by Michael Scheuer
"......The Israel-firsters' success is, of course, the stuff of which legends are made. Most recently, for example, we heard President Bush echo Sen. Lieberman's insane and subversive contention that the United States has a "duty" to ensure the fulfilling of God's millennia-old promise to Abraham regarding the creation and survival of Israel. Bush told the Knesset all Americans are ready to endlessly bleed and pay to ensure Israel's security. And where does the president derive authority to make such a commitment in the name of his countrymen? From the Constitution? On the basis of America's dominant religion? From – heaven forbid – a thoughtful, hardheaded analysis of U.S. interests?
No, Bush's pledge was based on none of these. Bush's decision to more deeply involve America in the eternal Arab-Israeli war was based on nothing less than the corruption wrought on the American political system by the Israel-firsters, AIPAC's enormous treasury, and the lamentable but growing influence of America's leading evangelical Protestant preachers......
Neutralizing the Israel-first fifth column must be done, but it must be accomplished using legitimate democratic tools: voting, lobbying, free speech, and support for candidates pledged to keep America out of other peoples' religious wars. The invocation of the anti-Semite epithet by the Israel-firsters should be ignored. To be silenced by the slurs of the Israel-firsters is to ignominiously invite the end of American independence by subordinating U.S. interests to those of a foreign nation, as well as to forget the warning of the greatest American. "If men are precluded from offering their sentiments on a matter which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences that can invite the consideration of mankind," George Washington said in March 1783, "reason is of no use to us; the freedom of speech may be taken away, and, dumb and silent, we may be led, like sheep, to the slaughter." As long as the Israel-firsters can define the limits of acceptable public discourse, Americans are on their way to the slaughter. "
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
First al-Bashir, next ... Bush?
By Mark Levine, Middle East historian
Al-Jazeera
"While there is little chance Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, will ever be brought to trial following his indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the charges brought against him nevertheless offer hope for anyone concerned about human rights around the world.
For Americans, however, the ICC indictment should offer a moment of sombre reflection not merely for our relative inaction with regard to years of mass murder in Sudan.
It is equally disturbing that much of the al-Bashir indictment could just as easily be applied to George Bush, the US president.
Here is part of what the indictment says......
In an America that still lived up to its founding ideals Bush and his henchmen and women would not be worrying about an ICC indictment because they would be too busy already defending themselves against a US federal indictment for war crimes and other violations of US law.
At least in this imperfect world, Bush and the architects and executioners of the Iraq war can join al-Bashir in suffering the ignominy of being at-large international criminals."
Al-Jazeera
"While there is little chance Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, will ever be brought to trial following his indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the charges brought against him nevertheless offer hope for anyone concerned about human rights around the world.
For Americans, however, the ICC indictment should offer a moment of sombre reflection not merely for our relative inaction with regard to years of mass murder in Sudan.
It is equally disturbing that much of the al-Bashir indictment could just as easily be applied to George Bush, the US president.
Here is part of what the indictment says......
In an America that still lived up to its founding ideals Bush and his henchmen and women would not be worrying about an ICC indictment because they would be too busy already defending themselves against a US federal indictment for war crimes and other violations of US law.
At least in this imperfect world, Bush and the architects and executioners of the Iraq war can join al-Bashir in suffering the ignominy of being at-large international criminals."
Children are paying the price of injustice
The beating of a pre-pubescent youth by soldiers is just another example of human rights abuse in the occupied territories
Seth Freedman
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday July 16, 2008
"......In February, Muhammad was snatched by a four-man squad of Israeli special forces while playing with friends near the security wall, a mile away from his home. He was subjected to a vicious beating by the men, who punched him repeatedly and smashed him across the face with the butt of a gun in broad daylight. "No one said a word to me during [the attack]", recalled Muhammad, whose description of the assault bore marked similarities to Rodney King's ordeal.
The difference, however, is that Muhammad is just 14 years old, yet was deemed a sufficient enough threat by the soldiers that he needed to be beaten to the point of almost losing consciousness. His crime? Allegedly throwing stones at the separation wall; something Muhammad strenuously denies.
Whereas Israeli youths are treated as children in the eyes of the law until they turn 18, Palestinians are not accorded such humane treatment, and can be imprisoned from the tender age of just 12. Since September 2000 Israel has arrested and detained almost 6000 children, with 700 under-18s arrested in 2007 alone.
Gerard Horton of DCI, an NGO which has taken up Muhammad's case, pointed to the IDF's flagrant violations of children's rights as yet another example of Israel thumbing its nose at international law. "These abuses have been well documented for many years, yet our pleas for intervention have fallen on deaf ears", he said. "The lack of will by the international community to uphold the rule of law when it comes to the Occupied Territories is deeply disturbing."........
In the meantime, the silence of the outside world is deafening. With every passing week, and with every diplomatic door being opened for Israel, the authorities become more and more immune to the criticism on ground-level from the likes of DCI and their peers, and it is children such as Muhammad who pay the price.
Soldiers savagely beating a pre-pubescent youth would send shockwaves throughout any civilised country, but – when it comes to the occupied territories – such an attack is treated as just another day in the office."
Seth Freedman
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday July 16, 2008
"......In February, Muhammad was snatched by a four-man squad of Israeli special forces while playing with friends near the security wall, a mile away from his home. He was subjected to a vicious beating by the men, who punched him repeatedly and smashed him across the face with the butt of a gun in broad daylight. "No one said a word to me during [the attack]", recalled Muhammad, whose description of the assault bore marked similarities to Rodney King's ordeal.
The difference, however, is that Muhammad is just 14 years old, yet was deemed a sufficient enough threat by the soldiers that he needed to be beaten to the point of almost losing consciousness. His crime? Allegedly throwing stones at the separation wall; something Muhammad strenuously denies.
Whereas Israeli youths are treated as children in the eyes of the law until they turn 18, Palestinians are not accorded such humane treatment, and can be imprisoned from the tender age of just 12. Since September 2000 Israel has arrested and detained almost 6000 children, with 700 under-18s arrested in 2007 alone.
Gerard Horton of DCI, an NGO which has taken up Muhammad's case, pointed to the IDF's flagrant violations of children's rights as yet another example of Israel thumbing its nose at international law. "These abuses have been well documented for many years, yet our pleas for intervention have fallen on deaf ears", he said. "The lack of will by the international community to uphold the rule of law when it comes to the Occupied Territories is deeply disturbing."........
In the meantime, the silence of the outside world is deafening. With every passing week, and with every diplomatic door being opened for Israel, the authorities become more and more immune to the criticism on ground-level from the likes of DCI and their peers, and it is children such as Muhammad who pay the price.
Soldiers savagely beating a pre-pubescent youth would send shockwaves throughout any civilised country, but – when it comes to the occupied territories – such an attack is treated as just another day in the office."
A coup for Hizbullah
Today's prisoner swap is an unqualified victory for the Lebanese militia
Israeli prison guards escort the Lebanese prisoner Samir Kuntar as he is released from the Hadarim prison in preparation for his handover to Hizbullah as part of a prisoner exchange.
Ian Black, Middle East editor
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday July 16, 2008
"Hassan Nasrallah, the Hizbullah leader, will be relishing a moment of undiluted triumph over today's exchange of prisoners and bodies with Israel, buttressing his movement's position as the vanguard of Lebanese "resistance" and a formidable player on the Middle Eastern stage.
Nasrallah, the architect of what he famously dubbed the "divine victory" over Israel in the 2006 war, is making good on pledges to bring his boys home from Israeli prisons.....
Underlining Nasrallah's sense of victory and revenge, the exchange is being dubbed Operation Radwan, after Haj Radwan, aka Imad Mughniyeh, the legendary Hizbullah commander and arch-terrorist who was assassinated in Damascus in February. His death is blamed by most observers on Israel's Mossad secret service, and he is rumoured to have masterminded the 2006 border raid.....But there is an unmistakable sense that Israel, still smarting from its failure to win the war against Hizbullah, has come off second best....
The implications for Lebanon are striking too. It was Hizbullah, not the Lebanese government, which won the release of these prisoners, who will be greeted as national heroes by the country's president, prime minister and other leaders at Beirut airport.
"The result is that Hizbullah emerges as the force in Lebanon that can deliver, thereby perpetuating an important political dynamic — of the non-state actor which functions as the de facto state versus the state non-actor which merely enjoys the status of de jure state," analyst Amal Saad-Ghorayeb wrote on the openDemocracy website.
The fact that Kuntar is a Druze also helps Nasrallah in his bid to cast Hizbullah as a truly national resistance, acting for all Lebanese, not just for the Shia community.....
The Israeli government has been anxious to insist that the prisoner agreement with Hizbullah does not grant it any legitimacy or recognition - the same attitude it has taken in dealing with the Palestinian Islamists of Hamas over a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. But it clearly remains a formidable enemy......"
Israeli prison guards escort the Lebanese prisoner Samir Kuntar as he is released from the Hadarim prison in preparation for his handover to Hizbullah as part of a prisoner exchange.
Ian Black, Middle East editor
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday July 16, 2008
"Hassan Nasrallah, the Hizbullah leader, will be relishing a moment of undiluted triumph over today's exchange of prisoners and bodies with Israel, buttressing his movement's position as the vanguard of Lebanese "resistance" and a formidable player on the Middle Eastern stage.
Nasrallah, the architect of what he famously dubbed the "divine victory" over Israel in the 2006 war, is making good on pledges to bring his boys home from Israeli prisons.....
Underlining Nasrallah's sense of victory and revenge, the exchange is being dubbed Operation Radwan, after Haj Radwan, aka Imad Mughniyeh, the legendary Hizbullah commander and arch-terrorist who was assassinated in Damascus in February. His death is blamed by most observers on Israel's Mossad secret service, and he is rumoured to have masterminded the 2006 border raid.....But there is an unmistakable sense that Israel, still smarting from its failure to win the war against Hizbullah, has come off second best....
The implications for Lebanon are striking too. It was Hizbullah, not the Lebanese government, which won the release of these prisoners, who will be greeted as national heroes by the country's president, prime minister and other leaders at Beirut airport.
"The result is that Hizbullah emerges as the force in Lebanon that can deliver, thereby perpetuating an important political dynamic — of the non-state actor which functions as the de facto state versus the state non-actor which merely enjoys the status of de jure state," analyst Amal Saad-Ghorayeb wrote on the openDemocracy website.
The fact that Kuntar is a Druze also helps Nasrallah in his bid to cast Hizbullah as a truly national resistance, acting for all Lebanese, not just for the Shia community.....
The Israeli government has been anxious to insist that the prisoner agreement with Hizbullah does not grant it any legitimacy or recognition - the same attitude it has taken in dealing with the Palestinian Islamists of Hamas over a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. But it clearly remains a formidable enemy......"
Real News Video: The Pak-Afghan riddle
Prof. Barnett Rubin on the US, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Taliban and NATO, (1 of 4)
"The Real News Network Analyst Pepe Escobar talks to Professor Barnett R. Rubin of New York University, a leading expert on Afghanistan, about the relationships between the US, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Taliban and NATO."
"The Real News Network Analyst Pepe Escobar talks to Professor Barnett R. Rubin of New York University, a leading expert on Afghanistan, about the relationships between the US, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Taliban and NATO."
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
The Palestinians Deserve Better Leadership
A Very Good Piece
By Hasan Afif El-Hasan
Palestine Chronicle
".....Israel will get everything it wants from the Mediterranean Union Partnership Conference including legitimacy and recognition by Arab members without giving anything back, and the Palestinian people will be the losers. The Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni said, “The Israeli-Palestinian conflict need not be an obstacle between countries in the region”. Israel may be able to succeed in joining the Mediterranean union with eight Arab members including the Palestinian Authority. By not promoting the interests of his people, Abbas and his cronies are accomplices to the long suffering Palestinians under occupation or in refugee camps. His leadership is morally bankrupt for trading the national cause for promise of donors’ money and the fantasy titles with privileges and a fiefdom in an Apartheid regime. The Palestinian Authority does not exist in any meaningful, tangible terms, according to the Palestinian scholar, Issa Khalaf.
It is imperative for the Palestinians to stop supporting the bankrupt and corrupt group that saddled them with the Oslo agreements catastrophe, and choose better leadership. No population since the nineteenth century sacrificed as much as the Palestinians to hold on to their land and achieved so little if any, mostly because of poor leadership. They should have the leadership they deserve; they must choose better leaders. "
By Hasan Afif El-Hasan
Palestine Chronicle
".....Israel will get everything it wants from the Mediterranean Union Partnership Conference including legitimacy and recognition by Arab members without giving anything back, and the Palestinian people will be the losers. The Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni said, “The Israeli-Palestinian conflict need not be an obstacle between countries in the region”. Israel may be able to succeed in joining the Mediterranean union with eight Arab members including the Palestinian Authority. By not promoting the interests of his people, Abbas and his cronies are accomplices to the long suffering Palestinians under occupation or in refugee camps. His leadership is morally bankrupt for trading the national cause for promise of donors’ money and the fantasy titles with privileges and a fiefdom in an Apartheid regime. The Palestinian Authority does not exist in any meaningful, tangible terms, according to the Palestinian scholar, Issa Khalaf.
It is imperative for the Palestinians to stop supporting the bankrupt and corrupt group that saddled them with the Oslo agreements catastrophe, and choose better leadership. No population since the nineteenth century sacrificed as much as the Palestinians to hold on to their land and achieved so little if any, mostly because of poor leadership. They should have the leadership they deserve; they must choose better leaders. "
Israel, Iran and the Bomb
By JOHN R. BOLTON
Wall Street Journal
"Iran's test salvo of ballistic missiles last week together with recent threatening rhetoric by commanders of the Islamic Republic's Revolutionary Guards emphasizes how close the Middle East is to a fundamental, in fact an irreversible, turning point......
Between Iran and its long-sought objective, however, a shadow may fall: targeted military action, either Israeli or American.....
And consider what comes next for the U.S.: the Bush administration's last six months pursuing its limp diplomatic efforts, plus six months of a new president getting his national security team and policies together. In other words, one more year for Tehran to proceed unhindered to "the point of no return."....
...Swift, sweeping, effectively enforced sanctions might have made a difference five years ago. No longer....
More sanctions today (even assuming, heroically, support from Russia and China) will simply be too little, too late. While regime change in Tehran would be the preferable solution, there is almost no possibility of dislodging the mullahs in time. Had we done more in the past five years to support the discontented – the young, the non-Persian minorities and the economically disaffected – things might be different.....
.....What will the U.S. do if Israel decides to initiate military action? There was a time when the Bush administration might itself have seriously considered using force, but all public signs are that such a moment has passed.
Israel sees clearly what the next 12 months will bring, which is why ongoing U.S.-Israeli consultations could be dispositive. Israel told the Bush administration it would destroy North Korea's reactor in Syria in spring, 2007, and said it would not wait past summer's end to take action. And take action it did.....
.....When the real source of the threat, not just a surrogate, nears the capacity for nuclear Holocaust, can anyone seriously doubt Israel's propensities, whatever the impact on gasoline prices?
Thus, instead of debating how much longer to continue five years of failed diplomacy, we should be intensively considering what cooperation the U.S. will extend to Israel before, during and after a strike on Iran. We will be blamed for the strike anyway, and certainly feel whatever negative consequences result, so there is compelling logic to make it as successful as possible. At a minimum, we should place no obstacles in Israel's path, and facilitate its efforts where we can.
These subjects are decidedly unpleasant. A nuclear Iran is more so."
Wall Street Journal
"Iran's test salvo of ballistic missiles last week together with recent threatening rhetoric by commanders of the Islamic Republic's Revolutionary Guards emphasizes how close the Middle East is to a fundamental, in fact an irreversible, turning point......
Between Iran and its long-sought objective, however, a shadow may fall: targeted military action, either Israeli or American.....
And consider what comes next for the U.S.: the Bush administration's last six months pursuing its limp diplomatic efforts, plus six months of a new president getting his national security team and policies together. In other words, one more year for Tehran to proceed unhindered to "the point of no return."....
...Swift, sweeping, effectively enforced sanctions might have made a difference five years ago. No longer....
More sanctions today (even assuming, heroically, support from Russia and China) will simply be too little, too late. While regime change in Tehran would be the preferable solution, there is almost no possibility of dislodging the mullahs in time. Had we done more in the past five years to support the discontented – the young, the non-Persian minorities and the economically disaffected – things might be different.....
.....What will the U.S. do if Israel decides to initiate military action? There was a time when the Bush administration might itself have seriously considered using force, but all public signs are that such a moment has passed.
Israel sees clearly what the next 12 months will bring, which is why ongoing U.S.-Israeli consultations could be dispositive. Israel told the Bush administration it would destroy North Korea's reactor in Syria in spring, 2007, and said it would not wait past summer's end to take action. And take action it did.....
.....When the real source of the threat, not just a surrogate, nears the capacity for nuclear Holocaust, can anyone seriously doubt Israel's propensities, whatever the impact on gasoline prices?
Thus, instead of debating how much longer to continue five years of failed diplomacy, we should be intensively considering what cooperation the U.S. will extend to Israel before, during and after a strike on Iran. We will be blamed for the strike anyway, and certainly feel whatever negative consequences result, so there is compelling logic to make it as successful as possible. At a minimum, we should place no obstacles in Israel's path, and facilitate its efforts where we can.
These subjects are decidedly unpleasant. A nuclear Iran is more so."
شكرا للمقاومة اللبنانية
شكرا للمقاومة اللبنانية
"تتم اليوم اكبر صفقة تبادل للاسر بين اسرائيل و حزب الله اللبناني منذ بداية هذا القرن، تشمل الافراج عن خمسة لبنانيين، بينهم سمير القنطار عميد المعتقلين العرب في سجون الاحتلال، واكثر من 160 جثة لشهداء، معظمهم من حركة فتح استشهدوا في عمليات فدائية داخل الاراضي المحتلة.
هذا الانجاز الكبير تحقق بسبب استراتيجية تفاوضية متميزة اتبعها حزب الله وقيادته، تقوم عل الصبر، وطول النفس، للوصول ال اكبر مكاسب ممكنة من عدو مراوغ متغطرس، يملك تاريخا طويلا في الابتزاز.
هذه الصفقة تعتبر سابقة، لانها كسرت الكثير من المحرمات الاسرائيلية، ابرزها عدم الافراج عمن تسميهم الحكومات الاسرائيلية المتعاقبة الذين تلطخت ايديهم بدماء اليهود . فقد اضطرت حكومة اولمرت للرضوخ لمطالب حزب الله في الافراج عن سمير القنطار، ومواجهة احتجاجات ضخمة في الكنيست والاوساط السياسية، حت ان ايهود باراك وزير الدفاع الاسرائيلي اضطر ال تأجيل زيارة له للولايات المتحدة لمتابعة تنفيذ الصفقة، والتصدي لحملة الانتقادات الواسعة التي يتعرض لها وحكومته.
.....
هذه هي المرة الاول التي يطالب فصيل عربي مقاوم باستعادة رفات الشهداء العرب والفلسطينيين، ويحضر لهم استقبالا شعبيا تكريما لبطولاتهم، واعترافا بتضحياتهم. وهذه السابقة الثانية تسجل لحزب الله الذي اثبت ايمانه بوحدة الدم والمصير المشترك لكل ابناء الامة الواحدة والعقيدة الواحدة.
دلال المغربي ابنة يافا، والمولودة في مخيم برج البراجنة في لبنان تعود اليوم ورفاقها بعد ان تحققت وصيتها مرتين، الاول عندما لامس جثمانها الطاهر ارض فلسطين، وربما قرب مدينة يافا التي حلمت دائما بالعودة اليها، وقد عادت فعلا مقاتلة وشهيدة، ودفنت هناك لاكثر من 33 عاما. والثانية عندما عادت لتدفن في مقبرة الشهداء في لبنان قرب مخيمها، ووسط رفاقها، وعل بعد خطوات من بيت اهلها، حيث ستتمكن والدتها، وشقيقها الصغير الذي لم يعرفها حية، من ملامسة نعشها، والصلاة عل روحها.
انه انجاز كبير تحققه المقاومة اللبنانية في زمن الخنوع العربي الرسمي، حيث عزت الانجازات والانتصارات. فاليوم سيدخل التاريخ باعتباره سجل حرصا عربيا واسلاميا عل اكرام الشهداء، والمطالبة برفاتهم، بحيث لا يبق هذا الامر حكرا عل الاسرائيليين، الذين ظلوا دائما يعايروننا بعدم الاهتمام بشهدائنا، وانهم فقط الذين لا يهدأ لهم بال حت يعود اسراهم الاحياء والاموات.
نقول شكرا للمقاومة اللبنانية، وللسيد حسن نصر الله زعيمها الذي رد الاعتبار لشهدائنا، وضرب مثلا نادرا في الوفاء لهم، ولهذا الاصرار ينتصر في معاركه ضد الاسرائيليين، ويحرر ارض بلاده، بينما باتت الهزائم هي الانجاز الوحيد للزعماء العرب الآخرين."
"تتم اليوم اكبر صفقة تبادل للاسر بين اسرائيل و حزب الله اللبناني منذ بداية هذا القرن، تشمل الافراج عن خمسة لبنانيين، بينهم سمير القنطار عميد المعتقلين العرب في سجون الاحتلال، واكثر من 160 جثة لشهداء، معظمهم من حركة فتح استشهدوا في عمليات فدائية داخل الاراضي المحتلة.
هذا الانجاز الكبير تحقق بسبب استراتيجية تفاوضية متميزة اتبعها حزب الله وقيادته، تقوم عل الصبر، وطول النفس، للوصول ال اكبر مكاسب ممكنة من عدو مراوغ متغطرس، يملك تاريخا طويلا في الابتزاز.
هذه الصفقة تعتبر سابقة، لانها كسرت الكثير من المحرمات الاسرائيلية، ابرزها عدم الافراج عمن تسميهم الحكومات الاسرائيلية المتعاقبة الذين تلطخت ايديهم بدماء اليهود . فقد اضطرت حكومة اولمرت للرضوخ لمطالب حزب الله في الافراج عن سمير القنطار، ومواجهة احتجاجات ضخمة في الكنيست والاوساط السياسية، حت ان ايهود باراك وزير الدفاع الاسرائيلي اضطر ال تأجيل زيارة له للولايات المتحدة لمتابعة تنفيذ الصفقة، والتصدي لحملة الانتقادات الواسعة التي يتعرض لها وحكومته.
.....
هذه هي المرة الاول التي يطالب فصيل عربي مقاوم باستعادة رفات الشهداء العرب والفلسطينيين، ويحضر لهم استقبالا شعبيا تكريما لبطولاتهم، واعترافا بتضحياتهم. وهذه السابقة الثانية تسجل لحزب الله الذي اثبت ايمانه بوحدة الدم والمصير المشترك لكل ابناء الامة الواحدة والعقيدة الواحدة.
دلال المغربي ابنة يافا، والمولودة في مخيم برج البراجنة في لبنان تعود اليوم ورفاقها بعد ان تحققت وصيتها مرتين، الاول عندما لامس جثمانها الطاهر ارض فلسطين، وربما قرب مدينة يافا التي حلمت دائما بالعودة اليها، وقد عادت فعلا مقاتلة وشهيدة، ودفنت هناك لاكثر من 33 عاما. والثانية عندما عادت لتدفن في مقبرة الشهداء في لبنان قرب مخيمها، ووسط رفاقها، وعل بعد خطوات من بيت اهلها، حيث ستتمكن والدتها، وشقيقها الصغير الذي لم يعرفها حية، من ملامسة نعشها، والصلاة عل روحها.
انه انجاز كبير تحققه المقاومة اللبنانية في زمن الخنوع العربي الرسمي، حيث عزت الانجازات والانتصارات. فاليوم سيدخل التاريخ باعتباره سجل حرصا عربيا واسلاميا عل اكرام الشهداء، والمطالبة برفاتهم، بحيث لا يبق هذا الامر حكرا عل الاسرائيليين، الذين ظلوا دائما يعايروننا بعدم الاهتمام بشهدائنا، وانهم فقط الذين لا يهدأ لهم بال حت يعود اسراهم الاحياء والاموات.
نقول شكرا للمقاومة اللبنانية، وللسيد حسن نصر الله زعيمها الذي رد الاعتبار لشهدائنا، وضرب مثلا نادرا في الوفاء لهم، ولهذا الاصرار ينتصر في معاركه ضد الاسرائيليين، ويحرر ارض بلاده، بينما باتت الهزائم هي الانجاز الوحيد للزعماء العرب الآخرين."
Twilight Zone / 'Worse than apartheid'
By Gideon Levy
".....This week, 21 human rights activists from South Africa visited Israel. Among them were members of Nelson Mandela's African National Congress; at least one of them took part in the armed struggle and at least two were jailed. There were two South African Supreme Court judges, a former deputy minister, members of Parliament, attorneys, writers and journalists. Blacks and whites, about half of them Jews.....
....They spent most of their time in the occupied areas, where hardly any official guests go - places that are also shunned by most Israelis......
Equally harsh are the remarks of the editor-in-chief of the Sunday Times of South Africa, Mondli Makhanya, 38. "When you observe from afar you know that things are bad, but you do not know how bad. Nothing can prepare you for the evil we have seen here. In a certain sense, it is worse, worse, worse than everything we endured. The level of the apartheid, the racism and the brutality are worse than the worst period of apartheid.
"The apartheid regime viewed the blacks as inferior; I do not think the Israelis see the Palestinians as human beings at all. How can a human brain engineer this total separation, the separate roads, the checkpoints? What we went through was terrible, terrible, terrible - and yet there is no comparison. Here it is more terrible. We also knew that it would end one day; here there is no end in sight. The end of the tunnel is blacker than black.
"Under apartheid, whites and blacks met in certain places. The Israelis and the Palestinians do not meet any longer at all. The separation is total. It seems to me that the Israelis would like the Palestinians to disappear. There was never anything like that in our case. The whites did not want the blacks to disappear. I saw the settlers in Silwan [in East Jerusalem] - people who want to expel other people from their place."
Afterward we walk silently through the alleys of Balata, the largest refugee camp in the West Bank, a place that was designated 60 years ago to be a temporary haven for 5,000 refugees and is now inhabited by 26,000. In the dark alleys, which are about the width of a thin person, an oppressive silence prevailed. Everyone was immersed in his thoughts, and only the voice of the muezzin broke the stillness. "
".....This week, 21 human rights activists from South Africa visited Israel. Among them were members of Nelson Mandela's African National Congress; at least one of them took part in the armed struggle and at least two were jailed. There were two South African Supreme Court judges, a former deputy minister, members of Parliament, attorneys, writers and journalists. Blacks and whites, about half of them Jews.....
....They spent most of their time in the occupied areas, where hardly any official guests go - places that are also shunned by most Israelis......
Equally harsh are the remarks of the editor-in-chief of the Sunday Times of South Africa, Mondli Makhanya, 38. "When you observe from afar you know that things are bad, but you do not know how bad. Nothing can prepare you for the evil we have seen here. In a certain sense, it is worse, worse, worse than everything we endured. The level of the apartheid, the racism and the brutality are worse than the worst period of apartheid.
"The apartheid regime viewed the blacks as inferior; I do not think the Israelis see the Palestinians as human beings at all. How can a human brain engineer this total separation, the separate roads, the checkpoints? What we went through was terrible, terrible, terrible - and yet there is no comparison. Here it is more terrible. We also knew that it would end one day; here there is no end in sight. The end of the tunnel is blacker than black.
"Under apartheid, whites and blacks met in certain places. The Israelis and the Palestinians do not meet any longer at all. The separation is total. It seems to me that the Israelis would like the Palestinians to disappear. There was never anything like that in our case. The whites did not want the blacks to disappear. I saw the settlers in Silwan [in East Jerusalem] - people who want to expel other people from their place."
Afterward we walk silently through the alleys of Balata, the largest refugee camp in the West Bank, a place that was designated 60 years ago to be a temporary haven for 5,000 refugees and is now inhabited by 26,000. In the dark alleys, which are about the width of a thin person, an oppressive silence prevailed. Everyone was immersed in his thoughts, and only the voice of the muezzin broke the stillness. "
Shin Bet warning of attack causes Blair to nix Gaza visit
(Cartoon by Carlos Latuff)
"Quartet Mideast envoy Tony Blair cancelled a planned Tuesday visit to Gaza at the last minute after the Shin Bet personally warned him that it had received intelligence information that Palestinian terror organizations were planning to attack him.
The trip would have marked the highest-level diplomatic visit to the territory since Hamas took control a year ago.
Hamas was to have provided security for Blair's trip. Hamas officials said before the visit was cancelled that they viewed Blair's decision to go to the territory as a sign of their group's emergence from Western isolation.
Security sources told Haaretz that Israel had not prohibited the visit, but since this was a substantive warning, officials had made certain to immediately pass the information to Blair's aides in order to keep him safe from harm.
Blair's spokesman, Matthew Doyle, said the envoy called off the visit due to a "specific security threat which would have made it irresponsible to proceed, not just for those visiting but also the local community.
"He looks forward to being able to go to Gaza again in the future and will of course in the meantime continue to work to improve the conditions for the people there," Doyle added.
Taher Nunu, a Hamas government spokesman, denied there were any security
threats against Blair. "Gaza is still open for all visitors, to break the siege and see the extent of suffering here," he said......"
The trip would have marked the highest-level diplomatic visit to the territory since Hamas took control a year ago.
Hamas was to have provided security for Blair's trip. Hamas officials said before the visit was cancelled that they viewed Blair's decision to go to the territory as a sign of their group's emergence from Western isolation.
Security sources told Haaretz that Israel had not prohibited the visit, but since this was a substantive warning, officials had made certain to immediately pass the information to Blair's aides in order to keep him safe from harm.
Blair's spokesman, Matthew Doyle, said the envoy called off the visit due to a "specific security threat which would have made it irresponsible to proceed, not just for those visiting but also the local community.
"He looks forward to being able to go to Gaza again in the future and will of course in the meantime continue to work to improve the conditions for the people there," Doyle added.
Taher Nunu, a Hamas government spokesman, denied there were any security
threats against Blair. "Gaza is still open for all visitors, to break the siege and see the extent of suffering here," he said......"
Israel Targets Hamas Orphanages
By Peter Hirschberg
"JERUSALEM, Jul 15 (IPS) - Shopping malls. Schools. Medical centres. Charities, orphanages. Soup kitchens. These are the latest targets in the campaign the Israeli military is waging against Hamas in the West Bank.
Israeli military officials have identified Hamas's civilian infrastructure in the West Bank as a major source of the Islamic group's popularity, and have begun raiding and shutting down these institutions in cities like Hebron, Nablus and Qalqilyah.
Last week, troops focused their efforts in Nablus, raiding the city hall and confiscating computers. They also stormed into a shopping mall and posted closure notices on the shop windows. A girls' school and a medical centre were shut down in the city, and a charitable association had its computers impounded and documents seized......
By moving against Hamas institutions, Israel runs the risk of increasing the popularity of the Islamic movement and, at the same time, undermining that of Abbas and his Fatah party, who are perceived, correctly or not, as the intended beneficiaries -- even if unwitting and unwilling ones -- of this policy.
What's more, Hamas's popularity does not derive only from its network of schools and charities, but is also very much a direct function of the deep disillusionment among the Palestinian people with the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority and its inability to deliver on its key promises, the central one being an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza.....
Many Israeli ministers are highly sceptical about Abbas's ability to deliver on any peace deal, and so put little store in the negotiations that were renewed last December. Some ministers have even called for the release of Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti.....Barghouti, they say, has the political standing among Palestinians that will be required to pull off a deal with Israel, and could draw enough support to wrest back the agenda from Hamas......"
"JERUSALEM, Jul 15 (IPS) - Shopping malls. Schools. Medical centres. Charities, orphanages. Soup kitchens. These are the latest targets in the campaign the Israeli military is waging against Hamas in the West Bank.
Israeli military officials have identified Hamas's civilian infrastructure in the West Bank as a major source of the Islamic group's popularity, and have begun raiding and shutting down these institutions in cities like Hebron, Nablus and Qalqilyah.
Last week, troops focused their efforts in Nablus, raiding the city hall and confiscating computers. They also stormed into a shopping mall and posted closure notices on the shop windows. A girls' school and a medical centre were shut down in the city, and a charitable association had its computers impounded and documents seized......
By moving against Hamas institutions, Israel runs the risk of increasing the popularity of the Islamic movement and, at the same time, undermining that of Abbas and his Fatah party, who are perceived, correctly or not, as the intended beneficiaries -- even if unwitting and unwilling ones -- of this policy.
What's more, Hamas's popularity does not derive only from its network of schools and charities, but is also very much a direct function of the deep disillusionment among the Palestinian people with the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority and its inability to deliver on its key promises, the central one being an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza.....
Many Israeli ministers are highly sceptical about Abbas's ability to deliver on any peace deal, and so put little store in the negotiations that were renewed last December. Some ministers have even called for the release of Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti.....Barghouti, they say, has the political standing among Palestinians that will be required to pull off a deal with Israel, and could draw enough support to wrest back the agenda from Hamas......"
Hamas-Israel Prisoner Swap Remains Elusive
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
"CAIRO, Jul 15 (IPS) - Despite intensive mediation efforts by Egyptian officials, a delegation from Palestinian resistance faction Hamas departed Cairo Saturday (Jul. 12) without securing a prisoner exchange deal with Israel. According to local analysts, fresh swap proposals -- featuring the release of long-time Israeli captive Gilaad Shalit -- continue to run up against Israeli obduracy.......
Despite repeated requests by Hamas to reopen the Rafah crossing, Egypt, too, has kept its border with Gaza closed to all but "exceptional" cases, such as medical patients and students studying abroad.
"There is no mechanism for opening the Rafah border crossing except the 2005 border protocol," said Bassyouni. That agreement, engineered by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and signed by the U.S.-backed Palestinian Authority and Israel three years ago, was suspended with Hamas's seizure of the Gaza Strip last summer, following its election victory in 2006.
According to Kandil, the precarious nature of the ceasefire -- and the continued closure of Gaza's borders by both Israel and Egypt -- militates against the successful conclusion of a prisoner exchange deal.
"Given the circumstances, I doubt we'll see a prisoner swap any time soon," he said. "The negotiations on prisoners are based on the success of the ceasefire arrangement, and -- thanks to Israeli intransigence -- it looks like the ceasefire could collapse any moment." "
"CAIRO, Jul 15 (IPS) - Despite intensive mediation efforts by Egyptian officials, a delegation from Palestinian resistance faction Hamas departed Cairo Saturday (Jul. 12) without securing a prisoner exchange deal with Israel. According to local analysts, fresh swap proposals -- featuring the release of long-time Israeli captive Gilaad Shalit -- continue to run up against Israeli obduracy.......
Despite repeated requests by Hamas to reopen the Rafah crossing, Egypt, too, has kept its border with Gaza closed to all but "exceptional" cases, such as medical patients and students studying abroad.
"There is no mechanism for opening the Rafah border crossing except the 2005 border protocol," said Bassyouni. That agreement, engineered by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and signed by the U.S.-backed Palestinian Authority and Israel three years ago, was suspended with Hamas's seizure of the Gaza Strip last summer, following its election victory in 2006.
According to Kandil, the precarious nature of the ceasefire -- and the continued closure of Gaza's borders by both Israel and Egypt -- militates against the successful conclusion of a prisoner exchange deal.
"Given the circumstances, I doubt we'll see a prisoner swap any time soon," he said. "The negotiations on prisoners are based on the success of the ceasefire arrangement, and -- thanks to Israeli intransigence -- it looks like the ceasefire could collapse any moment." "
Two, Three, Many Ni'lins
By Kim Bullimore
Palestine Chronicle
"More than 40 years ago, the Argentinean-born Cuban Revolutionary, Ernesto Che Guevara wrote in his message to the Tricontinental that the "forgotten peoples" of the world - the poor, oppressed and exploited – must "create two, three, many Vietnams" [1]. Written at the time when the Vietnamese people were waging their courageous struggle against US imperialism, Che noted that rebellion must flourish across the tricontinent (Asia, Latin America and Africa) and around the world and that it was the duty of the dispossessed and oppressed to "liberate ourselves at any price".
Today, the rebellion advocated by Che Guevara can be found in the many courageous struggles of the oppressed around the world for liberation, freedom and justice. In Palestine, this rebellion is evident in the brave struggles of the Palestinian villages, towns and cities throughout the occupied West Bank and Gaza, who oppose the brutal Israeli occupation and the erection of the illegal apartheid wall......."
Palestine Chronicle
"More than 40 years ago, the Argentinean-born Cuban Revolutionary, Ernesto Che Guevara wrote in his message to the Tricontinental that the "forgotten peoples" of the world - the poor, oppressed and exploited – must "create two, three, many Vietnams" [1]. Written at the time when the Vietnamese people were waging their courageous struggle against US imperialism, Che noted that rebellion must flourish across the tricontinent (Asia, Latin America and Africa) and around the world and that it was the duty of the dispossessed and oppressed to "liberate ourselves at any price".
Today, the rebellion advocated by Che Guevara can be found in the many courageous struggles of the oppressed around the world for liberation, freedom and justice. In Palestine, this rebellion is evident in the brave struggles of the Palestinian villages, towns and cities throughout the occupied West Bank and Gaza, who oppose the brutal Israeli occupation and the erection of the illegal apartheid wall......."
Real News Video: Is Iran a "threat to peace and security"?
Sahimi: No evidence that Iran's nuclear program poses a threat (4/6)
"Sahimi: The rhetoric from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about Israel has been condemned by many political factions within Iran's ruling group. There is similar rhetoric on the Western side about regime change in Iran. Both sides are playing to a certain domestic audience."
"Sahimi: The rhetoric from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about Israel has been condemned by many political factions within Iran's ruling group. There is similar rhetoric on the Western side about regime change in Iran. Both sides are playing to a certain domestic audience."
'Europe has a duty to educate the US about Middle East'
By Robert Fisk
".......He may see evil among Syria's enemies but he will speak no evil, certainly not of the French. "We are building trust with the French," he says. Syria is ready to co-operate on the prevention of illegal immigration, against "what you in the West call 'terrorism'" [My Comment: Maher Arar knows that only too well] and opening a developed economic partnership. And Mr Moallem can be a bit preachy into the bargain.
"You in the West have a moral duty in Europe to educate the United States more about the Middle East. If they don't listen to you, they will not listen to us. They will continue with their mistakes." I don't think they're going to listen, I mutter. But Mr Moallem is in full flow......
...But after the Doha agreement [which called for a unity government in Lebanon and a veto over cabinet decisions by the pro-Syrian opposition] we hope that a positive atmosphere will be created. So now we are talking about two states, two independent sovereign states on an equal footing. The will of each side is to be respected."
And the Hariri tribunal to find his murderers? What did Assad and Sarkozy say about this? "Never mentioned – not once," [My Comment: what a surprise!] Mr Moallem replies......."
".......He may see evil among Syria's enemies but he will speak no evil, certainly not of the French. "We are building trust with the French," he says. Syria is ready to co-operate on the prevention of illegal immigration, against "what you in the West call 'terrorism'" [My Comment: Maher Arar knows that only too well] and opening a developed economic partnership. And Mr Moallem can be a bit preachy into the bargain.
"You in the West have a moral duty in Europe to educate the United States more about the Middle East. If they don't listen to you, they will not listen to us. They will continue with their mistakes." I don't think they're going to listen, I mutter. But Mr Moallem is in full flow......
...But after the Doha agreement [which called for a unity government in Lebanon and a veto over cabinet decisions by the pro-Syrian opposition] we hope that a positive atmosphere will be created. So now we are talking about two states, two independent sovereign states on an equal footing. The will of each side is to be respected."
And the Hariri tribunal to find his murderers? What did Assad and Sarkozy say about this? "Never mentioned – not once," [My Comment: what a surprise!] Mr Moallem replies......."
The "Peace Candidate" Promises 10,000 More Troops for Afghanistan
Ewen MacAskill in Washington
The Guardian, Tuesday July 15, 2008
· Pledge follows worst loss of US soldiers since 2005
· Candidate to visit war regions for talks next week
(Cartoon by Khalil Bendib)
"Barack Obama yesterday pledged to increase US troops in Afghanistan by a third if he becomes president, sending 10,000 more to reinforce the 33,000 already there.
He was speaking after the US lost nine soldiers at the weekend in the deadliest attack on its forces in the country since 2005......"
The Guardian, Tuesday July 15, 2008
· Pledge follows worst loss of US soldiers since 2005
· Candidate to visit war regions for talks next week
(Cartoon by Khalil Bendib)
"Barack Obama yesterday pledged to increase US troops in Afghanistan by a third if he becomes president, sending 10,000 more to reinforce the 33,000 already there.
He was speaking after the US lost nine soldiers at the weekend in the deadliest attack on its forces in the country since 2005......"
Photostory: Breaking the Silence's tour disrupted
Anne Paq writing from Hebron, occupied West Bank, Live from Palestine, 14 July 2008
"On 27 June, I took part in one of the regular tours of the West Bank city of Hebron and its settlements organized by the organization Breaking the Silence. Breaking the Silence is a group of Israeli army soldiers and veterans who work to expose the injustice of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Once more, the tour was disrupted because of the settlers......
As Yehuda said in his introduction, "What you will see in Hebron is a laboratory." If he means that the Hebron model in which the illegal colonizing of the land continues, it is at the expense of the Palestinians who have lived there for hundreds of years and will be forced out of their homeland. Let us hope that the future will prove him wrong because as long as the settlements continue to occupy Palestinian land and settlers are given free reign to terrorize the local population, then there can be no peace in Israel/Palestine, no solution, and no future for the Palestinians apart from becoming ghosts in their own country."
"On 27 June, I took part in one of the regular tours of the West Bank city of Hebron and its settlements organized by the organization Breaking the Silence. Breaking the Silence is a group of Israeli army soldiers and veterans who work to expose the injustice of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Once more, the tour was disrupted because of the settlers......
As Yehuda said in his introduction, "What you will see in Hebron is a laboratory." If he means that the Hebron model in which the illegal colonizing of the land continues, it is at the expense of the Palestinians who have lived there for hundreds of years and will be forced out of their homeland. Let us hope that the future will prove him wrong because as long as the settlements continue to occupy Palestinian land and settlers are given free reign to terrorize the local population, then there can be no peace in Israel/Palestine, no solution, and no future for the Palestinians apart from becoming ghosts in their own country."
Tel Aviv conference organizes around the right of return
Nora Barrows-Friedman, The Electronic Intifada, 14 July 2008
(Nora Barrows-Friedman is the Senior Producer and co-host of Flashpoints on Pacifica Radio and travels several times a year to occupied Palestine to document the situation. She is also a freelance reporter for Inter Press Service. She can be reached at norabf AT gmail DOT com. Her website is http://www.norabf.com/.)
"Late last month a conference on the Implementation of the Palestinian right of return was organized by the Israeli human rights organization Zochrot (Hebrew for "The Remembering"). Zochrot is an anti-Zionist, pro-justice group that works diligently to raise awareness within Israeli Jewish society about the Palestinian Nakba or forced displacement that began in 1948 and continues to this day. Zochrot defines the Nakba as "ground zero of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict," from which all discussions on justice, equality and security for both Jewish Israelis and Palestinians should be centered......
The right of return is a guaranteed human right, and one that can be and will be realized. In a paper co-written by Musih and Zochrot's Executive Director Eitan Bronstein, and disseminated at the conference, the right of return will mean the disintegration of Zionist Jewish supremacy and a Jewish demographic majority, and in its place will grow a "new political order." Yet, Musih and Bronstein note that:
"A new political order is not all that is necessary to renew our lives here. New forms of relationships must be established, based on mutual trust among people -- those who now live here as well as those who will arrive in the future. To create a healthy society, wounds that have opened and festered during the past 60 years must be healed. Public space must be provided for speaking about injustice and for listening to the stories of victims and of perpetrators ... One possible model that might be applicable is that of the South African 'Truth and Reconciliation Commissions,' which may have been the first attempt to distinguish among truth, responsibility and punishment for injustice."
Muslih and Bronstein conclude that "only when Jews come to see the Palestinians who live here, and those who were expelled, as people worth living with can we hope to live here fairly and equitably." Or, as Benny Zipper, culture and literature editor for the Israeli daily Haaretz stated during the conference's last panel, "Redemption starts here.""
(Nora Barrows-Friedman is the Senior Producer and co-host of Flashpoints on Pacifica Radio and travels several times a year to occupied Palestine to document the situation. She is also a freelance reporter for Inter Press Service. She can be reached at norabf AT gmail DOT com. Her website is http://www.norabf.com/.)
"Late last month a conference on the Implementation of the Palestinian right of return was organized by the Israeli human rights organization Zochrot (Hebrew for "The Remembering"). Zochrot is an anti-Zionist, pro-justice group that works diligently to raise awareness within Israeli Jewish society about the Palestinian Nakba or forced displacement that began in 1948 and continues to this day. Zochrot defines the Nakba as "ground zero of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict," from which all discussions on justice, equality and security for both Jewish Israelis and Palestinians should be centered......
The right of return is a guaranteed human right, and one that can be and will be realized. In a paper co-written by Musih and Zochrot's Executive Director Eitan Bronstein, and disseminated at the conference, the right of return will mean the disintegration of Zionist Jewish supremacy and a Jewish demographic majority, and in its place will grow a "new political order." Yet, Musih and Bronstein note that:
"A new political order is not all that is necessary to renew our lives here. New forms of relationships must be established, based on mutual trust among people -- those who now live here as well as those who will arrive in the future. To create a healthy society, wounds that have opened and festered during the past 60 years must be healed. Public space must be provided for speaking about injustice and for listening to the stories of victims and of perpetrators ... One possible model that might be applicable is that of the South African 'Truth and Reconciliation Commissions,' which may have been the first attempt to distinguish among truth, responsibility and punishment for injustice."
Muslih and Bronstein conclude that "only when Jews come to see the Palestinians who live here, and those who were expelled, as people worth living with can we hope to live here fairly and equitably." Or, as Benny Zipper, culture and literature editor for the Israeli daily Haaretz stated during the conference's last panel, "Redemption starts here.""
Israel drills sought Iran defense info
Press TV
"Israel's military exercise in June was reportedly conducted to put to test the Russian-made air-defense missile system supplied to Iran.
According to a report, the early June Israeli air force maneuver over Greece was aimed at gathering information in a bid to develop tactics to beat the advanced Russian-made S-300 air-defense missile system believed to be on the way to Iran.
The multi-target anti-aircraft/missile systems have reportedly been deployed to the Greek island of Crete.
Earlier in June, a New York Times report revealed that over 100 Israeli F-16s and F-15s flew more than 900 miles off the southern Mediterranean island of Crete, roughly the distance from Israeli airfields to Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities......."
"Israel's military exercise in June was reportedly conducted to put to test the Russian-made air-defense missile system supplied to Iran.
According to a report, the early June Israeli air force maneuver over Greece was aimed at gathering information in a bid to develop tactics to beat the advanced Russian-made S-300 air-defense missile system believed to be on the way to Iran.
The multi-target anti-aircraft/missile systems have reportedly been deployed to the Greek island of Crete.
Earlier in June, a New York Times report revealed that over 100 Israeli F-16s and F-15s flew more than 900 miles off the southern Mediterranean island of Crete, roughly the distance from Israeli airfields to Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities......."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)