحديداً، على امتداد العقود السابقة. كذلك فمن البديهي أن يدقق الجمهور في طبيعة الفروقات التي تميز الإخوان عن السلفيين وقد بات الطرفان قريبين من السلطة او شريكين فيها بهذه النسبة او تلك.

هي مرحلة جديدة في التاريخ الســياسي العــربي: ها هــم الإسلاميون يتقدمون من موقع القرار في أكثر من عاصــمة عربيـة، والمجال مفتوح أمامهم لكي يثبتوا جدارتهم بإدارة شؤون البــلاد، متخففين من نزعة الثأر والانتقام من ماضي الاضطهاد، والقدرة على إعادة صياغة «النظام العربي» بما يتلاءم مع طموحات الشعوب العربية ومطالبها. وفلسطين هي الامتحان الأخطر سياسياً حتى لو تقدمت عليها المطالب الاجتماعية - الاقتصادية في معظم الأقطار التي وصل او اقترب فيها الإسلاميون من مركز القرار. تنشر بالتزامن مع جريدة «الشروق» المصرية

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For Syria, Jeffrey Feltman & Erdogan fly to Moscow

2012-01-26T07:17:00.000+04:00

Via FLC

"... Jeff Feltman was in Moscow as part of an increasingly frantic international effort to intervene in the troubled Middle Eastern country, American officials said.

"Issue number one on [Feltman's] agenda there is Syria and our interest in being able to move forward in the UN Security Council and talking about how the situation looks after the Arab League report over the weekend," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told journalists at a press briefing Monday....

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was also due to fly to Moscow Wednesday to urge Russia not to veto a UN Security Council Syria resolution, Turkey's Today Zaman reported Mahir Zeynalov reported.
American officials are also expected to ask Moscow about media reports that it has inked a deal to sell combat jets to the Assad regime, the State Department said..."

Posted by G, M, Z, or B at 4:45 PM

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Ahmadinejad Wants Syria-Iran Free Trade Bill In Place

2012-01-26T06:18:00.001+04:00

Local Editor

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delegated on Wednesday the authorities concerned to put the law on free trade between Syria and Iran in place, whereby a free trade zone between the two countries is set up for five extendable years, Syrian news agency SANA reported.

The Iranian News Agency (IRNA) said that the law on free trade between Iran and Syria was ratified by the Iranian Shura Council and the Guardian Council.
On December 18, 2011, Iran and Syria signed a free trade agreement in a bid to boost bilateral trade especially in industry, mining and agriculture.

Speaking to the Mehr News Agency, the deputy economy minister Hamid Safdel said that the deal would pave the way for the two sides to increase annual trade to $5 billion.

Currently, engineering services is Iran’s main exports to Syria, which amounted to $2.2 billion in the last Iranian calendar year which ended on March 20, 2011, Safdel said,

The two countries’ trade value (excluding technical and engineering services exports) stood at $336 million last year, the IRNA news agency reported.

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Infiltration, Agitation are the New Policing style

2012-01-26T01:07:00.000+04:00

by Jonathon Blakeley

What do Shin Bet (the Israel Security Agency) and the British Police have in common? Aside from:

Thug like brutality
Massive corruption.
& Institutional racism.

The answer is …..Both have used undercover agents to infiltrate local organizations and fathered children that they then later abandoned when their missions ended. It sounds like a bad joke doesn’t it. Sadly, funny it is not, but bad, certainly to the core. Indeed it is a sick and perverse mind that dreamt up or sanctioned these ‘operations’, which were at the end of the day paid for by public money.

Mata Hari famous spy and exotic dancer

According to reports in the Guardian, 8 women in the last month alleged that they had also been tricked into relationships with undercover cops in Britian. This linked in to an article by Laura Stuart regarding the Shin Bet in 1952; where Israeli Agents fathered children that they then later abandoned in the name of ‘intelligence gathering’. Her article was called ‘A Social Crime in the Name of Israeli Security’. I am certain that Israel is still doing such things in the name of its security. What is interesting it to see The same Zionist mindset at work in the UK doing exactly the same thing. Creating Social Crimes in the Name of British/Zionist Security. These social crimes are just more collateral damage as result of the manfactured ‘War on Terror’.

What we see in these cases is a complete lack of ethics, from people who ironically, are supposed to be our moral guardians – the police. These police-spys have no idea of compassion or right and wrong. They arrogantly believe that if there is collateral damage that is acceptable for the greater good whatever that may be. And so with their moral justification of national security in their back pocket they trick their way into people’s lives and ruin them for some perceived threat to the state.

Mark Kennedy was the first of the deep undercover police spies to go public. He said:- “He knew of 15 other undercover officers in green protest groups, four of whom were still working.” One wonders how deep the infiltration of society goes by the secret policemen, infiltrating groups by gaining trust, being supported by intelligence agencies and paid for by public money. The evidence is growing daily that it is very thorough indeed. If the police have deep undercover spies in the activist groups, then they will certainly be in many, many other groups.

Spies are chosen and spies are blind.

When they are not infiltrating their way into the bed of some left-wing activist, we can one find these ‘public servants’ infiltrating groups such as the #occupy movement.

There is, I suspect, a vast secret police network, run in cahoots with the intelligence services, to provide information from the field. A kind of ‘masonic neighbourhood watch’. To the Infiltrators in our midst, it all must seem like an exciting game. Defending National Security from the ever-present terrorists, they see only themselves – in a ‘James Bond’ lifestyle of thrills and spills…

What must it be like in the mind of these secret spies, with double (secret) lives :- their will is more important than the will of an ordinary person. Their will is more special, and it takes priority being supreme in their mind. So being special makes its easy to turn a blind eye to injustice and to justify the injustice. Being special is a perfect kind of blindness. For there are none so blind as those who choose not to see.

Posted by Jonathon Blakeley on January 25, 2012. Filed under False Flag. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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Egypt: mixed reactions on one year anniversary

2012-01-26T00:23:00.000+04:00

Demonstrators take part in a protest marking the first anniversary of Egypt's uprising at Tahrir Square in Cairo 25 January 2012. (Photo: Reuters - Mohamed Abd El-Ghany)

Published Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Thousands of Egyptians are pouring into Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square to mark the one year anniversary since a popular revolution toppled dictator Hosni Mubarak.

Islamists, liberals, leftists, and ordinary citizens made their way to the square, but protesters carried banners with a wide range of messages, reflecting the disagreement over what Wednesday's rally symbolized.

Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafist al-Nour party – who now dominate Egypt's parliament – were largely there to celebrate the revolution.

But several other groups, including pro-democracy movements behind last year's revolt, insist they are there to reignite their unfinished revolution and demand the ouster of the military council that took over when Mubarak quit.

"The first anniversary celebration" read one huge banner in the square, where "popular committees" searched protesters on their way in.

"Down, down with military rule," read another.

Four stages have been built, with different groups expected to broadcast their own messages from the podiums.

Concerns remain, particularly among liberal Egyptians, that the goals of the revolution have not been fully attained.

Activists continue to demand an end to military rule, headed by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), with protests late last year leading to deadly clashes amid a brutal military crackdown.

In a gesture to appease opponents, Tantawi on Tuesday announced the partial lifting of Egypt's dreaded emergency laws, except in cases of "thuggery," without specifying what that implied.

The ambiguity of the emergency law's status drew criticism from Human Rights Watch, which said it was "an invitation to continued abuse."

"Military leaders have frequently described protesters as 'thugs' and military tribunals have convicted peaceful protesters after unfair trials for the crime of 'thuggery'," said Human Rights Watch on Wednesday.

Heba Morayef, the Egypt researcher for New-York based Human Rights Watch, described the exceptional clause as "misleading," saying it left wide scope for arbitrary detention.

Tantawi's announcement also failed to convince certain members of parliament, with an Islamist MP asserting that the law was still in place.

"This is not a real cancellation of the state of emergency," said Essam Sultan, a newly elected member of parliament from the Wasat Party, a moderate Islamist group.

"The proper law designates the ending of the state of emergency completely or enforcing it completely, nothing in between," he said.

Egyptians have been living under emergency law continuously since Mubarak took power in 1981.
In September, the SCAF widened the scope of the emergency law – restricted in 2010 to narcotics and terrorism – to strikes, traffic disruption, and the spreading of rumors, paving the way for the detention of activists, bloggers, and journalists.

"Before the revolution, we saw bloggers and peaceful opponents of Mubarak's regime detained administratively on terrorism and drug trafficking accusations," said Rachid Mesli, director of Alkarama's legal department, who co-signed the statement with Human Rights Watch.

"If the emergency law is not lifted completely, such an exception will undoubtedly allow for the continuation of these arbitrary detentions," he said.

The military, which took power when Mubarak was ousted in February, enjoyed hero status at the start of the revolt for refusing to shoot protesters.

But it has since become the target of protesters' anger, who accuse the army of rights abuses and of using Mubarak-era tactics to stifle dissent.

SCAF says it will retain its military rule until a new president is elected in June, and has at least won the support of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood to adhere to its timetable.

But the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), which won nearly half of the lower house seats, announced that parliament will form a fact-finding committee to investigate the deaths of roughly 800 people in the uprising against Mubarak.

In parliament, one lawmaker after another echoed the demand for an independent fact-finding committee into violence which killed around 800 people. No senior official has been found responsible for the violence.

Akram al-Sha'ir, whose son was injured in the protests, broke into tears during a passionate speech to the chamber now dominated by members of his Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the party of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.

"Mr. Speaker, it's been a year, where is the verdict? Tardy justice is oppression," he said.
"We want real justice," he said, to a standing ovation.

FJP secretary-general, Saad el-Katatni, who was elected speaker of the parliament on Monday, said: "The chamber will form a fact-finding committee after these discussions."

However, MPs wrangled into the night over who should be on the committee, as well as over the composition of other parliamentary sub-committees charged with overseeing everything from defense to health care.

Elections to decide who should sit on the committees were postponed when smaller parties withdrew in protest at what they said were FPJ attempts at domination.

As for the former dictator, Mubarak is now standing trial, facing charges including ordering the killing of protesters during the 18-day uprising that ended when he handed power to the military leadership on February 11.

But the prosecution has said a lack of cooperation from security authorities has hindered evidence gathering.

That charge – denied by the authorities – has strengthened the view of those Egyptians who worry that much of the Mubarak-era establishment is still in place and blocking reform.

One MP criticized SCAF-appointed Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri – who also served the same office under Mubarak – for failing to attend the parliamentary session, saying his absence was reminiscent of the Mubarak days.

In the eyes of many Egyptians, Mubarak may be gone, but the institutions of his regime still remain.
(Al-Akhbar, Reuters, AFP)

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
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On Applause and Palestinian Solidarity

2012-01-26T00:05:00.000+04:00

On Applause and Palestinian Solidarity
by Roy Bard

Tony Greenstein as Karl Marx

I have been reading a range of articles about the events at the PSC AGM on Saturday. I am still trying to find what, if anything, had come out of the meeting that could cause it to be described as “a very good day” for the Palestinians.
And I came across a post by Anthony Cooper, in which he is trying to understand the reaction of the meeting to Francis Clark-Lowe’s appeal speech.
He notes that Tony Greenstein said that the room gasped when Francis mentioned the “Holocaust Myth”, that Paul Eisen referred to “modest applause” when Francis had finished speaking, and that Asa Winstanley said there were loud cheers when it was announced that Occupy London had taken over another bank building.
Loud cheers at a previous PSC event are, as it happens, the reason I have never joined, nor had much time for the PSC. Those cheers erupted at a rally in Trafalgar Square in 2003, anytime a speaker mentioned Rachel Corrie, who had died so tragically in Rafah earlier that year. I was listening to the speeches with two ISMers who had days before been deported from Israel, and who had both been eye witnesses to Rachel’s death. One of them was keen to address the crowd and I asked if this was possible. The answer was negative, although to this day I am convinced that the people cheering the usual suspects that address PSC rallies (ie Trade Unionists, clerics and politicians) describing events they had not witnessed, would have been interested to hear from people newly returned from Gaza, who had been at the very scene being described so dramatically from the stage.
The refusal (on the grounds of limited time) I found callous, and indicative of an intransigent approach. Last Saturday’s AGM shenanigans suggest to me that that my assessment was pretty sound. The loud cheers at PSC events for an ISMer in 2003, and the Occupy movement in 2011 also suggest that people attending the formulaic events laid on by the PSC Exec would welcome a more dynamic approach.
Occupy London is part of a movement of people who are tired of the old way of doing things, and who have come together to try and find new and dynamic ways of expressing their dissent. For now they are attempting to have a conversation about how to bring people together to resist the austerity measures of the discredited politicians that serve the interests of the corporations so well. By coincidence they use many of the same tools for organising that the ISM uses. They try to be as inclusive as possible, and aim to be as non hierarchical as they can be. Thus, in many ways they are antithetical to the PSC and much more flexible and open to innovation.
Anyway, directly under the Cooper post on the AGM was another PSC related post from earlier this month, which I read with growing unease. Entitled Did the PSC Lie to Caroline Lucas MP?”, it contains some disturbing hints at how bad things are in the PSC. I learnt that Green Party MP Caroline Lucas had received assurances from the PSC that “the organisation does indeed recognise Israel’s right to exist ….and that it remains committed to a two state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict”.
I stared at my screen in disbelief. The PSC had, it seemed, adopted the Zionist narrative and was now in favour of what I can only see as a ‘bantustan solution’. Cooper then pointed to an article in the Morning Star which portrays PSC Chair Hugh Lanning thus:

“He stressed the need for two states based on the 1967 borders – a demand recently backed by US President Barack Obama but consistently rejected by Israel.
“At the moment there is only one state – Israel,” he said.
“A two-state solution objectively means the creation of a free, independent Palestinian state which does not exist right now.”

I have Palestinian friends who would see this as totally unacceptable because for them it means eternal banishment to the overcrowded refugee camps, from which they have spent their entire lives waiting to escape. Their dream has always been to go back to the homes that their families were pushed out of in 1948. And somehow, in the name of solidarity with them, this Mr. Lanning is advocating an end to their dreams.
I wanted to find out more about him. After reading an amusing description of him as “a fake-left rightwing bureaucrat” I came across an article which seems to help explain why the PSC is so useless as a vehicle for solidarity with the oppressed people of Palestine.
Here, Hugh tells us that:

“All of the arguments we want and need to make, can and should be made without reference to race and religion. The strongest arguments are those based on justice, human rights and international law. There is no need to stray beyond these core principles -indeed it weakens us to do so.”

Good grief!!. He wants us to tackle what South African victims of Apartheid have described as an Apartheid state, without referring to the very causes of that Apartheid, and furthermore he wants to make the arguments based on “justice, human rights and international law” yet he himself is advocating a two state solution which fits into not a single one of those categories!!!
Lanning also hints at why the PSC is insisting on this rigid, formulaic and unfruitful path for solidarity activism. He points to a campaign of smears against the PSC in face of the Reut Institutes identification of “the biggest political threat that Israel faced as the growth of the boycott movement and solidarity with Palestine” before going on to claim that “PSC, London and the British trade union movement “ are the ‘hub.
In this last claim I think he is wrong. What Reut identifies is a “delegitimization network” and the PSC as shown above, does not fit into that category as it seems they are rather working to give it legitimacy.
For as long as the Israel insists on the subordination of Palestinians, we must surely resist any moves to afford it legitimacy, if we are truly in support of the peoples of Palestine. The PSC also has an ambivalent approach to the Boycott movement, which is why the Boycott Israel Network was set up away from BIG, in an endeavour to ensure that direct action for BDS could go ahead.
The PSC I am told, had an income of £220k last year. This is money which surely is intended to provide solidarity with an oppressed people, and yet somehow it is being diverted into activities that seem to be serving the interests of Zionists better than they are serving the Palestinians.
By buying into a rhetoric which identifies Israel as legitimate, and which refuses to address the racism which is integral to Zionism, or the ideological devices which sustain the Apartheid state, an organisation which was established with the express purpose of showing solidarity to the suffering has rendered itself at best ineffectual.
That it is now actively involved in the witch-hunt of those who reject the legitimacy of Israel, along with the racism and ideological apparatus that sustain it, renders it dangerous.
There is an urgent need for a vibrant, critical and responsive movement to stand united in solidarity with our oppressed brothers and sisters in Palestine and beyond, and the PSC is standing in its way.
River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Do British Jewish Leaders Take Orders From Tel Aviv ?

2012-01-25T22:39:00.001+04:00

by Laura Stuart

Mahmoud Abbas the unelected Palestinian leader was in London last week holding discussions with David Cameron the Prime Minister at Downing Street. However, a planned meeting with British Jewish Leaders was cancelled by the Prime Minister of Israel Benyamin Netanyahu.

British Jews cancel meeting with Abbas in wake of pressure from Netanyahu

According to Haaretz British Leaders and the U.K. Israeli Embassy pushed for the meeting, however the order came from Tel Aviv saying not to go ahead.

Such incidents can only add to the thorny issue of where the loyalties of The Leaders of British Jewry lie. More on this subject can be found here.
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The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Israeli assassinations and American presidents

2012-01-25T21:49:00.000+04:00

Posted by realistic bird on January 25, 2012

by Alison Weir, source

On Jan. 13 the Atlanta Jewish Times featured a column by its owner-publisher suggesting that Israel might someday need to “order a hit” on the president of the United States.

In the column, publisher Andrew Adler describes a scenario in which Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu would need to “give the go-ahead for U.S.-based Mossad agents to take out a president deemed unfriendly to Israel.”

The purpose? So that the vice president could then take office and dictate U.S. policies that would help the Jewish state “obliterate its enemies.”

Adler wrote that it is highly likely that the idea “has been discussed in Israel’s most inner circles.”
Numerous Jewish leaders quickly condemned Adler, who has now apologized for the column, resigned, and put the newspaper up for sale. An Israeli columnist noted that the hatred being stirred up against Obama is similar to conditions in Israel that led to the murder of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by a Jewish extremist.

Many of those criticizing Adler claim that he defamed Israel by suggesting that it would ever do such a thing. Abe Foxman, head of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), proclaimed: “There is absolutely no excuse, no justification, no rationalization for this kind of rhetoric. It doesn’t even belong in fiction.”
In reality, however, Adler’s expectation that Israel’s inner circles have explored such a course of action, and would be willing to undertake it, may be entirely accurate. The fact is that Israel has killed and plotted to assassinate people throughout the world; a number have been Americans. One alleged plot was chillingly similar to Adler’s suggestion.

There is evidence that in 1991 an Israeli undercover team planned to assassinate a U.S. president. The intended victim was George Herbert Walker Bush.

The first person to write of the plot was a former 11-term Republican congressman from Illinois, Paul Findley. In a 1992 article in the Washington Report for Middle East Affairs, Findley described the alleged scheme and how it was revealed.

Findley wrote that the U.S. Secret Service had received a warning that elements of Israel’s spy agency might target Bush when he went to Madrid for the opening day of the peace conference to be held that year.

According to Findley, a former Mossad agent named Victor Ostrovsky, who had written a book exposing Israel’s spy agency, told a group of Canadian parliamentarians that he had received secret intelligence suggesting that the “the Mossad’s hatred of Bush — and support for Vice President Dan Quayle — might lead to an attempt on the president’s life.”

Israel considered Quayle much closer to Israel than Bush. Bush had particularly angered Israel by attempting to pressure Israel into ending its illegal settlement expansion on confiscated Palestinian land by withholding loan guarantees until Israel ended this practice.

Findley wrote that Ostrovsky’s statements were relayed to Findley’s friend and former colleague Paul “Pete” McCloskey, a prominent former Republican congressman from California who had recently been named by Bush to the National and Community Service Commission.

McCloskey, a decorated Marine veteran and graduate of Stanford Law School who had at one time been considered a presidential contender, flew to Ottawa to debrief Ostrovsky in person and evaluate his information.

Findley reported that Ostrovsky told McCloskey that the Mossad wanted “to do everything possible to preserve a state of war between Israel and its neighbors, assassinating President Bush, if necessary.” Ostrovsky said that a PR campaign was already underway in both Israel and the United States to “prepare public acceptance of Dan Quayle as president.”

Convinced that Ostrovsky was legitimate and his information significant, McCloskey jumped on the next flight to Washington, where he reported Ostrovsky’s intelligence to the Secret Service and State Department.

The apparent plot never went forward, perhaps because Ostrovsky and McCloskey had given it away.
Ostrovsky gave more details about the plot two years later in his 1994 book, The Other Side of Deception: A Rogue Agent Exposes the Mossad’s Secret Agenda, published by HarperCollins.

In the book, Ostrovsky wrote that an extremist group within Mossad was responsible for the plan. He said they kept the plan secret from then–Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, though they believed that Shamir would have ordered such a hit himself if he hadn’t been constrained by politics. In the lead-up to Israel’s 1948 founding war, Shamir had headed up a terrorist group known for its assassinations.
In his review of Ostrovsky’s book, Ambassador Andrew Killgore, a retired career foreign service officer and publisher of the Washington Report, called the book an “insider’s probing exposé of some Middle East realities that have been hidden too long from all but Israeli eyes.”

Ostrovsky wrote that the Israelis planned a “false flag” operation, in which they would pin the assassination on Palestinians. They kidnapped three Palestinian militants from Beirut who were to be the scapegoats, took them to Israel’s Negev desert, and held them incommunicado.

“Meanwhile,” Killgore writes, “Mossad-generated threats on the president’s life, seemingly from Palestinians, were leaked. These were designed to throw suspicion on the organization of rogue Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal. Names and descriptions of the three terrorists were leaked to Spanish police so that, if the plot was successful, blame would automatically fall on them.”

Ostrovsky reports that after the assassination plot was eventually canceled, the three Palestinian prisoners were “terminated.”

Targeting Americans

If the plot had gone forward, this would not have been the first time that Israel targeted Americans for death. Nor would it be the first false-flag operation.

In 1954 the Mossad planned to firebomb American installations, libraries, and other gathering places in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood was to be blamed for the attacks, thus causing American animosity toward Egypt. An accidental early detonation of one of the devices caused the plot, known as the Lavon Affair, to unravel before it could kill or mutilate the intended Americans.
In 1967 Israeli air and sea forces perpetrated an almost two-hour assault in which they tried to sink a U.S. Navy ship with a crew of 300. While the attack failed to sink the ship, it succeeded in killing 34 Americans and injuring 174. Some analysts have conjectured that this was also a false-flag operation; it is highly likely that Egypt would have been blamed for the attack if the ship had gone down.
In 1973 Israeli fighter pilots were ordered to shoot down an unarmed U.S. reconnaissance plane (at the time the U.S. was delivering massive weaponry to Israel to prevent it from losing the “Yom Kippur War” with Egypt and Syria). While the Israelis were unable to reach the altitude of the U.S. plane, they did manage that same year to shoot down a civilian Libyan airliner that had strayed over Israeli territory, killing 104 men, women, and children. One was an American.
In 1990 a Canadian-American scientist and father of seven, Gerald Bull, was assassinated in Belgium. All indications are that it was an Israeli Mossad hit team that drilled five bullets into the back of his head and neck. (Israel has assassinated a number of scientists of various nationalities. The most recent is a 32-year-old father of a young son from Iran.)
In 2003 it came out that Israeli leaders had officially decided to undertake assassination operations on U.S. soil. An FBI spokesman, queried about the Israeli plans, said only: “This is a policy matter. We only enforce federal laws.”
In recent years a growing number of American peace activists have been intentionally killed, maimed, and injured by Israeli forces, including 23-year-old Rachel Corrie, 21-year-old Brian Avery, 37-year-old Tristan Anderson, 21-year-old Emily Henochowicz, and 21-year-old Furkan Dogan.

All of this has been minimally reported in the U.S. press. While major news organizations from England to Israel to Australia covered the Jewish Times’ apparent endorsement of a possible Israeli assassination of a U.S. president, the scandal has been largely missing from U.S. media. Even Atlanta’s AP bureau inexplicably initially decided not to write a report on it, only finally sending out a story many days later.

Such news omissions concerning Israeli partisans are not rare. In 2004 a fanatic Israel loyalist wrote a letter saying that he was going to burn down Presbyterian churches while worshippers were inside (he was furious at the Presbyterian Church’s decision to divest from companies profiting from the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian land). This grisly threat also received minimal media play.
Despite Israeli violence against Americans (even while American taxpayers have given far more of our tax money to Israel than to any other nation) American presidential candidates, with the exception of Ron Paul, continue to vie over who is most devoted to Israel.

It is ironic that Adler considers Obama so bad for Israel, given that Israeli analysts have rated him second only to Mitt Romney in his fidelity to Israel. And Obama has now released a seven-minute video that may catapult our first African-American president into first place in pandering to an apartheid nation.

Perhaps he’ll be safe from assassins.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Tantawi raise the state of emergency except in acts of "THUGGERY"

2012-01-25T20:39:00.001+04:00

In a sudden ten minutes speach President of the Supreme Council of the Egyptian armed forces Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi ended the State of emergency in the country, except in acts of "thuggery -Baltajah".

Thugs, thuggery is a term used by Mubarak, and later by Tantawi himself to justify crackdowns on protesters. Many thousands have been tried before military courts since the ll of Mubarak nearly a year ago and were charged with acts of "thuggery" when, in fact, they were protesters.

Long live revolution,

Except removing Mubarak, almost nothing has changed, protest is a thuggery act, both the Military council and the ruling party "liberty and justice" declared their comply with to Sadat-Mubarak commitments.

"Is it a pre-condition to recognize Israel in order to govern?" asked the deputy to the Brotherhood's Supreme Guide, Rashad Bayoumy.

«we have stated very clearly that, Regardless of our reservations, we, as Egyptians will comply with the commitments made by the Egyptian Government, there is a commitment to all matters relating to the conventions in General, not with Israel only, including gas or oil agreements or anything, they are all linked to institutions, not individuals." Answered the other deputy, Khairat Al-shatir,

We demands immediate release of Khairat A-shatir and all political prisoners "All Thugs"

In case you missed it: America wants to manufacture a regime similar to Mubarak's regime

The king died (not yet), long live the king

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

West’s bad dreams in Libya has started shaping-up....– Qaddafi loyalists return

2012-01-25T20:34:00.000+04:00

Will a pro-Gadhafi “Green Revolution” topple the NTC? asked Dr. Franklin Lamb

During a meeting in a Maghreb with three high ranking former Libyan officials, among hundreds currently in hiding, and some organizing, in countries bordering Libya, one of them, in all earnest, surprised Mr. Lamb by him,“Do you believe there will be a counter revolution soon in the “Jamarariya (state of the masses)?”

The reason he was so surprised is that he was about to ask his hosts that very question.

"Go away, go away!"

In on his SMR during Dec 2011, he asked Will 2012 Bring Tribal War to Libya?

He reported that "More than 55 rebel militia, totaling more than 30,000 armed fighters control parts of Tripoli, some of them loosely under the protection and direction of the TNC, Tripoli Military Commander Belhaj. Belhaj, formerly with Al Qaeda....“They are well-armed, living off a little militia pay, but mainly from various crimes,

These days in Libya it is a good idea to memorize the name of the largest of the local militia and the name of its leader so when approached by the heavily armed unfriendly types one can rub two index fingers together and say the leader’s name while adding “mlieh, mlieh”i.e. “good, good.” One wants to avoid saying the wrong militia and leader name because there is today an uneasy calm among militias in Tripoli after a few weeks of largely unreported skirmishes".... "because “new free Libya, new free media” is that it is 100 percent pro “new government”

A lady lawyer leading a demomstation at the Green Square told Mr. Lamb that "According to her committee’s research, in addition to the 7000 plus pro Gadhafi loyalists acknowledged as imprisoned by the TTC,, 80% identified by name, the Committee for Justice for the Disappeared, claim that there are more than 35,000 Libyans being held secretly by militia that are outside the control and sometimes even the knowledge of the essentially powerless TNC" ....

.......“If they see an empty house, especially if it’s a really nice one, they assume, often correctly, that it belonged to a Gadhafi relative, official or supporter and they think it’s theirs for the grabbing. And they are grabbing. They dare anyone or even another militia or the non-existent new government to try to remove them. They have no intention of returning to where they came from and less on given up their arms. Actually they are stockpiling more weapons and explosives both as security and to increase their political bargaining power. It appears that Libya is up for grabs for so many, local and foreign operations.”.....

....."What outrages many here is that the new “government” will not even acknowledge that these problems exist. Just as the new government has no desire for the International Criminal Court to investigate any crimes from either side because they don’t want investigators snooping around asking questions."....."Libyans inside the country and those seeking safety in nearby countries, are increasingly turning to the ten largest Libyan tribes to put an end to this situation and many other problems."........
......“Whatever intra-tribal or geographical divisions existed a year ago, they are 500 times worse today. The Tribes are arming and have given the new government several deadlines for committing to rebuild destroyed homes and businesses, helping homeless families, and getting the guns off the streets and sending the armed gangs back to where they came from. To date nothing has been achieved by the new government and people are growing very angry.”.......

During a meeting in a nearby country one Gadhafi loyalist explained to Mr. Lamb:

“We know which tribes worked with NATO and sold out their birthrights. Some did the same thing with the Italians and over the years with foreign oil companies.

We will fight to restore a path for the Libyan people knowing that mistakes were made by the Gadhafi regime but also that his support today ranges from 90% in Wafala Tribe areas like Bani Walid to close to 60% in Tripoli.

He is not coming back but many of his good policies will return ehshallah.”

Libya – Qaddafi loyalists return

Posted on January 25, 2012 | Leave a comment

West’s bad dreams in Libya has started shaping-up. Last week, western-client rebel government of National Transitional Council (NTC) No.2 man, Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, was forced to resign as result of protests by members of various armed gangs working for NATO in the past. Abdel Hafiz Ghoga was accused of being a CIA agent.

Yesterday, Associated Press reported that Moammar Qaddafi loyalists retook control of western city of Bani Walid and raised ousted regime’s green flag on Monday.

“Hundreds of well-armed Qadhafi’s supporters fought for eight hours in Bani Walid with the western-recruited armed thugs, known as the May 28 Brigade, which was eventually driven out,” said Mubarak al-Fatmani, the head of Bani Walid local council.

West’s ‘humanitarian war’ against Qaddafi regime last year – devastated Africa’s top socialist country. The NTC – an unstable coalition of ex-Qaddafi regime officials, Qatar’s funded Salaafis, including some with links to CIA, Mossad and MI6, and other western intelligence assets – itself estimate that the war took 50,000 lives and injured another 50,000 people. Rising infighting between the NTC’s factions is opening the door to full-scale civil war between rival clan-based and regional militias.

In November 2011 – Lius Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor for International Criminal Court, a Zionist judicial setup, said that ICC will investigate NATO’s war crimes during bombing of Libya. If it ever happened, it would be used to whitewash western crimes, as we saw in case of the Goldstone Report on Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

The Geneva-based pro-Israel Jewish pressure group UN Watch was the first NGO to throw its propaganda lies against Qaddafi. In February 2011, UN Watch blackmailed 70 so-called “human right groups” to send a letter to Israel-Firsters Barack Obama, EU’s Catherine Ashton and UN’s Ban Ki-Moon demanding military action against Libya by invoking the “Responsibility to Protect” doctrine. Now, the UN Watch is repeating the same demand against Syria. Zionist Jew Carl Gershman, president of Congress-funded Israel lobby group ‘National Endowment for Democracy’, was one of signatories of the UN Watch letter.

“Now the real resistance will begin! The Libyan people are now even surer than they were during this summer that the NTC sold our country to the NATO colonial countries. As NATO continues to hunt down Saif al Islam, many around our country are making Saif the new leader of the resistance to colonialism in Libya and in Africa. I personally pledge my support for him and pray that Allah will protect him. Watch what the Gadhafi tribe and my Waffala tribe do together in the coming weeks—but also starting today. Maybe NATO can be said in some ways to have won round one. But let’s see what happens in the many rounds to come,” Dr. Franklin Lamb quoted a student of Tripoli University in October 2011.

It seems it’s the begining of America’s ultimate defeat in Libya as we see currently in Iraq and Afghanistan.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

John Stewart-West Bank Story

2012-01-25T20:31:00.000+04:00

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 9:35AM Gilad Atzmon

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

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