Words of Zionists

Read the words of the Zionists and decide for yourself if Zionism represents your interests and beliefs.

Theodor Herzel

The founder of modern Zionism

Theodor Herzl (1860-1904), the founder of modern Zionism, recognized that anti-Semitism would further his cause, the creation of a separate state for Jews. To solve the Jewish Question, he maintained “we must, above all, make it an international political issue.”[1] Herzl wrote that Zionism offered the world a welcome “final solution of the Jewish question.”[2] In his “Diaries”, page 19, Herzl stated “Anti-Semites will become our surest friends, anti-Semitic countries our allies.”

Herzl stated in his diary

“So anti-Semitism, which is a deeply imbedded force in the subconscious mind of the masses, will not harm the Jews. I actually find it to be advantageous to building the Jewish character, education by the masses that will lead to assimilation. This education can only happen through suffering, and the Jews will adapt. ”. (From his Diary, Part I, pp. 68)

Herzl stated in his diary

“It is essential that the sufferings of Jews.. . become worse. . . this will assist in realization of our plans. . .I have an excellent idea. . . I shall induce anti-Semites to liquidate Jewish wealth. . . The anti-Semites will assist us thereby in that they will strengthen the persecution and oppression of Jews. The anti-Semites shall be our best friends”. (From his Diary, Part I, pp. 16)

Ze’ev Jabotinsky

(one of the founders of the Haganah (the Zionists paramilitary militia-army before the 1948 war).
Ze’ev Jabotinsky declared that settlement of the “land” is the only “law”. He declared:

”There is no justice, no law, and no God in heaven, only a single law which decides and supercedes all—- [Jewish] settlement [of the land].” (Righteous Victims, p. 108)

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Commit Your Acts of Torture to the Lord

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at 5/18/2009 0

UN probe committee slams Israel for lack of cooperation

UN probe committee slams Israel for lack of cooperation

[ 23/05/2009 - 11:01 AM ]

NEW YORK, (PIC)-- The independent investigation committee formed by the UN to investigate Israeli war crimes committed during its attacks on the Gaza Strip castigated Israel for the lack of cooperation and not facilitating its mission.

South African judge and former international war crimes prosecutor, Richard Goldstone, who is leading the UN Human Rights Council mission to probe Israel’s war crimes in Gaza, complained at the lack of positive response from the Israeli government regarding cooperation in the investigation.

He stated that he would hold public hearings in which witnesses can testify, and that those hearings would be held in Geneva if holding them in the region was obstructed by Israel.

Generally, the investigation team should conclude its mission by the end of June, and would submit its report to the UN on the fourth of August.

Israel’s roots of anti-Semitism, Racism and Communism

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Written by www.daily.pk

Saturday, 23 May 2009 00:00

Oxford dictionary defines the word anti-Semitism as “hatred toward members of any of the races supposed to be descended from Shem (Gen.10.21) including the Hebrews, Arabs, Assyrians, Arameans, Phoenicians, and Assyrians. In the past, somehow the term got reserved for discrimination of Jews in Christian Europe, though the great majority of Jews living in Europe were not descendent of Shem (Tribes of Israel), but Turk converts from Khazaria empire in Asia. However, after the creation of Zionist state of Israel by the western powers to dump their unwanted Jewish communities in the Middle East – the term ‘anti-Semitism’ has taken new meanings, that is – “any criticism of Zionism or Israel is equal to hatred toward towards World Jewry and thus fall under ‘anti-Semitism’ category”. On the other hand, the critism of Zionists’ victims – the Arabs, who are more Semite in numbers than the entire world Jewish population – is not accepted as ‘anti-Semitism’ by the so-called ‘Gaurdians of western civilization’. The Zionist ‘prophet’, Theodor Herzl, saw the usefulness ‘anti-Semitism’ tag from the early days of of his political life – declaring “the anti-Semites will be our most dependable friends, the anti-Semitic countries, our allies (Patai, Diaries, Vol. 1, P. 84). In the words of the Zionist Chaim Kaplan, who kept a diary during the Warsaw ghetto uprising, wrote: “Every nation, in its time of misfortune, has conspirators who do their work in secret. In our case an entire nation has been raised on conspiracy. With others the conspiracy is political; with us it is religious and national.”

For centuries, Jewish elites have been trying to rewrite world history to paint a ‘peaceful Jewishness’ mask, thanks to their monopoly over media and banking institutions. However, many moral Jewish writers have exposed this ‘anti-Semitism’ myth. For example, Rabbi Michael Lerner wrote in Tikkun Magazine: “The media has been abuzz with stories of Jews denouncing former President Jimmy Carter for his book ‘Palestine: Peace or Apartheid’. The same charges of anti-Semitism that have consistently been launched against anyone who criticize Israeli policy is being launched against the one American leader who managed to create a lasting peace between Israel and a major Arab State (Egypt). Instead of seriously engaging with the issues raised, the Jewish establishment and media responds by attacking the people who raise these (racism, apartheid, mass killing, etc.) or any other critiques – shifting the discourse to the legitimacy of the messenger and thus avoiding the substance of criticism…..”

The Jewish writer, William Braustein, in his study of Jewish history, titled ’The Root Of Hate”, admits: “One of the chief causes of anti-Semitism in late 19th/early 20th century Europe was the deep Jewish involvment in revolutionary Marxism….During the Hungarian and German revolutions of 1919 – 80-90% revolutionaries were Jewish”. Braustein also boast that the Russian revolution was conceived by the Jews.

The German historian, Ernst Nolte, has argued that the anti-Jewish actions of Nazis (both Catholics and German Jews) were response to Jewish Bolshevism. Two Jewish professors, Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, argued in their book that it’s the activities of Jewish Lobby’s anti-US activities (in favour of Israel), which fan anti-Semitism in the US. While according to author Alan Hart, it’s the Israel’s barbaric treatment of Palestinian Muslims and Christians which has created Jewish hatred within the Muslim world.

Europe’s White Supremacy and Communism were the two common bond which united Zionists and the apartheid government in South Africa even before the establishment of Israel in 1948. John Henrik Clarke wrote in ‘Israel and South Africa’: “Both Israel and White South Africa are artificial settler states created by the political backwash of Europe. While mentally and culturally they are part of Europe, they are removed from it geographically. This is the basis of the schizophrenia that prevails in Israel and South Africa. These European settlers are involved in a perpetual contradiction. They are stubbornly trying to establish a nationality in nations that never belonged to them. They are doing this at the expense of the indigenous population in the countries where they have settled…..Within ten years of its establishment, Israel had more goodwill in Africa than any other White-controlled nation. By November 1973, most of this goodwill had been lost and nations of Africa, like the Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Zaire, and Liberia had broken off diplomatic relations with the state of Israel – not because of their love for the oppressed Palestinians – but after their relalization that the Israelis in Africa were no different from other Whites who wanted to control the resources of this vast continent by any means necessar……The formation of a Jewish state was not seriously considered until the imperialists of Europe found a way to benefit from its creation. Theodor Herz, the founder of Political Zionism, promised his colonial sponsors that the Jewish state was destined to “form a part of a wall of defense for Europe in Asia, an outpost of civilization against barbarism”…….”

Zionism was not only based on western hatred of non-White people but also included Sephardic (Oriental) Jews, as described by Zionist author, Arthur Ruppin in his study The Jews Today: “The Zionist movement has already stirred the Jewish conscienceness of many a western Jews with the obvious omission of Sephardic Jews. The Zionist settlement efforts aimed till 1948 at recruiting European Jews only, despite the fact that it would have been a far easier task to settle Oriental Jews…” Ruppin also admit that “the Jewish rights” only applies only to the Ashkenazi (European) Jews; as far the Sephardim, they were to be admitted into the enclave out of dire economic necessity and pragmatic considerations.” This Zionist racism of fellow Jews still exists in Israel – in almost every field. For example, one out of nine Israeli presidents, only Yitzhak Navon (1978-83) had Shephardic background – while Moshe Katsav (2000-2007) was the only Eastern Jew from Iran to be appointed to that post – the remaining all seven belonged to European Zionist horde.

Dr. Henry R. Pike in his book A History of Communism in South Africa reported that both the Communist Party and the Trade Unions were controlled by the Jews, who had a population of 110,000 out of the total White population of 3 million in South Africa in 1958. The great majority of Jewish population supported the Zionists’ occupation of Palestine and the expulsion of its Native population.

Jewish historian, Dr. Gideon Shimoni (a professor at Hebrew University, Jerusalem), in his book Jews and Zionism: The South African Experience, shows his hypocritical Jewish nature by criticizing the White Apartheid rule in South Africa – while feeling quite comfortable with Jewish settlers stealing land belonging to Muslim and Christian Palestinianians. On July 11, 1963 – police in a surprise raid at the home of Arthur Goldreich arrested 17 individuals (five of them White Jews) belonging to an underground terrorist cell planning to overthrow the White government.

Jewish writer, Immanuel Shuttner’s heroes in his book Cutting Through the Mountain: Interviews with South African Activists – such as Taffy Adler, Ray Alexander, Pauline Podbrey, Joe Slovo (later a minister in Nelson Mandela government. According to his daughter, he had an affair with a Jewish communist friend’s wife and his utter refusal to acknowledge the son born out of that relationship), Gil Marcus, and others – all Jewish and members of the Communist Party.

Nathaniel Weyl in his book Traitor’s End: The Rise and Fall of Communist Movement in Southern Africa, wrote: “For the most part, the Jews had come to South Africa from Lithuania at the turn of century. The had been popular at first, but by the mid-1930s this was no longer the case. The Jews had become heavily urbanized. In Johannesburg, they constituted 17% of the population and were sufficiently conspicuous so that the metrpolis was sometimes referred to, not as Jo’burg, but as Jewburg….Anti-Semitism was fed due to Jewish domination in banking, trade and other financial institutions and their anti-state activities through radical groups and the Communist Party and its various fronts……”

In addition to Karl Marx, the Jewish founder of Communism – Jews have played prominent role in Communists Organizations – resulting in the killings of over 100 million European Christians in Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and many other European countries.

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Comments or Opinions expressed in various sections are the sole responsibility of their authors and they may not represent the views of www.intifada-palestine.com Intifada Voice of Palestine.

May 22, 2009 Posted by Elias

George Galloway’s Letter to the Charity Commission about Viva Palestina

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George Galloway

Here are the facts. Accept them and save the public purse a lot of money it can’t afford. And get off the backs of Britain’s Muslims and the Palestinian people.

George Galloway’s letter to the Charity Commission about Viva Palestina

To the Charity Commission,

I have been travelling for many weeks in North Africa and the Middle East, Europe, and North America. I have returned to a London address I seldom visit to find a blizzard of correspondence from you. Your correspondence, when read together, as I have just done, seems to represent a wildly disproportionate and inappropriate reaction to our recent delivery of aid to the suffering Palestinians in Gaza, and must raise the question: Why?

The peremptory letters from you, and by you I mean the Charity Commission, are full of bluster and threat, issuing absurd deadlines to people it does not seem to occur to you are not even receiving your letters, either because they are working abroad (Ms Razuki and Mr Al-Mukhtar), travelling abroad on high profile political business (myself), or you are writing to them at the wrong address.

In my own case, Easter Saturday opened with your, latest, threat to go before a High Court judge in a bid to force me to appear before you. That will not be necessary. I look forward to telling you to your faces what I think of you. Which is this.

I have become increasingly concerned about the abuse of your powers displayed in your brazenly obvious political double standards. About your attempts, under the guise of regulating British charities, to police the democratic efforts of political activists in Britain in a way never envisaged by parliament. About your preparedness to waste large sums of public money in political stunts, either at the behest of others or in the hope that you are properly anticipating their wishes. And above all, in the context of this issue, your almost laughably obvious prejudice against the Palestinian cause and against Britain’s two million-strong Muslim community.

Just one example will suffice for now, although I have more, much more.

During Israel’s 22-day attack on virtually defenceless Palestinian civilians in Gaza – condemned by virtually everyone in the world from the United Nations to the Pope and including the British government – an organization The Zionist Federation took out a full page advert in the Jewish Chronicle on 9th January asking readers to send “care packages” to “our [ie Israeli] soldiers fighting on the front line” in Gaza and to send charity vouchers to a British registered charity Operation Wheelchairs Committee (charity number 263089) for the same purpose.

Although this was immediately drawn to your attention you appear to have done absolutely nothing at all about such an abuse of charitable status. The Zionist Federation is presumably not a registered charity any more than Viva Palestina was. The Zionist Federation appeal was for money for “care packages” with donations possible online to www.zionist.org.uk and to the charity Operation Wheelchairs Committee. By the logic of your actions towards Viva Palestina, surely you should have immediately declared the Zionist Federation to be a charity with all that that entails. But you did not do so. Why? In any case, the Operation Wheelchairs Committee is a charity, soliciting for funds in this advert to support a foreign army involved in a widely condemned military action, in which thousands of civilians were killed, maimed and orphaned. Yet the Charity Commission did nothing. No freezing of bank accounts, no press releases, no carefully briefed “concerns”, no threats of High Court judges.

It will only take the reader (I am publishing this letter as widely as I can) a moment’s thought to imagine what the Charity Commission’s attitude would have been if a British – Muslim – Charity had taken a full page advertisement in a different British newspaper raising money for “care packages” for “our [ie Palestinian] soldiers fighting on the front line” in Gaza.

Not only would you have gone into overdrive and immediately begun freezing their assets, the hue and cry in the press you would have fed, would have seen the charity’s trustees under arrest.

This is an incontestable example of your persistent bias. Because in contrast to your inaction on a British charity raising money for the Israeli army and in the absence of such a hypothetical Muslim charity, you have launched this hysterical campaign to try and wreck the work of Viva Palestina instead.

Without any knowledge of the intentions of Viva Palestina and on the basis of press reports, you pronounced, as is your wont, that we were in effect a charity, to give yourselves locus in our affairs. You misunderstood – I believe deliberately – the structure of our Gaza convoy, purporting to believe that we – the subscribers (whatever that means) – were holding more than a million pounds about which you expressed “concerns”, when in fact, as you have been told but continue to ignore, this was never the case.

You first frightened the banks into refusing our attempts to open a bank account. When we finally found a bank which would allow us to open an account you intimidated them into freezing it, I believe exceeding your powers. You then began procuring documents – possibly illegally – about us from the Islamic Bank. As a result of your press briefings about your “concerns” newspapers began to refuse to accept advertisements from us, donors turned away, and the public were encouraged to believe that Viva Palestina was something to be avoided – conjuring-up an undisclosed but lurking suspicion about it.

In all this you acted not as the public would expect a Charity Commission to do, but rather as a self-appointed state policeman of the activist sector, a mission-creep towards a style of work which simply must be contested.

Here are the facts. Accept them and save the public purse a lot of money it can’t afford. And get off the backs of Britain’s Muslims and the Palestinian people.

I am not a trustee of Viva Palestina. You say I am a “subscriber” though you do not say what that means. I have nothing to do with Viva Palestina’s finances, I am not a signatory to its frozen bank account. I will attend the meeting with you, because I intend to launch a parliamentary campaign, and take it to the country, to put you back in your place.

I did inspire the creation of Viva Palestina and I am very proud of that. If those running it listen to me they will refuse to take anything off their website at your behest. The example you cite of an item which should be taken down, could just as easily have been any one of a hundred items. And would become so, once your right to dictate the activities of a political campaigning organisation was conceded.

For that is what Viva Palestina was, and is. Its constitution – its actual constitution not the one you wish it had – makes this abundantly clear. So does everything it says and does. If all that renders Viva Palestina not eligible to be a charity, then that’s fine. Let me emphasise this as strongly as I am able. Viva Palestina does not want to be a charity.

It is you, for transparently political reasons, who insisted that charitable status should be sought. You registered Viva Palestina as a charity in record quick time and without the great bulk of the information you normally required. And then you froze the record-quick new charity’s bank account so that it could not operate. These are police state tactics, entirely inappropriate and without any basis.

Viva Palestina simply provided a focus for an aid convoy from Britain to Gaza. It was de-centralised. Each participant was responsible for raising their own money, bringing their own vehicles, filling their own vehicles with their own aid, making their own donations in Gaza. You have been told this but continue to misrepresent the position. The money raised by Viva Palestina itself – a much smaller amount – was publicly declared to be intended as a donation to a British charity for work in Gaza – Interpal, with which you are depressingly familiar for having harassed it for years on repeatedly debunked smears.

The vast majority of the participants in the convoy, and the vast majority of those who helped them with money and aid, were British Muslims.

Having exerted that mighty effort, those British Muslims now find that their peaceful democratic response to the crisis in Gaza has been criminalised by you, and their aid confiscated. This all follows the high-profile police raid on vehicles from the Muslim community in the North West heading to join the convoy the night before its departure. This raid, blazed across the media, saw the arrest of ten Muslims headed for the convoy. All ten of them were later released without charge, but not before sowing the seeds of tremendous bitterness in the communities from which the men came.

This is dangerous as well as foolish. There are extremists on the edge of the Muslim community even now saying “I told you so” to those who had been naive enough to think Britain was still the kind of country where efforts like ours could be appreciated and, at least, be free from the kind of arbitrary and unjust actions taken by you. These actions undermine the confidence of British Muslims in the democratic system in Britain and are therefore dangerous and against the interests of our country.

I understand from my colleagues that you have now frozen more than £100,000 intended to help the suffering Palestinian people. Shame on you. I suppose it is too much to hope that you might have that on your conscience. But be sure I intend to let as many people as possible know, here and abroad, what you have done.

Viva Palestina’s work has effectively come to a halt since your intervention in its affairs and in my absence. This was, I’m sure, your intention. Viva Palestina has not spent any money improperly. It would not do so. Indeed it could not do so. It has spent hardly anything at all – thanks to you. But it intends to get its money back from you. Viva Palestina have instructed lawyers to deal with you and a barrister will accompany us to the meeting with you. If necessary we will start a new organisation free from your wrecking efforts. But we want this money back, please be sure about that. There are Palestinians dying as a result of the malignant, sinister, cynical actions taken by you. Trust me you’ll be hearing more about this.

Yours faithfully

George Galloway MP

Source- www.daily.pk

May 22, 2009 Posted by Elias

"Synagogue Bomb Plot" - Latest Zionist Publicity Coup

Contributed by ritalin

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Copyright ©2009 by Michael Hoffman

The round-up of patsies in the FBI/police-provoked "synagogue bomb plot" (the ersatz weapons and explosives were, as per usual, furnished by the cops themselves), is only the latest Zionist publicity coup, timed to coincide with the hyping of the Iranian missile launch, the visit of assassin-master Binyamin "Bibi" Netanyahu to the White House, and Jeffrey Goldberg's Holocaustomania-drenched apologia for Netanyahu's murderous racism, in the pages of the oh-so hip-and-humane New York Times.


Dim-witted news anchors across the television and radio air waves and satellite rays have confidently repeated the account of the NY synagogue bomb plot exactly as told to them by "the police and the FBI." Nary a dollop of skepticism do the media offer to salt this goose, in spite of the fact that it is has been conclusively documented that the Federal government from Bush and Cheney to Condi and Colin lied to us big time concerning Saddam Hussein's supposed weapons of mass distraction.

Loud mouth Cheney, who has taken a cue from the rabbis and decided that the best policy is the chutzpagh tactic -- of lying outrageously with a straight face about "enhanced interrogation" and the "threat of terror" -- lied most outrageously during his time in office, by claiming Saddam was mixed up with with Al Qaeda in the 9/11 attacks. In reporting Cheney's recent speeches defending torture, nowhere have the major media reminded the people of Cheney's most easily documented big lie -- about Saddam/Al Qaeda.


The little shadow play in Mayor Bloomberg's New York, with the-suckers-who-would-be synagogue bombers (James Cromitie, Laguerre Payen, David Williams and Onta Williams), is a harbinger of our through-a-glass-darkly future, wherein any sustained rejection by the American people of the Israeli sodomy of Uncle Sam, will be met by a backpack-detonated nuke in downtown (pick your radioactive poison): Seattle, Chicago or Houston; said backpack to be detonated by an A-rab suicide bomber whose passport will miraculously drift down from the mushroom cloud, and land intact at the feet of Sean Hannity. The media will report this mother of all terror acts exactly as the covert terrorists --which is to say U.S. and Israeli intelligence --will want it reported, and that will end the peace and populism movements, as well as the Bill of Rights as we know it.

The Cryptocracy permits us the safety-valve, playpen simulacra of what we imagine to be petition, exposé, voting, organizing and protesting, but since It owns the major broadcast and print media, and commands the loyalty of the time-serving, mercenary bureaucrats in law enforcement and intelligence, anytime it begins to look as though We the People will actually revolt and seriously alter U.S. policy toward the Israeli war machine, or the Carlyle Group's military-industrial profit-complex, or the bankster's speculative ability to raise oil prices in a time of falling demand for oil, then the whole Yankee Doodle Spirit of '76 townhall populist pitchfork rebellion will be locked down and locked up in a two-pronged motion made possible by one big repeat of 9/11.

This can happen mainly because the scum of the earth, i.e. "news" executives at the six main TV networks (CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, FOX and PBS), and at National Public Radio and the newspaper chains, are all disproportionately staffed by agents and mouthpieces of the police and security apparatus of the Zionist Occupation Government (ZOG) itself.

As the curtain rises on today's comically contrived, off-Broadway synagogue bombshow, confirmed and repeated with a sober and straight face by a turkey flock of reporters and news execs, we are seeing our future in microcosm - captive to the secret agents of the state who fuel, feed, arm and direct the "antisemitic terrorists" and "jihadists" who will bomb us to smithereens if we don't loyally submit to the Dick Cheney apocalypse-now paradigm of Zionist-goodness vs. Third World-wickedness -- the perpetual war for perpetual peace dystopia.

Top Priority: The loudest alarm we should be sounding every day of our lives, in every imaginable forum and street corner, if we would have any hope of halting this black op, false flag, Arlington Road process, is the clarion alert to all Americans that every domestic "terror" plot or actual attack should always first be assumed to be a U.S. government covert action, until proved otherwise.

The sad little rehearsal with the four patsies today in New York, preceded by the Air Force One flyover Manhattan stagecraft, are intimations of a government-orchestrated terrorist spectacular in our future that will end the Bill of Rights as we know it, if we fail to boldly call the media on its mouthpiece status as a servile publicity arm of American "security forces."

We must reinstate the sleuthing reporter's vocation of uncovering hidden works of darkness by bigshots in high places, not the Cryptocracy's "right" to lock us down --and up-- due to a depraved "news" media that's part of the play.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Hoffman is the author of Judaism Discovered, the only book about Judaism ever banned by Amazon.com

US Must Rein in Israel’s Nuclear Arms!

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Rose Gottemoeller

The surprise announcement by Rose Gottemoeller, a US assistant secretary of state, that America would like every nation – including Israel – to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) has sent shockwaves through Tel Aviv, confirming the fears (or hopes, depending on who you ask) that the Obama administration is initiating a major overhaul of its policy on nuclear proliferation in the Middle East.

The Israeli government will certainly challenge the Obama administration on this issue, as Israel is not likely to ­co-operate, to put it mildly, with the state department’s new logical, fair-minded approach to non-proliferation.

It was none other than Avigdor ­Lieberman, the Israeli foreign minister, who declared – with a quite a bit of ­chutzpah – that the US government would adopt whatever policy Israel dictated. But Israelis should realise that the American president cannot be reduced to a puppet of the Israeli government.

Bearing in mind the possibility of an Israeli attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities, it is critical that the US pursue a robust non-proliferation policy, and demand that all countries in the region sign and implement the NPT. This is the only way to prevent another war in the Middle East.

When Israeli leaders talk about halting the Iranian nuclear programme, it is a barely concealed threat of a military strike. Just last month, the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz published an article by its senior commentator for military affairs calling for Israeli military action against the Iranian nuclear project. When the most liberal daily paper publishes such an article, alarm bells should start ringing.

Israel pushed the Middle East into a race for weapons of mass destruction. In 1986, Mordechai Vanunu, the nuclear whistleblower, exposed the frantic bomb-making activity going on behind the walls of the Israeli nuclear facility in Dimona. Experts on nuclear proliferation estimate that Israel is armed with hundreds of atom and hydrogen bombs. Adding to this the biological and chemical weapons that Israel produces in the Nes Ziona biological institute, a frightening picture emerges: a state that is a powder keg of atomic, ­biological and chemical WMD.

Today we know that Israel developed nuclear arms while deceiving the US government. President Kennedy was opposed to Israel acquiring or developing nuclear weapons because of the dangers to regional and global stability. But Israel successfully deceived the American inspectors sent to monitor the Dimona reactor.

An Israeli attack on Iran would be likely to produce catastrophic consequences, resulting in long-term escalation of violence between the two countries. Other nations and proxies could take sides leading, potentially, to a nuclear confrontation. But hostilities between Israel and Iran would not remain a regional war; they would probably have profound global consequences and cause serious damage to the US.

Barack Obama, however, can assume a ­historic leadership role and prevent this doomsday scenario. He was elected as the harbinger of a new era of rapprochement between hostile nations. To achieve these goals, the American administration needs to rein in Israel, compel it to accept a regime of nuclear disarmament in our region and oblige it to open all nuclear, biological and chemical facilities and missile sites to international inspection. The same holds true for Iran and the other states in the Middle East.

The US and Israel are allies – a mantra repeated by virtually all American politicians, but not carefully analysed. There is a “special relationship”, though not in the conventional meaning of the term as used by Aipac (the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee): the US finances and arms Israel, and the latter is the (sometimes) grateful recipient of American beneficence. Without US support, Israel would be reduced to a minor power. It would be unable to finance the occupation, the settlements in the West Bank and, of course, its nuclear arsenal. Using this leverage, the Obama administration can and should impose on Israel a policy of nuclear disarmament.

In a volatile region like ours, in which Jews and Muslims claim a direct link with the Almighty and even purport to speak in His name, the existence of nuclear weapons is a grave threat to world peace. This is particularly true with regard to Israel and Iran, where elements in each country believe in Armageddon as a prelude to redemption. Some of these religious fundamentalists even serve in key governmental positions. This is why the Obama administration must enforce a non-proliferation policy in the Middle East with both Israel and Iran, thus preventing the disastrous consequences of a nuclear conflagration.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/may/22/nuclear-arms-israel-iran-obama

May 22, 2009 Posted by Elias

'1 in 4 Israelis Consider Leaving Country if Iran Gets Nukes'

'1 in 4 Israelis Consider Leaving Country if Iran Gets Nukes'
Readers Number : 140

22/05/2009 Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Friday that some 23 percent of Israelis would consider leaving the country if Iran obtains a nuclear weapon.

According to a poll conducted on behalf of the Center for Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University, some 85 percent of respondents said they feared the Islamic Republic would obtain an atomic bomb, 57 percent believed the new US initiative to engage in dialogue with Tehran would fail and 41 percent claimed the Zionist entity should strike Iran's nuclear installations without waiting to see whether or how the talks develop.
"The findings are worrying because they reflect an exaggerated and unnecessary fear," Professor David Menashri, the head of the Center, said. "Iran's leadership is religiously extremist but calculated and it understands an unconventional attack on Israel is an act of madness that will destroy Iran. Sadly, the survey shows the Iranian threat works well even without a bomb and thousands of Israelis already live in fear and contemplate leaving the country."

The poll was conducted among 509 people representative of the Zionist entity's adult population.

Zionists Deported ROFLMAO

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Every now and then, Egypt gets something right.

The 24 Brazilians were arrested Wednesday in Cairo by Egyptian authorities because they were allegedly carrying leaflets in Portuguese promoting Israel's Yisrael Beiteinu Party and encouraging Brazilian Jews to immigrate to Israel.

Yisrael Beiteinu, or Israel is Our Home, is the party of Israel's hard-line (Head Racist) Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who onces suggested that Israel threaten to bomb Egypt's Aswan Dam as a means of influencing Egyptian policy.

The Brazilians had just landed in Cairo on an Alitalia flight from Rome. The customs officials searched the travelers' 38 pieces of luggage and found brochures in 10 of the suitcases. Customs informed security forces.

The Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is negotiating with Egyptian officials. The tourists' names have not been released and there has been no information about whethet they will be deported, according to the Brazilian newspaper O Globo. linky link

AND MORE HERE:

Egyptian authorities have arrested 24 Brazilian tourists upon their arrival in Cairo on suspicion of "spreading (Israeli Foreign Minister) Avigdor Lieberman's radical views."

Lieberman's recent statements have overclouded the relations between Israel and Egypt. The foreign minister did meet with Egyptian Intelligence Minister Omar Suleiman, but his counterpart in Cairo, Ahmed Aboul Gheit declared that he would not shake Lieberman's hand and that the Israeli minister would not set foot on Egyptian soil if he failed to change his views.

In the past, Lieberman called on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to "go to hell" if he failed to visit Israel, and recommended bombing the Aswan Dam. linky link

Posted by Ban Sidhe at 10:41 PM

Israel Wants Prison For Those Recognizing the Palestinian Holocaust

History over the last 2,000 years tells us that the Jews have been responsible for more mass genocide than any other race/religion. But yet it seems the only genocide "holocaust" they want us to remember is what happened in Nazi Germany during WW11. We can't mention the fact for example that is was the Jewish Bolsheviks that caused the deaths of 30 to 50 million people under Jewish Communism, or a further 8 million during the Ukrainian Holodomor. Now the Jews want to send to prison anyone mentioning the Jewish genocide in the Middle East since 1948.

Michael

Israel Wants Prison For Those Recognizing the Palestinian Holocaust–Jewish Groups Remain Silent

Published May 20, 2009 Uncategorized 31 Comments

“And the LORD spake unto Moses saying, “Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them the following–When ye are passed over the Jordan river into the land of Canaan, ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and tear down all their high places…And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein, for I have given you the land to possess it…But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which shall remain shall be pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell…”

Book of Numbers 33:50-56

In the latest coughing fit laying bare the sickness of soul infecting and guiding the very existence of the Jewish state, one of Israel’s largest political parties has introduced a bill in the Knesset outlawing freedom of speech when it comes to commemorating the other Holocaust about which no one seems to know anything, meaning what was done to the Palestinians 60+ years ago by the Jews in an event known as “al Nakbah”.

Introduced by MK Alex Miller of Israel Beiteinu (”Our Land Israel“) the bill is set for deliberation this week in a Knesset dominated by radical, messianic, violence-prone members of both the aforementioned IB party and Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud. In the interest of covering up and then “wiping off the map” of history Israel’s 6-decade legacy of racism, genocide and terrorism against the Palestinian people, the law is but one more manifestation of what is now the all-too-typical Judeo-centric paradigm so much a part of the way Jews see themselves in relation to the rest of the world’s peoples ever since the days of Abraham and Moses.

In effect, the law criminalizes any publicly-demonstrated mourning surrounding the event taking place 61 years ago when as many as 750,000 Palestinians–Christian and Muslim alike–were “persuaded” by Jewish thugs working for terrorist organizations such as Irgun and the Stern Gang to succumb to a pre-planned program of ethnic cleansing by relocating themselves to all the luxury, opulence and comfort of tented outdoor refugee camps scattered throughout Gaza, Jordan, the West Bank and Lebanon.

This is not the first time such a bill has been introduced in Israel’s law-making body. Perhaps fearing the kind of public-relations backlash that would inevitably result from the obvious hypocrisy of such a law (given that Israel and her various mouthpieces are constantly screeching up a storm whenever someone from within the Gentile community dares entertain even an ounce of skepticism or irreverence for the Holocaust of Jews in WWII) similar proposals have been introduced on previous occasions but never made into law.

Now however, with “Bubba” Netanyahu as Prime Minister and Avigdor Lieberman (founder and leader of Israel Beiteinu) serving as both Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister and with more and more people in Israel leaning more towards the extremist side of an already-extremist ideology known as Zionism, the proposed law has a better chance of becoming a fait accompli.

For those lacking a working knowledge of exactly what took place during the Palestinian holocaust known as the “Nakbah”, it can effectively be described as the spark plug for 90% of the problems springing up in the Middle East today. In 1948 over the course of a mere few days, close to 750,000 persons–Christian and Muslim alike–were run from the homes and lands in which they and their ancestors dwelt for literally thousands of years. In the wee hours of the morning, well-trained/well-armed Jewish terrorists working for the aforementioned organized crime organizations Irgun and Stern Gang went on a religiously-inspired rampage throughout hundreds of Arab villages, shooting women and children, dynamiting homes, blowing up churches, schools and shops. Writing in his memoirs, Christian clergyman Father Audeh Rantisi describes what he endured as a boy of 11 when he and his family were forced from their home of many generations to make what life they could for themselves in the refugee camps of Ramallah–

“I cannot forget the three horror-filled days in July of 1948. Israeli soldiers forced thousands of Palestinians from their homes near the Mediterranean coast, even though some families had lived in the same houses for centuries. (My family had been in the town of Lydda in Palestine at least 1,600 years). Without water, we stumbled into the hills and continued for three deadly days. The Jewish soldiers followed, occasionally shooting over our heads to scare us and keep us moving. Terror filled my eleven-year-old mind as I wondered what would happen. I remembered overhearing my father and his friends express alarm about recent massacres by Jewish terrorists. Would they kill us, too?

We did not know what to do, except to follow orders and stumble blindly up the rocky hills. I walked hand in hand with my grandfather, who carried our only remaining possessions-a small tin of sugar and some milk for my aunt’s two-year-old son, sick with typhoid.

The horror began when Zionist soldiers deceived us into leaving our homes, then would not let us go back, driving us through a small gate just outside Lydda. I remember the scene well: thousands of frightened people being herded like cattle through the narrow opening by armed soldiers firing overhead. In front of me a cart wobbled toward the gate. Alongside, a lady struggled, carrying her baby, pressed by the crowd. Suddenly, in the jostling of the throngs, the child fell. The mother shrieked in agony as the cart’s metal-rimmed wheel ran over her baby’s neck. That infant’s death was the most awful sight I had ever seen.

Outside the gate the soldiers stopped us and ordered everyone to throw all valuables onto a blanket. One young man and his wife of six weeks, friends of our family, stood near me. He refused to give up his money. Almost casually, the soldier pulled up his rifle and shot the man. He fell, bleeding and dying while his bride screamed and cried. I felt nauseated and sick, my whole body numbed by shock waves. That night I cried, too, as I tried to sleep alongside thousands on the ground. Would I ever see my home again? Would the soldiers kill my loved ones, too?

Early the next morning we heard more shots and sprang up. A bullet just missed me and killed a donkey nearby. Everybody started running as a stampede. I was terror-stricken when I lost sight of my family, and I frantically searched all day as the crowd moved along.

That second night, after the soldiers let us stop, I wandered among the masses of people, desperately searching and calling. Suddenly in the darkness I heard my father’s voice. I shouted out to him. What joy was in me! I had thought I would never see him again. As he and my mother held me close, I knew I could face whatever was necessary. The next day brought more dreadful experiences. Still branded on my memory is a small child beside the road, sucking the breast of its dead mother. Along the way I saw many stagger and fall. Others lay dead or dying in the scorching midsummer heat. Scores of pregnant women miscarried, and their babies died along the wayside. The wife of my father’s cousin became very thirsty. After a long while she said she could not continue. Soon she slumped down and was dead. Since we could not carry her we wrapped her in cloth, and after praying, just left her beside a tree. I don’t know what happened to her body.

We eventually found a well, but had no way to get water. Some of the men tied a rope around my father’s cousin and lowered him down, then pulled him out, and gave us water squeezed from his clothing. The few drops helped, but thirst still tormented me as I marched along in the shadeless, one-hundred plus degree heat.

We trudged nearly twenty miles up rocky hills, then down into deep valleys, then up again, gradually higher and higher. Finally we found a main road, where some Arabs met us. They took some of us in trucks to Ramallah, ten miles north of Jerusalem. I lived in a refugee tent camp for the next three and one-half years. We later learned that two Jewish families had taken over our family home in Lydda.

After more than four decades, I still bear the emotional scars of the Zionist invasion…”

The process of mass expulsion was made all the more easy with massacres of entire villages, the details of which were then made known to outlying towns resulting in mass panic and subsequent flight. Of the more infamous massacres taking place was the slaughter at Deir Yassin, where Jewish terrorists butchered as many as 250 men, women and children, including–if it can be imagined–pregnant women who had their bellies slashed open with Jewish bayonets and their unborn children ripped out in what was a repeat performance of what the ancient Israelites did to the Tiphsahite women in the Old Testament as recounted in the Book of Kings. Some of the testimonies of those who witnessed and even participated in the slaughter at Deir Yassin have testified that–

“We eliminated every Arab that came our way.”

–Ben Zion Cohen, an Irgun commander

“I saw the horrors that the fighters had created. I saw bodies of women and children, who were murdered in their houses in cold blood by gunfire, with no signs of battle and not as the result of blowing up the houses. I have seen a great deal of war, but I never saw a sight like Deir Yassin.”

–Eliahu Arbel, Operations Officer in the Jewish Haganah

“The attackers chose to kill anybody they found alive as though every living thing in the village was the enemy and they could only think ‘kill them all.’…It was a lovely spring day, the almond trees were in bloom, the flowers were out and everywhere there was the stench of the dead, the thick smell of blood, and the terrible odor of the corpses burning in the quarry.”

–Yeshurun Shiff, assistant to David Shaltiel, commander of Jewish Haganah forces in Jerusalem

“… A total of more than 200 dead, men, women, and children…One was a woman who must have been eight months pregnant, hit in the stomach, with powder burns on her dress indicating she’d been shot point-blank.”

–Jacques de Reynier, Representative of the International Red Cross

“In the houses there were dead, in all about a hundred men, women and children. It was terrible. It was clear that the attackers had gone from house to house and shot the people at close range. I was a doctor in the German army for 5 years in World War I but I had not seen such a horrifying spectacle.”

–Dr. Alfred Engel, Red Cross worker

“What we saw were women, young children, and old men. What shocked us was at least two or three cases of old men dressed in women’s clothes. My conclusion was that what happened in the village so terrorized these old men that they knew being old men would not save them. They hoped that if they were seen as old women that would save them.”

–Yair Tsaban, was one of several youths tasked with burying the dead at Deir Yessin

Menachem Begin, one of the commanders overseeing the slaughter and who would one day become one of Israel’s Prime Ministers later remarked gloatingly that–

“The Arabs throughout the country were seized with limitless panic and started to flee for their lives and this mass flight soon developed into a maddened, uncontrollable stampede. The political and economic significance of this development can hardly be overestimated.”

The slaughter in villages such as took place at Deir Yassin were done to affect the circumstances as they exist today–to rid Palestine of Gentiles so that Israel could be a “Jews only“ state in the exact fashion as described in the same Old Testament acting as a road map for all obnoxious, violent, narcissistic Jewish behavior seen not only today but throughout history. Despite the mountains of evidence in the form of photos and testimony, nevertheless in typical lying, obfuscating fashion Israel and her supporters continue to maintain as they have for the last 60 years that no massacres took place, that there was no Jewish plan to force the Arabs to leave and that the Palestinians fled because various Arab governments told them to leave.

Out of the horse’s mouth though the lies are laid bare. David Ben Gurion, Israel’s 1^st Prime Minister who personally oversaw the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians in 1948 spoke of what was to come decades before the Nakbah took place–

“In many parts of the country new settlement will not be possible without transferring the Palestinian Arabs… Jewish power, which grows steadily, will also increase our possibilities to carry out the transfer on a large scale…With compulsory transfer we would have a vast area for settlement…I support compulsory transfer. I don’t see anything immoral in it…There are two issues here–1) sovereignty and 2) the removal of a certain number of Arabs, and we must insist on both of them.”

And indicating that violence was the only way to achieve this, Ben Gurion wrote years earlier that–

“It is impossible to imagine general evacuation without brutal compulsion. It would be very difficult to bring about resettlement of other Arab populations by transferring them voluntarily, whatever economic inducements are offered to them.”

And this is but a smattering of the suffering and injustice occurring during a holocaust that–according to Jewish interests–did not take place and the discussion of which will result in a stiff 3-year prison sentence if Israel gets her way.

The hypocrisy surrounding this latest move by Israel is–in a word–stupefying in its audacity, and on several levels. In a day and age when persons throughout the “free” West are bring thrown into prison for having broken “holocaust denial’ laws written and sponsored by Jewish interests, the idea that now Israel is MANDATING denial of the Palestinian holocaust speaks volumes about the Jewish character and mindset driving such a proposal. One can just imagine the hurricane the entire world would be forced to endure in the event any nation (and particularly those in the West being held hostage by Jewish interests with a razor to their jugular) were to pass, propose or even WHISPER of any similar such laws making it illegal for Jews to commemorate the persecution said to have befallen them during WWII.

Surprisingly ( ?! ) not a single watchdog group working in the service of Jewish interests (including but certainly not limited to the ADL, SPLC, Simon Wiesenthal, or any of their ugly twin sisters) legendary for their high-decibel shrieking whenever Holocaust denial or “freedom of speech” (re–the bashing of Christians and Muslims) is threatened have uttered a peep. These same groups allocating not just millions, but indeed tens of millions of dollars a year to spying on individuals and organizations who might have something skeptical to say concerning the sanctam sanctorum of today’s new and not-so-improved Judaism–meaning the Holocaust–have had absolutely nothing to say concerning Israel’s latest move in legally mandating holocaust denial when said holocaust involves Jews as holocausters and non-Jews as the holocausted. Nothing. Nada, Zilch. Rien. Niente.

In the meantime, while the world is forced to hear fantastic stories about Jewish blood gurgling up from out of the ground, color-coded smoke from the crematoria indicating what “type” of Jew was being incinerated and tales of Jewish lasses throwing pieces of apples over barbed wire fences to hungry inmates only to later be (reluctantly) admitted to be hoaxes, real tales of murder, genocide, racism and unimaginable human suffering face criminal prosecution.

The reasons for Israel’s desire in “illegalizing” recognition of the Palestinian Holocaust is not hard to decipher. Despite her stated reason–that by outlawing commemoration of what Israel did in 1948 it will inspire “patriotism” amongst Israel’s Arab minority–the truth is much uglier than her stated fiction. In the first case, Israel Beiteinu, the party introducing the legislation has made it crystal clear that the solution to Israel’s problems is to finish what was started in 1948 but left undone, meaning the complete transfer of all non-Jews out of the Jewish state. When they named the party Israel Beiteinu “Our Land Israel” they did not mean for the whole world, but rather only Jews.

Furthermore, it must be remembered that lying, deception and the altering of reality is as intrinsic to the creation and maintenance of the Jewish state as belching out loud is to some beer-guzzling beer-hog. The entire makeup of Jewish thinking was born in the womb of fantasy and make-believe, where a powerful, violent, vengeful deity for unknown and inexplicable reasons singles out one seemingly insignificant microbe of humanity, reveals to them his chauvinistic preference for them and bestows upon them a privileged destiny as rulers of the world.

The other reasons for the proposed law and absence of any protest by organized Jewish interests is equally ugly. The technicalities of Judaism and the mindset it produces stipulates that Gentile suffering simply does not exist. Gentiles are not men, but rather beasts created in human form by Yahweh to better serve the Jews. Whether it is Rabbi Yaacov Perrin’s infamous “One million Arabs are not worth one Jewish fingernail” or Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburg’s “The blood of the Jewish people is loved by the Lord; it is therefore redder and their life is preferable” or Prime Minister Golda Meir’s “There is no such thing as a Palestinian people… It is not as if we came and threw them out and took their country. They didn’t exist.” the idea that non-Jews–and particularly Arabs–are capable of suffering is not possible. In the Jewish way of thinking, such notions are as strange to Jewish ears as the notion of a round world was to the best minds of the dark ages who thought it was flat.

Furthermore, what must be remembered is that the god of the Jews, YAHWEH HIMSELF told them this is THEIR land and has commanded them to drive out its original inhabitants. As recounted in the Torah of the Old Testament, the forefathers of today’s Jews engaged in exactly the same business when they crossed over from Egypt, expelling, killing, burning down towns and enslaving those few who remained as “hewers of wood” and “carriers of water”.

More importantly though is the fact that things have not turned out as hoped or as planned. Despite Ben Gurion’s infamous “the old will die and the young will forget” statement concerning the violent expulsion of the Palestinians, nothing of the sort has materialized. Rather than cowing and bowing down before their oppressors as virtually the entire West has done, the Arabs and their defiance are stronger today than they were when bands of bloodthirsty Jews entered their villages in 1948 like a swarm of savages, killing and destroying everything. If anything should be obvious by now, it is that the Palestinian people cannot be broken, no matter how many phosphorus bombs are unleashed upon them, no matter how many innocent children are shot in the head and no matter how much they are starved of the most basic necessities of life.

And just as important as the aforementioned is the fact that as a result of their resolve, their struggle is increasingly becoming a source of inspiration for peoples the world over and a source of increasing embarrassment to the Jews who cannot seem to defeat them. Their resilience and the history of what has been done to them by the self-chosenites is like the infamous beating of the heart in that infamous Edgar Allen Poe story and where the guilty character is driven mad in the process.

Those who think this latest development is much ado about nothing or the mere musings of a few madmen should reconsider. It was only a few years ago after all that a bill was introduced in the Knesset giving Israel the legal authority to convict anyone in any country of Holocaust denial or “anti-Semitism and demand their extradition. Although the bill did not go through as hoped, it is an indicator of what lies below the surface, or as Jesus Christ, Palestine’s greatest anti-Zionist freedom fighter stated once, “out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks”.

(c) 2009 Mark Glenn

Correspondent, American Free Press Newspaper

Israel destroying Gaza's farmlands

It seems the Jews are trying to starve the Gazans into submission, much in the same way that the Soviet Jews starved 8 million Ukrainians in the Holodomor.

Israel destroying Gaza's farmlands

Eva Bartlett, The Electronic Intifada, 22 May 2009



A farmer holds crops destroyed by Israeli troops.
On the morning of 4 May 2009, Israeli troops set fire to Palestinian crops along Gaza's eastern border with Israel. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) reported that 200,000 square meters of crops were destroyed, including wheat and barley ready for harvest, as well as vegetables, olive and pomegranate trees.

Local farmers report that the blaze carried over a four-kilometer stretch on the Palestinian side of the eastern border land. Ibrahim Hassan Safadi, 49, from one of the farming families whose crops were destroyed by the blaze, said that the fires were smoldering until early evening, despite efforts by the fire brigades to extinguish them.

Safadi says he was present when Israeli soldiers fired small bombs into his field, which soon after caught ablaze. He explained that "The Israeli soldiers fired from their jeeps, causing a fire to break out on the land. They burned the wheat, burned the pomegranate trees ... The fire spread across the valley. We called the fire brigades. They came to the area and put out the fire. But in some places the fire started again." According to Safadi, he lost 30,000 square meters to the blaze, including 300 pomegranate trees, 150 olive trees, and wheat.

In the border areas it has long since become nearly impossible to work on the land due to almost daily shooting from the Israeli soldiers. The crops that were burned on 4 May were dried and ready to harvest, meaning that they were extremely flammable.

"It took only three minutes for the fire to destroy 65,000 square meters," said Nahed Jaber Abu Said, whose farmland lies a few kilometers down the road from Safadi. He added that "It was nearly 9am. I was here when the Israeli jeeps came. An Israeli soldier at the fence shot an explosive into our field of wheat. It went up in flames immediately."

Safadi said that the arson attack was the third major time his farm has suffered from an Israeli attack. In previous attacks over the last decade, he explained, Israeli soldiers bulldozed his land, razing his lemon, olive and clementine trees as well as demolishing greenhouses.

"We've suffered great losses. The Israeli soldiers have destroyed so much of our land, trees and equipment. They've cost us a lot of money," he said, citing cumulative losses of $330,000 since 2000 when the heightened invasions began. In the last attack, Safadi said that $130,000 worth of crops, trees and irrigation piping was destroyed.

A wheat field destroyed by fire.

On top of the destruction, Safadi complains of not being able to replace destroyed items like the plastic hosing used to irrigate his fields. These, along with fertilizers and machinery replacement parts, are banned from entering Gaza due to the Israeli-led and internationally-backed whole-scale siege of the territory.

Abu Said reports losses of $2,000 on one patch of his land alone. "This isn't including the land closest to the border fence," he said. "I'm so sad now, what can I do?"

His experiences also extend beyond the 4 May attacks, and beyond the loss of land. In 2008, Israeli soldiers shot and killed 11 of his sheep and seriously injured a 15-year-old cousin, Jaber, by shooting him in the mouth.

Attacks by Israeli soldiers occur on a near-daily basis along Gaza's borders with Israel. Nearly a decade ago, Israel unilaterally imposed a "buffer" or "no-go" zone solely on the Gaza side of their shared borders. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee, the initial 100-meter "off-limits" area has now extended to one kilometer across much of Gaza's eastern border and two kilometers along the Strip's northern border. FAO further reports that roughly one-third of Gaza's agricultural land lies within the confines of the "buffer zone."

Since the 18 January ceasefire, three Palestinian civilians, including one child, have been killed in the "buffer zone" area from shooting and shelling by Israeli forces. Another 12 Palestinians have been injured, including three children and two women, due to Israeli fire along the border.

In addition to the physical threat and the destruction of agricultural land and equipment, Gaza's farming sector is further devastated by the destruction of what is believed to be hundreds of wells and sources of water and the contamination of farmland due to Israel's invasion of Gaza at the beginning of the year. As reported by the Guardian newspaper in February 2009, these attacks have left nearly 60 percent of Gaza's agricultural land useless.

The consequences of the active destruction of Gaza's farming sector are amplified within the context of Israel's siege and the stagnant state of rebuilding efforts since the ceasefire. With only a trickle of aid entering Gaza and poverty and malnutrition rates soaring, the ability to produce food is all the more vital to Palestinians in Gaza.

All images by Eva Bartlett.

Eva Bartlett is a Canadian human rights advocate and freelancer who arrived in Gaza in November 2008 on the third Free Gaza Movement boat. She has been volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement and documenting Israel's ongoing attacks on Palestinians in Gaza. During Israel's recent assault on Gaza, she and other ISM volunteers accompanied ambulances and documenting the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.

THOSE PEOPLE IN GAZA: WHERE DO THEY COME FROM AND WHY ARE THEY SO MAD?

Link

"I started to wonder what it would be like for Jews if Holocaust denial were not restricted to marginal figures, as it is now, but were widely accepted in the society in which they lived. This is what it is like for most Palestinians in Western countries, who live in a world dominated by Nakba-denial. I can only imagine what a difference it would make to Palestinian consciousness throughout the world were Israel to proclaim, 'yes, we drove you out, and that was an egregious wrong, and we want to make it up to you.' " ~ Joseph Levine, History Matters; Boston Review, Sept/Oct 2008.

Lawrence of Cyberia

January 30, 2009

"We tend to believe abroad that Palestine is nowadays almost completely deserted,

Jaffa, Palestine: Palestinians gather at the Grand Serai (local government offices) in July 1908, to celebrate the al-Hurriyah Revolution (i.e. the Young Turks Revolution) against Sultan Abdul Hamid and in favor of the restoration of the constitution and the holding of Parliamentary elections.(via Walid Khalidi, Before Their Diaspora).

a noncultivated wilderness,

Jaffa, Palestine: General view of the city
from the sea looking east, pre-1914. (Matson Collection, 1898-1914)

and anyone can come there and buy as much land as his heart desires.

Jaffa, Palestine: Street scene in the old city next to Jaffa's famous Clock tower, pre-1914 (Matson Collection).

But in reality this is not the case.

Jaffa, Palestine: The bazaar in 1896.

It is difficult to find anywhere in the country Arab land which lies fallow;

Jaffa, Palestine: General view of Jaffa and its orange groves, facing south; before 1914. (Matson Collection)

the only areas which are not cultivated are sand dunes or stony mountains,

Jaffa, Palestine: Harvesting the oranges. (Matson Collection)

which can be only planted with trees,

Jaffa, Palestine: Sorting and packing citrus fruits, 1920's.

and even this only after much labor and capital would be invested

Jaffa, Palestine: Oranges being wrapped for sale. (Matson Collection).

in clearance and preparation...

Jaffa, Palestine: Boxed Jaffa oranges being loaded for export, early 1920's. Jaffa oranges were Palestine's leading export. After 1948, Jaffa's nationalized orange groves and the established markets for their products provided the major source of income for the new state of Israel.

We tend to believe abroad that all Arabs are desert barbarians,

Jaffa, Palestine: The staff of the Government Secondary Boys' School (al-Ameiryah High School) in 1923. Seated center is Salim Katul, author of a series of textbooks in Arabic on the natural sciences.

an asinine people who does not see or understand what is going on around them.

Jaffa, Palestine: Elementary school pupils at the National Christian Orthodox School (1938).

This is a cardinal mistake...

Jaffa, Palestine: Carpentry class at the Government Secondary Boys' School, 1924. The inscription over the door reads,"The least worthy of you are the least learned".

[When] the day will come in which the life of our people in the Land of Israel

Jaffa, Palestine: The band of the National Christian Orthodox School (1938)

will develop to such a degree that they will push aside the local population by little or by much,

Jaffa, Palestine: Wolf Cubs and Boy Scouts with camping gear, at the Government Secondary Boys' School, 1924.

then it will not easily give up its place...

Jaffa, Palestine: The Government Secondary Boys' School first XI (Soccer) in 1923.

One thing we certainly should have learned from our past and present history,

Jaffa, Palestine: Palestinians demonstrate in Jaffa's central square against the plans of the British government to increase Zionist immigration into Palestine, 27 October 1933.

and that is not to create anger among the local population against us...

Jaffa, Palestine: British Soldiers clubbing Palestinian dignitary Musa Kazim Pasha al-Husseini at the 27 October 1933 demonstration against British policy on Zionist immigration into Palestine. Musa Kazim Pasha al-Husseini died six months later, 27 March 1934, at the age of eighty-one, having never recovered from the effects of this beating. (via Walid Khalidi, Before Their Diaspora).

We have to treat the local population with love and respect, justly and rightly.

Jaffa, Palestine: The beginning of the Arab Revolt of 1936-39. British riot police clash with Palestinian demonstrators protesting Britain's pro-Zionist policies (specifically increasing Zionist immigration into Palestine), Central Square, Jaffa, 12 June 1936. (via Walid Khalidi, Before Their Diaspora).

And what do our brethren in the Land of Israel do? Exactly the opposite!

Jaffa, Palestine: British soldiers search one of Jaffa's residents during the Arab Revolt, 1936.

[T]hey behave toward the Arabs with hostility and cruelty,

The Punishment of Jaffa, Palestine: British soldiers cordon off Jaffa's old city in preparation for the punitive demolition of Palestinian buildings in reprisal for the Arab Revolt against British policy in Palestine; 1936.

infringe upon their boundaries,

The Punishment of Jaffa, Palestine: British soldiers carry out punitive demolitions in the old city, in reprisal for the Arab Revolt against British policy in Palestine; 1936.

hit them shamefully without reason, and even brag about it.

Jaffa, Palestine: The ruins of the Grand Serai (local govt offices, see the first photo in this post). A truck loaded with explosives covered with oranges was parked outside the entrance on 4 January 1948 by members of the Zionist militant organization, Lohemai Herut Israel (the Stern Gang). The resulting explosion destroyed the building and killed 26 Palestinian civilians. (via Walid Khalidi, Before Their Diaspora)

Jaffa was the most advanced city in Palestine, and had approximately 70,000 Palestinian inhabitants. The U.N. assigned Jaffa to Arab Palestine in UNGAR 181 of 29 November 1947.

But Jaffa was always going to be vulnerable to Zionist attack as it was an Arab enclave surrounded by Jewish Palestine, and abutted Tel Aviv, which contained the greatest concentration of Jewish population anywhere in Palestine.

PALESTINIAN LIFE BEFORE NAKBA ~ CRUDE DUMB NOMADS OF THE DESERT?

In the last four months of British rule, contemporary British Palestine Police and British Army records report the following Zionist attacks on the citizens of Jaffa. I have excluded from the list attacks against military targets:

1 January 1948 Lydda. 1200 hours, Jaffa. An explosion occurred in an Arab owned block of flats in Suq El Yehud, near Manshieh Police Station. The flats were completely demolished and slight damage was caused to the police station. Mohammed Ahmed Ismail, aged 20 of Manshieh Quarter, was slightly injured in the hand by glass splinters and was discharged after treatment. An Arab has reported to police that earlier he had seen four Jews carrying a barrel-shaped object. CO 537/3855

1 JANUARY 1948 During the afternoon of 1 January, a bunch of Irgun Z'vai Leumi thugs dressed in battledress and steel helmets drove at speed through Jaffa and fired at Arabs sitting outside a cafe. They killed two and wounded nine others before crashing through an Arab road block and disappearing into Tel Aviv. To emphasize the illusion that the British are responsible for all disorder in the country, they were wearing the flashes of the Royal Irish Fusiliers. WO 275/64

1 JANUARY 1948 Small party of Jews entered block of flats 40 yards in rear Shell Petrol Station, Jaffa, and placed a bomb which demolished the block of flats. So far, 1 Arab injured by flying debris. WO 275/64

4 JANUARY 1948 At 12:25 p.m. two Jewish terrorists, one driving a truck loaded with time bombs and the other driving a jeep, both as usual in British uniforms, drove to the end of a lane between the Arab welfare and relief centre in Jaffa housing children and the Barclay's Bank.

The truck was driven in the lane and left there, and the driver was picked up by the jeep driver who was waiting for him. As they drove away, the whole town was rocked by a powerful explosion and many distant buildings were damaged by the concussion.

The welfare centre was demolished. Seventeen Arabs were killed in this coldblooded murderous attack and 106 were wounded. Among those killed and seriously wounded were women and children. (United Nations Security Council Official Records, Supplements ~ 1948).

4 JANUARY 1948 Lydda. 1240 hours, Jaffa. The Old Serrai in Clock Tower Square which houses the offices of the Arab National Committee, was completely destroyed by an explosion which killed 15 and injured 98 persons.

Buildings nearby including Barclay's Bank, the Central Police Station and several shops and houses were also extensively damaged. Full details of how the attack was carried out are not yet available, but it is believed the attackers arrived at the scene in two vehicles? a 3-ton truck laden with orange boxes and a saloon car.

Proceeding up Bustros Street towards Clock Tower Square? the truck turned left into the narrow lane between Barclay's Bank and the Old Serrai. The saloon car was seen to park some 20 metres north of Central P.S. near the road leading to the port area. The truck was parked at a point about 20 yards along the above mentioned lane.

Two persons, dressed as Arabs, were seen to alight from the truck and walk across the square. They got into the waiting car which drove off in the direction of the Ajami Quarter. Almost immediately following the departure of the car, the explosion occurred.

Tons of masonry from the Old Serrai building completely blocked the land running beside it, A fire subsequently broke out in Barclay's Bank but was extinguished. A strong-room situated in the upper storey of the bank was blown in and a considerable amount of money was salvaged and taken into police custody.

The entire area was wired off to facilitate salvage operations and to prevent looting. It is reported from TeI Aviv that Irgun Z'vai Leumi have claimed responsibility for this outrage. Tension has risen to a high pitch in Jaffa as a result of this attack, and a certain degree of anti-Government feeling has been expressed.

Details of the casualties are as follows:~

Dead:

1) Mohammed Abdul Hallak (aged 12);

2) Abudul Sattah Wahab Jaber (20);

3) Ali Kastika;

4) Mohammed Said Abu Hassan (40);

5) Ahamad Derdanji (45);

6) Ahmad Hawari;

7) Yusef Abu Sheikh (25);

8) Ahmad Faris Shehadi (25);

9) Sa'ad Abil Majid Zein (25);

10) 15 unidentified.

Injured: 1) Said Kheber Said (25) ~ serious;

2) Abed Ahmad Duknak ( 10) ~ serious;

3) Abed Mahmoud Shulayeh (17) ~ serious;

4) Ashraf Tewfik Lufti (28) ~ serious;

5) Naji Said Mughrabi ~ serious;

6) Mohammed Ibrahim Mughrabi ~ serious;

7) Taha Abu Rabah (35) ~ serious;

8) Mohammed Hassan Ibrahim (20) ~ serious;

9) Rasmiyeh Saba (22) ~ serious;

10) Abed Mustafe Abu Wazni (30) ~ serious;

11) Hishan Alami (35) ~ not serious;

12) Ibrahim Mustafa Najar (25) ~ not serious.

All the above named are in the Dajani Hospital.

13) Huda Abu Labm (20) ~ not serious;

14) Said Afif Atout (19) ~ not serious;

15) Rafik Salami (27) ~ not serious;

The above three are in the Government Hospital.

16) Ahmad Mahmoud Taher (30) ~ serious;

17) Ahmad Ahmad Nel(25) ~ serious;

18) Ali Hassan Ashoura (20) ~ not serious;

19) Ahmad Ismail Abu Shabayeh (22) ~ not serious;

20) Rais Hassan Abu Chouleh (70) ~ not serious.

The above-mentioned five are in the French Hospital. Seventy-eight other persons were treated in hospitals for slight injuries but were not detained. CO 537/3855

8 JANUARY 1948 Lydda. 0245 hours, Jaffa. Unknown persons placed a bomb against the house of Haj Abed El Jaber Lahloub, situated at the western side of Beit Dajan village. The bomb exploded causing extensive damage to the house? but no casualties. CO 537/3855

9 JANUARY 1948 Lydda. 0730 hours, Jaffa. Near Jaffa Railway Station; two 'buses conveying Arab railway employees to Lydda were fired upon from automatic weapons from Jewish houses overlooking their station. Hassan Hilu of Jaffa sustained a slight bullet wound in the leg, and two other Arabs were slightly injured by glass splinters. CO 537/3855

10/11 JANUARY 1948 Gaza, 2130 hours. Shots are reported to have been fired from a passing vehicle into an orange grove on Sawafir Sharki lands near the main GadJaffa road. At 0800 hours on 11 January, 1948, the body of a labourer, Abdul Khader Mohammed En Nasri of Jaffa, was found in the grove. He has sustained bullet wounds. CO 537/3855

14 JANUARY 1948 Lydda. 0730 hours, Jaffa. Abdul Fattah Hassan Khalil, an employee of the Palestine Railways, was shot and injured in the foot while walking in Jaffa Railway Station. The bullet came from the direction of a house occupied by Jews and situated north of the station. He was removed to the Government Hospital, Jaffa. His condition is not serious. CO 537/3855

14 JANUARY 1948 Lydda. 1000 hours, Jaffa. Two unidentified Arabs were shot and killed by unknown persons in Arlin Street, Manshieh Quarter. CO 537/3855

20 JANUARY 1948 1430 hours, Jaffa. On the Manshieh beach, Abed Mohammed Jerieh (25) and Khader Mohammed El Jaber (201, both of Manshieh, were hit by bullets fired from the direction of Tel Aviv. The first named was removed to the Government Hospital, Jaffa, but was found to be dead on arrival. Jaber was admitted to the Dajani Hospital in serious condition. CO 537/3855

20 JANUARY 1948 1430 hours, Jaffa. On the Manshieh beach, Abed Mohammed Jerieh (25) and Khader Mohammed El Jaber (201, both of Manshieh, were hit by bullets fired from the direction of Tel Aviv. The first named was removed to the Government Hospital, Jaffa, but was found to be dead on arrival. Jaber was admitted to the Dajani Hospital in serious condition. CO 537/3855

20 JANUARY 1948 1630 hours, Jaffa. In Salameh Road, a woman, Sisteh Nesrameh (33, of Jaffa, was hit in the arm by a bullet fired from the direction of Tel Aviv. She was admitted to the Government Hospital, Jaffa. Her condition is not serious. CO 537/3855

21 JANUARY 1948 Lydda. 0001 hours, Jaffa. A party of Jews opened fire on the Municipal Slaughter House on the Jaffa/Jerusalem road, causing no known casualties or damage. A quantity of first aid kit and bottles containing what is believed to be an incendiary liquid were left behind by the attackers. CO 537/3855

21 JANUARY 1948 0900 hours, Jaffa. Following a report that armed Jews, who had arrived in a truck, had been seen digging holes north of Jaffa Railway Station, police found four gun emplacements and an unexploded mortar bomb.
CO 537/3855

21 JANUARY 1948 1100 hours, Jaffa. Ten Arab houses in Arlin Street were blown up by Jews, the explosions being followed by heavy firing. No casualties have been reported. CO 537/3855

21 JANUARY 1948 Jewish terrorists were seen trying to enter certain Arab houses in the border area of Jaffa-Tel Aviv.

22 JANUARY 1948 1100 hours, Bassa Lands, Jaffa. The following persons were shot on BassaLands by Jewish snipers, believed to have been positioned in the vicinity of the Spirit Factory in Abu Kebir on the JaffaIJerusalem road:

Dead ~

Sulieman Hassan Nattar (25), of Trans-Jordan.

Seriously injured ~

1) Abdul Khadar Nattar (28), of Trans-Jordan;

2) Harned Naher Saleh Tadder (25), of Trans-Jordan;

3) Mohammed Hajeh Hijaz, of Bassa;

4) Mohammed Zafer Hijazi, of Bassa.
CO 537/3855

22 JANUARY 1948 1800 hours, Jaffa. The body of Abdul Natif Omar (25), of Nablus, was admitted to the Government Hospital, Jaffa. He had been shot dead by Jewish snipers near the Spirit Factory in the Abu Kebir area. CO 537/3855

23 JANUARY 1948 1345 hours, Jaffa. At Salama village, Sheikh Ibrahim Moghrabi, aged 21, of Salama, sustained severe bullet wounds in the back when fired upon by Jewish snipers. CO 537/3855

23 JANUARY 1948 1511 hours, Jaffa. Arab traffic was fired upon from one of the Miqveh Israel Colony orange groves, and the fire was returned by the crew of an armoured car. No casualties have been reported. CO 537/3855

25 JANUARY 1948 Lydda. 1145 hours, Jaffa. Two Arab houses in Arlin Street, Manshieh Quarter, were blown up by Jews and completely destroyed. No casualties have been reported. CO 537/3856

25 JANUARY 1948 Lydda. 1300 hours, Jaffa. The body of Mohammed Khalil Khalaf, aged 20 of Manshieh Quarter, who is stated to have been killed by a bomb thrown from the Manshieh Quarter during the morning, was admitted to the Government Hospital, Jaffa. CO 537/3856

25 JANUARY 1948 Lydda. 1700 hours, Jaffa. The following casualties were caused when a bomb exploded in an Arab house in Jabaliya Quarter:

Dead:

Shafic El Asfar (25);

Sami El Asfar (30).
CO 537/3856

27 JANUARY 1948 Lydda. 1745 hours, Jaffa. In Manshieh Quarter, Mohammed Khalil Omar, aged 20 of Qalqiliya, was seriously wounded in the stomach by a bullet fired by a Jewish sniper from the direction of Tel Aviv. CO 537/3856

1 FEBRUARY 1948 Lydda. 1645 hours, Jaffa. Hula1 Salim (451, of Jaffa, was admitted to the Government Hospital with a bullet wound in his side. His condition is serious. He was shot from the direction of Tel Aviv while walking on Bassa Lands. CO 537/3856

1 FEBRUARY 1948 Lydda. 1700 hours, Jaffa. Ismail Salmi Hussein (43, of Jaffa, was shot on Bassa Lands by a bullet from the direction of Tel Aviv. He was removed to the Government Hospital, where his condition is not serious.

2 FEBRUARY 1948 Lydda. Approximately 1645 hours, Jaffa. Unknown persons blew up the houses of Mohammed Natour and Ali Sambo, the bakeries of Abu Sbuhi El Asfour and Subhi El Asfour and an Arab Girls' School, all situated in Hassan Bey Street. Damage is roughly estimated at LP, 70,000. CO 537/3856

4 FEBRUARY 1948 Lydda. 0730 hours, Jaffa. Whilst walking near an Arab road block on the Jerusalem road on the outskirt of Jaffa, Ibrahim Hanna Bamdah, aged 20 of Jaffa, and a thirty-yearold Arab woman from Jaffa named Hameeni were shot and killed by unknown persons. CO 537/3856

8 FEBRUARY 1948 Lydda. 1450 hours. In the Manshieh Quarter, Naif Yusef Saleh Ed Din of Syria, who was living in Jaffa, was shot and slightly wounded by snipers. He was removed to the Government Hospital where his condition is reported to be not serious. CO 537/3856

10 FEBRUARY 1948 Lydda. The house of Mohammed Salim Kalha in the Manshieh Quarter of Jaffa was burnt and completely destroyed by Jews. The damage is estimated at LP.8,000. CO 537/3856

11 FEBRUARY 1948 Lydda. 2200 hours, Jaffa. In Ajami Road, Jaffa, Yousef Salah Ed Din (30) of Beit Rima, Ramallah Sub-District, was shot in the head and killed by unknown persons. CO 537/3856

12 FEBRUARY 1948 Cemeteries of all the Christian communities in Jaffa are grouped in one locality, each having its own guard. Zionist terrorists from the neighbouring Jewish settlement of Bath Yom opened fire and hurled hand grenades on the Christian cemeteries. Five Christian Arabs were killed, including three girls aged five, eight and eleven. United Nations Security Council Official Records, Supplements ~ 1948.

12/13 FEBRUARY 1948 Lydda. Night, 12/13 February, 1948, Jaffa. It is reported that the house of Eid Hasim Esh Shatra in Jebaliya Quarter was destroyed by Jews. The damage is estimated at LP. 7,200. CO 537/3856

13 FEBRUARY 1948 Lydda. 1030 hours, Jaffa. A party of Jews directed fire from three mortars at the Jaffa Railway Station Goods Yard. The bombs exploded causing no damage or casualties. The attack was accompanied by small arms fire for approximately five minutes. CO 537/3856

13 FEBRUARY 1948 Lydda. 1300 hours, Jaffa. The following persons were injured when a mortar bomb struck their house in Jabaliya Quarter:

Seriously Injured ~ Fattah Sawan (20).

Slightly injured ~

Othman Sawan (12);

Ina'am bint Mahmoud Sawan;

Mafeedem bint Mahmoud Sawan (10).

All were removed to the Government Hospital, Jaffa.
CO 537/3856

15 FEBRUARY 1948 Lydda. 1230 hours, Jaffa. Three of four mortar bombs, believed to have been fired from Tel Aviv, exploded in the area of Jaffa Railway Station. There were no casualties. Municipal Police replied with rifle fire with no known results.CO 537/3856

16 FEBRUARY, 1948 Lydda. 1500 hours, Jaffa. In the Jabaliya Quarter, Ihsan Said Masri (35) of Jaffa was shot dead by a Jewish sniper from Holon. CO 537/3856

17 FEBRUARY 1948 Lydda. 0030 to 0600 hours, Jaffa/T.A. border area. Numerous explosions and automatic fire were heard from the Abu KebirJSalameh Road and Tel Er Rish areas. No casualties were reported. Jews were alleged to be firing from the Hatiqva Quarter to Holon under cover of this fire. CO 537/3856

20 FEBRUARY 1948 Lydda. 21 30 hours, Jaffa. Abdul Mahdi El Azzar (23) of Jebeliya Quarter was shot and killed by Jewish snipers. CO 537/3856

22 FEBRUARY 1948 Lydda. 1130 hours, Jaffa. In Manshieh Quarter, Ali Abu Adwan (35) of Manshieh Quarter was shot in the head by a Jewish sniper firing from Tel Aviv. He died in the French Hospital at 1430 hours. CO 537/3856

22 FEBRUARY 1948 Lydda. 1200 hours, Jaffa. At Tel Er Rish, Kassim Mohammed Saleh (20) of Tel Er Rish was shot by a Jewish sniper and died from his wounds upon admission to the French Hospital. CO 537/3856

22 FEBRUARY 1948 1230 hours, Arab bus fired on between Jaffa and Ramle. 2 Arabs wounded. WO 261/573

22 FEBRUARY 1948 Lydda. 1500 hours, Jaffa. Mohammed Othman Khalil Boutanji (22) of Dura village was shot and slightly wounded by unknown persons on Bassa lands. He was removed to the Dajani Hospital. CO 537/3856

22 FEBRUARY 1948 Lydda. 1600 hours, Jaffa. In Manshieh Quarter, Amneh bint Sulieman El Ashi (12) of Manshieh Quarter was shot in the abdomen and seriously wounded by unknown persons. She succumbed to her injuries at 2130 hours in the Dajani Hospital. CO 537/3856

23 FEBRUARY 1948 Lydda. 0930 hours, Jaffa. In the Jabaliya Quarter, Hassan Hussein Saleh (3 1) of Jabaliya was wounded in the right hand by a bullet from the direction of Bat Yam brewery. He was slightly injured and discharged after treatment at the Govemment Hospital, Jaffa. CO 537/3856

23 FEBRUARY 1948 Lydda. 1515 hours, Jaffa. In Jaffa Port, Abed Abdullah Halabi (30) of Jaffa was shot and slightly wounded in the leg by unknown persons. He was removed to the Government Hospital. His condition is not serious. CO 537/3856

25 FEBRUARY 1948 Lydda. 2200 hours, Jaffa. The body of Samis Khorub (27) of Jabaliya Quarter was admitted to the Government Hospital. He had been killed when a mortar bomb exploded in the Jabaliya Quarter. Two other Arabs were at the same time admitted to the hospital, suffering from shock caused by the same explosion. CO 537/3856

1 MARCH 1948 Lydda. Morning, Jaffa. In Tel Er Rish, Ahmed Mustafa Ahmed (27) of Tel Er Rish was shot and killed by unknown persons. His body was taken to the French Hospital, Jaffa. CO 537/3856

2 MARCH 1948 Lydda. 0940 hours, Jaffa. Jewish snipers positioned in a house between the Migdem Chocolate Factory and a distillery on the Assem Bey Road commenced firing into the area between the Jaffa/Jerusalem road and the Abu Kebir track. An Arab woman, Aisha Hassan Sadem (45) of Jaffa, was seriously wounded. She was removed to the Government Hospital. A military armoured car in the vicinity was fired on. A police armoured car returned the fire with no known result. CO 537/3856

2 MARCH 1948 Lydda, Jaffa. Ahmed Taher of Manshiya Quarter, complains that during recent disturbances, his house and shop in Carmel Street were blown up and completely destroyed. The value of the property is estimated at LP. 5,500.
CO 537/3856

4 MARCH 1948 Lydda. 0200 until 0230 hours, Jaffa. Several explosions and heavy firing were heard from the Bassa lands area. It was subsequently revealed that an Arab owned textile factory on Salameh Road was blown up and completely destroyed. There were no known casualties. CO 537/3856

5 MARCH 1948 Lydda. 1645 hours, Jaffa. A police armoured car patrolling the Abu Kebir area reported that a low-flying monoplane opened fire with automatic weapons into Abu Kebir. Arab witnesses state that this machine also dropped two grenades in the vicinity of the Iron Foundry on the JaffaIJerusalem road.

Mohammed Ibrahim Berbasi was admitted to the Dajani Hospital with a bullet wound in the thigh which he stated was caused by fire from a low-flying plane over Tel Arish. A later account described the 'plane as being light grey or white with R.A.F. markings on both wings, and the letters 'VOL' and some figures on the fuselage. CO 537/3856

8 MARCH 1948 Lydda. 0700 hours, Jaffa. Ahmed Arhan Abu Fammad (32) of Tell Er Rish, who was admitted to the French Hospital at 0500 hours, suffering from wounds received from an exploding mortar bomb in the Tell Er Rish quarter, succumbed to his injuries. The bomb is said to have been fired from the direction of Holon. CO 537/3856

8 MARCH 1948 Lydda. 0930 hours, Jaffa. Mohammed Abdullah Yanani (30) of Jaffa, was shot and fatally injured in Arlin Street, Manshieh, by a Jewish sniper. The body was removed to the Dajani Hospital. CO 537/3856

8 MARCH 1948 Lydda. Approximately 2200 hours, Jaffa. Hassan Khalil Sarkoury (26) of Jebeliya Quarter was injured in the right shoulder when a bomb was thrown by Jews on the Bat Yam/Jebeliya border. He was removed to the Government Hospital, Jaffa. His condition is not serious. CO 537/3856

9 MARCH 1948 Lydda. 0930 hours, Jaffa. In the Jabaliyeh Quarter, Shafiq Ahmed (22) was wounded in the head by splinters believed to have been caused by a mortar bomb. He was removed to Government Hospital, condition not serious. CO 537/3856

10 MARCH 1948 Lydda. 1510 hours, Jaffa. Arabs employed at the iron foundry situated on the JaffaIJerusalem road near Holon were fired upon by Jews from the direction of Miqve Israel colony. The Arabs returned the fire, which ceased when police armoured cars appeared on the scene. There were no casualties.
CO 537/3856

13/14 MARCH 1948 Jerusalem. Night, Jaffa. On Bassa lands, the ice factory of Hassan Tewfic Abu Ghazaleh, of Jaffa, was attacked by Jews, with mortars and small arms fire. The factory watchman, Ibrahim Getani (22) of Jaffa, was slightly injured and removed to the Dejani Hospital. The building was partly demolished, damage being estimated at approximately LP. 6,000. CO 537/3856

14 MARCH 1948 Lydda. 0130 hours, Jaffa. In the Abu Kebir Quarter, Ali Hassan el Weish (23) of that quarter was killed by snipers. His body was removed to the Government Hospital, Jaffa. CO 537/3856

16 MARCH 1948 Lydda. 1530 hours, Jaffa. In Tel er Rish Yousef Ali Abdul Khalil(26), of Mi'ilya village, was shot and fatally wounded by snipers from the Holon area. His body was removed to the Government Hospital, Jaffa. CO 537/3856

18 MARCH 1948 Lydda. 1430 hours, Jaffa. On Bassa lands, Ahmed Hussein Tustani (35), of Hebron, was shot and fatally wounded by a sniper from the direction of Tel Aviv. The body was removed to the Dajani Hospital. CO 537/3856

18 MARCH 1948 Lydda. 1500 hours, Jaffa. The body of Said Butros (25) of Tel er Rish was admitted to the French Hospital in Jaffa. He had been killed by snipers' bullets in Tel er Rish. CO 537/3856

18 MARCH 1948 Lydda. 1630 hours, Jaffa. Jews blew up eight unoccupied Arab houses in Arlin Street, Manshieh Quarter. They also fired at the Manshieh Police Station and at a police armoured car which approached the scene. The fire was returned by the police, but there were no known casualties. CO 537/3856

19 MARCH 1948 Lydda. 1030 hours, Tel Aviv. A Jewish snipers' position in Abu Kebir Quarter directed moderate automatic fire into Salama Road, Jaffa. A police arrnoured car proceeded to the scene at approximately 1 100 hours, and the area then became quiet. No casualties have been reported. CO 537/3856

22/23 MARCH 1948 Lydda. Between 2350 hours 22 March, 1948, and 0145 hours 23 March, 1948, Jaffa. Jebeliya Quarter was attacked by Jews. During the course of the attack, eleven houses and a small mosque were demolished, believed by mortars. The following casualties were admitted to the Government Hospital from the quarter on the morning of 23 March, 1948: Seriously Injured ~

Dahiel Eissa Ed Dibis (45);

Mohammed Marouf El Kaban (35);

Abdul Fattah Samara (27).
CO 537/3857

23 MARCH 1948 Lydda. 1130 hours, Jaffa. Jewish snipers near Bassa lands commenced firing into King George Avenue, Jaffa. Two Arabs were killed, Ali Darwish Wazieh (12) of Jaffa and Hassan Muharram (30) of Jaffa. At approximately 1230 hours, the Jewish snipers post was silenced by military using two pounders. CO 537/3857

24 MARCH 1948 Lydda. 0230 hours, Jaffa. Several heavy mortar bombs fired from the direction of Tel Aviv in the area of the Hassan Bey Mosque. Some damage was caused to the surrounding wall of the Mosque and to a nearby house. No casualties have been reported. CO 537/3857

24 MARCH 1948 Lydda. 1500 hours, Jaffa. Ahmed Sabri el Rehawi (20) of Syria, was slightly wounded in the leg by a bullet fired by unknown persons near the Bat Yam Mental Home. He was admitted to the Government Hospital. CO 537/3857

24 MARCH 1948 Lydda. 1935 hours, Jaffa. Jews from Abu Kebir opened fire with mortars on the flour mill in Salama Road. Arabs replied and firing was still continuing at 2000 hours. No further details are yet available. CO 537/3857

25 MARCH 1948 Lydda. 1600 hours, Jaffa. Ali Morffi el Rahidi (35) of Egypt was admitted to the Government Hospital suffering from a bullet wound in the back which he sustained when a Jewish armoured car fired at him in Zarmuqa village. His condition is serious. CO 537/3857

25 MARCH 1948 Lydda, Jaffa. The house of Farid Jaber in Karton Quarter was destroyed by fire in unknown circumstances. The damage caused is estimated at L.P. 5,000. On the same day at Jaber's orange grove, situated in Salameh village, damage estimated at L.P. 13,000 is stated to have been caused by Jews using explosive charges. CO 537/3857

1 APRIL 1948 Lydda. 0955 hours, Jaffa. A mortar bomb, believed to have been fired from Bat Yam, exploded on the house of Assad El Dejani, near Ajami P.S. Slight damage was sustained by the building, but no casualties were caused. CO 537/3857

1 APRIL 1948 Lydda, Jaffa. Salim Rajab Sha'aban El Moghrabi reports that his house on the Bat YamlJebeliya border was demolished by Jewish mortar fire.
CO 537/3857

2 APRIL 1948 Lydda. 1700 hours, Jaffa. Ali Abu Hajas (30), of Manshieh Quarter, was shot and seriously wounded by Jewish snipers in Arlin Street. He was removed to the Dajani Hospital. CO 537/3857

3 APRIL 1948 Lydda. 0700 hours, Jaffa. Mohammed Ahmed Eissa (291, of Egypt, was shot and slightly injured by Jewish snipers in the Karm Et Tut area. He was removed to the Government Hospital, Jaffa. CO 537/3857

3 APRIL 1948 Lydda. 1100 hours, Jaffa. Four mortar bombs, believed to have been fired from Tel Aviv area, and one mine exploded in the Suq El Yehud causing damage to unoccupied property. The exploding of the mine is believed to have been detonated by one of the bombs. No casualties have been reported. CO 537/3857

3 APRIL 1948 Lydda. Night, Jaffa. An Arab house, situated in the Jebaliyeh Quarter of Jaffa, was blown up and extensively damaged by Jews and an occupant, Fathmi Shlean (68), was killed. CO 537/3857

3 APRIL 1948 Lydda, Jaffa. Mohammed Ahmed Eissa, of Kami Et Tut, was shot and seriously injured, by unknown persons, whilst in his village. He was removed to the Government Hospital, Jaffa, where he died shortly after admission. CO 537/3857

6 APRIL 1948 Lydda. 1630 hours, Jaffa. Jews opened fire on swimmers near the Jaffa Club. The following casualties were caused:

Dead ~ Subhi Ibn Adib Jabour (27), of Jaffa.

Serious ~ Mohammed Ibn Akawi (12), of Jaffa.

Slight - Mohammed Mahmoud Kana'an (20), of Jaffa. CO 537/3857

8 APRIL 1948 Lydda. 0 100 hours, Jaffa. Jews opened mortar fire on the Manshieh Quarter and bombs fell near the Manshieh Police Station and in the Jaffa railway yard. A municipal policeman, No. 1 13, Abdullah Eissa Salim (26), of Jaffa, was slightly injured by splinters whilst on duty in the Suq el Yehud. A house in the railway yard was destroyed, and Hassan Abu Shimes (35), of Manshieh, was seriously injured. Three mortar bombs exploded in the vicinity of the C.S. Jaffa, and the following two Arabs were injured: Deeb Ahmed Hamed (60), of Jaffa ~ serious; Yousef Abu Jabrin Bader (25), of Jaffa ~ not serious. CO 537/3857

10 APRIL 1948 Lydda. 1445 hours, Jaffa. Ahmed Abu Kalim (23), of Manshieh Quarter, was shot and seriously wounded by Jewish snipers whilst in Qaswan Street. He was removed to the Dajani Hospital. CO 537/3857

10 APRIL 1948 Lydda. 1730 hours, Jaffa. Moussa Madon (23), of Ajami Quarter, was shot and killed and Lutfi Ghawi (25), also of Ajami, was slightly wounded while they were walking in El Lisaf Street. Both were hit by shots fired from the direction of the Railway Station and were removed to the French Hospital.
CO 537/3857

10 APRIL 1948 Lydda. 1810 hours, Jaffa. Mohammed Abdul Rahman Jainaf (55), of Jaffa, was shot and slightly injured in Manshieh Quarter by a Jewish sniper. He was removed to the French Hospital, Jaffa. CO 537/3857

14 APRIL 1948 0230 hours to 0600 hours, 14 April, Jews mortared Jaffa, particularly Manshiya Quarter. No known casualty. WO 275/66

25 APRIL 1948 Irgun Z'vai Leumi attack Jaffa. Army intervenes and fighting stops. Approximately fifty Arab casualties. Jews blow two gaps in the bridge at Jisr al Majami. Army reoccupies Sheikh Jarrah, meeting initial resistance from Hagana, but later a truce is negotiated and both sides ordered cease fire. Two Jews killed and two wounded. Four British Soldiers slightly wounded. Jews attack At Tireh, south of Haifa. WO 261/574

26 APRIL 1948 1030 hours, 26 April, 2 R IR F road block at Jaffa congested by Arab lorries and buses carrying refugees. Congestion cleared and traffic passing road block estimated at rate of 20 vehicles per hour. Refugees fired on by Jewish sniper as they moved off. No casualty. WO 275/66

26 APRIL 1948 At 1135 hours, 26th April, there was heavy mortaring of Manshieh Quarter, Jaffa, and Manshieh Police Station was attacked by Jews with arrnoured cars, grenades and small arms. No casualties yet reported. CO 733/477

26 APRIL 1948 Tel Aviv-Jaffa. Jews attacked Arab quarter Jaffa with mortars and automatics and penetrated as far as the railway station. The Mayor of Tel Aviv was told that unless attack was stopped, military would employ force. This had the desired effect, and the situation is now quiet. Fifty Arab civilians are believed killed. CO 537/3875

Our brethren are right when they say that the Arab honours only those who show valour and fortitude;

On 24 April 1948, the Irgun militant Zionist organization opened an attack on the Manshiyeh residential quarter of Jaffa, a narrow Palestinian suburb located beside the sea and largely surrounded by Tel Aviv.

For four days and nights, under the direction of Menachem Begin, the Irgun indiscriminately shelled the quarter with mortars.Hansard, the official record of proceedings in the U.K. Parliament, reported "On the 5th of May, 1948, the question of the attack by the Irgun Z'vai Leumi on Jaffa was raised.

The Secretary of State for the Colonies was asked whether he had any statement to make on the present situation in Jaffa. Mr. Rees-Williams, the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies answered as follows:

In the early hours of 28th [sic] April a heavy attack on the Arab town of Jaffa was made by the Irgun Zvai Leumi, the method adopted being an indiscriminate mortar bombardment, apparently designed to create panic among the civilian inhabitants.

British forces intervened, supported by aircraft, and in the course of the afternoon the Jews retired to their original positions. By nightfall the border was quiet except for occasional sniping. A cease-fire was ordered for both sides by the military commander and was observed.

British troops then occupied a line between Arabs and Jews on the Tel-Aviv- Jaffa border.

On the evening of 30th April, the cease-fire order was broken by fire from the Jewish side, which was quickly silenced by military action.

Latest reports indicate that the town is now quiet. As a rough estimate, some 30,000 Arabs left Jaffa and more are leaving. The Arab mayor is still in Jaffa and municipal services are functioning, although with difficulty... ". (Hansard, House of Commons Debates, May 5, 1948, p. 1238).

The day after the Irgun offensive began, Haganah troops launched Operation Chametz against Jaffa, to isolate and conquer the city.

Jaffa, Palestine: Irgunists moving through holes blasted in Palestinian houses. (via Walid Khalidi, Before Their Diaspora)

but this is the case only when he feels that the other side has justice on his side.

Jaffa, Palestine: The ruins of the Manshiyeh quarter, after indiscriminate bombardment by the Irgun.

It is very different in a case when [the Arab] thinks that his opponent's actions are iniquitous and unlawful;

Jaffa, Palestine: Palestinian residents salvage whatever possessions they can carry as they flee the city. (via Walid Khalidi, Before Their Diaspora)

By the end of April, the combined Haganah-Irgun offensive had completely encircled Jaffa. Three weeks earlier, the Irgun had attacked the Palestinian village of Deir Yassin. The civilian population of Jaffa was well aware of what had happened to the inhabitants of Deir Yassin when the Irgun overran their village, and fear that the same would happen at the fall of Jaffa was influential on the decision of many residents to flee:

"We all heard about the massacre. I remember that I read extensive coverage of the horrors in our press, which republished a story from the New York Times. Besides this terrifying news, the Arabs in Jaffa feared they would not be able to defend their honour if they were attacked by the Jews. They were afraid that their women would be subject to the humiliation of Deir Yassin. I was young, but I sensed just how much this worried the people in Jaffa. Having four sisters was enough reason for us to leave, as the Jews considered everything and everyone in the villages they invaded as theirs".

in that case he may keep his anger to himself for a long time,

Jaffa, Palestine: Palestinians driven into the sea at Jaffa Harbor, late April 1948. With the land routes cut off by the Haganah, tens of thousands of the citizens of Jaffa and neighboring villages fled by boat: south to Gaza and Egypt, and north to Lebanon. (via Walid Khalidi, Before Their Diaspora)

but it will dwell in his heart

Jaffa Harbor, Palestine: Palestinian refugees flee Jaffa by boat for Gaza, Apr-May 1948. By the time Jaffa finally fell on 13 May 1948, fewer than 4,000 of its 70,000 residents remained.

and in the long run he will prove himself to be vengeful and full of retribution.

Jaffa, Israel: Jewish refugees from Europe are resettled in ethnically-cleansed Jaffa, 1949.

Sources:

1. The text, "We tend to believe abroad...", is from the work of the Zionist writer Ahad Ha'Am, (Truth from the Land of Israel, 1891). Reproduced in Complete Works of Ahad Ha'am, (Tel Aviv, 1946), pp. 24-29. (h/t Angry Arab)

2. Unless otherwise noted, the photos are from Palestine Remembered, and should not be reused without attribution to that site.

3. Details of attacks on Jaffa, Jan to Apr 1948, are taken from the Encyclopedia of the Palestine Problem; available on-line here. The alphanumeric reference number at the end of each report refers to the file number under which the original source material is archived at the U.K. National Archives (formerly the Public Records Office) in Kew, London:

CO 537/3855 = Confidential reports from the British Criminal Investigation Dept (C.I.D.) to the U.K. Colonial Office on Outrages in Palestine, 1947-48.

CO 537/3856: Confidential reports from the British Criminal Investigation Dept (C.I.D.) to the U.K. Colonial Office on Outrages in Palestine, Feb-Mar 1948.

WO 261/573: Confidential quarterly reports from British Army H.Q. in Palestine to the U.K. War Office, Jan-Mar 1948.

WO 275/64: Confidential fortnightly newsletters from the H.Q. of the British Sixth Airborne Division in Palestine to the U.K. War Office, Mar 1947-May 1948.

CO 537/3857: Confidential reports from the British Criminal Investigation Dept (C.I.D.) to the U.K. Colonial Office on Outrages in Palestine, Mar-Apr 1948.

FOR MORE ON THIS ISSUE,

PLEASE LOOK AT THE FOLLOWING SOURCES:

PALESTINE REMEMBERED

ISRAEL BORN OF TERRORISM, NOURISHED IN BLOOD

Posted by Barbara L at 10:13 AM