Breaking News: Benazir Bhutto killed by bomb at rally

"The Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has died after a suicide bomb attack that killed at least 15 people at a campaign rally......"

Current Al-Jazeera (Arabic) Online Poll

The question is:

Do the "Awakening Councils" contribute to improving the security conditions in Iraq?

With about 700 responding so far, 78% said no.

Al-Jazeera Cartoon

The right to explode in anger

By Amira Hass

".......Despite domestic opposition, the eternal representatives of the Palestine Liberation Organization and PA - Mahmoud Abbas, Ahmed Qureia and Saeb Erekat - continue to take part in these virtual negotiations. On Tuesday, following a meeting with Abbas, the Fatah Central Committee warned that continued settlement construction is likely to wreck the negotiations. The warning may have been for internal consumption only, but similar alarms were sounded in 1996 and 2000. Israelis dismissed them in the belief that the participation by senior Palestinian officials in the virtual negotiations is what counted. To the Palestinian public, the warnings did not sound hollow.

It is impossible to predict how the Palestinian people will interpret the warnings this time around, and whether they will see them as a signal that they have the right to explode in anger once again over their continuing dispossession from their lands and future. "

Blair's misguided economic optimism

Adri Nieuwhof, The Electronic Intifada, 27 December 2007

"The Quartet's Middle East envoy, Tony Blair, wanted to raise $5.6 billion US at the donor conference in Paris in December 2007. Since 1999 the per capita gross domestic product in occupied Palestine has declined by 40 percent. As a result Palestinians are getting poorer and 65 percent live below the poverty line. To give the hard hit economy a boost, Blair came up with a cure of ten "quick impact projects." The World Bank has another opinion: pouring money into the occupied Palestinian territory will do little to revive the economy unless the occupation is ended. Instead, some of Blair's proposed projects are firmly rooted in the structure of the occupation......

Europe is reluctant to hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law like the ongoing construction of the wall and Jewish-only settlements on Palestinian land, the transfer of its population to the occupied Palestinian territory and the severe movements restrictions imposed on Palestinians. These violations have a negative impact on the lives of Palestinians and the Palestinian economy. The 2003 advisory opinion of the International Court Justice on the legality of the wall confirmed that Israel as the occupying force should comply with international law and that the international community has the duty to hold Israel to account. However, Europe has chosen to bury its head in the sand by endorsing Blair's quick impact projects that are firmly rooted in the structure of this occupation. This is not the way to gain the trust of the Palestinian people. Putting pressure on Israel to end the occupation is the way forward."

***

Notice that stupid, fawning expression on the face of the Palestinian "tourism minister" standing with Blair. With tourism she will recover Palestinian rights. By the way she has a few locally made trinkets available at low prices.

Keystone Kondi's Kurdish Kaper

By Jeff Huber

"Condoleezza Rice, Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science and 66th United States Secretary of State, arrived unannounced in the oil rich Iraqi city of Kirkuk on December 18th, just after Turkey's attacks on Kurdish targets in northern Iraq, to do what she does best: step into a bad situation and make it worse......."

The Waning of the Iraqi Resistance

There is no denying that the Iraqi resistance to the occupation has fallen sharply. The numbers of occupation troops killed in each of the past 8 months tell the story. It is not to the credit of the Iraqi resistance, and the Iraqis in general, that their resistance to the occupier is waning while their division is increasing. It used to be Sunni-Shiite fight simultaneous with the resistance to the occupier. Now the occupier is forgotten and in addition to the Sunni-Shiite fight, there are Sunni-Sunni and Shiite-Shiite fights that are escalating.

This does not speak well of the tribal Iraqi society nor does it speak well of a regime that in 40 years did not build an enlightened and strong Iraqi nationalism, but instead nurtured and used tribalism to its advantage.

Month Occupation Fatalities
------ ---------------------

5-07...... 131
6-07...... 108
7-07...... 87
8-07...... 88
9-07...... 69
10-07..... 40
11-07..... 40
12-07..... 19

قوات دولية في غزة لضرب المقاومة وليس لحماية الفلسطينيين

بقلم: عمر نجيب

"عندما استطاعت حركة حماس حسم الصراع في غزة لصالحها في شهر يونيو 2007، عاد الحديث مجددا عن نشر قوات دولية حول القطاع، لكن اللافت في ذلك الوقت كان أن المطالبة بذلك لم تقتصر على رئيس السلطة الفلسطينية محمود عباس، بل إنها جاءت أيضا من رئيس الحكومة الإسرائيلية ايهود اولمرت الذي كانت حكومته تعترض على المشروع من أساسه عندما طرح في السابق.
....
....
في افتتاح مؤتمر الجهات المانحة للفلسطينيين يوم الاثنين في باريس اقترح الرئيس الفرنسي نيكولا ساركوزي تشكيل قوة دولية تكلف "في الوقت المناسب" بمساندة الأجهزة الأمنية الفلسطينية، وأضاف ان "على مؤتمر باريس ان يواكب بناء دولة حديثة تدريجيا، وأن السلطة الفلسطينية تعهدت بضمان احترام القانون والنظام ويجب إصلاح الأجهزة الفلسطينية وإعطاؤها طابعا احترافيا، وفي موازاة ذلك، على الأسرة الدولية ان تساعد على تحقيق هذا الهدف الصعب".

الواضح أن هذا الاقتراح جاء كمخرج للإشكالية الإسرائيلية تجاه القوة الدولية حيث أن هذه القوة المقترحة ستكون سندا لقوات السلطة وإسرائيل في التصدي للمقاومة التي تحارب الاحتلال ولن تكون بأي شكل أداة لحماية الفلسطينيين أو تطبيق واحترام ما يسمى بالشرعية الدولية. ويفترض منها ان تعد قوات الأمن التابعة لسلطة رام الله لفرض سيطرتها علي قطاع غزة وبعض المناطق الأخرى في الضفة الغربية، التي توجد فيها تجمعات للمقاومة، وخاصة كتائب شهداء الاقصى التابعة لحركة فتح والرافضة لتعليمات رئيس السلطة بوقف المقاومة واعتماد الخيار التفاوضي كأسلوب وحيد للوصول الي تسوية سلمية لن تكون إلا على حساب حقوق الشعب الفلسطيني.

ولا يظهر ان الاقتراح الذي طرحه الرئيس الفرنسي هو منتوج فرنسي صرف بل شاركت في إعداده وصقله إسرائيل وواشنطن ليكون مكملا لما تم رسمه في مؤتمر أنابوليس وفي إطار الحرب المعلنة على الشعب الفلسطيني وعلى حركة حماس. وهو مخطط جديد لدعم أمن المحتل الإسرائيلي. "

Shooting Back: The Israeli Human Rights Group B’Tselem Gives Palestinians Video Cameras to Document Life Under Occupation.

Democracy Now!
With Amy Goodman

"...The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has given Palestinian families across the West Bank video cameras to document how they’re treated by Israeli soldiers and settlers. The project is called “Shooting Back.” Some of the videos depicting abuse by settlers sparked a national debate in Israel earlier this year after they were broadcast on Israeli television.

Oren Yakobovich coordinates B’Tselem’s video department. He recently traveled to the United States, joined me here in the firehouse studio. I began by asking him to explain the project, “Shooting Back.”

OREN YAKOBOVICH: “Shooting Back,” it’s basically giving a Palestinian that’s living in high-risk areas that’s probably going to suffer from human rights violation by the Israeli army and by settlers—we give them cameras, so they can film their life, and basically we can see the violation when it’s occurred.......

AMY GOODMAN: Oren, describe this first video we’re about to watch and listen to.

OREN YAKOBOVICH: Alright. OK, well, this is basically the first video that we took out for the media. It’s happening in Hebron. Just to understand, Hebron is the only Palestinian city where Jewish settlers living in the heart of the city. Usually the settlements will be outside of the major city, around or close by, but not inside. In Hebron, basically because Abraham, the father of our religion, is buried there, it’s a very holy place to the Jews also, and there’s settlements in the heart of the city.

The result of the settlements is a lot of restriction of movements on—that are being held on Palestinians. There are many streets that they cannot really walk. A Palestinian cannot drive cars in these areas. And there is a lot of violation that’s happening there from the settlers that are living there. There are very radical settlers, more radical even than the rest of the West Bank. And we know from a lot of years of watching the place or getting testimonies that a lot of violations is happening there.

What you’re going to see is a clip from a settlement called Tel Rumeida in Hebron. What we will see is a settler from this settlement, from Tel Rumeida, pushing Palestinians that basically are living across the street, on the other side of the road, pushing her back to her home, calling her “whore,” cursing her very viciously. And all this time, you see the soldier standing next to the woman doing nothing, not interfering.

AMY GOODMAN: Tell us about the Palestinian family, in particular the woman, both the Palestinian woman and the Jewish settler woman.

OREN YAKOBOVICH: Yeah, OK. So the Palestinian is part of part of Abu Eisha family that’s living in the heart of Tel Rumeida. They’ve been there for years, a lot of lot of years. In ’84, if I’m not mistaken, or ’83—I don’t remember—the settlement started, the Jewish settlement started in Hebron. The street that was open all the time to the family and to the people to come to visit her was closed. And now, this is the only Palestinian family that can walk in the street, the people living in this house. And they have nowhere to—the only way out from this house is through this road. So basically every time they’re going out from the door, they’re confronting the settlement—the settlers. And you will see this clip, and after, you see more clips, because we get a lot of material from this family. They are being attacked on a regular basis. Every time they go out of the house, there’s a good chance they’re going to get stones from the children or from the people that are living across the street, from the settlers.

AMY GOODMAN: And tell me about this particular settler woman.

OREN YAKOBOVICH: Don’t say her name, but she is a radical settler, and she’s living on the other side of the street. And she’s kind of representing the settlers population living in Hebron. And I have to say that even for the Israeli audience, she seems extreme, like she’s very extreme. But what we know about her, this is not the first time she’s attacking, not her, not her friends. There’s attacks happening there regularly on a regular basis. And what we see, that the army and the police are not enforcing the law, or there is lack of enforcement there.

AMY GOODMAN: Let’s watch.

HEBRON PALESTINIAN RESIDENT: [translated] She wants to lock us in.

ISRAELI SETTLER: [translated] Get in the house. Get in the house.

HEBRON PALESTINIAN RESIDENT: [translated] I won’t close the door.

ISRAELI SETTLER: [translated] Close it. Close the door.

HEBRON PALESTINIAN RESIDENT: [translated] Stay out of this!

ISRAELI SETTLER: [translated] Close the door.

HEBRON PALESTINIAN RESIDENT: [translated] Stay out of this! I’m not closing the door.

ISRAELI SETTLER: [translated] Sit here, in the cage. Sit here. Close the door.

HEBRON PALESTINIAN RESIDENT: [translated] I don’t want to go inside!

ISRAELI SETTLER: [translated] Close the… Get the camera out of here.

HEBRON PALESTINIAN RESIDENT: [translated] Call the police.

ISRAELI SETTLER: [translated] Turn the camera off.

HEBRON PALESTINIAN RESIDENT: [translated] It’s early in the morning. What do you want from us?

ISRAELI SETTLER: [translated] Shut up!

HEBRON PALESTINIAN RESIDENT: [translated] Don’t you [addressing soldier] see what she’s doing?

ISRAELI SETTLER: [translated] Whore.

HEBRON PALESTINIAN RESIDENT: [translated] You are!

ISRAELI SETTLER: [translated] Whore.

HEBRON PALESTINIAN RESIDENT: [translated] You are! Go away!

ISRAELI SETTLER: [translated] Whore.

HEBRON PALESTINIAN RESIDENT: [translated] Look what she’d doing! Go away!

ISRAELI SETTLER: [translated] Whore.

HEBRON PALESTINIAN RESIDENT: [translated] Go away, you bitch!

ISRAELI SETTLER: [translated] Whore.

HEBRON PALESTINIAN RESIDENT: [translated] Did you see [addressing soldier] what she did?

ISRAELI SETTLER: [translated] Whore. Whooooore. You’re a whore. Your daughters, too. Don’t you dare open this door!

HEBRON PALESTINIAN RESIDENT: [translated] Don’t you dare come here!

ISRAELI SETTLER: [translated] Whore.

HEBRON PALESTINIAN RESIDENT: [translated] I’ll leave the house, as I please!

ISRAELI SETTLER: [translated] Whore.

HEBRON PALESTINIAN RESIDENT: [translated] Leave us alone! Soldier, do you see what she’s doing?

AMY GOODMAN: That video was filmed in Hebron. The Jewish settler woman, the Palestinian woman was filmed by who, Oren?

OREN YAKOBOVICH: The sister of the Palestinian who’s being cursed is the one that’s filming. Basically, there is a kid there, sixteen years old, holding a camera while her sister is being attacked by the settler. You see that the settler is coming to the camera, trying to push her into the house. And her sister is just next to her filming. And she’s filming from—you see, I think it’s a barbwire or like, you know, a net from—

AMY GOODMAN: Through barbwire?

OREN YAKOBOVICH: Through barbwire, yeah, I think, because it’s called the cage house. Because they have so many troubles from the settlers, they have to build kind of a barbwire around their house so they will not—to protect the windows from the stones, to protect them the stone and from all kinds of things that they’re throwing there.

AMY GOODMAN: Did this video appear on Israeli television?

OREN YAKOBOVICH: Yeah. This video was—what was amazing, I need to say, about this video, that for the Palestinian, when they gave me the camera, they gave me the tape, they didn’t talk about this video, because for them it’s casual. They didn’t think there was anything special in this video. While we watched it in the office in B’Tselem, we said like there’s something very strong here that we need everybody to see. But for the Palestinians, they didn’t say anything about this video.

And then we put it out on one of the Israeli internet-used channels, and very fast there was a lot of—about hundreds of talk-backs and hundreds of clicks on this video. Of course, hour after, I got a great response from the rest of the networks in Israel, news networks. The day after, it was everywhere in Israel. It caused a major—

AMY GOODMAN: So it first appeared on the web, then the networks took it.

OREN YAKOBOVICH: Yeah, yeah, yeah
....."

Israeli Demolition Bulldozers Don't Take a Holiday Break

The News Headline Reads: New Jewish Colonies in Jerusalem Besiege Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The Reader is Upset Because the UAE Team Did Not Make it to the Arab Games Finals!
By Hamed Najeeb

Lebanon in Search of a Government

Look Who's Meddling Now

By RANNIE AMIRI
CounterPunch

""Bush, your orders will not be implemented and your tutelage is rejected."

- Hezbollah Deputy General Sheik Naim Kassem, in response to President Bush's call for Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to ignore the constitution and push through his candidate for president......

Dig a bit deeper though and you will find what lies at the heart of Lebanon's political impasse, succinctly expressed by MP Hussein al-Haj Hassan:

"The problem is not with General Suleiman as a consensus candidate, but with a group (the ruling coalition) that changes its political stands according to American dictates."

Since the March 2005 Beirut protests that ultimately led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon, the pendulum has decidedly swung in the opposite direction. Prime Minister Siniora along with the leaders of the March 14 Coalition (Saad Hariri, Walid Jumblatt and Samir Geagea) wasted no time in ingratiating themselves to the Bush administration and steering the country on a decidedly pro-American course.

This new posture was disturbingly on display even as Israel systematically ravaged Lebanon in the summer of 2006 (on the pretext of returning two Israeli soldiers caught trespassing on Lebanese soil). During the war, which killed 1,000 Lebanese civilians, displaced nearly one million people-a quarter of the entire population-and deliberately devastated the civilian infrastructure, Siniora not only shamelessly received Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Beirut, but did so with a smile and kiss. Even after she made it clear the U.S. position would be neither to call for a cease-fire nor to restrain Israel, and despite the ongoing carnage, Rice was warmly welcomed........

The sad legacy the U.S. and Israel have left for Lebanon is the continued maiming of its civilians, mass displacement of its population, and decimation of entire towns and villages along with their roads and bridges. The opposition to the Siniora administration is therefore one that seeks to ensure a voice remains to speak out against U.S. and Israeli interference and aggression, not one that capitulates to it. To guarantee Lebanon will not become a client state like Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have, a demand is being made for a comprehensive political package that incorporates proper checks and balances on the prime minister.

Lebanese MP Hassan Fadlallah observed, "Bush didn't enter a country where he didn't cause wars and strife. He is trying to spread his experiment to Lebanon." In order for the present standoff to end, Siniora must first end Bush's experiment. That may very well need to start with Siniora's own resignation."

Because the Pharaoh Has No Balls (or Teeth): Egypt asks for national troop deployment in Sinai, Israel refuses

"The Israeli delegation officials that are visiting Egypt said that they will refuse the demands made by Egypt to deploy 2000 of its troops in the Sinai Peninsula.

The Israeli delegation is headed by the Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the visit started on Wednesday. Egypt had asked Israel to agree on the deployment of the 2000 troops to assist the already existing Egyptian troops in the Sinai Peninsula between Israel and Egypt. Egyptian officials said that the deployment was to help prevent the smuggling of weapons through Sinai into the Gaza strip......"

Iran Jewish leader calls recent mass aliyah 'misinformation' bid

"A top Iranian Jewish community leader on Wednesday described the recent immigration of 40 Iranian Jews to Israel as a misinformation campaign and insisted that Jews living in the Islamic Republic were not in danger under hard-line policies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

A group of 40 Iranian Jews landed in Israel on Tuesday, the largest since the fall of the Shah and Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979.

The immigrants, from Tehran, Shiraz, and Isfahan, each received a $10,000 grant from international Jewish organizations. No details about their route of exit from Iran were given, but it was assumed they came through a third country......

Ciamak Morsathegh, who heads the Tehran Jewish Committee, claimed Wednesday that the immigrants were not Iranian because pictures broadcast on television in Israel on Tuesday did not show their faces. In Israel, the broadcasters did not show their faces because there was concern that publicity could lead to harm of Jews still in Iran.

"This is a misinformation campaign, a campaign of lies against Iran and its Jewish community. We can't confirm that 40 Iranian Jews landed in Israel," Morsathegh told The Associated Press.

A joint statement signed by Morsathegh and Morris Motamed, the only Jewish lawmaker in the Iranian parliament, also said the Iranian Jews have never been part of any organized immigration to Israel.....

Iran's Jewish community of about 25,000 people is protected by the country's constitution and remains the largest in the Muslim Middle East. Synagogues, Jewish schools and stores operate openly. Morsathegh said in Tehran there are 20 synagogues, eight butchers, five schools, four youth organizations and two restaurants......

"We are one of the oldest communities in Iran. We are free to practice our religion. Anti-Semitism is a Western phenomenon but Jews have never been in danger in Iran," said Morsathegh, who spoke in his office in the Sapir Charity Hospital, which is run by Iranian Jews......

"We are Iranian Jews and are proud of our nationality. No amount of money can encourage us to give up Iran. Our nationality is not up for sale," Morsathegh said."

Palestine: A Peace-killing Linkage, De-linkage

by Nicola Nasser

Global Research, December 26, 2007

"......To judge form the trend of the one million aliyah of the "Soviet" Jewish immigrants late in the last century, a high percentage of the new comers this year (19,700) will end up landing in Israeli colonial settlements built on the Israeli-confiscated Palestinian land in the West Bank, notably in eastern Jerusalem where at least (12%) of Soviet Jews had settled according to Israeli media reports.

The "absorption" of newcomers in the occupied Palestinian territories is not an Israeli policy dictated by geographical or economic inability to absorb them in Israel proper, but rather by Israel's strategy of unsatisfied apatite for territorial expansion.....

Nor could the Israeli leaders be excused by "unawareness" of the Palestinian plight in their "de-linking" the peace-making from the Palestinian Right of Return and their persisting denial of this right and their persistence on "linking" their territorial expansion through the colonial settlement strategy to making peace with the Palestinian people.....

The declared Annapolis plan of Israel and the Quartet of the U.S., U.N., EU and Russian mediators to shore up the ruling Palestinian "peaceniks" in the West Bank with promises of political, security and economic "horizons" towards the creation of a Palestinian state according to the two-state "vision" of the U.S. President George W. Bush, while at the same time totally sealing off the totally dependent on foreign charities Hamas ruling compatriots in the Gaza Strip, is proving to be a non-starter tactic essentially because Israel is not subscribing in action to what it has verbally committed herself to in Annapolis, namely to commit to its obligation according to the Road Map peace blueprint not to expand her settlements......

PLO on Verge of Splintering

The Israeli colonial drive and the impotence of the international Quartet to stop it are discrediting the PLO leadership not only in the eyes of its people but also in the eyes of its coalition member factions.....

However by calling for a stop to all contacts and negotiations with Israel after voicing strong opposition to the Annapolis conference both fronts (PFLP and DFLP) are in fact adopting a key Hamas demand and reinforcing the arguments of the Islamic movement against the Abbas-led PLO.....

Fatah Opposition on the Rise

Whereas the Fatah-Hamas bloody race for controlling the PA institutions is self-evident, all indications refer to an emerging third power, which seems gradually snatching the reins of the self-ruled authority from both rivals, first and foremost in the West Bank.

Fatah is gradually becoming a "former" ruling party and developing into a de facto opposition to both rival governments of the Fayyad-ruled West Bank and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip......."

What Happens When You Accept Being a Beggar

Egypt FM: Pro-Israeli lobby is harming our relations with U.S.

"Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Wednesday accused the Israeli lobby in Washington of straining its relations with the United States by using the issue of smuggling across the Gaza border as an excuse to cut U.S. military aid to Cairo.......

"The latest months have seen the Israeli lobby's efforts to harm Egypt's interests with the (U.S.)Congress," Aboul Gheit told reporters. "The Israeli lobby inside the Congress was behind some positions adopted by Congress and the Israeli media campaign in the last few months falls within this trend."......

On Wednesday, U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) said during a visit to Jerusalem he was upset by the smuggling, and revived a proposal by Congress to cut aid if the issue was not addressed.

"Egypt can do a lot more," said Specter, a member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee. "And if they don't, I think it would be appropriate to condition aid to them."......"

IRAQ: 'Awakening' Forces Arouse New Conflicts

By Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail

"FALLUJAH, Dec 26 (IPS) - The controversial move of the U.S. military to back Sunni "Awakening" forces has created another wedge between Sunni and Shia political groups.

Following disputes between the tribal groups assembled into Awakening forces and the Iraqi government, the creation of these forces has become also a political issue.

U.S.-backed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who heads a Shia political bloc, has adamantly opposed the U.S.-military policy of backing tribal groups and former resistance fighters.......

Tensions between politicians in the government and local tribes affiliated with the Awakening are evident all over Fallujah. Many people say they fear a new phase of fighting, this time local.

"This was the American plan from the beginning," Sammy Hussein, a poet from Fallujah told IPS. "We knew that after creating a Sunni-Shia fight, they would start a Sunni-Sunni fight and a Shia-Shia fight so that they ensure control of our country. The only thing they have not calculated well is that people are still armed, and that the fighting spirit is still alive in Iraq."....."

The EU should demand more from Israel

By Donald Macintyre
The Independent

"Everyone in northern Gaza knows the bridge at the entrance to Beit Hanoun. When Mohammad Shtayyeh, the chairman of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction, remarked recently that, since the beginning of the intifada in 2000, the bridge had been destroyed three times by Israeli forces and rebuilt each time by the European Union, no one in the Middle East aid world needed to ask what he was talking about.

Mr Shtayyeh's remark came after this month's Paris donors' conference pledged an estimated $7.4bn over the next three years to the emergency Palestinian government set up in the West Bank by President Mahmoud Abbas last June. And it went to the heart of a dilemma rarely discussed aloud by Western politicians, but which has been bothering aid professionals for several years, namely that western handouts may have the unintended effect of subsidizing the conflict, or as its harsher critics contend, the Israeli occupation of the territories it seized in 1967 which they see as prolonging that same conflict.

The dilemma was once summed up by the able UN official David Shearer. Acknowledging that "maintaining stability while the search for a peace agreement continues" was a "laudable aim", he also suggested that with "ever present" funding to prevent humanitarian meltdown, there was "less incentive to address the issues that underlie it. Without donor assistance, for example, Israel's occupation ... would be much more problematic and expensive ... so aid money might also blunt the urgency to seek peace."......

In doing more to persuade Israel that time is running out for the two-state solution, the Europeans would be doing little more than reinforcing Mr Olmert himself; he has warned his opponents that the alternative is a single state in which Palestinians would agitate for equal rights – spelling the end of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. And if the Europeans are not ready to use what leverage they can in the interests of Israelis and Palestinians, they might consider those of their own taxpayers."

Meeting With Barak, Wednesday.....
Because the Pharaoh Has no Balls

Christians, too, suffer the evilness of the occupation

The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Michel Sabbah arrives at the IOF checkpoint outside Bethlehem

From Khalid Amayreh in occupied Bethlehem

"Christmas is a season of good will. However, for Israel and its notoriously mendacious propaganda machine, Christmas is also a hasbara opportunity for spreading lies and disseminating disinformation and half truths about Christians in the Holy Land.

The usual seasonal dosage of lies includes such claims that Christians in the Holy Land suffer more from Muslim persecution than from the Israeli and apartheid, and that Christian emigration is not really attributed to Israel’s Nazi-like repression of the Palestinian people but rather to Palestinian “Muslim” intolerance and violence.

Well, such lies are not new. Israel itself is a state based on lies and lying has always been and continues to be Israel’s policy and modus operandi. In fact, it is very hard for one to be Zionist and not to be a liar. In truth, Zionism and mendacity are two sides of the same coin.

Didn’t Zionism claim that Palestine was a land without a people for a people without a land?.....

I know for sure that our Christian-Palestinian brothers and sisters shall never allow Israel to use them as hasbara pawns in the service of oppression, racism and ethnic cleansing.

The Christians of Palestine, who have received their share of suffering and oppression at the hands of Zionism know more than anybody else that the wickedness of the occupation doesn’t distinguish between them and their Muslim compatriots.

In November, 1948, the Hagana terrorists overran the two Christian villages of Ikrit and Birim in the upper Galilee, expelling inhabitants at gunpoint. The pogrom-like expulsion was carried out without the Israeli government approval. However, the democratic Israeli state never allowed the Christian inhabitants to return, despite several rulings to the contrary by the Israeli High Court.....

A few years ago, the Israeli Intelligence instructed its agents to throw stones and Molotov cocktails on several churches in the northern and central parts of the West Bank, apparently in order to use the incidents as hasbara ammunition in North America where public opinion was already overcharged against anything Arab or Islamic.

Meanwhile, the Israeli media, especially right-wing newspapers such as the Jerusalem Post, was concocting and inventing stories about Christian girls being raped and murdered by Palestinians in Bethlehem......

They don’t know that Israel is systematically stealing, at gunpoint, Church property and real estate in Bethlehem, Beit Jala, Beit Sahur and Jerusalem.

They don’t know that Israel routinely bars Christians, laymen and clergy, from accessing their holy places in Jerusalem, e.g. the Church of the Sepulcher.

They don’t know that Israeli Jewish youths routinely harass, even spit on clergymen in the streets of Jerusalem, often in full view of policemen who in most cases remain passive.

They don’t know that Christian commuters are routinely humiliated at roadblocks manned by trigger-happy soldiers, which make their daily lives an unending nightmare?

They don’t know that Israel has already morphed Bethlehem into a ghetto thanks to this Wall of Shame which Israel calls “separation wall” when in reality it is designed to grab and steal as much Palestinian land as possible......."