Normalizing Injustice

Jaffa Harbor in the 1920s.

Jaffa's Ugly Truth

By ARTHUR NESLEN
CounterPunch

"Diplomatic briefcases are unlikely to be dropped at news of Condoleezza Rice's call, on the eve of the Riyadh summit, for Arab states to "reach out to Israel" and show they accept it. Israel's insistence that negotiators begin by accepting its right to exist has already pushed normalisation up the political agenda......

While they are there, perhaps they will incidentally record what could be the final days of the 497 residential properties that are slated for demolition in Ajami, Jaffa's last predominantly Arab district. According to Fady Shbita of the Arab-Jewish Sadaka-Reut ("Friendship") organisation, as many as 2,000 people could be affected.

"There will be a serious struggle over this because it will change the whole structure of Jaffa if it succeeds," he told me. "I would characterise it as a combination of ethnic cleansing or transfer and gentrification." Most people in Ajami just call it ethnic cleansing.

The Palestinian-Israelis who live in Ajami will not be re-housed in Tel Aviv. Even if they could afford the rents here, it's all but unheard of for Arabs to live in most parts of the city. They won't receive compensation either, as they have technically been living in Ajami 'illegally' for decades. Before 1948, more than 70,000 Palestinians lived in Jaffa. During the Naqba, the majority fled and were not allowed to return. Under the Absentee Property Act of 1950, their abandoned houses were seized by the new Israeli state and rented to Jews. The few Arabs who remained were concentrated behind a fence in Ajami.

But times change. The fence came down and, in the 1970s, when beachfront property prices began to rise, Tel Aviv's Mayor, Shlomo "Cheech" Lahat, announced a policy of "Judaising" Jaffa. Building permits in Ajami were frozen and ongoing demolitions funnelled residents into the slums of Lyd and Ramle. Many of the 15,000-20,000 Palestinian-Israelis who stayed in Jaffa were forced to build extensions to their family houses without permits. This practice is now being used as the excuse by the Israeli Lands Authority, a state actor which owns the properties for a new wave of the sort of soulless gentrification and transfer that has hollowed out Jaffa's old town.

Much of the land reclaimed by house demolitions invariably gets sold on for luxury developments like the gated community of Andromeda Hill, "a virtual 'city within a city' surrounded by a wall and secured 24 hours a day," according to its website. Local residents complain that Andromeda Hill was built on land which was formerly owned by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate "so that rich Jews can enjoy the magic of the sunset in Jaffa without seeing Arabs".

The Jaffa sunset can be truly spectacular but Israel's PR machine is unlikely to encourage photographers to wander the few yards down the road necessary to capture it from Ajami. In this part of the world, beneath the flowers of normalisation lies the rubble of demolished houses."

***

The Ajami district in Jaffa is where I was born in 1945. My family was expelled from our house there and we bacame refugees in Gaza in 1948.

Farting On a Tile Floor

"“In beloved Iraq, blood is shed among our brothers while there is an illegitimate foreign occupation and a hateful sectarianism that is threatening to develop into a civil war . . .”--king Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

I seem to recall that Saudi Arabia, together with Kuwait and the rest of the Gulf kennel, supported the U.S. invasion and the occupation of Iraq. Saudi and Kuwaiti (as well as Jordanian) airspace and land were used by the invading army. Kuwaiti territory, to this day, is used to move U.S. troops and supplies into Iraq. Saudi Arabia in addition to Egypt, Jordan and the UAE (and even Syria), still oppose the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq!

So, his "majesty" is only shedding hypocritical crocodile tears for Iraq; the Iraq that he conspired with the enemies to destroy. The only reason Abdullah said such words is not because he is challenging the U.S. or because he is abandoning the sinking ship as some might say. It is because of the fever pitch anger on the Arab street and because of the daily blows of the Iraqi resistance against the occupation which are bringing the Empire to its knees. Abdullah and the rest of the bastards are trying to absorb some of the anger and sooth the angry feelings of the Arab masses. The bastards know that more than 90% of the Arab public (according to surveys) believes that they are nothing but impotent stooges and nothing of substance will emerge from their summit.

As they say in Palestine the summit is like farting on a tile floor.

Tony Sayegh

Latest From Dr. Mona El-Farra in Gaza

Devastating Sewage flood hits Umnasr Village -North of Jabalia

"This morning, and due to technical defaults, the sewage system of
north area of Gaza has sudenlly collapsed. Sewage water flooded and
gushed into the next lowest level place, a Bedouin community. As an
outcome, 8 at least were killed including mother and 2 children , 60 or more were injured,school children paniced inside their schools , 3000 residents were
evacuated and became homeless, and 400 residential homes were
either destroyed or unsuitable for living due to the unsanitary
sewage water.

This will need urgent relief intervention from all of us, working in the health and huminatarian relief services. I shall be able
to identify the list of needs by tommorrow morning , which will be
complementry to other relief work agencies.

It is usually the poorest of the poor who suffer, living in such a
slum area next to the sewage system treatment reservoir. It is not
choice, it is poverty that forced them to live there, adding more
and more to their daily suffering under the occupation.

In Arabic we have a saying: "the catastrophies do not not come
alone." This incident was the last we need while living under
occupation and facing the daily hardships of the humanitarian
crisis in Gaza.

In solidarity,
Mona ElFarra "

21-Gun Salute for the Arab Peace Initiative
By Naser Jafari

We will continue to claim our land

Statement, Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, 29 March 2007

"On March 30th, as Palestinians in our homeland and the diaspora, we remember Land Day and strengthen our struggle for Land, Justice and Return. In 1976, 6 Palestinians were killed and a hundred injured by Israeli forces as Palestinians went on strike against a massive land confiscation scheme in the Galilee. Land theft and colonization continues in the Galilee and Naqab until today.

More than 30 years later, we will be again out in the streets and in the fields confronting the Occupation in dozens of protests and demonstrations, uniting the people in villages and cities across the West Bank in a week of continuous mobilization......

While the US-Israeli axis has never been willing to allow any of our rights to be implemented, the continuous presence in our region of US and Western envoys and officials is aimed to pressure Arab leaders into:

1. Ending Arab support for the Right of Return, enshrined into international law (such as UN Resolution 194);

2. Reviving the vicious Oslo mechanism that asks the Palestinian and Arab nations to make the first step: recognizing the Israeli apartheid regime and the “righteousness” of its crimes. Once relations are normalized and international public opinion is appeased, the reality on the ground can be consolidated and the agreement broken by the oppressors.

Against concessions on our inalienable rights and our lives, we will continue to claim our land. We will rise up and put forward our demands, based on the principles of our struggle and the rights of our people......

Finally, the Occupation and the international community will receive our message via demonstrations and protests all over Palestine. It will be a message of continuing resistance and an uncompromising demand for our rights. Another popular Intifada is inevitably building up as long as our rights are ignored and our future confiscated."

All That is Left of the Palestinian Resistance in the West Bank

Brother Dahlan in the Middle; How Sweet!


Dumb and Dumber


The Arab Delegate From the EU, With Brother Dahlan Watching


The Arab Delegate From South Korea



"Trust Me, We Will Not Sell Out the Palestinians; You Trust Me, Don't You?"


Palestinians in Their Hovels Keeping an Eye and Fearing the Worst


The Laughing Stock of the World


Habila is Enjoying the Attention; How Are You Going to Bring Him Back to Gaza and its Problems?


From the Two Abdullahs, Palestinians Should Expect the Worst

يديعوت احرونوت دخلت السعودية و القدس العربي منعت من التغطية

"القدس المحتلة ـ اف ب ـ القدس العربي : اعلنت صحيفة يديعوت احرونوت الاربعاء علي صفحتها الاولي ان صحافية تعمل لديها توجد حاليا في الرياض لتغطية القمة العربية.
واوضحت الصحيفة ان اورلي ازولاي مراسلة يديعوت احرونوت في واشنطن منذ عدة سنوات، وصلت الي الرياض الثلاثاء مع صحافيين يرافقون الامين العام للامم المتحدة بان كي مون.
ولم توضح الصحيفة اي جواز سفر استخدمت الصحافية للسفر الي السعودية التي لا تقيم علاقات مع اسرائيل.
وكانت السلطات السعودية قد منعت القدس العربي ولأسباب غير مفهومة من المشاركة في تغطية القمة العربية.
وكانت السفارة السعودية في عمان امتنعت عن منح مدير مكتب القدس العربي في عمان الزميل بسام البدارين التأشيرة اللازمة لحضور القمة فيما امتنعت السفارة عن ذكر الأسباب أو حتي الاعتذار.
وتهرب المسؤول الاعلامي في السفارة السعودية عشرات المرات من الاتصالات التي أجراها مكتب القدس العربي بغرض تأمين التأشيرة اللازمة للمشاركة في تغطية فعاليات القمة.
وتقدم مكتب عمان بناء علي طلب السفارة ومسؤوليها بكل الوثائق اللازمة وفي وقت مبكر قبل القمة بأكثر من أسبوعين ولم تبلغ السفارة الزميل البدارين بأي موقف رسمي او توضيحي لأسباب منع تقديم تأشيرة له علما بانه تقدم بالوثائق المطلوبة."

Quite a Contrast From the Overflowing Sewage in Gaza

An Open Letter to Kanan Makiya

An Iraqi Uncle Tom

By HAWRA KARAMA
CounterPunch

"Dear Professor Makiya,

What went wrong, verge of tears, unmitigated disasters; is that all you have to say for yourself at this point?

A smart intellectual with degrees as impressive as yours couldn't figure out that the United States couldn't logically want more good for Iraqis than it did for the Japanese it nuked, the Vietnamese it napalmed or the Palestinians it continues to oppress?

Did you think every Iraqi would swoon at the smell of dollars and conjure grandiose Uncle Tom dreams of dining at the table with the slavemasters?

If you genuinely thought that peace and democracy would bloom like a thousand flowers following the fall of Baghdad, you're either seriously deluded or self-deceptive.

What were you thinking? Were you trying to provide a live example of Badr Shakir Al-Sayyab's description of the invaders' shoes for literature students? And as if it's not enough that you have advocated for a war that was so egregiously criminal ab initio, you then have the audacity to blame Iraq's current disasters on Iraqi victims themselves, over red wine from the comfort of your Cambridge house?

Albeit a cheap attempt to garner political leverage for her presidential campaign, even Hillary Clinton herself is apologizing. What makes you feel so smugly immune from guilt such that the pursuit of redemption is beneath you?

While you, Mr. Makiya, and your gang of American-tank-riding thugs like Chalabi deserve to be tried for crimes against your own homeland, that's not what I wish for you. I just hope Abeer Hamza's ghost haunts you and that the echo of her screams play over and over in your head louder than the "music" that bombs on Baghdad were to your ears. If you have any remnants of a conscience, I hope it's depriving you of sleep for the amount of Iraqi blood you have on your hands. Saddam Hussein himself would've been proud of you for trying so hard to fill his shoes after his demise."

Another $100 Billion to Continue the War

Quit Trying to Make the Democrats Something They'll Never Be

By LARRY EVEREST
CounterPunch

".....Retooling U.S. Strategy-Not Ending the War

The Democrats' bill reflects the deep concern of many ruling class strategists that the situation in Iraq is deteriorating and the Bush strategy must be changed to head off even greater disasters for the empire. The interests of the peoples of the Middle East don't enter into their cold-blooded, imperial calculations. Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Advisor under Jimmy Carter who has been advising the Democrats, testified before the Senate earlier this year:

"If the United States continues to be bogged down in a protracted bloody involvement in Iraq, the final destination on this downhill track is likely to be a head-on conflict with Iran.....

"Redeployment"-not withdrawal: The Democrats are not demanding that U.S. forces immediately leave Iraq-the only just solution-or that they ever leave Iraq. Both Bush and the Democrats envision that thousands of U.S. troops will be in Iraq for years to come-just not on the frontlines of combat in the same way or in the same numbers. Nancy Pelosi's website states: "Following redeployment, U.S. troops remaining in Iraq may only be used for diplomatic protection, counterterrorism operations, and training of Iraqi Security Forces." These open-ended commitments, and the Democrats' refusal to renounce permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq, mean that thousands of American troops could be stationed in Iraq for decades to come.....

Preserving the U.S. imperialist military: Another goal of the redeployment is preserving and rebuilding the U.S. military-the U.S.'s main weapon for enforcing its global hegemony. "The war in Iraq has produced a national security crisis," Pelosi warned, "with military readiness at its lowest level since the Vietnam War." In supporting the House bill, Brzezinski stated, "The United States cannot afford an open-ended commitment to a war without end. A means must be devised to end the U.S. combat role in Iraq and reduce our troop levels, so that we can begin to rebuild our military and reclaim our position of leadership in the world.".....

But such an outpouring cannot and will not happen as long as millions are putting their hopes in the Democrats-either passively by waiting for 2008, or even actively, by focusing their energy, efforts, hopes, and yes money into pressuring the Democrats to "do the right thing" instead of putting them where they can really count for something: into mobilizing the one force that can stop the war and drive out the Bush regime­ the millions, from all walks of life, who oppose them. Inspiring and organizing these millions to take independent mass political action based on the just demands of ending the war and turning back all the outrages of the Bush regime from torture to spying to theocracy, is the only realistic option and the only way these crimes will be stopped. It will never happen by hoping the Democrats become something they're not, and never have been."

Look at These Fossilized "Leaders"....Need I Say More?

Tsunami in Gaza, Celebration of Peace in Jerusalem

This devastating picture of total surreal detachment between the two events, between a meaningless political intercourse and a devastating destruction on the ground is the true reality of the Palestinian disaster.

By Gilad Atzmon

"US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced yesterday the decision of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman, Mahmoud Abbas to meet bi-weekly with the US mediating. Indeed ‘great news’ for the Palestinians and the Israelis.

More or less at the same time at least five Palestinians drowned in a “sewage Tsunami” when a water treatment reservoir burst, flooding Umm Naser, a village in the northern Gaza Strip.

While in a peaceful news conference in Jerusalem Rice once again said NO to the democratically elected Hamas referring to the PA chairman as a “partner for peace”, a Bedouin village in Gaza was submerged in sewage.

This devastating picture of total surreal detachment between the two events, between a meaningless political intercourse and a devastating destruction on the ground is the true reality of the Palestinian disaster. This reflects upon the zero Western political leadership’s commitment to humanist and ethical thinking, it reflects upon our abandonment of the Palestinian people, it is a reminder of our general negligence towards people who are mercilessly dispossessed for six decades, our blindness towards what seems to be a suffering with no end and no limit.

Rice called on regional Arab states to “participate actively in the peace process”. She welcomed as well the Saudi peace plan as “an example of such new thinking.” And I end up asking myself when was the last time Rice or the Saudi Crown family had been submerged in Sewage? Rice probably failed to realise that people, who happen to be flooded by ‘treated water’, want something slightly more significant than a mere ‘peace process’. Mrs Rice, shouldn’t we better start with food? In case you didn’t realise, your embargo on the Hamas government has led to unprecedented starvation in Gaza. Some 80% of Gaza’s population relies upon WFP’s aid and on that from the UNRWA, the UN agency for refugees.

More or less by the time the US secretary of state concluded that the two leaders would discuss a “political horizon,” it was clear that dozens of residents of Umm Naser were still unaccounted for.

By late afternoon, receding flood waters had left a foul-smelling muck. Village children clung to wooden doors floating on the putrid waters. Rescuers were paddling through the village searching for victims. Frantic goats and cows were seen swimming in the mud searching for safe ground.

By the time Rice left the region it was revealed that the ‘negotiations’ between Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas will not include the three core issues - Jerusalem, refugees and borders. How surprising.

Instead of going from Jerusalem to Riyadh, Rice went back to Washington. She realised that she had nothing to offer the Arab leaders summit. She has nothing to offer almost as much as the people of Umm Naser have nothing to lose."

Secret talks to resolve Palestinian refugees' problem

An Important Article

Al-Manar

"28/03/2007 Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh urged Arab leaders meeting at a summit in Riyadh on Wednesday not to compromise on the Palestinian refugees' right to return to their homes. Haniyeh added that his group would not oppose the Arab plan, but would not give in on the Palestinian refugees' right of return. "What concerns me more than anything else ... is not to compromise on the fundamental Palestinian rights, foremost being the right of return," Haniyeh said shortly before the summit opened. "I expect the Arab summit meeting in Riyadh to reiterate the Arab countries' commitment not to compromise in any way on the Palestinian refugees right of return under any circumstances," Haniyeh said.

The peace plan is set to offer the Jewish state normal ties with all Arab countries if it fully withdraws from land it occupied in 1967, accepts a Palestinian state and agrees to a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Israel have recently held secret talks to formulate a new diplomatic-financial initiative aimed at resolving the Palestinian refugee problem, by offering compensation to those willing to stay in their countries of residence. According to Yediot Aharonot, the negotiations were led by senior American officials, and included Saudi secretary-general of the National Security Council, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to Washington, and top Israeli officials. According to the new initiative, refugees who agreed to remain in their countries of residence would receive financial compensation. Those who insisted on realizing the right of return would only be allowed to return to the Palestinian territories. Their return would be coordinated with the Palestinian Authority, in order to prevent "a flood of refugees, and severe economic problems."

At the same time, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and the US would finance projects to improve the refugees' quality of life and create more jobs for them.

Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi, who is boycotting the Arab League summit in Riyadh, is expected to oppose the plan. Tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees live in Libya, and Gaddafi may threaten to deport them should the initiative pass. Syria's stance on the issue is also unclear at present; the country is currently home to over Palestinian 200,000 refugees. The new plan gives precedence to aiding the 300,000 refugees in Lebanon, whose condition has been defined as "very bad." Jordan, which is home to the greatest number of refugees, more than 1.5 million, and several Emirates, have already agreed to the plan."

British pawns in an Iranian game

The Iranian seizure of 15 British sailors may be much cleverer than it appears. Oil has moved above US$60 a barrel as a result of the incident. And if Tehran drags out proceedings, the Shi'ites in southern Iraq may take the hint and accelerate a confrontation, and even start merging with strands of the Sunni resistance.

By Pepe Escobar
Asia Times

".....The British are adamant that the sailors were in Iraqi waters checking for cars, not weapons, being smuggled. It's almost laughable that the Royal Navy should be reduced to finding dangerous Toyotas in the Persian Gulf. Some reports from Tehran claim the British were actually checking Iranian military preparations ahead of a possible confrontation with the US.....

The Shatt-al-Arab incident has been linked to an Iranian response to Washington's accusations that Tehran is helping Shi'ite militias with funds, weapons and training in Iraq. For the record, Iran's ambassador in Iraq, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, said there is absolutely no connection: "They entered Iranian territorial waters and were arrested. It has nothing to do with other issues." Not surprisingly, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari had to take the side of the occupiers who installed him in his post: he said the British were in Iraq invited by the Iraqi government and were operating in Iraqi waters.....

From the depths of their abysmal, recent historical experience, even the Arab world - which is not so fond of Persians - sees the US-orchestrated UN sanctions on Iran for what they are: the West, once again, trying to smash an independent nation daring to have its shot at more influence in the Middle East. More sanctions will be useless as China and India will continue to do serious business with Iran......

But from Tehran's point of view, for all purposes British Prime Minister Tony Blair is a soft target. The episode has the potential to paralyze both President George W Bush and Blair. Neither can use the incident to start a war with Iran, although Blair has warned that his government is prepared to move to "a different phase" if Iran does not quickly release the sailors.

If the Tehran leadership decides to drag out the proceedings, the Shi'ites in southern Iraq, already exasperated by the British (as they were in the 1920s), may take the hint and accelerate a confrontation. Strands of the Shi'ite resistance may start merging with strands of the Sunni resistance (that's what Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has wanted all along). And this would prove once again that you don't need nuclear weapons when you excel at playing chess. "

Al-Jazeera Cartoon

An Arab Summit

Makiya's Malady

Another War Party stalwart cuts and runs

By Justin Raimondo

"In the late Sixties, the Iraqi-born Kanan Makiya was a Trotskyist, a card-carrying member of the Socialist Workers Party in the U.S., and later, in Britain, an activist in the International Marxist Group, the British section of the Trots' Fourth International. Then, as Edward Said put it,

"He switched sides and during the early 1980s he and his father, who own a firm called Makiya Associates, were employed by President Saddam Hussein to build a large number of buildings and projects, including a military parade ground for the observation of Saddam's birthday in Tikrit [Saddam's hometown], so he benefited from his connection with the Iraqis. And it was during this time that he used his second pseudonym, Samir al-Khalil, to write Republic of Fear [Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989]."

The book was taken up by the War Party as one of its seminal texts, cited by the regime-changers as evidence of the moral and practical necessity of ridding the world of Ba'athism. From a "full-time political activist" in the service of the Fourth International, Makiya, like so many others, made a surprisingly smooth transition to activism in the service of the 101st Airborne......

We can only hope that Makiya's malady is contagious and the rest of the neocons will come down with writer's block before too long. Like the dinosaurs, in one fell swoop an entire species, Homo neoconservatismus, will become extinct – and suddenly the world will be a much more peaceful place.

Oh well, I can dream, can't I?"

Rice: The Arabs Need to Extend Their Hand (in peace) to Israel
By Naser Jafari

To All Palestinians: Rejoice and Celebrate.....
This Abdullah Will Liberate You Just As The Jordanian Abdullah Did in 1948......
You Forgot Already?

Report: U.S. Sponsoring Kurdish Guerilla Attacks Inside Iran

Democracy Now!
With Amy Goodman

"We speak with independent journalist Reese Erlich about his report on Iranian Kurdish guerillas based among their Kurdish bretheren in northern Iraq. Erlich writes, "Kurdish and American sources say the United States has been supporting guerilla raids against Iran, channeling the money through organizations in Iraqi Kurdistan."......

AMY GOODMAN: In the latest edition of Mother Jones, you have a piece where you talk about the Iranian/Kurdish guerrillas. Explain who and where they are.

REESE ERLICH: In Northern Iraq there are three Iranian Kurdish groups that operate and that have compounds and do political organizing. Keep in mind that the Kurdish people of Iran face a great deal of oppression, they're not allowed to learn in their own language in the schools. They face discrimination. They're a great deal poorer than the rest of Iran. So the Kurdish people have very legitimate grievances against the government in Tehran. The U.S. has taken advantage of that.

In the case of one group, the P.K.K. or the Kurdistan Workers Party and they are along with Israel sponsoring them to carry out guerrilla raids inside Iran and its part of a much wider plan by the United States to foment discontent and actual terrorist activities by ethnic Iranians in various parts of Iran. And when I was in northern Iraq, I was able to determine that that kind of activity is going on from Iraqi soil under the Kurdish controlled areas of Iraq, into Iran.

AMY GOODMAN: How did you get to the guerrilla camp?

REESE ERLICH: Well, it's quite interesting, two cell phone calls and a drive up into the mountains. One of the arguments by the Kurdish regional government of Iraq and of the United States is that they can't find these guerrillas because it's so inhospitable territory that no one can find them. They're operating from secret bases, et cetera. But all I did was drive up into the closest Iraqi village and asked the local driver and they say oh, yeah, which of the guerrilla camp do you want to see and we'll take you right up to them. So they are very easy to find......

AMY GOODMAN: And finally Reese Erlich, the relationship of Britain and Israel, both U.S. Allies with these parties.

REESE ERLICH: Israel is backing various Kurdish groups. Both among the Iraqi Kurds as well as the P.J.A.K. among the Iranian Kurds. For Israel that have a long history of supporting non-Arab countries in an effort to divide the Arab world so they supported the Shah of Iran, Hali Salasi in Ethiopia. Turkey, they were allied in Turkey for many years and they see trying to use the Kurds in the same way. You have Israeli security officials training the guards at the Arabial Airport in northern Iraq. You have training of special anti-terrorism squads. I think they're working with P.J.A.K. although this is all denied by P.J.A.K. and the Israelis are also playing a very dangerous game because they are intervening in the affairs of Iraq and causing a great deal of trouble both for Iran and now they're outs with Turkey who was their long-time ally....."