Peres: Hizb’Allah got Scud missiles

Rehmat's World

April 16, 2010 ·

If I were Israeli President – I would too have “cried wolf” as Shimon Peres did a few days ago. I mean as Israeli President – who would know better than he how 30,000 well-fed Israeli soldiers backed-up by American donated F16s, gunships, drones, tanks and other WMDs – were humiliated by little over 1,000  Hizb’Allah resistance-fighters, equipped with pnly guns and old-fashioned rockets, during 34-day Israeli invasion of Lebanon in Summer 2006. Now, Israeli Mossad has found that some of the 20-year-old scrapped Syrian Scud missile have found their way into the hands of Hizb’Allah fighters – who according to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “Today, Hezbollah is the real Lebanese Army“.

A very paranoid Shimon Peres told Israeli press before flying to Paris to convey Israeli fears to his old buddy French President Nicolas Sarkozy (son of a Jewish mother and a former Mossad asset): “Syria claims it wants peace while at the same time it delivers Scuds to Hizb’Allah whose only goal is threaten the state of Israel”. The readers may not have noticed that while lying about Hizb’Allah’s intentions toward the Zionist entity which had occupied Southern Lebanon for close to 20 years after being forced to retreat under Hizb’Allah’s resistance fighters in 2000. Israel still holds on to Lebanese Shebaa Farms and the Golan Heights - Peres did call his entity as “Jewish State of Israel”, which every Zionist wants the world to believe.

Shimon Peres has every right to fear the Scuds in Hizb’Allah hands especially Scuds’ capability to inflict massive damage to Israel’s Jewish settlers. If one recall – Saddam Hussein’s Armed forces fired 39 Scuds into Tel Aviv and Haifa during 1990-91 US-Iraq War, which killed only a few Israelis!

Robert Fisk in a column in The Independent (April 16, 2010) wrote:

If Lebanon had a US-style colour-coded “war-fear” alert ranging from white to purple, we are now – courtesy of Israeli president Shimon Peres, the White House spokesman and the head of the Lebanese Hizbollah militia, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah – hovering somewhere between pink and red. Has Syria given the Hizbollah a set of Scud ground-to-ground missiles to fire at Israel? Can Israeli aircraft attack them if the Hizbollah also possess anti-aircraft missiles? Can the Lebanese army take these weapons from the Hizbollah before the balloon goes up?

It is a long-standing saga, of course, and Israel has been itching to get its own back on the world’s most disciplined guerrilla movement. You can forget al-Qa’ida when it comes to Hizbollah’s effectiveness – after the Israeli army’s lamentable performance in 2006, when it promised to destroy the Hizbollah and ended up, after the usual 1000-plus civilian dead, pleading for a ceasefire. Over the past few months, Mr Nasrallah has been taunting the Israelis to have another go, promising that an Israeli missile attack on Beirut airport will be followed by a Hizbollah rocket attack on Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport.

A clue to the seriousness with which everyone now takes the possibility of war is contained in a remark made by an anonymous US spokesman who warned that the transfer of Scud missiles to Hizbollah would represent a “serious risk” to Lebanon. Not to Israel, mark you – but to Lebanon. There is no doubt that this is an allusion to frequent threats from the Israelis themselves that in another war with Hizbollah, the Lebanese government would be held responsible and as a result Lebanon’s infrastructure would be destroyed.

This does not sound so bad in Lebanon as it does elsewhere. For in its last Lebanese war – the fifth since 1978 – the Israelis blamed the Lebanese government for Hizbollah’s existence and smashed up the country’s roads, bridges, viaducts, electricity grid and civilian factories, as well as killing well over 1,000 civilians. Israel’s casualties were in the hundreds, most of them soldiers. What worse can Israel do now against the ruthlessness of the Hizbollah, even after the accusations of war crimes levelled against its equally ruthless rabble of an army?

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 Uprooted Palestinian

Israel’s stooges battle for British votes

April 17th, 2010 5:53 AM   

Stuart Littlewood

We can already see how disastrously the US election turned out, not just for Americans but the rest of us also. “The US president is simply the voice of the Zionist parasite,” writes a friend in Norway. “It is sickening and frightening that Obama is seen toeing the Zionist line.

“Zionism has the US administration and other western governments by the balls.”

Well, that’s certainly the way it looks. Last month Israel’s prime minister Netanyahu slapped America in the face by approving more illegal settlements during vice-president Joe Biden’s visit. What did Secretary of State Hillary Clinton do? She repeated the pathetic mantra: “We have an absolute commitment to Israel’s security. We have a close unshakeable bond between the United States and Israel and between the American and Israeli people”.

Clinton completed her surrender to the Israeli terror machine by sharing the AIPAC Conference platform with a triumphant Netanyahu.

Whereupon over half of America’s lawmakers topped Clinton’s performance by signing a letter committing to the US’s “unbreakable” bond with the racist regime.

Nine months earlier, speaking in a BBC interview, Obama said he believed the US was "able to get serious negotiations back on track" between Israel and the Palestinians. And when asked about Israel's defiance when called on to halt construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, he urged patience. "Diplomacy is always a matter of a long hard slog. It's never a matter of quick results."

The fact is, diplomacy doesn’t work with the Israelis. Everyone knows the problem: Israel’s contempt for international law and UN resolutions. And now we see Obama’s contempt too. In this wobbly leader's mind Israel is somehow exempt from the laws, conventions, codes of conduct and respect for the rights of others that apply to everyone else in the civilised world.

Forcing negotiations is immoral

And Obama should know better than to keep harping on about peace negotiations. It is absurd to put a weak party and a strong party together and expect fair results when the strong party is in permanent occupation and has its military boot on the weak party's neck.

It is immoral to expect the weak party to negotiate while the strong party is in flagrant breach of international law, commits acts of piracy, maintains a crippling blockade, carries out daily air strikes on civilians and continues to steal the weak party’s land and resources.

It is immoral for sponsors of negotiations to be so partisan as to refuse to recognize the democratically elected representatives of the weak party or its right to self-determination and territorial integrity.
It is immoral to force negotiations without first establishing a level playing field and ensuring both sides are compliant with international law. The international community has shirked this responsibility for decades, not because the peoples of the community of nations lack the will but because their leaders are gutless and corrupt.

Then there’s the scandal of the US government’s aid to Israel which runs at nearly $3 billion annually and totals well over $100 billion since 1949. The money helps pay for Israel’s costly occupation of Palestinian territory, its F-16s, helicopter gun-ships, tanks, ordnance, Caterpillar bulldozers, and all the other tools of military oppression and territorial grand theft.

Israel gets more $billions in indirect aid - military support, loan write-offs, rich technology transfers and special grants. Before George W Bush left office he agreed an assistance package of $30 billion over the next ten years.

So the US taxpayer has been cheerfully funding Israeli operations to destroy Palestinian infrastructure (which in many cases has been paid for by British, EU and - yes - US taxpayers) and bring the whole civil society to its knees.

Most of this aid violates US laws that stipulate US-supplied weapons can only be used for "legitimate self-defense" and military assistance is prohibited to any country that engages in “a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights". Military assistance is also banned to any government that refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or allow inspection of its nuclear facilities. But thanks to the “unbreakable” bond with Israel these inconvenient laws might as well not exist.

Israelis fiercely attack any attempt to ‘de-legitimise’ their ill-gotten gains while more and more people argue that the state of Israel had no legitimacy in the first place. Nevertheless the Zionist menace now has nuclear fangs and the capability to target most European cities… and, as we have seen, has no sense of restraint whatever.

Gee, thanks, America. Before you go accepting any more peace prizes, Obama, how about bringing to heel this monster the US has been nurturing?

Israel’s ‘Voices’ compete for British vote

Here in Britain we have our own version of AIPAC. The Foreign Office has been under Zionist influence for decades. Our most important security bodies – the Intelligence & Security Committee, the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Defence Committee – are headed by Israel flag-wavers. They have embedded themselves in nearly ever nook and cranny of parliamentary life.

Right now these stooges are battling for our votes in a general election.

Before the election campaign the main parties, Labour and the Conservatives, were so wedded to the Zionist cause that both wished to change our laws to protect Israeli leaders from arrest on war crimes charges and provide them with a safe haven in Britain.

Now they keep very quiet about their pro-Israel antics, no doubt hoping the question won't be brought under the public spotlight or need explaining.

Labour has been in power 13 years and is now under Blair’s successor Gordon Brown, a Zionist sympathizer and patron of the Jewish National Fund. The party’s 115-page manifesto barely mentions the fate of the Holy Land except to say: "We support the creation of a viable Palestinian state that can live alongside a secure Israel." Note that it's a secure Israel but only a viable Palestine. Israel must remain comfortably secure while continuing its ethnic cleansing and thieving.

The Conservative Party is favourite to win the election – or was until its leader, David "I'm-a-Zionist" Cameron, flunked a televised leaders’ debate. Cameron too is a dutiful patron of the JNF. His party's 118-page manifesto says nothing about Britain’s responsibility towards the Palestinians apart from promising support for a two state solution to the Middle East Peace Process. That's all, full stop.

80% of Conservative MPs and MEPs, it is claimed, are passionate admirers of racist Israel. But they don’t shout it from the rooftops at election time. No, they are furtive because they know deep down that it is a grubby, indefensible position and the public would react with revulsion if the party’s allegiance to a foreign military power that makes war of Christian communities was exposed in the mainstream media.
Sad to say, then, there is no sign of Labour or the Conservatives deviating from the path of betrayal.
Thankfully a third party, the Liberal Democrats, is emerging strongly. Its leader, Nick Clegg, is no rabid Zionist though readers will remember he recently sacked Baroness Jenny Tonge to appease the Israel lobby. However, the Liberal Democrats at least believe Britain and the EU must put pressure on Israel and Egypt to end the blockade of Gaza and talk of borders “which are secure and based on the situation before the 1967 conflict”.

This party looks less corruptible than the others and less likely to worship at the altar of Zionism. Not being considered serious contenders till now, Clegg and his team probably haven’t been groomed by the US administration’s spivs and pimps. So we can expect big efforts to discredit them in the days ahead.
In my simple way I see a glimmer of hope here.

When a proper history comes to be written, Americans will struggle to explain how the most powerful nation on earth was so easily conned and mugged for countless billions of tax dollars to finance the ambitions of a bunch of extremists bent on defiling the Holy Land and spreading their tentacles into every crevice of the western world.

The British also will have some explaining to do.

-###-

Stuart Littlewood is author of the book Radio Free Palestine, which tells the plight of the Palestinians under occupation. For further information please visit www.radiofreepalestine.co.uk

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 Uprooted Palestinian

Hezbollah: Our Missiles Are None of Israel's Business-Updated

Almanar


16/04/2010 Loyalty to the Resistance Parliamentary bloc minister said on Friday that whether or not they have acquired scud missiles is none of Israel's business.

Minister Hussein Haj Hassan says the group was always arming and preparing itself but he refused to confirm or deny Israeli allegations that the Lebanese resistance group has acquired Scud missiles.

Israeli president Shimon Peres earlier this week directly accused Damascus of providing the scud missiles, a charge Syria denied.

The U.S. State Department responded to the allegations on Wednesday by saying that if they were true, "it would put Lebanon at a significant risk."

Haj Hassan, meanwhile, told Al-Manar TV that since Israel possessed all kinds of weapons, it's only natural for Lebanon to have the means to defend itself against an Israeli attack.

On Tuesday, the Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai Al-Aam reported that Syria had shipped ballistic Scud missiles to Hezbollah in Lebanon. The White House said it has raised concerns with Syria about the report.

Israeli officials say the introduction of Scuds could alter the strategic balance with Hezbollah. Scud missiles have several times the range and explosive firepower of Katyusha rockets and would pose a much more serious threat.

In Washington, the Syrian Embassy dismissed the allegations of shipping scud missiles and accused Israel of trying to divert attention from questions about Israel's nuclear program. Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear arms, though it does not confirm nor deny this.

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Update

ناديا said...

UP check this COMMENT here

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Tony's COMMENT:

You have got to admire Nasrallah and Hizbullah; they are the only Arabs willing to stand up and tell USrael to butt out! And it is not all talk, Nasrallah speaks from a position of strength and confidence.

He rightly tells USrael that it is the right and duty of Lebanon to acquire whatever weapons it needs to defend itself. After the repeated invasions by Israel, does anyone blame Hizbullah?

Compare this confidence and clarity with the insipid niceties of the Rabbit of Syria. He denies that weapons are reaching Hizbullah; he wants improved relations with Washington; he wants to restart "indirect negotiations" with Israel.

Or how about that idiot, Qadhafi, who has just made the statement that even though the US and Israel act as one, he has no problems with the US! Further, he stated that resisting US imperialism is not his problem, but it is the problem of the rest of the world! According to him, Libya can't do anything to help the Palestinians. Finally he made the astounding statement that it is foolish to resist the US since it is a super power!

Too bad the Palestinians do not have anything even approaching Hizbullah.

I have a sneaky suspicion, based on several indicators, that an USraeli attack on Lebanon could be imminent; Hizbullah is taking the threat seriously. Before attacking Iran, USrael has to try to eliminate the retaliatory capabilities of Hizbullah.

# posted by Tony : 10:34 AM

********************************************************************

Nadia

Yesterday I weote:

I am also sick and tired of Wheelchair Palestinian  and other  "well-informed"critics, posings as Generals, comfortably sitting behind a computer at home, stirring up shit, smearing resistance movements/states. They think they are smarter than Palestinian freedom fighters putting their at risk 24x7x360.

To those I say Again: If you cannot help, your silence is appreciated. 

Tony is stirring up shit, Zionist shit. I agree with the guest, and Bilal's comments, and would add, Hezbullah is a resistance organization, Syria is a State.

Khara, used to say: Syria say something, and do something else. Everybody knows what syria did for Hezbullah and still doing. Without Syria, at the best Hezbullah shall be another Besiged Hamas.

I spoiled a hell of time asking Tony, not to compare and realize the Geopolitics Facts.

I don't think he is Stupid. He is doing his Job, stirring up Zionist shit, to discredit Hamas and its supportes, Iran, Turkey and Syria at the top.

BTW, Hezbullah first denied the Iraeli claims:

In an interview with the paper, Hezbollah sources denied the claims and said this was an Israeli attempt to divert the world's attention from the construction in occupied east Jerusalem and the settlements. 

The  article written by Hanan Awarekeh is removed from Al-Manar site.

I think they did well, instaed of denial they simply said: Our Missiles Are None of Israel's Business. Thus keeping Usrael in mess, to believe it did hapenned or it didn't, in full or partial??

If I have read Nasrallah's response to Israeli threats guess it Hapenned, even before Damuscuss meeting with Assad and Ahmedanjad.

Based on Tony's indicators, Tony's message: USraeli attack on Lebanon could be imminent;

Connecting, the dots:
Nasrallah's interview focusing on Tribunal for Lebanon
March 14 momvement campain on Hezbullah Arms.
US Denial mixed messages.
I would say, an attack on Lebanon is not imminent.  Usrael shall use it's last Arrow, the Tribunal for Lebanon, and its assets in Lebanon. 

US Officials: Scuds to Hezbollah? "We don't believe it happened"

Reuters/ here

The alleged deal to transfer the Scud missiles to Hezbollah has fueled cross-border tensions with Israel and could cast doubt on U.S. President Barack Obama's diplomatic outreach to Syria.

"We think the intent is there," a senior U.S. official said of Syria transferring the missiles to Hezbollah, a Iranian- and Syrian-backed Islamist group that fought a war with Israel in 2006.

But the senior official and two others briefed on the case said it was unclear whether the missiles,... were actually handed over in full to the guerrilla group. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. "We believe a transfer of some kind occurred but it is unclear if the rockets themselves have changed hands," the senior official said.

A partial transfer could involve weapons parts, documents or funding, other officials said.

Another official said doubts were growing that Syria had delivered the Scuds in full and allowed them to transit to Lebanese territory: "We don't believe it happened." "It's unclear at this point that a transfer has occurred ... and the United States has no indications that the rockets have moved across the border," a third U.S. official said..."

Posted by G, Z, or B at 9:28 PM  

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 Uprooted Palestinian

Poet and Author Alice Walker Speaking in Gaza (Democracy Now)

Saturday, April 17, 2010 at 6:21PM Gilad Atzmon

"The world is aware, the world will judge you..."

Israeli ID order set to criminalise Palestinians

Saturday, April 17, 2010 at 3:59AM Gilad Atzmon

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 Uprooted Palestinian

Remembering Deir Yassin - Dan McGowen

Saturday, April 17, 2010 at 3:45AM Gilad Atzmon

Filmed by Morris Herman

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 Uprooted Palestinian

Hamas calls for capturing more Israeli soldiers and the resumption of resistance attacks against Israeli occupation

Haneyya champions resumption of resistance in the West Bank

[ 17/04/2010 - 03:48 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Palestinian premier Ismail Haneyya has called for the resumption of resistance attacks against Israeli occupation in the West Bank to bridle its growing atrocities against the Palestinian people.

He said in a statement at a special session for the Palestinian legislative council held at the premises of the ministry of prisoners that resistance should prioritize the issue of Palestinian prisoners.

Haneyya also advocated Palestinian unity on national basis away from foreign dictates, adding that the Arabs should assist the Palestinians through ending the American pressures on the Palestinian people.

The premier asked the Arabs and Muslims to assume their responsibility in supporting Palestinian prisoners and their relatives through the establishment of a fund to support them.

Addressing the same session allocated for prisoners, Dr. Ahmed Bahar, the first deputy PLC speaker, urged all Palestinian forces and factions to unite in support of the prisoners' issue.

He asked Arab and Islamic parliaments to hold emergency sessions to discuss the issue of Palestinian prisoners and means of liberating them.

Bahar also asked the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Conference to table the issue of prisoners at international platforms and to demand the prosecution of Israeli war criminals.

Ghoul calls for capturing more Israeli soldiers

[ 17/04/2010 - 02:44 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Palestinian minister of prisoners in Gaza and head of the higher national committee in support of prisoners Mohammed Al-Ghoul has renewed his call on Palestinian resistance factions to capture more Israeli soldiers to trade them for Palestinian prisoners.

Ghoul, addressing the sit-in organized in solidarity with prisoners in front of the Red Cross offices in Gaza on Saturday, said that the freedom of prisoners was inevitable.

Tens of relatives of those prisoners had joined the sit-in and went on hunger strike in solidarity with the prisoners.

Saber Abu Karsh, the director of Wa'ed society for prisoners, spoke at the rally asserting importance of uniting prisoners in their strike and protest steps against Israeli repression.

Abu Obaida, the spokesman of the Qassam Brigades the armed wing of Hamas, said that Hamas would continue seeking to release all Palestinian prisoners, describing it as a stable strategy.

He said in a statement on Qassam website on Saturday that his armed wing would not stop working toward that end.

Hamas MPs in the West Bank, meanwhile, expressed outrage at the martyrdom of a Palestinian captive in Israeli occupation jails while in solitary confinement.

They said on Saturday that the death of Ra'ed Abu Hammad in Eichel prison and before him about 200 others in occupation jails was not enough to make the world act as it did to demand the release of one Israeli soldier who was captured from his army tank.

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 Uprooted Palestinian

Lebensraum in the West Bank

Israel's latest scheme is ethnic cleansing by any other name, reports Khaled Amayreh from Ramallah

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In a new provocative measure aimed at narrowing Palestinian horizons and consolidating the Israeli grip on the occupied Palestinian territories, Israel has issued new military orders that would enable the Israeli occupation army to deport thousands of Palestinians from their homes and places of residence in the West Bank.

The new orders define as "infiltrator" any Palestinian or non-Palestinian living in the West Bank but not bearing an Israeli-issued identity card or special permit issued by the Israeli occupation army.

Thus, even Palestinians who were born in the West Bank and have been living there all their lives, but are not in possession of Israeli documents, would be viewed as "infiltrators" who could be deported at a moment's notice.

Moreover, under the new rules, violators could face immediate expulsion or be sentenced to up to seven years in prison.

A report on the new rules in the Israeli press this week pointed out that Israel would be able to deport tens of thousands of Palestinians. However, the report didn't reveal the destination to which the prospective expellees would be deported.

In the past, Israel deported many Palestinians to Jordan and Lebanon. However, conditions have become considerably tougher for Israel to do it again, given the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty and the delicate situation on the Israeli-Lebanese borders especially since the 2006 war between Israel and Hizbullah.

The military order, which has gone into effect on Tuesday, will primarily target thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip who have resided in the West Bank.

It also targets Palestinian returnees, many of whom are married to local spouses, who have returned to the occupied territory following the Oslo process and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Furthermore, it might target foreign peace activists who arrive in the West Bank to monitor Israeli violations of international law and encourage non-violent resistance against the Israeli occupation.

So far, Israeli government officials have refrained from commenting on the new rules and confirming or denying their existence. This silence, observers notice, may be intended to test Palestinian, Arab and international reactions before formally adopting the draconian measures on the ground.

Predictably, the new harsh rules have been strongly condemned by Palestinian and Arab officials as well as by human rights groups.

Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic resistance group, called the measure a "continuation of the systematic ethnic cleansing of our people which started in 1948".

"At a time when Jews are commemorating the German holocaust, Israel is committing a silent holocaust against the Palestinian people," said one Hamas spokesman in the West Bank, who did not want his identity to be known, apparently for fear that he might be arrested either by the Israelis or the PA regime.

Both Hamas and Fatah vowed to resist the new measures "proactively", saying that deporting Palestinians from their ancestral homeland was tantamount to "ethnic cleansing".

Salam Fayyad, the Western-favoured prime minister of the PA government said the new measures contradicted international law as well as UN Security Council decisions which condemn forced deportations. "It is clear that with these measures Israel is trying to deepen the hold of its occupation in the West Bank and facilitating more Israeli land grabs."

PA official Saeb Ereikat labelled the Israeli move "an assault on ordinary Palestinians, and an affront to the most fundamental principles of human rights. "The Palestinians have been morphed into criminals in their own homes."

Mahmoud Abbas, the increasingly reticent PA president, has so far remained silent, ostensibly opting to raise the issue with the international community through diplomatic channels.

The Obama administration and the European Union have not reacted to the new Israeli provocations in the West Bank.

A Jordanian government spokesman said this week that Israel had assured Jordan that the new rule wouldn't go into effect. However, there has been no confirmation of the veracity of the Jordanian spokesman's statement either by Israel or the PA.

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa has also condemned the new Israeli measures, saying that "it is hard to establish peace in the region due to Israeli behaviour. We reject such measure and we call on the international community to bear responsibility." Moussa said that an Arab League meeting will discuss the situation.

Last month, the Arab League held a summit meeting in Sirte, Libya, which focussed on the Palestinian cause and Israeli provocations, including the Judaising of East Jerusalem and the continued expansion of Jewish settlements. However, the outcome of the meeting was widely viewed as mediocre and generally ineffective, as a number of US regional allies pressed participants for mild resolutions that would allow for the continuation of the "peace process" under American auspices.

The stringent Israeli measure, which human rights activists say amounts to a declaration of war on Palestinian demography, has also been denounced by 10 Israeli civic and human rights groups which urged Defence Minister Ehud Barak to rescind the new rules.

The groups said the military orders in question were so vague and sweeping that virtually all West Bank inhabitants were potentially at risk. The groups argued that the military instructions didn't define what permits were required to shield against deportation.

The new threatened spate of ethnic cleansing against Palestinians in the West Bank coincides with the holocaust commemoration anniversary in Israel, an annual ritual meant to extort world sympathy and especially divert attention from Israeli crimes against the Palestinians, such as last year's brutal onslaught against the Gaza Strip.

Some of Israel's critics have compared the Israeli approach against the Palestinians, including the policy of deportation, with Nazi Germany's notorious lebensraum policy (German for "living space"), a doctrine which prevailed in Germany in the early 20th century teaching that the country needed new land to expand in, especially towards the east.

Lebensraum became a major motivation for German territorial aggression after 1937. Israel increasingly refers to the West Bank, which the Israeli army occupied in 1967, as Eretz Yisrael (land of Israel). Sometime the same term is applied to Jordan which some Jewish leaders call "the eastern land of Israel". (see p.6)


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 Uprooted Palestinian

Ahmadinejad Opens Nuclear Summit, Sayyed Khamenei Slams US ‘Lies’

Batoul Wehbe

17/04/2010 A much-awaited international two-day conference on disarmament and non-proliferation of atomic weapons has started in the Iranian capital on Saturday.

Top Iranian officials slammed “atomic criminal” the United States and called for its suspension from the UN atomic watchdog. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, in a message to the conference, said the use of nuclear weapons was "haram", meaning religiously prohibited, and branded Washington as the world's "only atomic criminal."

"Only the US government has committed an atomic crime. The world's only atomic criminal lies and presents itself as being against nuclear weapons proliferation, while it has not taken any serious measures in this regard," Sayyed Khamenei said in his message which was read out at the start of the meeting.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad went a step further and called for Washington's suspension from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) along with all other nations who possess nuclear arms.

Ahmadinejad called for a global supervision of nuclear disarmament. "An independent international group which plans and oversees nuclear disarmament and prevents proliferation should be set up," the president said as he opened the conference. He said those who "possess, have used or threatened to use nuclear weapons be suspended from the IAEA and its board of governors, especially the US which has used a weapon made of atomic waste in the Iraq war."

During the two-day conference, international politicians will put their heads together to address the nuclear disarmament issue. Representatives from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and experts from over 70 countries will also be taking part in the conference, which has been called "Nuclear Energy for All, Nuclear Weapon for No One."

Foreign ministers from Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, the Central African Republic, Oman, Turkmenistan, Armenia and Swaziland participated, while Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar was represented by their deputy foreign ministers, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said. Mehmanparast said a special aide of the Chinese foreign minister, representatives of the United Nations and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the chief of Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) will also be present.

"Due to the eruption of the volcano (in Iceland), some foreign ministers from South America and Africa who had connecting flights may come later or tomorrow. Among them are also some experts of weapons of mass destructions and nuclear weapons," he added.

Iran's atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying in recent days that the conference would serve as preparation for the next NPT review meeting in New York early next month, which Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki plans to attend.

By hosting the event, Tehran hopes to raise awareness in the international community about the fact that nuclear weapon stockpiles held by world powers are the most significant menace to world security. Nuclear doctrines, atomic discrimination, globalization of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and double standards applied by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in its dealings with various states, are also to be high on the agenda. The need to make “clean and peaceful nuclear energy” available to all countries is also expected to be a highlight of the event.

The conference comes just days after Washington held its biggest ever nuclear summit. Iran criticized the 47-nation nuclear disarmament summit in Washington hosted by US President Barack Obama, on the grounds the United States holds one of the world's largest stocks of nuclear weapons.

At the US nuclear summit, Obama pressed China and other UN Security Council skeptics to back a fourth set of sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program but Beijing refused to come to America’s corner.

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 Uprooted Palestinian

Is US Embassy in Lebanon Squandering Its Diplomatic Immunity?

Nasrallah: All information from the US embassy in Beirut reaches Israel

By Franklin Lamb - Beirut

Tensions are rising in Lebanon between elected representatives in Parliament, 'Unity' Cabinet members and the American Embassy, as the 27th anniversary of the attack 1983 attack on the US Embassy approaches and the Embassy issues another warning for Americans to leave Lebanon.

On March 29, 2010 the US Embassy instructed Americans not to travel to Lebanon citing 'safety and security concerns." Simultaneously it warned those who are in Lebanon to seriously consider leaving.

Advising that, Lebanon, placed on a US list of 14 countries "linked to Terrorism" following the Christmas Day attempted aircraft bombing near Detroit, has "the potential for a spontaneous upsurge in violence , US citizens living and working in Lebanon should understand that they accept risks in remaining and should carefully consider those risks, as Embassy personnel may not be able to aid them in case of conflict."

The "Warder Warning" to American citizens follows a series of recent efforts by the Embassy to pressure the National Lebanese Resistance led by Hezbollah, currently shaping the new Unity' government with its work in Parliament and the Cabinet. It comes following Opposition charges, emphasized by Hezbollah's Secretary Hassan Nasrallah the preceding week, that the US Embassy in Beirut engages in espionage activities for Israel and cautioning that the collaboration was very dangerous for Lebanon.

According to Nasrallah during an interview with Al Manar channel: "All the information which the US embassy gathers in Beirut reaches Israel. Here we are not speaking about a normal foreign embassy which is gathering information for its own government ... When it comes to the American embassy in Beirut, it is a different story...And so what is given to the US Embassy and what reaches the Israelis, the information, all of these leads to the destruction of Lebanon. This helps the Israeli enemy to understand what is going on in Lebanon, to use this information against Lebanon and to take revenge against our country...What is the difference between espionage networks, which give information directly, or giving information by mediation, meaning giving it to the US embassy who then gives it to the Israeli side?" Nasrallah ask his viewing audience, estimated at more than 100 million viewers around the region.

April 2010 and April 1983 Parallels?

The Hezbollah Secretary-General is not the only one questioning whether the Us Embassy operates as "a normal foreign embassy" with acceptable " mild spying and information gathering" or operates as " an espionage network" for Israel and passing it intelligence reports from US assets throughout Lebanon who monitor all roads and paths from Syria as well as South Lebanon and South Beirut.

What increasingly concerns many in Lebanon is the US Embassy role in recent projects including a "security agreement between the US and the Lebanese Internal Security Force' (ISF) and the Embassy and their allies described as "an American donation" to train and equip the ISF and make Lebanon stronger.

The "donation" resulted from the January 25, 2007 Paris-3 International Conference on the support for Lebanon. As far as security is concerned, March 14 foes charge that the then pro-American-pro-Saudi Fuad Saniora government "gave away the store" to U.S. intelligence by placing data related to Lebanon's two mobile phone networks at the disposal of the United States, that it is believed would allow the Embassy and Israel to tap Lebanese phones. There is a widely held belief in Lebanon that all information the Embassy receives goes to Israel. Also protested was the adopting of the American interpretation of "terrorism" which as applied by the Embassy means that no ISF member who is a Hezbollah member could receive any training to due various US Terrorism lists issues.

According to the Lebanese Ministry of Communications, the US embassy in Beirut filed a request to install reception devices in two positions in Lebanon located in mountainous areas in Aley and overlooking most of the Lebanese regions. The first is 22 kilometers away from Beirut, 760 meters above sea level and stretching over 251 hectares, while the second is 29 kilometers away from Beirut, 540 meters above sea level and stretching over 63 hectares. The US Embassy position is that it tower demand falls under the headline of technical assistance stipulated in the "donation"agreement.
Suspicion were also raised that the commando units the US wanted to train might be intended for use against the National Lebanese Resistance during a future conflicts with Israel.

On March 16, 2010, the Syrian daily Al Watan asked Lebanese MP Nawaf Mousawi about the growing concern in Parliament. Mousawi, one of Hezbollah's most popular and sought after interlocutors with American and other foreign delegations visiting Lebanon, replied:

"If the reports we read in the Lebanese papers are true, this would be a horrid scandal since it would mean that the American embassy was violating Lebanon's sovereignty and that the American security apparatuses were trying to infiltrate personal and national security in Lebanon. This would constitute an Israeli security infiltration since there is a security agreement between Israel and America in regard to the exchange of information"... "Moreover, I say that today the American embassy in Lebanon has a private militia called the embassy's guard, arresting each suspected citizen in the massive area surrounding the embassy that has become an isolated geography within the Lebanese geography. It has become a state within a state with tapping devices violating the intimacy of the Lebanese people and intelligence officers monitoring all that goes on in the ministries and public administrations. We in Lebanon now need to liberate our land from the occupation of the American militia and to liberate part of our decisions from the American occupation by limiting the relations of the American embassy to the Foreign Ministry and preventing the American apparatuses from acquiring information in Lebanon."

Crossing the Boundaries of Diplomatic Protection?

The Embassy's intense and escalating campaign against the Opposition, a main pillar of Lebanon's government, is also raising questions among International lawyers and government officials whether the Embassy has squandered its diplomatic status under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. A study in underway in Lebanon to determine the extent of the US Embassy abuse of Diplomatic Immunity. Opinions among scholars and analysts range from a raft of challenges to allowing Israel to have an 'illegal outpost" in Lebanon to sanctioning the Embassy for violations of the Vienna Convention, specifically under Art. 41 which requires that foreign Embassies, "respect the laws and regulations of the receiving State and not interfere in the internal affairs of the receiving State."

Researchers point out that 27 years ago this month, on April 18, 1983 the American Embassy was attacked as a direct and foreseeable result of the Embassy's involvement as a command and control center on behalf of Israel against the majority population of Lebanon. According to former CIA agent Robert Baer, the CIA never did determine who was behind the bombing ( there were a few dozen upstart resistance groups wanting to expel Israel in those days) but understood that it was the result of hostile US actions against Lebanon.

Food for Thought

Legal experts at the State Department privately admit that despite years of public statements to the contrary, the April 18, 1983 attack cannot be accurately labeled 'terrorism' because by bringing in and housing the command center staffed by at least 8 CIA agents and various 'special ops' units who were running a network of pro-Israel assets and providing targeting information to the USS New Jersey offshore and Israel forces in the mountains and Chouf the Embassy lost its claim to diplomatic immunity. The Embassy actions enabled the shelling of Lebanon and the killing of hundreds of innocent Lebanese civilians, among many other activities.

Consequently, the Embassy became a legitimate military target udder the international laws of armed conflict. Lebanese resistance forces, who opposed the Israeli occupation of their country and their American and French allies who had abandoned their claimed role as 'peacekeepers" and in fact had taken sides in the conflict were legally within their right and duty to neutralize the threat presented. The specific and legitimate military target of the April 18,1983 attack on the US Embassy is Beirut were the eight CIA agents and their teams who had been identified by Soviet sources and the information sent to allies in Lebanon.

While no reasonable person might suggest that the Embassy is currently subject to a third attack, despite regular slafist and al Qaeda wannabe threats, observers point out the irony that it has been Hezbollah, incessantly attacked by the Embassy and its allies in the Lebanese Forces and Phalange party, (Ed: the same groups who held power in 1983 and sponsored the giveaway May 17, 1983 Agreement with Israel), that has invisibly protected the Embassy several times over the past two decades, just as it quietly provided security in south Beirut during last spring's visit of President Carter with Lebanon's Senior Shia cleric, Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, still on a US Terrorism list for purely political reasons.

Lebanon's Recourse

Lebanon currently has few practical or easy diplomatic options. The ultimate sanction and prevention measure available for Lebanon is the severance of diplomatic relations. That is unlikely unless Israel attacks Lebanon for the 6th time with the predictable American 'green light'. The doctrines of self defense and self preservation are also available to Lebanon in order to prevent a foreign Embassy from facilitating aggressor against it.

Additional activities viewed as arguably incompatible with its legitimate diplomatic functions is the drum beat of attacks on certain parties in Parliament (those allied with Hezbollah) including the current widely believed to be fake "Syria gives Scuds to Hezbollah" charges. On April 15, 2010, Syria emphatically denied the charge and asked for evidence while claiming that Israel was paving the way for new military action in the region with its false allegation.

Zero evidence has been offered by Washington or the Embassy to support this rumor, which like so many these days, originated with Israel's President Shimon Peres and given credence in the US Congress and now the American Embassy. Inquiries of the American Ambassador at yesterday's talk by former US Senator Bob Graham (R-Fla.) at the American University of Beirut, as to why the Embassy offered no satellite photos for the large easily detected outdated missiles were meet mutely with a radiant and wide smile.

The US Embassy is further accused of feeding certain politicians including the Phalange and Lebanese Forces parties with disinformation to attack the Lebanese Resistance.

For example, MP Samir Geagea regularly meets and communicates with Embassy personnel and the next day invariably launches another attack aimed at lowering the high 84% polling statistics showing the level of Lebanese support for the Resistance, led by Hezbollah, deterrence capability against Israel.

MP Mousawi again: "the U.S. embassy in Awkar is harming national reconciliation efforts through the policy of sabotage and fragmentation it is adopting in Lebanon and the region."

As of the morning of April 16, 2010 the US Embassy in Beirut, said that, "the United States is "increasingly concerned" about the transfer of more sophisticated weaponry to Hezbollah." But it has now admitted that it has no proof of Scuds being transferred to anyone from Syria.

As of the morning of April 16, 2010 Hezbollah intends that the Lebanese government will review every bi-lateral agreement made with the US Embassy.

- Franklin Lamb is doing research in Lebanon and volunteers with the Palestine Civil Rights Campaign. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. Contact him at fplamb@gmail.com.

U.S. Officials Say Unclear whether Syria Scuds Reached Hezbollah

17/04/2010 Syria intended to move long-range Scud missiles to Hezbollah, U.S. officials said Friday, adding, however, that there were doubts about whether the Scuds were delivered in full and whether they were moved to Lebanon.

The alleged deal to transfer the Scud missiles to Hezbollah has fueled cross-border tensions with the Zionist entity and could cast doubt on U.S. President Barack Obama's diplomatic outreach to Syria.

"We think the intent is there," a senior U.S. official said of Syria transferring the missiles to Hezbollah.

But the senior official and two others briefed on the case said it was unclear whether the missiles, which could hit deep inside the Zionist entity, were actually handed over in full to the resistance group. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. "We believe a transfer of some kind occurred but it is unclear if the rockets themselves have changed hands," the senior official said.

A partial transfer could involve weapons parts, documents or funding, other officials said.

Another official said doubts were growing that Syria had delivered the Scuds in full and allowed them to transit to Lebanese territory: "We don't believe it happened."

Also Friday, the London-based pan Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat quoted Hezbollah's deputy secretary general Sheikh Naim Qassem as saying that the allegations of an arms deal with Syria were meant to cover Israel's tense ties with the United States as well as to divert international attention from Israel's nuclear program.

While the reports of a long-range missile deal with Syria were false, the Hezbollah deputy chief added, that did not mean that the resistance organization was not continually arming itself in preparation of a possible war with Israel.

Earlier on Friday Minister Hussein Haj Hassan said that whether or not they have acquired scud missiles is none of Israel's business.

Minister Haj Hassan says the group was always arming and preparing itself but he refused to confirm or deny Israeli allegations that the group has acquired Scud missiles.

Israel's president Shimon Peres earlier this week directly accused Damascus of providing the scud missiles, a charge Syria denied.

The U.S. State Department responded to the allegations on Wednesday by saying that if they were true, "it would put Lebanon at a significant risk."

Haj Hassan, meanwhile, told Al-Manar TV on Friday that since Israel possessed all kinds of weapons, it's only natural for Lebanon to have the means to defend itself against an Israeli attack.

Israeli officials say the introduction of Scuds could alter the strategic balance with Hezbollah. Hezbollah pelted Israel with nearly 4,000 unguided Katyusha rockets during the war in 2006, causing widespread damage and dozens of casualties north of the occupied territories. Scud missiles have several times the range and explosive firepower of Katyusha rockets and would pose a much more serious threat.

Recent events have awoken a concern in Washington that Israel may launch a pre-emptive strike following the reports of an arms transfer, and the administration summoned Syrian Ambassador Imad Moustapha for a meeting with the State Department, which relayed through him a message to Damascus not to deliver the missiles to their destination.

The ambassador in response conveyed, on behalf of Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, Syria's sweeping denial of the reports and accused Israel of trying to divert attention from questions about Israel's nuclear program. Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear arms, though it does not confirm nor deny this.

In addition, at a UN Security Council meeting on the Middle East, the Syrian envoy to the UN adamantly denied the reports.

Following the reports, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak issued a warning to the Syrians, and Israeli President Shimon Peres expressed his concerns to French Prime Minister Francois Fillon, and said, "Syria is playing a double game. On the one hand, it is talking peace, and on the other hand, it is transferring precision Scud missiles to Hezbollah in order to threaten Israel."

According to Lebanon's official response, "This is an internal Lebanese matter". But US senators raised the issue during a session to confirm Robert Ford, who was appointed by the Obama administration as the US's first ambassador to Syria in five years.

During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee session, senators proposed postponing Ford's appointment. Ford himself argued that such matters demonstrate the importance of having an American ambassador in Damascus. Ultimately, the committee confirmed his appointment, which now awaits the approval of the Senate plenum.

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Rallies Mark Palestinian Prisoners Day; Detainee Dies in Israeli Jail

Hanan Awarekeh

17/04/2010 At a time the international community seems to be "concerned" for one Israeli occupation soldier captured by Palestinian resistance factions, none of the Western governments bothers itself to talk about the thousands of Palestinians detained in the Israeli occupation jails.

A total of more than 760,000 Palestinians, including many minors and women, have been detained since Israel seized the West Bank along with other Arab territories in the 1967 Middle East war; however the World seems to be in a coma when the issue is related to the Palestinians.

On Saturday, Palestinians held rallies and vigils in an annual day of support for the thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli occupation prisons, a day after a detainee died in custody.

In the occupied West Bank town of Ramallah, people marched through the town centre, carrying pictures of imprisoned relatives or of Marwan Barghouti, a jailed leader of the mainstream Fatah party.

Barghouti, architect of the 2000 uprising (Intifada) against Israeli occupation, is serving five life terms but remains popular and is often spoken of as a successor to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. "We shall not rest until the prisoners issue is resolved," prisoners' affairs minister Issa Qaraqae told the crowd in Ramallah.

In occupied Jerusalem, relatives held pictures of their jailed loved ones at the entrance to the walled Old City, while in Gaza, foreign activists joined locals in a sit-in outside local offices of the Red Cross.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyyeh called on Palestinians to fight Israeli occupation "by any means" to put pressure on Israel to free the detainees.

Saber Abu Karsh, head of the Wa'ed Prisoners Society, said "all Palestinian factions are united in solidarity with the detainees and, in support of their cause, join their hunger strike inside the Israeli jails."

Nash'et Al-Wheidi, member of the Popular Movement to Support Prisoners, said "this tent was erected to support the prisoners in Israeli jails and to demand an end to the division that has harmed the prisoners' cause."

Last week, Qaraqe said the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) has applied punitive measures to 36 Palestinian female prisoners in the Ad-Damun prison in response to the general hunger strike that began on April 7.

Qaraqe said the IPS has reduced the detainees' recess to one hour per day, prohibited them from sending letters to their family, and further enforced restricted access to the cantina, where detainees can buy stationary and other goods, because of their participation.

Moreover, the minister said the prison administration transferred a number of detainees from the Nafha prison to Ber Sheva prison in response to the hunger strike.

Detainees said they would escalate their protest if the IPS did not respond to their protests against humiliating treatment of relatives visiting detainees and banning Gaza detainees from family visitation rights for over four years.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority called on Israel to investigate the death of a Palestinian detainee in a jail in the southern occupied territories.

Qaraqi said 26 year-old Raed Abu Hammad died on Friday in solitary confinement.

An Israeli Prison Service spokesman said Hammad was found dead on the floor of his cell. Hammad was suffering from medical conditions and the Prison Service was checking the cause of his death, the spokesman said.

"We are demanding an investigation and to perform an autopsy to find out why he died," Qaraqi said. "Israel is fully responsible for the death of the prisoner because he was sick and Israel and the doctors in the prison authority knew that."

Former detainee Abed An-Naser Farawneh said Hamad’s death came as a result of "intentional medical negligence," and noted that Hammad was the 198th Palestinian to die in Israeli custody since the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967.

Hammad was a member of the Hamas party, and was serving a prison term following his conviction in an Israeli military court on charges of attempting an attack on Israeli civilians.

More than 7,000 Palestinians, including 270 under the age of 18, are currently being held in Israeli prisons, according to data released by the Palestinian central bureau of statistics.

Three of the prisoners have been in jail for more than 30 years, and 315 for more than 15 years, the office said in a statement released on the eve of the Prisoners' Day.

Of those held, 264 are under administrative detention, meaning they are being detained without trial.

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Mishaal: Reconciliation should protect resistance

[ 17/04/2010 - 09:28 AM ]

Gaza- Khaled Mishaal, the political bureau chairman of Hamas, has said that any Palestinian national reconciliation should be based on a program that protects resistance and should not be according o the international quartet's conditions.

Mishaal, delivering a phone address at a rally organized by Hamas in Gaza on Friday on the sixth anniversary of the martyrdom of its leader Dr. Abdul Aziz Rantisi, said that Palestinian resistance in the West Bank should act to protect the Palestinian people's rights.

He said that it was about time for the Arabs to stop their settlement process with the Israeli occupation away from power cards, adding that only the strong make peace.

The Hamas leader asked the Arab countries to support the Palestinian people's steadfastness and its resistance against occupation of its land.

Mishaal championed liberating all Palestinian prisoners using all available means, adding that they need serious action to support them in face of the Israeli escalation against them.

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Ordeal of Palestinian prisoners in Israel jails continues - Palestinian prisoner dies in IOA jail, Hamas holds IOA responsible

Palestinian prisoner dies in IOA jail, Hamas holds IOA responsible

[ 17/04/2010 - 10:32 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Palestinian prisoner Ra'ed Mohammed Abu Hammad was found dead in his cell in the Israeli Eichel prison on Friday, the Ahrar center for prisoners' studies and human rights announced.

Director of the center Fuad Al-Khafsh said in a press release that Hammad, 31, is the 198th prisoner to die in Israeli jails.

He added that Hammad, who was serving a ten-year sentence, suffered several diseases but was still held in isolation by the Israeli prisons authority (IPA) that did not heed calls for his release because of his health condition and kept him in solitary confinement.

Khafsh urged the international institutions to swiftly intervene to save the isolated and sick prisoners in Israeli jails, demanding an autopsy on the martyr's body to determine the exact cause of his death.

Hamas movement in the West Bank issued a statement on Saturday blaming the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) and the IPA for the death of Hammad in Eichel prison in Beer Sheba.

It said that the death of Hammad on the day of the Palestinian prisoner makes it imperative on all Palestinian factions and Arab leaders to prioritize the issue of those prisoners.

Detained ex-minister Wasfi Qabaha charged that the death of Hammad was the natural result of deliberate medical neglect on the part of the IPA.

He said in a press statement on Saturday from his prison cell that human rights groups must pressure the IPA into opening its jail before inspection, especially to examine the sick detainees who suffer various diseases including cancer.

Dr. Salah Al-Bardawil, a Hamas leader and MP, said that Hammad, from occupied Jerusalem, died due to constant physical and psychological torture.

He urged the world community to put on trial all those responsible for such crimes against the prisoners.

Meanwhile, Khalil Al-Hayya, a political bureau member of Hamas, told a rally organized by his movement in Gaza on Friday in solidarity with prisoners that Palestinian resistance was fully entitled to trek all means to liberate Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

He expressed absolute dismay at the world's silence toward the IOA crimes against those prisoners.

Ordeal of Palestinian prisoners in Israel jails continues

[ 17/04/2010 - 07:04 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The Palestinian center for the defense of prisoners has invited Friday the Palestinian people and the Arab and Muslim Ummah (Nation) to enhance their support for the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, stressing that all captives must be released unconditionally.

In a statement it issued to commemorate the Palestinian prisoner day, the center pointed out that nearly 7,500 Palestinian captives were held in Israeli jails, including 340 minors, 37 females, 15 parliament members and 1,600 sick captives among others, adding that the captives live in very bad imprisonment condition and suffer from Israeli jailors' ill-treatment.

The center also pointed out that 196 Palestinian captives had passed away while in the jail due to the bad treatment and deliberate medical neglect at the hands of the Israeli occupation authority (IOA).

Further, the center said that at least 320 captives distributed on the 25 Israeli jails across occupied Palestine were classified as oldest-serving captives as they had been in jail for more than two decades now.

However, the center called on the prisoners to strengthen national unity among them in order to foil all Israeli conspiracies against them, urging, at the same time, all Palestinian, regional, and international human rights institutions to exert the maximum effort they could to pressure the IOA to stop the series of humiliation and maltreatment of the captives.

For its part, the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) urged the Arab and Muslim parliaments to launch strong and comprehensive parliamentary campaign with legal and media dimensions to expose the racist Israeli behavior against the Palestinian captives, and to force it to abide by international rules and covenants regarding prisoners.

The PLC also called on the Arab and Muslim countries to keep the momentum of the importance of the prisoners issue at international forums and meetings, stressing that the Palestinian issue is a just issue and deserves full attention from the international community.

Moreover, the PLC warned that the IOA has gone beyond the limits in humiliating and maltreating the Palestinian captives due to the unexplained international silence towards such rejected behavior, underlining that the Israelis have no humanitarian or ethical deterrent to halt them from exercising abhorred practices against the innocent detainees.

In the same context, the supreme national committee for supporting the prisoners called on the Arab League to carry out the recommendations endorsed during the Arab summit in Damascus in 2008 of reviving the Palestinian prisoner day and of considering it as an Arab day to support the Palestinian captives in Israeli jails.

Baha'a Al-Madhoun, the coordinator of the committee, asserted in a statement that supporting the Palestinian captives in Israel wasn’t a Palestinian duty only but rather a duty of the Arab and Muslim Ummah because the captives sacrificed their freedom to protect the Arab and Muslim dignity.

"The Arabs have endorsed great and fantastic recommendations to support the Palestinian captives, but, unfortunately, all those recommendations were kept in the drawers and never implemented, so what are they waiting for? Are they waiting for the captives to die then to act?!", said Madhoun.

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