In search of a great Arab leader?

(Nasser and Fidel Castro)

Forty years after his death, no Arab leader has been able to fill the role left vacant by Gamal Abdel Nasser.

A GOOD PIECE
By Lamis Andoni
Al-Jazeera

"Forty years after the death of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the late Egyptian president, his position remains unfilled: No other leader has emerged as a symbol of pan-Arab unity and the struggle for independence from Western influence.

Nasser, who was the president of Egypt between 1956 and 1970, wielded great influence on the Arab intelligentsia and masses alike. His weekly speeches brought Arab streets to a standstill as the people listened, mesmerised, to his every sentence broadcast on Egyptian radio.

His words resonated in the alleyways of neighbourhoods across Arab cities and towns - at times in defiance of pro-Western governments in countries such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia, whose regimes viewed him with fear and suspicion.....

But, he was very much the product of an era - an era that helped him to loom large in a way that no leader from the South can in our time of pervasive US hegemony and the delegitimisation of resistance movements.

The 1952 revolution against the Western-backed Egyptian monarchy that eventually brought Nasser to power reflected a broader Arab and international trend towards rejecting European colonialist powers and the regimes they installed to maintain their influence in their former colonies.....

Nasser's emergence was not unique or isolated from the emergence of other nationalist leaders who challenged Western control over people and natural resources.

Patrice Lumumba, the Congolese prime minister, engaged in a fierce battle against the Belgian colonialists, while Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah, the prime minister and then president of Ghana, fought against the global capitalist system's attempts to control his country's wealth.

In Cuba, revolutionaries battled and defeated the US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista - offering new friends and models to Arab revolutionaries, including Nasser....

Younger generations of Arabs are not as captivated by Nasser's legacy as their parents and grandparents. Some do not understand the nostalgia that has poured forth in Arab newspapers on the occasion of the anniversary of his death. They feel that they have inherited defeat and that the glory of the past has brought neither victory nor democracy.

That is partly because the rulers that followed dismantled many of the achievements of Nasser and other leaders of popular movements from that era.

But it is also partly because Nasser and other pan-Arab leaders failed to establish democratic institutions and were themselves guilty of repressing - to different degrees - dissent and opposition.....

And while Nasser remains a great inspiration, his legacy must also teach us that we should not place our hopes in the emergence of a larger-than-life leader to be our saviour."

University of Johannesburg ultimatum to Israeli university

The South African University of Johannesburg (UJ) senate has warned to end its relationship with Israeli university Ben-Gurion (BGU) unless certain conditions are met.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the South African university's highest academic body agreed that the Ben-Gurion University would have to work with Palestinian universities on research projects and stop its "direct and indirect support for the Israeli military and the occupation".

"The conditions are that the memorandum of understanding governing the relationship between the two institutions be amended to include Palestinian universities chosen with the direct involvement of UJ," the university said in a statement.

"Additionally, UJ will not engage in any activities with BGU that have direct or indirect military implications, this to be monitored by UJ's senate academic freedom committee.

"Should these conditions not be met within six months, the memorandum of understanding will automatically lapse on April 1 2011," UJ said.

Message to all Zionists trying to use the Holocaust Card

We are getting many Zionists from both inside the USA and Israel trying revise history and blame the Arabs or link them to the Holocaust. It is essential to revisit this classic video by Norman Finkelstein talking about the use of the Holocaust Card to justify Israel's crimes against the Palestinians.

Abbas is unfit to lead the Palestinian people

September 28, 2010

By Khalid Amayreh in occupied Jerusalem

COMMENT:

Khalid, "unfit to lead?" Is that all?

Stop being nice to this bastard and his Mafia. He should be tried for the highest treason to Palestinian rights and interests. He should be sentenced to death if convicted of this high crime. This would be comparable to what Hizbullah did when it sentenced Antoine Lahad to death in absentia.

Abbas, just like Lahad, should have only one safe home: in Tel Aviv.

Enough of this half-hearted condemnation of Palestinian traitors! When are the Palestinians (including Hamas which wants "reconciliation" with the bastard!) going to get as serious and as committed as Hizbullah?

Palestine is finished and we still do not have the guts to even speak!

This is the biggest Nakba, disguised as an "authority!"

"The reaction of the Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to the latest Zionist provocations, including the all-out settlement expansion drive in the West Bank, has been disastrous and calamitous.

Abbas has issued a plethora of conflicting statements, some signaling his willingness to remain engaged in the so-called "peace process" with Israel. This is despite the fact that Israel keeps trampling on that damned, whoring process, if only by embarking on more settlement building, and more land theft at the Palestinians' expense........"

The Talking Abbas, by Khalil Bendib

(Click on cartoon to enlarge)

UN vote could 'kill the Goldstone process'

A draft resolution backed by the Palestinian Authority at the United Nations Human Rights Council could undermine the recommendations of a UN-sponsored inquiry into Israel's assault on Gaza, experts say. 

Ma'an has learned that the draft chooses not to pursue accountability for crimes committed during Israel’s 2008-2009 offensive on the Gaza Strip, and instead requests further time to conduct domestic investigations. 

The UN rights body is voting to endorse the conclusions of a follow-up committee that determined last week that Israel and Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip failed to undertake credible investigations into their forces actions during the Gaza assault. The conflict killed 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis. 


But the draft resolution supported by the PA will not send the report to the ICC, a deficiency that human rights organizations are condemning as another violation of the rights of Palestinian victims. 

Time spent on ineffective domestic procedures will achieve nothing, rights experts in Geneva said Wednesday. "They killed the Goldstone process," one official said. "There will be nothing to follow up on." 

Al-Jazeera Video: Inside Story - Mahmoud Abbas' dilemma

"Settlement building in the West Bank is once again underway after the Israeli government allowed the ten month moratorium on settlement expansion to expire. With the peace process under serious threat, what will Abbas do next? And can diplomacy find a way out of this dilemma?"

Ed Miliband, British Labor Party’s first Jewish leader, has some in Israel worried

By Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing Writer

"The election of Ed Miliband, Tony Blair’s one-time Energy Minister and London School of Economics alumnus, as leader of the British Labor Party, and hence, Leader of the Opposition of Great Britain, over his more pro-Israeli brother, former Blair Foreign Secretary David Miliband, clearly has some Israeli leaders concerned.

Marion Kozak, the Miliband brothers’ mother, is a supporter of Jews for Justice for Palestinians (JJP), which has dispatched an aid ship from Northern Cyprus to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza. Kozak’s support for the Palestinians cause has sent the Israeli media and leadership into a frenzy over the “left-wing” affiliations of Kozak and her son, Labor’s first Jewish leader. JJP also favors negotiations between Israel and Hamas, as well as the freeing of all Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons...."

Hamas Prisoner In P.A Jail Hospitalized Due To Torture

"Palestinian media sources reported Tuesday evening that a political prisoner of the Hamas movement was moved to hospital after being reportedly tortured by security personnel of the Fateh movement.

The prisoner, Bilal Abu Asba, was moved to Salfit Hospital due to extreme torture during interrogation, the Hamas movement stated in a press release.

Abu Asba was arrested more than sixteen days ago and was placed under interrogation by the Preventive Security [Whose security? Israel's of course!] Forces since then.

The Hamas movement accused Fateh and its security forces in the West Bank of targeting the resistance and of arresting hundreds of members and supporters of the movement. "

The Ass That Can't, by Mike Luckovich

Hungry in Gaza, More and More

By Eva Bartlett

"GAZA CITY, Sep 29, 2010 (IPS) - "Sometimes, for a day or two we don't even have bread, nor flour to make bread. There's a store nearby that, when we are truly desperate, lets us take a bag of bread or something simple, on credit. I owe them a lot of money for the food I've brought from them, but I still can't pay them."....

Ard al-Insan's Dr. Al-Wahaidi sees it clearly. "The main reason for hunger in Gaza is Israeli politics on the people Gaza. Gaza is different than other places. When we have a disaster, we cannot leave our small piece of land to find work or safety elsewhere. We are trapped inside." "

Is South African Foreign Policy with Palestine Tied in Knots?

By Iqbal Jassat – Pretoria
(Iqbal Jassat is chairperson of the Media Review Network (MRN), an advocacy group based in Pretoria, South Africa. )

"In a recent interview, South Africa's ambassador to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Ted Pekane, made an intriguing observation:

“Currently we have no intention of breaking ties with Israel. That would be counter-productive. Our policy of engagement applies to Israel as well. Only if the [Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas] asked us to support the disinvestments and sanctions campaign against Israel would we consider packing our bags”.

This admission is the closest any senior foreign ministry official has come to in revealing an inherent weakness in this country’s relations with Israel/Palestine.

It is shocking too in that it implies our diplomatic engagement in the world’s number one conflict zone is blinded and being pursued while voluntarily having our hands tied behind our back!....

Yet the argument for maintaining relations with Israel is underpinned by a depraved view that we also have diplomatic presence in Ramallah.

It’s obviously a presence that has extolled a huge price. In addition to granting Israel full carte blanche, it has legitimized the occupation......"

Obama: ‘The Generals Made Me Do It!’

What's a community organizer to do?

by Justin Raimondo, September 29, 2010

"All Washington is atwitter: the grand old man of the Court Historians, Bob Woodward, has come out with yet another “book” – i.e. another long-winded press release on behalf of the Powers That Be – explaining, “reporting,” and rationalizing the war policies of the current regime. Oh, glory be! Drop everything and run to the nearest bookstore – or just go online and download the excerpts at the Washington Post‘s incredibly cumbersome web site.....

What’s interesting, here, is that our commander-in-chief automatically took one option – a negotiated settlement with the Taliban, followed by withdrawal – off the table. It is not even mentioned as a possibility, however distant. This is not surprising, given the Washington consensus, which is that the Empire never stops expanding, but only pauses once in a while to catch its breath.....

This is the most ominous development, among many, of the post-9/11 political atmosphere: the rise of the generals as an almost co-equal force with the President. The elevation of the Pentagon was the logical outgrowth of the “war on terrorism” and the Bushian magnification of the president’s wartime powers. If we think of the presidential persona as invested with a trinity of identities – citizen, chief executive, and commander-in-chief – it’s clear that the first has been obliterated since at least the advent of the cold war, and the second has been subordinated to the third since 9/11. With Congress gone A.W.O.L. on foreign policy, it’s only natural that the Pentagon would replace the legislative branch.

A stronger chief executive could challenge and reverse this militarist trend: unfortunately, Obama is not up to the task. Indeed, if Woodward’s portrait of the President is even half accurate, we haven’t seen such a weak chief executive since the days of James Buchanan."

South Africa's Israel boycott

An international boycott helped end apartheid – now South Africans are leading world opposition to racism in Israel

Ronnie Kasrils
(Ronnie Kasrils is a South African politician. He played a prominent role in anti-apartheid activism.)

guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 29 September 2010

"When Chief Albert Luthuli made a call for the international community to support a boycott of apartheid South Africa in 1958, the response was a widespread and dedicated movement that played a significant role in ending apartheid. Amid the sporting boycotts, the pledges of playwrights and artists, the actions by workers to stop South African goods from entering local markets and the constant pressure on states to withdraw their support for the apartheid regime, the role of academics also came to the fore.

One significant move was the resolution taken by 150 Irish academics not to accept academic posts or appointments in apartheid South Africa....

The campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel has now launched in South Africa. Trade unions in South Africa have publicly committed their support; most notably with the action by South African Transport and Allied Workers Union dockworkers early last year to refuse offloading Israeli goods at Durban harbour – a commitment that was renewed in July this year.

The consumer boycott has also been gaining ground, including the launch of the recent public campaign by leading South African activists to boycott Ahava Dead Sea Cosmetics and to join the international movement to boycott Israeli products.

The boycott and sanctions campaign ultimately helped liberate both black and white South Africans. Palestinians and Israelis will similarly benefit from this international non-violent campaign – a campaign that all South Africans can take forward....."

Tough Days Lie Ahead in Lebanon

Al-Manar

"29/09/2010 Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem stressed the Special Tribunal of Lebanon (STL) “has been irredeemably politicized,” and that Damascus has received word that members of Hezbollah were soon to be formally charged with the murder case of former PM martyr Rafiq Hariri.

Moallem told the Wall Street Journal in remarks published Wednesday that “such developments risked plunging Lebanon into a new round of sectarian strife and that the U.N.'s investigation should be replaced by a purely Lebanese investigation to ensure fair treatment.”

In short, tough days could be lying ahead in Lebanon.....

Hezbollah sees the end of the crisis through the persecution of the false witnesses and an end to aiming at the party.

The coming days are not expected to witness any improvement in the situation in Lebanon, as it appears that all players agree that they are playing in the lost time and that they have taken their positions to take the confrontation to its second level, regardless of its nature. "

أخطأت السلطة.. ولم تصب 'حماس'

أخطأت السلطة.. ولم تصب 'حماس'
عبد الباري عطوان

"الصمت المريب الذي نراه حاليا تجاه مهزلة المفاوضات الفلسطينية ـ الاسرائيلية المباشرة، وما يدور حولها من اختزال للحقوق الفلسطينية في مسألة تجميد الاستيطان، امر يبعث على الغثيان.
فمن المؤسف ان رد الفعل الفلسطيني، سواء ذلك المتعلق بالسلطة ورئيسها محمود عباس في رام الله، او بحركة 'حماس' وبعض الفصائل الفلسطينية الاخرى، مخيب للآمال، ولا يرتقي الى مستوى الاخطار التي يمكن ان تستهدف عصب القضية الفلسطينية.
الرئيس محمود عباس الذي اقسم بأغلظ الايمان بانه لن يستمر في المفاوضات يوما واحدا اذا استمرت الحكومة الاسرائيلية في مخططاتها الاستيطانية بعد السادس والعشرين من الشهر الحالي (يوم الاحد الماضي) فانه سينسحب منها، ما زال يتفاوض وينتظر غطاء عربيا للاستمرار في التفاوض في ظل الاستيطان مثلما فعلت سلطته، وباشرافه شخصيا، منذ توقيع اتفاقات اوسلو قبل سبعة عشر عاما الذي كان مهندسها.
الاصل ان يستمر الرئيس عباس في المفاوضات والاستثناء هو الانسحاب، نقول هذا من تجارب سابقة، وحتى لو انسحب فسيكون انسحابا شكليا قصير الامد، فالجميع داخل سلطته يرددون هذه الايام نغمة 'انعدام البدائل'، و'عدم تكافؤ القوى' و'غياب الدعم العربي' و'الانحياز الامريكي لاسرائيل'، وهذه ليست لغة من يبحث عن البدائل او حتى يفكر فيها، بل هي لغة من يريد الاستمرار في المفاوضات الى الابد. الم يقل الرئيس عباس ان الانتفاضة المسلحة دمرت الفلسطينيين ولا يمكن العودة اليها بأي حال من الاحوال، ونسي ان شمعون بيريس رئيس اسرائيل كان يتوسل الفلسطينيين اثناءها وقف 'الجنازات' لمدة اسبوعين حتى يتسنى له تطبيق خريطة الطريق؟ ألم تدمر هذه الانتفاضة الاقتصاد الاسرائيلي وصناعة السياحة احد اعمدته الرئيسية، ألم تخفض معدلات النمو الى اقل من نصف في المئة سنويا بعد ان كانت اكثر من سبعة في المئة، ألم تخلق حالة من الرعب والهلع وعدم الامان بالنسبة الى معظم الاسرائيليين؟
لا نستغرب مواقف سلطة رام الله فقد تعودنا عليها ولكننا نستغرب 'صمت' حركة 'حماس' وقيادتها على المفاوضات المباشرة، وحتى لو كانت هناك اصوات معارضة فهي خافتة للأسف. وليقل لنا قادة حماس في دمشق عن الحكمة في استقبال وفد من السلطة في دمشق بالاحضان والابتسامات لبحث المصالحة الفلسطينية، واطلاق تصريحات بازالة معظم العقبات من طريقها، بحيث بات التوقيع على ورقة الاتفاق المصرية وشيكا.
فاذا كانت الحركة ضد المفاوضات المباشرة، ونهج السلطة، وتشكك في شرعية تمثيلها للشعب الفلسطيني والتفاوض باسمه، وهي محقة في ذلك، فلماذا تستقبل وفدها في هذا التوقيت بالذات، وتبحث معه المصالحة، وتضفي الشرعية على السلطة التي يمثلها.
نحن مع المصالحة الفلسطينية، ومع وضع حد للانقسامات على الساحة الفلسطينية بأسرع وقت ممكن، ورص الصفوف في خدمة الاهداف السامية للشعب الفلسطيني والامتين الاسلامية والعربية، ولكن نريد ان نعرف على اي ارضية ستقوم هذه المصالحة... على ارضية المقاومة ام ارضية المفاوضات، وهل سمعت حركة 'حماس' من الوفد الزائر رغبة في المصالحة على ارضيتها... وهل نرى استئنافا للمقاومة باشكالها المتعددة من الطرفين 'حماس' و'فتح' في الايام المقبلة؟ نأمل ذلك، وان كنا نشك في امكانية حدوثه.
المفاوضات الحالية مباشرة او غير مباشرة، في ظل استمرار الاستيطان او تجميده، هي خدعة لكسر الحصار عن اسرائيل، وتسهيل خطواتها لتبييض وجهها الذي تلطخ بدماء شهداء قوافل الحرية والحرب الاخيرة الدموية على قطاع غزة.
الادارة الامريكية تبذل جهود اللحظة الاخيرة لانقاذ اكثر من 'ماء وجه' بحثا عن صيغة لابقاء المفاوضات مستمرة، انقاذ ماء وجهها، وماء وجه السلطة، وماء وجوه وزراء خارجية عرب، او ما تبقى منها. فقد اتصلت بالمعنيين في لجنة مبادرة السلام من العرب طالبة او ضاغطة لتشجيع الرئيس عباس على البقاء في المفاوضات، واوفدت مبعوثها السناتور ميتشيل الى كل من القدس المحتلة ورام الله لالهاء المنطقة بجهوده واطلاق بالونات امل، والحيلولة دون فراغ يمكن ان يؤدي الى تسلل بعض التطرف الى السلطة ورئيسها.
فرص نجاح الادارة الامريكية في نحت صيغة مضللة تبدو كبيرة بالقياس الى تجارب سابقة، فاملاءاتها تقابل دائما بالطاعة من العرب والسلطة، فقد طلبت مفاوضات غير مباشرة وكان لها ما ارادت، واعلنت الانتقال الى المباشرة دون تحقق اي تقدم في الاولى، وفي حضور نتنياهو، ولم يعترض الوزراء العرب، بل هرعوا لعقد لقاء في الجامعة للبصم على هذا الطلب، و'تحليل' هذه المفاوضات وبذل السيد عمرو موسى امين الجامعة جهودا خارقة في تسويق هذا التراجع ببلاغته اللغوية.
لم يطالب احد الرئيس عباس بان يقسم على المصحف الشريف بانه 'لن' يذهب الى المفاوضات المباشرة طالما لم يتم تحقيق تقدم في غير المباشرة، ولم تطالبه اي مؤسسة وطنية فلسطينية بان يصدر 'لن' اخرى مشددة بعدم الاستمرار في المفاوضات المباشرة يوماً واحداً اذا لم يتم تمديد اجراء تجميد الاستيطان، وها هو يحنث بالقسم، ويتراجع مجدداً عن 'لناته' وهذا ليس جديداً على اي حال.
الدكتور صائب عريقات الذي لا يتوقف دقيقة واحدة دون الادلاء بتصريحات للصحف ومحطات التلفزة، ادرك فضيلة الصمت بدوره، ولم يقل لنا ماذا سيفعل في ظل هذا الموقف الاسرائيلي، وما هي خياراته، وهل سيكون من بينها خيار 'حل السلطة' مثلما لوح وهدد اكثر من مرة؟
كثيرة هي المنعطفات الصعبة التي مرت بها القضية الفلسطينية، ورغم كراهيتنا لاستخدام هذا التعبير المستهلك، الا اننا نقول دون تردد بان الفلسطينيين بمختلف انتماءاتهم يقفون امام اختبار اسرائيلي هو الأكبر. فبعد ان نجحت حكومة نتنياهو في كسب معركة الاستيطان، وثبتت تهويد القدس المحتلة من خلال فرض مبدأ تبادل الارض على السلطة، تقترب الآن من انتزاع التنازل الاكبر، وهو اجبار السلطة على القبول بيهودية دولة اسرائيل حتى تتخلص من مليون ونصف مليون عربي مسيحي ومسلم في المناطق المحتلة عام 1948، وتلغي حق العودة نهائياً، والأخطر من ذلك الانتقال من مسألة تبادل الارض الى تبادل السكان، اي المستوطنين بالسكان العرب الاصليين من 'مواطني' الدولة الاسرائيلية.
نتنياهو اقنع الادارة الامريكية بالقبول بيهودية اسرائيل، واوباما قال بذلك علناً في خطابه امام الجمعية العامة الاسبوع الماضي. والرئيس عباس يسير على الدرب نفسه، ويمهد لهذا الاعتراف تدريجياً، فقد بشّر يهود نيويورك الذين التقاهم قبل ايام بانه يعترف باسرائيل، وعليها ان تسمي نفسها ما تشاء: يهودية.. علمانية.. هذا شأنها وليس هذا شأناً فلسطينياً.
عندما يقول الرئيس اوباما بانه يتوقع ان يرى ممثلي دولة فلسطين يجلسون على مقاعد الجمعية العامة للامم المتحدة في دورتها القادمة، فهذا يعني ان هناك 'طبخة ما' يجري الاعداد لها. فليس صدفة ان السقف الزمني للمفاوضات المباشرة مدته عام، والدكتور سلام فياض يحتاج الى عام لاكمال البنية التحتية لهذه الدولة. كيف ستكون هذه الدولة.. 'نصف كم'.. ربع.. حكماً ذاتياً مضخماً ومزوراً.. حدوداً هلامية.. منزوعة السلاح والدسم والكرامة..؟
عمليات التبرير للمضي قدماً في المفاوضات حتى في ظل استمرار الاستيطان جزئياً او كلياً بدأت منذ زمن بعيد، فالنغمة السائدة حالياً على ألسنة المقربين من السيد عباس تقول بانعدام الخيارات، وغياب الدعم العربي الرسمي، والخلل الواضح في موازين القوى، وضرورة الالتزام بما يريده العرب، لان العمق العربي ضروري. واحترام القرار العربي مسألة مقدسة.
نسأل اصحاب هذا التبرير ما اذا كانت موازين القوى لصالح المقاومات اللبنانية والجزائرية والليبية والمغربية والسورية، عندما قررت اللجوء الى خيارها المقاوم، ثم لماذا لم يحترم الرئيس عباس وسلطته القرار العربي عندما تفاوض سراً من وراء ظهر العرب في اوسلو ووقع اتفاقاً دون التشاور مع احد؟ لماذا لم يكن الرأي العربي مقدساً في حينها؟
نضع ايدينا على قلوبنا مرة اخرى هذه الايام. فدول الممانعة والاعتدال تلتزم 'الصمت'، وعدم المعارضة لهذه الكارثة الزاحفة إلينا المتمثلة في 'طبخة اوباما' بالتنسيق مع عباس ونتنياهو.
يوم الاثنين المقبل، حيث ستجتمع لجنة متابعة مبادرة السلام العربية في مقر الجامعة، قد يدخل التاريخ على انه نقطة الانطلاق لنكبة اخرى، تسدل الستار على قضية فلسطين وثوابتها التي نعرفها، وتثبت يهودية دولة اسرائيل العنصرية وعاصمتها 'اورشليم' حيث معبد سليمان او الهيكل المزعوم."

Jewish Gaza-bound activists: IDF used excessive force in naval raid

Israel Defense Forces soldiers used excessive force while taking over a Gaza-bound aid ship organized by Jewish and Israeli activists, the boat's passengers said Tuesday, countering the military's official version claiming that the takeover had been uneventful.

Shapira said the activists, who he said displayed no violence, were met with extreme IDF brutality, adding that the soldiers "just jumped us, and hit us. I was hit with a taser gun."

"Some of the soldiers treated us atrociously," Shapira said, adding that he felt there was a "huge gap between what the IDF spokesman is saying happened and what really happened."

Reuben Moscowitz, a Holocaust survivor who took part in the mission, expressed his disbelief that "Israeli soldiers would treat nine Jews this way. They just hit people."

"I as a Holocaust survivor cannot live with the fact that the State of Israel is imprisoning an entire people behind fences," Moscowitz said, adding that "it's just immoral."

UN mission finds Israel used "incredible violence" in Flotilla raid

Press release, Human Rights Legal Aid Fund, 28 September 2010

The following press release was issued by the Palestine Legal Aid Fund on 25 September 2010:

"No one was safe," once Israeli soldiers began using live ammunition on board the Mavi Marmara, says an authoritative UN investigation team into the Israeli attacks on the Gaza aid flotilla.

Their report is now going to be considered by the 57-member UN Human Rights Council that has the chance to finally ensure that Israel is held accountable for committing what the UN Fact-Finding Mission (UNFFM) found to be serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law including war crimes of willful killing and torture.

The UNFFM found that Israeli military personnel used "incredible violence" against civilians who the investigators describe as "persons genuinely committed to the spirit of humanitarianism." These persons include the British passengers who were on board the Gaza-bound aid flotilla. They have both welcomed the findings of the UN inquiry -- which found a strong prima faciecase of the commission of several war crimes -- and have urged UK government and Human Rights Council members to refer these war crimes allegations to the International Criminal Court.

British passenger Alex Harrison, a 32-year-old activist, responded to the report by saying, "I sincerely welcome the UN mission's confirmation that Israel's siege on Gaza is an unlawful collective punishment and their finding that the attack on our flotilla was unjustified and brutal."

The report affirmed the Gaza blockade and flotilla interception as illegal. These findings underscore the legal arguments put forward by lawyers who have been working with the passengers since 31 May and supported in part by the Human Rights Legal Aid Fund (www.humanrightsfund.org).

The Mission recommends that the perpetrators of the attacks should be brought to justice. The Mission has indicated that these breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention could give rise to individual criminal responsibility.

As Settlement Construction Begins Again in the West Bank, Israel Blocks Jewish Activists on Aid Boat Headed to Gaza

Democracy Now!
With Amy Goodman
Guest: Gideon Levy


"Israeli commandos have boarded and seized a Gaza-bound aid ship of Jewish activists just miles off the Gaza coast. The activists were attempting to deliver a symbolic load of medicine, a water-purifying kit and other humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. The Jewish Boat to Gaza was the latest attempt to break the blockade since Israel’s deadly attack on an aid flotilla in May. In the West Bank, Jewish settlers resumed building settlements on Monday one day after Israel refused to extend its partial freeze on settlement expansion....."

Israel’s reasoning against peace

Deal comes at high cost to Jewish privilege

by Jonathan Cook
Global Research

"With the resumption of settlement construction in the West Bank yesterday, Israel’s powerful settler movement hopes that it has scuttled peace talks with the Palestinians.

It would be misleading, however, to assume that the only major obstacle to the success of the negotiations is the right-wing political ideology the settler movement represents. Equally important are deeply entrenched economic interests shared across Israeli society.

These interests took root more than six decades ago with Israel’s establishment and have flourished at an ever-accelerating pace since Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip after the 1967 war.

Even many Israeli Jews living within the recognised borders of Israel privately acknowledge that they are the beneficiaries of the seizure of another people’s lands, homes, businesses and bank accounts in 1948. Most Israelis profit directly from the continuing dispossession of millions of Palestinian refugees....."

Mental State of Their Own, by Mr. Fish

(Click on cartoon to enlarge)

What if peace talks "succeed?"

Nadia Hijab, The Electronic Intifada, 27 September 2010

".....If the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and PA were unable to secure a sovereign state and rights through US-brokered negotiations with Israel between 1993 and 2000, when they were in a much stronger position, they are highly unlikely to do so today with such a badly skewed Israeli-Palestinian power dynamic. Instead, next year is likely to see a grand ceremony where Palestinian leaders will sign away the right of return and other Palestinian rights in an agreement that would change little on the ground. The plan of the PA's appointed prime minister, Salam Fayyad, to declare a Palestinian state in 2011 could unwittingly contribute to this outcome by providing the appearance of an "end of conflict" while the reality remains unchanged. If the rest of the world sees that the government of "Palestine" is satisfied with international recognition and a UN seat, they will be happy to move on to other problems leaving the Palestinians at Israel's mercy.

Such a scenario could sound a death-knell for Palestinian human rights. The Palestinian people have shown a remarkable capacity to regenerate resistance and evolve new strategies after suffering harsh setbacks over the past century. But there may be no recovery this time around. A "peace agreement" would end the applicability of international law to the resolution of the conflict; permanently fragment the Palestinian people; and demobilize Arab and international solidarity......"

Europe Offers Tax Benefits for Illegal Settlements

By David Cronin

"BRUSSELS, Sep 28, 2010 (IPS) - Organisations raising funds to benefit the Israeli army and illegal settlements in the West Bank enjoy tax-exempt status in Europe, an IPS investigation has shown.

The Sar-El Foundation is one of several groups working in the Netherlands dedicated to supporting the Israel Defence Forces. It organises regular visits to Israel, where Dutch volunteers spend three-week periods training with the IDF.

Max Arpels Lezer, the foundation's Amsterdam-based chairman, said that he tries to encourage volunteers to work in Israeli hospitals but if "that is not possible they can do civilian work on military bases."

He has previously stated that while the volunteers do not become soldiers, "they help in the battle against the Palestinians." But he would not comment when asked why he wishes to assist the Israeli army, given that a United Nations inquiry led by retired South African judge Richard Goldstone found that its troops committed war crimes during a three-week offensive against Gaza in 2008-2009....."

Riots Grip East Jerusalem

By Mel Frykberg

"SILWAN, Occupied East Jerusalem, Sep 27, 2010 (IPS) - Tension, the twisted carcasses of gutted vehicles, buses with smashed windows, smouldering dumpsters, streets riddled with rubber-coated steel bullets and empty cartridge cases, teargas, and air thickened with black soot from burning tyres marked the beginning of the fifth day Monday of continuous rioting in East Jerusalem.

A Palestinian man was killed by an Israeli settlement security guard in disputed circumstances, a Palestinian toddler asphyxiated on teargas, and dozens of Palestinians were injured by beatings, rubber-coated metal bullets and teargas inhalation.

The East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan has been tense for months with clashes breaking out between protesting Palestinian youths and Israeli security forces on a regular basis.

Jerusalem municipality has demolished many Palestinian homes. The planned demolition of dozens more homes, the eviction of many Palestinian residents, and the pending eviction of hundreds more to make way for illegal Jewish settlements and a Jewish theme park has led to a time-bomb waiting to explode.....

But it appears the Israeli policy to Judaise East Jerusalem and drive the Palestinians from their homes will backfire.

"We will not leave our homes under any circumstances," says Fakri Abu Diab, a spokesman from the Bustan committee. "My home is also slated for demolition. But they will have to kill me first. I would rather be dead than see my children forced to live on the streets," Abu Diab told IPS."

الهيئة الوطنية لحماية حقوق شعب فلسطين الثابتة

نقاط موجزة من البيان السياسي للدكتور عزمي بشارة مقدم للاجتماع التشاوري العربي بشأن
فلسطين.. بيروت 23-24 أيلول/ سبتمبر
2010

"1. اجتماعنا اليوم هو اجتماع عربي دُعِيَ إليه مثقفون ونشطاء ومناضلون عرب تشغلهم قضية فلسطين، ويعتبرونها قضيتهم. ويتغيّب عنه عددٌ كبيرٌ جدا من الأخوة والأخوات المناضلين والمثقفين العرب الذين عبروا عن دعمهم الكامل للمبادرة، إذ لم يتمكنوا من الحضور لضيق الفترة بين الدعوة والاجتماع. وعلى كل حال اجتماعنا تشاوري وتصعب إدارته بحضور جمهور غفير. وقد رأينا أن ندعو إليه لأن أحد أهم أهداف الهيئة هو استعادة البعد العربي لقضية فلسطين. فبموجب هذا الهدف يصبح الاجتماع هذا مقدمة ضرورية لمؤتمر الهيئة التي تفتح عضويتها للأخوة العرب. وهو ليس هدفا عشوائيا أو شعارا ينم عن حنين لما مضى وانقضى، بل هو موقف مبني على تشخيص وتحليل. وتشخيصنا السياسي هنا هو أن التراجع الذي أصاب تمثيل الشعب الفلسطيني سياسيا على مستوى المفاوضات وغيرها، ومسلسل التنازلات المستمرة التي تنجم عن كل جولة تفاوض منذ اتفاقيات أوسلو، هي تحصيل حاصل لفصل قضية فلسطين عن الأمة العربية وتحويلها إلى قضية الفلسطينيين.
2. وما نشهد حاليا من تفاوض هو دليل آخر على هذه المقولة. لقد قبل الطرف المفاوض من قبل السلطة الفلسطينية أن يحوّل نفسه إلى مجرد أداة في العلاقات العامة للسياسة الأميركية في المنطقة، وإلى أداة في العلاقات الاستراتيجية الثنائية بين الولايات المتحدة وإسرائيل. فبموجب حاجات هذه العلاقات تقررت جولة المفاوضات الأخيرة، والتي انتقلت إلى القدس المحتلة التي تجري فيها عمليات التهويد دون توقف، ولا تخضع لتجميد الاستيطان. وفي هذه الجولة الأخيرة تم تهميش حتى ما يسمى مرجعية المفاوضات، وذلك بعد أن همشت الجولات السابقة حتى القرارات الدولية الناقصة وجعلت المفاوضات برعاية أميركية حصرية، وجعلت موازين القوى فيها هي المقررة وليس حقوق الشعب الفلسطيني الثابتة، ولا حتى تلك المنقوصة التي نصت عليها القرارات الدولية. ونتائج المفاوضات من دون مرجعية ومن دون نضال وبالتخلي عن أية أداة أخرى هي إما قبول الشروط الإسرائيلية أو الاستمرار بالتفاوض، لتصبح عملية التفاوض هدفا قائما بذاته.
3. وفي وقت تسخيف مؤيدي التسوية الراهنة لفكرة الثوابت أو كما نسميها نحن الحقوق الثابتة، أي غير القابلة للتصرف، في غياب أي مرجعية أخرى، أود أن أذكر بأن هنالك طرفا يتمسك بثوابته، وحوّلها إلى ما يسميه مبادئ الإجماع القومي. وهو الاحتلال الإسرائيلي، الذي صار يسمى طرفا. صحيح أن هذا "الطرف" قد قدم بعض التنازلات هنا وهناك، وصورت هذه من قبل اليمين الإسرائيلي لأسبابه المتعلقة بوجوده في المعارضة، ومن قبل مؤيدي التسوية العرب كأنها نهاية المشروع الصهيوني وكبداية لتراجع الصهيونية، إلا أن آيا منها لم يمس بالأسس. وهي: أ. يهودية الدولة، أو الدولة اليهودية. ويشتق منها ب. رفض حق العودة، ورفض العودة إلى حدود عام 1967، مع عدم ضم المناطق الفلسطينية المحتلة عام 1967 لكي لا تتعرض يهودية الدولة للخطر. ج. التمسك بالسيادة الإسرائيلية على القدس. د. عدم الموافقة على أية خطوة من شأنها المس بالأمن الإسرائيلي (وهذا يعني عادة ترتيبات أمنية تمس بسيادة الآخرين). ه. الحفاظ على العلاقة الاستراتيجية مع الولايات المتحدة.
4. وهذا يعني أنه حتى حين اعترفت إسرائيل بمنظمة التحرير الفلسطينية فإنها لم تتنازل عن أي من هذه الثوابت، في حين قدمت المنظمة تنازلات في مقابل الاعتراف بها. لقد استخدمت الانتفاضة الأولى من أجل الاعتراف بمنظمة التحرير وليس بحقوق الشعب الفلسطيني. وكل ما فعلته إسرائيل إزاء الوضع الجديد دوليا وعربيا هو أنها استبدلت تسوية إقليمية في الضفة الغربية مع الأردن بتسوية إقليمية في الضفة الغربية وغزة مع منظمة التحرير، وسلام منفرد مع الأردن. وبدل نقل المناطق الفلسطينية المكتظة بالسكان إلى إدارة أردنية في إطار التسوية، يجري نقلها إلى منظمة التحرير لتديرها. كل هذا مع الحفاظ على مبدأ عدم الانسحاب إلى حدود 1967 بما في ذلك في القدس، وأن يكون الكيان الفلسطيني الوليد منزوع السلاح، والإبقاء على السيادة الإسرائيلية على الأجواء وحتى على المياه الجوفية، وعلى وجود إسرائيلي على الحدود مع الأردن
.....
....."

Video: Viva Palestina arrives in Istanbul

Press TV

Finding strength in absurdity?

(Cartoon by Khalil Bendib)

For Mahmoud Abbas to keep talking as Israel constructs settlements would mean accepting the theft of Palestinian land.

By Lamis Andoni
Al-Jazeera

".....Signing away Palestinian rights

But, so far, the compromises floated by the Israeli media are in essence worse than the settlers' plans to increase construction.

One such proposal is that Israel adopts a partial freeze in smaller settlements while continuing to build in major settlement blocks.

Abbas, whose legitimacy is already under question in the absence of new elections, cannot afford to accept proposals that effectively amount to legitimising Israeli plans to annex the largest and most populated West Bank settlements.

Judging by the official Israeli rhetoric and the leaked proposals, Netanyahu seems determined to pursue the plan he once advocated to annex at least 40 per cent of the West Bank, in addition to East Jerusalem, as part of his vision for a final solution.

The Israeli side is relying mainly on US support and military force to impose such solutions on the Palestinians, in defiance of international law and UN resolutions.

As international law forbids the confiscation or annexation of lands under occupation, Netanyahu is trying to coerce the Palestinians into forfeiting their rights by signing their consent to such a move.

But while Abbas, and the Palestinian position generally, is weak - due mainly to the uneven power balance and partly to Palestinian divisions - he cannot afford to make such a major concession at any stage, let along prior to entering final status talks......"

Israel Uber Alles: Israeli navy seizes Jewish aid boat

Organisers urge immediate release of activists on board the ship, which aimed to deliver aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

Al-Jazeera

"An aid ship carrying eight Jewish activists from Europe, Israel, and the US was apprehended by the Israeli navy just miles off the coast of Gaza after being warned by a warship.

Navy commandos boarded the Irene, and then the passengers were led off the boat.

Rich Cooper, an organiser with Independent Jewish Voices, told Al Jazeera that his group is now demanding the immediate release of the activists.

The ship had left the port of Famagusta in Turkish-held northern Cyprus on Sunday afternoon....

Reuven Moskovitz, an 82-year-old Holocaust survivor among the passengers on the British-flagged vessel, is a founding member of the Jewish-Arab village Neve Shalom (Oasis of Peace).

"We are two peoples, but we have one future," Moskovitz said in a statement on the Jewish Boat to Gaza website.

Another passenger was Rami Elhanan, an Israeli whose daughter died in a 1997 suicide bombing at a Jerusalem shopping centre.

Eli Osherov, a reporter from Channel 10 in Israel, was also on board....."

The Jews Behind BDS

“We are not willing to have our money spent on manufacturing cluster bombs or any ingredients that violate the rights of the people of Palestine. Or any people,” explained Matan Cohen, an Israeli student at Hampshire College and a member of Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP), a grassroots BDS organization active at several colleges.

Why Does Israel Still Occupy the Palestinians? by Shir Hever

1. The Cost of the Occupation to Israeli Society

The majority of Israel's anti-occupation movement, unfortunately, does not focus on the rights of Palestinians to live free, but on the damage that the occupation causes to Israeli society (Sternhell, 2009).

The arguments that the occupation is a major investment of resources that could be useful in alleviating Israel's many social problems and that the settlements, or colonies, enjoy exorbitant government subsidies (Swirski, 2008) are well known in Israeli society and seldom challenged on a factual basis.

Within Israel, the arguments used to support the occupation on the basis of its purported economic benefits to Israel have gone silent. Even Marxist economists who effectively demonstrated the profits derived by Israel from the occupation in its first two decades largely abandoned the notion that Israel occupies the Palestinian territories for economic profit after the First Intifada of 1987, since when Palestinian resistance to the occupation has exacted a heavy economic toll on Israel -- although clearly Palestinians paid a much heavier price for daring to challenge Israel's occupation (Swirski, 2005).

Lessons of resistance from southern Lebanon

Hasan Abu Nimah, The Electronic Intifada,

An Israeli vehicle destroyed by the Lebanese resistance in south Lebanon. (Maureen Clare Murphy)

In May 2000, after two decades of brutal Israeli rule and stiff resistance, the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon suddenly ended. The Israeli army fled in haste and within hours the South Lebanon Army (SLA) -- its local collaborator militia -- collapsed and many of its members also fled to Israel where they still live. Joyful Lebanese, including tens of thousands of displaced southerners, streamed home to the liberated lands.

Much of the equipment left behind by Israel and its collaborators is now exhibited at a museum housed in a former Hizballah command center in the village of Mlita, in the heart of southern Lebanon.

Norwegian doctors publish "Eyes in Gaza", an horroying account

Eyes in Gaza is a detailed and harrowing account by the Norwegian doctors Mads Gilbert and Erik Fosse of their experiences in al-Shifa Hospital during Israel's deadly assault on Gaza in December 2008-January 2009. For a time, they were not just the only western doctors in Gaza, but the only western witnesses to what they repeatedly call Israel's "massacre" of some 1,400 Palestinian men, women and children. Hence the book's title, bearing witness to their status as witnesses.

At noon on New Year's Eve 2008, four days after the start of Israel's onslaught, Gilbert and Fosse entered Gaza from Egypt. On the morning of 10 January 2010, with Israel's campaign still having a week to run, they returned to Egypt and were replaced by another Norwegian medical team. During the intervening period they assisted their Palestinian colleagues -- whose "historic heroism" (112) they praise unstintingly -- in performing an average of twenty operations daily on the civilian victims of Israel's orgy of shooting and bombing. In the absence of western media they also acted as reporters ("white voices" -- 121-122), giving ten to fifteen interviews daily.

From One Loser to Another: Meshaal to Abbas: Hold Your Promise… Quit Talks!

Al-Manar

"27/09/2010 The head of Hamas political council Khaled Meshaal on Monday called on Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to quit peace talks with the Israeli enemy after construction of settlements resumed in the occupied West Bank.

"I call on my brothers [The TRAITORS are your brothers? I should have known that. After all, you personally urged the Jordanian Muslim "Brothers" not to boycott the fraudulent Jordanian elections! You support the Egyptian "Brothers" who, alone against the wishes of the major opposition groups, are pleasing the Pharaoh and not boycotting the sham Egyptian "elections." Enough of this charade Hamas!] at the Palestinian Authority, who had stated they would not pursue talks with the enemy if it continued settlement construction, to hold to their promise," Meshaal said at a meeting in the Syrian capital Damascus. "To negotiate without a position of strength is absurd," he stressed.

According to the Meshaal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not the man who can make peace in the region....."

FBI Raids Homes of Antiwar and Pro-Palestinian Activists in Chicago and Minneapolis

Democracy Now!
With Amy Goodman



"Antiwar activists are gearing up for protests outside FBI offices in cities across the country today and Tuesday after the FBI raided eight homes and offices of antiwar activists in Chicago and Minneapolis Friday. The FBI’s search warrants indicate agents were looking for connections between local antiwar activists and groups in Colombia and the Middle East. We speak to the targets of two of the raids and former FBI officer Coleen Rowley...."

Kissing the Hand That Feeds Him: Abbas meets with Jewish community in Paris

"PARIS (AFP) – Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas held talks Sunday with influential members of the French-Jewish community in Paris about the Israeli-Palestine peace negotiations, during his visit to France.

At Meurice hotel, Abbas met with 20 well-known figures including philosopher Alain Finkielkraut, journalists Jean-Pierre Elkabbach and Ruth Elkrief, Jewish student union leader Arielle Schwab and president of the Holocaust memorial Eric de Rothschild....."

Al-Jazeera Video: Fate of thousands of Iraqis unknown

"Thousands of Iraqis have gone missing since the US-led invasion seven years ago.

It is thought that many disappeared during the sectarian bloodshed and a number were rounded up in military operations.

But as the United States winds down its presence in the country, many families fear they will never find out what really happened to those who disappeared.

Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh reports from Baghdad, the Iraqi capital."

Al-Jazeera Video: Afghan vote-rigging videos emerge

"The integrity of Afghanistan's recent parliamentary election has been plunged into fresh doubt with the emergence of amatuer videos that appear to show police officers tasked with stopping fraud allowing vote-rigging to occur.

The videos, obtained by Al Jazeera, cannot be independently verified but appear to show Afghan police involvement in electoral fraud, dealing a blow to official claims that any dishonesty that occurred was the work of independent fraudstars and was not carried out on a massive scale.

Al Jazeera's Sue Turton, reporting from Kabul, has more."

Retribution for a World Lost in Screens

By Chris Hedges

"Nemesis was the Greek goddess of retribution. She exacted divine punishment on arrogant mortals who believed they could defy the gods, turn themselves into objects of worship and build ruthless systems of power to control the world around them. The price of such hubris was almost always death.

Nemesis, related to the Greek word némein, means “to give what is due.” Our nemesis fast approaches. We will get what we are due. The staggering myopia of our corrupt political and economic elite, which plunder the nation’s wealth for financial speculation and endless war, the mass retreat of citizens into virtual hallucinations, the collapsing edifices around us, which include the ecosystem that sustains life, are ignored for a giddy self-worship. We stare into electronic screens just as Narcissus, besotted with his own reflection, stared into a pool of water until he wasted away and died.....

The vast stage of entertainment that envelops our culture is intended to impart the opposite of ekstasis. Mass entertainment plays to the basest and crudest instincts of the crowd. It conditions us to have the same aspirations and desires. It forces us to speak in the same dead clichés and slogans. It homogenizes human experience. It wallows in a cloying nostalgia and sentimentalism that foster historical amnesia. It turns the Other into a cartoon or a stereotype. It prohibits empathy because it prohibits understanding. It denies human singularity and uniqueness. It assures us that we all have within us the ability, talent or luck to become famous and rich. It forms us into a lowing and compliant herd. We have been conditioned to believe—defying all the great moral and philosophical writers from Socrates to Orwell—that the aim of life is not to understand but to be entertained. If we do not shake ourselves awake from our electronic hallucinations and defy the elites who are ruining the country and trashing the planet we will experience the awful and deadly retribution of the gods."

Afghanistan Success, by Mike Luckovich

The Obama Boomerang

Pro-Obama lefties get slapped down – by the FBI

by Justin Raimondo, September 27, 2010

"FBI raids on six houses in Minneapolis and Chicago, including the office of the Minneapolis Antiwar Committee, have the antiwar movement – and the left in general – in an uproar. Agents came barging into homes guns drawn, kicking down doors and smashing furniture, armed with search warrants. The warrants described, in suitably vague terms, allegations of “material support for terrorism.” No arrests were made, although a number of individual activists were served with subpoenas demanding their appearance before a grand jury. Computers, documents, phones, and other materials were carted away by burly FBI agents, who appeared at 7 a.m. sharp, locked and loaded.
Let the frame-ups begin! ....

The ruling elite has never been more nervous, because their rule has never been more brittle: the economic collapse foreshadows a political collapse that can only be prevented by a crackdown and general tightening of the rules of the American “democratic” system. They’re making up these new rules as they go along, and the process is still ongoing, but of one thing we can be certain: the Constitution is a dead letter. It no longer exists except as a document kept under glass, venerated but never obeyed.

In an atmosphere like this, anything is possible: repression, mass raids, and, yes, even dictatorship (in the name of “preserving democracy,” naturally). We are in for some hard times, and certainly some tumultuous times: if we’re going to survive, we must shed any illusions that the State is going to back off, or give us a break, because, after all, “our” guy is in the White House. The Obama administration is the enemy of freedom at home and the main danger to peace abroad – and progressive opponents of war and domestic repression need to either acknowledge that, or else give up the fight. The Obama boomerang has hit them squarely upside their heads: now they need to pick themselves up off the ground and face reality."

Why Lebanese Palestinians insist on the right to bear arms

The memory of the Sabra and Shatila massacre makes Palestinians in Lebanon reluctant to give up their weapons

Matthew Cassel
guardian.co.uk, Monday 27 September 2010

"This month, Palestinians in Lebanon commemorated the 28th anniversary of a crime whose perpetrators remain unpunished and whose victims still wait for justice. In September 1982, the Israeli army surrounded the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in Beirut. For nearly three days, Israeli forces allowed their allies in the rightwing Lebanese Christian Phalange militia to enter the camps and massacre more than 1,000 Palestinian refugees and Lebanese citizens. All of the victims – men, women and children – were unarmed civilians.....

After speaking with dozens of individuals in the camp, all of whom refused to give up their right to bear arms, I asked a friend to take me to someone in the camp who he thought would disagree. He brought me to his 66-year-old grandmother, Miyasar, a refugee who has been forced to flee her home at least five times since 1948. She now lives in Shatila, where we sat overlooking a newly constructed multimillion dollar water well that has yet to be used.

Before I could even finish asking her the first questions about trading rights for arms, Miyasar closed her eyes, shook her head and said: "The Lebanese cannot give us rights, they can't even give themselves rights. Each group is by itself with its own weapons – Hezbollah has guns, Amal has guns, Future [Movement] has guns, The Lebanese are the ones who need help, not the Palestinians.

"When the Israelis came they said give up our guns, and we did and look what happened! Even a donkey that falls in one spot learns not to fall in that same spot again. We have no faith in Lebanese to give us rights. We will keep our weapons until we go back to Palestine.""

UK Labor chief Miliband's mom backs Jewish anti-blockade group

Group behind boat supported by Miliband's mother, other prominent British Jews, uses Rabbi Hillel quote as political slogan.
Jews for Justice for Palestinians, the British organization which organized the boat sailing for Gaza on Sunday, has over 1,600 signatories including Marion Kozak, the mother of recently elected Labor leader Ed Miliband, according to its Web site.

In an interview over the phone from the UK, Naomi Wayne, a co-founder and acting treasurer of the left-wing group, confirmed Kozak's support and laid out her organization's manifesto.

By Shlomo Sand

A Jewish state or an Israeli democracy? In the talks that appear to be taking place between Israel and the Palestinians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked his negotiating partner to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. One can understand the prime minister: A man so little observant of the Jewish religious tradition is unsure of his Jewish identity, hence his insecurity about the identity of his state - and the need to seek validation from our neighbors.

There's far too little criticism in Israel of this latest whim, which until recently was absent from Israeli diplomacy. For years, Israel struggled to be recognized by the Arab world. But in March 2002, when the Arab League and the Muslim world took up the Saudi initiative to recognize Israel within its 1967 borders, a new threat appeared: peace, which can fragment the Jewish character of the state from within, and rightfully so.

There's a wall-to-wall consensus, from Yisrael Beiteinu to Meretz, from enlightened journalists to learned professors, on Israel's definition as a Jewish state. But this definition strikingly resembles the definition of Iran as an Islamic republic or the United States as a Christian country. True, some American evangelists believe that the United States' Christian character is at risk and seek to cement it in legislation. But the United States, like the rest of the enlightened world, still sees itself as belonging to all its citizens, regardless of religion and creed.

Most Israelis would respond to this by saying Judaism and Jewishness represent not a religion but a people, so Israel must belong not to all its citizens but to the Jews of the world, who, as we know, prefer not to live here.

Strange, I didn't know you could only join a people via religious conversion and not by taking part in its day-to-day culture. But perhaps there's a secular Jewish people-culture I'm not aware of? Maybe Woody Allen, Philip Roth and others are secretly well-versed in the Hebrew language, cinema, literature and theater? For me, the best definition of belonging to a people is the ability to recognize the name of at least one soccer team competing in the local leagues.

Defying Israel, Jewish activists sail for Gaza

(Reuters) - A group of Jewish activists set sail for the Gaza Strip on Sunday, intent on defying an Israeli blockade and highlighting the suffering of Palestinians who live in the territory. Nine activists from Israel, Britain, Germany and the United States left Famagusta port in northern Cyprus with a small quantity of aid aboard their British-flagged catamaran, "Irene." Uninterrupted, their trip to Gaza would take around 24 hours.

"I want to raise my voice against evil and draw attention to 1.5 million people under siege. This is inhuman," said Rami Elhanan, an Israeli peace activist who lost his 14-year-old daughter Smadar to a Palestinian suicide bomber in 1997.

Slideshow

Al-Jazeera Video: Nablus: The Business of Occupation

"An old soap factory, a modern olive oil plant and two import-export agents struggle to do business in Nablus under the Israeli occupation."

DEJA VU - CIA'S NEW SECRET ARMY

By Eric Margolis

"Revelations the US Central Intelligence Agency is operating a secret, 3,000-man Afghan mercenary force whose mission is assassinating Taliban and al-Qaida fighters has caused a major stir in the United States. This dramatic report comes in an authoritative new book, “Obama’s Wars,” by investigative reporter of Watergate fame, Bob Woodward. He has long enjoyed privileged access to the White House.

The US armed, paid and directed hunter-killer force was set up to operate inside Pakistan, where US troops are officially not allowed to go. The mercenaries are mostly Afghan Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Hazara – all traditional enemies of the majority Pashtun – as well as renegades, common criminals, and mercenaries. Their raids into Afghanistan’s tribal territory are sometimes coordinated with CIA’s intensifying drone attacks on Pakistani tribesmen that are causing heavy civilian casualties.....

No one should be surprised by the news that US-led mercenaries are crossing into Pakistan and killing Pakistani Pashtun tribesmen as well as Taliban and even an occasional al-Qaida member. This writer has received reports of the hunter-killer force for years. It’s an open secret in Islamabad and Kabul....

In fact, the US has a long record of using mercenaries in its wars.

During the Vietnam War, CIA created mercenary forces of Hmong and Meo mountain tribesmen( Operation Hotfoot) and ethnic Chinese Nungs to hunt and kill Vietcong cadres. They formed part of CIA’s notorious Phoenix Operation that reportedly assassinated some 26,000 Communist cadres and sympathizers.

CIA mercenaries were also used during the 1980’s in Nicaragua and El Salvador’s brutal conflict between rightists and Marxist rebels. El Salvador’s ruthless death squads were highly effective in liquidating leftists, as I saw while covering these conflicts

The model of El Salvador’s death squads was transposed to Iraq, where mercenaries, criminals and renegades were used to liquidate Sunni resistance groups....."

The man who knows nearly everything

Out of America: The brouhaha surrounding investigative reporter Bob Woodward's book on Obama and Afghanistan follows a familiar pattern

By Rupert Cornwell
The Independent

"....And so the ritual goes on. The advance print for Obama's Wars is already 630,000. Today's Sunday talk shows will be full of it, while The Washington Post will serialise lengthy chunks from tomorrow. Meanwhile the agonising over Afghanistan goes on, too. A further policy review is set for December – and doubtless Bob Woodward is already drawing up a synopsis for Obama's Wars Part Two."

When Baghdad was centre of the scientific world

Islamic science had its heyday in the ninth century, thanks to Abū Ja'far al-Ma'mūn's House of Wisdom, says Jim al-Khalili

Jim al-Khalili

(professor of physics, and professor of the public engagement in science, at the University of Surrey)

The Observer, Sunday 26 September 2010

"....Exactly 1,200 years after its foundation, I was born in Karradat Mariam, a Shia district of Baghdad with a large Christian community, a stone's throw away from today's Green Zone and a few miles south of the spot where one of Baghdad's most famous rulers was born in 786. His name was Abū Ja'far al-Ma'mūn. Half Arab, half Persian, this enigmatic caliph was destined to become the greatest patron of science in the cavalcade of Islamic rulers, and the person responsible for initiating the world's most impressive period of scholarship and learning since Ancient Greece.

By the eighth century, with western Europe languishing in its dark ages, the Islamic empire covered an area larger in expanse than either the Roman empire at its height or all the lands conquered and ruled by Alexander the Great. So powerful and influential was this empire that, for a period stretching over 700 years, the international language of science was Arabic......

Of course, we will never really know what life was like within the House of Wisdom. But it is well established and uncontroversial that the much earlier academy in Alexandria was likewise more than just a library, for it not only brought together under one roof much of the world's accumulated knowledge, but acted as a magnet for many of the world's greatest thinkers and scholars. The patronage of the Egyptian Ptolemaic dynasty, which provided travel, lodging and stipends to those men, is not so different from the government research grants that university academics worldwide receive today to carry out their research.....

I recall, as a boy growing up in Iraq, only hearing about the likes of al-Kindi and al-Khwārizmi during history lessons, rather than science lessons. Not only are their stories so rich to western ears, I hope that in reminding those in the Muslim world today of their rich scientific heritage, and how our current understanding of the natural world has been due in no small part to the contributions of these great scholars, that it might instil in many a sense of pride that can propel the importance of rational scientific enquiry back to where it belongs: at the very heart of what defines civilised and enlightened society."

Video: Greece welcomes Viva Palestina

Press TV