Saturday, March 30, 2013

حنين زعبي: الاعتداء على الياس كرام ونبيل مزاوي نتاج ثقافة تربي على العنف

عــ48ـرب


"أصدرت النائبة حنين زعبي، التجمع الوطني الديمقراطي، بيانا أدانت فيه بشدة عملية الاعتداء على الصحفي إلياس كرام مراسل قناة الجزيرة وطاقمه المرافق.

وجاء في البيان " أن ما جرى من اعتداء دنيء على إلياس كرام ونبيل مزاوي، طاقم الجزيرة، هو استمرار لثقافة هي أخطر  من الزعرنة، وهي أخطر من العنف. ما هو أخطر من الزعرنة والعنف هو التربية للزعرنة والتربية للعنف.. وما هو أخطر من اثنيهما هو إنتاج "وطنية عنيفة" "وطنية أقصائية"، "وطنية شبيحة"، لا تقصي من لا يعترف بالوطنية، بل تقصي من يختلف معك في الوطنية".
وأضاف البيان أن الاعتداء لا يمثل سلوكا فرديا، لأنه لم يكن له أن يحصل لولا "تنظيرات" سياسية "شبيحية" لبعض القيادات والتيارات الحزبية، ما يبدأ بفكر شبيحي، ينتهي بسلوك شبيحة. "ما شهدناه اليوم هو مشهد من بعض التلامذة يؤدون  ما تعلموه من بعض الكبار".

وأكد البيان على خطورة إلا يتبقى شيء من السياسة سوى التعصب، مشيرا إلى أن"ما شهدناه من اعتداء على طاقم الجزيرة، هو تعصب أعمى لجهة، دون فكر سياسي تقدمي يرشد التعصب ويمنحه بوصلة إنسانية ووطنية".

وأضاف البيان أن "الثقافة" التي تخون من جهة أخرى، شعوبا كاملة، أو تحولها بكاملها لمشروع مؤامرة، هي ثقافة لا تحترم الشعوب ولا الأفراد، ولا. تعتبر الشعوب مرجعية نفسها، بل هي تنصب نفسها حكما على مصلحة الشعوب، وتعطي لنفسها الحق في الاعتداء على الافراد.
واختتم البيان مؤكدا على أهمية دور التجمع في حماية الهوية القومية من التعصب، ومن التنكر  لمكانة الفرد وحقوق الإنسان وكرامته، ومؤكدا على أن واقع الحال السياسي في العالم العربي ييبره أن وظيفة الثورات العربية عليها أن تشمل، حماية الفرد من كافة أنواع الاستبداد، بما فيهم استبداد الشبيحة، وحماية "الوطنية" من كافة أنواع التنظيرات "الشبيحية"."

How Egypt's radical rulers crush the lives and hopes of women


Women stood shoulder to shoulder with men in Tahrir Square in 2011. Now they are back on the streets, opposing a new constitution that sweeps away their rights and opens the way for girls of 13 to be married. And in Cairo's slums, life grows harder as the gulf between the sexes widens
A woman marches on the Muslim Brotherhood's HQ in Cairo to protest at plans to reduce the legal age of marriage to 13. Photograph: Gary Calton for the Observer
"The ambush came from the left, from a side street which led up the hill to Mokattam mosque. A rush of hundreds of men running down on the march of anti-government protesters, bringing a sudden clatter of rocks landing all around, the crack of shots fired and the whizz of tear gas canisters. Sticks, stones and metal bars flew through the smoke in both directions and screaming women and men ran back the way they came.
Dozens of manned police vans remained parked a kilometre away. The only sirens came from ambulances that drove through the crowds and past burning vehicles to take some 40 injured people to hospital.
One angry woman with a bleeding mouth and eyes streaming from the tear gas pulled off her headscarf and stood yelling at the other side, the supporters of the ruling Muslim Brotherhood: "You are not Islam! You are not Egypt! Where is my freedom?"......."

Egypt's prosecutor general orders arrest of well-known satirist


"(Reuters) - Egypt's prosecutor-general on Saturday ordered the arrest of the country's best-known satirist, Bassam Youssef, for making fun of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood.

Youssef hosts a weekly program, El-Bernameg (The Show), broadcast at prime time on Fridays on a private satellite channel. He is noted for his imitations of the president's speech and gestures.

"Prosecutor-general Talaat Ibrahim ordered the arrest of Bassem Youssef on the accusation of insulting President Mursi," state radio reported. Egypt's news agency MENA said that Youssef was also accused of insulting Islam.

Youssef later tweeted confirming the news and said he would go on his own to the prosecutor's office on Sunday. "But they are welcome to send me a car and save me the trip if they like," Youssef wrote in the same tweet.
 

A week ago the authorities ordered the arrest of several opposition activists accused of inciting violence against Mursi and the ruling Muslim Brotherhood."

Al-Jazeera Video: Talk to Al Jazeera - Ragia Omran : Abused in Egypt


"Sexual harassment and attacks on women in Egypt were a problem before the January 25 revolution, but in the two years since the Arab Spring came to Cairo, the problem has grown worse.

Violent assaults - groping, stripping and rapes have become increasingly frequent at the heart of the uprising, Tahrir Square.

Sexual assault in Egypt, activists say, has become a weapon of war against women. Many have long stayed silent, but not anymore. One of those making their voices heard is Ragia Omran, a prominent lawyer, human rights activist, and feminist. She talks to Al Jazeera about the women abused in Egypt, the role of women, and why she refuses to stay silent."

Al-Jazeera Video: Syrian rebels 'seize' key town near Jordan



"Syrian rebels have seized an important town on a main highway between Damascus and the south in Daraa province on the border with Jordan, a UK-based watchdog says. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Friday that 10 civilians, including a child, were killed in fighting for Dael, the latest to be seized by the rebels over the past 24 hours. Al Jazeera's Dominic Kane." 

Guardian Video: Morsi supporters and opponents clash in Alexandria








"Clashes erupt in Alexandria between supporters and opponents of Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood on Friday. Demonstrators throw stones and Molotov cocktails at one another near Sidi Gaber railway station, with one man seen firing a handmade pistol. Train services have been disrupted by fires on the railway tracks."

Bank of Cyprus depositors could lose up to 60% of their savings

Cypriot finance officials say initial losses will be 37.5%, but up to 22.5% more could be taken if bank needs further capitalisation

guardian.co.uk

"Savers with the Bank of Cyprus could lose up to 60% of their savings according to officials from the central bank and the finance ministry......."

Current Al-Jazeera (Arabic) Online Poll


Do you agree with Lakhdar Brahimi that arming the Syrian opposition is not the solution?

So far, 79% said no.

Friday, March 29, 2013

My Favorite Weekly Show: البرنامج - العشق الممنوع - الحلقه 19

Egyptian Female Cartoonist Pokes Fun at Fundamentalists


Scornful Brushstrokes

by MEDEA BENJAMIN
CounterPunch

"One of the women who spoke at the Women’s Assembly during the World Social Forum in Tunisia was not a political activist, but a cartoonist. Dooa Eladl is 34-year-old Egyptian woman who calls herself a Muslim anarchist. Her work appears in the prominent newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm She has become one of Egypt’s best-known political cartoonists, in a field completely dominated by men......

Eladl’s blistering caricatures have landed her in hot water with some of Egypt’s powerful fundamentalists. She now has the distinction of being the first cartoonist in Egypt to face blasphemy charges......

If the fundamentalists are upset about her irreverent depictions of religious figures, one has to wonder if they have seen her searing drawings about women’s rights—and wrongs. One cartoon against child marriage shows a lecherous, old man with a cane peering greedily up the skirt of a little girl holding a teddy bear.

Egyptian Female Cartoonist Pokes Fun at Fundamentalists_html_m3f0a83e9

Another has the streaming beard of a fundamentalist flowing across a woman’s mouth to silence her.
Egyptian Female Cartoonist Pokes Fun at Fundamentalists_html_215a5681


.......Eladl’s critique of the post-Mubarak era goes way beyond the treatment of women. She says there has been little change in general because the new government is similar to the old, more concerned about holding onto power than making life better for the poor......."

PLO launches online platform to attack BDS right after sabotaging UN vote on settlements

By Ali Abunimah

"The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) today launched a new online forum whose main priority appears to be to undermine the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.

This came just days after the PLO sabotaged a UN Human Rights Council resolution that could have hastened international action against Israel for its continued illegal colonization of Palestinian land.

New “Engage” forum launched with attacks on BDS movement

The PLO delegation in Washington launched “Engage,” an online blog hosted on its official website.....


Of course this is not the first effort by the Palestinian Authority to undermine BDS. In 2010, Salam Fayyad, the externally-imposed Palestinian Authority “prime minister,” launched a call on Palestinians to boycott goods from Israeli settlements.

While this brief campaign grabbed headlines, it was actually an attempt to undermine BDS more broadly because while calling for a boycott of settlements goods only, PA officials were assuring Israel of their desire to maintain expand econonomic ties with Israel in defiance of the Palestinian BDS call.......

Start from scratch?

Although the venerable name of the PLO has cachet, and the idea of the PLO still commands the loyalty of millions of Palestinians, in practice this body long ago lost any legitimacy or representativeness among Palestinians.

Its loss of legitimacy is so severe that in a recent analysis for The Electronic Intifada, Osamah Khalil proposed that Palestinians should abandon it altogether and start from scratch.

The latest antics at the UN and with the “Engage” forum can only bolster those who agree with Khalil."

Britons in aid convoy kidnapped and sexually assaulted in Libya

Note: This story is reported in Arabic, 4 posts below. What an outrage!

The Guardian
Three women who were part of an aid convoy passing through Libya on the way to Gaza have been sexually assaulted in Benghazi, after a group of five British nationals were briefly kidnapped.
The three women, two of whom are sisters, were part of a large aid convoy travelling to the Gaza Strip. It is thought that they were part of a group of five people who were briefly kidnapped near Benghazi in the early hours of Tuesday and they were released some hours later. The group is currently safe in the Turkish consul in Benghazi and is expected to return to the UK.
Libyan security officials said the attacks happened in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Abdul Barghathi, commander of preventative security in the Libyan defence ministry, said the women had been sexually assaulted, but not raped. "There was no rape, just touching (sexual assault)," he said. "Because there is no British consulate here they were handed to the Turkish consulate." The three women are not badly wounded and are being attended to by consular staff from the UK, he added.
The women were part of a large convoy taking vehicles and aid to the Gaza Strip on a journey that had taken them through France, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and then Libya. It had intended to cross the border with Egypt but was prevented from doing so by Egyptian authorities. The 10-vehicle convoy is still stuck at the border but the five British nationals returned to Benghazi in eastern Libya late on Monday night in order to return home...........".

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Al-Jazeera Video: Egypt government targets bread subsidies



"With around 40 percent of the people in Egypt living on $2 a day or less, cheap bread is a social subsidy this country still cannot function without. 

There are many people in Egypt who do live on bread alone some days and very little more. Egypt's economy, post-revolution, is in deep trouble, as prices for all the basics are up; fuel and food. Unemployment is rising, and so is poverty. 

The Egyptian government is running out of money, so it is seeking a loan from the International Monetary Fund, and it wants to make cuts, including rationing public bread and cutting and changing payments to those who make it. 

Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught reports from Cairo."

Egypt’s Coptic Christians must be protected from sectarian violence


".......

“Coptic Christians across Egypt face discrimination in law and practice and have been victims of regular sectarian attacks while authorities systematically look the other way,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director at Amnesty International......



A pattern of discrimination
Human rights organizations including Amnesty International have, over time, documented a pattern of discrimination against Coptic Christians in Egypt.

Under Hosni Mubarak, at least 15 major attacks on Copts were documented and the situation didn’t improve under the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) which ruled the country between the downfall of Hosni Mubarak and the election of President Mohamed Morsi.

In 2013, Coptic Christian activists reported at least four attacks on Churches or affiliated buildings in addition to Wasta, taking place in the Governorates of Aswan, Beni Suef, Cairo, and Fayoum.
The authorities’ response to the violence has been poor, at best......


“It is high time for the authorities to take sectarian violence and threats seriously. The Egyptian authorities are responsible for ensuring the protection of people, their homes and livelihoods. Time and time again, President Morsi claimed to be President of all Egyptians. Now, he needs to take action to ensure that sectarian violence is prevented and when it occurs it is properly investigated, and those responsible face justice,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

“By not prosecuting those responsible for sectarian violence, the Egyptian authorities are signalling Coptic Christians can be attacked with impunity”....."

Emad Hajjaj's Take on Arab Summits


AND ANOTHER "SUMMIT" HAS JUST BEEN CONCLUDED.....
CELEBRATE THE ARAB IMPOTENCE

اغتصبوا النساء - حكومة حماس تستنكر اعتراض قافلة مرمرة البرية في بنغازي

عرب48 /وكالات

SO THIS IS ARAB SOLIDARITY WITH BESIEGED GAZA? AND THESE ARE THE NEW "REVOLUTIONARY" GOVERNMENTS IN LIBYA AND EGYPT?

TFUH! 

استنكرت الحكومة الفلسطينية المقالة التي تقودها حركة حماس أمس الأربعاء، ما وصفتها بـجريمة اعتراض قافلة مرمرة البرية في مدينة بنغازي الليبية واختطاف خمسة من أعضائها خلال طريقهم لغزة وبقاء متضامنة أسيرة لدى الخاطفين.
ودعا الناطق باسم الحكومة، طاهر النونو في تصريح تلقت يونايتد برس انترناشونال نسخة منه، أجهزة الأمن والقيادة الليبية ببذل كل الجهود لإنقاذ المتضامنة المختطفة وتوفير الحماية لباقي المتضامنين.

وقال رئيس فرع مؤسسة (IHH) في قطاع غزة محمد كايا، لمراسل الأناضول، إن "خمسة باكستانيين يحملون الجنسيات البريطانية بينهم ثلاثة رجال وامرأتان، كانوا ضمن قافلة مافي مرمرة البرية اختطفوا مساء الثلاثاء في بنغازي أثناء محاولتهم مغادرة البلاد بعد منع السلطات المصرية للقافلة من دخول أراضيها وأفرج عن 4 منهم صباح اليوم (أمس الاربعاء) وبقيت امرأة مختطفة حتى اللحظة".

وكشف كايا أن "المختطفين اغتصبوا المرأتين قبل أن يفرجوا عن إحداهما صباح اليوم (أمس)".
وانطلقت قافلة "مافي مرمرة" التي تضم 25 ناشطًا من جنسيات مختلفة، في الـ25 من الشهر الماضي، من بريطانيا محمّلة بمساعدات طبيّة و11 سيارة إسعاف، إلى أهالي قطاع غزّة بهدف كسر الحصار المفروض على القطاع منذ نحو 6 سنوات، وانتقلت منها إلى فرنسا ثم إسبانيا فالمغرب حيث انتظرت خمسة أيّام قبل أن تدخل الجزائر فتونس، حتى علقت على الحدود التونسية الليبية منتصف الشهر الجاري لعدة أيام قبل أن يتم السماح لها بدخول ليبيا.
وبعد مرورها من ليبيا ووصولها للحدود المصرية، منعت السلطات المصرية القافلة من دخول أراضيها، "لعدم وجود تنسيق مسبق مع وزارة الخارجية، وعدم الحصول على تأشيرات لها قبل الوصول إلى بوابة المنفذ المصري بالسلوم على الحدود مع ليبيا"، نهاية الأسبوع الماضي، بحسب مصادر أمنية مسؤولة بالحدود المصرية، وهو ما نفاه نشطاء من منظمي القافلة.
وتتكون قافلة "مافي مرمرة" من بعض الذين شاركوا في سفينة أسطول الحرية "مافي مرمرة" التي انطلقت من تركيا إلى قطاع غزة، في مايو/أيار 2010، وتعرّضت لهجوم من جانب الجيش الإسرائيلي أسفر عن مقتل تسعة من المتضامنين الأتراك.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Al-Jazeera Video: في العمق/ الثورة والديمقراطية والعالم العربي الجديد



"تستضيف الحلقة الرئيس التونسي محمد المنصف المرزوقي ليجيب عن التساؤلات التالية: ما التحديات التي تواجه تونس بعد عامين من ثورتها؟ هل واكبت النخب السياسية العربية طموحات شعوبها؟ هل نجح العرب في إثراء التجربة الديمقراطية على صعيد المفهوم والممارسة؟
"

Current Al-Jazeera (Arabic) Online poll


Do you support giving Syria's seat at the Arab League summit to the Syrian Coalition (instead of the regime)?

So far, 81% have said yes.

Whipped and Whipped Good, by Khalil Bendib


Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Dyno Morsi Sleeping During Opening Session of the AL "Summit."


Dozing in Doha: President Mursi sleeps at critical Arab summit

Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi and the delegation accompanying him appear falling asleep in the opening session of the Arab League summit.

Empty words


By Stephen M. Walt



"........Because power is more important than mere rhetoric, it won't take long before Obama's visit is just another memory. The settlements will keep expanding, East Jerusalem will be cut off from the rest of the West Bank, the Palestinians will remain stateless, and Israel will continue on its self-chosen path to apartheid. And in the end, Obama will have proven to be no better a friend to Israel or the Palestinians than any of his predecessors. All of them claimed to oppose the occupation, but none of them ever did a damn thing to end it. And one of Obama's successors will eventually have to confront the cold fact that two states are no longer a realistic possibility. What will he or she say then?"

He Sure Still Acts as The Syrian Karzai. He Does Not Want Other Karzais, Such as From Texas.


Khatib's speech

The Guardian


"Syrian opposition figure Moaz al-Khatib has urged the US and Nato to help protect the rebel-held areas, but he rejected foreign interference in the revolution [What an oxymoron!].

Speaking through a translator at the Arab League summit he said he had asked Washington to help protect northern areas using Patriot surface-to-air missiles.
He said:
The role played by the US should be much bigger. I asked John Kerry [US secretary of state] to provide Patriot missiles to protect the northern province. We requested Nato to spare the lives of innocent civilians. We do not wish to fight, we wish to protect civilians to restore the normal way of life......."

Monday, March 25, 2013

Arab League "Summit"

Another Arab League "Summit".......
I Can Hardly Contain Myself.

Obama resets Middle East compass

By M K Bhadrakumar 
Asia Times
War Criminal Ehud Barak Formally Received in Turkey....

"The Barack Obama-mediated phone call between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week was historic in being a formal apology for an Israeli sin, even as it was also crude PR. More importantly, Turkish-Israeli reconciliation impacts the overall strategic balance in the Middle East and has profound implications for the Iran question........

In sum, Obama's mediatory mission to Israel and his stunning success in healing the Turkish-Israeli rift resets the compass of Middle Eastern politics. The American regional policies are returning to their pristine moorings riveted on the perpetuation of its hegemony in the Middle East with Turkey and Israel acting as the key local agents.

While in Israel, Obama didn't show any sense of urgency about the Middle East peace process. Indeed, turbulent times lie ahead for the Middle East. "

An Update on the Status of the Syrian Regime, by Emad Hajjaj


Syria: the failure of our so-called international community

How can the country be abandoned in its hour of need? Power plays have taken priority over the terrible suffering of Syrians



"The massacre in Syria rages on and yet we stand idle. We must realise that, to millions of Syrians trapped in the country, the virtual absence of humanitarian relief is nearly as arbitrary and cruel as the war itself.
Bombs, even ballistic missiles, are tearing homes apart and more than 70,000 people have been killed. Weapons, not blankets, are pouring into the country. The BBC asks a child if he misses playing with his friends and he replies, "they are all dead." God is weeping.
Where are the shelters and the food? More than a million Syrians are leaving the country and their lives behind. Half of them are children........
How many more harrowing scenes of exhausted families crossing the border into Jordan, Lebanon or Turkey must we bear witness to? For how long must we hear their tales of grief and devastation before the ambulances are allowed to enter?
Ultimately it falls to the Syrian authorities to give their blessing if the UN is to organise humanitarian access for medicine, food and blankets to reach all parts of Syria. But our efforts to achieve even this, and fulfil our deepest moral obligation to Syrians, have been half-hearted at best......."


Abbas government denied Palestinian journalists access to Obama visit

The Guardian

"Eighteen Palestinian journalists were denied access by the Palestinian Authority to cover President Obama's visit last week to the West Bank.

Authority officials said there were "security reasons" for the failure to give accreditation to the journalists. Some work for pro-Hamas media and some represent media close to the Palestinian Authority, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, but have been critical of it.
The 18 journalists included Mohammed Daraghmeh, who works for theAssociated Press, and he was eventually granted access after making a strong complaint.
Others were not so lucky. They included: Abbas Momani (AFP), Issam Rimawi (Al Hayat Al Jadeeda), Maher Alemi (Al Quds), Nael Bwaitel (Xinhua), Iyad Jadallah (WAFA), Hudaifa Srour (WAFA) and Awad Rjoub (Al-Jazeera website). The others were from pro-Hamas news outlets.
The Authority's foreign press secretary, Abdullah Erakat, acknowledged that some journalists didn't get accreditation due to "technical mistakes" and said he had "lost sleep" over the issue. He denied that journalists were denied security clearance because of their work.
Anthony Mills, deputy director of the International Press Institute, registered concern at the denial of access, adding: "We urge the president's office to undertake an investigation into this matter and ensure that journalists for all media are given equal access in future.""

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Al-Jazeera Video:السلطات المصرية تمنع قافلة إغاثة من المرور لغزة

THIS IS EGYPT UNDER THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD:
JUST AS BAD AS UNDER MUBARAK!
HUMANITARIAN CONVOY TO GAZA DENIED ENTRY INTO EGYPT 

Al-Jazeera Video: Syrian opposition leader resigns

حنين زعبي: لا معنى لما يسمى بالاعتذار الإسرائيلي لتركيا دون رفع الحصار عن غزة

عــ48ـرب

"في بيان أصدرته النائبة حنين زعبي (التجمع الوطني الديمقراطي)، حول الاعتذار الإسرائيلي لتركيا، قالت إنه "لا معنى لما يسمى بالاعتذار دون إنهاء الحصار الذي من أجل كسره قُتل المناضلون  الأتراك. الجريمة الكبرى وهي الحصار، ما زالت مستمرة، وطالما هي مستمرة فالنضال ضدها سيستمر، وقوافل الحرية عليها أن تستمر"، وأضافت زعبي: "إسرائيل لم تعتذر عن الجريمة، لا الكبرى المتمثلة بالحصار ولا الصغرى المتمثلة بقتل الأتراك."
أردوغان تنازل دون مبرر عن مطلب المحاكمة الدولية
وجاء في البيان أيضًا: "جريمة قتل 9 نشطاء سياسيين كانوا على متن قافلة الحرية هو استمرار للجريمة الكبرى، والتي هي حصار غزة، و لا يملك لا مشعل، ولا هنية، ولا عباس، ولا غيرهم،  قبول ما يسمى بالاعتذار الإسرائيلي دون أن يتضمن إنهاء الحصار على غزة. أما  أردوغان فقد تنازل دون مبرر عن مطلب المحاكمة الدولية، رغم أن إسرائيل لم تعترف حتى بالجريمة، بل ’’بخطأ‘‘، ’’ربما‘‘ أودى بحياة من قٌتل."

إعادة ترتيب الأوراق في المنطقة بما يتلاءم مع المصالح الأمريكية - الإسرائيلية

وأردفت زعبي: "ما كان على السفينة هو ليس خطأ، بل هو جريمة قذرة، أعطى نتانياهو وباراك وأشكنازي الضوء الأخضر لها، ولا رد مقبول أقل من أن يحاكم هؤلاء الثلاثة، وأقل من ذلك يعتبر خطأ سياسيا فادحا بحق الشعب التركي والفلسطيني معا."
واختتمت زعبي بالقول: "لقد تنازلت تركيا بضغوطات أمريكية عن حقها بمحاكمة المجرمين، ووافقت على تجيير دورها لحسابات أمريكية وإسرائيلية تهدف لاحتواء تداعيات الثورة في سوريا، ولإعادة ترتيب الأوراق في المنطقة بما يتلاءم مع المصالح الأمريكية – الإسرائيلية."
"

Real News Video: Palestinians Reacted Angrily to US President's Visit


Expectations are zero that Obama will broker peace between Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Obama accused of siding with Israel on every issue -

More at The Real News

EXPOSING ERDOGAN AS A LIAR AND AN AMERICAN STOOGE: Israel says fence-mending with Turks does not end Gaza blockade



"(Reuters) - Israel did not commit to ending its Gaza blockade as part of reconciliation with Turkey and could clamp down even harder on the Palestinian enclave if security is threatened, Israeli officials said on Sunday.

After a U.S.-brokered fence-mending announcement on Friday, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said Israel had met his demands to apologize for killing nine Turks aboard a Gaza-bound activist ship in 2010, pay compensation to those bereaved or hurt and lift the blockade by allowing in more consumer goods.
 

That fell well short, however, of an end to the blockade - which Erdogan had routinely insisted on during the almost three-year-old rift as a condition for rapprochement......"

Obama's Israel visit is an insult to the Palestinians


Obama's visit to Israel endorsed their narrative and was a slap in the face to Palestinians.

".......But no amount of rhetoric can disguise the fact that the visit was an insult to the Palestinian people on every count. He laid a wreath at Theodor Herzl's grave, (needless to say, he did not do the same for Yasser Arafat). He viewed an exhibition of the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Israel Museum, and had no new plan for resolving the Palestinian plight. 

Herzl was a Jewish Hungarian journalist living in Vienna at the end of the 19th century, with no conceivable connection to Palestine. Nevertheless, it was his vision of an exclusive state for foreign Jews like himself to be built in my homeland that eventually led to the creation of modern Israel in place of Palestine. President Obama's visit coincided with a time of sad anniversaries for us, Herzl's victims........

Palestinians, already disillusioned about the chances of a separate state arising, should take heed of these realities. Obama's visit has shown that no help for their plight will be forthcoming from the US, (or anyone else). They have one last card and they must play it now: to abandon their leaderships both in the West Bank and Gaza and throw their efforts behind a demand for equal rights, including citizenship, under Israeli rule.

This move, dreaded by Israel's previous prime minister, Ehud Olmert, and its past defence minister, Ehud Barak as the preamble to a bi-national state, will put Israel in an impossible position. But it would be the logical result of its policy of land grabs and citizen disenfranchisement. If President Obama's visit goes some way to stimulating this resolve amongst Palestinians, then it would have had a historic, albeit unintended, purpose, and establish his currently vacuous trip to one that is truly momentous. "

EXIT ONE SYRIAN KARZAI; ENTER ANOTHER. WHAT A FIASCO!


Syrian opposition leader resigns 


Ahmed Moaz Al Khatib resigns from the National Coalition, expressing frustration at the lack of international support.

"Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, Syria's opposition leader, has announced his resignation from the National Coalition, his spokesman told Al Jazeera.

Mohamed Ali said the resignation followed Saturday's meeting with the European Union, "which resulted in achieving nothing".[What did the fool expect??]......."

Assessing Obama's Middle East trip


Marwan Bishara answers three questions on Obama's recent trip to the Middle East.

Al-Jazeera

"What got your attention most about the visit of President Obama's to Israel and Palestine?

......With all that's happening right now with Iran, Syria and overall tension in the greater Middle East, I wonder how Obama can talk for so long and say absolutely nothing. On this visit, all we've seen are long speeches with dreamy language and no concrete substance......

Obama embraced the Zionist narrative about Palestine as the historic home of the Jewish people more than any American president that came before him. This rendered Palestinians - the indigenous inhabitants - guests in their own homeland.......


Obama's relations with Israel seemed to suffer over the last four years. Is that the reason for this visit?

........America's relationship with Israel has continued to thrive through heightened and, at times, unprecedented bilateral security and economic exchanges. As former Israeli Minister of Defence Ehud Barak put it, the relationship has never been stronger than under Obama......


Was the visit successful in this regard?

........Be that as it may, Obama's visit to the region, first and foremost, had a domestic objective. He has made it clear that his domestic agenda is the main priority of his second term. But to ensure a constructive political atmosphere at home, Obama had to avert a major Middle East catastrophe, with Israel at its heart....."