"Stitched together" with milk & blankets!

"...So Saqr shows up yesterday in a press conference in Istanbul, and he appeared rattled, agitated, and nervous and spoke in the most vulgar and crude fashion and released the most fake mixture of tapes in which he claimed that he was shipping milk and "blankets to cover the pudenda of Syria women"--sic in Arabic. The tapes that he released were so clearly stitched together that OTV in Lebanon showed the technical makeup of the real and the new tapes and the differences were clear to viewers. ..."

Who Creates Ghettos?

Even if they allow it, would any human being like to live amongst those Jewish settlers supremacists?

But look at the presenter, the fool still talks about "both sides" !

Hamas Celebrates 25th Anniversary, Significant Participation of Mashaal, Fatah

Local Editor

Hamas celebrated Saturday the 25th anniversary of its establishment by Sheikh Ahmad Yassine in a massive public ceremony in the Katiba field with the significance presence of the movement’s Political Bureau Chief Khaled Mashaal.

According to Paltoday, the movement will renew the term of Mashaal during the ceremony as he “changed his mind about leaving his position after some bureau members imposed pressure on him.”

The agency added that another significant participation in this year’s ceremony was that of Fatah, after an invitation it received for the first time since 2007 from Hamas.

Hamas Spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the massive participation this year was due to the historic visit of Mashaal in the event, as well as the resistance’s victory over Israel.
Hamas military wing Ezzedine Al-Qassam brigades sent different messages to the Israeli occupation in its statement during the event.

It first warned that the Palestinian resistance “will cut the hand that will harm our leaders and people.”

The faction remembered “the major role of martyr leader Ahmad Al-Jaabari in the resistance’s victory,” saluting Iran and Turkey for their support.

“Peace be upon Iran the aid and revolution, and peace be Turkey the caliphate,” Al-Qassam brigades’ veiled spokesman said.

He also addressed the Zionist leaders saying: “If you escalate your violence, we will escalate our response. We triumphed in the last battle, even though we only used tenth of our power, then how if we fight with all own power?”

“Your time has gone and it is time for your departure, so prepare your passports and leave, as we will cut the hand that harm our leaders and people,” he told the Israelis, stressing that “America and the West must know that our nation will not accept the recklessness practiced on it.”

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

Lebanon: Tal Kalakh Ambush Rocks Tripoli

Gunmen take position as one of them aims his rifle in Bab al-Tebbaneh neighbourhood, in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, during clashes On 5 December 2012. (Photo: Reuters - Stringer)

 

By: Abdel Kafi al-Samad

Published Wednesday, December 5, 2012

 

Four days after 21 Lebanese Islamists were killed as they crossed into Syria to fight alongside the opposition, clashes between Sunnis and Alawis in the northern city of Tripoli continue to spread and intensify.

 

On the morning of 4 December 2012, fighting broke out in Souk al-Qameh and Syria Street, quickly escalating from stabbings to the use of live rounds and the burning of shops after rumors spread of kidnappings by both sides.

Most of the city’s merchants immediately shut their doors as the army deployed into the hot areas, barricading those streets that connect Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh with Alawi Jabal Mohsen.

The confrontations reached a fever pitch in the early afternoon as attempts to contain the fighting failed. Clashes soon erupted across the line of demarcation between the two communities, spreading to al-Qubba, al-Mankubeen, and al-Hara al-Baranieh.

This in turn led to a large-scale displacement as people fled the violence and Lebanon’s second largest city was completely paralyzed due to sniper fire along one of its main thoroughfares.

News circulated that two of Tripoli’s influential sheikhs, Salem al-Rifai and Hussam al-Sabbagh, were busy trying to contain the clashes, with Islamist sources confirming that “no decision has been made by any group to escalate, and the crisis will end within a few hours.”

Two people were killed as a result of sniper fire – one each from Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen – and 20 people were injured, including two soldiers and a member of the Internal Security Forces (ISF).

By nightfall, LBC television reported an additional death by sniper fire as the clashes continued to intensify, with the army becoming more assertive in trying to maintain control.

The parents of the Islamists who have gone missing or died in Tal Kalakh were reported to be in touch with the International Red Cross and the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, asking them to intervene on their behalf with the Syrian authorities to get their sons back.

In response to Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Adnan Mansour’s request for help in returning the bodies of the dead Lebanese fighters, Syria’s ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul-Karim said, “For humanitarian reasons, we are looking into the case, and we will later announce the necessary steps that must be taken to resolve the matter.”

Foreign ministry sources reported that the Syrian ambassador promised to seriously follow up on the issue, but he did not give any details as to how many were killed and how many were captured alive, and whether the government intended to release the latter.

In the meantime, the families of the 21 who were confirmed dead held funeral ceremonies as their last wills and testaments were circulated on social networking sites.

Their parting statements suggest that they went to Syria to participate in jihad and that most of them identify as Salafis influenced by sheikhs who are close to the militant Islamist group, Fatah al-Islam.

“What can be confirmed,” Islamist sources told Al-Akhbar, “is that they went to Syria secretly, without notifying their families,” pointing out that “most of their parents are religiously conservative or Islamist, but did not agree with their children going to Syria.”

The reason for this, these sources added, is that in the view of many of the parents, “The idea of jihad in Syria is still unclear and hasn’t been fully developed. Some even viewed it as participating in a fight between Muslims and should be rejected.”

“Most of the sheikhs, including the Salafi ones, do not encourage fighters going to Syria to support the opposition at this time. They prefer that they stay in Lebanon in order to prepare for the decisive battle that will take place here, which is unlikely to happen until after the Syrian regime is toppled,” the sources added.

This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.

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No Victory for Palestine: Abbas’ Farewell Speech at the UN

By As'ad AbuKhalil - Fri, 2012-11-30 11:28- Angry Corner

 

With contrived drama and a fake sense of anticipation, Mahmoud Abbas rode on the wave of Palestinian popular nationalist fervor in the wake of the Israeli assault on Gaza, and came to the UN as he had long promised to submit – and obtain – a non-member status for the State of Palestine.

The Palestinian people will now have a status comparable to the Vatican. As Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish, once said:

the struggle of the Palestinian people over a century entitles them to much more than a state.

Abbas was supposed to submit the request to the UN Security Council but the US pressured him not to proceed with that plan.

 

The US did not want to be exposed to the world, yet again, as the stalwart enemy of the Palestinian people.

 

The US did not want, yet again, to use the veto power to shield its client state of Israel. Abbas has always been the obedient servant of the US and Israel. The very job that Abbas occupied at the PA, first as a prime minister and then as PA president with an expired mandate, was designed for him by Israel. Abbas did not want much, he wanted a little tiny statelet that would serve to bolster his status among his people.

 

Abbas is a person without a popular base. He has no power and he has to beg Israel, EU, GCC and US for his salary and for the salaries of his inflated bureaucracy and the military and intelligence services that he heads on Israel’s behalf. His job was and is to repress and kill Palestinians in order to make the occupation less costly on the occupiers.

 

Abbas is also a notoriously corrupt person, who has enriched his sons and himself on the job and who also enriched his corrupt cronies.

Abbas Family

Arafat presided over a corrupt authority within Fatah, the PLO, and later the PA. But at least Arafat was not personally corrupt and lived mostly an ascetic life.

Abbas has become desperate. He is despised by his people and has been rendered insignificant by Hamas and by the enemies of the Palestinians, who feel that he has outlived his usefulness although they don’t feel that they have a replacement for him yet. They keep him on the job and hope that he won’t do anything unacceptable and that he would not raise his voice at his masters and handlers. [Now they have Mishaal]

But Abbas has had enough.

 

He saw from the war on Gaza that the Palestinian people still get a thrill from armed resistance to Israeli aggression. He saw that the notion of peaceful struggle is not only unpopular, but has proven its failure and bankruptcy in Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, and Palestine. All those countries tried to pursue peaceful negotiations with Israel to obtain their lands back and all of them failed.

 

The Egyptian people now belatedly realize that Anwar Sadat and Husni Mubarak had fooled them; that Sinai has not been recovered and that Israel still exercises sovereignty over Egyptian territory.

Abbas has become very belatedly fed up with the humiliation that is regularly visited on him by Israel and the US – notwithstanding Hillary Clinton’s recent visit to him in the hope of elevating his stature, as if Arabs who are praised by the US obtain elevated status among their people.

 

Abbas is going down and he is at the end of his career. Not much is left by way of tricks and pleadings with Israel. Israel has made it clear to him that he won’t get that little state in parts of West Bank and Gaza, which the Fatah movement now wants. Abbas wanted to leave the stage with a PR stunt. He hoped to emulate Arafat’s show at the UN back in 1974. Here, history repeated itself as a farce.

 

Abbas does not have the stature of Arafat among his people, and Arafat (at the time) was fighting for a secular state in all of Palestine. Abbas hoped that he could win the support of his people, who have been outraged at his recent humiliating interview with Israeli TV in which he renounced any claim to Safad and to 1948 Palestine.

 

Abbas was begging for his people’s approval this time.

 

He denounced Israeli crimes in a language that the US has not allowed him to use for years. And he chronicled some of the Zionist crimes in Palestine. He did not use his characteristic language of peace that has been inculcated in him by his US masters. Instead, Abbas resorted to the Arabic rhetoric of Fatah on Palestine from yesteryear.

 

But the speech can’t be measured by its emotional rhetoric – as much as it displeased Israel. It can only be measured by its political content. And in that regard, Abbas did not waver on his demand for a mini-state in 22% of Palestine.

Abbas' 'new State' has no wheels

He also spoke of Israeli right to exist side-by-side with a mini-state that it aims to dominate, control and occupy. He also seems to pledge that he won’t use his new status to embarrass Israel. Audaciously, the US and Israel have pressured him to refrain from joining the ICC for fear of presenting cases of war crimes by Israel.

The US and Israel blatantly want to defend Israeli right to perpetrate war crimes and massacres. US Congress was indignant.

 

But the vote at the UN General Assembly – despite the typical US pressures and tactics of intimidation, which the US employed back in 1947 to produce the ill-cited Partition Plan giving the Jewish minority (one-third of the population) 55% of the land (the Arab majority were “awarded” only 42% of their homeland at the time) – was an embarrassment to Israel and the US.

Despite US influence over EU’s foreign policy, the international public opinion in favor of Palestine was revealed to the world. The US has always wanted to cover up the reality of international popular public support for Palestine. The US was isolated with eight other countries in voting “no”. It was only Israel, the US, Canada, Panama, Czech Republic, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, and Palau that voted against the Palestinian membership.

 

The Arab world will get to see yet again that the US is what stands in the way of Palestinian liberation.Arab countries and the PA will work hard to portray what happened as a great victory. It is not. This is largely a symbolic measure that only helps to illustrate the global sympathy for the Palestinian struggle for liberation.

 

The real struggle for liberation will continue and it won’t be taking places on the territory of New York City.

====

Exclusive & Urgent: Abbas draws a 'red line'!

"... Abbas said Wednesday that he is determined to block the settlement building near Jerusalem with all legal and diplomatic means: "The settlement plans that Israel announced, especially E1, are a red line," Abbas told reporters, adding that "this must not happen."

Posted by G, M, Z, or B at 4:28 PM

 

 

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An American Coup in Egypt?

By As'ad AbuKhalil - Fri, 2012-12-07 18:25- Angry Corner

 

What is happening in Egypt warrants historical contextualization. When Sadat first took over after Nasser in 1970, his chances of survival in power were nil. He had no political stature and no power base of his own. He began to build up his power in 1971 when he announced the existence of a wide leftist conspiracy by Nasser’s chief advisors (he called them “marakiz al-qiwa” – centers of power).

His case was based on secret tapings of phone conversations. It was never before revealed whether the US government supplied Sadat’s with the “evidence” in order to help him eliminate his Nasserist rivals. It was only a year later that Sadat ordered the Soviet advisers out of Egypt, probably as a payback to the US government. The rest of the history of Sadat and Mubarak is too well-known: the US government helped construct and supervise the repressive security state in Egypt, which would become a cornerstone of US-Israeli policies in the Middle East.

It is too early to analyze the nature of the Egyptian regime of Mubarak, but there are some clear signs and indications. The US government has reached the conclusion that it (and Israel) can do business with the Muslim Brotherhood as long as they don’t touch or interfere in the foreign policies of Sadat-Mubarak.

Egyptian intelligence service has been constructed by the US and operates as an extension of the CIA station in Egypt.
I t is fair to say that the Muslim Brotherhood has basically allowed the intelligence service to retain control over the foreign policies of Egypt. The top appointments at the foreign ministry have been undertaken by the mukhabarat apparatus, and the foreign ministers in the new Egypt are graduates of Sadat ‘s school of diplomacy. The American administration and Congress have made it very clear that the only criterion that matters to the US is the preservation of the Egyptian-Israeli treaty.

But the Muslim Brotherhood needed time to prove their loyalty and subservience to US security interest and orders. The US was watching closely and it was very clear to Arab watchers that the Ikhwan underwent a swift makeover. Gone were all the speeches about jihad with its grotesque anti-Semitic rhetoric and the standard Islamist references to “the descendants of apes and monkeys,” and in was a new insistence on the necessity of respect for “the international treaties and obligations.” Of course, the redundant references by the new Egyptian government to the respect for “international treaties” were in no way related to Egypt’s bilateral treaties with African and Asian countries. It became a euphemism or a code language of sorts for the new government of the Ikhwan: it was sent as a signal to the US that they are willing to preserve the same foreign policies of Mubarak-Sadat in return for support in power.

The Brotherhood sent emissaries to Washington, DC and held talks with prominent members of the Zionist establishment in the city.

Senator John McCain (a man to the right of Ariel Sharon), became a sudden champion of the Ikhwan in the US and went regularly on Fox News to promote the notion of a “moderate Muslim Brotherhood.” The IMF (a mere tool of US foreign policy) quickly joined in and promised a generous loan in return for good behavior.

But the Gaza war was the golden opportunity: it would be years before we really know how the Gaza war erupted and how it was managed, but the Ikhwan earned the trust of the US and Israel very quickly. After the savage Israeli war on Gaza, the Muslim Brotherhood and preachers of holy war against Jews – this is the classical rhetoric of the Ikhwan – argued that the Mursi government’s recall of the Egyptian ambassador to Israel is the strongest possible response, very much along the lines of Mubarak’s foreign policy argument. The Brotherhood worked very closely with the Obama administration, and Zionists in the US showered praise on the Mursi government and on the new responsible behavior of the Muslim Brotherhood.

It was only days after the Gaza war that Mursi produced his decrees. And the US reaction was quite similar to its reaction when any of its repressive clients in the region resorts to repressive measures. Worse, the US government reacted in the same way it reacted when protesters first took to the streets against the Mubarak regime. Just as the Obama administration early condemned the “violence” of the Egyptian protesters against Mubarak (and not vice versa), the Obama administration again warned the protesters (and not the regime) against the resort to violence.

Egypt's Mursi faces judicial revolt over decree

Zionist media quickly followed suit.

The New York Times carried a front page picture of a Muslim Brotherhood activist rescuing an injured person: Arabs widely ridiculed the picture because the Arabic press on the same day carried various pictures of Ikhwan thugs beating peaceful demonstrators in Cairo. And the New York Times has been so pleased with Mursi’s behavior vis-à-vis Israel that it considered the mounting of tents and the scribbling of anti-Mursi graffiti as acts of violence by the opposition.

There is no evidence as of yet that the US was involved in Mursi’s coup, but there is clear evidence that the two governments have been working closely together. Various emissaries of Mursi were dispatched to Washington DC, and Mursi notified the US government of his decision before the decree was announced to the Egyptian public. It is not unlikely that the US has colluded with Mursi in order to reconstruct the repressive security state that has been so helpful to Israel over the decades. It is possible that the US will adjust its relationship in the region in order to incorporate the Ikhwan regimes into the established pro-US regional repressive system.

The suspicion of a US role in the Mursi government is widely shared among Egyptians, and its explains why many protesters went to the US embassy to protest but were turned away by Mubarak-Mursi’s security goons.

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Egypt: Who Sent the Muslim Brothers to the Street?

Tens of thousands of protesters gather in Egypt's landmark Tahrir square against a decree by President Mohamed Morsi granting himself broad powers that shield his decisions from judicial review on 30 November 2012 in Cairo. (Photo: AFP - Gianluigi Guercia)

 

By: Abdel Rahman Youssef

Published Friday, December 7, 2012

 

Many are asking who was behind the Muslim Brotherhood’s decision to confront protesters in front of the presidential palace. This line of inquiry revealed that there are growing tensions between some in the Brotherhood’s leadership and the president.

Many Egyptians were shocked at the sight of hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood (MB) members attacking the opposition sit-in at the presidential palace on 5 December 2012. They evicted the protesters, tore down their tents, and took it upon themselves to defend President Mohammed Mursi’s residence.

The MB is not known to participate in these kinds of street confrontations, even during the January 25 revolution. They were slow to join the uprising and those times they did engage in clashes, it was alongside broader forces.

The timing of the attack also raised many questions. After all, Mursi had made a number of gains on the referendum and the constitution, winning over many ordinary people who are considered part of the silent majority, not to mention that a sector of the judiciary agreed to oversee the referendum.
Even within the secretive Brotherhood, many are asking who made the decision to send members to the presidential palace to attack the protesters.

High-level sources in the Alexandria branch of the MB said that neither the provincial leadership nor many of the party’s key members were consulted about going to the palace. Like most Egyptians, they say they were surprised by the Brotherhood’s actions.

According to these sources, word had reached the Brotherhood’s support base that the opposition was planning to attack the palace and occupy it once the police withdrew. Therefore many felt that taking preventative action was a reasonable step.

Despite the fact that many of the MB sympathize with their fallen and injured brothers as a result of the street clashes, the group’s younger members are divided over how the matter was handled, according to Brotherhood youth who preferred not to be named.

Some are even reluctant to participate in the Brotherhood’s planned protests after this week’s Friday prayers. They believe that the MB should take all measures to avoid another confrontation with opposition forces in order to prevent any third party – especially remnants of the old regime – from exploiting the polarization of the street.

As for the opponents of this course of action, one source said that many would like to carry out revenge. They believe that they are the target of a conspiracy aimed at booting them from power, as evidenced by the MB offices that were burned in a number of areas.

Medhat Haddad, a leading MB member in Alexandria, said, “The Brotherhood is able to control its membership, as was the case after an assassination attempt on MB member Sobhi Saleh [a member of the constitutional assembly] on Wednesday by a number of thugs in Sidi Jaber.”

“The local leadership in the provinces,” he continued, “is aware that there is a conspiracy against Mursi and the only way to stop it was to deploy the MB to defend the palace after the police had failed to do so.”

“This was also the best way to avoid both a bloody confrontation with the Presidential Guard and the possible burning and occupation of a symbol of the state and the presidency,” he maintained.

The question remains: Who was behind the MB decision to take to the streets to disperse the opposition by force?

Recent defectors from the MB suggest that one of the group’s leading members, Khairat al-Shater, was behind the fateful decision and that it was his aides who were seen leading the counter-demonstration to the presidential palace.

These sources point to a statement by the grandson of the MB’s second supreme guide, Ibrahim al-Hudaybi, in which he said that former supreme guide Mohammed Mahdi Akef told him that Shater was the one who insisted on this decision.

Akef denied this, saying it was the opposition’s decision to demonstrate in front of the palace that provoked the Brotherhood’s reaction.

Another segment of the Islamist movement claims that the decision came from the supreme guide’s office, suggesting strongly that it was either MB spokesperson Mahmoud Ghazlan or Deputy Guide Mahmoud Izzat, known to be a hardliner.

The same source points out that Shater and Mursi are at odds due to the president’s decision to relieve two of Egypt’s top military commanders – Hussein Tantawi and Sami Anan – without consulting the MB leadership.

In the midst of all this, Supreme Guide Mohammed Badie called on the MB “to unite to build our nation by placing the country’s interests ahead of personal ones, for our divisions, disputes, and fragmentation only serve the enemies of the country.”

For its part, the Brotherhood’s political party, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) released a statement that claimed some protesters had the intent to storm the palace and declare a new presidential committee, thus bypassing the democratic process altogether.

The statement mentioned “professional thugs who are in the pocket of remnants of the old regime,” accusing them of violently attacking MB protesters, which lead to the death of six FJP members and hundreds of injuries.

This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.
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Mursi "torture chambers" exposed

Anti-Mursi demonstrators stage a protest outside the presidential palace near Cairo on 7 December 2012. (Photo: Mohammed Abd El Ghany)

 

Published Friday, December 7, 2012

 

Egypt’s ruling Muslim Brotherhood has set up “torture chambers” inside the presidential palace where protesters detained over the past week have been beaten to force confessions, the country’s Al-Masry Al-Youm reported Friday.

 

A reporter for the newspaper claims to have been allowed access to makeshift detention centers inside the Heliopolis Palace for three hours on Wednesday during a wake of demonstrations against President Mohammed Mursi where he witnessed beatings.

 

He wrote that he "heard detainees screaming inside the chamber. ... A bleeding man cried, ‘I’m an educated person. I have a car. Do I look like a thug?’"

 

The report added:

"Some of the detainees were not able to respond to the questions the Brotherhood interrogators screamed at them because of their physical state. Some were bleeding profusely and severely fatigued, but were not given medical assistance, only offered bottles of water to drink."

 

The reporter, Mohammed al-Garhi, allegedly took this photo of a tortured prisoner from inside the government palace:

 

Al-Akhbar cannot independently verify the allegations in the story.

Tens of thousands of protesters have been demonstrating outside the palace since Tuesday when police attacked marchers who attempted to dismantle barricades. They are demanding Mursi withdraw a November 22 decree granting himself autocratic powers, and that he scrap a draft constitution grounded in sharia.

 

Prisoners inside the palace detention rooms would first have their phones, ID cards and money confiscated by authorities before being shouted at and beaten. The interrogators would ask the detainees if they were being paid to participate in the demonstrations, or if they belonged to an opposition party.

 

If they refused to answer questions, or denied any wrongdoing or political affiliation, "the torturers would intensify beatings and verbal abuse," the report added.

An Egyptian rights group in October published a report documenting 247 cases of police brutality, and 88 cases of torture, during Mursi's first 100 days in office. The embattled Islamist leader took office in June.

 

A number of torture cases that had taken place inside police stations resulted in death, the report found.

 

(Al-Akhbar)

 

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Independent Nation or US Colony? The Island State of Palau

By Richard Edmondson

Those who followed the UN General Assembly votes on Palestine will likely have noticed that Palau, along with several other island states—Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Nauru—have voted, almost without exception, on the side of Israel and the US. With regard to the most recent vote, calling upon Israel to allow nuclear inspectors into the country, one of the island states, Nauru, broke ranks and voted with the majority of the world’s nations. But Palau and the others remained as steadfast as ever in their loyalty to Washington and Tel Aviv.

Located in the western Pacific just east of the Philippines, Palau has a population of approximately 21,000, less than ten of whom are Jews. Note: that’s not ten percent. That’s: ten. Period. There are under ten Jews living in the entire country. Nevertheless, one of them managed to get himself appointed to the Palau Supreme Court. Sounds a bit like the United States, doesn’t it? Well, there’s a very good reason for that. Palau, in a very real sense, was created in America’s image, and the government in place pays a great deal of homage to its Creator.

The Republic of Palau came into being as a result of a “Compact of Free Association” signed in 1986 and ratified by the population in 1994. The agreement gives the US “full authority and responsibility for security and defense matters in or relating to Palau,” with the people of the islands being afforded a sort of sovereignty basically in name only. Here are a few provisions from the Compact:

Section 312: The Government of the United States has full authority and responsibility for security and defense matters in or relating to Palau. Subject to the terms of any agreements negotiated pursuant to Article II of this Title, the Government of the United States may conduct within the lands, water and airspace of Palau the activities and operations necessary for the exercise of its authority and responsibility under this Title. The Government of the United States may invite the armed forces of other nations to use the military areas and facilities in Palau in conjunction with and under the control of United States Armed Forces.

Section 313: The Government of Palau shall refrain from actions which the Government of the United States determines, after consultation with that Government, to be incompatible with its authority and responsibility for security and defense matters in or relating to Palau.

Section 321: The Government of the United States may establish and use defense sites in Palau, and may designate for this purpose land and water areas and improvements in accordance with the provisions of a separate agreement which shall come into force simultaneously with this Compact.

Section 322: When the Government of the United States desires to establish or use such a defense site specifically identified in the separate agreement referred to in Section 321, it shall so inform the Government of Palau which shall make the designated site available to the Government of the United States for the duration and level of use specified.

All of the above come from the “Title III” section of the Compact. The entire, completed document was signed on January 10, 1986. Signing for the US was Fred M. Zeder II and for the Republic of Palau Lazarus E. Salii. Zeder was a former Chrysler engineer who later became head of the US Government’s Overseas Private Investment Corporation under the Bush I administration. Salii was president of Palau, but he died under mysterious circumstances some two years later, on August 20, 1988. According to the New York Times:

Mr. Salii, 54 years old, was the second president of this western Pacific island chain to meet violent death in three years. He was elected in August 1985 to succeed President Haruo Remeliik, the first elected president of the republic, who was shot to death at his home on June 30, 1985. Three men were convicted of murdering Mr. Remeliik but were acquitted last year on appeal to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Palau.

Mr. Salii was shot once in the head in the living room of his home in the capital city of Koror, said Police Officer Theodore Obak.

A .357-caliber Magnum revolver and a spent bullet were found, said Bonifacio Basilius, a Presidential spokesman. Asked whether Mr. Salii's death was a homicide or suicide, Mr. Basilius said, ''We're not ruling out anything.'' He also declined to say whether the President had been depressed in recent weeks.

Mr. Basilius said the country was calm.

Mr. Salii was alone in the house at 1P.M., the time of the shooting, while his wife, a driver and a maid ate lunch outside, Mr. Basilius said.

The three people outside heard a noise and about 20 minutes later, Mrs. Salii went inside and found her husband sitting at his chair with a gunshot wound through the head, Mr. Basilius said. No other wounds were found, he said.

Palau became an official member of the United Nations on December 15, 1994, and its support for Israel has been virtually unwavering ever since. This is remarked upon in an article published earlier this week at Jewish Ideas Daily, which discusses a trip made by Israeli students to Palau some years ago, reportedly undertaken out of curiosity:

In January, 2005 a group of students from Yeshiva University High School, organized by then-high school senior Avram Sand, was appreciative enough of Palau’s foursquare support of Israel, and curious enough about the motives for its support, to pay a courtesy visit to the island to check it out.  They visited with Palauan students at their schools, met with government officials, and kept a most unusual Shabbat—which, on account of halakhic vicissitudes surrounding the International Date Line, was observed on Sunday.  "We represented a segment of the Jewish community that was grateful for the support that Palau provides Israel on a regular basis." said Sand.  "I was very interested in why these places halfway around the world had any interest in Israel whatsoever."

One of the events the students attended was a 20-minute meeting with the president of Palau, Tommy Remengesau Jr.  The students thanked him for hosting them and expressed their gratitude for Palau's firm support of Israel in the UN…

It was reported that the students made quite an impression on their Palauan hosts.  Soon after they left, a Palauan high school student named Maungil Leoncio wrote an e-mail to the Forward saying, "They're the first Jewish people I met.  At first I was judging them by their cover but when I started talking to them, I started to like them a lot.  Their presentation was one of the coolest we've had."

The writer of the article, Moshe Sokolow, also addresses the threat Palau faces from climate change and rising sea levels—“With the havoc wreaked by Sandy still so fresh in our minds, we should be particularly aware that our interests and the Palauans’ coincide. To help them is to help ourselves—and vice versa—in more ways than one.”—as well as what might account for Palau’s unequivocal support for Israel. Sokolow speculates that a “rather singular broad-mindedness” might be one explanation for it, and goes on to add:

Nothing in its national profile would mark Palau as an obvious backer of the Jewish state.  Nearly 75 percent of its people are Christian, mostly Roman Catholic; an additional 10 percent follow Modekngei, a hybrid of Christianity and the ancient Palauan religion.  The island’s economic mainstay, apart from subsistence farming and fishing, is tourism; but, in spite of its tropical climate and its world renown as a diving destination, it has never been a port of call for Jewish midwinter cruises or Passover vacations.

Perhaps Palau’s unusually high literacy rate of 92 percent contributes to its open-mindedness?  Perhaps its geographical isolation frees it from restrictive diplomatic alliances or affiliations?  Perhaps its legacy of American largesse inclines it to a more Western and liberal political stance?  Perhaps, like other Asian cultures, it shares an affinity for millennia-old traditions?

Or perhaps it is reciprocal?  After Palau formally declared its independence in 1994, Israel hastened to afford the new country its first non-Pacific diplomatic recognition.

In any event, says Sokolow, the Palauans “have exercised their vote on behalf of Israel’s interests without fail—and without obvious recompense. In a word, they have acted altruistically, as genuine friends.”

But it is not entirely accurate to say that Palau has acted “without obvious recompense.” If we go back to the Compact, we find that it provides for funding from the US to the tune of millions of dollars—to be provided on an ongoing basis, or at any rate over a period of numerous years from the ratification of the Compact. This includes:

$12 million annually for ten years commencing on the effective date of this Compact, and $11 million annually for five years commencing on the tenth anniversary of the effective date of this Compact, for current account operations and maintenance purposes…

There is also $2 million annually for achieving increased self-sufficiency in energy production; an initial $1.5 million plus an additional $150,000 annually for a communications system; well as $631,000 annually to cover maritime zone enforcement, health and medical programs, and scholarships for Palauan students attending schools in the US; and an initial $66 million, plus $4 million annually, to create an investment fund, to be used by the government of Palau to invest in US bonds. In addition, the US agrees to build the country a road system, and also to provide services from a number of US agencies, including the US Weather Service, Federal Aviation Administration, and the Civil Aeronautics Board.

The Compact also includes tariff provisions pertaining to items exported to the US from Palau, and it is here we find a tie-in to Micronesia and the Marshall Islands:

Only canned tuna provided for in item 112.30 of the Tariff Schedules of the United States that is imported from the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau during any calendar year not to exceed 10 percent of the United Stattes consumption of canned tunal during the immediately preceding calendar year, as reported by the National Marine Fisheries Service, shall be exempt from duty; but the quantity of tuna given duty free treatment under this paragraph for any calendar year shall be counted against the aggregate quantity of canned tuna that is dutiable under rate column numbered 1 of such item 112.30 for that calendar year.

The Jewish Virtual Library has an article on Palau which informs us that “anti-Semitism is non-existent” there, but with less than 10 Jews in the entire country, this would perhaps stand to reason. Apparently, however, one of the 10 Jews, fittingly enough, is Palau’s ambassador to the UN, Stuart Beck. Beck is actually an American lawyer, who, according to Wikipedia, only holds “honorary citizenship” in Palau. The aforementioned Palauan Supreme Court Justice is Larry Miller—also, like Beck, a Jewish American. Miller retired in 2007, reportedly to “return to the United States to be closer to his family,” but was replaced by—are you ready for this?—another American, Russell Marsh. Marsh is a former US Attorney from Las Vegas, and he apparently is not Jewish himself, but in Marsh we find yet another tie-in to Micronesia:

The new Associate Justice is not a stranger to the Pacific region. Previously, Marsh served as Chief f Litigation for Yap from 1991 to 1992 and again in 1995.

The island of Yap is part of the Federated States of Micronesia. Marsh was appointed to the Supreme Court by Palauan President Tommy Remengesau Jr., who received the delegation of Israeli students in 2005 and who served from 2001 to 2009, but was elected to a third four-year term as president just last month. Remengesau’s reasoning for appointing Americans to serve on his country’s Supreme Court? Well, it goes something as follows:

Some members of the public expressed concern that the new justice is not a native Palauan.  In response to those concerns, President Remengesau stated that while a judiciary comprised of all Palauans may be practical in the future, it was in Palau’s best interest to appoint an American whose work was not hampered by conflict of interests, noting the small population of Palau, the relative closeness that Palauans have to each other and the fact that many conflicts of interests have arisen in the past requiring the appointment of off-island part time justices to hear cases.

Palau’s vote against requiring Israel to open up its nuclear facilities to inspections is especially ironic in that the island state voted for the world’s first nuclear-free constitution. This was in 1981, prior to the drafting of the Compact that placed the country under America’s subjugation. According to Wikipedia:

This [nuclear-free] constitution banned the use, storage, and disposal of nuclear, toxic chemical, gas, and biological weapons without first being approved by a 3/4 majority in a referendum.^[17] This ban held up Palau's transition to independence because while negotiating a Compact of Free Association with the United States, the U.S. insisted on the option to operate nuclear propelled vessels and store nuclear weapons within the territory.^[18] After several referendums that failed to achieve a 3/4 majority, the people of Palau finally approved the Compact with the U.S. in 1994.

Palau’s currency is the US dollar.

H/T to msa

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

Damascus, opened its seven gates doors to Meshaal .. He betrayed Syria and chosed to be a slave in the court of Hamad

When Khaled Meshaal knelt to kiss the dust of Gaza he applied the Arabic proverb: "If ashamed, do whatever you want"
The hypocrite have forgotten that it is the sacrifices of the leadership, the army and people of Syria made his return to Gaza.

 Followers of the Palestinian question are wondering: Does the acceptance truce falls in the context of regional political, in the sense that Hamas had accepted, not only working under the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood, but accepting the brotherhood theoretical and tactical rules  based on the theory of improving governance and  postpone other things to another time.

If the resistance priority after the victory is commitment to the cause keeping the finger on the trigger, this priority is not the first item for others. And we know very well, that the priority of Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and others is a priority the existing or the emerging governance.

Translation to be continued

دمشق التي فتحت أبوابها السبعة لمشعل بأمان .. خان الأمانة واختار أن يكون عبداً في بلاط حمد.. بقلم : مي حميدوش

دام برس : عندما سجد خالد مشعل ليقبل تراب غزة طبق المثل القائل إن لم تستح افعل ما شئت , لقد نسي هذا المدعي أنه لولا تضحيات سورية قيادة وشعبا وجيشا لما تمكن من أن يعود هذا المنافق إلى غزة هاشم، وهنا يتساءل المتابعون للشأن الفلسطيني هل يأتي قبول حماس بالهدنة يندرج في السياق السياسي الإقليمي، بمعنى أن حماس قد قبلت، ليس فقط الانتماء إلى التنظيم الدولي للإخوان المسلمين، ولو تحت اسم حماس، بل الانتماء إلى القواعد النظرية والتكتيكية لهذا التنظيم في الفترة المقبلة. وهي قواعد تقوم على نظرية تحسين مواقع الحكم وتأجيل الأمور الأخرى إلى وقت آخر. وإذا كان خطاب المقاومة بعد الانتصار هو البقاء على الزناد والالتزام بقضية المقاومة من جوانبها كافة، فإن هذه الأولوية ليست هي البند الأول نفسه عند الآخرين. والذي نعرفه جيداً، أن أولوية مصر وتركيا والسعودية وآخرين هي أولوية تثبيت الحكم القائم أو المستجد. إن ما يحدث في غزة ، هو محاولة لقطف الوجبة الأولى من ثمار الخريف العربي ، من قبل إسرائيل ، فإسرائيل العاجزة عن ضرب إيران ، والعاجزة عن الرد على تحليق طائرة أيوب التابعة لحزب الله ، واقتناعها بفشل الربيع العربي في سوريا ، تحاول أن تدلل الوليد المشوه في الشرق العربي ، ثمرة زواج الوهابية والاخونجية على يد الرجعية العربية بأحضان المرضعة العثمانية ، خاصة بعد تقبيل حماس يد مفتي الناتو القرضاوي. بعد أن احتضنت سوريا حركة حماس وقدمت كل الدعم وبكافة أشكاله سارعت أطراف محور تركيا ـــ مصر ـــ الخليج العربي إلى إغراق حماس وأهل غزة بالحنان والحب عن طريقة تدفق كميات هائلة من المواد الداعمة لإعادة بناء القدرات المدنية وتسيير أمور الحياة، وأن تُربَط هذه الخطوة بضمان عدم تعرضها للتدمير مجدداً. وهم في هذا السياق لا يطلبون من حماس توفير ضمانة من إسرائيل، بل يطلبون من حماس التقيد ببرنامج له عنوان نعرفه نحن في لبنان جيداً، ويكرره أنصار هذا المحور من فريق 14 آذار، وهو القائل بـ«تجنّب القيام بأي خطوة قد تأخذها إسرائيل ذريعة للعدوان من جديد». إن قبول حماس الانخراط في محور الاعتلال العربي، يعني ارتفاعاً سريعاً لسقف موقفها من الأزمة السورية. وبدل الاكتفاء بنقد سياسات القيادة السورية والدعوة إلى الحوار، سوف نسمع الكلام الأعلى ضد القيادة السورية . وقد تناسى خالد مشعل كم قدمت تلك القيادة من الدعم يوم تخلى العالم بأسره عن حركة حماس فتحت دمشق أبوبها السبعة بأمان لاستقبال من ظنتهم مقاومون ، والله أعلم ما إذا كنا سوف نسمع الكلام المهين بحق إيران وحزب الله الوارد على لسان مناصرين لحماس من قيادات رسمية أو من مستويات أرفع. والخطير، الذي يجب العمل على منعه، هو أن الولايات المتحدة تريد بالضبط هذه الخدمة من هذا المحور، وهي سوف تضغط على مصر وتركيا وعلى دول الخليج لتدفع حماس باتجاه تولّي مهمة «نزع شرعية المقاومة لأجل تحرير فلسطين» عن أي جهة أخرى غير فلسطينية. وهذا يقصد به محور إيران ـــ سوريا ـــ حزب الله، وبالتالي دفع هذا المحور خطوات إلى الوراء، والانزواء في مربع الدفاع عن شعار بات مرفوضاً من أهل الأرض نفسها، وبالتالي إعادة حشر هذا المحور في هوية طائفية ومذهبية ضيقة عنوانها. لأخذ العلم أن خالد مشعل رئيس المكتب السياسي لحركة حماس وصل إلى معبر رفح البري قادماً من القاهرة براً مع وفد مرافق له في طريقهم الى غزة في أول زيارة له لغزة منذ أن غادرها من 45 عاماً. «أوتوستراد» سلاح من طهران لـ «حماس» River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Site 911: Are the Israelis Rubbing it in Our Faces?

 By Richard Edmondson

Recently the Washington Post published a story about a project in Israel at a place called “Site 911”, a five-story underground facility that is being built with help from the US Army Corps of Engineers. When the story first came out at the end of November, I was busy focusing on the Palestine statehood vote at the UN, and so did not post anything at the time.

Recently, however, Kenny’s Sideshow discussed the matter, offering the opinion that in naming the site as it did, the Israeli government is, in essence, “rubbing it in our faces”—“it” being, of course, 9/11. Here’s an excerpt:

The perpetrators of world wide mass chaos often don't care about secrets, they like to rub their deeds and plans in our faces, sometimes subtly, sometimes blatantly. 

Site 911 is a five-story underground facility for an Israel Defense Forces complex being built by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers near Tel Aviv.
In case you may ask, 911 is not the telephone number for emergencies in Israel. 
Read more

If you go and read the rest of the post, you’ll discover that the facility was designed by the Israeli firm Ada Karmi-Melamede Architects—the same firm which also, as it so happens, designed the Israeli Supreme Court building, and here Kenny supplies us with a couple of links focusing especially on the latter. It seems Israel’s Supreme Court building was financed by the Rothschild family, and the architectural design was drawn up with “occult symbolism” very much in mind. Yes, I know, it sounds very “conspiracy theory-ish,” but if you follow the links, you’ll discover that the allegations about the symbolism on display are supported by a series of photos of the court building and grounds. Check it out. It does make for some interesting viewing, and if nothing else will provide you with an entertaining half hour.

As to whether the Israelis are “rubbing it in our faces” by naming their new military facility Site 911, the more thought I give to the matter, the more I think Kenny probably has it right.
By the way, the Washington Post story was authored by Walter Pincus, who for some five decades has been a prominent figure in America’s corporate-owned, Zionist media. According to Wikipedia:

Pincus was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Jewish parents Jonas Pincus and Clare Glassman. He attended South Side High School, Rockville Centre, New York and graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in 1954.^[2] Before being drafted into the U.S. Army in 1955, where he served in the Counterintelligence Corps in Washington, D.C. from 1955–1957, he worked as a copy-boy for The New York Times.

The Wikipedia article also describes Pincus’ involvement in the Valerie Plame affair.

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