Saturday 18 December 2010

Fatah asks Hamas for meeting on national reconciliation as its militias kidnap elected mayor of Beit Ummar and Hamas supporters in WB

Fatah asks Hamas for meeting on national reconciliation in Damascus

[ 18/12/2010 - 10:27 AM ]
RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Informed Palestinian sources said that the leadership of Fatah faction made a request lately for a meeting with Hamas Movement in Damascus later this month to resume reconciliation talks.

The sources, on condition of anonymity, told the Palestinian information center (PIC), that this request came in the wake of a stormy session held by the revolutionary council of Fatah, where there was a strong argument between two trends, one called for resuming talks with Hamas and the other was opposing that.

After the session, Fatah officials agreed on contacting Hamas leadership to inform it their movement was ready for the Damascus meeting to be held at the end of this month. Hamas is now mulling over a date for the meeting, according to the sources.

In another context, the same sources told the PIC that Fatah delegated its intelligence director Majed Faraj to Damascus to meet with his Syrian counterpart Ali Al-Mamlouk in order to reduce the tension with Syria.

The sources added that the Syrian foreign ministry is studying a request made by de facto president Mahmoud Abbas to meet with Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad.
In this regard, senior Hamas official Salah Al-Bardawil said that Egypt's reconciliation paper is still the focus of efforts to end the inter-Palestinian division, but he stressed that Cairo should pressure Fatah in order to reach an agreement in this regard.

Bardawil added that Cairo pressured Hamas more than once to force it to accept a reconciliation agreement, but without making any pressures on Fatah which still arrests and tortures Hamas cadres including women in its jails.

The Hamas leader also called on Egypt in another context to develop an Arab strategy able to confront Israel's intransigent attitude and the American bias against Arabs.

For his part, senior Hamas official and lawmaker Ismail Al-Ashqar told Palestine newspaper that his Movement would not close the door of dialog with Fatah, even if the next meeting in Damascus failed.

Ashqar, who headed a delegation from Gaza during the last meeting with Fatah, stressed that Fatah should adopt a national position promoting the political and security partnership, and the peaceful transfer of power if it wants Hamas to sign Egypt's reconciliation paper.


PA militias kidnap 18 Palestinians from Hamas in West Bank

[ 18/12/2010 - 02:12 PM ]

WEST BANK, (PIC)-- The Palestinian Authority's security militias kidnapped during its latest arrest campaigns 18 Palestinian citizens affiliated with Hamas Movement in different West Bank areas, according to local sources on Saturday.

The arrest raids took place in the cities of Nablus, Salfit, Qalqiliya, Al-Khalil, Bethlehem, Jenin, Tulkarem, and Tubas. Most of the citizens kidnapped during these raids were ex-detainees either in PA or Israeli jails.

Among the detainees in Al-Khalil were two mosque imams called Mahmoud Al-Rajoub and Amin Al-Rajoub.

In Nablus, a family reported that it received a phone call from the Israeli administration of Etzion prison telling it that its son Jaafar Dababsa is imprisoned in this jail, but later it found out that its son is detained by the PA intelligence in Juneid prison.

Two twin brothers, who are high school students, were also kidnapped by the militias from their home in the Nablus village of Tal.

10 Palestinian citizens from Qalqiliya were severely beaten in the courtyard of Immatin village's council at midnight after they were kidnapped from their homes by PA militias on charges of raising and possessing Hamas flags.

PA security arrests elected mayor of Beit Ummar


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Australia Rejects Israeli Ordered Media Censorship

17/12/2010 By Dr. Franklin Lamb


Beirut
Australia’s Parliament and main stream media may not differ all that much from other western countries when it comes to chronic groveling to its Zionist lobby. But like citizens in many countries, Australians sometimes courageously exhibit admirable independence and respect for their society’s own values.

On December 10, 2010, whether by design or coincidence, International Human Rights Day, Australia’s Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) released its much anticipated decision on whether to ban Lebanon’s Al Manar TV channel from being broadcast down under via the Indonesian PT Indosat satellite (Palapa D) that was launched on 12/27/09.

As in the US, which does ban Al Manar, the popular station’s programming would, even if banned, still be available via internet live streaming.

Al Manar (The Beacon), affiliated with the Lebanese political party, social service organization and resistance movement Hezbollah, has been the target of an intensive Israel ordered international media assault for several years.

Silvan Shalom, former Israeli Foreign Minister, at a 2004 Herzliya Convention, outlined his governments policy succinctly: “The Israeli Foreign Ministry intends to work actively to have Al Manar banned in other countries around the globe. It is Israel’s intention to bring the seriousness of Al-Manar's broadcasts to the attention of the international community and to convince them to prevent Al-Manar from operating in as many countries as possible.”

The Arabic-language station, started in 1991, has twice been banned in Australia, but was cleared by ACMA in 2009 and now again in 2010.

HOW ACMA ARRIVED AT THIS DECISION

To its credit, Australia’s media watchdog agency took its work seriously and more than once resisted being railroaded by ‘Israel first’ groups. ACMA’s mandate was to address community concerns by aiming to prevent the broadcast of programs that directly attempt to recruit people, or solicit funds, for listed terrorist organizations.

Specifically ACMA wanted to know if Al Manar, via its programming, “directly recruited persons to join, or participate in, the activities of a listed terrorist organization; or solicited for or assisted in the collection or provision of funds for a listed terrorist organization.”

To determine this, ACMA translated, watched and carefully analyzed popular Al Manar program including the following:

  • 26 December 2009, 8th day of Ashura: Speech given by the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah.
  • 25 December 2009, 7th day of Ashura: Speech given by the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah.
  • 15 December 2009, Advertisement: Donation for al-Emdad Charity.
  • 15 December 2009, Interstitial: Our Dignity is Attributed to Martyrdom. (Message to resistance fighters
  • 15 December 2009, Interstitial: Martyr memorial of Jihad Malek Hammoud.
  • 1 December 2009, Manifesto speech: We Want Lebanon Strong and United. Speech given by the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah.
  • 17 November 2009, Drama program: Syrian-produced drama series.
  • 15 November 2009, Current affairs: Youth; Presenter discusses social networking sites with viewers.
  • 15 November 2009, Current affairs: Ma’a Al Mushahideen (With the Viewer). Presenter discusses the war in Yemen with viewers.
  • 5 March 2009, Children’s program: What is it? Children explaining their illustrations.
  • 28 February 2009, Current affairs: Ma’a Al Hadath (With the Event) Presenter discusses Islamic and Christian Holy sites with guest.

In issuing its findings of fact and conclusions of law, ACMA found that Al Manar did not violate Australian law, and was free to broadcast in the country; ACMA did however, issue a caveat regarding two of the above listed programs, With the Event and With the Viewer.

A majority of the ACMA board felt (With the Viewers), on 15 November 2009, was in breach of clause 1.2 of the ACMA codes, and felt the program was not presented fairly. The ACMA also found the broadcast of the current affairs program, (With the Event), on 28 February 2009, “was in breach of clause 1.3 of the codes, as the program might gratuitously vilify a group on the basis of ethnicity and religion.”

However, ACMA still issued a clean bill of health to Al Manar.

A minority on the ACMA board felt that Al Manar should not be held responsible for any code breaches with these two particular episodes because the ACMA survey of Al Manar programming makes clear that Al Manar presenters and program moderators routinely introduce programs objectively and try to moderate objectionable demeanor from their guests or viewers.

Moreover, they pointed out that the (With the Viewers) and (With the Event) programs feature live audience participation. (With the viewers), one of the most popular shows in the Middle East, features people calling in to express their opinions on certain issues and current events. During (With the Viewers), the presenter will cut calls that cross ethical and religious lines. Defamation is not allowed no matter who or what views are being discussed. For example, Palestinian refugees might call in to talk about their sufferings from the occupation and sometimes passions rise.

All in all, (With the Viewers) and With the Event are thought by some ACMA analysts to be rather tame compared to certain American and Israeli programs where racist slurs and ethnic incitements are more common.

In fact, Al Manar has sometimes been criticized for being ‘too tame’ in its wish to be a family oriented station while avoiding controversy. This observer was disappointed with Al Manar when on August 13, 2010 it pulled the widely praised and award winning series, "The Christ" (Al-Sayyed al-Maseeh) by famed Iranian Director Nader Talebzadeh because of some murmurs of criticism from certain Christian politicians. The story line shows the Muslim point of view of Jesus and brilliantly presents his life as a prophet. Al Manar said it took the action "in respect of some sensitivities and to avoid any attempt for negative exploitation." However, they said, the series "reflects, with full honor and glorification, of Jesus’ life, picture, role, pain and sacrifices."

WHAT THE ACMA DECISION MEANS BEYOND AL MANAR’S CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH

Sometimes the symbolism of an event exceeds the significance of the specific act itself. Few freedom of speech and objective media and journalism advocates are not praising Australia’s stance in rejecting politically motivated assaults on broadcasting which is essentially all that the ACMA-Al Manar case represented.

In response, those crusading against Al Manar have issued their boiler plate objections including implying Australian anti-Semitism, ACMA incompetence and growing and dangerous Muslim influence.

Mark Leibler, AIJAC's national chairman, said his organization was "outraged that ACMA ignored evidence that ads of a particular charity, al-Emdad were shown on Al Manar claiming this was a breach of Australia’s anti-terrorism standards.”

The council's executive director, Colin Rubenstein, urged ACMA, despite its findings, to ban the TV station “because it is associated with Hezbollah, which itself is Terrorist listed by the federal government. Rubenstein added “Al-Manar’s raison d’etre is to radicalize Muslims around the world, including in Australia, to support Hezbollah’s terrorist methods and goals. AIJAC believes any media organization owned and/or operated by any banned terrorist organization should also be banned in Australia.”

Outside College Hall on the campus of the American University of Beirut, some students were discussing the ACMA decision. One young man from Egypt explained, “All Hezbollah has ever asked from those who may be wary of the Party for some reason or another is to keep an open mind. Sit with us, dialogue with us, give us a fair hearing on the facts as you see them. This is all Hezbollah or any party has the right to ask.
Australia, to its great credit did just that. I have never met an Australian but I think they must be very fair minded people.”

One political consequence of ACMA ruling may be to kill H.R. 2278, Florida Congressman Gus Bilirakas’ “Terror TV” bill that AIPAC told him would target Al Manar and Hamas’ TV station Al Aqsa, but it turns out would affect more than 64 Arab and Muslim satellite channels in 24 countries.

The bill is currently in John Kerrey’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee and will likely never get out. “It’s a goofy bill, we don’t need the problems it would cause especially given the near universal condemnation it received from every government in the Middle East”, one of Kerrey’s aides explained.

THE GRINCH

Meanwhile, Australian’s Zionist lobby received a triple painful dose of disappointment from the Grinch who stole Hanukkah this year when in addition to the ACMA shock, Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd announced that his government would be tripling its contributions to, one of AIJAC’s long pursued targets for dismantlement, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) by providing AUD 18 million over the coming three years.

As if that were not enough holiday season punishment, AIJAC’s Reubenstein ruminated about the fact that Secret cables from the US embassy in Canberra, provided exclusively to the Sydney Morning Herald by fellow Australian Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, reveal that some Australian officials do not share the US-Israel assessment that Iran is a "rogue state”.

Australian intelligence agencies, much like the CIA and other western intelligence, actually see Iran's nuclear program as a strategy to deter foreign attacks, implying a possible positive aspect to Iran’s work in the nuclear field.

AIJAC, while not giving up trying to close Al Manar in Australia, is now planning a geographical shift of its crusade, for the time being.

The executive director of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Peter Wertheim, on 12/11/10 called on Canberra to demand that the Indonesian government immediately cancel the PT Indosat satellite with Al Manar “and finally grasp the true nature of the station, particularly the danger al-Manar poses vis-a-vis the radicalization of Indonesian Muslims.”

What Israel and its international lobby appear concerned with, and not without some basis, given the potential penumbral effects of ACMA’s ruling and what it means for the rest of the US-Israel politically inspired terrorism lists.

The American justice system is obviously not perfect. But to quote Julian Assange’s on his release from Wandsworth’s Victorian era prison on 12/16/10 with respect to Britain, "If justice is not always an outcome, at least it is not dead yet.” In addition to what ACMA’s administrative agency and quasi judicial findings did for broadcasting rights and free journalism, lawyers in America are hoping to do for many individuals unjustly targeted with various T-listings. There are many egregious cases that have never been judicially reviewed since the Plaintiffs are abroad. Some are extreme cases including one where children are T-listed from traveling to the US to visit loved ones, as is the case with one former Minister in Lebanon’s government and a leading political figure who has never been charged with terrorism and is not affiliated with Hezbollah or any other US T listed group.

Given the chance that American justice is not dead yet, it is hoped that, judicial review, on a case by case basis, will shed light on the disgrace that is the US Treasury Department’s over broad and likely to be found illegal corralling of citizens who might object to aspects of American foreign policy in the Middle East.

If they receive a fair hearing on the facts, and unless a solid case to the contrary is proved and not merely hinted at, many are expected to be immediately de-listed.

If American courts apply the same fair standards exhibited by ACMA in Australia, in addition to the hapless fish netted individuals, Al Manar TV Channel, Nour Radio Station, and Jihad al Binna, and Waad Construction companies, among others, could be in a short line to be T-de-listed.

And none too soon.

Franklin Lamb is doing research in Lebanon and can be reached c/o fplamb@gmail.com
Franklin P. Lamb, LLM,PhD

Board Member, The Sabra Shatila Foundation and the Palestine Civil Rights Campaign, Beirut-Washington DC
Shatila Palestinian Refugee Camp
Beirut Mobile: +961-70-497-804
Office: +961-01-352-127

fplamb@palestinecivilrightscampaign.org

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U.S. Gov't Responds to Questions About Imprisoned Palestinian Protest Organizer Abu Rahmah

Saturday, December 18, 2010 at 9:36AM Gilad Atzmon

They can do with a lesson on integrity...
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Maltese foreign minister demands end to Gaza siege with 'more than just words'

[ 18/12/2010 - 08:07 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Malta's Foreign Minister Tonio Borg said he was shocked at the humanitarian condition in the Gaza Strip that has resulted from Israel's four-year blockade on the region. He asserted that the time has come to end the blockade.

“The siege on Gaza must be seriously lifted, and not just in words,” Borg said during a press conference he held at UNRWA headquarters in Gaza at noon Friday. The minister landed in Gaza earlier that morning through the Beit Hanoun crossing and visited the Gaza fishing port and inspected the sewage plant in the north.

The EU has been demanding a lift on the siege, Borg said after seeing first-hand the circumstances in the Strip. He noted that Malta was one of the first European states to give Palestine's ambassador full diplomatic representation, calling on other states to take similar steps with Palestinian ambassadors to their countries.

Visits made by EU officials to the region during past months have had an effect on the EU's policies toward the Gaza Strip, Borg went on to say, adding that the EU's positive policies toward the region would pay off in the future.

Borg made a pledge that his country would offer financial aid to the Strip's fishermen and the UN's Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) alongside kick-starting other projects.

The Maltese foreign minister met during his visit with businessmen, representatives in the civil community and fishing industry, Maltese citizens studying in Gaza, and UNRWA deputy director of operations Chris Nordahl.

Issawi demands int'l institutions to highlight miseries of Palestinians


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Maltese foreign minister demands end to Gaza siege with 'more than just words'

[ 18/12/2010 - 08:07 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Malta's Foreign Minister Tonio Borg said he was shocked at the humanitarian condition in the Gaza Strip that has resulted from Israel's four-year blockade on the region. He asserted that the time has come to end the blockade.

“The siege on Gaza must be seriously lifted, and not just in words,” Borg said during a press conference he held at UNRWA headquarters in Gaza at noon Friday. The minister landed in Gaza earlier that morning through the Beit Hanoun crossing and visited the Gaza fishing port and inspected the sewage plant in the north.

The EU has been demanding a lift on the siege, Borg said after seeing first-hand the circumstances in the Strip. He noted that Malta was one of the first European states to give Palestine's ambassador full diplomatic representation, calling on other states to take similar steps with Palestinian ambassadors to their countries.

Visits made by EU officials to the region during past months have had an effect on the EU's policies toward the Gaza Strip, Borg went on to say, adding that the EU's positive policies toward the region would pay off in the future.

Borg made a pledge that his country would offer financial aid to the Strip's fishermen and the UN's Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) alongside kick-starting other projects.

The Maltese foreign minister met during his visit with businessmen, representatives in the civil community and fishing industry, Maltese citizens studying in Gaza, and UNRWA deputy director of operations Chris Nordahl.

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America's War on Islam: New Republican Offensive Planned -



Dozens of previous articles addressed America's war on Islam, discussing victims of America's war on terror for political advantage, not for threatening national security or public safety.

Repeatedly post-9/11, bogus threats were invented to imprison innocent men and women for their faith, ethnicity, activism, prominence or charity. Clearly, it's the wrong time to be Muslim in America, Washington's target of choice to hype fear and enlist public support for imperial lawlessness, no matter the cost in reckless spending and loss of personal freedoms. Increasingly, everyone is now vulnerable for speaking out, voicing dissent, and supporting equity and justify for unpopular victims.

Against that backdrop, Obama's 9/11 address at the Pentagon was an exercise in demagoguery and deceit, saying:

"We will not sacrifice the liberties we cherish or hunker down behind walls of suspicion and mistrust....The highest honor we can pay those we lost (is keep doing) what our adversaries fear the most. To stay true to who we are, as Americans; to renew our sense of common purpose; to say that we define the character of our country, and we will not let the acts of some small band of murderers who slaughter the innocent and cower in caves distort who we are."

In fact, for nearly two years, Obama continued the Bush agenda. Besides looting the Treasury for Wall Street and other corporate favorites, he systematically strips civil liberties, violates human rights, wages imperial wars, targets dissent and democratic freedoms, and relentlessly persecutes whistleblowers, Muslims and their supporters.

In May, he designated homegrown terrorism one of the nation's top priorities, his chief counterterrorism advisor, John Brennan, saying:

"We've seen an increasing number of individuals here in the United States become captivated by extremist activities or causes. The president's national security strategy explicitly recognizes the threat to the United States posed by individuals radicalized here at home."

He cited "foot soldiers," planning attacks on US soil. Obama's National Security Strategy (NSS) suggested new legal possibilities to prosecute them in military and civilian courts. In addition, new indefinite detentions procedures will be implemented to hold targets who can't be charged or tried - police state justice in "the land of the free." If ever earlier, for sure not now.

The NSS said:

"The increased risk of terrorism necessitates a capacity to detain and interrogate suspected violent extremists, but that framework must align with our laws to be effective and sustainable."

Mo matter. Military commissions will be freely used, denying targets judicial fairness, including the right to appeal even for death sentences.

"For detainees who cannot be prosecuted, but pose a danger to the American people, we must have clear, defensible, and lawful standards" to justify long-term detention without trials, despite no US or international law permitting it.

"The United States is waging a global campaign against Al Qaeda and its terrorist affiliates," code language for war on Islam at home and abroad. Brennan suggested targeting terrorism is self-defense, saying they "bring death to our cities." As a result, effective action against them is essential, he said - meaning preemptively against innocent people for political advantage. "As our enemy adapts and evolves their tactics, so must we constantly adapt and evolve ours...."

Implied is that law and order no longer matter. Global wars, homeland repression, and imperial dominance take precedence - America's official agenda under both parties with full support from major media journalists, transmitting whatever information official sources want published or reported on air.

In response, Professor Marc Lynch said "how can they reconcile (the rule of law and its democratic commitment) with the way drone strikes are (indiscriminately) used, (with) military commissions, and so forth?"

And by persecuting innocent Muslims, solely for political advantage. It's been official policy for over nine years, including against lawyers who defend unpopular clients too vigorously.

Expect Worse Ahead

Some will come on January 3 when the 112th Congress convenes. Republicans will control the House and have more say in the Democrat-controlled Senate. They plan to press their advantage, including for the war on terror.

On December 16, New York Times writer Raymond Hernandez headlined, "Muslim 'Radicalization' Is Focus of Planned Inquiry," saying:

Rep. Peter King (R. NY), new House Homeland Security Committee chairman, announced he's "planning to open a Congressional inquiry into what he calls 'the radicalization' of the Muslim community when his party takes over the House next year."

On December 8, his web site outlined priorities, including:

-- keeping Guantanamo open;

-- preventing transfer of its detainees to America;

-- trying them in military commissions, denying them due process;

-- holding hearings on the Fort Hood attack;

-- improving passenger and cargo plane security;

-- enacting tougher border security laws to curb illegal immigration;

-- protecting Americans from terrorist attacks (by eroding more civil liberties);

-- bolstering cybersecurity protections (by subverting online freedom); and

-- identifying and combatting "domestic radicalization," against Muslims, his designated target of choice.

Like many other congressional members, King is a notorious Islamophobe, espousing racist, hateful, malevolent, vengeful views. He believes "Muslim leaders (don't) cooperate with investigations," and America has "too many mosques....We should be finding (new ways to) infiltrate (them)....The Muslim community (represents) a real threat here in this country."

Last December, he said "100% of the Islamic terrorists are Muslims," a combination of racism and clear ignorance, suggesting a difference between the two. Either way, he wants Muslims profiled, targeted, put on no-fly lists, and denied civil rights. Not all he said, just bad ones, implying they're all suspect.

Responding, the American Arab Forum's Dr. Afef Assaf said:

"King's Islamophobia represents a persistent pattern involving unrelenting attacks by self-appointed Arab or Muslim experts permeating the airwaves, media, and schools. In 2004, King claimed the vast majority of American Muslim community leaders are 'an enemy living amongst us,' and that 'no (American) Muslims' cooperate in the war on terror," adding:

"I would say (that) 80 - 85% of mosques in this country are controlled by Islamic fundamentalists. Those who are in control. The average Muslim (doesn't) come forward. They don't tell the police (anything about fellow Muslims)."

He claimed he could prove his assertions, citing fellow Islamophobe/hatemongers, Steve Emerson and Daniel Pipes, figures with no credibility whatever.

Responding further, Assaf added:

"It is pure hate speech and defamatory rhetoric when an elected official speaks so suspiciously of America's Muslim leaders and ordinary Muslims, including those in his own district. Furthermore, the media silence about such virulent rhetoric filters, or better, refracts through the prejudice of bigots in the media audience, who seek to turn the war against terror into a war against all of Islam and thus against all American Muslims...Ignorance can no longer justify hate speech and bigotry....(It should) never....avariciously enrich (and empower) a hateful Congressman," nor anyone, including top administration officials.

With King again heading the House Homeland Security Committee, Muslim leaders expressed strong opposition to his plan, calling it unfair racial profiling against an entire group.

Abed Ayoub, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Legal Director said King ignored Muslim leadership efforts against homegrown terrorism, adding:

"We are disturbed that this representative who is in a leadership position does not have the understanding and knowledge of what the realities are on the ground." Clearly his proposal "has bigoted intentions."

Salam al-Marayati, Muslim Public Affairs Council Executive Director also expressed alarm saying:

"He basically wants to treat the Muslim-American community as a suspect community," and by so doing, he's undermining community/law enforcement relations as well as spreading hate and bigotry to inflame public opinion, making it easier to unfairly target Muslims.

Unfortunately, King has plenty of congressional support on both sides of the isle. As a result, expect witch-hunt 2011 hearings, inflammatory media reports highlighting them, and more innocent Muslims unfairly targeted. Moreover, America's war on terror will keep raging out-of-control, flaunting the rule of law and democratic freedoms, ones fast eroding in America for everyone.

Before he died, Gandhi explained the "Seven Blunders of the World." Number seven was "Politics without principle," a character flaw afflicting most public officials, all senior ones, right wing courts, and nearly all congressional members, especially those on the extreme right from both parties.

Culpable also are supporters wealth and power over popular need, imperial wars for global dominance, and innocent Americans targeted for political advantage and personal gain. Post-9/11, it's been so extreme, it's practically become the national sport.

A Final Comment

The October 2001 USA Patriot Act's Section 802 created the crime of "domestic terrorism," used also against environmental and animal rights activists. Earlier articles addressed numerous victims, including Marie Mason, targeted for her outspokenness against destructive genetic engineering and forestry practices. A discussion of her case can be accessed through the following link:

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/07/marie-mason-victimized-by-green-scare.html

In February 2009, she was sentenced to 21 years, 10 months in federal prison, the longest ever for a Green Scare/ecoterrorism target. She appealed for re-sentencing, but on December 16 was denied, a lawless court supporting a lawless administration to treat her harshly.

Eric McDavid was also victimized, his case discussed in an article accessed through the link below:

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/09/eric-mcdavid-victimized-by-green-scare.html
Entrapped on bogus ecoterrorism charges, he received 19 years in prison in May 2008, despite committing no crime. His lawyer, Mark Reichel was appalled, saying:

"There has never been (been a case before) involv(ing) this much entrapment, this much pushing by an informant, by the US government and by the FBI behind it" to imprison an innocent man.

He also appealed for an en banc (full appeals court) rehearing to no avail, despite an open and shut case on his behalf. No matter. On December 8, he was denied. Apparently the full court found no merit in a case involving a gross miscarriage of justice.

It's more proof that everyone in America is vulnerable for supporting right over wrong when it opposes official policy, a sad testimony to America gone off the rails.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
posted by Steve Lendman @ 4:54 AM  

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USPCN Stands Against Political Repression

USPCN

By
uspcn
Published: December 16, 2010Posted in: Features, News, Statements
USPCN Stands Against Political Repression

The United States Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) strongly condemns and denounces the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s political repression of 19 anti-war, Palestine solidarity and Palestinian activists. The USPCN calls for the immediate suspension of the federal government’s grand jury prosecution of these activists, and an end to the FBI’s harassment of our communities.

Since September 24, the FBI has raided seven Chicago and Minneapolis homes of activists and has served a total of 19 federal subpoenas across the Midwest. The targeted citizens are outspoken community organizers and students critical of U.S. policy in Colombia, Palestine, and the Middle East.

The grand jury and FBI are seeking evidence that connects the 19 activists and their “potential co-conspirators” to U.S.-designated “terrorist organizations.” Five of the nineteen activists being targeted are Palestinian-Americans whose only crime is working tirelessly to inform fellow citizens of the realities of Israeli occupation. None of the 19 has been charged with a crime, and all deny providing material support, including money, to any foreign organization. These activists are shining examples of courage and fortitude, ordinary citizens doing the extraordinary work of building knowledge and support for justice and a common humanity
Federal harassment of our communities and associational life has grown precipitously during the last decade, as Arabs, Muslims, and their allies, continue to be persecuted for their lawful and necessary civic engagement. This suppression of civil rights and free speech seeks to criminalize and quell civic activism undertaken in support of Palestinian and other oppressed peoples’ struggles against U.S.-funded occupation and war. This harassment must stop.

The United States Palestinian Community Network stands in full support of our brothers and sisters unjustly targeted by the federal government.

We assert our determination and commitment to challenge our government’s policies, both here and abroad, and will continue to defend the rights of Palestinians, our allies, and all those struggling against oppression. The USPCN upholds the constitutional right of Americans to dissent without fear of persecution, and the rights of peace and justice organizations to organize, educate, and assemble, free and unbridled.
We call upon all USPCN local chapters, members and fellow citizens, to join existing local and national efforts organized by the Committee to Stop FBI Repression. Please visit: http://www.stopfbi.net

Do not be intimidated, we struggle together. Continue to speak your conscience, continue to educate, and continue to organize. Justice will prevail.
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God Will Bring His People Back

Saturday, December 18, 2010 at 9:23AM Gilad Atzmon


GOD TV and Jewish National Fund's Forest Of Hate from Max Blumenthal on Vimeo.

One may wonder what kind of God is so careless about the indigenous people of the land...
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GORDON DUFF: GOV. JESSE VENTURA PROVES 9/11 COVER-UP, WILL AMERICA’S GOVERNMENT FALL?

"thought it was a bomb...walked out through the hole.
.burning wreckage..no plane parts...threatened to keep silent"
December 18, 2010 posted by Gordon Duff ·

FORMER VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY ACCUSED OF ENGINEERING PENTAGON ATTACK

DONALD RUMSFELD CITED AS POSSIBLE ACCOMPICE

By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor

Confirmed sources in the Nigerian government tell us, in order to keep former Vice President Cheney out of prison for crimes involving Nigeria, $500,000,000 in bribes have been promised, negotiated by former President George H.W. Bush.  

Now, only a day later, Cheney faces possible charges, so many charges they can only be imagined, for planning the Pentagon attack on 9/11.  TV host, Jesse Ventura, former Navy Seal, former Governor of Minnesota, on a one hour documentary on prime-time American television, makes an open and shut criminal case tying Cheney, Rumsfeld and officials throughout the US government with complicity in the planning, execution and subsequent cover-up of the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon.



YouTube - Veterans Today -

According to experts on 9/11, engineers, pilots, intelligence officers and members of our military, Jesse Ventura “hit the nail on the head.”  Ventura, using evidence developed over 9 years by hundreds of individuals, outlines the utter impossibility of the government’s cover story on 9/11 and systematically debunks it using testimony and scientific evidence.

Ventura cites, in an interview with a 9/11 commissioner, a possible motive for the Pentagon attack being included with the attacks on the World Trade Center.  $2,300,000,000,000, yes 2.3 billion US dollars had disappeared, cited only the day before in a televised statement by Secretary Rumsfeld, money “gone missing” from the Pentagon’s accounting.  The are of the Pentagon hit by a missile or destroyed by explosives or both contained all records of this missing money.

NO PLANE, NO WAY, NOT EVEN CLOSE

Ventura proves, beyond any doubt that no airplane every hit the Pentagon.  As the video shows, not even a highly trained airline pilot was capable of the maneuvers claimed.  Long before, it had been proven that the 757 was incapable the task, either the maneuvers or the speed and trajectory.  The plane would have come apart, there is no disagreement with this and hasn’t been for some time, yet nothing had been done.  Why?

It is also clearly shown that there is absolutely no evidence of any kind showing a plane hit the Pentagon, no wreckage, no bodies, no luggage.  Items claimed to have been taken to Dover Air Force Base, bodies, plane parts, were never at the Pentagon as both video and testimony prove.

There is also proof that the government threatened witnesses, telling them to support the “aircraft scenario.”

NO MUSLIMS, NO HIJACKERS, NO BOX CUTTERS, ALL PROVEN LIES FINALLY

The basis for the conspiracy theory regarding Muslim hijackers with box cutters was based on supposed phone calls made by Barbara Olson, wife of Bush Solicitor General.  Solicitor General Olson claimed he talked to his wife on a cell phone, spoke with her at length, while she described the hijackings as now dramatized by Hollywood.  When it was proven that a cell phone is incapable of making such calls, Olson claimed it was a “seat back phone.”  When it was proven that there were no seat back phones on American Airlines 757 aircraft, nothing further was asked.

Then investigations shows he received one call, lasting “0″ seconds.  Ventura questions as to whether Olson was duped or complicit?  Should he be arrested too?  Was his wife, Barbara, ever really on the plane?

Then Ventura looks into the flight itself.  Not only was the flight recorder “dead” but during the flight itself, the transponder was turned off.  Even more suspicious, the plane disappeared from radar for 28 minutes.

There is no discussion of this 28 minutes, but speculation, perhaps no longer speculation, has long been that the flight landed.  As to what happened then, we cannot guess, or can we.  One of my friends, a former Pentagon official, had a friend on that aircraft.  Not long ago, he asked me.

“Gordon, what do you think happened to him, do you think he was executed?  Bullet in the brain as they stepped off the plane or something even worse?”

Ventura didn’t go there.  None of us want to.  It requires visualizing a scene out of Auschwitz.

Can Americans be so brutal, so devious, so traitorous?  It isn’t just Jesse Ventura that is willing to risk his life to bring it out, Fox News journalist Geraldo Rivera, several weeks ago, debunked the Building 7 collapse at the World Trade Center as “controlled demolition.”


YouTube - Veterans Today -

9/11 COMMISSION DUPED, ADMITS THERE WAS NO REAL INVESTIGATION AT ALL
Commission video’s redacted to remove testimony by the Secretary of Transportation, transcripts altered, witnesses blocked, evidence, tons of evidence of government conspiracy withheld, this is the case against the government.  Threats, intimidation, going on for years, this is proven.  Were there more than threats, murders, “heart attacks” or threats against families?  Ventura proves the Pentagon was a government conspiracy, he “names names.”  Geraldo makes any other explanation for Building 7 other than “controlled demolition” pure insanity.

IGNORING EVIDENCE, PROOF OF DICTATORSHIP OR ARE ARRESTS PLANNED?
It isn’t as though the evidence presented by Governor Ventura and Geraldo Rivera or even the other stories, Judge Napolitano’s revelations of knowledge of the attacks as early as 9/11, was new.  All has been know, all highly credible and all systematically ignored, attacked by the press, suppressed by courts, officials at every level.

9/11 and the recent revelations aren’t proof of a conspiracy by 2 men, or Israel.  It is proof that there never was an Al Qaeda and that the deaths, two wars, the 9/11 deaths and the carnage across the world wrought by the United States was part of a criminal conspiracy, one that could only be perpetrated by a dictatorship under the guise of representative democracy.

Everything we have seen, and millions around the world have watched, nobody can ignore it anymore, it all says that what has happened is something no American would allow, not if this still were America.  Jesse Ventura proved something startling to most, suspected by some.  He proved that, at some point in our past, 10 years, more, we don’t know, our government was overthrown.

MORE WIKILEAKS, MORE ASSANGE, MORE 9/11 COVER-UP

The strongest and most vocal opponent of a new 9/11 investigation is Julian Assange of Wikleaks.  If any individual outside the US government were to be named as most complicit in a 9/11 cover-up, it would be Julian Assange.


YouTube - Veterans Today -

Everything since then, certainly 9/11 and now, the news about Iran and, especially Wikileaks, all subterfuge.  When former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinsky cited Wikileaks on a PBS interview, televised nationally, that Wikileaks was the word of an intelligence agency, Israel never reported it or responded.  Instead, they attributed Brzezinski’s quote to me:

“Speaking to Haaretz, Duff added that ‘it sticks out like a sore thumb that WikiLeaks is obviously concocted by an intelligence agency.’”
This is what Brzezinski told Judy Woodruff of PBS:

ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI: But I think the most serious issues are not those which are getting the headlines right now. Who cares if Berlusconi is described as a clown. Most Italians agree with that. Who cares if Putin is described as an alpha dog? He probably is flattered by it.

The real issue is, who is feeding Wikipedia on this issue — Wiki — Wiki — WikiLeaks on this issue? They’re getting a lot of information which seems trivial, inconsequential, but some of it seems surprisingly pointed. …The very pointed references to Arab leaders could have as their objective undermining their political credibility at home, because this kind of public identification of their hostility towards Iran could actually play against them at home.
It’s, rather, a question of whether WikiLeaks are being manipulated by interested parties that want to either complicate our relationship with other governments or want to undermine some governments, because some of these items that are being emphasized and have surfaced are very pointed.
And I wonder whether, in fact, there aren’t some operations internationally, intelligence services, that are feeding stuff to WikiLeaks, because it is a unique opportunity to embarrass us, to embarrass our position, but also to undermine our relations with particular governments.



BUSH, OBAMA, CONTINUING DICTATORSHIP, CONTINUING COVER-UP, CONTINUING WAR

Barak Obama ran for president on a platform based on justice, ending the wars and bringing accountability to government after 8 years of scandals, deceit and what can only be called “hooliganism and piracy.”  Instead, he has done nothing, the wars continue, drugs are flowing from Afghanistan even faster than before, 9/11 evidence, now overwhelming and impossible ignore is still ignored.

Americans looking for reform wonder if Bush left at all.  Those complicit are, though few admit it, disturbed by seeing America led by an African American.  The visible public face on the very well financed attacks on President Obama are all very much based on race hatred.  Who would want a return to policies enacted by the least successful president in American history, George W. Bush, who left office with an approval record listed at 22%.  Many would find a number lower, even half, more credible.  President Clinton, after surviving impeachment for lying about sexual misconduct left office with 68% approval.

Even through the assaults on President Obama, many financed by the Koch brothers,  tied to ultra-nationalists in Israel, whether there was a real change of government is not clear.  As Jesse Ventura pointed out, while Vice President Dick Cheney was getting reports of a plane approaching the Pentagon, seemingly even orchestrating the attack himself, President Bush was in Florida reading to school children.  Two years of Obama have been similar, too similar.

What can we assume from this?  Is, in fact, the President of the United States no longer Commander in Chief?  Did our government hand itself over to “shadow” rule with Bush or did it happen earlier, after President Reagan’s dementia made him unable to manage the cabal that surrounded him?
The headline on today’s New York Times:

SENATE BLOCKS BILL FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT STUDENTS

The headline on today’s Washington Post:

TOP US SPY REMOVED AFTER THREATS

What is “their” message?  Certainly not “never again.”  In fact we know that “again” is just around the corner, an Iran war with or without a new 9/11, planned and executed by the same folks, older, not wiser and certainly more pathologically insane and murderous.
..and we continue to allow it.
River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Scott Horton Interviews Max Blumenthal

Friday, December 17, 2010 at 1:59AM Gilad Atzmon

More about the fire in Israel and its symbolic meaning.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Jody McIntyre: It is rough out there

Thursday, December 16, 2010 at 8:24AM Gilad Atzmon



River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Israel's new wall

Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani, The Electronic Intifada, 17 December 2010


Immigrants protest for human rights in Tel Aviv. (Eduardo Soteras/ActiveStills)

CAIRO (IPS) - After building a wall in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Israel has begun construction on a new wall, this one to keep migrants from Africa out. The new wall is coming up on the Egyptian border, and with Egyptian support.

The Israeli government approved plans late last month to build a detention camp near its border with Egypt to house illegal African immigrants. Local activists decried the move, which they say flies in the face of internationally-accepted human rights norms.

"The idea of a prison built expressly for African immigrants is not only racist, it also contravenes basic tenets of international law," Hafez Abu Saeda, president of the Cairo-based Egyptian Organization for Human Rights told IPS.

On 28 November, Israel's cabinet approved construction of a camp to temporarily accommodate undocumented African immigrants that enter Israel from neighboring Egypt. According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who provided little else by way of detail, the project comes within the context of a wider plan to halt the "wave of illegal immigrants" entering the country in search of employment.

Israel claims that within recent years tens of thousands of African migrants have illicitly crossed the Egypt-Israel border into its territory. Once inside the country, these migrants are often hired as manual laborers -- at relatively low wages -- by Israeli farms and in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

This influx, Netanyahu was quoted as saying, "is growing and it threatens the jobs of Israelis. It is changing the face of the state and we have to stop it."

The Egypt-Israel border represents a major transit route for African migrants, both political refugees and job seekers, coming mainly from Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Attempts to illegally cross the frontier -- already tense due to its proximity with the besieged Gaza Strip -- often result in fatal clashes with Egyptian border police.

In late October, a Sudanese national was killed by Egyptian border authorities while attempting to cross into Israel. A recent report by Human Rights Watch noted that since 2007 Egyptian border authorities have killed at least 85 African migrants, recording 24 fatalities this year and 19 the year before.

The Israeli prime minister, for his part, stressed that the planned detention center was intended to house illegal job seekers and not political refugees.

"We are not stopping the entry of war refugees," he was quoted as saying. "But we have to stop the mass entry of illegal work seekers due to the severe impact they can have on the nature and future of the State of Israel."

Abu Saeda, however, challenged Israel's right to make the distinction.

"The issue of who is and who isn't a political refugee should be decided by the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), which is mandated with determining if migrants' lives are in jeopardy in their home countries," he said.

Abu Saeda also refuted Israeli claims that African immigrants represented an economic liability.

"Israel welcomes the Falasha [Ethiopian Jews] as well as Jews from other countries, such as Russia, even going so far as to offer financial incentives to Jewish immigrants," he said. "So how can they say immigrants are bad for their economy?"

The last week of November saw Israel begin construction of a 250-kilometer long electric fence along its border with Egypt. Israeli officials say the $360 million fence, which will incorporate high-tech surveillance cameras, aims to stop the influx of African migrants.

A 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel strictly limits military and security deployments -- by either side -- on or near the shared border. Nevertheless, Egyptian officialdom appeared indifferent to news of Israel's planned border fence.

Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki has said that Egypt neither approved nor disapproved of the barrier "as long as it is built on Israeli territory." He went on to describe the project as "an internal Israeli affair" that neither threatened Egypt's national interests nor violated its sovereignty.

The planned fence will not be the only barricade to go up in the fraught border zone.

Over the last year, Egypt has been building an underground steel barrier along its 14-kilometer border with the Gaza Strip with the ostensible aim of disrupting smuggling operations. Since Israel -- and later Egypt -- hermetically sealed its boundary with the Strip in 2007, Gaza's roughly 1.5 million inhabitants have come to rely on cross-border tunnels for their most basic needs.

"The frontier zone is becoming a region of walls and fences," Ayman Abdelaziz Salaama, international law professor at Cairo University, told IPS. "For the last ten years, Israel -- ever obsessed with its own security -- has surrounded itself with walls and fortifications.

"But no country in history has been able to build walls high enough to keep out those determined to get in," he added.

Abu Saeda agreed, noting that no amount of border security could ever entirely deter attempts at emigration as long as certain countries continued to suffer chronic economic stagnation.

"Instead of building camps and fences, the international community should promote development in these countries so as to alleviate the root causes of undocumented migration, namely, unemployment and poverty," he said.

A conversation with one undocumented Darfurian migrant resident in Cairo, arrested earlier this year for attempting to cross the border illegally, appeared to bear this out.

"My cousins snuck into Israel and found jobs with relatively good salaries, some of which they sent back to Darfur," he told IPS on condition of anonymity. "Even though I was jailed for thirty days for attempting it myself, I'm thinking about trying my luck at the border again."

He added: "Because the situation in Darfur won't improve any time soon."

All rights reserved, IPS - Inter Press Service (2010). Total or partial publication, retransmission or sale forbidden.

Resisting an ideology of inequality: Jody McIntyre interviewed

Matthew Cassel, The Electronic Intifada, 17 December 2010



Over the past month, journalist and activist Jody McIntyre has joined a growing number of students, workers, activists and others in the United Kingdom in protesting a government decision to cut public sector funding, especially in the field of education. Last week, as tens of thousands of students took to the streets of central London, parliament voted in favor of a plan that will raise tuition fees by 300 percent.

Jody, who spent months alongside Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip protesting the Israeli occupation, has been a frequent contributor to The Electronic Intifada. Now back in London, Jody has been attending and reporting on the various student-led protests and other actions against the government's spending cuts. EI's Matthew Cassel spoke with Jody at his south London home.

Matthew Cassel: I'd like to start by asking you: what's happening in this country right now?

Jody McIntyre: Well, what's happening is that we now have a coalition government that we like to refer to as the "Con-Dem" [the ruling coalition government consisting of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties] government who care about no one but themselves and the elites that are keeping them in power. We now have a government cabinet with 16 millionaires in it, so clearly they are very far removed from our society. The first target of the axe that the government is wielding has been education; they want to increase tuition fees by 300 percent when they all got an education at university not for 3,000 pounds [$4,700, the annual maximum fee before the increase], but for free, every single one of them. They also want to cut EMA [Education Maintenance Allowance], a weekly allowance for 16- to 18-year-old students from poor backgrounds. They also want to slash university education funding. As a response to that we have seen huge demonstrations of tens of thousands of students in London and across the country. In the first demonstration [on 10 November], the Conservative Party headquarters in London was occupied by students. And these demonstrations are not getting smaller, they are growing and students are standing up and refusing to have their futures decimated by this government.

MC: You yourself, you're not a student, right?

JM: I'm not a student myself, but ...

MC: So, why are you protesting?

JM: But there are two main reasons why I'm joining the demonstrations against this. One, is that although I'm not a student myself, people like my younger brother, who is 16 years old, are in the generation that will be directly affected by these cuts. He will want to attend university in the next couple of years and thanks to these new laws being forced through by the government he will not be able to afford a university education. I feel that acceptance into university should be based on the merit of your grades not on the size of your wallet, and this is what we are fighting for. Equality, not inequality. Not a two-tier education system whereby only the rich can afford a university education. The second point is that education is only the first target for this government. For example, as a disabled person, I receive an amount of disability living allowance; the government have now announced that they will review every case of disability living allowance next year. So instead of focusing on the multinational corporations, such as Vodafone, who have an unpaid tax bill of six billion pounds [$9.4 billion], they are targeting the poorest and the most vulnerable sections of society and that will not be limited to students, that will affect us all. So we need to, from day one, all be united in resisting against the government.

MC: You've been making headlines in British media over the past week after you were dragged from your wheelchair not once, but twice, during the demonstration last Thursday. Can you tell us what happened exactly?

JM: During that demonstration [on 9 December], which is the fourth demonstration over the last few weeks to happen over these education reforms, I was attacked twice by the police. The first time, towards the beginning of the demonstration, I was sitting in my wheelchair at the front of the crowd with riot police in front of me and mounted police on horses behind them. One police office struck me on my shoulder with a baton, injuring my shoulder; four police officers then dragged me from my wheelchair and carried me down the road. Around 45 minutes later there was the second incident over at the other side of Parliament Square [where the majority of the protests happened]. I was sitting in my wheelchair in the middle of the road, a significant distance away from the crowd, when one of the police officers who recognized me from the first incident came running over, tipped me out of my wheelchair onto the road and then dragged me across the road by my arms.

MC: Now you're going to file a case against the officers who did this, right?

JM: Yes, I'm in discussion with my lawyer and all options are being considered, but an official complaint has been filed.

MC: This isn't the first time you've been beaten or dragged from your wheelchair during a protest, is that right?

JM: Well after living in Palestine for nine months and attending nonviolent demonstrations there and being attacked on a weekly, not on a one-off basis, but on a weekly basis by Israeli occupation forces attacking myself, Palestinians in wheelchairs, and other friends in wheelchairs -- not with their hands and with batons, but with sound grenades and tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition that is really a threat to my life, not just in terms of humiliation, but an actual threat. So for me, the threat of a police officer [in London] is really quite minor compared to that. So I think that the opposition here really need to step up their game if they think they're going to silence me that easily.

MC: Where was that in Palestine, exactly?

JM: Well I spent the first month of my time living with the Hanoun family in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. During the time I was living with them they were evicted from their home to make way for American and British settlers. People not with Middle Eastern heritage, but with New York accents, and London accents, and British and American passports traveling thousands of miles across the world to steal someone else's home. And on that occasion, at around 5:00 in the morning, I was dragged out of the house and thrown down concrete steps by Israeli armed forces. And I spent the next few weeks sleeping on the pavement with the Hanoun family opposite their home.

I was then living in Bilin, a village in the West Bank, for six months, which became my home and the people there became my family. Every night the Israeli army would invade the village and arrest friends of mine, people I would hang out with and talk to all day. Teenagers, children were dragged from their beds at night and put in prison for months on end without their families being told where they were being taken, purely for the reason that they chose to resist against their oppressor and they chose to attend the weekly demonstrations at Israel's apartheid wall which has stolen over half of their land. After living in Bilin for six months, I traveled to Gaza, to the Gaza Strip, to Gaza City and Beit Hanoun in the north, and there were also nonviolent demonstrations where they would march into the 300-meter "buffer zone" that the Israeli army had illegally imposed as a collective punishment measure on the people of the Gaza Strip. But the only difference between Gaza and Bilin is that in Bilin the Israeli soldiers would use a wider range of weapons whereas in Gaza only live ammunition was used.

MC: Obviously the situations are very different in London, England when compared to what's happening in occupied Palestine, but as someone who has witnessed popular, grassroots and unarmed demonstrations and protest movements, are there some similarities that you can draw between the two or any connections?

JM: I think the similarity here is the question of equality and inequality, this is the root of all conflicts we are now seeing. We are fighting for equality, for all people, irrespective of race, religion, gender, wealth, or physical ability. In Palestine, the only way an Israeli soldier can morally justify how he's treating Palestinians on a daily basis is by holding the belief that Palestinian people are inferior to Western people, in the same way here, the only way our government can justify what they are doing is by holding the ideology that people with less money are inferior to those people with more money. This is the root cause. We want equality for all people, they want inequality.


River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
Jody McIntyre outside his home in south London (Matthew Cassel)

MC: There is now a famous interview with you on the BBC going around the web, apparently it was the most watched YouTube video anywhere in the world on Wednesday. In that video you challenged the interviewer when he suggested that police violence against you and other protestors was somehow justified. Before the interviewer cut you off, you started to compare this "blame the victim" tactic the British media are using now with the protestors and how its a tactic that was used during events in Palestine. Would you mind continuing that point you were trying to make before you were cut off? I'm not going to cut you off, so don't worry, you can speak freely.

JM: Great, it's nice not to be cut off in an interview. The way I was going to expand on that point is quite simply to say, as with the Palestinian conflict, the BBC tried to portray the apartheid state of Israel, who are the oppressor and the perpetrator of violence, as the victim of violence, and the Palestinians, who are the oppressed people, in this conflict, as the perpetrator of violence. This is what they are now trying to do with the student demonstrators, to such an extent that they are prepared for eight minutes live on national television to try and suggest that a person with cerebral palsy in a wheelchair brought on himself assault from a member of the Metropolitan Police. They have this time gone so far down the road of insanity that I don't think they have a shred of credibility left as a news broadcaster. But I think the point that I'm also trying to make is that this should not be a surprise to us. That interviewer's line of questioning I don't think should be a shock to anyone, that is standard BBC tactics. They are the state media in this country. Why are we so easy to condemn state media in other countries but somehow expect to describe our own state media as impartial. It's so hypocritical that it makes me feel sick.

And again, the root of this is the ideology of inequality that the ideology of Western supremacy, of superiority, the ideology that our state media must be unbiased and fair, but the state media of other nations must be unfair and biased. Whereas in reality, all state media is biased, it is a media of the government, it is the media of the state, so obviously in the BBC's reporting of all issues, from Palestine, to Iraq, to Afghanistan to now with the student demonstrations on a domestic level, of course the BBC's reporting will be pro-government. They are the government's media wing, that's what the BBC represents. Just as the police represent the government's armed wing and the army represent the armed wing, the BBC are the government's PR campaign, the government's media wing.

MC: In their coverage of Palestine, if there are popular demonstrations in the West Bank, or during Israel's assault on Gaza in 2008/2009, did their coverage of those kind of events reflect this "blame the victim" tactic?

JM: Yeah, it's simply this "blame the victim" tactic, and not only that, but to flip the situation so that the perpetrator of the violence, the perpetrator of the crime, is the victim, and the victim is the perpetrator. So in the context of Palestinian conflict, this means that Palestinians resisting against the occupation of their country are terrorists, and Israelis who are occupying another person's country are victims. And it's a very strange line of argument. But, it's an imperialist argument, it's a colonialist argument: Israelis, as Western people, deserve that land. This is not new. Britain, and now America, have been colonizing other people's countries for centuries. Israel and Zionism are a symptom of imperialism and colonialism, ideologies of inequality. Israel is not the first example of this, or the cause, or the root, it is a symptom, just as we have colonized countries across the world, Israel is a colonialist state.

MC: So back here in London, other than bringing a case against the police officers who mistreated you, can we expect you to continue taking part in these demonstrations and reporting on them? What do you have planned?

JM: Of course. The police, and the government, and the media, will never cower me into silence and will never bully me into inaction. These demonstrations will continue, we will continue to come out into the streets in our thousands and the police know they can't control us to such an extent that you now have former police commissioners coming onto national television and suggesting that people should be arrested before they have attended a demonstration.

MC: Sounds a bit like Egypt or Iran.

JM: Well, it's now got to the point, that if we hadn't already, we have now finally crossed that line into a completely Orwellian society. But that's a good point you make. This statement says, from a former police commissioner, that we should arrest people intending on attending anti-government demonstrations. Let's imagine for one second that that statement was made in Egypt or in Iran, or in any Muslim country, any Arab country, any Latin American country, any African country, any Asian country -- this would be denounced as a dictatorship. But when it's announced here it's normal. This is a hypocrisy that runs through every line of the corporate media's reporting, from the BBC to Sky, to FOX and CNN in America, and often it is the more supposedly "center" media that are more dangerous than the far right media. Because the far right are so easy to brush off because of their stupidity in their reporting, whereas the BBC are far more, well, now they're going that way as well, but they try to be more subtle and veil their reporting in impartiality, but I think that the veil has been removed a long time ago and if it wasn't a long time ago, it certainly has been removed now.

Matthew Cassel is based in Beirut, Lebanon and is Assistant Editor of The Electronic Intifada. His website is justimage.org.