Hopes and dreams on the Gaza coast

By Ayman Mohyeldin in Gaza
Al-Jazeera

".....A few minutes staring at the coast and one suddenly realises the people are thinking about everything and anything that has nothing to do with Gaza. When people are thinking about Gaza - it is not about Gaza as it is, but what it could or should be.

As a good friend of mine who regularly frequents the Al Deira Hotel terrace put it: "Typical of the melancholy and pride of living in Gaza, its sea not only inspires unending spirit and wonder but it also, often times, instills a sense of sorrow as one sees this great symbol of freedom one is unable to touch.

But Gaza's sea will continue to inspire freedom no matter the circumstances."

So it is that, as the sun sets on its shores and the light merges with nightfall, days become weeks and months become years, Gaza's besieged coast becomes an outlet to nothing but hope for its people."

حكومة تكريس الانقسامات

حكومة تكريس الانقسامات
عبد الباري عطوان

"..........

قرار تشكيل هذه الحكومة ليس الوحيد الذي يعكس حال التخبط التي يعيشها الرئيس عباس هذه الايام، فقد تحدى اللجنة التحضيرية المكلفة بالاعداد للمؤتمر العام لحركة 'فتح'، واصدر قرارات مخالفة لقراراتها، مثل الاصرار على عقد المؤتمر داخل الاراضي المحتلة، وتحت الحراب الاسرائيلية. فكيف يتم عقد مؤتمر لحركة وطنية، تطالب غالبية اعضائها بالعودة الى الكفاح المسلح، سيرتها الاولى، تحت اعين اجهزة الموساد الاسرائيلي؟ ومن يضمن خروج الاعضاء بعد تصويبهم لخطها ورفض البرنامج السياسي التفاوضي العبثي للحركة الذي لم يسفر الا عن خيبات الامل؟
الوضع الفلسطيني في قمة السوء، ولا جدال في ذلك، ولكن نحن امام 'حراك فلسطيني' على درجة كبيرة من الاهمية يتمثل في هذه 'الانتفاضة الفتحاوية' التي رأيناها من خلال اجماع نواب حركة 'فتح' في المجلس التشريعي على رفض حكومة فياض الجديدة.
هذا الحراك يمكن ان يكون ارضية لتصويب مسيرة الحركة، واعادتها الى منابعها الاولى، وازالة كل الشوائب التي علقت بها في الفترة الاخيرة، من خلال تبني عملية تغيير واسعة وجذرية تعيد الثقة الى الشعب الفلسطيني، وتضع حدا لحال الانهيار الحالية.
"

The Banner Reads, "PEACE!"
By Emad Hajjaj.

Israel goes cold on plan for regional peace deal

Defence minister backs Netanyahu's refusal to endorse Palestinian state

By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
The Independent

"The Israeli Defence Minister yesterday issued one of the government's bluntest warnings against linkage between its stance on a two-state solution with the Palestinians and efforts to stop Iran becoming a nuclear power.

In what also appeared to be a defence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for not committing himself to a Palestinian state, Ehud Barak declared: "These... words will not cause Iran to stop its centrifuges."

The Labour leader added: "Israel has already said in the past 'two states for two peoples' and this didn't cause the Palestinians to fall into our arms and reach all the tough decisions that are required."......."

No agenda for Middle East peace

Obama's meeting with Netanyahu didn't produce any momentum for future negotiations between Israel and Palestine

Richard Silverstein
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 19 May 2009

"Quite a disappointing first White House meeting between Bibi Netanyahu and Barack Obama. Each seemed to reiterate the standard rhetoric and pretty much talk past each other. There was one area, Iran, in which Obama seemed to move closer to the Israeli position.

The president seems to have adopted an articulation favoured by Iran envoy Dennis Ross and the Israelis, by which Iran will be given until the end of the year to accede to demands that it renounce its nuclear programme....

This will delight the Israeli intelligence and military echelons who are itching for an Iran attack. It is no different from the policy of the previous administration. But George Bush's approach to Iran was so belligerent that many had hoped for a muscular response from Obama that rejected or at least minimised the possibility of a military attack.

Israel has waged an intense perception management campaign in the US to prepare the ground for such an Israeli attack. Israeli diplomats and intelligence officers intimately involved with such a project will see Obama's pronouncements as a clear victory......"

By Steve Bell, The Guardian.

UK medics go on hunger strike after being refused entry into Gaza

• Hammersmith team stuck in Egypt at Rafa crossing since 4 May
• Group on humanitarian mission to set up cardiac hospital unit

Haroon Siddique
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 19 May 2009

"Three British medics began a hunger strike in Egypt today to protest against being refused entry into Gaza for a humanitarian mission.

Their aim is to establish a cardiac surgery unit at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, which currently has no such facility, and to help train medical students and junior doctors there. But the British medics have been denied access to the Palestinian territory at the Rafah crossing since the beginning of May.

Omar Mangoush, a cardiac surgeon at Hammersmith hospital, in London, told guardian.co.uk he had been to the crossing with his colleagues every day since arriving in Egypt on 4 May, only to be told they did not have permission to enter.

"We are on hunger strike until they let us through," he said. "We'll stay [at the crossing] until they let us in......

"This is very important for us," he said. "There are loads of people with heart disease [in Gaza]. They can't get here [to Egypt], they can't get to Israel. If it's this hard for us to get to, how difficult is it for the Palestinians to get out?"

PIMA's director, Dr Ahmed Almari, said: "It's unbelievable. They're a group of doctors, they went for education and teaching, to set up a cardiac unit. It's unfair and sad that it is only as a result of a hunger strike that anybody pays attention. There's no reason to stop them from crossing."....."

The Puppet Fayyad "Government" is Dead; Long Live the "New" Fayyad "Government." What a Farce Worthy of a Gilbert-and-Sullivan Type of Comic Opera!

New Palestinian Gov’t Sworn in; Hamas Says Won’t Recognize It

Al-Manar

"19/05/2009 Instead of having a unity government that includes all factions, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, whose term ended on January 9, decided to form a new Hamas-less government brushing aside hopes to reach a deal with the Islamic resistance movement which led the latter to reject this “illegal government”.

Again headed by Western-backed Salam Fayyad, a new Palestinian government was sworn in on Tuesday. The new cabinet took the oath of office at the Palestinian Authority (PA) headquarters in the occupied West Bank town of Ramallah......"

The Zionist Pharaoh, a Full Partner with Israel in Starving Gaza, is Preventing International Medical Aid From Entering Gaza!

السلطات المصرية تمنع وفدا طبيا دوليا من دخول غزة

السماح بدخول متضامنين أيرلنديين دون مساعداتهم

"قالت منظمة العون الصحي الدولية إن السلطات المصرية لا تزال تمنع وفدها الطبي -المكون من أطباء وممرضين من بريطانيا ودول أوروبية وآسيوية- من دخول قطاع غزة عبر معبر رفح الحدودي.

ونقل مراسل الجزيرة نت في لندن مدين ديرية أن المنظمة التي تتخذ من لندن مقرا لها تساءلت عن سبب منع الوفد من دخول غزة ومد يد العون الطبي للمرضى والمساهمة في تدريب وتطوير الكادر الطبي وطلاب الطب في الجامعات هناك.

وعبر مدير المؤسسة أحمد المرعي في حديث للجزيرة نت عن أسفه لمنع الوفد الطبي من الدخول في الوقت الذي تطلق فيه الدعوات لإعادة إعمار القطاع وتسهيل عمل المؤسسات الإغاثية، مطالبا الحكومتين المصرية والبريطانية بتسهيل عبور الأطباء.

من جانبه قال أحد أعضاء الوفد المترجم أحمد الترك في اتصال هاتفي مع الجزيرة نت إن أعضاء الوفد يراجعون يوميا سلطات المعبر ولا يحصلون على تصريح بدخولهم، وأعلن أن الوفد سيدخل في إضراب عن الطعام إذا استمر الوضع على ما هو عليه.

وفي المقابل سمحت السلطات المصرية مساء الاثنين بعبور وفد تضامني أيرلندي إلى قطاع غزة.

وقال مصدر في اللجنة الحكومية لكسر الحصار التابعة للحكومة المقالة في غزة إن "السلطات المصرية كانت رفضت السماح للوفد الأيرلندي الذي يضم ثلاثة متضامنين بدخول غزة منذ أسبوعين قبل أن تسمح له اليوم".

وأوضح المصدر أن الوفد كان ينقل مساعدات طبية وعينية لسكان القطاع إلا أن السلطات المصرية لا تزال ترفض إدخالها حتى اللحظة.
....."

Is Obama Up to the Challenge of Dealing with Netanyahu?

It's Now or Almost Certainly Never

By MUSTAFA BARGHOUTHI
CounterPunch

"....Yet, just as in the '90s, Netanyahu believes that he is the world's driving force and that a Democratic president should be following his lead. In his memoir, former lead American negotiator Dennis Ross quoted an exasperated President Clinton as complaining that Netanyahu comported himself as though he thought Israel, and not the United States, was the superpower. That doesn't appear to have changed. How else to explain the recent assertion by Israeli officials that before Israel will address core Palestinian-Israeli negotiating issues, the United States must deal -- apparently to Israel's satisfaction -- with Iran's nuclear program?.....

More recently, Netanyahu has added a new demand: that Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state. This is intended only to confuse and delay peace talks. And it's wrong. Palestinians in the occupied territories have no standing to sign away the rights of the Palestinian citizens of Israel in order to get Israel to the negotiating table. To tell the truth, we don't believe that Israel can be a true democracy and an exclusivist Jewish state at the same time. Yet Israeli leaders seem oblivious -- or pretend to be oblivious -- to why Palestinians would decline to acknowledge Israel's status as a Jewish state....."

Bill Clinton to be Named UN Special Envoy to Haiti

Democracy Now!
With Amy Goodman

"Independent journalist Jeremy Scahill examines how Clinton helped to destabilize Haiti in the 1990s. While Clinton and his advisers publicly expressed their dismay with the US-backed 1991 coup that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, they simultaneously refused to support the swift reinstatement of the country’s democratically elected leader and would, in fact, not allow Aristide’s return until Washington received guarantees that, one, Aristide would not lay claim to the years of his presidency lost in forced exile and, two, US neoliberal economic plans were solidified as the law of the land in Haiti...."

Jeremy Scahill: “Little Known Military Thug Squad Still Brutalizing Prisoners at Gitmo Under Obama”

Democracy Now!
With Amy Goodman

"Jeremy Scahill reports the Obama administration is continuing to use a notorious military police unit at Guantanamo that regularly brutalizes unarmed prisoners, including gang-beating them, breaking their bones, gouging their eyes and dousing them with chemicals. This force, officially known as the Immediate Reaction Force, has been labeled the “Extreme Repression Force” by Guantanamo prisoners, and human rights lawyers call their actions illegal....."

Picking on AIPAC?

by Philip Giraldi, May 19, 2009

".....While some might argue that critics of AIPAC have gone too far, it is equally possible to argue that they have not gone far enough. It is time for the American people to demand that AIPAC be registered as a foreign lobby and cease and desist from its interference in U.S. politics. Neither America nor Israel is well served by having a United States Congress, White House, and media so cowed by AIPAC that they will endorse anything the corrupt politicians in Tel Aviv choose to do. It is time for Washington to return to a foreign policy based on the United States’ national interest, not Israel’s."

Ten Days ahead of Israeli Maneuver, Lebanon Maintains Calm

Al-Manar

"....Yet, and while all eyes are directed towards June 7 to witness the "awaited change" in the Lebanese political life, another day imposes itself on the Lebanese arena, urging the political authority to remain vigilant, watchful and cautious: May 31…

May 31 is the appointed day for the Israeli maneuver, entitled "Turning Point 3," the largest maneuver in the history of the Zionist entity since its creation… In this drill, that will last 5 days, the planned scenario is: confronting a rocket attack from Iran, Syria, Lebanon and Gaza simultaneously with an escalation in the West Bank, unconventional rocket attacks, the explosion of dangerous material in the Haifa Bay and a terrorism-related incident in Eilat; a series of attacks across the entity.

However, ten days ahead of the drill, the Lebanese authorities are still "maintaining their calm," just as if Lebanon was not concerned with the maneuver. Not only no procedures have been taken to face the drill but even more, the topic was not seriously raised at official circles despite the fact that Hezbollah pointed to the seriousness of the issue since the beginning, during the national dialogue conference through the head of the Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary bloc MP Mohamad Raad.

On Monday, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah raised, once again, the issue and expressed regret for the absence of a serious will to deal with the issue......"

Al-Jazeera Video: Lebanon clamps down on 'Israeli spies' - 19 May 09

"In the past few weeks, 15 people have been arrested in Lebanon, accused of spying for Israel.

Two of the suspects fled across the heavily fortified border into Israel to escape capture.

Espionage carries the death penalty in the country that maintains a constant state of war with its neighbour.

Al Jazeera's Todd Baer reports from Beirut. "

Real News Video: Who's afraid of the CIA?

McGovern: Liz Cheney's accusation of Wilkerson's "fantasy stories" would be wonderful if it were true



"Paul Jay speaks to Ray McGovern, retired CIA analyst under seven U.S. presidents. On May 17th, Liz Cheney, Dick Cheney's daughter, accused Lawrence Wilkerson, the former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell, of creating a "cottage industry" making up "fantasy stories" about her father on the George Stephanopoulos Show. After interviewing Wilkerson, McGovern says "it would be wonderful if it were [a] fantasy. [But] It's all too real.""

Hisham Zreiq's film Sons of Eilaboun: introduction by Gilad Atzmon

Gilad Atzmon

Palestine Think Tank

"The truth of the Nakba has been hidden for many decades. Not many except the Palestinians are aware of the scale of 1948 ethnic expulsions and even fewer are aware of the atrocities occasionally performed by the newly born IDF. As a young Israeli pupil I was taught to believe that the 'Arabs' (this is how we called them) just run for their lives. No one forced �them� to do so, they were just a bunch of cowards, we were told. Similarly, we were preached that they were not as attached to the land as we, the Israelis, are. While they fled for their lives without fighting back, we, the chosens, schlepped all the way back to Zion after 2000 years to reclaim �our� historic land.

The truth of hundreds of massacres of Palestinian villagers committed by a young and well-trained enthusiastic IDF was absolutely hidden. There wasn�t even a hint that such a thing took place. We knew of one massacre only, the one in Deir Yassin. We were aware of it just because it was there to serve the Israeli so-called �left� leadership, as a means of vilifying their rightwing political rival, namely Menahem (who was directly responsible for this very massacre)......

With pretty much very minimal means, Zreiq manages to deliver a very deep and authentic reading of Palestinian history. He manages also to portray the intense emotional impact of the Nakba on the survivors of the horror. It is a documentation of villagers that were dispossessed and have run for their lives. But it is also an unusual story of a small Palestinian community that managed to return (thanks to UN intervention) just to find out that their houses were looted and they were left with nothing. As if this is not enough, once back, they soon found out that their beloved murdered brothers� and sons� eyes were poked out by the Israeli invaders. Seemingly, mutilating young Palestinians� corpses (eye poking for instance) was another 1948 IDF soldiers� inclination. I presume that not many people are aware of it. One may expect that just three years after the liberation of Auschwitz Israelis soldiers would be slightly more compassionate.

You better see it to believe it."

www.sonsofeilaboun.com

See a Trailer of the Film by Clicking Here

Netanyahu can't bear to say 'two-state'

By Jim Lobe
Asia Times

"United States President Barack Obama, speaking after a highly anticipated White House meeting, repeatedly stressed a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On his part, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu never uttered the phrase or alluded to the possibility, making it clear the priority of his government is still preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons...."

Rising Again After the Assault

By Erin Cunningham

"KHUZA'A, Gaza, May 18 (IPS) - Khuza'a is a small farming village perched on a gentle slope east of Khan Younis. Its fertile farmland once produced fruit and vegetables for export to Israel, whose own lush plains are just 500 metres from Khuza'a's centre, and are visible through the town's narrow streets.

But the relative quiet of this rural border town, about 25 kilometres southeast of Gaza City, was shattered Jan. 10 when Israeli forces launched an all-out, three-day assault that killed 16 civilians and destroyed many of Khuza'a's houses and its agricultural land.....

Because Khuza'a, like the rest of Gaza, has received no funding to rebuild, Yusuf Al-Najjar is using his own money to persuade residents to return to the village and reclaim their land.

Jaber Khalil Ghadeyah, a farmer who has peach and apple groves stretching all the way to the Israeli border, is the only one who has accepted the offer so far - and Yusuf is paying for his new irrigation system.

Ghadeyah says he certain Khuza'a will see another war, but that he will never leave the land he has lived on for 30 years. "If the Israelis come and destroy our village, we will rebuild," says Yusuf. "And if they come again, we will rebuild again.""

How Torture Trapped Colin Powell

By Ray McGovern
May 18, 2009

"Four days before trying to sell the invasion of Iraq to the United Nations, Secretary of State Colin Powell was ready to scrap dubious allegations about Saddam Hussein’s ties to al-Qaeda but was dissuaded by top CIA officials who cited a new “bombshell” that now appears to have been derived from torture, a top Powell aide says....."