“Divide et Impera”

“Divide et Impera”

by Laura Stuart

It appears that the policy of “Divide and Rule” that has served the super-powers of the day so well since the times of Caesar and the Roman Empire, is again being put to use in the Middle East. Setting Muslim against Muslim is becoming a real possibility. Perhaps the realisation that it was fighting protracted and unwinnable wars in Muslim lands, has led the United States/Israel to consider ways of stirring up Shia against Sunni. This surely would maximise the shedding of Muslim blood with the minimum of investment and effort and, as ever, provide rich pickings for the weapons industry.
Reading an article in “The Jewish Chronicle” entitled “P.A. Share Israel’s Nuclear Iran Fears”, two issues spring to mind. The first is that the Palestinian Authority is the worst of collaborators, and wholly unfit to represent the brave Palestinian people. This much was made clear on the release of the Palestine Papers last year.

“The Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Salam Fayyad, has attacked the behaviour of Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and said that he shares Western – and Israeli – concerns with the Iranians’ nuclear project”.

The second thought is that there may be a much bigger long-term strategy here – a strategy which may have been in the planning even before the invasion ofIraq. The post- invasion Shia/Sunni unrest might have been a coincidence but it is still one which, in my opinion, is now being heavily manipulated to Western advantage.
After Iraq; Bahrain another country with a Shia majority but ruled by Sunnis and where Shia are treated unequally, has erupted into protests. Civilian protesters are being crushed with terrible force and these protests have been brutally suppressed with the seemingly tacit approval of Western governments who, at the same time have bandied about empty words about human rights to Arab leaders. On a sincerity-scale of 1 to 10 these measure about one and a half – that is, marginally better than the completely empty statements they occasionally issue chiding Israel for its murderous acts against Palestinian civilians (or indeed American and Turkish Human Rights Activists). And of course, an ex British police officer is helpfully supplying the Bahraini leadership with the “know how” to deal with protesters, while the U.S.A. supplies the tear gas and the practical weaponry needed to do the job. The result is an ongoing and steadily-climbing death-toll.
Less well-publicised is Yemen, another country where Saudi forces have been active in invading, bombing and fighting the Houthi Shia. Yemeni civilians get no press coverage when they are killed by American drones, or by Western backed Yemeni forces. Even the completely unconstitutional murder of an American child warrants only a miniscule mention in the International Main Stream Media.
Playing on the historical schism between Sunni and Shia Muslims may be fruitful but it is still just a continuation of an old and proven policy of “Divide and Rule” – a policy to which Muslim leaders should have long since become wise, but sadly they have not. Money is there to be made as Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Emirates spend millions of dollars increasing their fighting capability to counter a perceived threat from an increasingly belligerent Iran. The question is whether this present increase in tension between the Gulf States and Iran is part of a long-term strategy to keep the Middle East weak and destabilised for decades to come.
A strong and united Muslim world is something Israel/America would not want to see and they are seemingly ready to go to great lengths to prevent it from ever becoming a reality.

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!

A Trilogy: The Road to “Independence” (1)

Posted on 18/03/2011 by reham alhelsi

1. We are Negotiating … Yes We Are!

Forget everything you learned about negotiations, forget how you used to “negotiate” with your sibling for the last piece of cake, or with your parents for an increase in your pocket money, or with your friends for a spin in their new car or with your co-workers for relieving you of that annoying report you had to write. Forget everything you read about negotiations, forget about countries negotiating to close a “peace deal”, forget about colonizers negotiating “who gets what” of the natural resources of colonized countries, forget about international firms “negotiating” the destruction of local businesses. Forget all that. For we, the representatives of the Palestinian people, the representatives installed by no other than the “world police” aka the US … we, the representatives backed by no other than the “defender of democracies and free elections” aka the EU … we, the representatives in the service of the “light unto nations”, “the oasis of democracy and peace” aka Israel … we, the guards of the revolution, the makers of the storm, the liberators … are proud to present to you the new rules of negotiations; rules that will guarantee those among you suffering from presence of a conscience a quick heart attack, and the ones suffering from lack of a conscience a bank account in Switzerland, a villa in the south of France and a VIP card for a non-stop at Israeli checkpoints. Well, let’s say for a not-so-often stop at Israeli checkpoints.


If your partner in peace and negotiations demands that you give up your claim to 80% of your historic homeland, just nod and say: no problem. If your partner in peace and negotiations then demands that you give up your claim to 20% of the 20% of what is left to you of your historic homeland, just nod and say: no problem. If your partner in peace and negotiations further demands that you give up your claim to 60% of the 20% of what is left to you of your historic home, just nod and say: no problem, want more? And if the people, whose rights you were installed to sell out, are furious, if they denounce what you are doing, demand you go to hell and announce that you have no right whatsoever to negotiate away their homeland, then – in a furious voice and with an angry face – deny their accusations, accuse them of listening to outside forces and tell them that they don’t love Palestine as much as you do… and if they still don’t believe you, just whine a little bit, tell them some poem about a storm that will liberate Palestine and make it clear to them that the aim of all these negotiations is to liberate Palestine, but don’t tell them what “Palestine” you mean. Tell them that the aim of all these negotiations is to liberate Jerusalem, but don’t tell them what “Jerusalem” you are talking about. And if they insist, tell them the aim is to liberate Al-Manarah, to liberate Al-Midbaseh, to liberate the noble Muqata’a and the few bits here and there. If they still don’t get it, send your American trained, European financed, and Israeli approved militias to make them see the light.


If your partner in peace and negotiations informs you that they will continue building homes for the Zionist colonists they are importing from Europe, Asia, Africa, America, the North Pole and Mars and will continue planting them on your land, the land you are supposedly negotiating to “liberate”, just nod and assure them it’s really no big deal. Show them your good will and that you are sincere in your pursuit for peace by giving up vast parts of Jerusalem, Nablus and Hebron, tell them they can keep the colonies, for you are going to build new cities in Duwwar Is-Sa’a and in Baba Il-Zqaq. And don’t forget to give them the bill because everything has its price; the piece of land you are “negotiating” over, the olive field you are “negotiating” over, the stone you are “negotiating” over and even the grain of soil you are “negotiating” over. Don’t bother with those whose land will be confiscated, just appear on TV or give interviews and threaten your partner in peace and negotiations with indirect talks and if they still refuse to stop the settlement activity, threaten them with secret talks and more concessions. And if your people denounce your inactions in the face of land theft, if they denounce your collaboration with the occupier and your betrayal of their rights, if they denounce your love affair with the negotiations with their oppressor, if they cry out: our land, our homes, our rights … just tell them it’s alright because once negotiations are finally concluded – don’t mention that the possibility of this ever happening is actually 0% – and when we are finally allowed our own tiny bit of a state somewhere on planet earth, or better yet our own little cluster of disconnected islands, we shall build better residential areas, grandiose ones for you, so don’t cry over a piece of land, or over an olive field or over a 1000 year old home. Tell them you will give them new modern 2-bedroom apartments in return, overlooking dump sites of Israeli colonies. What more could a person wish for? And until that day when our tiny bit of a state is born, those kicked out of their homes can enjoy sleeping in tents under the blue sky, enjoy outdoor camping, life in the wilderness and remember the good old days of the Nakba when the majority of their people were expelled from their homes and lived in tents. It’s a good way to connect, explain to them, to experience the Nakba over and over and over again. And if they point to one of your villas, just tell them it is your hard work, has nothing to do with what part of Palestine you sold or what Palestinian right you relinquished. Tell them it is just money you found in a well, a magic well called: negotiations.

If your partner in peace and negotiations demands that you recognize their entity, the one that was built on the bodies on your parents and grandparents, just nod and sign the papers without hesitation. It doesn’t matter that with your signature you are giving up over 80% of your historic land, it doesn’t matter that you are acknowledging a terror entity build on the blood of the people you claim to represent. Nothing matters as long as you keep repeating: Negotiations, negotiations, negotiations are the way to get ourselves a state. And if your partner in peace and negotiations goes one step further and demands that you recognize their entity as a “Jewish” one, just nod and say: why not! It’s not our business what they call themselves, it’s their internal issue, and even when they keep interfering in our internal issues and keep dictating our internal policies, we won’t interfere in their internal issues, so are the orders. Don’t give a damn about your people who are steadfast in the face of tyranny, racism and terror since 1948, for you have other uses for them; you will exchange them later for Jerusalem and get more people to enjoy oppressing. And don’t be disappointed at all if despite all your recognition of the “noble, democratic, Jewish, moral” Zionist entity, that despite all your concessions, your partner in peace and negotiations still refuses to recognize your one-day-in-the-far-away-future-to-be “state” … don’t be disappointed at all if despite all your concessions, your partner in peace and negotiations still refuses to recognize any of your rights except the right to be their slaves and killing target … still refuses to even recognize your right to exist as a people. Don’t be disappointed, don’t worry, don’t be bothered, just negotiate.


If your partner in peace and negotiations demands that you renounce your right to defend yourself, the legitimate right of every occupied nation, hurry up and change your national charter. And if that is not enough, hurry up and rewrite the history of your people, redraw the geographies of your homeland, introduce new curricula for Palestinian children teaching them of a state to be called Palestinian; a ghetto, a semi-state, a petite Palestine minus Haifa, Yaffa, Akka and Ar-Ramleh, minus Jerusalem and Al-Jalil, minus all that is between Ramallah and Bethlehem and Nablus, minus the lands and the valleys and the hilltops, minus the destroyed villages and the stolen fields and the dried up water-wells, a Palestinian state minus 80% of Palestine. Introduce new curricula for Palestinian children teaching them of a history to be called “modern Palestinian history”; rewrite the history of an ancient people who were for thousands of years one with the land that gave them their name, introduce a history minus Deir Yasin, Kufr Qasim and Ad-Dawayma, minus Mohammad Jamjoum, Fouad Hjazi and Ata Az-Zir, minus Ghassan Kanafani and Naji Al-Ali, minus Dala Al-Mughrabi and Mohammad Al-Aswad and Yahia Ayyash and all those who wrote the word Palestine with their blood, minus Dal’ouna and Ataba, minus Mish’al and Jafra, minus the old city of Jerusalem, Nazareth, Beisan, Akka, Ras Il-Naqurah and Im Il-Rishrash. And after you delete one historic Palestinian national constant after the other, and after you erase the names of hundreds of Palestinian villages and the names of thousands of martyrs, and after you denounce every Palestinian revolt, every Intifada and every protest, after doing all this and more your partner in peace and negotiations still demands that you punish your people for dreaming of freedom, for wanting a just peace, while your partner in peace and negotiations continues to sing of terrorism and continues oppressing your people, massacring them and honouring war criminals, just nod and ask for the price, because negotiations is but a business.


And if your people cry out in anger tell them that resistance is not good for their health, tell them oppression makes them strong, makes their children strong, teaches them to withstand hunger and pain and loss so they may be prepared for the loss of what has remained of Palestine. Don’t make the mistake of asking your people for their opinion, for what do they know about negotiations? What do they know about real “resistance”? To insist on negotiating when the whole world thinks you are a fool for doing so is the true “resistance”. To insist on negotiating while your partner in negotiations is killing your people, stealing your land and spitting in your face is the true “resistance”. Tell them, assure them, convince them, with force if necessary, that you will continue to carry the burden and negotiate on their behalf, for you don’t do it for yourselves; no, you do it for the new state to come, for the multi-dollar businesses you and your partners in peace and negotiations will be running, for the “few” extra millions in certain bank accounts, for the new exquisite villas in newly build luxury neighbourhoods, for those who believe in negotiations as the road to “liberate Palestine” and swore to die negotiating.


If your partner in peace and negotiations keeps repeating Jerusalem is one and theirs, if your partner in peace and negotiations keeps repeating Jerusalem will never be divided and demands that you forget Jerusalem, that you wipe it out of your vocabulary, that you wipe it off your map and out of your people’s memory, just sign a secret agreement and agree to their demands and change the maps, the names and the history, delete the ancient Quds with its old city, with its old wall, its Salah Iddin Street, its Musrara, Wadi Il-Joz, Silwan, Ras Il-Amoud … and rename Abu Dees and Al-Izariyyeh as Al-Quds, for what difference does it make if you present your people with a new modified Jerusalem; one consisting of a few towns and villages outside the old city walls and renamed as Al-Quds? And while doing that continue the work on preparing your new capital: Ramallah with its noble Muqata’a, continue making it a Palestinian Paris or Dubai, an oasis in the midst of overcrowded refugee camps, poverty-stricken villages, destroyed fields, illegal colonies. And don’t forget to tell your people: we will never give up on Al-Quds, we will liberate Al-Quds. And whatever you say, don’t mention that you already agreed to turn a blind eye to the Judaization and ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem, act blind and deaf when European and American colonists occupy Palestinians land, when they attack Al-Aqsa, when they demolish Palestinian homes and when they expel Palestinians from the city. And when your people object, denounce your schemes and shout: Jerusalem is one, Jerusalem is ours, Jerusalem is not a number of suburbs outside the old city walls, hold up conferences and give talks and confirm the right of Palestinians to the tiny part of Jerusalem that is termed “East Jerusalem”. Stamp on the table and stress that you will rather die that give up Al-Aqsa and the old city. Don’t bother much with people’s anger, outrage and indignation, for they are too busy defending themselves from daily Israeli attacks to understand that it is Abu Dees ash-Sharif the new Al-Quds, that the huge parliament building was built there for a reason, that the agreement was signed early on, and the exchange was made early on; an exchange agreed on in secret and denounced in public!

If your partner in peace and negotiations orders you to be blind, deaf and mute while they bomb refugee camps, raid villages and besiege cities, just obey orders. If your partner in peace and negotiations orders you to leave your posts and become invisible while they massacre your people, kidnap children from their homes and beat women at checkpoints, just pretend you were called to conduct operations in another area. If your partner in peace and negotiations orders you to do their dirty job for them and oppress your people, just lend them a hand and relieve their terrorist army of some of the countless military oppression operation. If your partner in peace and negotiations demands that you denounce your own brothers and sisters and oppress them, just provoke a conflict and point to your brothers and sister of other political affiliations and accuse them of being the ones behind the occupation, of being the oppressors, of being the enemy. And if the people you claim to represent condemn you for joining hands with the enemy against your own people, tell them you are joining hands with the “light unto nations”, with Gods own “chosen people” against the “violent people”, against “radicals from the right, the left, the east and the west”, against “despicable terrorists”, against Palestinian Muslims, against Palestinian Christians, against Palestinian Jews, against Palestinian leftists, against Palestinian atheists, against every Palestinian who is against you and your negotiations and your concessions, against the people of Palestine. And if your people still don’t get it, cut off their salaries, let them hunger, isn’t it their fault for defying you and not consenting to the concessions you are making on their behalf? Torture them and detain their mothers and sisters, let them rot in cells, and when they are released ask your partner in peace and negotiations to kidnap them and complete the joined work. And when you face trouble controlling the angry people, just ask your partner in peace and negotiations to send their undercover terrorists to subdue your people, to massacre them while in their beds, to blow up their homes over their heads, but don’t forget to disappear from the scene before action takes place so you “denounce” it later. That’s cooperation and good partnership. That’s what a partner in peace and negotiations is for!


And whatever cries of rage you hear from the people you are supposedly representing, whatever cries of anger you hear from the people on whose behalf you are carrying out the charade of negotiations, in whose name you are collecting money in donor conferences and stacking it in your bank account and on whose behalf you are building a stadium and a casino in exchange for giving up the old city of Jerusalem … Just don’t listen, don’t care and don’t bother … Just negotiate, negotiate, negotiate till “Negotiation” itself packs and leaves you with your partner in crime.

© http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Does Palestinian Left Hand Know What Right Hand is Doing?

Muddle and mixed messages while waiting for a Call to Action

The PA/PNA/PLO’s “enlightened road map to peace”. Is the PA/PNA/PLO going wholeheartedly for UN recognition or is it determined to scupper its people’s hopes by entertaining more “peace talks”?

by Stuart Littlewood

There are hundreds of thousands – perhaps millions – of dedicated pro-Palestinian activists out there waiting… straining at the leash…hoping for a call from the Palestinian leadership to mobilize, get stuck in, set the mood and pave the way for the make-or-break bid for UN recognition and statehood in September.

They long to hear a coherent theme, a gutsy strategy and a strong, persuasive message that puts across the Palestinian case in terms that cannot be argued with. But the big day is only three months away and “the silly season”, as the media call it, is nearly upon us. It’ll need sharp thinking and superhuman effort to make enough noise to get the world’s attention.

THE LAST REFUGE!

And the Palestinian Authority is off to an unpromising start with the depressing news  that “a statehood push at the United Nations will not advance the Palestinians’ cause”, according to President Mahmoud Abbas. The initiative, he is reported as saying, will be compromised by the fact that the Palestinians first have to seek support from the Security Council before going to the General Assembly.

The most that can be hoped for is “a non-binding affirmation of previous resolutions saying the Palestinians have the right to a state”. The Palestinian leadership is only going ahead with its plan to approach the UN “in order to save face among the Palestinian people”, said the report.
According to Ma’an News a member of the negotiating team denied the report saying some of the world’s most important international lawyers are backing the initiative and the Palestinians are hopeful they will succeed.

The PLO’s negotiators have made a career of bolloxing up negotiations for years. So who exactly are the “negotiating team”? It’s time we knew their faces and background.
And here’s more silliness: The Palestinian Authority (PA), the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)… what’s with all these names saying different things? Those of us in the world outside should only have to listen to ONE authority otherwise we’ll lose patience. Which one is it going to be?

Surely not the PLO. This organization has strong paramilitary overtones, being Arafat’s old outfit. How clever is it to bring to the negotiating table or to the UN a name like that at a time like this? Yet it has a Negotiations Affairs Department which in turn has a Public Relations unit. A fat lot of good either of them are. Do they seriously intend heading up this statehood move?

Now is the time to dump all unwanted baggage. Like Abbas. He may be the Americans’ and Israelis’ pet dinosaur but it won’t help in this situation and has never helped the Palestinian cause in any event. There is surely considerable talent among the ‘Palestinian Forum’, which has been quietly pulling things together behind the scenes. It was left to Robert Fisk  to bring us news of their work while Abbas’s useless PLO and worthless PR units kept us in the dark.

And I thought chief negotiator Saeb Erakat resigned following the scandal of the “Palestinian Papers”, which revealed the shameful behaviour of the Palestinian team in their pathetic peace talks with the Israelis. But no, he’s still there issuing press releases. His seems to be the only voice and he continues to have a high profile role. Erakat is reported to be in Washington talking with US officials about reviving the peace process.

Adding to the confusion and showing the world that he can face two ways at once, Abbas was reported welcoming a scheme by French foreign minister Alain Juppe to arrange a conference in Paris in July where the discredited “peace talks” could be resumed. Juppe says Abbas “responded favorably”.

Palestinian prime minister Fayyad also welcomed the idea, we’re told. Nothing is more likely to kick their application for UN recognition and statehood into the long grass than resumption of dragged-out, lopsided “negotiations” with an illegal occupier who’s determined to make the occupation permanent
And why is Juppe doing this? If he is so concerned about Middle East peace why doesn’t he concentrate on ensuring that in September the UN recognizes Palestine as an independent state on pre-1967 borders? A just and proper peace will flow from that.

The PA/PNA/PLO’s “enlightened road map to peace”

Yesterday I received a press release from the Palestinian embassy in London which said: “The Palestinian Leadership has… concluded that endless negotiations with Israel have not led to a just solution to the conflict… The Palestinian Leadership’s decision to pursue a September United Nations recognition of a Palestinian State on the 1967 lines comes as a result of the deadlock in the peace process. This legitimate move has been welcomed by many countries that have recognised the Palestinian Leadership’s strenuous efforts to secure a negotiated settlement and that recognise the Palestinian People’s right to self determination and statehood.”

The document quoted the Palestinian Ambassador, Professor Manuel Hassassian, as saying: “The foundations upon which Palestinians seek the establishment of a homeland are based upon peace, prosperity, freedom and security, against which Israel justifies its brutal occupation. Home demolitions, family evictions, revoking ID cards, the illegal occupation over Palestinian land, the re-mapping of Jerusalem, stalling peace talks and defying International Law are tactics employed by Israel to stall the establishment of a viable Palestinian state…”

Professor Hassassian calls on the International Community to “seize the moment” and support recognition of a Palestinian state in September. “This is the enlightened road map to peace,” he says.
Is it the Call to Action? Who knows? It isn’t enough to email a press release. You have to follow up and make sure key publications broadcast it. And I cannot find it on the embassy’s website, so there’s no link.

For activists it contains no action plan, no briefing material, no “killer” statistics for activists to arm themselves with, no “lines to take” against stooges of the US-Israel axis, no contact details of articulate and media-savvy spokespeople on hand at a moment’s notice… Nothing to support a campaign.

Maybe information packs are on the way.

And why spoil it with words that grovel, like “Palestinians seek to establish a homeland”? That’s the language used by Zionist bribers and manipulators after World War One when trying to wheedle their way into Palestine. Palestinians already have a homeland, for God’s sake! They just want it back.
Professor Hassassian is the PA/PNA/PLO’s mouthpiece here in the UK. Presumably he is told to stick to Ramallah’s script. According to Ramallah, then, the foundations for establishing a homeland are “peace, prosperity, freedom and security”. But the real purpose of the application, surely, are to end the brutal occupation, secure the return of stolen lands and natural resources, restore refugees to their homes if they wish, and become an independent self-determining state. There can be no peace, prosperity, freedom and security until these things are achieved.

The Palestinians’ demands are based squarely on international law and numerous UN resolutions, which are waiting to be implemented. Not least, they are enshrined in human rights legislation and the principles of the UN Charter.

The question is, will senior member-states respect these solemn principles when the crunch comes in September? Or will they show the world how lawless, grasping and corrupted they have become?
One of the strongest cards in the Palestinian hand is the realization that there never has been and never could be any meaningful negotiation with Israel in present circumstances. No-one can reasonably be expected to “negotiate” with a gun to their head. Furthermore the Israeli prime minister has refused to talk with a Palestinian government that includes certain democratically elected elements. Clearly the only way forward is an application to the UN.

So what are we to make of the mixed messages at this eleventh hour? Does the Palestinian left hand know what the right hand is doing? Is the PA/PNA/PLO going wholeheartedly for UN recognition or is it determined to scupper its people’s hopes by entertaining more “peace talks”?
If I were a Palestinian I’d be tearing my hair out.

Stuart Littlewood is a marketing specialist turned writer-photographer in the UK. His articles are published widely on the web. He is author of the book Radio Free Palestine, which tells the plight of the Palestinians under occupation. More posts by the Author

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

What Bibi Didn’t Say in His Congress Speech

Netanyahu speech to the American congress

“I intend to speak the unvarnished truth because now more than ever what we need is peace” Netanyahu said before he twisted the truth in his speech to the American Congress.

“Demographic changes … this is may be the most concrete point Netanyahu has come to mention in his whole speech and could very well be the name of the Israeli next game of forestalling any possible agreements in the Mideast talks”

by Dr. Ashraf Ezzat

Something about Netanyahu’s eloquent speech lately to a joint meeting of Congress, which has been interrupted by 29 standing ovations, sounded familiar to me. I don’t mean Netanyahu’s words but the response of his high caliber audience; it seems as if I have seen it before.

As an Egyptian who is not so keen on following much of the American congressional sessions, if any, still this extraordinary joint session of the American Congress with all that public display of candid acquiescence to everything Bibi said, or even thought, reminded me of the similarly eloquent speeches Mubarak used to deliver at the Egyptian parliament for well over 30 years of sordid dictatorship.
And also as an Egyptian I could attest to the fact that the televised sessions of the former president speeches to the Egyptian parliament members ranked high, not on the most viewed political videos but on the funniest ones.

For 30 long years Mubarak has been ranting about his relentless efforts to build a strong democracy where freedoms and the rule of law would be respected where in fact he was sincerely engaged in doing the exact opposite. But still his full house audience of apparently attentive parliamentarians kept on showing their frantic applause and repeated standing ovations to every one of his deceiving talks.
Of course Mubarak has been lying all along and he knew it and may be enjoyed it too, but what about those flocks of parliamentarians and politicians, how could we explain their attitude? Were they lied to, intimated or just hypnotized by the power of the presidential office?

The post- Mubarak probes proved beyond any reasonable doubt that 90% of those then incumbent high statesmen knew for a fact that Mubarak was the scum of the earth and they cheered for him only in gratitude for letting them keep their jobs and for the slim chance they would join in for a tiny slice of the ripped off cake. Oh yes, and the remaining 10% were just plain fools who just happened to hop in for the ride.

Shared values and interests

Haredi, ultra-Orthodox Jews

Going over Bibi’s landmark speech to the congress and trying to recapitulate the main points he stressed in his long speech, the first thing that strikes me as enigmatic and hard to grasp is his assertion that the relation between Israel, or the so called the Jewish state, and the United States is so strong because it is rooted in shared values and interests.

And every time I listen to this assertion, which usually pops up whenever Israel needs another big favor of Uncle Sam, being a foreigner I wonder, what on earth those shared values and interests might be. Are they so exclusively Israeli-American that no other nation on planet earth could hope to subscribe to?

In his speech, the Israeli Prime minister set out by stressing his country’s stand as a democratic “friend of America” in the Middle East, but largely ruled out touching on the issues that are important to Palestinians and their history.

In the warm arms of the US Congress, he somehow managed to get away with alleging that Jewish settlers – living in illegal settlements – in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are not occupiers, that the West Bank (using the biblical designation, Judea and Samaria) is not occupied territory, that a united Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel and that Israel should be recognized as “a Jewish state”.

Netanyahu reiterated the same old Israeli-Zionist jazz we have been listening to for years, boasting about the Jew’s historical and spiritual claims to the land.

But were all the senators and congressmen attending the speech aware that modern historians and archeologists had refuted the Biblical narrative of ancient Israelites and their stories of exodus, conquest and a magnificent unified kingdom. In other words, most of the ancient Israelite Biblical history is now more close to being a mere myth than a historical fact that cannot, or better yet shouldn’t be counted upon as historical evidence.

Were they aware, when Netanyahu spoke of giving up parts of the ancestral Jewish homeland, that the Palestinians are more likely to be the true descendants of the ancestral Israelites than those Ashkenazi and Haredi – orthodox- Jews who are in fact immigrants, who fled Eastern and Western Europe following the horrors of the WWII, and whose ancestors just happened to adhere or convert to Judaism centuries ago?

When Benjamin Netanyahu told Congress that Israel is prepared to make “painful compromises” for peace with the Palestinians, including the handover of land they seek for a state, had it crossed the minds of his esteemed audience that the land Mr. Netanyahu was most kind and generously willing to hand over is not Jewish land in the first place under any international law, no matter how biased or manipulated it could get.

Repeating a message he has delivered consistently during his visit to Washington, Netanyahu said “Israel will not return to the indefensible boundaries of 1967 narrow lines because they don’t take into account certain demographic changes that have taken place on the ground over the last 44 years.

Demographic threat, in other words Palestinian Arabs

“Demographic changes” … this is may be the most concrete point Netanyahu has come to mention in his whole speech and could very well be the name of the Israeli next game of forestalling any possible agreements in the Mideast talks.

In 1996, Israel’s population was 5.7 million people; today, that number is 7.75 million. Today, there are 1.59 million Palestinian Arabs in Israel, compared to 1.03 million in 1996.

In my opinion, while the historical, spiritual and political Zionist claims to the disputed land of Palestine are liable to be questioned, doubted or even refuted by professional academics and scholars, demographic changes remain the one robust reality on the ground that defy neglect or negating.

Over the last 6 decades Israel has not only succeeded in actualizing the Zionist’s dream of establishing a statehood for the Jews from all over the world, or the invention of the Jewish people, as the prestigious historian, Shlomo Sand put it, but also managed to turn it into a demographic reality.
while he was getting his, God knows how many, enthusiastic applause and standing ovation for branding Hamas as the Palestinian version of al Qaeda Netanyahu was thrilled the Zionist-controlled main stream media had managed, throughout the last decade, to downplay the world wide accusations pointing the finger at Mossad and its covert role in 9/11 and his own statements of how good it was for Israel.

Avigdor Lieberman

Advising or rather, patronizing Mahmoud Abbas, the PLO leader to break his pact with Hamas, Netanyahu somehow disregarded the fact that he himself had made a political bond with Yisrael Beiteinu, the right-Zionist party that advocates kicking out, or to put it mildly, the transfer of 1948 Palestinian Arabs out of East Jerusalem and the West Bank and moreover appointed its leader, Avigdor Lieberman as his deputy and foreign minister who has been called by western and Israeli media as “neo-fascist, a certified gangster and anti-Arab virulent racist”

It doesn’t make much sense for Netanyahu to order Abbas to break up with Hamas while his coalition government is currently harboring hard-line extremists from both Yisrael Beiteinu and Shas parties who are deemed not only as anti-Arabs but whose highest spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef publicly advocates that Arabs should perish and be wiped off the face of the earth- a virulent hatred that Netanyahu usually dismisses while focusing on the long time israeli propaganda of ” we want peace, but unfortunately there is no one to talk to from the other side”. A pretext that Tel Aviv is bound to fully exploit after the late Palestinian reconciliation deal.

And as Netanyahu was keen to draw the attention to the Israeli demographic reality he never mentioned how a society deeply rooted in modern and civilized American values spoke of the Arabs and Palestinians in particular.

“If Obama wants to know who the true unacceptable partners for peace are, all he has to do is get an English transcript of discussions from the Israeli Knesset (parliament) and read how members from the political right call Arabs “animals” and make all manner of racist slurs against Palestinians” says Aljazeera opinion writer, Lamis Andoni.

And if the world cares to find out who is the intransigent party that is persistently hindering all the declared peace talks and the secret ones as well, all we have to do is to examine the “Palestine papers” leaked by aljazeera that revealed tons of documents exposing generous and extremely painful concessions offered by the Palestinian authority which had been turned down by the Israeli side in the most degrading and humiliating manner.

Over the last 20 years, and as the demographic changes Bibi mentioned has been in the making more kindergartens and primary schools were increasingly in demand. And with the ultra-orthodox Shas party running almost 30% of those primary schools one can imagine the kind of hate speech that is being indoctrinated to Israel kids. As a matter of fact the anti-Arab rhetoric in those primary schools has been so obvious and huge it became a rich material for the Israeli popular comic TV shows.
And since Comedy has to be based on truth, those shows are regarded as a funny way of being serious about Israel’s controversial policies and practices.


YouTube - Veterans Today -Arabs in the Israeli TV comic shows

In his memorable speech to the congress and as he took the stage Netanyahu kept a long legacy of depicting Israel as the utopia of the Middle East alive.

Israeli Demographic changes manifested by non-stop new settelments

As he was elaborating on the long list of values Israel shared with the United States Netanyahu refrained from depicting the other side of Israel with a whole set of its other genuine values, such as segregation, blockade, covert operations and military expansion, that Israel cared to share only with its Mossad and Zionist ideologues.

Touching on any of those unpleasant issues could have carried the risk of tarnishing the glittering utopian image of Israel he was sketching before a joint assembly of American statesmen 90% of whom knew who Netanyahu really was and what he stood for and the remaining 10% just happened to be invited for the free Zionist ride on the Israeli-American campaign to block the UN vote aiming to recognize Palestine as a sovereign state due next September where Israel and America will yet to stand isolated once more against the will of the free world, but what does it matter, after all that what friends who share the same values and interests, are for.

For more articles by Dr. Ashraf Ezzat visit his website

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"Why I blew the whistle!"

Via FLC

"... The "peace negotiations" were a deceptive farce, whereby biased terms were unilaterally imposed by Israel and systematically endorsed by the US and EU capitals. Far from enabling a negotiated fair end of the conflict, the pursuit of the Oslo process has deepened Israeli segregationist policies and justified the tightening of the security control imposed on the Palestinian population as well as its geographical fragmentation. Far for preserving the land on which to build a State, it has tolerated the intensification of the colonisation of the Palestinian territory. Far from maintaining a national cohesion, the process I participated in, albeit briefly, proved to be instrumental in creating and aggravating divisions amongst Palestinians. In its most recent developments, it became a cruel enterprise from which the Palestinians of Gaza have suffered the most. Last but not least, these negotiations excluded for the most part the great majority of the Palestinian people: the 7 million-Palestinian refugees. My experience over those 11 months spent in Ramallah confirms in fact that the PLO, given its structure, was not in a position to represent all Palestinian rights and interests.... ... ...  

I feel reassured that the people of Palestine overwhelmingly realise that the reconciliation between all their constituents must be the first step towards national liberation. The Palestinians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Palestinians in Israel and the Palestinians living in exile have a future in common. The path to Palestinian self-determination will require the participation of all, in a renewed political platform."

Ziyad Clot is a French lawyer of Palestinian descent and author of "Il n'y aura pas d'Etat palestinien" Ed. Max Milo (There will be no Palestinian State). He was a legal adviser in the Annapolis negotiations between Israel and the PLO.

Posted by G, M, Z, or B at 10:07 AM

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Aid industry doing no harm in Palestine?

Samer Abdelnour, The Electronic Intifada, 22 March 2011

Discourses of "aid," "development" and "reconstruction" shield Israel's ongoing occupation and colonial project. (Khaleel Reash/MaanImages)

The "Palestine Papers" reveal fully the extent to which Palestinians have neither genuine leadership nor a partner for peace. At the foreground is an unrepresentative "authority" prepared to compromise the most fundamental of Palestinian aspirations for an unrelenting colonizer and its imperious supporter. In the background lies a key mechanism enabling Palestinian deprivation: the aid industry.
Palestinians are among the most aid-subsidized people on earth. Anne Le More's International Assistance to the Palestinians after Oslo demonstrates how $8 billion of post-Oslo aid made its way to the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip between 1994 and 2006 for the purposes of development, building Palestinian Authority capacity and increasingly for emergency relief operations. Much of this, it was claimed, was needed to build the institutions necessary for a two-state peace process and to support socioeconomic development.

However, the aid industry is a key factor in Palestinian de-development. Discourses of "aid," "development" and "reconstruction" shield Israel's ongoing occupation and colonial project. A full third of the Palestinian Authority budget is aid-subsidized. In addition to funding a distorted Palestinian political system, the aid industry directly removes from Israel the burden of responsibility for the destruction of Palestinian lives, livelihoods and infrastructure. In doing so, it allows Israel to focus its resources and efforts on the acceleration of Palestinian poverty, the expansion of settlements, the expropriation of Jerusalem and the destruction of Gaza.

The blinders through which most aid industry actors operate serve to de-politicize and de-contextualize Palestinian "poverty." This was evident at a presentation by a representative of a large UN aid agency at a London-based university in late 2010. The presentation outlined a number of initiatives to feed destitute Palestinians and energize the economy of the West Bank, some being replicas of the organization's work in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

After the presentation, the moderator made clear that the presenter represents an "apolitical" agency and thus would "not field political questions." Of course, members of the audience could not resist the temptation to ask "political" questions, probing the possibility that de-politicizing aid plays a role in supporting and expediting Palestinian de-development. To this, the presenter posed a troubling dilemma: "Aid saves Palestinian lives." Surely, it is not enough for aid to "save" Palestinians from their own "poverty," so that they can continue to endure a devastating occupation and brutal dispossession. Must the choice be starvation on one hand, and on the other, a marginal survival with the dissipation of national aspirations for self-determination and the right of return?

The agency in question is representative of a majority, but not all, of the international aid organizations, agencies and donor projects servicing Palestinians.

By contrast, two international organizations manage to fulfill significant mandates without de-politicizing their work. The first is the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA). Writing on the UNRWA-Palestinian relationship, Randa Farah discusses the way in which the UN agency "is of vital importance to the Palestinian national struggle" ("Uneasy but Necessary: The UNRWA-Palestinian Relationship," Al-Shabaka, 30 November 2010). UNRWA upholds its obligation to UN resolutions as a mechanism for maintaining Palestinian refugee visibility and collective memory, and as an organization embodying the mandate for refugee rights in absence of a functioning national Palestinian consensus. Of course, in the absence of a final settlement, UNRWA does play a significant role in supporting the limbo in which millions of Palestinian refugees exist.

In stark contradiction to UNRWA's mandate is the support provided to Israel by its largest donors, the United States and the European Commission. The US is UNRWA's largest donor ($268 million in 2009), and Israel's largest trading partner and provider of blind political and military support. Next is the European Commission ($232.7 million in 2009), which plays a significant role in Israel's economy and supports Israeli military research. Together, US and EU support amount to over half of UNRWA's annual funding. Within the confines of this donor-UNRWA mandate contradiction, UNRWA attempts to operate with full acknowledgment of the political reality and context in which it works. Importantly, it maintains elements of Palestinian rights and aspirations as part of its core mandate.

Next, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (RLF) recognizes that the institutions of foreign aid create dependencies where local organizations are unable to exert and promote their own agendas and aspirations. RLF explicitly acknowledges the decades-long failure of the aid industry, and that Palestinian social, economic, and institutional capacity will continue to erode without the support of grassroots and progressive political organizing as well as a Palestinian-owned development agenda.

A large number of Palestinian civil society organizations and individuals embody the aspirations of their people through the peaceful boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. Those who support BDS refuse the colonial project of economic normalization and demand a forum through which to express their socioeconomic and political aspirations. In harmony with BDS standards, international aid organizations too must consider the role they -- and their donors -- play in driving Palestinian de-development.

The aid industry in Palestine must choose between either the blind subsidizing of oppression, or a recognition and cessation of its support for it by adopting Mary B. Anderson's Do No Harm framework -- an approach for analyzing the interrelations between international aid in conflict contexts and the dynamics of those conflicts -- as well as codes of ethics developed by the UN, bilateral donors and international and national nongovernmental organizations. Subsidizing a brutal occupation and illegitimate authority translates into the deliberate crushing of Palestinian aspirations and hence the very tools for creating lasting peace. As the world has witnessed through the "Palestine Papers," when aid is de-politicized, donors and international organizations are able to pour billions of dollars into a colonial project under the masks of institution building and poverty reduction. Standing in stark opposition to the stated objectives of aid to Palestinians is the reality of subjugation so clearly evoked in Malcolm X's "Message to the Grassroots": the facade of a government pandering to an uncompromising colonial project bent on the destruction of Palestinian human rights and national aspirations.

As a first step out of this inadvertent (or intended) collaboration, well-meaning aid workers should embrace the Do No Harm framework within their organizations to ensure that their work does not simply serve to "rebuild" what Israel deliberately destroys. Aid organizations and agencies must seriously rethink the claim that their work is "apolitical," should immediately publicize the extent of potential harm caused throughout their chain of operations and outline a transparent action plan for eliminating potential harm in their work. Areas for consideration include: securing funds from donor countries that support Israeli military or economic activity, objectifying Palestinian "poverty" through literature and marketing materials, working through or with Israeli state agencies and explicating how aid is employed in relation to Israeli policy and military activity.

Aid agencies must attempt to hold Israel politically, fiscally and morally accountable for past and ongoing destruction rather than contributing to the creation and perpetuation of an illusory Palestinian leadership and Palestinian de-development. Otherwise, massive aid subsidies under the masks of "development," "reconstruction" and "institution-building" make the aid industry complicit in the deliberate devastation of the people it claims to serve.

Samer Abdelnour is completing a PhD in Management at the London School of Economics. His doctoral research examines nongovernmental organizations and humanitarian response, and the role of community and collective enterprise in postwar peace-building and development in Sudan. A version of this essay was first pubilshed by Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network.

After attacking its prince, Fatah turns to Qatar for Palestinian reconciliation

[ 22/03/2011 - 02:56 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Jibril Al-Rajoub, secretary-general of Fatah's central committee, has claimed Qatar will make efforts to see that Hamas complies with Mahmoud Abbas's ”reconciliation initiative.” Hamas has denied the initiative.

Rajoub told the AFP that he handed Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jasim a letter from Abbas addressed to the prince Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani concerning the initiative.

He said Qatar has promised to contact Hamas leaders to encourage the party to ”deal positively” with the initiative.

”We clarified to Sheikh Hamad that we want to restore the unity of the Palestinian pluralistic political system,” he added.

A Hamas leader – who preferred to remain anonymous – denied any current development in the issue of national reconciliation and said Fatah has not offered anything that would provide a climate catering to reconciliation.

Fatah has recently led a media attack against the Qatari Prince and foreign ministry after Al-Jazeera based in the country leaked documents that detailed the amount of concessions Palestinian negotiators made with Israel. Fatah sparked several demonstrations across the West Bank where images of the prince and the Qatari flag were burnt.

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Dwaik: Fatah authority flip-flopping; hard to deal with

[ 04/03/2011 - 08:44 PM ]

WEST BANK, (PIC)-- Dr. Aziz Dwaik, the speaker of the Palestinian parliament said on Thursday that the Fatah authority in Ramallah is now flip-flopping now in the absence of the forces that used to support it in the region.

In an interview with the daily Palestine newspaper published on Thursday, the PLC speaker pointed out that it was difficult to talk with Fatah and to know what it wants due to many contradicting voices within it.

"How could we talk to them when one Fatah official comes out to say no to Hamas and no to all other factions, while the second says we are ready to talk to Hamas and take all its reservations into consideration, a third calling for elections, while a fourth says no to elections, we really don’t know what they want", Dwaik said in the interview.

He also added that it is about time for the PA in Ramallah to reconcile with the Palestinian people after it betrayed them and ignored their national constants and aspirations as evident to the documents leaked by Al-Jazeera satellite TV channel recently.

He also reiterated that Hamas was and still is keen on ending the political rift and to restore national unity, describing it as strategic option for Hamas.

"The PA in Ramallah has to choose between returning back to the Palestinian mainstream and the square of resistance or throw itself in the lap of the occupation", Dwaik highlighted, adding that returning to the Palestinian people mainstream would immediately achieve national reconciliation.

Moreover, Dwaik urged Fatah leaders to review their past and look how they were before, and how they and their movement have become.

"In Fatah you can find the Aqsa martyrs Brigades, you find the honorable people, and you also can find those who compromised the national constants of the Palestinian people and allied themselves with the Zionist enemy although I'am convinced that those who compromised aren’t from Fatah but those who ride on it" Dwaik underlined, adding that Fatah now working against the interests of the Palestinian people.

"Any nation that seeks freedom should sacrifice, and as we see now our region is experiencing a state of liberation and freedom and I believe that the Palestinian people is also part of the region and part of the experience", he underscored.

• Qabaha: Boosted Fatah reconciliation calls a media maneuver
• Zahar: Hamas has done all it could for reconciliation
• Haneyya: Reconciliation impossible under security coordination
• Hamas: PLO reforms the key to reconciliation

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Questions I would want to ask Sa'eb Ereikat

[ 02/03/2011 - 12:10 AM ]

By Khalid Amayreh

Palestinian Authority (PA) negotiator Saeb Ereikat recently submitted his resignation to the PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in what is widely considered a tacit admission of responsibility for the scandalous Jazeera revelations concerning Palestinian negotiators' willingness to sell out Palestinian rights to Israel.

Infuriated and embarrassed by these revelations, the (PA) swore that al-Jazeera was acting maliciously and conspiratorially against the PLO and Ramallah regime.

PA spokesmen went as far as accusing the pan-Arab network of colluding with Israel to distort PA image and Palestinian struggle as a whole. One PA operative would have us believe that the very existence of al-Jazeera is a Zionist enterprise aimed at fighting the cause of liberty and revolution in the Arab world.

Coming from the PA, which is viewed by many as a group of quislings working against their own people in cahoots with Israel, these accusations don't warrant a response. They are too cheap and too mendacious to be dignified with a comment.

None the less, I would want to ask the former chief Palestinian negotiator, Dr. Saeb Ereikat, a number of questions regarding the protracted and barren negotiations with Israel.

I'm not asking these questions because I want to embarrass Mr. Ereikat, as some Fatah fanatics might think. In the final analysis, the Palestinian people have a legitimate right to know the tiniest detail of these talks which have been going on for more than 15 years without achieving any result.

I'm not, of course, blaming Ereikat or his colleagues for the futility and fruitlessness of the negotiations, if only because I realize that Israel never wanted to reach true and dignified peace with the Palestinians lest it be forced to pay the price for that peace, namely end its occupation of Arab land and allow Palestinians to achieve their self-determination.

I would want to start with the al-Jazeera's Palestinian Papers, which have upset PA leaders and officials as never before, prompting them to react or overreact in strange even spasmodic ways, such as organizing anti-Aljazeera demonstrations and waging a wide propaganda campaign against it.

My first question to Sa'eb Ereikat is: Don't you see that the PA was actually displaying an image of an entity that was too fragile and too vulnerable, so much that it was shaken to the core by a mere TV documentary, containing certain revelations about Palestinian negotiating behavior?

More to the point, why did the PA pay so much, even disproportionate attention to the secondary issue of who leaked the papers in question while paying much lesser attention to the central question of whether the content of the documents was true or false.

Now we want to delve into the real subject of negotiation with Israel. You know that Palestinian negotiators have been saying all along that they are committed to the so-called Palestinian national constants which include, inter alia, total Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 armistice lines, which we have come to call borders, and the implementation of the right of return in accordance with UN resolution 194.

The PA says that unlike Hamas it deals with the national cause in a realistic and pragmatic manner. If so, one is prompted to ask Dr. Ereikat if PA negotiators believe even in their wildest dreams that Israel would allow for the repatriation of millions of Palestinian refugees uprooted from their homes in what is now Israel when the criminal entity was established more 63 years ago.

There is no doubt that Ereikat and his colleagues would recognize the "utter un-realism and un-pragmatism " of expecting a full or even significant repatriation of the refugees. In fact, several PA officials, including PLO Secretary Yasser Abed Rabbo, who argued openly that it would be "unfair" to ask Israel to accommodate millions of Palestinian refugees as if expelling these refugees from their homes were an act of fairness and not a crime against humanity.

In any case, if demanding the full and total repatriation of the refugees are out of question or unlikely or unrealistic, then why does the PA not confront the Palestinian people with the "truth" and tell them straight in the face to refrain from harboring wild expectations with regard to the right of return?

More specifically, is the PA using the right of return as a bargaining chip to get Israel to be more flexible on other sticky issues such as settlements and statehood?

Another issue. The PA has been saying that it won't accept anything less that a total Israeli withdrawal from East Jerusalem. However, it has been sufficiently clear that the PA has effectively accepted as a foregone conclusion that Israel would be able to annex nearly all Jewish colonies built in East Jerusalem since 1967. Israel would even be able to add to its spoils the so-called Jewish neighborhoods, including the Armenian quarter.

Now, doesn't this stand on the part of Palestinian negotiators undermine the long-held Palestinian stance which insists on the totality of the Israeli withdrawal from the entirety of the West Bank?

Finally, does Mr. Ereikat deny the fact that PA operatives, especially security chiefs, have been coordinating with Israeli army commanders, against Palestinian groups deemed hostile to Israel?

I remember an Israeli journalist a few years ago who reported on a security coordination meeting at Bet El near Ramallah, which brought together Israeli and Palestinian security officials.

The journalist, Danny Rubenstein, quoted the chief of the Palestinian delegation as saying that "we are allies, not enemies, and we have one common enemy, and it is called Hamas."

My question to you Mr. Ereikat is how is it that the PA constantly seeks Arab and international support against Israel while the same PA excellent working relations with Israel on the ground?

I do hope that with the Egyptian, Tunisian and Libyan revolutions, the harrowing of Palestinian negotiators to reach a deal with Israel will stop. This is undoubtedly the desire of the bulk of Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims.

There is no text in the Holy Quran stating that the Palestinian cause must be resolved in 2011 or 2020.


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ARAB UPRISINGS: Time-Out For Israel Is Over

Muammar Gaddafi

February 26, 2011 posted by Dr. Ashraf Ezzat ·

History is taking a new turn in the Middle East and so is the Arab-Israeli conflict.

By Dr. Ashraf Ezzat / Staff Writer  
 

 “I have not yet ordered the use of force, not yet ordered one bullet to be fired … when I do, everything will burn.”  .. Shouted Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, and pounded his fist in a furious speech to the Libyan people.

He referred to the Libyan protesters who called for his stepping down from office as stray dogs, rats and drugged youth, he even went so far as to follow the American vogue trend and amusingly alleged that this uprising was orchestrated by Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.

For anyone who’s not familiar with Gaddafi or haven’t seen or heard him talk, this might come as a total shock for what came in that speech and the rude and threatening tone in which it was delivered represented the ultimate paranoia and detachment from reality any dictator could reach. Even the Arabs and Libyans familiar with Gaddafi have also been stunned by his outrageous and humiliating words.
     
Haunted by the successful ousting of the leaders of two neighboring countries of Egypt and Tunisia, Gaddafi has already set up his mind not to follow in the footsteps of Zine Elabedine or Mubarak. Contemplating the scenarios of the two uprisings, He reached one conclusion and one conclusion only; he would not make any concessions nor start a dialogue with the protesters.   

The Libyan leader has decided to show no leniency in dealing with this uprising – which he never saw it coming his way- he relentlessly began to crack down on protesters allowing his paramilitary and mercenary forces to use live ammunition in a desperate attempt to crush the revolt leaving thousands wounded and dead so far.   

Historical changes

The uprising of the Libyan people is bound to succeed; it is only a matter of time before another Arabic tyrant falls down in the convulsing Arabic countries in North Africa & the Middle East.   
And as the unprecedented images of the millions of Egyptian protesters swarming Tahrir Square in Cairo gave the world the truest picture of people longing for free and dignified life, the Gaddafi’s pathetic speech and his crimes against the Libyans gave the perfect example of a dictator with delusions of grandeur nearing utter insanity.   

Gaddafi’s harsh reaction to the uprising has evoked worldwide resentment and contempt of the Libyan regime which in a rare and historical moment of truth has been stripped off its fake patriotic masquerade and exposed its stark contempt and exploitation of the Libyan people for the entire world to see.   

Arab popular uprisings

 The Arab world is witnessing historical changes nowadays; it has proven beyond most political analysts and observers` expectations, no one has clearly seen this coming. As a matter of fact, there Were some speculations of upheavals and uprisings across the Middle East but they were expected to erupt amongst the economically underprivileged communities, as there has been speculated in Egypt with this reiterated talk amongst the intelligentsia of what they called “revolution of the hungry” 

 To everybody’s amazement, the Arab people- in Bahrain, Yemen, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia – did not revolt against the ruling regimes out of economic and political grievances only but mainly out of a deeply rooted sense of humiliation, contempt and injustice by autocratic and self-serving regimes.    

The people who were marching in Tunisia or Bahrain were neither starving nor homeless, they were the middle class taking to the streets, camping out on squares, bleeding on the streets and even willing to die on the streets for one cherished goal of change. The change in the Arab world means dealing with a lot of socio-economic grievances but change in the broader sense means changing the way those Arab people have been ruled in the last decades.   

Regardless of what some observers are saying of a conspiracy theory behind this expanding phenomenon and the alleged covert role of the American CIA or Israeli Mossad in these uprisings, the thing that sounded absolutely ridiculous and rather offending to the young generations steering this heroic uprisings and who have been totally underrated for their abilities to spark a new dawn over the political horizon of the region, these uprisings proved that those same American and Israeli covert policies in their close support and collaboration with most dictatorships in the Arab world are to be partly blamed for lingering and maintaining such regimes in power knowing how much corrupt they have been.   

Israel, as a Middle Eastern nation and being in conflict with the Arab world, has substantially benefited from decades of neighboring dictatorships oppressing the Arab people and denying them their true demands and aspirations, after all Israel is an oppressive regime and a military dictatorship whose aims runs counter to most arab people’s and which acted with more audacity in an environment of surrounding and lingering political dictatorships.  

 For decades the Arab people ached and felt for their Palestinian brothers and their political right to their homeland, but there was not much they could do, with all this corrupt and backstage policy by corrupt and traitorous regimes. Israel has been able to illegally grab most of Palestine’s land but at the same time failed to hijack the all Arabs’ dream of free Palestine. The Arab voices always wanted free Palestine and liberated Jerusalem; this is the actual  Arab street policy.   

The Arab-Israeli game

After being internationally recognized as a new nation amidst Arab countries in 1948 and in order to serve its aggressive and expansionist policy in Palestine, Israel needed time-more than anything else- to make those new Zionist geo-political findings as facts on the ground and nothing seemed to serve those end goals better than ever new Israeli aggressions, strong and blind support from the united states and backstage deals with authoritarian and corrupt Arab rulers, whom while trying to guarantee their grip on power, were willing to give Israel more than she even asked for.   

 Arab rulers gave Israel the long peace and quiet on the Egyptian and Jordanian borders, they gave her the normalization of political relations with Tel Aviv offered by many capitols in the Arab world from Doha/Qatar in the east to Rabat/Morocco in the far west and even some of the corrupt negotiators of the Palestinian authority have offered to give Israel unbelievable concessions regarding the hot topics of the west bank and East Jerusalem thus denying millions of Palestinians the right to return to their homeland as revealed lately by the Palestine papers leaked by Aljazeera.   

Egyptian Revolution

 These Arabic uprisings are obviously grassroots movements gaining momentum by the power of the people all across the Arab world, no country is considered immune from this revolutionary tide in the Middle East as expectations have been growing that the strong wind of change would reach as far as Damascus and Tehran.    

Amidst that unprecedented tide of change Israel is caught up in amazement with her ongoing plan for inciting another American military suicide in Iran undeterred and covering the whole west bank with settlements shamefully uninterrupted by the white house.    

Part of the rage displayed by the people in these uprisings is at the Israeli aggression and the crimes committed against their Palestinian brothers as one of the major and obvious demands of the Egyptian January 25^th revolution is to stop exporting the Egyptian crude natural gas to Israel in a clear message that urges the Egyptian government to stop supporting and collaborating with the occupying and aggressive Zionist regime.    

The Arabic street is the one who is calling the shots now, the coming Arab policies will try and reflect the pulse of the Arabic street. The united Arab sounds are to be heard at last where no American veto could come out to obliterate the truth and where no need to waste more than one million innocent Arabs to allegedly get rid of a dictator.   

 It is time for the Palestinian intifada to spread beyond the borders of Palestine. It is time for Arab solidarity to come into action and effect and for pan-Arabism to be revived again; it is time for the Arab-Israeli conflict to be conducted by regimes that won’t sell out the Palestinian cause in secret.   

All the Arab authoritarian regimes like that of Gaddafi will soon come to an end; history is taking a new turn in the Middle East and so is the Arab-Israeli conflict.  

Israel’s bargain with corrupt Arab dictatorships is over. These corrupt regimes have given Israel the greatest gifts of all, namely time to allow and fortify the Zionist expansion on the ground. The time out for Israel in the Arab-Israeli game is over. Another round is soon to begin with hopefully new rules.   

For more articles by Dr.Ashraf Ezzat visit his website ” Pyramidion”   

Related articles:   

- Herzl was an Anti-Semite in Disguise.

- Mid-East talks and the Palestinian exodus

- The Palestinians are descendants of the ancient Israelites

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