Irish civil society calls for boycott of Israel

Open letter, various undersigned, 3 February 2009

The following letter was published in a full-page advertisement in The Irish Times on 31 January 2009. The original ad, including signatures may be downloaded here. [PDF]

"Israel's bombardment of Gaza killed over 1,300 Palestinians, a third of them children. Thousands have been wounded. Many victims had been taking refuge in clearly marked UN facilities.

This assault came in the wake of years of economic blockade by Israel. This blockade, which is illegal under international humanitarian law, has destroyed the Gaza economy and condemned its population to poverty. According to a World Bank report last September, "98 percent of Gaza's industrial operations are now inactive."

The most recent attack on Gaza is only the latest phase in Israel's oppression of the Palestinian people and appropriation of their land.....

We, the signatories, call for the following:

* The Irish Government to cease its purchase of Israeli military products and services and call publicly for an arms embargo against Israel.

* The Irish Government to demand publicly that Israel reverse its settlement construction, illegal occupation and annexation of land in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions and to use its influence in international fora to bring this about.

* The Irish Government to demand publicly that the Euro-Med Agreement under which Israel has privileged access to the EU market be suspended until Israel complies with international law.

* The Irish Government to veto any proposed upgrade in EU relations with Israel.

* The Irish people to boycott all Israeli goods and services until Israel abides by international law."

Al-Jazeera Cartoon

"Moderate" Arabs.....
A Front for Israel.

ICC Investigating Israel War Crimes Charges

By Daniel Luban

"NEW YORK, Feb 3 (IPS) - The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague announced a preliminary investigation Tuesday into whether Israel committed war crimes during the recent Gaza war, following the Palestinian National Authority's (PNA) move to recognise the ICC's authority in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Whether the ICC has jurisdiction in Gaza is expected to be a highly contentious legal issue, and the ICC investigation comes at a time of heightened debate over the legality of Israel's Gaza campaign under international law.

This renewed debate has come about in large part due to statements made by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday, in which he appeared to enshrine "disproportionate" response to provocations as official Israeli government policy....."

Gaza Reemerging From the Ashes

By Mirela Xanthaki

"UNITED NATIONS, Feb 3 (IPS) - The United Nations is urgently appealing for 613 million dollars to aid more than a million desperate civilians in the ruins of Gaza, where schools, hospitals, houses, factories and even farmland were obliterated during the three-week assault by Israeli air and ground forces.

Over 1,300 Palestinians were killed and more than 5,300 injured in the war, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Some 21,000 homes were reported destroyed or badly damaged, and more than 50,000 people were displaced into temporary U.N. shelters.

"Whole industrial areas [were] completely flattened, buildings blasted into piles of rubble," Christine van Nieuwenhuyse, the World Food Programme's (WFP) country director for the occupied Palestinian territories, reported after her recent trip to Gaza.

"While there were some areas left totally untouched, it was precisely the strategic economic areas that Gaza depends on to relieve its dependency on aid that were wiped out," she wrote......"

Is Peace No Longer an Option?

By Norman Soloman

"....But something even more troubling may be afoot as America steps into a future where war appears endless and peace may be impossible, as author Norman Solomon notes in this guest essay:

The United States began its war in Afghanistan 88 months ago. "The war on terror" has no sunset clause. As a perpetual emotion machine, it offers to avenge what can never heal and to fix grief that is irreparable.....

For anyone who believes that the war in Afghanistan makes sense, I recommend the Jan. 30 discussion on "Bill Moyers Journal" with historian Marilyn Young and former Pentagon official Pierre Sprey. A chilling antidote to illusions that fuel the war can be found in the transcript.

Now, on Capitol Hill and at the White House, convenience masquerades as realism about "the war on terror." Too big to fail. A beast too awesome and immortal not to feed.

And death will be our darling. And fear will be our name. "

ماذا 'يطبخون' في ابوظبي؟

ماذا 'يطبخون' في ابوظبي؟

عبد الباري عطوان

"ان يتداعى وزراء خارجية تسع حكومات عربية الى اجتماع مفاجئ، ومغلق، في مدينة ابوظبي بالتوازي مع اجتماع آخر لوزراء الاعلام، وفي اقل من اربع وعشرين ساعة، فإن هذا امر يثير العديد من علامات الاستفهام حول 'الطبخة' السياسية التي يعكف هؤلاء على إعدادها، على نار ملتهبة، وفي مثل هذا التوقيت بالذات.
....
السؤال الذي يطرح نفسه بالحاح هو عن اسباب 'العجلة' في عقد هذا الاجتماع الذي جاء بعد لقاء ثلاثي تم برئاسة الزعيم المصري حسني مبارك وحضور الرئيس الفلسطيني محمود عباس والامير سعود الفيصل وزير الخارجية ممثلا عن العاهل السعودي، خاصة ان الاخير طار بمعية نظيره المصري احمد ابو الغيط في طائرة واحدة الى ابوظبي ليبدأ التحرك الجديد ودعوة نظرائهم من وزراء خارجية دول الاعتدال للقدوم الى العاصمة الاماراتية في غضون ساعات.
.....
ان هناك محاولة للعودة الى الحشد القومي العربي في مواجهة ما يعتقده هؤلاء بتصاعد 'المد الفارسي' بعد ان فشلت اطروحات التعبئة والحشد السابقة على اساس التقسيمات الطائفية بين معسكر سني في مواجهة معسكر شيعي بزعامة ايران.
فلم نسمع كلمة 'الوحدة العربية' هذه تتردد على لسان اي مسؤول عربي في محور الاعتدال منذ عقود، بل سمعنا تشكيكا بها كفكرة عابرة تعود الى 'زمن الستينات' ولم تعد صالحة لهذا الزمان، وربما لا ابالغ اذا قلت إن مسؤولا عربيا كبيرا من هذا المحور قال لي ان علاقات دول الخليج مع الهند وباكستان بل وايران نفسها اقوى وافضل واكثر فائدة من علاقتها مع دول مثل مصر وسورية والمغرب.
ثم كيف تتحقق المصالحة العربية ـ العربية في ظل غياب نصف العرب، او نظيرتها الفلسطينية في ظل دعم وزراء الخارجية التسعة للسلطة الفلسطينية ورئيسها عباس، والانحياز بالكامل الى جانب طرف في المعادلة الفلسطينية ضد آخر تصدى للعدوان الاسرائيلي واحبط اهدافه، وصمد لاكثر من ثلاثة اسابيع؟ فالمجتمعون في ابوظبي لم يقولوا كلمة خير واحدة لصالح المقاومة، ونحمد الله انهم لم يدينوها ويحملوها مسؤولية العدوان الاسرائيلي، مثلما قال الرئيس حسني مبارك، وكرر خلفه الرئيس عباس الكلام نفسه قبل يومين بعد مشاركته في لقاء القاهرة الثلاثي.
نضع ايدينا على قلوبنا مما يمكن ان تحمله الايام المقبلة من مفاجآت غير سارة، مثل تصاعد حالة الاستقطاب العربي الراهنة وتحولها الى 'صدام المحاور' تبدأ بحروب اعلامية نرى ارهاصاتها حاليا في حملات مكثفة ضد المقاومة من قبل الآلة الاعلامية الجبارة لمحور 'دول الاعتدال' صاحب الامكانات الهائلة في هذا الصدد. حيث بدأت تسميات جديدة تظهر على السطح، مثل تقسيم العرب الى معسكرين، معسكر 'عرب فارس' ومعسكر 'عرب امريكا' وكأننا نعود الى زمن الغساسنة والمناذرة قبل ظهور رسالة التوحيد، مع فارق واحد وهو استبدال بيزنطة القديمة بالغرب الحديث، وربما اسرائيل.
الشعوب العربية الاصيلة التي وقفت ضد العدوان الاسرائيلي على قطاع غزة، مثلما وقفت ضد الذي قبله على لبنان، وايدت المقاومة في البلدين التي تصدت له بشجاعة، لا يمكن ان تكون فارسية، لانها تستجيب لضميرها الوطني والاخلاقي، وتساند من يتصدى للمشروع الاسرائيلي بغض النظر عن طائفته وعرقه، فهي لم تؤيد السيد حسن نصر الله لانه شيعي، ولا رجب طيب اردوغان لانه سني.
......"

Al-Jazeera Cartoon: Arab Regime Solidarity!

وحدة الصف العربي

Ehud Mubarak Earning His Zionist Credentials

مصر تمنع طاقم الجزيرة من دخول غزة عبر رفح

"رفضت السلطات المصرية السماح لطاقم من الجزيرة يضم الزميلين أحمد منصور وغسان بن جدو بالدخول إلى غزة عبر معبر رفح دون تقديم مبررات حول قرار المنع.

وقال منصور في اتصال هاتفي مع الجزيرة إن السلطات المصرية أبلغتهم أنهم "مرفوضون" في وقت سمحت فيه لصحفيين من جنسيات مختلفة بالعبور.

وأضاف "قدمنا أوراقنا الثبوتية، وطلبنا السماح لنا بالدخول شأننا شأن كل الصحفيين، ولم يسمح لنا".

وأشار منصور إلى أن المسؤولين المصريين "أصبحوا لا يردون على هواتفنا" مشددا على أنهم سيظلون بالمعبر إلى حين تقديم "مبررات حقيقية للمنع".

مراقبة الأنفاق
وفي سياق متصل أفادت مصادر أمنية للجزيرة أن السلطات المصرية بدأت منذ يومين في تركيب أجهزة متطورة للكشف عن الأنفاق على الحدود الدولية بين مصر وقطاع غزة، بمساعدة خبرات أميركية وفرنسية وألمانية.

وأضافت أنه يجري حاليا تركيب كابلات خاصة بأجهزة الكشف عن الأنفاق على طول الحدود بين مصر وغزة، بدءا من جنوب معبر رفح وحتى ساحل المتوسط.

وكانت واشنطن قد تعهدت بتخصيص 32 مليون دولار لتوفير معدات تقنية تساعد على اكتشاف ومراقبة الأنفاق على الحدود المصرية الفلسطينية، كما كلفت عناصر من سلاح الهندسة بتقديم المساعدة للسلطات في هذه العملية.

وتنتشر مئات الأنفاق على الحدود بين مصر والقطاع الذي يتعرض لحصار إسرائيلي مشدد منذ منتصف يونيو/حزيران 2007، وكانت طائرات جيش الاحتلال قد شنت عشرات الغارات على الشريط الحدودي."

السلطات المصرية تفجر 13 نفقا على الحدود مع غزة

"قال فلسطينيون يسكنون قرب الشريط الحدودي بين قطاع غزة ومصر إن سلطات القاهرة فجرت يوم الاثنين أكثر من عشرة أنفاق تربط بين الأراضي المصرية والقطاع.

وقدر السكان عدد الأنفاق المفجرة حتى مساء اليوم بثلاثة عشر نفقا، وأشاروا إلى سماع دوي انفجارات متتالية ناتجة عن تفجيرها.

وقالت ذات المصادر إن الأمن المصري شدد من إجراءاته الأمنية، وعمد إلى تفجير هذه الأنفاق فور اكتشافها.

يأتي هذا بعد يوم من قيام القاهرة بحملة تركيب كاميرات مراقبة وأجهزة إنذار على طول الحدود مع القطاع، في محاولة لمحاربة انتشار الأنفاق التي تقول تل أبيب إن بعضها يستعمل لتهريب الأسلحة إلى القطاع
......"

Al-Jazeera Video: Iran's growing power worries Arab countries - 3 Feb 09

"Iran's growing power and strong ties with countries and armed groups in the region, is a chief concern among Arab countries.

This influence has revived fear of the creation of the so called ''Shia Crescent.'' (Majority Shia populations or strong Shia minority)

Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr reports from Tehran. "

Al-Jazeera Video: Inside Story - truce in jeopardy - 2 Feb 09

Part 1:



Part 2:

It is Time to Say "Enough"

By Gilad Atzmon
Palestine Think Tank

"It was rather encouraging to see PM Erdogan standing up for a humanist cause in Davos. But it didn’t really take me by complete surprise. Once again it has been proven that as far humanity and ethics are concerned, Islam and Muslim leaders are at the forefront together with only very few decent popular leaders such as Chavez and Morales.

At the end of the day, it was PM Erdogan who opened his mouth and told the world leaders present that which they should have grasped on their own a long time ago....."

Human Rights Watch Goes to War

Mouin Rabbani on Human Rights Watch and the Gaza Massacre

"The Middle East has always been a difficult challenge for Western human rights organizations, particularly those seeking influence or funding in the United States. The pressure to go soft on US allies is in some respects reminiscent of Washington's special pleading for Latin American terror regimes in the 1970s and 1980s. In the case of Israel such organizations also face a powerful and influential domestic constituency, which often extends to senior echelons of such organizations, for whom forthright condemnation of Israel is anathema.

Given that Israel is reliant on US subventions and public goodwill to a degree without precedent in the history of American foreign policy, there is considerably more than vanity at stake. If Israel's stature in the United States were to be reduced to that of South Africa during the apartheid era, or Serbia during the Balkan wars, this would almost certainly have material consequences for the "special relationship". It is a reality very unlike that between the US and Saudi Arabia, for example, in which the American public's longstanding contempt for the House of Saud has proven basically inconsequential. In Israel's case, image is a political resource of the first order, and its preservation a matter of national security....."

Turkish snub changes Middle East game

By M K Bhadrakumar
Asia Times

"Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's snub of Israeli President Shimon Peres during a television show has caught the imagination of the Islamic world, from Gaza to Turkey to Iran. In the longer term, pro-West Arab rulers, especially in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, along with Israel, will need to seriously factor that Turkey's shadows are deepening on the Middle Eastern landscape: Neo-Ottomanism sees Turkey as a regional superpower..."

Can Mitchell turn Jerusalem into Belfast?

Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 2 February 2009


A mural in Derry, Northern Ireland commemorates solidarity between Palestinians and Irish nationalists. (Ali Abunimah)

"US President Barack Obama's appointment of former Senator George Mitchell as his new Middle East envoy is a good choice. Mitchell helped broker the 1998 Belfast Agreement, the key to ending decades of strife in Northern Ireland. Because of historical similarities, that peace agreement is an important precedent for Palestinians and Israeli Jews. But will Mitchell be allowed to apply its lessons? The Electronic Intifada's Ali Abunimah comments."

NATO seeks Iran help over Afghanistan

Press TV

COMMENT: Here we go again! Iran resuming its role in aiding the U.S. subjugate Afghanistan? I guess everything is for a price in the Tehran Bazaar.

"NATO says member states can use Iran as a safe supply path to forces in Afghanistan, amid increasing attacks on its routes through Pakistan.

“NATO is looking at flexible, alternate routing. I think that is healthy,” top NATO military commander Gen. John Craddock said, in response to a question about using Iranian territory for supply.

"Options are a good thing, choices are a good thing, flexibility in military operations is essential…What nations will do is up to them," he added.

Craddock's comments came as Pakistani militants blew up a bridge in northern parts of the country, cutting off the Khyber Pass, a key NATO route where up to 75% of the coalition's supplies cross over to Afghanistan.

Last week, the chief of NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said West could only win the war in Afghanistan if it engages with all the countries neighboring Afghanistan, including Iran......."

Politically, Hamas May Have Won

Analysis by Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani

CAIRO, Feb 3 (IPS) - Despite declarations of victory by Israel, the military assault on the Gaza Strip failed to achieve its stated aims, many analysts say. The assault, and even its exceptional brutality, may only have vindicated the notion of resistance among the Arab public.

"The steadfastness of the resistance in Gaza in the face of Israeli military power has resuscitated the idea of armed resistance," Gamal Fahmi, political analyst and managing editor of opposition weekly Al-Arabi Al-Nassiri told IPS.....

"Victory in war isn't determined by casualty rates but by the achievement of war aims," Abdelhalim Kandil, political analyst and editor-in-chief of independent weekly Sout Al-Umma wrote Monday (Jan. 26). "And Israel failed to achieve its stated aims after more than three weeks of punishing Gaza."

He said Israel's ‘unilateral ceasefire’ - for which Israel received nothing in return from the Hamas-led resistance - was unprecedented in the history of Israeli war-making. "The resistance called its own ceasefire one day later, but not before demonstrating that its capacity for launching rockets at Israel remained intact," Kandil wrote.

Gamal Mazloum, former Egyptian Army general, said Israel's stated war objectives changed more than once mid-campaign. "Over the course of the conflict, Israeli officials went from saying that the goal of the operation was 'removing' Hamas, to 'degrading' its rocket-launching capacity, to 'teaching Hamas a lesson’," Mazloum told IPS. "But the unexpected steadfastness of the resistance forced them to conclude operations without achieving any of these. Now Israel says its chief aim is to 'cut off weapons smuggling' to Gaza.".....

Several commentators agree that both campaigns had the same objective - namely, the obliteration of Hamas. "Both the Dayton Plan and Israel's recent war aimed - and failed - to remove Hamas from power in Gaza," said Mazloum......

"There was an unprecedented explosion of popular rage in the Arab world, which put most Arab governments under tremendous pressure and could have led to serious regional escalations," said Mazloum. "The blatant carnage also eventually led to pressure on Israel by the international community to stop the aggression."

Both domestically and regionally, he said, Hamas was already reaping the fruits of what amounted to a political victory. "Both in Gaza and the Fatah-controlled West Bank, the people have rallied around Hamas as defender of the Palestinian cause," said Mazloum. "And on the regional level, Hamas proved its staying power and showed it cannot be simply removed from the equation. Egypt, for one, will now have no choice but to deal with Hamas as a political reality." According to Fahmi, the most notable outcome has been a resurgence of the notion of armed resistance to Israel - after some 30 years of fruitless negotiations......"

Israel May Escape War Crimes Charges

Thalif Deen interviews PHYLLIS BENNIS, Institute for Policy Studies

"UNITED NATIONS, Feb 2 (IPS) - Despite widespread accusations of war crimes by Israel, there is growing scepticism of any Israeli leader being brought before an international tribunal for the killings of civilians and the targeting of schools and medical facilities during the 22-day conflict in Gaza last month.

"The number and scope of individuals and agencies calling for independent, international investigations of war crimes is unprecedented," says Phyllis Bennis, director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington.

In an interview with U.N. Bureau Chief Thalif Deen, she pointed out that calls for such an investigation have come not only from high-ranking U.N. officials and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) but also from virtually every international human rights organisation operating in the area.

"Individual accountability for war crimes or crimes against humanity is always difficult, and for officials (civilian or military) of a government with such close ties to and such a strong history of impunity guarantees from the most powerful country in the world, it is even more difficult," said Bennis, author of several publications both on the Middle East and the United Nations, including 'Challenging Empire: How People, Governments and the U.N. Defy the U.S.'.

That said, the extreme lawlessness of Israel's attack on Gaza, the shocking human devastation that it caused for Gaza's 1.5 million civilians, the direct attacks on U.N. facilities and personnel, and the wide range of prima facie Israeli violations of international law all elevate the possibility of real accountability, she added.

Excerpts from the interview follow......."

Sensitivity Training, by Khalil Bendib

(Click on cartoon to enlarge)

The Israel Lobby?

By Noam Chomsky
Palestine Chronicle

"I've received many requests to comment on the article by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt (henceforth M-W), published in the London Review of Books, which has been circulating extensively on the internet and has elicited a storm of controversy. A few thoughts on the matter follow.

It was, as noted, published in the London Review of Books, which is far more open to discussion on these issues than US journals -- a matter of relevance (to which I'll return) to the alleged influence of what M-W call "the Lobby." An article in the Jewish journal Forward quotes M as saying that the article was commissioned by a US journal, but rejected, and that "the pro-Israel lobby is so powerful that he and co-author Stephen Walt would never have been able to place their report in a American-based scientific publication." But despite the fact that it appeared in England, the M-W article aroused the anticipated hysterical reaction from the usual supporters of state violence here, from the Wall St Journal to Alan Dershowitz, sometimes in ways that would instantly expose the authors to ridicule if they were not lining up (as usual) with power......"

Afghan war takes a hit

Glasnost sweeps Britain as questions mount over the purpose of the mission

By ERIC MARGOLIS
The Toronto Sun

".......NATO'S PURPOSE

According to Zbigniew Brzezinski, America's smartest strategist, NATO serves as a "stepping stone" for America's domination of Europe.

Japan fulfils the same role for the U.S. in Asia. The Soviet Union similarly used the defunct Warsaw Pact to dominate Eastern Europe.

The U.S. also uses NATO to help deter the creation of a truly united -- and rival -- Europe with its own unified armed forces.

NATO's defeat in Afghanistan would raise questions over the alliance's continuing purpose and obedience to U.S. strategic demands -- Afghanistan being a prime example. Calls inevitably will come for empowerment of the European Defence Union, an independent European armed force that answers to the EU Brussels, not to Washington.

This, I believe, is one of the primary reasons why vested interests in Washington have prevailed on the young, inexperienced president to expand the war in Afghanistan. America's influence in Europe depends on victory in Afghanistan.

The U.S. and its western auxiliaries cannot be seen to be defeated by a bunch of lightly-armed Afghan tribesmen.

The last empire that affronted them, the mighty Soviet Union, lost and quickly fell apart. Its imperial rival, the United States, clearly took this dire lesson to heart. "

Economic Death Spiral at the Pentagon

by Chalmers Johnson and Tom Engelhardt

"Like much of the rest of the world, Americans know that the U.S. automotive industry is in the grips of what may be a fatal decline. Unless it receives emergency financing and undergoes significant reform, it is undoubtedly headed for the graveyard in which many American industries are already buried, including those that made televisions and other consumer electronics, many types of scientific and medical equipment, machine tools, textiles, and much earth-moving equipment – and that's to name only the most obvious candidates. They all lost their competitiveness to newly emerging economies that were able to outpace them in innovative design, price, quality, service, and fuel economy, among other things.

A similar, if far less well known, crisis exists when it comes to the military-industrial complex. That crisis has its roots in the corrupt and deceitful practices that have long characterized the high command of the armed forces, civilian executives of the armaments industries, and congressional opportunists and criminals looking for pork-barrel projects, defense installations for their districts, or even bribes for votes......"

Guardian Video: Iran sends first homemade satellite into orbit

Country launches Omid satellite amid 30th anniversary celebrations of Islamic revolution

Israel Failed in Gaza Just Like in Lebanon

Al-Manar

"03/02/2009 Yehuda Wgman, an Israeli instructor and expert on military doctrines and the Israeli occupation army history, wrote an article on Tuesday in the Israeli electronic site Ynet in which he said that the latest Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip was only a show of force in a bid to create to do the impossible – create deterrence without the risk of casualties. He also compared the Gaza defeat to the Second Lebanon War where Israel again faced almost all the failures of that war in 2006.

Wagman said that the renewed fire in the south marks the manifestation of what he warned of at the end of “Operation Cast Lead”. “At the time I wrote that only an absolute victory will create absolute victory photos, and that the Israeli army must complete the operation to the point of a media-covered expulsion of Hamas leaders from the Strip.”....

However, it continued, “shows are just shows, and because of it they cannot convince the enemy to change its ways. Changing the enemy's ways can only take place if an immediate and tangible threat is created against the decision-makers on the other side. An examination of Cast Lead's objective and the way it was managed shows that even before it started, it was destined to not only fail to secure the objectives that could have been reached had it been managed properly, but also to miss its original goal – "changing security realities." What does that mean exactly?”

“Those who thought that any kind of substantive achievement could be secured by merely demonstrating military capabilities show identical thinking to those who attempted to defeat Hezbollah via "effects" alone. With the exception of the highly improved performance of Israeli army ground forces, ‘Cast Lead’ suffered from the exact same flaws of "Lebanon Two." In both cases we saw blatant disregard to the basic rules of the military profession that prompted an inability to meet any reasonable target.”

Wagman said that just like in Lebanon, “in Gaza too those who managed the war attempted to achieve victory by declaring victory, instead of securing a tangible win; they attempted to win without casualties and to fight as though Israel had all the time in the world. Such fundamental strategic mistakes cannot be counterbalanced by proper utilization of tactical forces, as superb as it may be.”....."

War on Gaza: Israeli Action, Not Reaction

By Nicola Nasser 

U.S. and European diplomats are reiterating the Israeli propaganda justification: "What would any normal country do if they were threatened by rocket fire? They would act." U.S. President Barak Obama was the last western leader to uphold this Israeli claim. "But Israel is not a normal country, it is an occupying country," former Palestinian - Israeli member of Knesset Azmi Bishara said. Moreover what country would tolerate an eight -year siege and not consider it an act of war without any national reaction? Why should western diplomacy judge Palestinians in Gaza as universally abnormal......

More recently, the Palestinian reaction managed to develop some locally - made primitive rockets in self - defense, and to smuggle in some "Grad" systems, which Israel used in addition to the tunnels under the Gaza - Egypt borders as justification for military action, while imposing a media blackout to hide the horrible humanitarian disaster unfolding in Gaza as the result of its eight - year old blockade of the territory, which left the besieged Palestinians with one of two choices: Either to starve slowly to death or die instantly en masse in "Operation Cast Lead." Israel imposed siege, in itself an act of war, as a collective punishment against Gazacivilians. U.S. and European strong advocates of Humanitarian Intervention, led by French foreign ministerBernard Kouchner, who call now for such interventions in Darfur, Myanmar and Zimbabwe and who did intervene militarily for humanitarian reasons in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Kosovo, have kept mum on Gaza.

 

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt hit directly at the root cause of the Gaza conflict. "They will dig tunnels out of desperation and there will be no way of stopping all these tunnels if you don't open up the border," he said. Bildt was joined by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown who urged ending "Gaza's economic isolation by reopening the crossings that link it to the outside world." European leaders seem to have finally awakened to the real equation of cause and effect in the conflict. However they are calling for opening Gaza border crossings as a sideshow, as the effect and not as the root cause of Palestinian reaction, as a prerequisite for a "durable and sustainable" ceasefire and not as an obligation that Israel must abide by in its capacity as the occupying power under international law, as merely a humanitarian outlet for the besieged civilian population and not as a national right of the Palestinians in Gaza Strip in the context of the Israeli unilateral military redeployment from the coastal strip in 2005.

 

Israeli Government to impose sanctions on Al Jazeera's Israel operations

The government will impose sanctions on Israel-based employees of the Al Jazeera network in response to the closure last month of the Israeli trade office in Qatar, which hosts and funds the network. Qatar had closed the office in opposition to Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip. 

Following the closure, the Foreign Ministry, in conjunction with the newly-formed national information directorate in the Prime Minister's Office, considered declaring the station a hostile entity and closing its offices in Israel. After submitting the idea to legal review, however, concerns emerged it would not be permitted by the High Court of Justice. 

Israeli officials have recently criticized Qatar's warming relations with Hamas and Iran. Foreign Ministry director-general Aharon Abramowitz told attendees at the Herzliya Conference on Monday that Qatar is moving toward a "radical axis." 

ZARATHUSTRA: A New Regular Contributor!

I am so pleased to announce that Zarathustra has accepted our offer to become a regular contributor to Palestinian Pundit.

He is familiar to most of our readers through his well-reasoned and informed comments. We think that he will prove to be a significant asset to Palestinian Pundit. He grew up in several Arab countries and has had first hand knowkledge of these countries as well as the Arab world in general.

Please give Zarathustra a big hand and keep an eye open for his posts and comments.

US codepink to visit Gaza to witness destruction, meet officials

"WASHINGTON, (PIC)-- The US codepink women for peace organization announced the arrival of its delegation to Cairo en route to the Gaza Strip to witness the horrific damage of the 22-day Israeli attacks, demand an opening of the Rafah border crossing for humanitarian aid, and meet with Palestinian women's aid groups and, if possible, Hamas officials.

The delegation, which includes Medea Benjamin, a codepink co-founder, and retired officer Ann Wright, a former US state department official, plans to enter Gaza, after arrival in Egypt on Friday, and spend few days in Gaza.

In a statement, codepink criticized US envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell for not visiting Gaza and meeting with Hamas officials. "What sense does it make to send a special envoy to the Middle East, but not have him visit war-torn Gaza and speak to Hamas?" Benjamin said.

She added: "In our visit to Gaza, we will be doing precisely what George Mitchell should be doing; getting an understanding of the devastation that resulted from the Israeli invasion, and talking to governmental, non-governmental and UN representatives."

Meanwhile, an official source at the Rafah crossing reported that there are 22 trucks carrying integrated hospital equipment granted by the Turkish Al-Manara society pending entry into Gaza. A Turkish ship arrived at the Arish port on Saturday with 192 fully-equipped operating rooms worth about $1,800,000."

Reason for War?

In a McClatchy/Ipsos poll of 1,000 Americans adults, 44% supported Israel's use of force, and 44% blamed Hamas for the Israeli invasion. Only 14% thought Israel had started the conflict. Fifty-seven percent thought Hamas was using excessive force, while only 36%, Israel. (LA Daily News, 1/14/09)

The media mostly omitted coherent history of Israel occupying Gaza after the 1967 Six-Day War and its subsequent illegal occupation of the territory; or that the UN has repeatedly demanded in resolutions that Israel withdraw. After Hamas won the 2006 Gaza elections, Israeli authorities stopped delivering tax revenues on imports that the Gaza government needed to pay bills and police.

Israel blockaded the Gaza border -- an act of war under international law.
This provoked the rocket firings into Israel, most of them missing human targets. Simultaneously, Israelis fired missiles into Gaza killing and wounding far more people than the inaccurate Palestinian missiles. The Israeli blockade stopped medical supplies as well, leading to more death and disaster.

The U.S. press didn¹t print the most outrageous pro Israel statements.

At a rally in New York, reported Max Blumenthal, "a man held a banner reading, 'Islam Is A Death Cult.' Some rally-goers "called for Israel to 'wipe them [people of Gaza] all out." (Alternet, Jan 13)

Avigdor Lieberman, leader of Israel Beiteinu, which polls say will soon be Israel's fourth largest party, demanded in a university speech in Israel that bombing in Gaza continue until Hamas "loses the will to fight." Lieberman continued: "We must continue to fight Hamas just like the United States did with the Japanese in World War II." (Jerusalem Post, January 13, 2009)

Instead of reading such statements, the U.S. public got regurgitated reports about Israeli leaders courageously removing troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005. Surprise! On New Year's Eve CNN asked: who broke the June 2008 ceasefire that led to Israel's bombardment of Gaza? Mustafa Barghouti got air time. In 2005, this Palestinian physician got almost 20% of the vote for President of the Palestinian National Authority against Mahmoud Abbas. "The world press," he declared, "is overwhelmed with the Israeli narrative, which is incorrect. The Israeli spokespersons have been spreading lies."

Gaza and the Crimes of Mubarak

Collusion, Complicity and Sheer Insanity

By RANNIE AMIRI
CounterPunch

".......In the face of such massive devastation and hardship—and this after the crippling 18-month siege had already reduced Gaza to a state of bare subsistence—the behavior and actions of the regime of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak remain as contemptible after the war as they were before.

On Dec. 25, just two days prior to the onset of the vicious aerial bombardment of Gaza, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni met with Mubarak in Cairo. It is understood that Egypt gave the green light for the attack in the hope that the ruling (and democratically-elected) Islamist group Hamas would be toppled and the more pliant Fatah faction, led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, would supplant it......

It makes no mention, however, of barring critical humanitarian goods from reaching the territory, where conditions were becoming ever more desperate. Additionally, Egypt was a non-signatory to the treaty, which had already expired after one year and was never renewed.

If keeping the Rafah crossing—the only gateway to non-Israeli territory from Gaza—closed before and during the war was not a criminal act, doing so in its aftermath must surely be.....

Feeding Israeli soldiers, not Gaza’s people

In light of catastrophic circumstances due to lack of basic foodstuffs (75 percent of Gaza’s children are thought to be malnourished and 30 percent are stunted in growth), a recent report by the popular Egyptian weekly Al-Osboa was all the more shocking. It revealed that an Egyptian company was allowed to provide Israel Defense Force soldiers with food during the war while Gazans were starving.......

In light of the above, blistering criticism of the Egyptian regime’s behavior has come from Hezbollah leader Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah:

“[Egypt] told the Arab and Islamic world that the Rafah border was opened and it was not … The opening of the Rafah crossing is crucial to the Palestinian people, the Resistance and the living conditions there … its closure is one of the biggest crimes in history.”.....

Abetting the siege of Gaza, giving sanction to the Israeli onslaught and its crimes against humanity, and afterward, preventing aid from getting into the territory and the injured from getting out, are all egregious offenses.

Just as many call for Olmert, Barak, Livni and the generals and soldiers who participated in this war to be prosecuted for violating international law and committing war crimes, Mubarak’s own complicity makes him equally liable in facing similar charges."

وليد سيف يكتب للجزيرة نت: غزة الفاضحة.. معركة المعاني

"....
هل نفهم إذن من هذا المنطلق العقلاني أن "إسرائيل" هي وكيل أطراف "الاعتدال"، وأن استهدافها بصواريخ حماس كان في باطن الأمر استهدافاً لتلك الأطراف؟! هل بلغ الأمر بهذا المنطق "العقلاني" أن يماهي بين إسرائيل ودول الاعتدال؟ فأي دعاية أفضل من هذه لإيران ولأطراف الممانعة؟ وأي دعاية أقبح من هذه لدول "الاعتدال" ؟! ما لكم كيف تحكمون؟!!
المقاومة= إيران وأطراف الممانعة
إسرائيل= محور الاعتدال العربي
أهذا ما ترغبون في تأكيده لنا؟ مرحى إذن! قد وصلت الرسالة! فمن حيث أردتم الطعن في المقاومة الفلسطينية في غزة بإحالتها إلى إيران وأجندتها لا إلى دواعي المقاومة المشروعة للاحتلال الغاشم، عظمتم الموقف الإيراني حين أحلتموه إلى المقاومة وأحلتم أنفسكم إلى العدو الإسرائيلي الأميركي.

نعم، اغتصاب الوطن واحتلاله والتجويع والتركيع والإبادة الجماعية والتشريد واستهداف الأطفال والنساء والمدنيين على مدى ستين سنة ونيف، ليست أسباب كافية للمقاومة. ولكن المقاومة اختراع إيراني خالص لا يواجه إسرائيل إلا بقدر ما يواجه محور الاعتدال!

إلى هذا الحد ينحط خطاب العقلانية والاعتدال ليرتد على نفسه، وهو يحاول أن يُجهز على نظام المعاني التحررية، ليكرس خطاب الإذعان والاستسلام.

نعم، لم يدخر الخطاب السياسي الإسرائيلي الصهيوني أثناء عدوانه النازي على غزة جهداً في التماهي مع خطاب الاعتدال العربي، ليتخذ منه ستاراً أخلاقياً يسوغ العدوان. فيتوالى المسؤولون الإسرائيليون من بيريز إلى أولمرت إلى باراك إلى ليفني، على التأكيد بأن حربهم على غزة والمقاومة إنما يستهدف المشروع الإيراني في المنطقة وأنه لا يتجاوز موقف الاعتدال العربي المهدد بالمشروع نفسه، ولا يتعدى موقف الشرعية الفلسطينية ممثلاً بعباس والسلطة.
....."

Why Get Your Marching Orders From Ehud Mubarak?
Get Them Directly From Zipi Livni and Save the Trip to Cairo!

Al-Jazeera Video: Gazan police struggle to operate after the war - 2 Feb 09

"Police were some of the first casualties when the Israel 22-day bombardment of the Gaza Strip began. But in the aftermath of the attack officers are finding it difficult to carry out their duties with their bases and prisons destroyed.

Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel Hamid reports from the Gaza Strip."

It’s Not Going to Be OK

By Chris Hedges

"The daily bleeding of thousands of jobs will soon turn our economic crisis into a political crisis. Our empire is dying. How will we cope with our decline? Will we cling to the absurd dreams of a superpower and a glorious tomorrow or will we responsibly face our stark new limitations?.....

The street protests, strikes and riots that have rattled France, Turkey, Greece, Ukraine, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Iceland will descend on us. It is only a matter of time. And not much time. When things start to go sour, when Barack Obama is exposed as a mortal waving a sword at a tidal wave, the United States could plunge into a long period of precarious social instability......

The American left, he said, has crumbled. It sold out to a bankrupt Democratic Party, abandoned the working class and has no ability to organize. Unions are a spent force. The universities are mills for corporate employees. The press churns out info-entertainment or fatuous pundits. The left, he said, no longer has the capacity to be a counterweight to the corporate state. He said that if an extreme right gains momentum there will probably be very little organized resistance.

“The left is amorphous,” he said. “I despair over the left. Left parties may be small in number in Europe but they are a coherent organization that keeps going. Here, except for Nader’s efforts, we don’t have that. We have a few voices here, a magazine there, and that’s about it. It goes nowhere.” "

Month in pictures: Coping in Gaza, January 2009

Photostory, The Electronic Intifada, 1 February 2009

"Twenty-two days of Israeli bombardment by land, sea and air left more than 1,300 Palestinians dead and 5,000 injured; approximately 4,000 homes destroyed and 17,000 others damaged; and entire neighborhoods wiped out. The attacks, which began on 27 December 2008, mostly ended on 18 January 2009 after Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire.

The below photographs are a selection of images from the month of January 2009......"

A Palestinian student inspects the rubble of the Khalil al-Nubani school destroyed by Israel in Gaza City, 24 January.

Free Gaza Boats and Nonkilling Transformation: A Perspective

Written by Anis Hamadeh
(Anis Hamadeh is a freelance artist and publicist in Germany, editor of Anis Online, and in the FreeGaza.org Web & Media Team.)
The Free Gaza Movement

"Is it possible to prevent a catastrophe like Gaza so that it cannot happen again, or is such brutal killing an inevitable part of our human heritage? In the age of the internet public this question bears a new quality. The public is the strongest weapon against violence, today more than ever. A recent example is the Free Gaza Movement who landed the first free boats in Gaza in forty-one years. It was the media attention and the mental accompaniment of thousands of supporters worldwide that led to the pioneering success of this determined group. Thus, the Free Gaza boats mark a precedent for similar liberating action. Only, is the world prepared for peace, at all?....."

What an Aid Worker Saw, Then and Now

By Mel Frykberg

"RAMALLAH, Feb 2 (IPS) - As fears rise of renewed violence in Gaza, Elena Qleibo, a French-Costa Rican aid worker from Oxfam, gives IPS a first-hand account of surviving Israel's three-week bombardment of Gaza.

Excerpts from her account....

Mayhem and confusion reigned as shocked Gazans realised they were coming under a sustained attack from warships off the coast and aerial bombardments from fighter jets circling the skies above. Later on as I tried to gather more information from people in my neighbourhood, many appeared in a state of incomprehension at the ferocity of the assault.

I am a cultural anthropologist, and first decided to make Gaza city my home in 2004 after living and working in the occupied Palestinian territories for a number of years. My first visit to Gaza was in 1987 during the first Palestinian uprising, or Intifadah.

During my years in Gaza I witnessed a lot of violence and upheaval during previous Israeli military attacks but never before had I seen devastation on this scale.......

Aid is slowly coming in but a lot more is needed. I feel very grim about the future. There are so many people, breadwinners in particular, who are amputees and seriously maimed. They will forever be aid-dependent and unable to live normal lives or support their families."

Those who seek justice do so in vain

Some nations – and some leaders – are beyond the reach of the law

By Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
The Independent

"So that's that then, is it? Gaza is done and dusted? Very satisfying, I'm sure, for the Israeli leadership and their devoted allies at the BBC. But not so fast. For the one and a half million traumatised and wounded souls in that small strip, unendurable agony goes on. The very earth they stand on burns and cracks. And I am not here indulging a writer's tendency to hyperbole or neat metaphor.

Up to 60 per cent of the best farmland in Gaza has been systematically destroyed, livestock too. Christine van Nieuwenhuyse, a director at the World Food Programme, says this deliberately blighted land "may not be exploitable again". The lemon trees and noisy chickens must have been hiding Hamas rockets. Israel is also keeping some of the remaining arable land beyond the reach of the Palestinians who own it by making it into a buffer zone. Almost all the infrastructure has been flattened too. The resulting perpetual humiliation and dependency, one assumes, is part of Israel's strategic plan......

But why pick only on Israel? Western nations, including Britain, supply some of the killing machines used on children in Gaza. The US and UK have never been hauled through any independent judiciary to explain their lies spun to justify the war on Iraq, or the cluster bombs dropped on civilians, the massacres in Fallujah, the million dead and many more who are born deformed......."

Egypt, Israel blasted for Gaza closure

Press TV

"UN Relief and Works Agency operations Chief John Ging says the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip has caused an 'unbelievable' damage to the strip.

According to Palestinian sources, John Ging said on Sunday that tens of thousands of Gazans have been homeless and now they are living under tents due to the three-week Israeli incursion into the blockaded region.

Referring to the major damage to the houses and health centers, the UNRWA operations chief said, nearly one million people of 1.5 million Gaza's population depend on international aides while UNRWA is facing lots of problems due to the closed crossings of strip.

John Ging also condemned Israel and Egypt for closing the crossings into the Gaza Strip, calling on Cairo and Tel Aviv to ease the siege so that the organization can deliver 'thousands of tons of aid' to Gaza residents.

Working closely with the Israeli regime in its 18-month blockade on the already impoverished region, Cairo has refused to open the Rafah border-crossing even during the 23-day Israeli offensive in which Gazans were in dire need of food, fuel and particularly medicine.

Ging earlier said that "Shamefully, there are thousands of tons of aid waiting on the borders of Gaza that need to be connected right now with the people here." "The donors have been very generous, the operation in getting it from all over the world to this part of the world has been a success and very quick, but now we have the bottleneck, and of course it has to be that the government of Israel in the first instance has to find operational solutions to get the crossing points open."......"

Ceasefires, Israeli-Style

by Stephen Lendman
Global Research, February 1, 2009

"Waging war while talking peace is customary Israeli practice. On January 19, Haaretz headlined: "Israel declares unilateral cease-fire. The security cabinet last night authorized a unilateral cease-fire (to take effect) at 2AM (Sunday morning), ending three weeks of intense fighting."

Declaration notwithstanding, nothing changed. Gaza remains occupied, under siege, and totally isolated. Borders are still closed. On January 28, The New York Times said "truckloads of humanitarian aid" are stuck in Egypt because of Israeli and Cairo restrictions. Little can get in, and attacks merely downshifted to a lower gear.....

The same pattern repeats daily, and reports indicate more American and EU complicity. The US Navy patrols the Red Sea to prevent weapons "smuggling," and Army Corps of Engineers are on the Egyptian - Gaza border to locate tunnels and destroy them. EU nations will monitor Rafah and perhaps other Gaza - Egypt border crossings, and France, Britain and other European countries offered naval vessel patrol help in the Red Sea......"

اتفق فاروق القدومي وخالد مشعل مع الأسد على منظمة تحرير جديدة

Qaddoumi and Mishal to establish a new PLO with Syria. Hamas as the "spine" of new Organization

اتفق فاروق القدومي وخالد مشعل مع الأسد على منظمة تحرير جديدة"

القدومي على رأس تحرك " فتحاوي " كبير لدعم إنشاء مرجعية وطنية فلسطينية تكون بديلا لمنظمة التحرير ، و تكون " حماس " عمودها الفقري !؟

الأسد لمشعل : عليكم استثمار ما حصل في غزة .. سياسيا !

كتب المحرر السياسي في " الحقيقة " :

فاروق القدومي أنجز اتفاقا مع الأسد خلال اليومين الماضيين على إنشاء " منظمة تحرير فلسطينية بديلة " تسحب الشرعية من سلطة محمود عباس في رام الله ، الذي انتهت ولايته في التاسع من الشهر الجاري بصفته رئيسا للسلطة الفلسطينية .
" أبو اللطف " قريبا على رأس تحرك كبير في " فتح " لدعم إعلان مرجعية وطنية فلسطينية على أنقاض منظمة التحرير التي لم تعد موجودة عمليا .
هاني الحسن دعم القدومي في تحركه المرتقب ، لاسيما وأن علاقته بمحمود عباس أصبحت مقطوعة، بعد أن اتخذ بحقه إجراء تنظيمي على خلفية دعمه لحركة " حماس " في عملية الطرد والتطهير التي قامت بها في غزة صيف العام 2007 ضد جماعات دحلان وأجهزته الأمنية ، المدعومة أميركيا وإسرائيليا ومصريا .
محركي المشروع لا يزالون يصطدمون بتحفظات فصيلين هما الجبهتان الشعبية والديمقراطية .
كما أن هناك خلافا بين محركي المشروع يتعلق برغبة معظمهم في أن يكون الأمر بعد عقد دورة استثنائية للمجلس الوطني الوطني الفلسطيني وترميمه بأعضاء جدد بدلا من الموتى .
ويستند أصحاب المشروع إلى مجموعة أسس سياسية وتنظيمية لا تفقتقر إلى المنطق :

أولا ـ إن اللجنة التنفيذية لمنظمة التحرير الفلسطينية أصبحت فاقدة الشرعية من الناحية التنظيمية والعملية ، ليس لأن عددا من أعضائها قد توفي وحسب ، بل ولأن بعض الفصائل الممثلة فيها ليست سوى دكاكين بالمعنى الحقيقي لا المجازي ، ولا تمثل أحدا على الأرض ، على الأقل في الداخل الفسطيني ، بينما " حماس " و " الجهاد الإسلامي " اللتان تمثلان انتخابيا أكثر من نصف الشعب الفلسطيني داخلا وخارجا، ليستا ممثلتين في قيادة المنظمة ؛

ثانيا ـ إن سلطة رام الله ، ممثلة بزمرة صغيرة من التجار واللصوص والمافيات ، وقسم منهم من عملاء إسرائيل بالمعنى الدقيق للكلمة ( تعاونوا أمنيا مع إسرائيل ضد فصائل وطنية ، وتورطوا في توريد الإسمنت لبناء الجدار العنصري ، وتورطوا في اغتيال عرفات .. إلخ ) ، أثبتت فشلها السافر في تحقيق أي إنجاز منذ إبرام اتفاق أوسلو قبل 15 عاما ، بل أصبح وضع المناطق التي تخضع لسلطتها ، ولو الشكلية ، أكثر سوءا بما لايقاس مما كانت عليه تحت الاحتلال الإسرائيلي السافر .
كما أن هذه السلطة تتفرد باتخاذ قرارات وإبرام اتفاقيات مع إسرائيل مدمرة للقضية الفلسطينية على المستوى التكتيكي والاستراتيجي ، ليس لأنها لا تسترشد باللجنة التنفيذية لمنظمة التحرير فقط ، كما يفترض أن يكون عليه الأمر ، بل لأنه لم يعد يوجد عمليا لجنة تنفيذية تشرف على هذه المفاوضات ، للأسباب المذكورة أعلاه .

ثالثا ـ إن القضية الفلسطينية ، لاسيما بعد " حرب غزة " ومجيء إدارة أميركية جديدة أحد أهدافها ( بالتشارك مع إسرائيل والسعودية ومصر) تصفية القضية الفلسطينية عبر تسوية تقضي عمليا على ما تبقى من حقوق فلسطينية ، تقف عند منعطف ربما يكون الأخطر في تاريخها وهو ما يستلزم وجود قيادة وطنية موحدة تمثل أوسع فئات وتيارات الشعب الفلسطيني داخلا وخارجا ، وتكون على مستوى التحديات التي تنتظرها.

رابعا ـ إن النظام السوري ، وأكثر من أي وقت مضى ، بحاجة للقرار الفلسطيني وهو يشعر بأن ما يطبخه النظامان المصري والسعودي خلف الكواليس لا يصب في صالحه على هذا الصعيد .

في سياق ما تقدم علينا أن نقرأ الكلام " الواضح جدا " الذي قاله الأسد لخالد مشعل خلال استقباله قبل يومين ، حيث دعا المقاومة الفلسطينية حرفيا إلى " استثمار النصر العسكري في غزة ... سياسيا " .

ويوم أمس جاء الجواب من الدوحة ، وليس من غيرها، لكن على لسان خالد مشعل في احتفال في العاصمة القطرية ، حيث تحدث أمام الجمهور عن " مفاجأة على الصعيد السياسي الفلسطيني " ، مشيرا بوضوح إلى ""تحرك تقوم به الفصائل سوف تفاجئ به الاطراف الآخرين لبناء مرجعية وطنية جديدة تمثل فلسطينيي الداخل والخارج وتضم جميع القوى الوطنية الفلسطينية وقوى الشعب وتياراته الوطنية لأن منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية في حالها الراهنة لم تعد تمثل مرجعية الفلسطينيين وتحولت ادارة لانقسام البيت الفلسطيني".

Financed by the British taxpayer, brutal torturers of the West Bank

Mail Online

Not only are Palestinian Authority forces carrying out torture but are ignoring judges' orders to release political detainees.

"The horrific torture of hundreds of people by Palestinian security forces in the West Bank is being funded by British taxpayers. An investigation by The Mail on Sunday has found that the forces responsible get £20million a year from the UK.

The victims – some left maimed – are rounded up for alleged involvement with the militant Islamic group Hamas, yet many have nothing to do with it......

Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID) gave £76million in all to the PA last year for ‘security sector reform’ and fostering the rule of law.

About £3million goes directly to the PA police. Another £17million pays the salaries of the PA’s array of security organisations – including the Presidential Guard intelligence service and the feared Preventive Security Organisation.

Not only are PA forces carrying out torture, the authority ignores judges’ orders to release political detainees. Last month at least 30 journalists, teachers and students were arrested – as the crackdown on Hamas was praised by a senior Israeli defence official as a necessary ‘iron fist policy’.....

Amar al-Masri, 42, a wealthy landowner, told how he and his wife, Kholoud, 40, were detained – leaving no one to care for their five children. He endured repeated shabah, saying the reason was that Kholoud had won a seat on Nablus Council, representing a non-Hamas ‘citizen’s coalition’, also seen as a rival to Fatah. He said: ‘Our only crime has been to get involved in the democratic process. Britain is a democratic country. Why are you supporting these things?’....."

Neither The US Nor Israel Is A "Genuine Party To Peace."

by Noam Chomsky

Global Research, February 1, 2009
Information Clearing House

"......Shalit's capture is a prominent issue in the West, another indication of Hamas's criminality. Whatever one thinks about it, it is uncontroversial that capture of a soldier of an attacking army is far less of a crime than kidnapping of civilians, exactly what Israeli forces did the day before the capture of Shalit, invading Gaza city and kidnapping two brothers, then spiriting them across the border where they disappeared into Israel's prison complex. Unlike the much lesser case of Shalit, that crime was virtually unreported and has been forgotten, along with Israel's regular practice for decades of kidnapping civilians in Lebanon and on the high seas and dispatching them to Israeli prisons, often held for many years as hostages. But the capture of Shalit bars a cease-fire........."

Israel Asserting Middle East Supremacy: From Gaza to Tehran

An Important Article

by James Petras
Global Research, January 31, 2009

"Introduction

Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany bombed, invaded and annexed countries and territories as a prelude to their quest for World Empire. Israel’s drive for regional dominance has followed in their footsteps, imitating their style: Indiscriminate aerial bombings of civilian and military facilities, a savage blitzkrieg led by armored vehicles, disdain and repudiation of all criticism from international agencies was accompanied by an open, military buildup for a new and bigger war against Iran. Like the Nazi leadership, who played on the ‘Bolshevik threat’, the Israeli high command has set in motion a vast world-wide propaganda campaign led by its world Zionist network, raising the specter of ‘Islamic terror’ to justify its preparations for a military assault on seventy-four million Iranians. Just as Nazi Germany interpreted the passivity, sympathy and impotence of the West when confronted by ‘facts on the ground’ as license for aggression, the Israeli military machine receives a powerful impetus for new wars by the Western governments’ inaction and flaccid response to its invasion of Lebanon, the bombing of Syria and now its Nazi style blitz and conquest of Gaza. For the Israeli high command, the impotence and complicity of the Western states, marks the way to bigger and bloodier wars to establish Israel’s supremacy and dominance of the Middle East, from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf.......

Conclusions

Israel’s Gaza war is leading its leaders and its strategically placed overseas agents in the US political system to overreach and to pursue a new war with Iran, as part of a regional strategy to secure imperial power. The Obama Administration and the newly elected Israeli prime minister share more than overlapping policy-makers and long-term commitments to military-driven empire building. They have made it clear that they will proceed in setting in motion a series of diplomatic and economic moves destined to prepare the stage for launching a genocidal war against Iran. This will be in line with Obama’s rhetoric of recreating a Jewish-Afro-American alliance, one based on Israeli interests and American lives! The only deterrent to new wars of extermination is mass action, which increases the political, economic and military costs for Israeli aggression. Only when Israeli casualties mount, when Zionist exploiters and bankers suffer losses, when its academics and tourist sites are boycotted, then and only then will the Israelis and their US acolytes begin to rethink their blind adherence to militarist policies. It is only then that they will rethink their irrational Judeo-centric vision of a world made by and for the one Chosen People living in the Only Moral State in the world.

Unfortunately it may take some military shocks to dispel these tribal fantasies. History teaches us that there is nothing like a bloody defeat to end the Superman Complex."

The gases of the Israeli bombs in Gaza have spared no one

Saturday, 31 January 2009 19:01
Written by Vittorio Arrigoni
The Free Gaza Movement

"I crossed the threshold of my house in Almina, facing Gaza City port, after several days of absence. Everything was exactly as I had left it - the gas cylinder still anorexic (feeding it is too expensive) and the electric current cut off by foreign shears. The once pleasant panorama outside my window has changed and no longer gladdens my spirits from the misery of living under siege. On the contrary, it now rubs salt in the wound, a trauma that won't heal with its reminder of a massacre. Twenty metres from my front door, where the fire station once stood, a huge crater now gapes wide enough for children to mess around in, as if to expel their parents' demon.

The afternoon call to prayer no longer has the same comforting quality of the muezzin's chant that I had grown accustomed to. I wonder where he's gone, if he managed to survive at the top of one of the few minarets that were left intact. The last time I listened to him, this anonymous muezzin had to interrupt his solemnly chanted liturgy because of a chesty cough. It's an affliction I'm familiar with myself, as the gases of the bombs in Gaza have spared no one. I found a note at the foot of the French window looking onto a small balcony, as if it had been put there by a friendly hand. The street and garden were littered with these same leaflets. They had been dropped from Israeli airplanes warning the Palestinians to stay alert, and be aware that the walls had ears and eyes.
"At the slightest threatening action against Israel we'll be back to invade the Gaza Strip. What you've seen these days is nothing compared to what awaits you." Some kids in the streets had picked up the leaflets and folded them into paper airplanes, seemingly sending the message back to its destination......"

Current Al-Jazeera (Arabic) Online Poll

This new poll asks:

In light of Shimon Peres' declarations at Davos, which of the responses do you support, Erdogan pulling out in protest or Amr Moussa staying (to respond)?

With about 1,500 responding to the poll so far, 91% supported Erdogan's protest and walkout.

Gaza desperately short of food after Israel destroys farmland

Officials warn of 'destruction of all means of life' after the three-week conflict leaves agriculture in the region in ruins

Peter Beaumont in Gaza
The Observer, Sunday 1 February 2009

"Gaza's 1.5 million people are facing a food crisis as a result of the destruction of great areas of farmland during the Israeli invasion.

According to the World Food Programme, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation and Palestinian officials, between 35% and 60% of the agriculture industry has been wrecked by the three-week Israeli attack, which followed two years of economic siege.

Christine van Nieuwenhuyse, the World Food Programme's country director, said: "We are hearing that 60% of the land in the north - where the farming was most intensive - may not be exploitable again. It looks to me like a disaster. It is not just farmland, but poultry as well....."

‘We Believe We Can Achieve Something’

Turkey's prime minister speaks out from Davos.

Interview with Erdogan
Newsweek

"During the World Economic Forum at Davos, tensions that have been brewing for weeks between Israel and Turkey broke out into the open. After fiercely debating the Gaza offensive with Israeli President Shimon Peres, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan stalked offstage, vowing never to return to Davos. NEWSWEEK's Lally Weymouth spoke with Erdogan. Excerpts:

Newsweek: I knew that Israel has a secret relationship with Pakistan but does it have an open one?
Erdogan: During the tenure of Mr. Pervez Musharraf, we brought them together in Istanbul: the foreign minister of Israel and the foreign minister of Pakistan.....

Newsweek: Were you trying to move the process to direct talks between Israel and Syria?
Erdogan: Yes.

Newsweek: And did Assad agree?
Erdogan: Bashar Assad from the start had a very positive attitude towards these talks. On that night, we were very close to reaching an agreement between the two parties. It was agreed they were going to talk until the end of the week to come to a [positive] outcome.

Newsweek: So you felt you were close to coming to an agreement?
Erdogan: These talks on that night went on for five or six hours. On that night in Ankara when I was talking with Prime Minister Olmert, I said regarding the Palestine-Israeli talks, it would not be correct not to include Hamas in the negotiations. They entered the election in Palestine and won the majority of seats in the parliament. But Prime Minister Olmert said he could not do something like that. Moreover during that talk, I said to Prime Minister Olmert that I believed I could be successful in freeing the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Newsweek: In order to release him, did you ask the Israelis to do something for Hamas?
Erdogan: I said to Prime Minister Olmert that if you want us to mediate in order to get the Israeli soldier free, we can do this and we believe we can achieve something. But on the other hand, once the soldier is free, Israel should set free Hamas' speaker of parliament and its members of parliament [who are in Israeli jails].

Newsweek: Why do you have such a close relationship with Hamas, which is an arm of Iran and is run by Khaled Meshal who lives in Damascus?
Erdogan: Let's not change the subject. First of all, Hamas is not an arm of Iran. Hamas entered the elections as a political party. If the whole world had given them the chance of becoming a political player maybe they would not be in a situation like that after the elections that they won. The world has not respected the political will of the Palestinian people. On the one hand, we defend democracy and we try our best to keep democracy in the Middle East, but on the other hand we do not respect the outcome of the elections that comes out of the ballot box. Palestine today is an open-air prison. The change and reform party, as much as they tried, could not change the situation. Just imagine: you imprison the speaker of a country as well as some ministers of its government and members of its parliament. And then you expect them to sit obediently?.....

Newsweek: The Israelis have been frustrated that they couldn't talk directly to the Syrians.
Erdogan: We were trying to be their hope. Olmert's last sentence [as he left] was, as soon as I get back I will consult with my colleagues and get back to you. As I waited for his response, I found out that on Dec. 27, bombs started falling on Gaza. There had not been any casualties in Israel since the ceasefire of June 2008. The Israelis claim that missiles were being sent [from Gaza]. I asked Prime Minister Olmert, how many people died as a result of those missiles? Since Dec. 27 [in Gaza] there have been almost 1,300 dead, 6,000 injured, no infrastructure left, no buildings left, everything is damaged. Gaza is a total wreck right now. It's all closed, under total siege. The United Nations Security Council makes a decision and Israel announces it does not recognize the decision. I'm not saying that Hamas is a good organization and makes no mistakes. They have made mistakes. But I am evaluating the end result.

Newsweek: Starting now, do you see a role for Turkey? There was a discussion about Turkish troops being part of a peacekeeping force in Gaza.
Erdogan: This is totally out of the question. Only maybe as observers. It would be a major mistake for us to send security forces. There are those who try to claim that my attitude towards Israel's latest attacks on Gaza is because I'm anti-Semitic or against the Jewish people.

Newsweek: And some American Jews are very upset about it.
Erdogan: And I'm very upset at them. Beginning with the Jews who live in my country, they are witnesses to my attitude towards Jews. As an individual, I have always declared that anti-Semitism is a crime against humanity. As a prime minister I have always been against anti-Semitism and my frustration is against the current Israeli government because they did not act fairly towards us.

Newsweek: But I've seen the anti-Semitic signs around Turkey recently…
Erdogan: These are individual attempts.

Newsweek: But they're very extreme. The Israeli Consulate has been picketed. It's been ugly.
Erdogan: There have been democratic demonstrations … There are demonstrations in the United States, even in Israel. Everything we have said is against the current Israeli government, nothing against Jews. In my speeches I have stated very clearly that anyone who even thinks about doing anything against the Jews in Turkey will find me against them. Of course, I'm not going to ask Olmert to write my speeches.

Newsweek: Is your relationship with Israel over?
Erdogan: We have a serious relationship. But the current Israeli government should check itself. They should not exploit this issue for the upcoming elections in Israel.

Newsweek: Do you expect President Barack Obama to play a more even-handed role between the Palestinians and the Israelis?
Erdogan: There is no justice right now. We expect justice from now on. "