The PA Stooges Trying to Appear as if They are Attempting to Resist US Dictates!

Why Palestinians have lost faith in Obama

By Donald Macintyre
The Independent

".....There are probably several reasons for the somewhat sharper line that is emerging from Ramallah. The mishandling of the Goldstone report on the Gaza war – over which Palestinian diplomats agreed, again under US pressure, to defer a vote at the UN Human Rights Council – has provoked harsh internal criticism.

Mr Fayyad was almost certainly not involved in the decision – diplomacy is not his job – and indeed most of the criticism was directed at the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. But that decision – now reversed – has marked a growing realisation within the West Bank leadership that there may not be too much point in serially yielding to US demands if the Palestinian Authority's own internal standing is compromised as a result......."

In a war for democracy, why worry about public opinion?

Escalation in Afghanistan is aimed at rescuing the credibility of western power, whatever Afghans or westerners might want

Seumas Milne
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 14 October 2009

"Whoever is in charge, it seems, the war on terror has truly become a war without end. Eight years after George Bush and Tony Blair launched it, with an attack on Afghanistan under the preposterous title of "operation enduring freedom" and without any explicit UN mandate, Gordon Brown has agreed to send yet more British troops to die for a cause neither they nor the public any longer believe in......

The opposite is the case. It is the Afghan war that is destabilising Pakistan and driving the Pashtun rebellion there. The last remaining argument, that withdrawal from Afghanistan would risk "undermining the credibility of Nato" and the "international community", used by Brown last month, is the closest to the truth. In the wake of its strategic defeat in Iraq, it would certainly signal that the US and its allies can no longer impose military solutions on recalcitrant states at will, as they have done since the end of the cold war......"

Al-Jazeera Cartoon: On the Goldstone Report

Arab Puppet Regimes to Palestinian Supporters:
Don't be More Palestinian Than the Palestinians (since the puppet PA did not support the report).

The Supporter of the Palestinians to the Puppet Arab:
And Why Are you More Israeli Than the Israelis?

Open Letter to Mahmud 'Abbas on Goldstone Report

Please sign this petition.

Breaking News.....Surprise, Surprise!......Hamas is Caving in!....Will Sign the Deal With the Traitor!.....Celebrate Now the Unity of the Oslo Gang!

"طالما أنه لا يمس بالثوابت الوطنية"
المصري: "حماس" تضغط على نفسها لقبول الاتفاق حتى تدخل كافة الفصائل في المصالحة

"غزة - المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام

أكد القيادي في حركة المقاومة الإسلامية "حماس" مشير المصري أن حركته لو قبلت بالعَرض المصري فسوف يكون انطلاقًا من رغبتها في إنجاح الجهود المصرية والتوصل لاتفاق ومصالحة تكون محل إجماع وطني.

وأضاف المصري في تصريح خاص أدلى به إلى "المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام" أن "حماس" لديها تحفُّظات وملاحظات على العرض المصري، ولكنها تريد أن تضغط على نفسها وتقبل بمشروع الاتفاق بكامله ليكون مدعاةً لدخول كافة الفصائل الفلسطينية في اتفاق المصالحة، طالما أنه لا يمس بالثوابت الوطنية.

وحول تأثير التدخلات الأمريكية والصهيونية في المصالحة ردَّ قائلاً: "التدخلات الخارجية لا تؤثر في موعد المصالحة، فمواقف الفصائل واضحة وبعيدة عن أي ارتهان وتعاطٍ مع تلك الضغوط"، مطالبًا رئيس السلطة المنتهية ولايته محمود عباس أن يتجاوز تلك الضغوط وأن يستقل بالقرار الفلسطيني.

وبخصوص إعادة طرح "تقرير غولدستون" في "المجلس العالمي لحقوق الإنسان" الدولي أعرب القيادي في "حماس" عن تخوُّف حركته من أن يكون "عباس" مستهدفًا من وراء طلب مناقشة التقرير في مجلس حقوق الإنسان مرةً أخرى السعي لإسقاطه؛ ليؤكد مصداقية مبرراته التي ساقها على الشعب الفلسطيني، بعدما رأى ضرورة لتأجيله وسحبه في المرة الأولى، موضحًا أنه يحاول من ذلك إنقاذ نفسه من فضيحته ذات العيار الثقيل. "

46 years ago today: the Qibya Massacre

Zionist historian Avi Shlaim describes the massacre thus: "The village was reduced to rubble: forty-nine building were blown up, and sixty-nine civilians, two thirds of them women and children, had been killed." The act was condemned by the U.S. State Department, the UN Security Council, and by Jewish communities worldwide. As a result, aid was temporarily suspended to Israel.

No Blood for Mobile Phones!

Abbas and the Goldstone Report: Our Shame is Complete

A Good Comment

By Ramzy Baroud
Palestine Chronicle

".....The level of barbarity in that war, especially as it was conducted against a poor, defenseless and physically trapped nation, united people of every color, race and religion. But among those who seemed utterly unmoved, unreservedly cold were some Palestinian officials in the West Bank.

....... Those who understand how the Oslo agreement of September 1993 morphed into a culture that destroyed the very fabric of Palestinian society can fully appreciate the behavior of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank during the Gaza war, before it and today. But especially today.......

Something went horribly wrong. How could a leader of an occupied and suffering nation commit such a ‘mistake’, deferring an urgent vote and discussion on a report pertaining to the death of over 1,400 people, the maiming and wounding of thousands more, to a later date, six months from today?.........

Amira Hass of Haaretz opined, “The chronic submissiveness is always explained by a desire to ‘make progress.’ But for the PLO and Fatah, progress is the very continued existence of the Palestinian Authority, which is now functioning more than ever before as a subcontractor for the IDF, the Shin Bet security service and the Civil Administration.”

Jonathan Cook, however, offered another view: “Israel warned it would renege on a commitment to allot radio frequencies to allow Wataniya, a mobile phone provider, to begin operations this month in the West Bank. The telecommunications industry is the bedrock of the Palestinian economy, with the current monopoly company, PalTel, accounting for half the worth of the Palestinian stock exchange.”

“No blood for mobile phones,” should perhaps be the new chant in Palestine...... However, it’s not just mobile companies whose interests triumph over Gaza’s agony. Indeed, the post-Oslo culture has espoused a class of contractors. These are businessmen who are either high-ranking officials in the PA and the Fatah party, or both, or closely affiliated with them......

The PA became submissive not out of fear of Israeli wrath per se, but out of fear that such wrath would disrupt business, the flow of aid thus contracts. And since corruption is not confined by geographical borders, PA officials abroad took Palestinian shame to international levels. ......

Readily blaming ‘American pressure’ to explain Abbas’ decision at the UNHRC no longer suffices. Even the call on the 74-year-old Palestinian leader to quit is equally hollow. Abbas represents a culture, and that culture is self-seeking, self-serving and utterly corrupt. If Abbas exits, and considering his age, he soon will, Mohammed Dahlan could be the next leader, or even Mahmoud Habbash, who called on Gaza to rebel against Hamas as Israel was blowing up Palestinian homes and schools left and right.

Palestinians who are now calling for change following the UN episode must consider the Oslo culture in its entirety, its ‘revolutionary’ millionaires, its elites and contractors. A practical alternative to those corrupt must be quickly devised. The Israeli wall is encroaching on Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank, and a new war might be awaiting besieged Gaza. Time is running out, and our collective shame is nearly complete."

War Criminals Are Becoming Arbiters of the Law

Israel and the Goldstone Report

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
CounterPunch

"....
In the meantime, however, the Israeli government put Sawers and the UK government on notice that British support for the Goldstone Report would result in the destruction of the double standard that protects the West and Israel and create a precedent that would place the British in the dock for war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“London,” declared the Israeli government, “could find itself in handcuffs if it supports the document [the Goldstone report].”

Once the DOJ’s hate crime unit is up and running, “self-hating Jews,” such as leaders of the Israeli peace movement and Haaretz and Jerusalem Post journalists, can expect to be indicted for anti-semitic hate crimes in US courts. "

US Boosts Spending on Bunker-Buster Bomb

CBC

"The Pentagon is speeding up the deployment of an enormous bomb designed to destroy hidden weapons bunkers buried deep underground, one that would be the largest non-nuclear weapon in the U.S. arsenal.

The U.S. Department of Defence's decision to award the $51.9 million US contract to Boeing Co. earlier this month signals a renewed commitment to the weapon, which began testing in 2007 but had languished for two years because of budgetary issues. It is being designed jointly by Boeing and defence contractor Northrop Grumman........"

“Stripping Bare the Body: Politics, Violence, and War”: Groundbreaking Journalist Mark Danner on Haiti, the Balkans, Iraq, and Torture

Democracy Now!
With Amy Goodman

"Award-winning journalist, writer, and professor Mark Danner has just released a new collection of dispatches about Haiti, the Balkans, Iraq, and the use of torture in the US war on terror. It’s called “Stripping Bare the Body: Politics, Violence, and War.” We speak to Danner about torture in the so-called war on terror, and his career of chronicling U.S.-backed human rights abuses abroad......"

Al-Qaeda's guerrilla chief lays out strategy

By Syed Saleem Shahzad
AN ATol (Asia Times Online) EXCLUSIVE

"The top field commander of al-Qaeda, in an exclusive interview with Asia Times Online, proves he is alive and well after repeated drone attacks and delineates in broad strokes al-Qaeda's strategy. The Afghanistan trap, baited on September 11, 2001, has been sprung, says formidable guerrilla leader Ilyas Kashmiri, and events from Gaza to Mumbai should not be seen in isolation but as part of the master plan to bloody the United States and its proxies......"

Al-Jazeera Video: Israel's illegal detentions - 14 Oct 09

"Two leading human rights groups in Israel have released a report that severely criticises Israel for detaining Palestinians for long periods of time without charges.

The report says more than 300 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli jails without any legal basis.

While Israeli authorities call this administrative detention, their opponents say it is undemocratic and illegal under international law.

Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros reports from the occupied West Bank."

Palestinian peace activist imprisoned after advocating boycott against Israel

"Israel has extended the detention of a West Bank peace activist, who Palestinians claim is being imprisoned solely for his advocacy of international boycotts against Israel.

Mohammad Othman, a 33 year old resident of the West Bank village of Jayyous, is currently imprisoned in Israel under ‘administrative detention’, which means that he has not been charged with any crime.

Israel routinely imprisons Palestinians without charges for periods of six months at a time. At the end of the six months, a military court decides whether to extend the imprisonment for another six months or to release the detainee.

Holding people without charges is a violation of international law, but Israel has never been charged in the International Court of Justice.

Mohammed Othman had a court hearing late last week, and his administrative detention was extended without charges. Israeli officials gave no comment on the case.

But Palestinian peace activists claim that Othman is being targeted because he has been the most outspoken boycott of an international consumer boycott against Israel.
The boycott movement is an attempt to pressure the Israeli government to end its occupation of Palestinian land. The movement draws its inspiration from the anti-apartheid boycotts against South Africa in the 1980s.

Othman’s lawyer said that his client is being held in solitary confinement and interrogated for five to ten hours a day."

A NATO for the Middle East?

Israel and Frontline Arab States Join Hands

by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya
Global Research, October 14, 2009

".......
Following in the Footsteps of the Baghdad Pact and CENTO?

The formation of a NATO in the Middle East would not only be targeted against Iran, Syria, and their regional allies, but would also be part of a larger equation aimed at targeting Russia and China in Eurasia. In this regard, the formation of a NATO-like military alliance would not be new to the Middle East. In the past, the U.S. had been actively involved in the creation of both the Baghdad Pact and later the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) or Middle East Treaty Organization (METO), which was created after the 1958 revolution in Iraq resulted in an Iraqi withdrawal from the Baghdad Pact.

The organization of these alliances, especially CENTO, were designed alongside that of the organization of NATO and aimed at encircling the Soviet Union from the most relatively central location of Eurasia, as well as keeping other Middle Eastern states in balance. While the Baghdad Pact and CENTO formed a central military belt in Eurasia, NATO formed a military belt around the western and northern peripheries of Eurasia and the Soviet Union. The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) did the same from the eastern and southern peripheries of Eurasia, the Soviet Union, and China. All three military organizations were inter-linked through states that had more than one membership, which were Pakistan (in CENTO and SEATO), Britain (in NATO, CENTO, and SEATO), the U.S. (in NATO and SEATO), Turkey (NATO and CENTO), and France (in NATO and SEATO)."

Video: "It's a Trick, We Always Use It." (calling people "anti-Semitic")

"I'm working on a video about how extreme mainstream media is including the tricks used when covering of key domestic issues like health care.

But this video is a response to the trick repeatedly used against this channel in channel comments. It's the the standard tactic of calling someone "anti-Semitic," and its used to sabotage anyone who speaks out against the US government policy of supporting immoral and illegal Israeli policies which violate basic human rights. And as you can see, this person suggests using a new word for the same old trick.

Amy Goodman interviews a former Israeli minister and she helps expose this trick used against dissidents, the defamation tactic of calling people "anti-Semitic.""

Jumblatt Hails Meeting with Sayyed Nasrallah as Very Positive

Al-Manar Exclusive

"The head of the Democratic Gathering MP Walid Jumblatt said on Tuesday that the meeting he has held on Friday night with Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah was very positive.

Speaking during an exclusive interview with Al-Manar, Jumblatt emphasized that the meeting has re-built confidence between the two parties and put an end to what he called the "ominous" rupture of relations between his Progressive Socialist Party and Hezbollah following the events of 2005....."

Pro-War Officials Play Up Taliban-al-Qaeda Ties

by Gareth Porter, October 14, 2009

"U.S. national security officials, concerned that President Barack Obama might be abandoning the strategy of full-fledged counterinsurgency war in Afghanistan, are claiming new intelligence assessments suggesting that al-Qaeda would be allowed to return to Afghanistan in the event of a Taliban victory.

But two former senior intelligence analysts who have long followed the issue of al-Qaeda’s involvement in Afghanistan question the alleged new intelligence assessments. They say that the Taliban leadership still blames Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda for their loss of power after 9/11 and that Taliban-al-Qaeda cooperation is much narrower today than it was during the period of Taliban rule......."

Backdoor Escalation

Obama is smooth-talking his way into the Afghan quagmire

by Justin Raimondo, October 14, 2009

"The official explanation for Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize is that the Norwegians are using the Nobel as an incentive for the president to fulfill what many see as his bright promise and a kind of prophylactic against a repeat of Bush-era warmongering. After all, how could a recipient of the Peace Prize engage in the kind of brazen militarism that has characterized U.S. foreign policy in the post-9/11 era?

Easy – do it on the sly.........

Who are our enemies in Afghanistan? Are we fighting to eradicate the Taliban, al-Qaeda, the Haqqani network, or our former ally Gulbuddin Hekmatyar? Perhaps all of them, in which case our cause is unlikely to succeed, even at the level of public relations........"

الشعبية: الإصرار على توقيع المصالحة رغم الظروف الراهنة محاولة لترميم صورة عباس

"فرض التوقيع يعطي دلالات خطيرة"

"دمشق - المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام

انتقدت "الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين - القيادة العامة" إصرار الراعي المصري على توقيع ورقة المصالحة بين حركة المقاومة الإسلامية "حماس" وحركة "فتح" قبل نهاية الشهر الجاري، مشيرة إلى أن هذه الضغوط لإقرار مصالحة دون مراعاة الظروف المحيطة التي تمر بها الساحة الفلسطينية؛ تعطي دلالات خطيرة على محاولة فرض هذا الأمر بالإكراه.

وقال مسؤول الإعلام المركزي في "الجبهة الشعبية" أنور رجا في تصريحاتٍ لفضائية "العالم" الإخبارية الثلاثاء (13-10): "إن الإكراه وعدم مراعاة الظروف التي تمر بها الساحة الفلسطينية وعدم التوقف أمام "فضيحة غولدستون" التي شكلت سابقة خطيرة في تاريخ البشرية؛ سيُفشل مشاريع المصالحة الوطنية".

وأضاف: "إن القفز على "فضيحة غولدستون" عبر ترك المسألة لمواعيد أخرى يعتبر في حد ذاته محاولة لامتصاص الوعي والغضب الشعبي الذي أجمع على رفض طلب رئيس السلطة المنتهية محمود عباس تأجيل مناقشة "تقرير غولدستون" بأعذار واهية".

ولفت إلى أنه ليس المطلوب حاليًّا إطلاقًا إعادة "تعويم" رئيس السلطة محمود عباس وترميم صورته وتسويقه رغم أنه يبدو واقفًا على الشجرة عاريًا "ويريد البعض منا أن نقدم إليه طوق النجاة".

وشدد على أن الحديث عن موعد محدد للتوقيع على وثيقة المصالحة يدعو إلى الدهشة والاستغراب، داعيًا إلى إعادة النظر في جذور المصالحة؛ حتى لا تغدوَ مجرد مصافحات لا تغني ولا تسمن.

كما دعا رجا إلى إعادة بناء "منظمة التحرير" على أساس برنامجٍ وطنيٍّ، وقال: "بعد خطاب محمود عباس الأخير طرأت تحوُّلات جديدة تستدعي إعادة النظر في مجمل القضايا الفلسطينية، وخاصة موضوع المصالحة"، داعيًا إلى امتصاص الغضب الشعبي قبل الذهاب إلى المصالحة.

وختم رجا متسائلاً باستغراب: "لماذا الإصرار على المصالحة أصلاً بين نقيضين؟!"، معتبرًا أن "الإصرار على طبخة محروقة مسمومة، الغاية منه إجراء انتخابات شكلية مزورة مسبقًا؛ يستهدف القضاء على النهج المقاوم لحساب مشاريع الاستسلام والخنوع للعدو".
"

Also, see this from Al-Jazeera:

أنباء عن ضغوط مصرية على حماس

"أكدت مصادر فلسطينية مطلعة للجزيرة نت أن مصر هددت قبل ثلاثة أيام بتشديد إجراءاتها وخنقها قطاع غزة في حال رفض حركة المقاومة الإسلامية (حماس) التوقيع على ورقة المصالحة التي قدمتها القاهرة.

وقالت المصادر للجزيرة نت إن القاهرة أرسلت رسائل مبطنة لحماس عبر شخصيات محلية وبتلميحات لوسائل إعلام مصرية وفلسطينية مختلفة تخبرها بأنها لن تسمح بسفر قيادييها عبر معبر رفح ولن تسمح لأحد من غزة بمغادرة القطاع وأنها ستغلق المعبر إلى حين موافقة الحركة على الورقة المصرية "كما هي ودون أي تعديل".

وشددت المصادر على أن القاهرة أبلغت وفد حماس أنها لن تسمح بأي حال من الأحوال باستمرار ضخ المواد التموينية والبترول من مصر إلى القطاع المحاصر عبر الأنفاق، وأنها ستغلق هذه الأنفاق إذا لم توقع حماس على ورقة المصالحة.

وذكرت المصادر أن السلطة الفلسطينية في رام الله طلبت من القاهرة التشديد على قطاع غزة لدفع حماس للتوقيع على ورقة المصالحة للوصول إلى انتخابات.

وأشارت إلى أن حماس وضعت بحساباتها كل هذه التهديدات والإشكاليات وتدرس الورقة المصرية بتأنٍ قبل أن ترد عليها رسمياً اليوم أو غداً،
......"

Venezuela is no tyranny

Dictatorship has returned to Latin America in Honduras, not in the genuine, if imperfect, democracy of Venezuela

Francisco Dominguez
(Dr Francisco Dominguez is a senior lecturer at Middlesex University where he is head of the Centre for Brazilian and Latin American Studies. Dominguez came to Britain in 1979 as a Chilean political refuge. )
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 14 October 2009

"As Latin Americans witness the return of dictatorship – with Honduras suffering political executions, widespread repression and condemnation from human rights organisations about curtailing of press freedoms – it seems a strange time for the media to repeat opposition allegations that Venezuela is becoming a tyranny.

Venezuela is far from the "dictatorship which has a facade of democracy" described by General Raúl Baduel, who has been accused of corruption. What kind of tyranny oversees a 70% increase of participation in presidential elections, as Chávez has, or the government holding 13 free and fair elections in 10 years?.......

Respect for democracy is intrinsic to the particular model being followed by the Chávez government. It does not resort to violence – it wins elections. In contrast, it is noteworthy that the notable elements of the Venezuelan opposition have broadly sympathised with the illegal de facto government of Micheletti in Honduras. Maybe in Honduras we have a serious glimpse of what "democracy" would have been like in Venezuela had its violent attempts to overthrow Chávez been successful?"