Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Will the real people of the West Bank please stand up, please stand up
"Will the people of the West Bank please stand up*. I know you had a demonstration yesterday with anywhere from 500-1000 people. I’m sorry, but that’s not enough. Please put the shisha down, stop cracking bizir seeds for five minutes and remember, even though you are a bit better off than your brothers and sisters in Gaza you are still under occupation. Your land in the West Bank is still being stolen on a daily basis, your brothers and sisters are still being arrested on a daily basis, your movement is still being restricted on a daily basis and you have shamefully decided to pretend that you are a separate entity, different than Gazans who are living in worse than sub-Saharan African conditions."
Mondoweiss
Mondoweiss
Package deal! Arab puppet dictators made in USA
eBAY
"Package deal! Arab puppet dictators made in USA, cheap, servile, resourceful, 100% unelected, "moderate" label, "New Middle Beast" certification, "New World Disorder" 90001, among the useful function's of your "Arab puppet dictators full kit":
They will:
- sell national resources for nothing,
- buy for billions in useless US military hardware and other WMD, thus helping the military-industrial complex,
- give access to bases for wars of aggression against independent countries or resistance groups (the so-called "bad guys")
- give green light to any US agency for regional hegemony, control of oil, gas and minerals,
- repress with an absolute brutality their people aspiration for true freedom, national Independence, social justice, dignity, control of the economy and foreign policy, military defense capabilities...
- They will respond in real time 24/7 to any order from the DoD or the White House.
- They respond very well to CNN and other tools of imperial propaganda
- They are well domesticated, they exhibit various postures, they walk on your side, they sleep in their own cute little box
- Warning: some of the US gov. supported puppet dictators are training or financing real sectarian of fanatical groups in order to keep alive the imperial doctrine: “divide and rule”
Special bonus !!! All benefits for the average Joe and the average Mohammed ! Buying them will help the Arab people in their quest for freedom and justice, it will end the petro-dollar recycling system and it will end the inhuman, barbaric wars waged by the US empire against poor people and small resistance groups, it will defuse all extremism, it will force a profound change in the economy, giving resources back for the real economy, for life, for social and human development in north America and in the middle-east and not for greedy war makers, weapon sellers and mercenary firms. Buy your puppet dictator full kit now !
In the name of hundreds of millions of Arab citizens and in the name of a billion Muslim men women and children, thank you in advance. We will be very happy to send them anywhere in the US (or elsewhere, even Antarctica) with FREE shipping ! Don't miss the opportunity. We may even pay you to get them in a package deal."
"Package deal! Arab puppet dictators made in USA, cheap, servile, resourceful, 100% unelected, "moderate" label, "New Middle Beast" certification, "New World Disorder" 90001, among the useful function's of your "Arab puppet dictators full kit":
They will:
- sell national resources for nothing,
- buy for billions in useless US military hardware and other WMD, thus helping the military-industrial complex,
- give access to bases for wars of aggression against independent countries or resistance groups (the so-called "bad guys")
- give green light to any US agency for regional hegemony, control of oil, gas and minerals,
- repress with an absolute brutality their people aspiration for true freedom, national Independence, social justice, dignity, control of the economy and foreign policy, military defense capabilities...
- They will respond in real time 24/7 to any order from the DoD or the White House.
- They respond very well to CNN and other tools of imperial propaganda
- They are well domesticated, they exhibit various postures, they walk on your side, they sleep in their own cute little box
- Warning: some of the US gov. supported puppet dictators are training or financing real sectarian of fanatical groups in order to keep alive the imperial doctrine: “divide and rule”
Special bonus !!! All benefits for the average Joe and the average Mohammed ! Buying them will help the Arab people in their quest for freedom and justice, it will end the petro-dollar recycling system and it will end the inhuman, barbaric wars waged by the US empire against poor people and small resistance groups, it will defuse all extremism, it will force a profound change in the economy, giving resources back for the real economy, for life, for social and human development in north America and in the middle-east and not for greedy war makers, weapon sellers and mercenary firms. Buy your puppet dictator full kit now !
In the name of hundreds of millions of Arab citizens and in the name of a billion Muslim men women and children, thank you in advance. We will be very happy to send them anywhere in the US (or elsewhere, even Antarctica) with FREE shipping ! Don't miss the opportunity. We may even pay you to get them in a package deal."
Abbas Investigating Himself
This is a funny cartoon by Emad Hajjaj.
It is about the so-called commission the traitor Abbas has formed to determine who was responsible for deciding to delay the voting on the Goldstone report.
It shows the traitor sitting in front of a make-believe commission (the mirror). The "commission" asks, "where were you, Abbas, when the crime took place?"
A poverty of leadership
Osamah Khalil, The Electronic Intifada, 7 October 2009
".....Palestinians globally and across the political spectrum have rightfully been outraged at what is not only an unbelievable act of cowardice and ineptitude, but a betrayal of the highest order. Indeed, anywhere else in the world it would be considered tantamount to treason. Sadly and unsurprisingly, it is what passes for leadership from Mahmoud Abbas......
Judging by their fumbling and inconsistent responses over the past several days, Abbas and his cronies were clearly caught off guard by the reaction to the postponement. After making the ludicrous announcement that he would empower an investigation into what happened at the UNHRC, Abbas dispatched the PA's "foreign minister," Riyad al-Maliki, to New York to participate in an emergency session of the UN Security Council called at the request of Libya to discuss the Goldstone report. Regardless of what happens at the Security Council, any rational observer must ask, exactly what kind of "president" is Mahmoud Abbas and who does he represent?.......
Whether or not the clumsy attempt to shelve the report is the tipping point for Abbas's rule, the succession process has been underway for several years. However, it is being coordinated by the US and Israel and is no reflection of the wishes and desires of the Palestinian people. Abbas's likely successor is Fayyad, who somehow manages to be an even more uninspiring and unpopular character......"
".....Palestinians globally and across the political spectrum have rightfully been outraged at what is not only an unbelievable act of cowardice and ineptitude, but a betrayal of the highest order. Indeed, anywhere else in the world it would be considered tantamount to treason. Sadly and unsurprisingly, it is what passes for leadership from Mahmoud Abbas......
Judging by their fumbling and inconsistent responses over the past several days, Abbas and his cronies were clearly caught off guard by the reaction to the postponement. After making the ludicrous announcement that he would empower an investigation into what happened at the UNHRC, Abbas dispatched the PA's "foreign minister," Riyad al-Maliki, to New York to participate in an emergency session of the UN Security Council called at the request of Libya to discuss the Goldstone report. Regardless of what happens at the Security Council, any rational observer must ask, exactly what kind of "president" is Mahmoud Abbas and who does he represent?.......
Whether or not the clumsy attempt to shelve the report is the tipping point for Abbas's rule, the succession process has been underway for several years. However, it is being coordinated by the US and Israel and is no reflection of the wishes and desires of the Palestinian people. Abbas's likely successor is Fayyad, who somehow manages to be an even more uninspiring and unpopular character......"
Reconcile.....Reconcile Not......Reconcile....Reconcile Not.....
Hamas Asks Egypt to Delay Reconciliation Deal
Al-Manar
"07/10/2009 Hamas has asked Egypt to delay the signing of a Palestinian reconciliation deal that Cairo had announced for later this month, a source within the Resistance group declared on Wednesday.
Hamas "asked Egypt to postpone the session for the signature of the agreement," the source told AFP, asking not to be named.
The delay was requested because of the controversial decision by the Palestinian delegation at the UN Human Rights Council to drop its backing for an immediate vote on a report on the Gaza war, he said........"
Al-Manar
"07/10/2009 Hamas has asked Egypt to delay the signing of a Palestinian reconciliation deal that Cairo had announced for later this month, a source within the Resistance group declared on Wednesday.
Hamas "asked Egypt to postpone the session for the signature of the agreement," the source told AFP, asking not to be named.
The delay was requested because of the controversial decision by the Palestinian delegation at the UN Human Rights Council to drop its backing for an immediate vote on a report on the Gaza war, he said........"
Now that is leadership you can believe in!
حماس تطلب من مصر تأجيل توقيع اتفاق المصالحة مع فتح
"غزة ـ القاهرة ـ قال مصدر قريب من حركة حماس الاربعاء ان الحركة طلبت من مصر تأجيل جلسة الحوار الفلسطيني التي من المقرر عقدها في 25 تشرين الاول (اكتوبر) لتوقيع اتفاق المصالحة بين حماس وفتح، وذلك بسبب سحب تقرير غولدستون من المناقشات.
فيما رد وزير الخارجية المصري احمد ابو الغيط الاربعاء بقوله ان اي طرف فلسطيني يحاول تأجيل اتفاق المصالحة الوطنية لا يعمل "لمصلحة الثورة الفلسطينية" او "العمل الوطني الفلسطيني"، في اشارة واضحة الى حركة المقاومة الاسلامية.
وردا على اسئلة الصحافيين حول ما اذا كان تأجيل بحث تقرير غولدستون يمكن ان يؤدي الى ارجاء توقيع اتفاق المصالحة الفلسطينية، قال ابو الغيط "لا ينبغى ان نجعل المناورة والتكتيك يؤثران على الاستراتيجية".
واضاف "لا اتصور ان من سيقوم بأي محاولة للتأجيل يسعى فعلا للحفاظ على وحدة العمل الوطني الفلسطيني والحفاظ على الثورة الفلسطينية لان العمل الوطني الفلسطيني يجب ان يتحقق من خلال الوحدة وليس من خلال التفرقة".
......"
Spine Implant for Democrats, by Khalil Bendib
The Gaza War's Effect on Women
"I Have No Hope, No Future"
By STEPHEN LENDMAN
CounterPunch
"The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights' (PCHR) new report, titled "Through Women's Eyes," highlights "the Gender-Specific Impact and Consequences of Operation Cast Lead" and the ongoing siege, including 12 case study examples "through the victims' words." Several are discussed below.
In patriarchal Palestinian society, women traditionally are caregivers while men typically head households and are the main breadwinners. As a result, when widows are thrust into this role, they're often victimized by cultural, social and economic discrimination and marginalization. In Gaza today, it's hard for women to get by alone, so widows must either live with family members or remarry. The alternative is a hard struggle alone, something most Palestinian women try to avoid, but post-conflict many have no choice......."
By STEPHEN LENDMAN
CounterPunch
"The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights' (PCHR) new report, titled "Through Women's Eyes," highlights "the Gender-Specific Impact and Consequences of Operation Cast Lead" and the ongoing siege, including 12 case study examples "through the victims' words." Several are discussed below.
In patriarchal Palestinian society, women traditionally are caregivers while men typically head households and are the main breadwinners. As a result, when widows are thrust into this role, they're often victimized by cultural, social and economic discrimination and marginalization. In Gaza today, it's hard for women to get by alone, so widows must either live with family members or remarry. The alternative is a hard struggle alone, something most Palestinian women try to avoid, but post-conflict many have no choice......."
Arab Unity
Lovely.......
"REJECTIONIST" SYRIA, SOLIDIFYING "ARAB UNITY".......
CELEBRATE "UNITY" NOW!......
OR ELSE!
Banned from Al Aqsa
Jonathan Cook,
The National
October 07. 2009
"NAZARETH // Tension over control of the Haram al Sharif compound of mosques in Jerusalem’s Old City has reached a pitch unseen since clashes at the site sparked the second intifada nine years ago.
Ten days of intermittently bloody clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces in Jerusalem culminated yesterday in warnings by Palestinian officials that Israel was “sparking a fire” in the city. Israel’s Jerusalem Post newspaper similarly wondered whether a third intifada was imminent.
Israel deployed 20,000 police to safeguard the annual Jerusalem march, which was reported to have attracted a crowd of 70,000 passing through sensitive Palestinian neighbourhoods close to the Old City......
Palestinian concerns are not without foundation. Israel’s religious and secular leaders have been staking an ever-stronger claim to sovereignty over the compound since the occupation began, despite an original agreement to leave control with Islamic authorities.
The rabbinical consensus since the Middle Ages has been that Jews are forbidden from entering the compound for fear of desecrating the site of the temple’s inner sanctum, whose location is unknown.
But even as the Israeli army captured the Old City in 1967, its chief rabbi, Shlomo Goren, rushed to the Haram to read from the Bible and blow a ram’s horn, as the ancient temple priests had once done......
It was precisely rumours that Jewish extremists had entered the compound on the eve of Judaism’s holiest day, Yom Kippur, that provided the spark triggering the latest round of clashes.
A growing number of settler rabbis want the injunction against Jews praying there lifted, adding to Palestinian fears that Israeli officials, rabbis, settlers and fundamentalists are conspiring to engineer a final takeover of the Haram al Sharif. [COMMENT: BUT THIS IS NOT AS SERIOUS AS THE DANISH CARTOONS; HENCE THE MUSLIM "UMMA" IS FAST ASLEEP.] "
The National
October 07. 2009
"NAZARETH // Tension over control of the Haram al Sharif compound of mosques in Jerusalem’s Old City has reached a pitch unseen since clashes at the site sparked the second intifada nine years ago.
Ten days of intermittently bloody clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces in Jerusalem culminated yesterday in warnings by Palestinian officials that Israel was “sparking a fire” in the city. Israel’s Jerusalem Post newspaper similarly wondered whether a third intifada was imminent.
Israel deployed 20,000 police to safeguard the annual Jerusalem march, which was reported to have attracted a crowd of 70,000 passing through sensitive Palestinian neighbourhoods close to the Old City......
Palestinian concerns are not without foundation. Israel’s religious and secular leaders have been staking an ever-stronger claim to sovereignty over the compound since the occupation began, despite an original agreement to leave control with Islamic authorities.
The rabbinical consensus since the Middle Ages has been that Jews are forbidden from entering the compound for fear of desecrating the site of the temple’s inner sanctum, whose location is unknown.
But even as the Israeli army captured the Old City in 1967, its chief rabbi, Shlomo Goren, rushed to the Haram to read from the Bible and blow a ram’s horn, as the ancient temple priests had once done......
It was precisely rumours that Jewish extremists had entered the compound on the eve of Judaism’s holiest day, Yom Kippur, that provided the spark triggering the latest round of clashes.
A growing number of settler rabbis want the injunction against Jews praying there lifted, adding to Palestinian fears that Israeli officials, rabbis, settlers and fundamentalists are conspiring to engineer a final takeover of the Haram al Sharif. [COMMENT: BUT THIS IS NOT AS SERIOUS AS THE DANISH CARTOONS; HENCE THE MUSLIM "UMMA" IS FAST ASLEEP.] "
Al-Jazeera Video: Domestic workers abused in the Gulf - 07 Oct 09
"Every year thousands of women arrive in the Gulf to take up jobs as domestic workers.
The majority of them leave behind their families on a huge financial gamble to try to earn enough in remittances.
But behind closed doors, in the homes of their employers, some find themselves trapped in a cycle of horrific abuse.
Al Jazeera's Charles Stratford spoke to one housemaid, Mary, who suffered two years of abuse in the United Arab Emirates."
Al-Jazeera Video: Robert Fisk on the Gulf 'ditching the dollar' in oil trade
"Gulf states have held secret talks with Russia, China, Japan and France to replace the US dollar with a basket of currencies in the trade of oil, the UK's Independent newspaper says.
The report by Robert Fisk, the newspaper's Middle East correspondent, was published on Tuesday and cited unidentified sources in Gulf Arab states and Chinese banking sources in Hong Kong.
Al Jazeera has this exclusive interview with Robert Fisk and Steven King, chief economist from the HSBC Group."
Voices from Afghanistan: Afghan Women’s Activist Zoya Speaks Out on Eight Years of Occupation
Democracy Now!
With Amy Goodman
"We turn now to a voice from Afghanistan. Zoya is a member of the radical underground organization called Rawa, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. She was a child during the Soviet invasion of her country. As a teenager, the mujahideen or warlords killed her activist parents. She fled with her grandmother to a refugee camp in neighboring Pakistan but later returned to her country to document life under Taliban rule. She has been an outspoken critic of the US and NATO invasion of Afghanistan.
Zoya is on a national tour of the United States this month and is speaking at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York today. For her own security inside Afghanistan, she goes by the pseudonym Zoya and does not appear on camera. Democracy Now!’s Anjali Kamat asked Zoya over the telephone Tuesday for her thoughts on this eighth anniversary of the US-led bombing of Afghanistan......"
With Amy Goodman
"We turn now to a voice from Afghanistan. Zoya is a member of the radical underground organization called Rawa, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. She was a child during the Soviet invasion of her country. As a teenager, the mujahideen or warlords killed her activist parents. She fled with her grandmother to a refugee camp in neighboring Pakistan but later returned to her country to document life under Taliban rule. She has been an outspoken critic of the US and NATO invasion of Afghanistan.
Zoya is on a national tour of the United States this month and is speaking at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York today. For her own security inside Afghanistan, she goes by the pseudonym Zoya and does not appear on camera. Democracy Now!’s Anjali Kamat asked Zoya over the telephone Tuesday for her thoughts on this eighth anniversary of the US-led bombing of Afghanistan......"
Stuck in Kabul, with Saigon blues again
By Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
"Some things never change. It was "only" eight years ago that the George W Bush administration unleashed its mini-shock and awe over Afghanistan to, in theory, smash the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Stuck inside of Kabul with the Saigon blues again, the "overseas contingency operations" of the Barack Obama administration continue to perpetrate a myth; never shall the words "Afghanistan" and "oil" be mentioned in the same sentence......
As an exercise in obfuscation, the strategy is working wonders. Not a peep all across US corporate media about the real reasons the US, the Pentagon rather, needs to stay in Afghanistan forever; to protect the troubled Trans-Afghanistan pipeline if it ever gets built; and to encircle and spy on neighboring strategic competitors Russia and China.
Whatever the industrial-military complex will bend Obama to do, it will look a lot like (a very expensive) Chaos-istan anyway."
Asia Times
"Some things never change. It was "only" eight years ago that the George W Bush administration unleashed its mini-shock and awe over Afghanistan to, in theory, smash the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Stuck inside of Kabul with the Saigon blues again, the "overseas contingency operations" of the Barack Obama administration continue to perpetrate a myth; never shall the words "Afghanistan" and "oil" be mentioned in the same sentence......
As an exercise in obfuscation, the strategy is working wonders. Not a peep all across US corporate media about the real reasons the US, the Pentagon rather, needs to stay in Afghanistan forever; to protect the troubled Trans-Afghanistan pipeline if it ever gets built; and to encircle and spy on neighboring strategic competitors Russia and China.
Whatever the industrial-military complex will bend Obama to do, it will look a lot like (a very expensive) Chaos-istan anyway."
Qalqilya: A prison city
No town in the West Bank suffers more restrictions than Qalqilya. The population is surrounded on all four sides by the wall, which separates them from their farmland and source of income. Nearby a large Israeli settlement plunders more essential resources. Worse still is the security which accompanies these structures, with dozens of checkpoints policing the town and nearby villages. Many of these serve no purpose at all, closing months after they appear, often in bizarre locations between Arabic villages
إسقاطهم هو الحّل
إسقاطهم هو الحّل
رشاد أبوشاور
" يمكن الحكم على ما فعلته السلطة، وقد افتضح دورها بطلبها تأجيل التصويت على تقرير غولدستون بكلمة واحدة هي الحكم المبرم على هكذا جريمة بحق شعبنا، وشهدائنا، وجرحانا، وأطفالنا الذين قتلوا تحت البيوت المهدمة على رؤوسهم، والذين بقي بعضهم حيّا وهو يسبح في دم أمّه الميتة، وفمه يلتصق بثديها تشبثا بأمومة مزقتها صواريخ العدو، والعائلات التي بقيت منها طفلة أو طفل، ومن يعيشون تحت الخيام في العراء بعد تدمير بيوتهم.
كلمة واحدة هي التي سمعتها تتردد في أفواه الفلسطينيين الذين التقيتهم، والذين هاتفوني ليفشّوا غلّهم، مطالبينني بأن أكتب بالضبط ما يقولون دون مواربة، على اختلاف مستوياتهم، ومنهم مثقفون، ناس عاديون، مناضلون قدامى (رموهم) للنسيان والحاجة والمهانة، رجال قانون، كفاءات علميّة.
كلمة واحدة هي التي كانت تخرج من الأفواه والصدور والضمائر، وقد اختلطت بالقهر والشعور بالخزي من هكذا أشخاص محسوبين على فلسطين، وشعبها، وتساؤل مذهول: من أين جاءنا هؤلاء، وكيف ابتلي شعبنا بهم، ومن يدعمهم ويثبتهم على ظهر شعبنا وقضيتنا وهم ليس لهم تاريخ نضالي، ولا كفاءة؟!
مثل ملايين العرب شاهدت الخيبة على وجوه أصدقاء الشعب الفلسطيني، عندما أعلن في جنيف عن تأجيل التصويت على تقرير غولدستون -هناك من يكتبه غولدشتاين للتذكير بيهوديته، وربما لدفعنا للمقارنة بينه وبين متآمرين يمثلوننا - لستّة أشهر، فماذا نقول لأصدقاء شعبنا من الدول التي جاهرت بتصويتها مع التقرير رغم الضغوط الأمريكيّة والصهيونيّة؟ وكيف نُفسّر الأمر لمناضلي منظمات حقوق الإنسان الداعمين لشعبنا؟ كونوا فلسطينيين أكثر من الفلسطينيين؟!
نعم، لدينا ما نقوله لهم: من طلبوا تأجيل التصويت على التقرير لا يُمثلون شعبنا، ولكنهم اغتصبوا تمثيله بأساليب غير شريفة، وهم كرّسوا شخصا واحدا ديكتاتورا يستظلون به ويلتفون حوله ويمضون معه بقضيتنا إلى الهاوية. هؤلاء ليسوا فلسطينيين إلاّ بالمصادفة، وليسوا قادةً إلا بالمصادفة، وفعلتهم هذه فضحتهم أمامكم، وعندنا يقين أن انحيازكم لشعب فلسطين لن يهتز بسبب تواطؤ قلة يدينها شعبنا، وسيحاسبها على هذه الجريمة.
كونوا مع شعبنا الفلسطيني الذي خبرتموه، وعرفتموه عن قرب، جديرا بالوقوف معه ومساندته، ولنا أن نطالبكم أن لا تتخلّوا عن (فلسطينيتكم) التي هي علاقة إنسانيّة، فأنتم لا تسعون لمصالح شخصيّة، ومن نفّذوا أوامر الإدارة الأمريكيّة، وابتزهم نتنياهو وليبرمان بالتسجيلات التي تثبت بالصوت والصورة تشجيعهم للعدوان على قطاع غزّة، وإلحاحهم على مواصلة الحرب دون الالتفات للخسائر في صفوف المدنيين الفلسطينيين، ليسوا صوت شعبنا.
شلّة المتآمرين مع تصاعد ردود الفعل الشعبيّة الفلسطينيّة داخلاً وخارجا، وبعد تصريحات عربيّة رسميّة تنكر أي تنسيق في ما فعله سفير السلطة، وتصريحات أمين عام الجامعة الذي أدان التأجيل ووصف شعوره تجاه ما حدث بالتقزز والاشمئزاز، وعشرات المقالات في كبريات الصحف العربيّة، بدأت محاولات التملّص بإطلاق تصريحات تخفف من هول الجريمة، فرأينا من يحاول تبرير ما فعلوه بأنه لضمان عدم اتخاذ أمريكا للفيتو، ولكسب مزيد من أصوات الدول المشاركة في مجلس حقوق الإنسان...
وعندما انكشف دورهم وقفوا عراة أمام الشعب الفلسطيني، والرأي العام العربي، ولجان حقوق الإنسان العربيّة والعالميّة، وبدأت التسريبات تلصق التهمة برئيس وزراء السلطة، وذلك لتبرئة رئيس السلطة من تحمّل المسؤوليّة المباشرة.
هنا جاء دور (القائد) المٌُعجزة ياسر عبد ربّه الذي طلع بتصريح يقول فيه بأنه وبإيعاز من الرئيس محمود عبّاس ـ على اعتبار أنه بريء مما جرى!- تمّ تشكيل لجنة للتحقيق فيما جرى وتقديم تقرير نهائي خلال أسبوعين!
من يظن بأن فعلة السلطة في جنيف كانت بسبب الضغوط من السيّدة كلينتون يتناسى أن السلطة قد حددت لنفسها خيارا واحدا هو التفاوض ولا شيء غير التفاوض، وإقرار تقرير غولدستون بالتصويت يعني نقله إلى الجمعيّة العامة، ومن ثمّ تحويله إلى القاضي (أوكامبو) الذي كما قال الدكتور هيثم منّاع الذي بذل جهودا هائلة لحشد منظمات حقوق الإنسان لملاحقة جنرالات العدو: سيجد نفسه ملزما بملاحقة الجُناة، وذلك كي يخفف عن نفسه حرج قراره بملاحقة الرئيس البشير، بحيث يبدي أنه مستقّل ونزيه، وهذه ستكون فرصة له.
جماعة السلطة يرون أن ملاحقة جنرالات العدو ستعني توقّف المفاوضات - التي يصفها نتنياهو بمسيرة السلام، والتي توعّد بأن تتوقف إذا ما تمّ إقرار التقرير!- وعندئذ سيجدون أنفسهم في مأزق، خاصة ان نذر تجدد انتفاضة الأقصى تتصاعد من جديد، وهي إن اندلعت فستأكل نيرانها أكوام قّش مسيرة سلام أضاع الأرض، وفتح الأبواب للاحتلال ليقتحم ويختطف ويقتل كيفما شاء ومتى شاء.
تأجيل التصويت هو تسويف مبيّت بحيث يتلاشى وقع التقرير، وينشغل شعبنا وأصدقاؤه بمصائب جديدة، بل ويمكن ان يتبدد الحماس للتضامن مع الشعب الفلسطيني، وترتفع أصوات تقول: وهل نحن فلسطينيون أكثر من الفلسطينيين ؟!
من نفّذوا مؤامرة سحب دعم التصويت أمام مجلس حقوق الإنسان في جنيف، وفوّتوا على شعبنا وأصدقائه في العالم فرصة ثمينة كبيرة ممكنة التحقق، لم يكتفوا بدورهم الذي يصفه شعبنا بكلمة واحدة لا تقبل التأويل، فها هم يسخرون من هذا الشعب بالإعلان عن تشكيل لجنة تحقيق لامتصاص غضبة شعبنا، وكأن شعبنا قاصر يمكن التدليس عليه باستمرار.
القرار اتخذوه بأنفسهم، ونفذوه برضاهم وبقناعة تامة، فهم موعودون من إدارة أوباما بشيء ما، وهم لن يفرّطوا بما وعدوا به، رغم أن القدس لم تعد قدسا، والأقصى كما تصرخ حناجر المؤمنين الفلسطينيين مسلمين ومسيحيين في خطر داهم، خطر حقيقي، خطر تدميره وزرع الهيكل بين ما يتبقّى منه - إن بقي منه شيء - وبين قبّة الصخرة!
تقرير غولدستون أربكهم، وأوقعهم في ورطة، لأنه سيضع جنرالات الكيان الصهيوني العسكريين في حالة رعب من الأقفاص التي ستنتظرهم في أكثر من بلد في العالم، وقد يلحق بهم القادة السياسيون الذين أمروا بشن الحرب، واستخدام الفسفور وغيره من أسلحة الإبادة، ولذلك هددهم ونتنياهو بكشف موقفهم أثناء الحرب!
عبد ربه أعلن أن اللجنة التنفيذيّة اجتمعت وقررت تشكيل اللجنة، وبعد وقت قليل قرأنا بيانا باسم اثنين من أعضاء اللجنة التنفيذيّة هما ملّوح والشكعة، يعلنان فيه أنه لا علم لهما بهذه اللجنة..أهذا أقصى رد فعل لديكم على لامبالاة عبد ربّه بكم؟!
لا أهمية عند هؤلاء الأشخاص لرأي الشعب الفلسطيني، وهم لا يقيمون وزنا لمن يشاركونهم في ما يسمّى باللجنة التنفيذية، ولا للمجلس الوطني، ولا لكفاءات الشعب الفلسطيني.
هنا نسأل حركة فتح التي تقود السلطة، ومنها رئيس السلطة وأجهزتها: أين موقف حركتكم، ودورها؟! ألهذا عقدتم مؤتمركم السادس؟! ونسأل فصائل اليسار: هل يكفي أن تصدروا بيانات لا وزن لها، وتغسلوا أيديكم مما يلحق بالقضيّة الفلسطينيّة، وتبرروا لأنفسكم مواصلة تغطية مجموعة تدمّر قضيتنا، وبحجّة الحفاظ على (خيمة) م ت ف؟!
غولدستون اليهودي دفعه الألم مما رآه في غزّة لإدانة وتجريم العدوان، ورئيس وقيادة السلطة يضيّعان فرصة محاسبة القتلة الصهاينة!
ما هي الكلمة المناسبة للحكم على هؤلاء الأشخاص: الخيانة..وهي فادحة لأن من اقترفوها هم من ابتلي بهم شعبنا قادة، هؤلاء الذين لا أمل في إصلاحهم، ولا خيار لشعبنا غير التخلّص منهم وإزاحتهم عن مواقع لا يستحقونها.
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رشاد أبوشاور
" يمكن الحكم على ما فعلته السلطة، وقد افتضح دورها بطلبها تأجيل التصويت على تقرير غولدستون بكلمة واحدة هي الحكم المبرم على هكذا جريمة بحق شعبنا، وشهدائنا، وجرحانا، وأطفالنا الذين قتلوا تحت البيوت المهدمة على رؤوسهم، والذين بقي بعضهم حيّا وهو يسبح في دم أمّه الميتة، وفمه يلتصق بثديها تشبثا بأمومة مزقتها صواريخ العدو، والعائلات التي بقيت منها طفلة أو طفل، ومن يعيشون تحت الخيام في العراء بعد تدمير بيوتهم.
كلمة واحدة هي التي سمعتها تتردد في أفواه الفلسطينيين الذين التقيتهم، والذين هاتفوني ليفشّوا غلّهم، مطالبينني بأن أكتب بالضبط ما يقولون دون مواربة، على اختلاف مستوياتهم، ومنهم مثقفون، ناس عاديون، مناضلون قدامى (رموهم) للنسيان والحاجة والمهانة، رجال قانون، كفاءات علميّة.
كلمة واحدة هي التي كانت تخرج من الأفواه والصدور والضمائر، وقد اختلطت بالقهر والشعور بالخزي من هكذا أشخاص محسوبين على فلسطين، وشعبها، وتساؤل مذهول: من أين جاءنا هؤلاء، وكيف ابتلي شعبنا بهم، ومن يدعمهم ويثبتهم على ظهر شعبنا وقضيتنا وهم ليس لهم تاريخ نضالي، ولا كفاءة؟!
مثل ملايين العرب شاهدت الخيبة على وجوه أصدقاء الشعب الفلسطيني، عندما أعلن في جنيف عن تأجيل التصويت على تقرير غولدستون -هناك من يكتبه غولدشتاين للتذكير بيهوديته، وربما لدفعنا للمقارنة بينه وبين متآمرين يمثلوننا - لستّة أشهر، فماذا نقول لأصدقاء شعبنا من الدول التي جاهرت بتصويتها مع التقرير رغم الضغوط الأمريكيّة والصهيونيّة؟ وكيف نُفسّر الأمر لمناضلي منظمات حقوق الإنسان الداعمين لشعبنا؟ كونوا فلسطينيين أكثر من الفلسطينيين؟!
نعم، لدينا ما نقوله لهم: من طلبوا تأجيل التصويت على التقرير لا يُمثلون شعبنا، ولكنهم اغتصبوا تمثيله بأساليب غير شريفة، وهم كرّسوا شخصا واحدا ديكتاتورا يستظلون به ويلتفون حوله ويمضون معه بقضيتنا إلى الهاوية. هؤلاء ليسوا فلسطينيين إلاّ بالمصادفة، وليسوا قادةً إلا بالمصادفة، وفعلتهم هذه فضحتهم أمامكم، وعندنا يقين أن انحيازكم لشعب فلسطين لن يهتز بسبب تواطؤ قلة يدينها شعبنا، وسيحاسبها على هذه الجريمة.
كونوا مع شعبنا الفلسطيني الذي خبرتموه، وعرفتموه عن قرب، جديرا بالوقوف معه ومساندته، ولنا أن نطالبكم أن لا تتخلّوا عن (فلسطينيتكم) التي هي علاقة إنسانيّة، فأنتم لا تسعون لمصالح شخصيّة، ومن نفّذوا أوامر الإدارة الأمريكيّة، وابتزهم نتنياهو وليبرمان بالتسجيلات التي تثبت بالصوت والصورة تشجيعهم للعدوان على قطاع غزّة، وإلحاحهم على مواصلة الحرب دون الالتفات للخسائر في صفوف المدنيين الفلسطينيين، ليسوا صوت شعبنا.
شلّة المتآمرين مع تصاعد ردود الفعل الشعبيّة الفلسطينيّة داخلاً وخارجا، وبعد تصريحات عربيّة رسميّة تنكر أي تنسيق في ما فعله سفير السلطة، وتصريحات أمين عام الجامعة الذي أدان التأجيل ووصف شعوره تجاه ما حدث بالتقزز والاشمئزاز، وعشرات المقالات في كبريات الصحف العربيّة، بدأت محاولات التملّص بإطلاق تصريحات تخفف من هول الجريمة، فرأينا من يحاول تبرير ما فعلوه بأنه لضمان عدم اتخاذ أمريكا للفيتو، ولكسب مزيد من أصوات الدول المشاركة في مجلس حقوق الإنسان...
وعندما انكشف دورهم وقفوا عراة أمام الشعب الفلسطيني، والرأي العام العربي، ولجان حقوق الإنسان العربيّة والعالميّة، وبدأت التسريبات تلصق التهمة برئيس وزراء السلطة، وذلك لتبرئة رئيس السلطة من تحمّل المسؤوليّة المباشرة.
هنا جاء دور (القائد) المٌُعجزة ياسر عبد ربّه الذي طلع بتصريح يقول فيه بأنه وبإيعاز من الرئيس محمود عبّاس ـ على اعتبار أنه بريء مما جرى!- تمّ تشكيل لجنة للتحقيق فيما جرى وتقديم تقرير نهائي خلال أسبوعين!
من يظن بأن فعلة السلطة في جنيف كانت بسبب الضغوط من السيّدة كلينتون يتناسى أن السلطة قد حددت لنفسها خيارا واحدا هو التفاوض ولا شيء غير التفاوض، وإقرار تقرير غولدستون بالتصويت يعني نقله إلى الجمعيّة العامة، ومن ثمّ تحويله إلى القاضي (أوكامبو) الذي كما قال الدكتور هيثم منّاع الذي بذل جهودا هائلة لحشد منظمات حقوق الإنسان لملاحقة جنرالات العدو: سيجد نفسه ملزما بملاحقة الجُناة، وذلك كي يخفف عن نفسه حرج قراره بملاحقة الرئيس البشير، بحيث يبدي أنه مستقّل ونزيه، وهذه ستكون فرصة له.
جماعة السلطة يرون أن ملاحقة جنرالات العدو ستعني توقّف المفاوضات - التي يصفها نتنياهو بمسيرة السلام، والتي توعّد بأن تتوقف إذا ما تمّ إقرار التقرير!- وعندئذ سيجدون أنفسهم في مأزق، خاصة ان نذر تجدد انتفاضة الأقصى تتصاعد من جديد، وهي إن اندلعت فستأكل نيرانها أكوام قّش مسيرة سلام أضاع الأرض، وفتح الأبواب للاحتلال ليقتحم ويختطف ويقتل كيفما شاء ومتى شاء.
تأجيل التصويت هو تسويف مبيّت بحيث يتلاشى وقع التقرير، وينشغل شعبنا وأصدقاؤه بمصائب جديدة، بل ويمكن ان يتبدد الحماس للتضامن مع الشعب الفلسطيني، وترتفع أصوات تقول: وهل نحن فلسطينيون أكثر من الفلسطينيين ؟!
من نفّذوا مؤامرة سحب دعم التصويت أمام مجلس حقوق الإنسان في جنيف، وفوّتوا على شعبنا وأصدقائه في العالم فرصة ثمينة كبيرة ممكنة التحقق، لم يكتفوا بدورهم الذي يصفه شعبنا بكلمة واحدة لا تقبل التأويل، فها هم يسخرون من هذا الشعب بالإعلان عن تشكيل لجنة تحقيق لامتصاص غضبة شعبنا، وكأن شعبنا قاصر يمكن التدليس عليه باستمرار.
القرار اتخذوه بأنفسهم، ونفذوه برضاهم وبقناعة تامة، فهم موعودون من إدارة أوباما بشيء ما، وهم لن يفرّطوا بما وعدوا به، رغم أن القدس لم تعد قدسا، والأقصى كما تصرخ حناجر المؤمنين الفلسطينيين مسلمين ومسيحيين في خطر داهم، خطر حقيقي، خطر تدميره وزرع الهيكل بين ما يتبقّى منه - إن بقي منه شيء - وبين قبّة الصخرة!
تقرير غولدستون أربكهم، وأوقعهم في ورطة، لأنه سيضع جنرالات الكيان الصهيوني العسكريين في حالة رعب من الأقفاص التي ستنتظرهم في أكثر من بلد في العالم، وقد يلحق بهم القادة السياسيون الذين أمروا بشن الحرب، واستخدام الفسفور وغيره من أسلحة الإبادة، ولذلك هددهم ونتنياهو بكشف موقفهم أثناء الحرب!
عبد ربه أعلن أن اللجنة التنفيذيّة اجتمعت وقررت تشكيل اللجنة، وبعد وقت قليل قرأنا بيانا باسم اثنين من أعضاء اللجنة التنفيذيّة هما ملّوح والشكعة، يعلنان فيه أنه لا علم لهما بهذه اللجنة..أهذا أقصى رد فعل لديكم على لامبالاة عبد ربّه بكم؟!
لا أهمية عند هؤلاء الأشخاص لرأي الشعب الفلسطيني، وهم لا يقيمون وزنا لمن يشاركونهم في ما يسمّى باللجنة التنفيذية، ولا للمجلس الوطني، ولا لكفاءات الشعب الفلسطيني.
هنا نسأل حركة فتح التي تقود السلطة، ومنها رئيس السلطة وأجهزتها: أين موقف حركتكم، ودورها؟! ألهذا عقدتم مؤتمركم السادس؟! ونسأل فصائل اليسار: هل يكفي أن تصدروا بيانات لا وزن لها، وتغسلوا أيديكم مما يلحق بالقضيّة الفلسطينيّة، وتبرروا لأنفسكم مواصلة تغطية مجموعة تدمّر قضيتنا، وبحجّة الحفاظ على (خيمة) م ت ف؟!
غولدستون اليهودي دفعه الألم مما رآه في غزّة لإدانة وتجريم العدوان، ورئيس وقيادة السلطة يضيّعان فرصة محاسبة القتلة الصهاينة!
ما هي الكلمة المناسبة للحكم على هؤلاء الأشخاص: الخيانة..وهي فادحة لأن من اقترفوها هم من ابتلي بهم شعبنا قادة، هؤلاء الذين لا أمل في إصلاحهم، ولا خيار لشعبنا غير التخلّص منهم وإزاحتهم عن مواقع لا يستحقونها.
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Is the U.S. Preparing to Bomb Iran?
Is the U.S. Stepping Up Preparations for a Possible Attack on Iran's Nuclear Facilities?
ABC News
"Is the U.S. stepping up preparations for a possible attack on Iran's nuclear facilities?
The Pentagon is always making plans, but based on a little-noticed funding request recently sent to Congress, the answer to that question appears to be yes..........
'Urgent Operational Need'
The notification was tucked inside a 93-page "reprogramming" request that included a couple hundred other more mundane items.
Why now? The notification says simply, "The Department has an Urgent Operational Need (UON) for the capability to strike hard and deeply buried targets in high threat environments. The MOP is the weapon of choice to meet the requirements of the UON." It further states that the request is endorsed by Pacific Command (which has responsibility over North Korea) and Central Command (which has responsibility over Iran)......."
ABC News
"Is the U.S. stepping up preparations for a possible attack on Iran's nuclear facilities?
The Pentagon is always making plans, but based on a little-noticed funding request recently sent to Congress, the answer to that question appears to be yes..........
'Urgent Operational Need'
The notification was tucked inside a 93-page "reprogramming" request that included a couple hundred other more mundane items.
Why now? The notification says simply, "The Department has an Urgent Operational Need (UON) for the capability to strike hard and deeply buried targets in high threat environments. The MOP is the weapon of choice to meet the requirements of the UON." It further states that the request is endorsed by Pacific Command (which has responsibility over North Korea) and Central Command (which has responsibility over Iran)......."
Increasing use of face veil worries Egyptian government
By Samer al-Atrush (AFP)
"CAIRO — Women dressed in stark black, their faces veiled and their hands sometimes gloved, are becoming a common sight in Cairo, a trend that worries the government as it battles a lurch towards fundamentalism.
Most Muslim women in Egypt wear the hijab, which covers the hair, but the niqab, which covers the entire face, is becoming more popular on the streets of Cairo.
The issue has been brought into sharp focus following reports this week that Mohammed Tantawi, head of the Islamic Al-Azhar University, told a girl to remove her niqab when he toured a high school funded by his institution........"
"CAIRO — Women dressed in stark black, their faces veiled and their hands sometimes gloved, are becoming a common sight in Cairo, a trend that worries the government as it battles a lurch towards fundamentalism.
Most Muslim women in Egypt wear the hijab, which covers the hair, but the niqab, which covers the entire face, is becoming more popular on the streets of Cairo.
The issue has been brought into sharp focus following reports this week that Mohammed Tantawi, head of the Islamic Al-Azhar University, told a girl to remove her niqab when he toured a high school funded by his institution........"
US Foreign Policy, Rudyard Kipling, and the Libertarian Theory of the State
Toward a libertarian theory of foreign affairs
by Justin Raimondo, October 07, 2009
".....
The reason is that popular sentiment in America when it comes to foreign affairs – notoriously "isolationist" – is nearly always inconsistent with the interventionist bias of our rulers, whose first inclination is invariably expansionist. This aggressive impulse is derived from a simple principle: all governments always seek to expand their own power and influence. This is just as true of democratic governments as it is of dictatorships, and it extends to the overseas realm as well as the home front. Which is why the contention that democracies don’t engage in aggressive wars is such nonsense, aside from being empirically indefensible. All governments are systems of organized coercion, and, as such, are inherently and incorrigibly aggressive.
In a constitutional republic, a vital check on the pride of elected officials is the dispersion of power and the need for the consent of the governed. In a decadent democracy such as ours, however, where the president is more powerful than any king in history, the show of pride – in this case, a truly overweening hubris – is the context in which Washington operates, the equivalent of the very air its denizens breathe. So ingrained is this impulse in the psychology of our rulers that not even the looming threat of national bankruptcy is a sufficient deterrent.
Against that kind of blind recklessness there is no effective defense. We can only wait for the president’s decision, like Russian peasants importuning the czar – and listen for that shattering sound as the unchecked pride of our world-conquering leaders crashes into the rocks of economic and political reality. "
by Justin Raimondo, October 07, 2009
".....
The reason is that popular sentiment in America when it comes to foreign affairs – notoriously "isolationist" – is nearly always inconsistent with the interventionist bias of our rulers, whose first inclination is invariably expansionist. This aggressive impulse is derived from a simple principle: all governments always seek to expand their own power and influence. This is just as true of democratic governments as it is of dictatorships, and it extends to the overseas realm as well as the home front. Which is why the contention that democracies don’t engage in aggressive wars is such nonsense, aside from being empirically indefensible. All governments are systems of organized coercion, and, as such, are inherently and incorrigibly aggressive.
In a constitutional republic, a vital check on the pride of elected officials is the dispersion of power and the need for the consent of the governed. In a decadent democracy such as ours, however, where the president is more powerful than any king in history, the show of pride – in this case, a truly overweening hubris – is the context in which Washington operates, the equivalent of the very air its denizens breathe. So ingrained is this impulse in the psychology of our rulers that not even the looming threat of national bankruptcy is a sufficient deterrent.
Against that kind of blind recklessness there is no effective defense. We can only wait for the president’s decision, like Russian peasants importuning the czar – and listen for that shattering sound as the unchecked pride of our world-conquering leaders crashes into the rocks of economic and political reality. "
A financial revolution with profound political implications
Such large financial movements will have major political effects in the Middle East
By Robert Fisk
"The plan to de-dollarise the oil market, discussed both in public and in secret for at least two years and widely denied yesterday by the usual suspects – Saudi Arabia being, as expected, the first among them – reflects a growing resentment in the Middle East, Europe and in China at America's decades-long political as well as economic world dominance......
Such massive financial movements, encouraged by the de-dollarisation of oil, will have enormous political effects in the Middle East, especially if economic superpower rivalry between America and China comes to dominate the Arab world. Will American economic support for Israel remain as loyal in nine years' time if China and the Arabs are setting the pace in global financial markets? Indeed – perhaps with this in mind – some Israeli financiers have been expressing interest over the past two years in non-dollar Arab bank investments. Whenever a change of this magnitude takes place over a number of years, it has to be commenced in secrecy........"
By Robert Fisk
"The plan to de-dollarise the oil market, discussed both in public and in secret for at least two years and widely denied yesterday by the usual suspects – Saudi Arabia being, as expected, the first among them – reflects a growing resentment in the Middle East, Europe and in China at America's decades-long political as well as economic world dominance......
Such massive financial movements, encouraged by the de-dollarisation of oil, will have enormous political effects in the Middle East, especially if economic superpower rivalry between America and China comes to dominate the Arab world. Will American economic support for Israel remain as loyal in nine years' time if China and the Arabs are setting the pace in global financial markets? Indeed – perhaps with this in mind – some Israeli financiers have been expressing interest over the past two years in non-dollar Arab bank investments. Whenever a change of this magnitude takes place over a number of years, it has to be commenced in secrecy........"
Russia to sell advanced defense system to Saudis
Deal deters Moscow's sale of missile shield to Iran
Russia is slated to sell to Saudi Arabia its most advanced air-defense system in a deal the Saudis hope will deter Moscow from selling a less advanced system to Iran, a senior Egyptian intelligence official told WND.
"the Saudis are to purchase Russia's S-400 anti-missile shield to make moot the possibility of Russian selling the less advance S-300 system to Iran"
WND earlier this month quoted an Egyptian intelligence official stating Saudi Arabia is cooperating with Israel on the Iranian nuclear issue."
Russia is slated to sell to Saudi Arabia its most advanced air-defense system in a deal the Saudis hope will deter Moscow from selling a less advanced system to Iran, a senior Egyptian intelligence official told WND.
"the Saudis are to purchase Russia's S-400 anti-missile shield to make moot the possibility of Russian selling the less advance S-300 system to Iran"
WND earlier this month quoted an Egyptian intelligence official stating Saudi Arabia is cooperating with Israel on the Iranian nuclear issue."
Fatah Official Says Violence May Lead to 3rd Intifada
Al-Manar
"07/10/2009 “Recent violence in the capital and the ongoing tensions surrounding Al-Aqsa mosque could trigger a third intifada,” senior Fatah official Hatem Abdel Kader said in a conversation with the Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
"It's a very sensitive situation," the former Palestinian Authority minister for Jerusalem affairs indicated as he stood outside a home in the city's Wadi Joz neighborhood. Officials from the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, including its leader, Sheikh Raed Salah, were among those who had congregated on the home's roof, in response to the recent Israeli violent actions.
Salah was arrested at that same house in the evening, after police decided that comments he had made in recent days - including calling on Muslims to become "martyrs," if necessary, for the sake of the Aqsa Mosque - constituted “incitement.”The Jerusalem Magistrates Court released him on Tuesday night, just hours after his arrest, but issued an injunction prohibiting him from entering Jerusalem for 30 days......"
"07/10/2009 “Recent violence in the capital and the ongoing tensions surrounding Al-Aqsa mosque could trigger a third intifada,” senior Fatah official Hatem Abdel Kader said in a conversation with the Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
"It's a very sensitive situation," the former Palestinian Authority minister for Jerusalem affairs indicated as he stood outside a home in the city's Wadi Joz neighborhood. Officials from the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, including its leader, Sheikh Raed Salah, were among those who had congregated on the home's roof, in response to the recent Israeli violent actions.
Salah was arrested at that same house in the evening, after police decided that comments he had made in recent days - including calling on Muslims to become "martyrs," if necessary, for the sake of the Aqsa Mosque - constituted “incitement.”The Jerusalem Magistrates Court released him on Tuesday night, just hours after his arrest, but issued an injunction prohibiting him from entering Jerusalem for 30 days......"
Video: Gazans left out in cold as winter draws near
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
An Important Al-Jazeera Video: Richard Falk on Palestine and Goldstone report - 07 Oct 09
If you know Arabic, please see the other interview with Professor Falk in Arabic, two posts below.
"The Palestinian leadership has backed a move to defer a UN vote on the Goldstone report that accuses Israel of committing war crimes during its offensive in Gaza.
Richard Falk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and a special UN rapporteur on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, talks to Al Jazeera about the possible motivation behind the decision. "
"The Palestinian leadership has backed a move to defer a UN vote on the Goldstone report that accuses Israel of committing war crimes during its offensive in Gaza.
Richard Falk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and a special UN rapporteur on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, talks to Al Jazeera about the possible motivation behind the decision. "
Hamas' Position on Reconciling with the Traitor? As Solid as Jello! Or as Kerry Would Put it, "Hamas Opposed Reconciliation Before it Supported it!"
برهوم: "حماس" لم تضع شروطًًا جديدة للمصالحة والحركة معنية بها وبالجهد المصري
"غزة - المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام
نفى فوزي برهوم المتحدث باسم حركة المقاومة الإسلامية "حماس" الأنباء التي تناقلتها وسائل الإعلام عن وضع "حماس" شروطًا جديدةً للمصالحة؛ بعد طلب سلطة رام الله تأجيل التصويت على "تقرير غولدستون", مؤكدًا أن حركته معنيةٌ بالجهد المصري وبالمصالحة الوطنية.
....."
COMMENT:
What a farce and a disgrace. When most Palestinians finally see the PA for what it is, namely a tool of the IOF, Hamas comes to rescue it by "reconciling" with it!
Pox on both of their houses! Both of them have failed the Palestinians badly.
Dissolve the damn PA now! Enough is enough.
"غزة - المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام
نفى فوزي برهوم المتحدث باسم حركة المقاومة الإسلامية "حماس" الأنباء التي تناقلتها وسائل الإعلام عن وضع "حماس" شروطًا جديدةً للمصالحة؛ بعد طلب سلطة رام الله تأجيل التصويت على "تقرير غولدستون", مؤكدًا أن حركته معنيةٌ بالجهد المصري وبالمصالحة الوطنية.
....."
COMMENT:
What a farce and a disgrace. When most Palestinians finally see the PA for what it is, namely a tool of the IOF, Hamas comes to rescue it by "reconciling" with it!
Pox on both of their houses! Both of them have failed the Palestinians badly.
Dissolve the damn PA now! Enough is enough.
Video (Arabic): فولك: موقف السلطة من غولدستون خيانة
Al-Jazeera
MY COMMENT:
This video interview with professor Falk just blew my mind! To appreciate who professor Falk is, consider this:
He is Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University and Visiting Distinguished Professor in Global and International Studies at the University of California. He is the United Nations Human Rights Rapporteur in the Occupied Territories.
On top of that he is also Jewish.
When he comes out and openly states that what the PA did is simply TREASON to the Palestinian people; that is serious! This comes from a Distinguished Professor of International Law, and the UN Human Rights Rep!
I am looking for the interview in English.
"اعتبر مقرر الأمم المتحدة الخاص لحقوق الإنسان في الأراضي الفلسطينية المحتلة ريتشارد فولك أن موقف السلطة الفلسطينية من تقرير القاضي ريتشارد غولدستون في مجلس حقوق الإنسان التابع للمنظمة الدولية كان مخيبا للآمال، وأعرب عن استغرابه من أن تلعب السلطة ما قال إنه يمثل خيانة لشعبها.
وقال غولدستون للجزيرة إن المعلومات التي توفرت لديه كانت تشير بشكل أساسي إلى أن السلطة الفلسطينية تأثرت بالضغط الإسرائيلي الأميركي وخضعت لأسباب عديدة لهذا الضغط مشيرا إلى أنه لم يمارس على السلطة ضغوط من أي دولة عربية وإسلامية.
جاء ذلك بعد أن قال فولك في تصريحات سابقة من نيويورك إن السلطة الفلسطينية التي يفترض أنها تمثل الشعب الفلسطيني هي التي قامت بإنقاذ إسرائيل من الإدانة بسبب جرائم الحرب التي ارتكبتها في قطاع غزة عبر تأجيل التصويت على تقرير.
وأضاف أنه "كان محيرا أن يقوم الفلسطينيون أنفسهم بإنقاذ إسرائيل من هذه المعضلة التي وجدت إسرائيل نفسها فيها. ومن التبريرات الغريبة التي قدمت لقرار سحب التقرير أن الولايات المتحدة وإسرائيل هددتا بقطع جزء من التمويل الذي تتلقاه السلطة الفلسطينية، أو أن (بنيامين) نتنياهو هدد بأن استخدام التقرير سيقتل عملية السلام، وبطبيعة الحال ليس هناك عملية سلام يمكن وأدها".
وعن مصدر معلوماته إزاء تصريحاته في نيويورك التي أشار فيها إلى تخمينات بأن إسرائيل قالت إنه إذا لم تسحب السلطة الفلسطينية مشروع القرار فإنها لن تمضي في ترتيبات منح شركة هواتف نقالة في الضفة الغربية رخصة الحصول على موجات تردد، وقوله إنه "صادف بشكل غريب أن رئيس هذه الشركة هو ابن رئيس السلطة محمود عباس" قال فولك إنه اعتمد في ذلك على ما تداولته الأنباء وأنه ليس لديه شخصيا معلومات خاصة عن الموضوع.
وقال المقرر الأممي إنه يتحدث باسمه الشخصي وليس بوصفه موظفا في الأمم المتحدة.
واعتبر فولك أن موقف السلطة من التقرير يخلق شعورا بأنها ليست قادرة على حماية مصالح الشعب الفلسطيني، مشيرا إلى أن ذلك يخلق أزمة تمثيل للشعب الفلسطيني.
وأضاف المقرر الأممي أنه من المهم أن تشكل حكومة تحظى بالمصداقية لدى الفلسطينيين وهذا غير متوفر الآن، مشيرا إلى أن هناك ممثلين منتخبين للشعب الفلسطيني في غزة حرموا من هذا التمثيل.
"
Poll: Most in U.S. would back Iran strike
"WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- A strong majority of U.S. residents say it is important to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons, even if it means taking military action, a poll indicates.
The survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, released Tuesday, indicates that 61 percent of respondents agreed with the assertion, including 71 percent of Republicans, 66 percent of independents and 51 percent of Democrats. Only 24 percent of the respondents said is more important to avoid a war with Iran -- including 31 percent of Democrats who said so......"
The survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, released Tuesday, indicates that 61 percent of respondents agreed with the assertion, including 71 percent of Republicans, 66 percent of independents and 51 percent of Democrats. Only 24 percent of the respondents said is more important to avoid a war with Iran -- including 31 percent of Democrats who said so......"
How Israel Buried the UN's War Crime Probe
Buying Off the Palestinian Authority
By JONATHAN COOK
CounterPunch
Nazareth
"Israel celebrated at the weekend its success at the United Nations in forcing the Palestinians to defer demands that the International Criminal Court investigate allegations of war crimes committed by Israel during its winter assault on the Gaza Strip.
The about-turn, following furious lobbying from Israel and the United States, appears to have buried the damning report of Judge Richard Goldstone into the fighting, which killed some 1,400 Palestinians, most of them civilians......
But, according to Israeli and Palestinian analysts, diplomatic arm-twisting was not the only factor in the PA’s change of heart. Haaretz newspaper reported last week that, behind the scenes, Palestinian officials had faced threats that Israel would retaliate by inflicting enormous damage on the beleaguered Palestinian economy.
In particular, Israel warned it would renege on a commitment to allot radio frequencies to allow Wataniya, a mobile phone provider, to begin operations this month in the West Bank.......
Omar Barghouti, a Jerusalem-based founder of a Palestinian movement for an academic and cultural boycott of Israel, denounced the Palestinian Authority’s move: “Trading off Palestinian rights and the fundamental duty to protect the Palestinians under occupation for personal gains is the textbook definition of collaboration and betrayal.”.....
Tony Blair, the Middle East envoy representing the so-called Quartet of the United States, Russia, the UN and the EU, brokered the agreement last summer, saying Wataniya’s investment of more than $700 million over the next 10 years would “provide a much-needed boost to the Palestinian economy”.
Wataniya is a joint venture between Palestinian investors, including close allies of Mr Abbas, and Qatari and Kuwaiti businessmen.....
According to Who Profits?, an Israeli organization that investigates links between Israel and international companies in exploiting the occupied territories, Israel has a vested interest in limiting the success of the Palestinian mobile phone industry and protecting its control over extensive parts of the West Bank it wants for Jewish settlement....."
By JONATHAN COOK
CounterPunch
Nazareth
"Israel celebrated at the weekend its success at the United Nations in forcing the Palestinians to defer demands that the International Criminal Court investigate allegations of war crimes committed by Israel during its winter assault on the Gaza Strip.
The about-turn, following furious lobbying from Israel and the United States, appears to have buried the damning report of Judge Richard Goldstone into the fighting, which killed some 1,400 Palestinians, most of them civilians......
But, according to Israeli and Palestinian analysts, diplomatic arm-twisting was not the only factor in the PA’s change of heart. Haaretz newspaper reported last week that, behind the scenes, Palestinian officials had faced threats that Israel would retaliate by inflicting enormous damage on the beleaguered Palestinian economy.
In particular, Israel warned it would renege on a commitment to allot radio frequencies to allow Wataniya, a mobile phone provider, to begin operations this month in the West Bank.......
Omar Barghouti, a Jerusalem-based founder of a Palestinian movement for an academic and cultural boycott of Israel, denounced the Palestinian Authority’s move: “Trading off Palestinian rights and the fundamental duty to protect the Palestinians under occupation for personal gains is the textbook definition of collaboration and betrayal.”.....
Tony Blair, the Middle East envoy representing the so-called Quartet of the United States, Russia, the UN and the EU, brokered the agreement last summer, saying Wataniya’s investment of more than $700 million over the next 10 years would “provide a much-needed boost to the Palestinian economy”.
Wataniya is a joint venture between Palestinian investors, including close allies of Mr Abbas, and Qatari and Kuwaiti businessmen.....
According to Who Profits?, an Israeli organization that investigates links between Israel and international companies in exploiting the occupied territories, Israel has a vested interest in limiting the success of the Palestinian mobile phone industry and protecting its control over extensive parts of the West Bank it wants for Jewish settlement....."
Leaked Iran Paper Based on Intel that Split IAEA
Analysis by Gareth Porter
"WASHINGTON, 6 Oct (IPS) - Excerpts of the internal draft report by the staff of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) published online last week show that the report's claims about Iranian work on a nuclear weapon is based almost entirely on intelligence documents which have provoked a serious conflict within the agency.
Contrary to sensational stories by the Associated Press and The New York Times, the excerpts on the website of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) reveal that the IAEA's Safeguards Department, which wrote the report, only has suspicions – not real evidence - that Iran has been working on nuclear weapons in recent years......"
"WASHINGTON, 6 Oct (IPS) - Excerpts of the internal draft report by the staff of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) published online last week show that the report's claims about Iranian work on a nuclear weapon is based almost entirely on intelligence documents which have provoked a serious conflict within the agency.
Contrary to sensational stories by the Associated Press and The New York Times, the excerpts on the website of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) reveal that the IAEA's Safeguards Department, which wrote the report, only has suspicions – not real evidence - that Iran has been working on nuclear weapons in recent years......"
معاريف: "شريط أبو مازن، وتقرير غولدستون، والابتزاز الإسرائيلي"..
"* "شريط مصور يظهر فيه أبو مازن يحاول إقناع باراك بمواصلة الحرب على قطاع غزة"
* "تسجيل صوتي يتحدث فيه الطيب عبد الرحيم عن ضرورة احتلال مخيمي الشاطئ وجباليا مهما بلغ عدد الضحايا المدنيين"..
* "وعود إسرائيلية بالمساعدة في إقامة شبكة خليوية جديدة يقف على رأسها نجل أبو مازن في حال سحبت السلطة طلب مناقشة تقرير غولدستون"..
* معاريف في 11/05/2009: "كبار المسؤولين في السلطة ضغطوا بشدة على إسرائيل، خلال الحرب على قطاع غزة، من أجل إسقاط حركة حماس"..
....
"
* "تسجيل صوتي يتحدث فيه الطيب عبد الرحيم عن ضرورة احتلال مخيمي الشاطئ وجباليا مهما بلغ عدد الضحايا المدنيين"..
* "وعود إسرائيلية بالمساعدة في إقامة شبكة خليوية جديدة يقف على رأسها نجل أبو مازن في حال سحبت السلطة طلب مناقشة تقرير غولدستون"..
* معاريف في 11/05/2009: "كبار المسؤولين في السلطة ضغطوا بشدة على إسرائيل، خلال الحرب على قطاع غزة، من أجل إسقاط حركة حماس"..
....
"
Current Al-Jazeera (Arabic) Online Poll
This very fresh poll asks:
Do you see that postponing the vote on the Goldstone report poses an obstacle to reconciliation among the Palestinians?
With about 500 responding so far (it is quite early), 87% said yes.
Do you see that postponing the vote on the Goldstone report poses an obstacle to reconciliation among the Palestinians?
With about 500 responding so far (it is quite early), 87% said yes.
"فلسطينيون جدد" في الضفة الغربية!
"أفاض كثيرون خلال الشهور الماضية في الحديث عن "الفلسطيني الجديد" الذي أعلن الجنرال كيث دايتون عن إبداعه في الضفة الغربية.. أعني ذلك الذي انخرط في أجهزة الأمن الفلسطينية على قاعدة الصفقة الجديدة بين سلطة محمود عباس وسلطات الاحتلال، والتي خلاصتها أمن للإسرائيليين مقابل هدوء واستقرار وشيء من الرفاه للفلسطينيين، بصرف النظر عن نتائج المفاوضات.
......
مهمة توني بلير تبدو أكثر أهمية وإثارة من مهمة الجنرال دايتون، لأن الأخير يركز على بضع عشرات من الآلاف يعملون في جهاز الأمن، بينما يركز الآخر على صياغة قرابة 2.5 مليون فلسطيني في الضفة الغربية
.......
هذا هو بالضبط السلام الاقتصادي الذي تحدث عنه نتنياهو ويرعاه توني بلير وآخرون، وهذه هي الدولة المؤقتة التي يرفضونها في العلن ويقيمونها على الأرض، وهذه بالضبط هي نظرية شارون الشهيرة التي أعلنها وهو في المعارضة عام 2000
.......
إنهم لا يفهمون أن الفلسطيني لن يبيع أرضه وكرامته ويتعايش مع عدوه مقابل فتات الحياة اليومية، وإذا كان هناك من يقبل ذلك، فهم القلة التي لم تكن منخرطة في النضال من الأصل، وسيأتي اليوم الذي سينقلب فيه قطاع لا بأس به من الفلسطينيين على هذا الوضع لتعود المقاومة من جديد
"
......
مهمة توني بلير تبدو أكثر أهمية وإثارة من مهمة الجنرال دايتون، لأن الأخير يركز على بضع عشرات من الآلاف يعملون في جهاز الأمن، بينما يركز الآخر على صياغة قرابة 2.5 مليون فلسطيني في الضفة الغربية
.......
هذا هو بالضبط السلام الاقتصادي الذي تحدث عنه نتنياهو ويرعاه توني بلير وآخرون، وهذه هي الدولة المؤقتة التي يرفضونها في العلن ويقيمونها على الأرض، وهذه بالضبط هي نظرية شارون الشهيرة التي أعلنها وهو في المعارضة عام 2000
.......
إنهم لا يفهمون أن الفلسطيني لن يبيع أرضه وكرامته ويتعايش مع عدوه مقابل فتات الحياة اليومية، وإذا كان هناك من يقبل ذلك، فهم القلة التي لم تكن منخرطة في النضال من الأصل، وسيأتي اليوم الذي سينقلب فيه قطاع لا بأس به من الفلسطينيين على هذا الوضع لتعود المقاومة من جديد
"
Israel's Propaganda Machine, by Carlos Latuff
Barak and Polanski, by Khalil Bendib
Oh, People of Palestine,/If not bullets,/Pray tell,/Where are your shoes?
The Abu Mazen Tapes, the Goldstone Report and the Israeli Blackmail
"Ma’ariv (p. 5) by Amit Cohen et al. — A Palestinian press agency claims that the surprising decision by Palestinian Authority officials to postpone the discussion of the Goldstone report in the UN Human Rights Council is the result of an Israeli threat. According to a report by Shihab, the Palestinian Authority refused Israel’s demand that it withdraw its support for the harsh report, which Israel considered one-sided. Following this, Israeli figures showed the PA a series of tapes in which Palestinian Authority officials could be heard urging Israel to continue the operation in Gaza. Israel threatened to reveal the material to media outlets as well as to the UN and this, in turn, resulted in the Palestinian retreat. It was further claimed that the Palestinians were shown footage showing a meeting between Abu Mazen, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and then foreign minister Tzippi Livni. In the course of the meeting, according to the report, Abu Mazen attempted to convince Barak to continue the operation. Barak appeared hesitant whereas Abu Mazen was enthusiastic. In addition, a telephone conversation recording between Abed Al-Rahim, secretary general of the Palestinian Authority and director of Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi’s bureau was presented. The Palestinian senior official can be heard saying that now is the time to bring ground forces into the Jabalya and Shati refugee camps. “The fall of these two camps will bring about the fall of the Hamas regime in Gaza, and will cause them to wave a white flag,” says Abed Al-Rahim. According to the report, Dov Weissglas told Abed Al-Rahim that such a move could result in the deaths of thousands of civilians. “They all voted for Hamas,” says Abed Al-Rahim, “they chose their fate, not us.”......
In addition, the Palestinian Authority has attempted over the last year to establish an additional cellular network in the West Bank—Wataniya, to be directed by Abu Mazen’s son. “The IDF had opposed the new cellular network, claiming that this would clash with its frequencies, and it was proposed to the Palestinians the minimum frequency allocation, which the Palestinians did not accept,” explained a senior security source. “It would be fairly correct to state that it was hinted to Palestinian senior officials that if they would withdraw their endorsement of the Goldstone report, they would get help in promoting their interests to form a second cellular network in the West Bank.” "
"Ma’ariv (p. 5) by Amit Cohen et al. — A Palestinian press agency claims that the surprising decision by Palestinian Authority officials to postpone the discussion of the Goldstone report in the UN Human Rights Council is the result of an Israeli threat. According to a report by Shihab, the Palestinian Authority refused Israel’s demand that it withdraw its support for the harsh report, which Israel considered one-sided. Following this, Israeli figures showed the PA a series of tapes in which Palestinian Authority officials could be heard urging Israel to continue the operation in Gaza. Israel threatened to reveal the material to media outlets as well as to the UN and this, in turn, resulted in the Palestinian retreat. It was further claimed that the Palestinians were shown footage showing a meeting between Abu Mazen, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and then foreign minister Tzippi Livni. In the course of the meeting, according to the report, Abu Mazen attempted to convince Barak to continue the operation. Barak appeared hesitant whereas Abu Mazen was enthusiastic. In addition, a telephone conversation recording between Abed Al-Rahim, secretary general of the Palestinian Authority and director of Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi’s bureau was presented. The Palestinian senior official can be heard saying that now is the time to bring ground forces into the Jabalya and Shati refugee camps. “The fall of these two camps will bring about the fall of the Hamas regime in Gaza, and will cause them to wave a white flag,” says Abed Al-Rahim. According to the report, Dov Weissglas told Abed Al-Rahim that such a move could result in the deaths of thousands of civilians. “They all voted for Hamas,” says Abed Al-Rahim, “they chose their fate, not us.”......
In addition, the Palestinian Authority has attempted over the last year to establish an additional cellular network in the West Bank—Wataniya, to be directed by Abu Mazen’s son. “The IDF had opposed the new cellular network, claiming that this would clash with its frequencies, and it was proposed to the Palestinians the minimum frequency allocation, which the Palestinians did not accept,” explained a senior security source. “It would be fairly correct to state that it was hinted to Palestinian senior officials that if they would withdraw their endorsement of the Goldstone report, they would get help in promoting their interests to form a second cellular network in the West Bank.” "
Real News Video: D'Escoto: "The UN has failed"
Outgoing General Assembly prez says most powerful are to blame for UN failure to address war and poverty
"As he leaves the office of the President of the UN General Assembly, Father Miguel d'Escoto gave Real News Senior Editor Paul Jay a no holds barred interview on the issues plaguing the United Nations. D'Escoto held the democratization of the UN as a key pillar of his Presidency, but along the way he learned of the various obstacles that keep the General Assembly from becoming an effective body within the UN, and the UN from becoming an effective body within the world. He blames the world's most powerful states for this ineptitude to act, which has resulted in what he calls the failure of the UN to address the two objectives for which it was founded, the avoidance of war and the eradication of poverty."
"As he leaves the office of the President of the UN General Assembly, Father Miguel d'Escoto gave Real News Senior Editor Paul Jay a no holds barred interview on the issues plaguing the United Nations. D'Escoto held the democratization of the UN as a key pillar of his Presidency, but along the way he learned of the various obstacles that keep the General Assembly from becoming an effective body within the UN, and the UN from becoming an effective body within the world. He blames the world's most powerful states for this ineptitude to act, which has resulted in what he calls the failure of the UN to address the two objectives for which it was founded, the avoidance of war and the eradication of poverty."
Video: Ritter on Iran
Scott Ritter challenges idea that Iran is close to producing a nuclear weapon
Video: Palestinian factions slam UN delay on Gaza report
Abbas Pressured to Quit over Report, Threatened with a Video Tape?!
Al-Manar
"06/10/2009 Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is facing unusually harsh criticism from within Fatah and other Palestinian groups for his decision last week to withdraw a draft document requesting the United Nations Human Rights Council pursue the adoption of the Goldstone report which could have led to the prosecution of Israel for war crimes during its aggression in Gaza.
Senior Hamas member Mahmoud al-Zahar has demanded that the Palestinian president resign for supporting the postponement of the UN vote. Al-Zahar told Al Jazeera that Abbas was guilty of "a very big crime against the Palestinian people".......
Hundreds of people in the West Bank city of Ramallah protested against the Palestinian Authority's decision to support a delay to a UN vote on whether to endorse the findings of the report......
Thirty-two Palestinian groups in Europe also called on Abbas to immediately step down from office. In a statement, the groups said "the step to delay the endorsement was not less dangerous than the atrocities committed by the Israeli occupation in Gaza"......
Hamas, which has de facto control of Gaza and is the main political rival to Abbas's Fatah faction, has appeared to rule out reconciliation under the present circumstances. Egypt has invited Hamas and Fatah to Cairo for negotiations on October 26 towards the formation of a national unity government, but al-Zahar said that the PA's position on the Goldstone report made such a meeting futile.......
“A VIDEO CAUSED REPORT’S WITHDRAWAL”
"06/10/2009 Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is facing unusually harsh criticism from within Fatah and other Palestinian groups for his decision last week to withdraw a draft document requesting the United Nations Human Rights Council pursue the adoption of the Goldstone report which could have led to the prosecution of Israel for war crimes during its aggression in Gaza.
Senior Hamas member Mahmoud al-Zahar has demanded that the Palestinian president resign for supporting the postponement of the UN vote. Al-Zahar told Al Jazeera that Abbas was guilty of "a very big crime against the Palestinian people".......
Hundreds of people in the West Bank city of Ramallah protested against the Palestinian Authority's decision to support a delay to a UN vote on whether to endorse the findings of the report......
Thirty-two Palestinian groups in Europe also called on Abbas to immediately step down from office. In a statement, the groups said "the step to delay the endorsement was not less dangerous than the atrocities committed by the Israeli occupation in Gaza"......
Hamas, which has de facto control of Gaza and is the main political rival to Abbas's Fatah faction, has appeared to rule out reconciliation under the present circumstances. Egypt has invited Hamas and Fatah to Cairo for negotiations on October 26 towards the formation of a national unity government, but al-Zahar said that the PA's position on the Goldstone report made such a meeting futile.......
“A VIDEO CAUSED REPORT’S WITHDRAWAL”
The Palestinian Shahab agency quoted well-informed US sources as saying that a video was behind the Palestinian Authority's decision to withdraw support for Goldstone report. The agency said that a meeting was held in Washington in recent days between the representatives of the Palestinian Authority and Israeli delegation on the Gaza report. The sources pointed out that the PA representatives strongly rejected the Israeli request to defer the report and insisted on their position, until the Israeli Colonel Eli Avraham presented a video file displaying a dialogue which took place between Abbas and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak in the presence of the former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni........
Israeli Maariv newspaper had previously quoted the Israeli occupation Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi as saying that the Palestinian Authority represented by its president, went to war with Israel in Gaza........."
Israeli Maariv newspaper had previously quoted the Israeli occupation Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi as saying that the Palestinian Authority represented by its president, went to war with Israel in Gaza........."
Al-Jazeera Video: Palestinian anger at Abbas
"Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, is facing a growing backlash over the postponement of a vote on a UN report that criticises Israel for the Gaza war.
The report by Richard Goldstone, a South African judge, blamed both the Israeli military and Palestinian fighters for war crimes during Israel's offensive on the Gaza Strip between December and January, but it was more critical of Israeli troops for "targeting and terrorising civilians".
Abbas has dismissed accusations that he bowed to US pressure to support the postponement, but that has done little to quell growing anger from all sectors of Palestinian society.
Al Jazeera's Nour Odeh reports on the protests from the West Bank city of Ramallah."
Monday, October 05, 2009
The demise of the dollar
By Robert Fisk
In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar.
Secret meetings have already been held by finance ministers and central bank governors in Russia, China, Japan and Brazil to work on the scheme, which will mean that oil will no longer be priced in dollars.
The plans, confirmed to The Independent by both Gulf Arab and Chinese banking sources in Hong Kong, may help to explain the sudden rise in gold prices, but it also augurs an extraordinary transition from dollar markets within nine years. [Comment: I do not believe arab states have the chutzpah to pull such moves]
Hamas Has Been Handed a Hot Potato, and Doesn't Know What to Do!
COMMENT
By Tony Sayegh
(Left: Suleiman meeting with Abbas in Amman, today, to finalize a deal with Hamas)
I do not have time for a long comment, and I will elaborate later this evening.
The fast moving events and the explosive revelations about the treason of Abbas and his Ramallah gang, captured on video and taped telephone conversations, dealing with high level Israelis during the IOF devastation of Gaza, and urging them to continue with the attacks, have put Hamas in a very awkward spot.
Coming just days after Mishaal announced that a deal for "reconciliation" with Abbas has already been reached. All that remains is the final wording of the deal (to be arranged by the Pharaoh's Foreign Minister, Break-Their-Legs-Abul-Gheit, and his Intelligence Chief Suleiman) and ceremonies for signing it (in Cairo), attended by representatives of most of the puppet Arab regimes. In fact Suleiman and Abul-Gheit are in Jordan meeting with the puppet king and the traitor Abbas, to finalize the deal.
Hamas is speaking with a dozen voices. There is a lot of sound and fury, but all of the Hamas leaders have not closed the door on dealing with Abbas. Habila has blasted the delaying of the vote on the report as "irresponsible." Some have called for POSTPONING (not cancelling) the signing of the "reconciliation" deal with him.
Others (like Hayya) are trying to put the blame on the PA representative at the UN, which is the game Abbas himself is playing! Hayya is calling for his punishment, not the punishment of Abbas!
Another leader, Bardawil, is saying that we can't have a deal with Abbas, because he can't be trusted and if Hamas did that, the Palestinian people would not forgive it!
The so-called "Justice Minister" is studying a request to try "those responsible" for treason!
I will keep you posted, but the apple cart which Mishaal has carefully arranged with the Pharaoh's representatives appears ready to tip over!
By Tony Sayegh
(Left: Suleiman meeting with Abbas in Amman, today, to finalize a deal with Hamas)
I do not have time for a long comment, and I will elaborate later this evening.
The fast moving events and the explosive revelations about the treason of Abbas and his Ramallah gang, captured on video and taped telephone conversations, dealing with high level Israelis during the IOF devastation of Gaza, and urging them to continue with the attacks, have put Hamas in a very awkward spot.
Coming just days after Mishaal announced that a deal for "reconciliation" with Abbas has already been reached. All that remains is the final wording of the deal (to be arranged by the Pharaoh's Foreign Minister, Break-Their-Legs-Abul-Gheit, and his Intelligence Chief Suleiman) and ceremonies for signing it (in Cairo), attended by representatives of most of the puppet Arab regimes. In fact Suleiman and Abul-Gheit are in Jordan meeting with the puppet king and the traitor Abbas, to finalize the deal.
Hamas is speaking with a dozen voices. There is a lot of sound and fury, but all of the Hamas leaders have not closed the door on dealing with Abbas. Habila has blasted the delaying of the vote on the report as "irresponsible." Some have called for POSTPONING (not cancelling) the signing of the "reconciliation" deal with him.
Others (like Hayya) are trying to put the blame on the PA representative at the UN, which is the game Abbas himself is playing! Hayya is calling for his punishment, not the punishment of Abbas!
Another leader, Bardawil, is saying that we can't have a deal with Abbas, because he can't be trusted and if Hamas did that, the Palestinian people would not forgive it!
The so-called "Justice Minister" is studying a request to try "those responsible" for treason!
I will keep you posted, but the apple cart which Mishaal has carefully arranged with the Pharaoh's representatives appears ready to tip over!
شريط فيديو أجَّل تقرير غولدستون
Al-Jazeera
This item is a bombshell! I am looking for the English version and will post when available.
See Below for a Partial Translation:
"نقلت وكالة شهاب الفلسطينية للأنباء عن مصادر وصفتها بالمطلعة في واشنطن قولها إن شريط فيديو كان وراء ما قال إنه قرار السلطة الفلسطينية سحب تأييدها لمشروع قرار في مجلس حقوق الإنسان التابع للأمم المتحدة يدعم تقرير ريتشارد غولدستون حول الانتهاكات في الحرب الإسرائيلية الأخيرة على قطاع غزة.
وقالت الوكالة إن اجتماعا جرى في واشنطن في الأيام الماضية بين ممثلين عن السلطة الفلسطينية ووفد إسرائيلي حول الموقف من التقرير، وأشارت المصادر إلى أن ممثلي السلطة رفضوا في البداية بشدة الطلب الإسرائيلي بعدم تمرير التقرير، وتمسكوا بموقفهم، إلى أن جاء العقيد إيلي أفراهام وعرض على جهاز الحاسوب ملف فيديو يعرض لقاء وحوارا دار بين رئيس السلطة الفلسطينية محمود عباس ووزير الدفاع الإسرائيلي إيهود باراك بحضور وزيرة الخارجية السابقة تسيبي ليفني.
ووفقا للمصدر نفسه ظهر عباس في التسجيل المصور وهو يحاول إقناع باراك بضرورة استمرار الحرب على غزة، فيما بدا باراك مترددا أمام حماسة عباس وتأييد ليفني لاستمرار الحرب.
وأشار المصدر إلى أن أفرهام عرض أيضا على وفد السلطة تسجيلا لمكالمة هاتفية بين مدير مكتب رئاسة الأركان الإسرائيلية دوف فايسغلاس والطيب عبد الرحيم الأمين العام للرئاسة الفلسطينية، الذي قال فيها إن الظروف مواتية ومهيأة لدخول الجيش الإسرائيلي لمخيمي جباليا والشاطئ، مؤكدا أن سقوط المخيمين سينهي حكم حركة المقاومة الإسلامية (حماس) في قطاع غزة، وسيدفعها لرفع الراية البيضاء.
وحسب تسجيل المكالمة فإن فايسغلاس قال للطيب عبد الرحيم إن هذا سيتسبب في سقوط آلاف المدنيين، فرد عليه عبد الرحيم بأن "جميعهم انتخبوا حماس، وهم الذين اختاروا مصيرهم وليس نحن".
وقال المصدر إن الوفد الإسرائيلي هدد ممثلي السلطة بعرض المواد المسجلة أمام الأمم المتحدة وعلى وسائل الإعلام، ما دفع وفد السلطة للموافقة على الطلب الإسرائيلي، وقام بكتابة تعهد خطي يقر فيه بعدم إعطاء تصريح لأي دولة لاعتماد تقرير غولدستون.
وفي السياق ولغرض تأكيد معلوماتها أشارت وكالة شهاب لما نشرته صحيفة معاريف الإسرائيلية بتاريخ 11/5/2009، حول تصريحات رئيس أركان الجيش الإسرائيلي غابي أشكنازي بأن السلطة الفلسطينية ممثلة برئيسها محمود عباس خاضت مع إسرائيل الحرب على غزة.
وأعادت الوكالة التذكير بما نشرته الصحيفة في وقته من أن أشكنازي أرسل رسالة إلى المستشار القضائي للحكومة الإسرائيلية كشف من خلالها عن التعاون غير المسبوق بين الجيش الإسرائيلي والسلطة الفلسطينية ممثلة برئيسها عباس أثناء الحرب على غزة.
وكانت الصحيفة قالت إن سلطة رام الله ضغطت على إسرائيل لإسقاط حكم حماس قبل بدء الحرب، كما أشارت إلى وثيقة أعدت في مكتب ليفني تكشف عن ممارسة عناصر فلسطينية رفيعة المستوى ضغوطا على إسرائيل بشكل كبير لإسقاط حكم حماس في غزة.
وحسب الوثيفة دفعت السلطة الفلسطينية الاحتلال الإسرائيلي وبقوة لبدء تنفيذ عملية الرصاص المصبوب وضرب حماس، وقالت الصحيفة إن ما دفع وزارة الخارجية الإسرائيلية للكشف عن هذه الوثيقة هو ما شرعت به شخصيات في السلطة الفلسطينية في أعقاب عملية الرصاص المصبوب، للبدء في التحقيق مع القادة الإسرائيليين في جرائم الحرب التي ارتكبوها أثناء الحرب.
ونوهت وكالة شهاب إلى تصريحات أشكنازي في ذلك التاريخ للقناة الثانية في التلفزيون الإسرائيلي، التي قال فيها لأول مرة "إسرائيل وسلطة رام الله قاتلتا جنبا إلى جنب أثناء عملية الرصاص المصبوب على قطاع غزة".
وكان وزير الخارجية الإسرائيلي أفيغدور ليبرمان قد أطلق تصريحات قبل بضعة أسابيع هدد فيها السلطة الفلسطينية بالكشف عن دورها في الحرب على غزة، إذا أصرت على مواصلة دعم تقرير غولدستون.
وكانت صحيفة هآرتس الإسرائيلية قد أكدت في أعدادها السابقة أن رئيس السلطة الفلسطينية محمود عباس هو من اتخذ قرار مطالبة مجلس حقوق الإنسان التابع للأمم المتحدة بتأجيل مناقشة تقرير غولدستون، وذلك بناء على ضغوط أميركية.
....."
Palestinian factions call for forming committee to probe Goldstone report delay
".....In a related context, Shihab news agency quoted informed sources in Washington as saying that a meeting between PA representatives and an Israeli delegation took place in Washington to persuade the PA to withdraw its support for Goldstone’s report.
The source told Shihab that the PA officials initially rejected the Israeli request, until Israeli officer Eli Ofarham showed up and displayed on his laptop a videotaped file showing Mahmoud Abbas urging Israel war minister Ehud Barak to continue the war on Gaza.
The sources also revealed that the PA official also listened to a recorded telephone conversation between director of the general staff office Dov Weissglas and Abbas’s aide Tayeb Abdelrahim in which the latter called on Israel to invade the refugee camps of Jabaliya and Al-Shati and said that the fall of those camps would end the rule of Hamas.
Abbas urged Barak to continue the war on Gaza and Abelrahim called on the Israelis to invade Jabalya and Shati refugee camps to finish off Hamas.
Weissglas, according to the record, said that this would lead to thousands of casualties among citizens, but Abdelrahim stressed that they all elected Hamas and chose their own destiny.
The sources added that the Israeli delegation threatened to exhibit these recorded materials to the UN members and the media and demanded the PA officials to pledge in writing not to give any country a permission to adopt Goldstone’s report........"
Last Straw for the Palestinian “Authority”?
By Saree Makdisi
Via Angry Arab
".........These, then, are the possibilities before us: not only does the PA not represent the Palestinian people, it is also, on top of that, either corrupt to an almost unimaginable level; or it is profoundly incompetent and guilty of squandering the rights and hopes of a people that it is unentitled to claim to lead; or it is interested not in its people’s rights and hopes but rather in perpetuating its own status as the day-to-day caretaker of a permanent Israeli occupation—in which case it is no less collaborationist than the Vichy “government” of Nazi-occupied France in the 1940s. Corruption; incompetence; collaboration: ah, the agony of choice......."
Via Angry Arab
".........These, then, are the possibilities before us: not only does the PA not represent the Palestinian people, it is also, on top of that, either corrupt to an almost unimaginable level; or it is profoundly incompetent and guilty of squandering the rights and hopes of a people that it is unentitled to claim to lead; or it is interested not in its people’s rights and hopes but rather in perpetuating its own status as the day-to-day caretaker of a permanent Israeli occupation—in which case it is no less collaborationist than the Vichy “government” of Nazi-occupied France in the 1940s. Corruption; incompetence; collaboration: ah, the agony of choice......."
New doubt on US's Iran plant claim
By Gareth Porter
Asia Times
"Washington's charge that construction on Iran's second uranium-enrichment facility is part of a covert decision to violate its International Atomic Energy obligations is being questioned. Further analysis of satellite photos of the site suggests Iran is not in the wrong....."
Asia Times
"Washington's charge that construction on Iran's second uranium-enrichment facility is part of a covert decision to violate its International Atomic Energy obligations is being questioned. Further analysis of satellite photos of the site suggests Iran is not in the wrong....."
Fired UN Official Peter Galbraith Accuses the United Nations of Helping Cover Up Electoral Fraud Committed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai
Democracy Now!
With Amy Goodman
"....
AMY GOODMAN: In an op-ed published in the Washington Post Sunday, Peter Galbraith describes the Afghan elections as a, quote, “foreseeable train wreck” and says Kai Eide ordered him not to pursue the issue of fraud, fraud that he says has, quote, “handed the Taliban its greatest strategic victory in eight years of fighting the United States and its Afghan partners.”
We go now to Bergen, Norway, and we’re joined by Ambassador Peter Galbraith there.
Peter Galbraith, welcome to Democracy Now! Can you explain why you believe you were fired?.........."
With Amy Goodman
"....
AMY GOODMAN: In an op-ed published in the Washington Post Sunday, Peter Galbraith describes the Afghan elections as a, quote, “foreseeable train wreck” and says Kai Eide ordered him not to pursue the issue of fraud, fraud that he says has, quote, “handed the Taliban its greatest strategic victory in eight years of fighting the United States and its Afghan partners.”
We go now to Bergen, Norway, and we’re joined by Ambassador Peter Galbraith there.
Peter Galbraith, welcome to Democracy Now! Can you explain why you believe you were fired?.........."
Al-Jazeera Video: Cairo's rich-poor divide - 4 Oct 09
"The Egyptian capital of Cairo is the biggest city in the Arab world and Africa.
Many of the city's 17 million people live below the poverty line trying to survive in satellite shanty towns while nearby, estate agents sell dream homes for the rich trying to escape Cairo's notorious pollution and traffic.
Al Jazeera's Amr El Kakhy reports from Cairo on Egypt's deepening divide between rich and poor. "
Another PA betrayal
BY KHALID AMAYREH
Palestine Think Tank
"......
Finally, it is probably safe to assume that the PA dreads a thorough discussion of the Goldstone report as much as Israel does.
According to certain sources, the PA had consistently urged Israel to pursue the criminal war on the Gaza Strip to the end.
Israel is also believed to possess damning evidence showing some PA officials pleading with Israel to keep up the war on Gaza in order to crush Hamas.
Hence, it is highly likely that the PA has found itself in an exceedingly embarrassing situation, which explains why it doesn’t want to see a public discussion of the Goldstone report take place anytime soon as this would reveal many shocking and embarrassing secrets about PA connivance with Israel in carrying out the Nazi-like onslaught on the Gaza Strip."
Palestine Think Tank
"......
Finally, it is probably safe to assume that the PA dreads a thorough discussion of the Goldstone report as much as Israel does.
According to certain sources, the PA had consistently urged Israel to pursue the criminal war on the Gaza Strip to the end.
Israel is also believed to possess damning evidence showing some PA officials pleading with Israel to keep up the war on Gaza in order to crush Hamas.
Hence, it is highly likely that the PA has found itself in an exceedingly embarrassing situation, which explains why it doesn’t want to see a public discussion of the Goldstone report take place anytime soon as this would reveal many shocking and embarrassing secrets about PA connivance with Israel in carrying out the Nazi-like onslaught on the Gaza Strip."
Netan-Yahoo, by Mr. Fish
Al-Jazeera Video with Professor Joseph Mas'ad: Arab development - 29 July 09
By Chris Hedges
"War memorials and museums are temples to the god of war. The hushed voices, the well-tended grass, the flapping of the flags allow us to ignore how and why our young died. They hide the futility and waste of war. They sanitize the savage instruments of death that turn young soldiers and Marines into killers, and small villages in Vietnam or Afghanistan or Iraq into hellish bonfires. There are no images in these memorials of men or women with their guts hanging out of their bellies, screaming pathetically for their mothers. We do not see mangled corpses being shoved in body bags. There are no sights of children burned beyond recognition or moaning in horrible pain. There are no blind and deformed wrecks of human beings limping through life. War, by the time it is collectively remembered, is glorified and heavily censored......
These memorials, while they pay homage to those who made “the ultimate sacrifice,” dignify slaughter. They perpetuate the old lie of honor and glory. They set the ground for the next inferno. The myth of war manufactures a collective memory that ennobles the next war. The intimate, personal experience of violence turns those who return from war into internal exiles. They cannot compete against the power of the myth. This collective memory saturates the culture, but it is “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”"
"War memorials and museums are temples to the god of war. The hushed voices, the well-tended grass, the flapping of the flags allow us to ignore how and why our young died. They hide the futility and waste of war. They sanitize the savage instruments of death that turn young soldiers and Marines into killers, and small villages in Vietnam or Afghanistan or Iraq into hellish bonfires. There are no images in these memorials of men or women with their guts hanging out of their bellies, screaming pathetically for their mothers. We do not see mangled corpses being shoved in body bags. There are no sights of children burned beyond recognition or moaning in horrible pain. There are no blind and deformed wrecks of human beings limping through life. War, by the time it is collectively remembered, is glorified and heavily censored......
These memorials, while they pay homage to those who made “the ultimate sacrifice,” dignify slaughter. They perpetuate the old lie of honor and glory. They set the ground for the next inferno. The myth of war manufactures a collective memory that ennobles the next war. The intimate, personal experience of violence turns those who return from war into internal exiles. They cannot compete against the power of the myth. This collective memory saturates the culture, but it is “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”"
UN Must Immediately Adopt and Act on Goldstone Report
By Omar Barghouti
Palestine Chronicle
"Palestinian civil society has strongly and almost unanimously condemned the Palestinian Authority's latest decision to delay adoption by the UN Human Rights Council of the report prepared by the UN Fact-Finding Mission, headed by justice Richard Goldstone, into the recent Israeli war of aggression against the Palestinian people in the occupied Gaza Strip. A common demand in almost all Palestinian statements issued in this respect was for the UN to adopt the report and act without undue delay on its recommendations in order to bring an end to Israel's criminal impunity and to hold it accountable before international law for its war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza and, indeed, all over the occupied Palestinian territory......
Only the Palestine Liberation Organization, the PLO, can theoretically claim to represent the entirety of the Palestinian people: inside historic Palestine and in exile. For such a claim to be substantiated and universally accepted by Palestinians everywhere, though, the PLO would need to be revived from the grassroots upwards, in a transparent, democratic and inclusive process that involves Palestinians everywhere and encompasses all the political parties that are outside the PLO structures today. In parallel with this democratic reclamation or popular take-back of the PLO by the people and their representative unions and institutions, the PA must be responsibly and gradually dismantled, with its current powers, particularly the representation seats at the UN and other regional and international institutions, returned to where they belong, to the real representative of all the people of Palestine, the revived and democratized PLO. This dissolution of the PA, however, must at all times avoid creating a legal and political vacuum, as history shows that hegemonic powers are often the most likely to fill such a vacuum to the detriment of the oppressed.
The fact is the PA has been gradually and irreversibly transformed since its establishment 15 years ago from a mere -- often powerless, obsequious and coerced -- sub-contractor of the Israeli occupation regime, relieving it of its most cumbersome civil duties, like the provision of services and tax collection, and, most crucially, very effectively helping it safeguard the security of its occupation army and colonial settlers, into a willing collaborator that constitutes Israel's most important strategic weapon in countering its growing isolation and loss of legitimacy on the world stage as a colonial and apartheid state.....
We simply cannot afford to give up on the UN, though. Human rights organizations and international civil society must continue to help the Palestinian struggle to pressure the UN, at least its General Assembly, to adopt and act upon the recommendations of the Goldstone report at all levels. If the UN fails to do so it will send an unambiguous message to Israel that its impunity remains intact and that the international community will stand by apathetically the next time it commits even more egregious crimes against the indigenous people of Palestine. This would gravely undermine the rule of law and promote in its stead the law of the jungle, where no one will be protected from total chaos and boundless carnage."
Palestine Chronicle
"Palestinian civil society has strongly and almost unanimously condemned the Palestinian Authority's latest decision to delay adoption by the UN Human Rights Council of the report prepared by the UN Fact-Finding Mission, headed by justice Richard Goldstone, into the recent Israeli war of aggression against the Palestinian people in the occupied Gaza Strip. A common demand in almost all Palestinian statements issued in this respect was for the UN to adopt the report and act without undue delay on its recommendations in order to bring an end to Israel's criminal impunity and to hold it accountable before international law for its war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza and, indeed, all over the occupied Palestinian territory......
Only the Palestine Liberation Organization, the PLO, can theoretically claim to represent the entirety of the Palestinian people: inside historic Palestine and in exile. For such a claim to be substantiated and universally accepted by Palestinians everywhere, though, the PLO would need to be revived from the grassroots upwards, in a transparent, democratic and inclusive process that involves Palestinians everywhere and encompasses all the political parties that are outside the PLO structures today. In parallel with this democratic reclamation or popular take-back of the PLO by the people and their representative unions and institutions, the PA must be responsibly and gradually dismantled, with its current powers, particularly the representation seats at the UN and other regional and international institutions, returned to where they belong, to the real representative of all the people of Palestine, the revived and democratized PLO. This dissolution of the PA, however, must at all times avoid creating a legal and political vacuum, as history shows that hegemonic powers are often the most likely to fill such a vacuum to the detriment of the oppressed.
The fact is the PA has been gradually and irreversibly transformed since its establishment 15 years ago from a mere -- often powerless, obsequious and coerced -- sub-contractor of the Israeli occupation regime, relieving it of its most cumbersome civil duties, like the provision of services and tax collection, and, most crucially, very effectively helping it safeguard the security of its occupation army and colonial settlers, into a willing collaborator that constitutes Israel's most important strategic weapon in countering its growing isolation and loss of legitimacy on the world stage as a colonial and apartheid state.....
We simply cannot afford to give up on the UN, though. Human rights organizations and international civil society must continue to help the Palestinian struggle to pressure the UN, at least its General Assembly, to adopt and act upon the recommendations of the Goldstone report at all levels. If the UN fails to do so it will send an unambiguous message to Israel that its impunity remains intact and that the international community will stand by apathetically the next time it commits even more egregious crimes against the indigenous people of Palestine. This would gravely undermine the rule of law and promote in its stead the law of the jungle, where no one will be protected from total chaos and boundless carnage."
Americans manufacture another nuclear crisis
By Eric Margolis
Toronto Sun
"NEW YORK -- The U.S., Britain and France staged a bravura performance of political theatre last week by claiming to have just "discovered" a secret Iran uranium enrichment plant near Qum. On cue, a carefully orchestrated media blitz trumpeted warnings of the alleged Iranian nuclear threat and "long-ranged missiles."
In reality, the Qum plant was detected by U.S. spy satellites over two years ago, and was known to the intelligence community. Iran claimed the plant will not begin enriching uranium for peaceful power for another 540 days. UN nuclear rules, to which Iran adheres, calls for 180 days notice........"
Toronto Sun
"NEW YORK -- The U.S., Britain and France staged a bravura performance of political theatre last week by claiming to have just "discovered" a secret Iran uranium enrichment plant near Qum. On cue, a carefully orchestrated media blitz trumpeted warnings of the alleged Iranian nuclear threat and "long-ranged missiles."
In reality, the Qum plant was detected by U.S. spy satellites over two years ago, and was known to the intelligence community. Iran claimed the plant will not begin enriching uranium for peaceful power for another 540 days. UN nuclear rules, to which Iran adheres, calls for 180 days notice........"
Israeli Exceptionalism
A major cause of Middle East turmoil
by Justin Raimondo, October 05, 2009
"In the Washington Times, some astonishing news:
"President Obama has reaffirmed a 4-decade-old secret understanding that has allowed Israel to keep a nuclear arsenal without opening it to international inspections, three officials familiar with the understanding said. The officials, who spoke on the condition that they not be named because they were discussing private conversations, said Mr. Obama pledged to maintain the agreement when he first hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in May."..........
Israeli exceptionalism – treating the Jewish state as if it were the 51st state, rather than an independent country – grossly distorts our foreign policy, endangers our security, and imperils our real interests in the Middle East. Its origins lie in the fact that foreign policy in a democratic polity is the result of interest groups lobbying to substitute their own goals and interests for the interests of the nation as a whole, and the powerful Israel lobby plays this game very well. Until and unless the Lobby is reined in – and, yes, defeated – there will be no justice and certainly no peace in the region."
by Justin Raimondo, October 05, 2009
"In the Washington Times, some astonishing news:
"President Obama has reaffirmed a 4-decade-old secret understanding that has allowed Israel to keep a nuclear arsenal without opening it to international inspections, three officials familiar with the understanding said. The officials, who spoke on the condition that they not be named because they were discussing private conversations, said Mr. Obama pledged to maintain the agreement when he first hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in May."..........
Israeli exceptionalism – treating the Jewish state as if it were the 51st state, rather than an independent country – grossly distorts our foreign policy, endangers our security, and imperils our real interests in the Middle East. Its origins lie in the fact that foreign policy in a democratic polity is the result of interest groups lobbying to substitute their own goals and interests for the interests of the nation as a whole, and the powerful Israel lobby plays this game very well. Until and unless the Lobby is reined in – and, yes, defeated – there will be no justice and certainly no peace in the region."
The tropes of 'Jewish antisemitism'
The concept of the 'self-hating Jew' has been dignified with a pseudo-psychopathology by those keen to suppress dissent
Antony Lerman
guardian.co.uk, Monday 5 October 2009
"From the moment he took the job heading the UN Human Rights Council's mission to investigate human rights and international humanitarian law violations during the Gaza conflict, it was inevitable that Judge Richard Goldstone, born into a South African Jewish family, would be labelled a "self-hating Jew" and a Jewish antisemite. Immediately on the release in September of his findings, which concluded that both Israel and Hamas had committed war crimes, Israel's finance minister, Yuval Steinitz, couldn't wait to make this accusation.
He certainly wasn't alone. The charge is so popular these days that people who use it must have felt as though they had won the lottery when they were presented with such a high-profile target like Goldstone. They were probably still savouring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's outburst in August when he railed against the two senior and Jewish aides of President Obama, Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod, calling them "self-hating Jews".......
When the self-hating Jew allegation is levelled at someone with the degree of integrity of Judge Goldstone, who takes such pride in his Jewishness, and is orchestrated by the Israeli government and prominent Jewish leaders and commentators, the ugly desperation of the accusers is laid bare. Regrettably, given the appalling state of public debate about antisemitism and Israel-Palestine among Jews, no matter how clearly and how often the charge of Jewish self-hatred is shown to be nothing more than a political and personal insult that demeans the accuser and demonises the accused, it won't be going away any time soon."
Antony Lerman
guardian.co.uk, Monday 5 October 2009
"From the moment he took the job heading the UN Human Rights Council's mission to investigate human rights and international humanitarian law violations during the Gaza conflict, it was inevitable that Judge Richard Goldstone, born into a South African Jewish family, would be labelled a "self-hating Jew" and a Jewish antisemite. Immediately on the release in September of his findings, which concluded that both Israel and Hamas had committed war crimes, Israel's finance minister, Yuval Steinitz, couldn't wait to make this accusation.
He certainly wasn't alone. The charge is so popular these days that people who use it must have felt as though they had won the lottery when they were presented with such a high-profile target like Goldstone. They were probably still savouring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's outburst in August when he railed against the two senior and Jewish aides of President Obama, Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod, calling them "self-hating Jews".......
When the self-hating Jew allegation is levelled at someone with the degree of integrity of Judge Goldstone, who takes such pride in his Jewishness, and is orchestrated by the Israeli government and prominent Jewish leaders and commentators, the ugly desperation of the accusers is laid bare. Regrettably, given the appalling state of public debate about antisemitism and Israel-Palestine among Jews, no matter how clearly and how often the charge of Jewish self-hatred is shown to be nothing more than a political and personal insult that demeans the accuser and demonises the accused, it won't be going away any time soon."
Abbas looks for 'resolution killer'!
Press TV
"......Mahmoud Abbas, facing an unprecedented wave of condemnation and accusations of treason from other Palestinian factions, has ordered the establishment of a commission of inquiry into the issue.
The measure killed the Palestinians hope to pass a resolution against Israel in the UN Human Rights Council.
An unnamed PA minister scoffed at Abbas' decision to establish the commission, the Jerusalem Post reported.
"What's the president [Abbas] trying to tell us? that he didn't make the decision to kill the resolution that would have seen the UN endorse the findings of the fact-finding commission into the Gaza war?" the minister asked.
"Well, if he didn't make the decision, then we want to know who's running the Palestinian Authority. If he was responsible for the [deferral] decision, then this is a very serious matter. If he knew, it's bad; if he didn't know, it's even worse," JP quoted him as saying......."
"......Mahmoud Abbas, facing an unprecedented wave of condemnation and accusations of treason from other Palestinian factions, has ordered the establishment of a commission of inquiry into the issue.
The measure killed the Palestinians hope to pass a resolution against Israel in the UN Human Rights Council.
An unnamed PA minister scoffed at Abbas' decision to establish the commission, the Jerusalem Post reported.
"What's the president [Abbas] trying to tell us? that he didn't make the decision to kill the resolution that would have seen the UN endorse the findings of the fact-finding commission into the Gaza war?" the minister asked.
"Well, if he didn't make the decision, then we want to know who's running the Palestinian Authority. If he was responsible for the [deferral] decision, then this is a very serious matter. If he knew, it's bad; if he didn't know, it's even worse," JP quoted him as saying......."
'Israel has to be held accountable'
By Sousan Hammad
Al-Jazeera
"The postponement of the UN Human Rights Council vote on the findings of Richard Goldstone's report into Israel's recent 22-day war on Gaza has raised many questions.
Sahar Francis, a Palestinian Israeli and a human rights lawyer who testified before the UN fact finding mission led by Goldstone, spoke to Al Jazeera about the move and its fallout.
Al Jazeera: On Friday, the Palestinian leadership backed moves to postpone a vote on the findings of Richard Goldstone's report. What does this decision mean for Palestinians?
Sahar Francis: It was such a disappointing step by the Palestinian Authority (PA). I think it is a very wrong move as Palestinians have been fighting for human rights for so long.
It's also very disappointing that whenever we come close to the position of ending [Israel's] immunity, politics comes in the way of implementing international law.......
The US announced that it will postpone any discussions over the Goldstone report for another six months until the next Human Rights Council meeting convenes in March 2010. Why do you think this report is being shelved?
Sahar Francis: I think by delaying the debate, they think people will forget, that nothing will come out of the report and no legal procedures will be taken.
As human rights activists, we should not accept this fact. We should keep doing our work to push the view of this report and try to use it in other ways. It is the individual's responsibility.
By using universal jurisdiction we can take cases of personal victims from the war on Gaza to international courts. It won't be easy, but I believe people should make the change. It should come from the Palestinian people and their supporters all over the world who believe in our struggle, and that justice should come to Palestinians."
Al-Jazeera
"The postponement of the UN Human Rights Council vote on the findings of Richard Goldstone's report into Israel's recent 22-day war on Gaza has raised many questions.
Sahar Francis, a Palestinian Israeli and a human rights lawyer who testified before the UN fact finding mission led by Goldstone, spoke to Al Jazeera about the move and its fallout.
Al Jazeera: On Friday, the Palestinian leadership backed moves to postpone a vote on the findings of Richard Goldstone's report. What does this decision mean for Palestinians?
Sahar Francis: It was such a disappointing step by the Palestinian Authority (PA). I think it is a very wrong move as Palestinians have been fighting for human rights for so long.
It's also very disappointing that whenever we come close to the position of ending [Israel's] immunity, politics comes in the way of implementing international law.......
The US announced that it will postpone any discussions over the Goldstone report for another six months until the next Human Rights Council meeting convenes in March 2010. Why do you think this report is being shelved?
Sahar Francis: I think by delaying the debate, they think people will forget, that nothing will come out of the report and no legal procedures will be taken.
As human rights activists, we should not accept this fact. We should keep doing our work to push the view of this report and try to use it in other ways. It is the individual's responsibility.
By using universal jurisdiction we can take cases of personal victims from the war on Gaza to international courts. It won't be easy, but I believe people should make the change. It should come from the Palestinian people and their supporters all over the world who believe in our struggle, and that justice should come to Palestinians."
Israeli trolls explained!! It's also a paid job!
Israel deploys cyber team to spread positive spin
By Jonathan Cook*
The passionate support for Israel expressed on talkback sections of websites, internet chat forums, blogs, Twitters and Facebook may not be all that it seems.
Israel's foreign ministry is reported to be establishing a special undercover team of paid workers whose job it will be to surf the internet 24 hours a day spreading positive news about Israel.
Internet-savvy Israeli youngsters, mainly recent graduates and demobilised soldiers with language skills, are being recruited to pose as ordinary surfers while they provide the government's line on the Middle East conflict.
"To all intents and purposes the internet is a theatre in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and we must be active in that theatre, otherwise we will lose," said Ilan Shturman, who is responsible for the project.
The existence of an "internet warfare team" came to light when it was included in this year's foreign ministry budget. About $150,000 (Dh551,000) has been set aside for the first stage of development, with increased funding expected next year.
The team will fall under the authority of a large department already dealing with what Israelis term "hasbara", officially translated as "public explanation" but more usually meaning propaganda. That includes not only government public relations work but more secretive dealings the ministry has with a battery of private organisations and initiatives that promote Israel's image in print, on TV and online.
In an interview this month with the Calcalist, an Israeli business newspaper, Mr Shturman, the deputy director of the ministry's hasbara department, admitted his team would be working undercover.
"Our people will not say: ‘Hello, I am from the hasbara department of the Israeli foreign ministry and I want to tell you the following.' Nor will they necessarily identify themselves as Israelis," he said. "They will speak as net-surfers and as citizens, and will write responses that will look personal but will be based on a prepared list of messages that the foreign ministry developed."
By Jonathan Cook*
The passionate support for Israel expressed on talkback sections of websites, internet chat forums, blogs, Twitters and Facebook may not be all that it seems.
Israel's foreign ministry is reported to be establishing a special undercover team of paid workers whose job it will be to surf the internet 24 hours a day spreading positive news about Israel.
Internet-savvy Israeli youngsters, mainly recent graduates and demobilised soldiers with language skills, are being recruited to pose as ordinary surfers while they provide the government's line on the Middle East conflict.
"To all intents and purposes the internet is a theatre in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and we must be active in that theatre, otherwise we will lose," said Ilan Shturman, who is responsible for the project.
The existence of an "internet warfare team" came to light when it was included in this year's foreign ministry budget. About $150,000 (Dh551,000) has been set aside for the first stage of development, with increased funding expected next year.
The team will fall under the authority of a large department already dealing with what Israelis term "hasbara", officially translated as "public explanation" but more usually meaning propaganda. That includes not only government public relations work but more secretive dealings the ministry has with a battery of private organisations and initiatives that promote Israel's image in print, on TV and online.
In an interview this month with the Calcalist, an Israeli business newspaper, Mr Shturman, the deputy director of the ministry's hasbara department, admitted his team would be working undercover.
"Our people will not say: ‘Hello, I am from the hasbara department of the Israeli foreign ministry and I want to tell you the following.' Nor will they necessarily identify themselves as Israelis," he said. "They will speak as net-surfers and as citizens, and will write responses that will look personal but will be based on a prepared list of messages that the foreign ministry developed."
ElBaradei :"Nuclear Israel number one threat to Mideast"
TEHRAN, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed ElBaradei said Sunday that "Israel is number one threat to Middle East" with its nuclear arms, the official IRNA news agency reported.
At a joint press conference with Iran's Atomic Energy Organization chief Ali Akbar Salehi in Tehran, ElBaradei brought Israel under spotlight and said that the Tel Aviv regime has refused to allow inspections into its nuclear installations for 30years, the report said.
"Israel is the number one threat to the Middle East given the nuclear arms it possesses," ElBaradei was quoted as saying.
At a joint press conference with Iran's Atomic Energy Organization chief Ali Akbar Salehi in Tehran, ElBaradei brought Israel under spotlight and said that the Tel Aviv regime has refused to allow inspections into its nuclear installations for 30years, the report said.
"Israel is the number one threat to the Middle East given the nuclear arms it possesses," ElBaradei was quoted as saying.
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Deja Vu All Over Again?
Is Habila Still Dreaming of "National Unity" With The Traitors Being Denounced by Hamas for Covering Up Israeli War Crimes?
Shockingly, the Answer is Yes!
In Fact Mishaal Has Already Pretty Much Agreed to Such a Deal.
Why? Because He Said, "There is No Other Choice!"
Don't Be Surprised to Hear About a New "Unity" Deal in Cairo, in 2 Weeks!
Hamas Has Become Very Good in Doublespeak; it Denounces the Traitor, but Still Works with Him!
The Palestinians Need a Change They Can Believe in; These Jackasses Are Taking Them Over a Cliff!
