Egypt urged to investigate fresh protest violence

29 June 2011

"The Egyptian authorities must immediately launch an independent and impartial investigation into the conduct of security forces at demonstrations, Amnesty International said amid continuing protests in central Cairo.

An Amnesty International team in Cairo witnessed riot police charging demonstrators in Tahrir Square, firing tear gas randomly, beating protesters with sticks and firing shotguns. Some protesters threw rocks and occasionally petrol bombs.

The Ministry of Health and Population said more than a thousand people were injured, including some 40 members of the security forces.

“This heavy-handed response is reminiscent of the violence in January and is a chilling reminder of their inability to deal with protests, ahead of calls for mass demonstrations on 8 July. This latest incident spotlights the urgent need for reform of the security forces so Egyptians can begin to trust them,” said Amnesty International.

“Many want to see law and order maintained but this cannot be done by cracking down on protesters or by ignoring the demands for justice from victims of violence during mass protests earlier this year.”

The demonstration appears to have been triggered by the security forces’ violent dispersal of relatives of those killed during the “25 January Revolution” yesterday....."

In Pictures: Clashes return to Tahrir Square

More than 1,000 people arrested as protesters and security forces clash in Egypt's capital.

Al-Jazeera

(12 photos)


(Click on photo to enlarge)
Just Like Under the Pharaoh! Nothing Has Changed.....

VIDEO – Tahrir Intifada انتفاضة التحرير

From Hossam El-Hamalawy

An Israeli trap for Britain

In arresting Sheikh Raed Salah, the UK authorities support the persecution of Arab citizens of Israel

Haneen Zoabi
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 29 June 2011

"The decision to ban the Palestinian leader Sheikh Raed Salah from entering Britain, and then to arrest him, was transparently not based on any serious examination of his political activities. It was an ugly kneejerk response to the growing hostility of the Israeli establishment and its supporters abroad towards anyone opposing its racist policies – and a rising tide of Islamophobia in Europe....

The British authorities have fallen into an Israeli trap. Instead of supporting our leaders and their campaign for freedom and democracy, they are supporting Israeli persecution of the Palestinian citizens of Israel. Until now, Palestinian citizens of Israel have been struggling for our political rights in our country, and confronting Zionist racism inside Israel. But now it seems we have to confront Zionist racism abroad as well.

The pro-Israeli lobby must not be allowed to determine politics in Britain. Palestinians in Israel see the arrest of Salah by the British authorities as backing Israeli policies against us. We ask the British people to reject this, not to allow Israeli racism to inform them and support instead our just demands for democracy in our own land."

Cairo street clashes leave more than 1,000 injured

Fighting between police and protesters is worst since Mubarak's fall as new leaders accused of same slow tactics on reform

Jack Shenker in Cairo
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 29 June 2011

".....In what analysts have labelled a "critical turning point" in Egypt's ongoing revolution, several thousand people clashed with heavily armed riot police in and around Tahrir Square on Tuesday night, leading to dozens of arrests.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces blamed "sedition" for the unrest and vowed to hunt down those responsible. Throughout Tuesday night and yesterday morning protesters chanted demands for the resignation of Egypt's de facto leader, Field Marshall Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, as security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowds.

The demonstrations follow five months of accumulated frustration among many sections of the Egyptian public over the slow pace of reform since an 18-day uprising toppled Mubarak and ushered in a military junta, which has promised to hand over power to a democratically elected civilian government later this year.

There has been particular anger over the perceived lack of accountability for stalwarts of the old regime. Although some former government ministers have been found guilty of corruption, the trials of the former justice minister Habib al-Adly and Mubarak himself – the two men many hold responsible for the killing of unarmed demonstrators by police – are yet to take place, while police officers accused of unlawful killing continue in their posts and families of the victims report being bribed or threatened to drop their legal cases.

"These clashes are the result of Egypt's new regime trying to reproduce the authoritarian policies and brutal, unaccountable security apparatus that were the tools of dictatorship for the old regime, and they are a critical turning point for the revolution," said Nabil Abdel Fattah, a political analyst at the al-Ahram Centre.

"We are seeing the same tactics – tear gas, bullets, state violence – that Mubarak used, and more importantly we are hearing the same discourse from Egypt's interim rulers. 'This is a plot to destabilise the country, there are shadowy groups trying to sow discord,' claim the cabinet and the army generals, but where is this plot and who is writing it? In fact the only 'plot' is the anger of the people against a political elite that has initiated no real change, and a government that marginalises the poorest in Egyptian society and has little credibility in the eyes of the masses."

The Guardian has spoken to residents in the downtown area who claim that central security forces (CSF) asked them to come and help defend the interior ministry from "criminal thugs"[Sounds just like the Syrian Regime!] who were allegedly smashing up shops and cars in the area. "We stood with the police for some time and threw rocks at the civilians on the other side," said one man who preferred not to be named.

"We genuinely thought the CSF needed our help [The CSF was using them as human shields!] – they told us that if the thugs saw ordinary people standing side by side with the police, they would be scared off and calm would be restored. But the CSF then made the situation much worse by deliberately firing into the crowds, which brought lots of peaceful protesters on to the scene and it turned into a big battle. I don't know why the CSF did that but it felt like they wanted to make trouble."

Demonstrators claim that far from being criminals, the civilians on the street were families of those killed during January's uprising. For the past few months the terms "thugs", "criminals" and "counter-revolutionaries" have been regularly deployed by the authorities to describe anyone deemed to be provoking instability in the post-Mubarak era.

The events of the past 48 hours are likely to increase the pressure on the interim prime minister, Essam Sharaf.

"Sharaf is honest and gentle but has offered nothing substantive in terms of change; he's been reduced to a mouthpiece of the military and he must resign," said Abdel Fattah.

"People are realising that despite the rhetoric, no reform is going to be initiated by the political elite. It has to come from the street and I think the next major demonstration in Tahrir which is planned for 8 July will be an example of that.""

Fierce Street Battles In Egypt As Families Demand Justice for Loved Ones Killed During the Uprising

"In Egypt, nearly 600 people have been reported injured in Cairo’s Tahrir Square after security forces attacked a large group of protesters overnight with tear gas and rubber bullets. Tensions erupted over the lack of accountability and justice for the nearly 1,000 people people killed during the 18-day popular uprising that led to the fall of former president, Hosni Mubarak. Many of those attacked on in the ongoing clashes are family members of protesters killed during the uprising. We speak with Democracy Now!’s Sharif Abdel Kouddous who reports from Cairo....."

To Buthayna Sha`ban: on the collateral damage

By Angry Arab

"I am still pissed at the interview with Skynews that was conducted with Buthayna Sha`ban. I posted it yesterday. She referred to the innocent civilians killed by regime soldiers as "collateral damage", very much the way the US dismisses the scores of civilians who are killed by its bombs and rockets in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Yemen and many other places. Here is an intellectual recruited by the Asad regime and is standing by it in those times. But when she lends propaganda help to the regime in its killing of its citizens she becomes part of the killing apparatus of the regime. This is another low of the Asad regime and its lousy propaganda. "Collateral damage" was invented to dismiss and justify the murder of brown people by the White Man. Now we see it used to dismiss the killing of civilians by the Syrian regime. Sha`ban achieved a record of baseness of the Syrian regime, and when the regime falls she will be made to account for this terrorist language....."

Al-Jazeera Video: Interview: Tahrir square clashes

Al-Jazeera Video: Al Jazeera World: Staying Human

"A documentary about Vittorio Arrigoni, the Italian peace activist whose passion for helping the Palestinian people, lead to his death.

He moved to Gaza in 2008 to work for the International Solidarity Movement. He was kidnapped and killed by a Salafi group in April 2011."

Al-Jazeera Video: Exclusive: Yemen government bombed villages

"Al Jazeera has uncovered evidence of government forces bombing villages surrounding the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.

At least 20 people have been killed and many families have been forced to live in caves as they fear dying in their homes in the next attack.

We investigated the story just as a UN team begins a 10-day mission in Yemen to investigate claims of human rights violations since the crackdown began on pro-democracy protesters.

Al Jazeera's Charles Stratford has this exclusive report on the bombed villages surrounding Sanaa."

Real News Video: Austerity in Greece Meant to Break Workers' Resistance

TRNN Replay: Leo Panitch: Greece will default on its debt, banks want to make Greek people pay a heavy price

Saudi Drive, by Khalil Bendib

(Click on cartoon to enlarge)

WANTED! .......By Khalil Bendib

(Click on cartoon to enlarge)

April 6 Youth Movement moves up July protest in response to clashes

Al-Masry Al-Youm

"The April 6 Youth Movement plans to stage an open sit-in in protest of the deployment of security forces and their use of violence against protesters downtown Tuesday night.

In an online statement, the group described the security reaction to protests by families of those killed during the revolution as "unfathomable and unconvincing". Security forces, which were deployed in large numbers, used tear gas and rubber bullets against those gathered in Tahrir Square.

The group said that the protests it had previously planned for 8 July will begin instead on Thursday following the dawn prayer.

April 6 also called on authorities to cease the escalation of violence and withdraw security forces from the square until the crisis is resolved......"

SCAF head meets with US deputy secretary of state

.................Virginity-Tester-in-Chief Field Marshal Tantawi..............

Al-Masry Al-Youm

"Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF), met on Wednesday with US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and his delegation.

The meeting tackled the democratic transition process in Egypt and the importance of US investment to Egypt's economy.

Participants also discussed recent local and regional developments as well as methods to support Egypt and boost cooperation between the two countries.

Several SCAF members and US Ambassador to Cairo Margaret Scobey attended the meeting....."

No Turkish boat to Gaza as Ankara, Tel Aviv mend fences

Barbara Slavin
The Electronic Intifada
Washington, DC29 June 2011

"WASHINGTON (IPS) - Turkey and Israel are close to resolving their dispute over last year’s flotilla attack, but the partnership that existed between them for more than a decade will almost certainly stay submerged.

As a new flotilla of ships prepared to set sail for Gaza Tuesday, Turkish and Israeli officials and analysts said that only a major breakthrough on Israeli-Palestinian peace could begin to revive a relationship that once featured joint military exercises and hordes of Israeli tourists visiting Istanbul. Even then, the officials said, they doubted that the warmth of the 1990s and the mid-2000s would resurface....."

Video: WATCH: Ali Abunimah, UNRWA’s Chris Gunness and Jerusalem Post’s Yaacov Katz debate Gaza flotilla

Ali Abunimah

"Israel's propaganda war against the Gaza Freedom Flotilla heats up. The Electronic Intifada's Ali Abunimah appeared on Russia Today's Crosstalk with Chris Gunness, spokesman for UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, and Yaakov Katz of The Jerusalem Post....."

It’s ‘Kinetic,’ So Don’t Get Frenetic

Throw away your dictionary – we’re not at war in Libya

by Justin Raimondo, June 29, 2011

"....To Obama and his minions, the Constitution is an obstacle to be ignored, where possible, and “reinterpreted” when necessary. During his presidency, the US military is the instrument of a militant internationalism, one that murders civilians in the cause of “human rights” and seeks to spread “democracy” abroad even while ignoring basic democratic precepts on the home front.

This administration, armed with an ideology so far removed from American traditions and sheer common sense, is far more dangerous than its war-maddened predecessor. At least Bush spared us the verbal gymnastics and never denied he intended to take us to war. The current occupant of the Oval Office wants us to consider him a modern Gandhi while besting Bush at his own game. The pretentious doubletalk engaged in by this White House is an insult to the American people, and yet another measure of Obama’s monumental arrogance. "

The hoax video blog and the plot to smear a Gaza aid mission

By Catrina Stewart in Jerusalem
The Independent

"A bizarre video where a gay activist claims he was prevented from taking part in the upcoming Gaza-bound flotilla because of his sexual orientation has been exposed as an Israeli hoax.

It appears to be the latest in a dirty-tricks campaign that includes sabotage and legal challenges orchestrated by groups seeking to derail and discredit efforts by activists to sail into Gaza's waters to challenge Israel's blockade of the Palestinian territory....."

A short story of academic oppression in Egypt

The real scandal at Cairo University is not the lesbian scene in a reading list text, but the cynical propaganda launched against it

Amira Nowaira
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 29 June 2011

"Academic freedom comes once again under attack in Egypt. An article published in the state-owned al-Akhbar newspaper under the provocative title "Teaching homosexuality at Cairo University" launched a frenzied attack on the university's English department for including a short story containing a lesbian scene on its curriculum.

This is by no means the first time that literature departments have come under fire from self-appointed guardians of public morality.....

The elected dean is not only a professor in the English department but also a woman. If her appointment becomes ratified, she will be the first female dean of the faculty of arts at Cairo University. One wonders if a fabricated moral scandal is not being used to discredit a department that has a majority of women on its staff, including the head of department as well as the teacher of said course.

The president of Cairo University has not ratified the election results yet and it is still unclear whether he will. Many university professors are vowing to take action if their call for democratic elections of university leadership is ignored.

Since the publication of the Akhbar article, English students and graduates have been increasingly vocal in rejecting any interference in academic curricula. They have created several Facebook groups that denounce any form of academic censorship at Cairo University.

"To fight for what we believe in, to take charge of our destiny and to make a difference, these are a few of the many lessons we have learned in the English department," wrote a student on one of these forums. "With our increasing numbers we have proven that we are willing to stand up and fight the good fight against ignorance and intolerance."

A radical Islamist cleric has recently called for the abolition of foreign literature departments because, according to him, they produce human beings who are culturally and intellectually deformed. But if the ability to think and argue and form independent opinions is a mark of intellectual deformity, then let us all hail such deformity.

To this cleric as well as to all the others who wrongly believe that they can close all the windows and shut all the doors, I can only say that they cannot take away our keys. They will have to understand that academic freedom is non-negotiable."

Battle breaks out in Tahrir Square, once again

Security forces and demonstrators clash in Cairo after former interior minister's trial is put off without explanation

Jack Shenker in Cairo
The Guardian, Wednesday 29 June 2011

"Clashes between protesters and security forces engulfed Cairo once again on Tuesday night, as the fiercest street battles since the fall of Hosni Mubarak left dozens injured.

Fighting began after dark, following earlier protests by relatives of those killed during this spring's uprising.

Armed central security police showered Tahrir Square with tear gas canisters and fired bullets into the air as several thousand demonstrators amassed and called for the resignation of Egypt's de facto head of state, Field Marshall Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.

Some members of the crowd tore up paving stones and threw them towards police lines.

The Guardian witnessed successive volleys of tear gas launched into the square and surrounding streets by government forces, including towards areas where ambulances had congregated to treat the wounded. Injured protesters, mostly with head wounds and gas inhalation, were carried to safety on the shoulders of fellow demonstrators.

"Mubarak was nothing – this is the revolution," said one man caught by tear gas.

The interior ministry blamed a group of "thugs" for the unrest [The same language used by the Pharaoh!]......

Protesters vociferously denied that suggestion, insisting that the police had attacked unarmed relatives of the martyrs – an account seemingly backed up by unverified videos posted on YouTube.

The violence came after the trial of the former interior minister, Habib al-Adly, on the charge of unlawfully killing pro-change protesters had been delayed by a judge this week, with no reason given to the public. "People are saying that we've replaced one Habib al-Adly with another," said Mostafa Hussein, a 30-year-old activist in Tahrir.

"They believe the interior ministry has returned to its former incarnation under the Mubarak regime."....."

Protesters clash with riot police in Tahir Square, Cairo – in pictures

Egyptian protesters flee as teargas is fired at them by riot police in Cairo

The Guardian

(10 photos)

VIDEO – Tahrir Intifada 29 June morning صباح ٢٩ يونيو – شارع محمد محمود

فيديو من قلب أحداث صباح 29 يونيو
Courtesy of Hossam El-Hamalawy

VIDEO – Tahrir Intifada انتفاضة التحرير

Courtesy of Hossam El-Hamalawy

أحداث التحرير 28 يونيو - 1

Seeing Syria through the sniper's sights

.....................................................Chief Butcher: Maher Assad........................................

"Being told to kill peaceful civilians is the most brutal thing that ever happened to me," says defected former sniper.

Hugh Macleod and Annasofie Flamand
Al-Jazeera

"In the dead of night in southern Syria, on a road near the town of Izra', a truck driver is flagged down by a group of men.

It's May 25 and the men, clearly agitated, explain why they need a lift urgently: The group of 21 are soldiers defecting from the army's Division 47 after a month deployed in Deraa, the cradle of the Syrian uprising.

This is the story of how one of those men, a sniper, took the decision to flee the bloodshed and the orders to kill protesters he said came to him directly from President Bashar al-Assad's brother Maher.

"Being told by officers to kill peaceful and unarmed civilians is the most brutal thing that ever happened to me," said the defected former sniper, a member of the special forces of the army's Division 47, which he said was deployed from Damascus to Izra', 30km north-east of Deraa, on April 25.

Al Jazeera spoke twice to the soldier by phone from his exile in neighbouring Turkey and has corroborated his testimony with that gathered by Insan, a leading Syrian human rights organisation and Avaaz, the global rights organisation.

At the request of the soldier, Al Jazeera agreed not to reveal his name, military ID, hometown and other personal details, though the organisation has seen them, as it has the names of the sniper's commanding officers.

"The decision to desert the army was a life and death decision for me," he said. "It was impossible for me to continue watching people dropping dead in front of my eyes every day - even if they were not killed by me."...."

It Takes People On the Outside: Prestigious Author Alice Walker to Confront Israeli Naval Blockade of Gaza on U.S. Aid Ship

"Israel continues to threaten a group of international activists planning to sail to Gaza this week with humanitarian aid. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said participants in the 10-boat flotilla are seeking "confrontation and blood." Last year, Israeli forces killed nine people aboard the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara. Meanwhile, activists say one of the 10 boats scheduled to sail to Gaza has been sabotaged in a Greek port. Saboteurs reportedly cut off the propeller shaft of a ship shared by Swedish, Norwegian and Greek activist. Organizers say the boat will be repaired in time to sail to Gaza. One of the other ships that will try to reach Gaza from Greece is the "Audacity of Hope." It’s set to carry up to 50 U.S. citizens carrying letters to Gaza residents. One of the ship’s passengers is the acclaimed author, poet and activist Alice Walker. She has written many books, including “The Color Purple,” for which she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. On Monday, Alice Walker spoke at a Freedom Flotilla news conference in the Greek capital of Athens. “I am going to Gaza because my government has failed to understand or care about the Gazan people, but worse than that, it is ignorant of our own history in the United States,” Walker said. “For instance, when black people were enslaved for 300 years, it took a lot of people in the outside of our communities to help free us.”...."

Today's Cartoon by the Syrian Cartoonist Ali Ferzat

The View of the "Opposition" Meeting in Damascus..

Al-Jazeera Video: Interview with ICC's Moreno-Ocampo on arrest warrant for Gaddafi

Al-Jazeera Video: Protesters call on Israel to lift blockade on Gaza

"Israel's security cabinet has voted to prevent an international flotilla from reaching Gaza, by any means possible.

The group of boats is due to leave Greece in a few days.

Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, says any resulting confrontation will be the responsibility of the organisers.

The Freedom Flotilla II is part of the "Free Gaza movement" - a coalition of human rights groups which sends ships to break Israel's strict naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.

In 2008 it successfully entered Gaza five times.

However, the movement has been intercepted on the past four voyages - including the lethal attack by Israeli forces on the Freedom Flotilla last year on May 31. Nine people, mostly Turkish activists, were killed and many more injured.

Al Jazeera's Barnaby Philips reports from the Greek capital, Athens. "

Gaza-bound ship "Juliano" found sabotaged in Greek port

Pirates of the Mediterranean Are Getting Ready!

By Ali Abunimah

"A ship due to join the Gaza Freedom Flotilla was sabotaged in the Greek port of Piraeus today according to organizers. A Swedish-language statement issued by Ship to Gaza described damage to the ship’s propeller shaft. Here is a rapid translation of the statement by The Electronic Intifada:

At 5.30 pm Swedish time on Monday it was discovered that Ship to Gaza’s passenger boat “Juliano” was the victim of sabotage in the port of Piraeus [Greece]. Hostile divers destroyed the propeller house and cut the propeller shaft. No one was injured in the attack.

Ship to Gaza has documented the sabotage with its own camera equipped divers. A first inspection was carried out to repair the damage before the planned departure at the end of this week....."

Current Al-Jazeera (Arabic) Online Poll

This poll has just been launched, it asks:

Do you support the arrest warrant for Gaddafi issued by the ICC?

With about 500 responding (it is very early), 84% said yes.

On crimes against humanity

By Pepe Escobar
Asia Times

"The banality and gall of evil are in full display as perhaps the last batch of senior Khmer Rouge face justice over the deaths of two million people in the killing fields of Cambodia. Hanging over the tribunal is the specter of an American Empire that back then put superpower "engagement" above concerns of despotic pathology. Its old chains still rattle today, in the Middle East...."

Recycling the Justification For Iraq, by Dave Brown

(Click on cartoon to enlarge)

How the demise of a trusted adviser could bring down Ahmadinejad

Iran's President has survived mass uprisings, but a corruption row engulfing his inner circle may soon be his undoing.
Robert Fisk reports from Tehran

"Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's irascible, unpredictable but devout president, may be forced to resign in the coming weeks as a political crisis far greater than the massive street violence which followed his re-election in 2009 threatens to overwhelm him and his court favourites in the government.

The overweening influence of his close friend and confidant Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaee, the president's chief of staff – who is blamed for the firing of two intelligence ministers and for infuriating even the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei – is expected to bring down Ahmadinejad in one of the most spectacular putsches in the history of the Islamic Republic....."

Syrian army defector says he was told to shoot unarmed protesters

During a month stationed in Deraa, neither Wasid nor any of his fellow conscripts saw a single armed demonstrator

Martin Chulov in Istanbul
guardian.co.uk, Monday 27 June 2011

"Wasid, a Syrian conscript, set off for the southern town of Deraa in late April filled with the zeal of a soldier going to war. "We were going to fight terrorists," he said. But less than a day after arriving there, he was planning to defect.

The Syrian regime has cast the uprising in Deraa as a conflict between a loyal military and a large and highly mobile group of heavily-armed foreign-backed insurgents, roaming the country attempting to ignite sectarian strife.

Over three hours in an Istanbul safehouse, Wasid, 20, described events in the southern town where the wave of dissent that has swept Syria first broke. His account starkly contradicts the official narrative.

"As soon as we got there, the officers told us not to shoot at the men carrying guns. They said they [the gunmen] were with us. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It had all been lies," he said.

In the month they were stationed there, neither Wasid nor any of his colleagues saw any demonstrators with weapons in Deraa or the nearby town of Izraa. And instead of confronting armed insurgents, the unit was ordered to shoot protesters. "It shocked me," he said. "We are soldiers and soldiers do not shoot at civilians.".....

He crossed the border in the Kurdish northeast of Syria and made his way by bus to Istanbul, where the UNHCR and rights group Avaaz are helping him. Wasid's testimony will be used in a referral to the international criminal court being prepared by another group, Insan. Four other defectors from Deraa have made their way to the Jordanian capital, Amman, in recent days and are also briefing investigators.

Defections have been regularly reported during the uprising, but on a small scale. Apart from the apparent mutiny of half a base in the northern town of Jisr al-Shughour (where Syrian officials claim soldiers were massacred by terrorists), none of the defections have been large enough to pose a threat to command and control of the army....."

Video: Damascas authorities seize demonstrators

Amateur footage shows Syrian authorities accompanied by what appears to be pro-government militia beating protesters and shoving them in the boot of an unmarked car

guardian.co.uk, Monday 27 June 2011

Libya: Warrants Send Strong Message to Abusive Leaders

Pursuit of Justice No Barrier to Lasting Peace

June 27, 2011

"(New York) - The International Criminal Court (ICC), by issuing an arrest warrant for Muammar Gaddafi, signaled that the law can reach even those long thought to be immune to accountability, Human Rights Watch said today. The ICC judges granted warrants on June 27, 2011, for Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, his son Seif al-Islam, and Libya's intelligence chief, Abdullah Sanussi. They are wanted on charges of crimes against humanity for their roles in attacks on civilians, including peaceful demonstrators, in Tripoli, Benghazi, Misrata, and other Libyan cities and towns.

Issuing the warrants was an important step to providing the victims of serious crimes in Libya the chance for redress. Despite concerns that an arrest warrant against Gaddafi would act as an obstacle to finding a solution to the conflict in Libya and thus discourage the Libyan leader from relinquishing power, it is unlikely that there is a connection between the ICC investigation and Gaddafi's refusal to step down, Human Rights Watch said.

"Muammar Gaddafi already made clear he intended to stay until the bitter end before the ICC process was set in motion, and his son's February vow to ‘live and die in Libya' speaks for itself," said Richard Dicker, international justice director at Human Rights Watch. "It beggars belief that a dictator who has gripped power for over 40 years would be frozen in place by this arrest warrant."

Human Rights Watch documented the arbitrary arrest and disappearance of scores of people, as well as instances in which government forces opened fire on peaceful demonstrators after the start of anti-government protests in eastern Libya on February 15......"

Egypt: Military pledges to stop forced ‘virginity tests’

27 June 2011

"The head of Egypt’s military intelligence has promised Amnesty International that the army will no longer carry out forced ‘virginity tests’ after defending their use, during a meeting with the organisation in Cairo on Sunday.

Major General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), discussed the issue with Amnesty International’s Secretary General Salil Shetty months after the organisation publicized allegations of the forced ‘tests’.

Major General al-Sisi said that ‘virginity tests’ had been carried out on female detainees in March to "protect" the army against possible allegations of rape, but that such forced tests would not be carried out again. He also added that army would avoid detaining women in the future.

He noted that women seeking to work for the army are required to undertake ‘virginity tests’.

“The Major General’s comments must translate into unequivocal instructions to army staff that women are never forced to undergo this treatment again in Egypt,” said Amnesty International.

“Subjecting women to such degrading procedures hoping to show that they were not raped in detention makes no sense, and was nothing less than torture. The government should now provide reparation to the victims, including medical and psychological support, and apologise to them for their treatment.”

The Major General’s comments came during discussion of a range of human rights abuses, including the ongoing military trials of thousands of civilians including demonstrators, workers and people suspected of petty crimes....."

Al-Quds Al-'Arabi Cartoon, by Emad Hajjaj

Ban Ki Moon For Another Term....
To Clean Up After US/NATO.

Israeli Video Blog Exposed as a Hoax! Actor hired to impersonate a gay rights activist slamming the flotilla organisers

A YouTube video featuring a man who presented himself as an American gay rights activist disillusioned with the latest Gaza flotilla campaign has been exposed as a hoax.

The man in the video, who introduced himself to viewers as Marc and claimed that the organizers of the latest flotilla of ships bound for Gaza had rejected his offer to mobilize a network of gay activists in support of their cause, was identified as Omer Gershon, a Tel Aviv actor involved in marketing, by the Electronic Intifada, a pro-Palestinian Web site.

Obama Admin Warns of “Fines and Incarceration” if U.S. Citizens Set Sail with Gaza Aid Flotilla

"A group of U.S. citizens is rejecting the Obama administration’s attempt to thwart their aid mission to the Gaza Strip, which threatens to leave them stranded in Greece. They are set to sail from a Greek port on a U.S.-flagged ship called “The Audacity of Hope,” part of an international humanitarian flotilla carrying aid for Gaza’s 1.5 million Palestinian residents. Flotilla members are taking part despite Israeli threats to intercept their ships. Nine people were killed in an Israeli attack on the first aid flotilla just over a year ago. The Audacity of Hope passengers have called for the U.S. government’s help in ensuring their safe passage. But instead, the Obama administration has told them not to set sail and even warned them they could face punishment back home. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested Israel would have the right to use force to prevent the ships’ passage. The State Department called the flotilla "irresponsible and provocative" and warned that U.S. delegates could face "fines and incarceration.” We play an excerpt from a press conference when State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland is repeatedly questioned about the Obama administration’s threat, but refuses to answer whether the U.S. considers the Israeli blockade of Gaza to be legal...."

“We Are Eager to Get to Gaza”: Democracy Now! Exclusive Report from Greece on U.S. Gaza Aid Flotilla

"Up to 50 Americans are set to sail from a Greek port on a U.S.-flagged ship that is part of an international flotilla carrying humanitarian aid and letters of support for Gaza’s 1.5 million Palestinian residents. Its fate is now in limbo under the weight of U.S.-Israeli pressure and Greece’s economic turmoil. Israel insists it will enforce its blockade on Gaza, which it says is aimed at stopping weapons from reaching the Hamas government. “The Israelis have a right to interdict arms traffic. We are bearing letters,” says Ray McGovern, former Senior CIA analyst and passenger on the U.S. aid ship. “How can these letters be considered a threat to security of Israel?” Democracy Now! producer Aaron Maté is in Athens to cover the journey of The Audacity of Hope, named after President Obama’s best-selling book. He and fellow producer, Hany Massoud, are the only journalists with the U.S. delegation. They file this exclusive report...."

ICC issues Gaddafi arrest warrant

Libyan leader, his second-eldest son and his intelligence chief indicted for crimes against humanity.

Al-Jazeera

COMMENT:

Similar indictment against the Rabbit of Syria and his Mafia bosses should follow!

"The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, his son and his spy chief, citing evidence of crimes against humanity committed against his regime's opponents.

Judge Sanji Mmasenono Monageng announced the decision on behalf of a three-judge panel in The Hague on Monday, saying the warrants were meant to force Gaddafi and his two confidantes to appear before the court and prevent the possibility of a cover-up.

It was the second time in the ICC's nine-year history that it issued an arrest warrant for a sitting head of state. The ICC indicted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in 2009, though he has yet to be arrested.

"State policy was designed at the highest level of the state machinery, and aimed at quelling by any means, including by the use of lethal force, demonstrations of civilians against the regime of Muammar Muhammad Gaddafi," Monageng said.

She stressed that the indictment and warrants for Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam, and his military intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi were not proof of guilt, which must be proved at trial.

But she said the evidence submitted by ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo was enough to establish "reasonable grounds to believe" the three were guilty of murder and the persecution of civilians, or "crimes against humanity," and that they should be arrested......"

Staying Human: Preparing to Sail to Gaza

By Kathy Kelly

"Last week, newly-arrived in Athens as part of the US Boat to Gaza project, our team of activists gathered for nonviolence training. We are here to sail to Gaza, in defiance of an Israeli naval blockade, in our ship, "The Audacity of Hope." Our team, and nine other ships' crews from countries around the world, want Israel to end its lethal blockade of Gaza by letting our crews through to shore to meet with Gazans. The US ship will bring over 3,000 letters of support to a population suffering its fifth continuous decade of de facto occupation, now in the form of a military blockade controlling Gaza's sea and sky, punctuated by frequent deadly military incursions, that has starved Gaza's economy and people to the exact level of cruelty considered acceptable to the domestic population of our own United States, Israel's staunchest ally.

The international flotilla last year was brutally attacked and the Turkish ship fired on from the air, with a cherrypicked video clip of the resulting panic presented to the world to justify nine deaths, one of a United States citizen, most of them execution-style killings. So it’s essential, albeit a bit bizarre, to plan for how we will respond to military assaults. Israeli news reports say that their naval commandos are preparing to use attack dogs and snipers to board the boats. In the past, they have used water cannons, taser guns, stink bombs, sound bombs, stun guns, tear gas, and pepper spray against flotilla passengers. I’ve tried to make a mental list of plausible responses: remove glasses, don life jacket, affix clip line which might prevent sliding off the deck, carry a half onion to offset effect of tear gas, remember to breathe...."

Al-Jazeera Video: Syrian opposition figure talks to Al Jazeera

Real News Video: Israel to stop Flotilla "without physical contact"

Israeli government tells its plan to stop Flotilla and warns journalists - being on board can result in 10 year ban from Israel.

The Journal Of An Arab Executioner

Nizar Qabbani (1923-1998)

Contributed by Abed

"1

O people
I have become a sultan over you
Break your idols after straying, and worship me…
I don’t always reveal myself…
So sit down on the patience pavement to see me
Leave your children with no bread
And leave your women with no husband…and follow me
Give thanks to God for His grace
He has sent me to write History
And History is not written without me
I am Joseph in beauty
The Creator did not create golden hair like mine
Or a forehead as prophetic as mine
My eyes are a forest of olive and almond trees
Always pray for God to safeguard my eyes
O people
I am Majnun Layla
Send your wives to be impregnated by me
And send your husbands to thank me
It is an honor that you eat my body’s wheat
It is an honor that you pick my almond and figs
It is an honor that you resemble me
For I am an event that hasn’t happened
For thousands of centuries…

2

O people
I am the first, the fairest
And the finest among the rulers
I am the full moon and the whiteness of jasmine
I am the inventor of the first gallows, and the best divine messenger
Whenever I think of retiring from power, my conscience holds me back
Who, I wonder, will govern after me this good people?
Who, after me, will heal the lame, the leper, and the blind…
And who will revive the bones of the dead?
Who, I wonder, will take out the moon from his coat?
Who, I wonder, will send the rain to people?
Who, I wonder, will flog them ninety lashes?
Who, I wonder, will crucify them above the trees?
Who, I wonder, will force them to live like cows?
And die like cows?
Whenever I thought of leaving them
My tears overflowed like a cloud
And in God I trusted…
And decided to mount the people…
From now…until the day of resurrection…

3

O people
I own you
Like I own my horses…and my slaves
And I walk over you as I walk on my palace’s rugs
So prostrate yourselves before me as I stand
And prostrate yourselves before me as I sit
Didn’t I find you one day
Among the papers of my ancestors?
Be careful not to read any book
I will read for you…
Be careful not to write any speech
I will write for you…
Be careful not to listen to Fairuz in secret
For I know all your intentions
Be careful not to enter the tomb without my permission
This is for us a great sin
And adhere to silence when I speak to you
My words are a Holy Quran

4

O people
I am your Mahdi; await me
My blood is pulsing in the heart of the vines; drink me
Stop all the songs that children are singing
In the love of the homeland
For I have become the homeland
I am the one, the eternal of all beings
I am instilled in the memory of the apples, of the flute
And blue songs
Raise my portraits over the squares
Cover me with the haze of words
And betroth to me the youngest wife…
For I do not age…
My body does not age…
My prisons do not age
And the repressive apparatus in my kingdom does not age…
O people
I am al-Hajjaj, if unmasked you will recognize me
I am Genghis Khan and I have come to you…
With my spears…my dogs…and my prisons
Do not be fed up, O people, with my tyranny
I kill so that you don’t kill me
I hang so that you don’t hang me
And I bury you in that mass grave
So that you don’t bury me…

5

O people
Buy me newspapers that write about me
They are displayed like prostitutes in the streets
Buy me green paper as shiny as spring grass
And ink…and presses
Everything is bought in our era…even the fingers
Buy the fruit of thinking…and keep it in front of me
Cook me a poet
And make him one of my dishes…
I am illiterate, and I have a complex with what the poets say
Buy me then poets who praise my goodness
And make me the star on all covers
Stars of theater and dance are not at all more beautiful than I
Because, with hard currency, I can buy anything
I can buy the poems of of Bashshar Ibn Burd
Al-Mutanabbi’s lips and Labid’s hymns
For the millions in the treasury of Muslims
Are old inheritances of my father’s
Take some of my gold
And write in handbooks
That my reign is Harun al-Rashid’s

6

O people of my country
O masses of the Arab peoples
I am a pure spirit who has come to wash away the dust of barbarism
Record my voice on audio tapes
My voice, like an Andalusian fountain, has a beautiful cadence
Draw me smiling like the Jocund
And gentle like the Magdalene’s face
Draw me
Devouring poetry with my teeth
And sucking the blood of the alphabet…
Draw me
With my dignity and glory
And my military staff
Draw me…
As I am hunting a wild goat or a deer
Draw me…
As I hold you on my shoulders to the eternal abode
O masses of Arab peoples…

7

O people
I am responsible for your dreams, when dreaming
I am responsible for every loaf of bread you eat
And for the poetry that, behind my back, you read
Because the security apparatus in my palace delivers to me
The birds’ news…and the spikes’ news
And delivers to me what happens in the bellies of pregnant women
O people, I am your prison guard
And your prisoner…You shall forgive me
I am the exiled within my own palace
I don’t see a sun, or a star, or an Oleander
Ever since I came to power as a child
The circus men gather around me
One blowing a flute…
One beating a drum
One wiping broadcloth…One wiping shoes
Ever since I came to power as a child
The palace advisor never said “No”
My ministers never said “No”
My ambassadors never said “No” to my face
None of my women said “No” in bed
They have taught me to see myself a god
And to see the people from the balcony as sand…
Forgive me if I turned into a new Hulagu
I never killed for the sake of killing
But I kill you…to have fun…"

Lebanon's left splits over Syria

The proximity and political relationship with Syria has left demonstrators at odds over Bashar al-Assad's crackdown.

Matthew Cassel
Al-Jazeera

"....More than 35 years after the rise of the Lebanese left and the start of the civil war, people across Syria have risen up against decades of oppressive Baath party rule in their own country. Since demonstrations began in March, rights groups estimate that security forces have killed more than 1,000 protesters, and rights abuses are believed to be widespread.

President Bashar al-Assad and his Baathist regime have drawn global condemnation for the brutal crackdown on demonstrators. However, Beirut-based activists, many who have worked together against issues like sectarianism and in support of Palestinian and other Arab revolts, now find themselves split over their positions on the protests in Syria....

One of the journalists who has been reporting frequently in Lebanon's Arabic media from inside Syria is Ghadi Francis. The 22-year-old is a former member of the SSNP, but was kicked out of the party for her reporting in the Beirut-based As-Safir newspaper that "didn't reflect the party's political views", she said.

Francis has traveled across Syria since protests began in March, and has spoken with a wide range of people, including many protesters, and witnessed demonstrations in a number of cities and towns around the country. She concluded that it's a "true crime" to "paint the [people protesting in the] street or the regime with one colour".

Francis said one group of protesters was protesting for basic demands such as for jobs and water, while another wanted more political rights. A third group, she said, is protesting strictly for religious reasons. It is this third group that has many secular activists in neighbouring Lebanon worried.

However, Francis said that the blame lies with the secular Baathist regime in Syria, which for more than four decades "has left people with no other place to gather [and organise]" outside of religious spaces.

"Leftists [in Beirut] are right to be against the regime, but they're not right to judge [the protesters] from the culture in Hamra," said Francis. "Anyone has to go to witness it and talk to people."

From what she's witnessed in Syria, Francis thinks that the protests have already made irreversible change in Syria: "What's happening [in Syria] is great in the sense that there is a black era of fear broken forever ... [the protests have already] broken too many walls."....

Activist Abdul Khalak argued that, because politics and society are tightly interconnected, most politicians in Lebanon from across the political spectrum have remained largely silent on Syria. "Lebanon wants stability in Syria to make sure there is stability in Lebanon," he said.

However, activists such as Saksouk argue the question of stability is irrelevant to a people's call for change.

"A fear of what's going to happening [exists] in every context," she said. "I'm fearful of people in Egypt hijacking the revolution like in Libya, and I'm totally scared of what's happening in Bahrain. But we have to be hopeful and we can't ask people not to revolt because we're scared about the future. That is exactly what these regimes want us to think.".....

"Whoever says that the shaking of the Syrian regime will result in the shaking of the whole region and that any change will be dangerous for the whole region is right. A change in Syria will change the region, the decomposed, corrupted and oppressive region.

"A change in Syria will allow freedom to go on a promenade like a beautiful young woman. On a promenade, naked, and with no fear on the shore of the Mediterranean sea.""

Virginity tests were for detainee's protection, military tells Amnesty

Liar, Liar....

Al-Masry Al-Youm

"The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, in a meeting with a delegation from Amnesty International on Sunday, confirmed that it conducted virginity tests on women detained by the military in March of this year. The women were arrested by the military as it cleared Tahrir Square of protesters staging an ongoing sit in.

However, the council explained that the virginity tests were intended to protect the female detainees from rape during their detention (??).

The human rights delegation also discussed the issue of referring civilians to military courts, military and police abuses, the persistence of torture and abuse, the slow pace of trials, and the existence within the police ranks of officers accused of killings protesters during the uprising.

In response, the council said that the military trials were the result of the chaos and acts of hooliganism that spread after the revolution, and were aimed at restoring stability [Same language the Pharaoh used!]. The various acts of torture, meanwhile, were individual cases that were immediately investigated [Again, same language and the same lies!] , it said....."

Gone With the Papers

By Chris Hedges

"....Our political apparatus and systems of information have been diminished and taken hostage by corporations. Our government no longer responds to the needs or rights of citizens. We have been left disempowered without the traditional mechanisms to be heard. Those who battle the corporate destruction of the ecosystem and seek to protect the remnants of our civil society must again take to the streets. They have to engage in acts of civil disobedience. But this time around the media and the systems of communication have dramatically changed.

The death of journalism, the loss of reporters on the airwaves and in print who believed the plight of the ordinary citizen should be reported, means that it will be harder for ordinary voices and dissenters to reach the wider public. The preoccupation with news as entertainment and the loss of sustained reporting will effectively marginalize and silence those who seek to be heard or to defy established power. Protests, unlike in the 1960s, will have a difficult time garnering the daily national coverage that characterized the reporting on the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement and in the end threatened the power elite. Acts of protest, no longer covered or barely covered, will leap up like disconnected wildfires, more easily snuffed out or ignored. It will be hard if not impossible for resistance leaders to have their voices amplified across the nation, to build a national movement for change. The failings of newspapers were huge, but in the years ahead, as the last battle for democracy means dissent, civil disobedience and protest, we will miss them."

Spirits of Justice Going to Gaza

by Ray McGovern, June 27, 2011

"For those who engage in the common struggle for Justice, an invaluable grace comes from getting to know new friends similarly engaged—and equally willing to speak with more than words.

Thus, it has been a great grace to get to know folks like Alice Walker personally as well as through her writings—including some new ones. In one recent article, Alice addressed her reasons for joining the other 49 of us by putting her body on the line in sailing with The Audacity of Hope, the U.S. boat to Gaza. She wrote.....

No justice was to be had in Lowndes County, Ala., in the Sixties. Today, justice cannot prevail in Gaza—and the other occupied territories seized by Israel in the June 1967 war.

The New York Times made an unusually candid revelation in 1982, quoting from a speech in which Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who held that top post from 1977 to 1983, admitted that the 1967 war was carefully planned by Israel.

“In June 1967, we had a choice,” Begin said. “The Egyptian army concentrations in the Sinai approaches do not prove that Nasser was really about to attack us. We must be honest with ourselves. We decided to attack him.”

The New York Times, which in those days was a far more independent newspaper than it is now, actually printed Begin’s words, though it has forgotten them since.

And so, all aboard The Audacity of Hope. And what grand company I find myself in: justice friends, old—like Ann Wright, Medea Benjamin, Ken Mayers, Robert Naiman, and Kathy Kelly—and new—like Alice Walker, Paki Wieland, Gale Courey Toensing, and dozens of others.....They are truly models of the enduring strength that comes of daring to hope. "

Protesters shower police with rocks as Adly’s trial adjourns أهالي الشهداء يطالبون بالقصاص من العادلي

Courtesy of Hossam El-Hamalawy

Ahmadinejad seizes on America's retreat at 'anti-terror' conference

Iran seeks to impress leaders of Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.

By Robert Fisk

"....Messieurs Ahmadinejad of Iran, Karzai of Afghanistan and Zardari of Pakistan – all jolly presidents sharing the stage with Talabani of Iraq, Rahmon of Tajikistan and (speak it in hushed tones), that elderly wanted man, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan – spent time discussing how all would react when the West ends its adventure in the graveyard of Empires.

Ironies were legion.....

...Even Iran's Supreme Leader, whose wisdom is greeted with Vatican-like adherence here, seems to have concluded that the US plans to abandon its eastern neighbour. Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei thought the Americans would be gone "within three years". But the vast US airbase in Kandahar, like those at Bagram and elsewhere, look like much longer-term projects; so do the giant US military "lily-pads" (the expression of that extraordinary military strategist D Rumsfeld, Esq) in Iraq.

President Talabani, undoubtedly the largest of the leading delegates in sheer physical size, chose not to dwell on this subject.....

Confronted by the fatal word "Syria", Mr Saleh plunged into a crowd, shouting over his shoulder the words: "I think Syria will be..." And that was all we heard. Safe to say he believes that Iran's ally, President Bashar al-Assad, will soldier through his present little difficulties (1,400 dead, uprisings in almost every city, near-civil war in the north of Syria) with little to worry about.

My guess is that a shrewd country like Iran – if it is preparing for a life without the Americans in Afghanistan – must also be planning for a life without the Assads in Damascus."

Syrian death squads in action

Next time you say you support Syrian regime because it supports the "resistance" ,know that you are supporting killers and murderers. There is NOTHING on earth that justifies this brutality.

Al-Jazeera Video: Finance minister says Egypt wary of debts

"Egypt's finance minister has told Al Jazeera that the country's military rulers rejected loans from international institutions because they would disadvantage future incoming governments.

To make up for the shortfall, the government will cut spending on some social expenditures and public investment projects, but it will not touch food and fuel subsidies that help millions of impoverished Egyptians survive, Dr Samir Radwan said.

Radwan was speaking exclusive to Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin in Cairo, the Egyptian capital. "

Israel accused of trying to intimidate Gaza flotilla journalists

Foreign Press Association urges Israel to withdraw threat of 10-year ban against journalists travelling with flotilla


(Hedy Epstein, a Holocaust survivor who will join the Gaza flotilla.)

Conal Urquhart in Jerusalem
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 26 June 2011

"The Foreign Press Association has accused the Israeli government of using "threats and intimidation" to stop media coverage of a 10-ship flotilla due to sail to the Gaza Strip this week.

The ships are sailing to protest against Israeli restrictions on Gaza and to commemorate last year's flotilla, which was intercepted by the Israeli navy, who killed nine of the Turkish participants.

Israel has restricted the supply of goods and the movement of individuals in Gaza since Hamas took control in 2007.

Two of the ships, the Tahrir and the Audacity of Hope, are docked in Athens, where the harbourmaster has banned the latter from leaving port until its seaworthiness is established....

Israel has been engaged in a diplomatic campaign to prevent the flotilla from setting sail. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said last week that the flotilla was not "useful" and consular officials tried to persuade US nationals in Athens not to join the flotilla.

On Sunday Israel warned journalists, who will make up a minority of the passengers, not to travel with the flotilla.....

The Foreign Press Association, which represents the international media in Israel, said the threat to punish journalists covering the Gaza flotilla raised serious questions about Israel's commitment to freedom of the press. "Journalists covering a legitimate news event should be allowed to do their jobs without threats and intimidation. We urge the government to reverse its decision immediately," it said."

Al-Jazeera Video: Joseph Dana speaks to Al Jazeera about taking part in the latest flotilla to Gaza

"Jospeh Dana, an Israeli-American journalist with the Nation, will be on board a US ship as part of the Freedom Flotilla which is to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip.

He says he will go ahead with his decision despite Israel's warning that journalists on board the flotilla could be banned from the country for ten years.

Dana spoke to Al Jazeera from Athens."

Egypt drops plans for IMF loan amid popular distrust

Egypt has dropped plans to seek loans from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, Finance Minister Samir Radwan has said.

BBC

"....An adviser told AFP news agency the decision had been partly a response to the "pressure of public opinion".

Many of those who took part in Egypt's uprising denounced the role of the IMF.

It was seen as bolstering the rule of now-deposed President Hosni Mubarak while imposing harsh economic conditions that benefited the rich more than the poor, says the BBC's Arab affairs editor Sebastian Usher....

Despite apparently lenient terms on which the IMF offered the loan, many Egyptians were unhappy, feeling it was a betrayal of the protest movement that had denounced the IMF as a tool of imperialism, our correspondent says...."

A REAL PULLOUT OR A SHELL GAME?

By Eric Margolis

"....The US appears to be going and staying at the same time. By contrast, Taliban’s position is clear and simple: it will continue fighting until all foreign troops are withdrawn. US special forces, drones and hit squads have been unable to assassinate enough Taliban commanders to make the mujahidin stop fighting.

Americans never study history, not even their own. They don’t recall founding father, the great Benjamin Franklin, who said, “there is no good war, and no bad peace.” Or that the Pashtun Taliban and its allies are fierce, dedicated, undefeated warriors. I’ve been in combat with them and remain in awe of their courage and love of combat. The Pashtun mujahidin will keep fighting as always, as long as their ammunition lasts.

America, for all its B-1 heavy bombers, strike fighters, missiles, helicopter gunships and drones, armor, super electronics, spies in the sky and all the other high tech weapons of modern war has failed to defeat some 30,000 tribal fighters with nothing more than small arms and legendary valor.

The US has lost the all important military initiative in Afghanistan. It may linger there, but it cannot win."

MEP joining flotilla tells EI: EU’s honest broker image "a sham"

David Cronin
The Electronic Intifada 26 June 2011

"Paul Murphy, a member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Ireland’s Socialist Party, is bound for Gaza as part of the second Gaza Freedom Flotilla. Only appointed to the Parliament in April — as a replacement for a colleague who had returned to domestic politics in Dublin — Murphy did not hesitate in responding to a plea from the flotilla’s organizers that public representatives join the siege-breaking voyage.

As he waited to set sail from a Mediterranean port (the precise location hasn’t been named for security reasons), Murphy spoke to The Electronic Intifada correspondent David Cronin.....

...
DC: Quartet envoy Tony Blair and various others have tried to convey the impression that the blockade of Gaza is being eased and that the situation is improving. What can you say about that?

PM: My understanding is that’s simply not true. If anything, it’s getting worse in Gaza as is to be expected after five years of a brutal blockade. There are 300,000 people living on less than a dollar a day, which is three times the amount before the blockade was imposed. According to the UN, wages have dropped by one-third since the blockade and unemployment is over 40 percent. That is a devastating situation.

We were talking [during preparations] that if people get cut, they should use antiseptic because otherwise there is a risk of blood poisoning. But people in Gaza don’t have access to basic medicines. In the absence of basic medicines, they are not able to conduct surgery.

The idea that things are getting better is obviously Israeli propaganda. It is a joke."

Al-Jazeera Video: Inside Story - Syria: A sign of desperation?

Arab ship to participate in flotilla

In spite of the deadly end of the first trip and the Israeli warning of military intervention to stop it, the international movement for breaking Gaza siege’s plans to send a new freedom flotilla to Gaza is gaining momentum everyday.

The participation in the Freedom Flotilla II is widening and diversifying day after a day despite the pro-Israeli lobby efforts to scare international activists away from joining it.

The latest of these gains is the announcement of the Jordanian Lifeline Committee on Saturday that an Arab-owned ship would participate in the second flotilla.

In statements to reporters, Head of JLC Wael Sakka said that the Committee has signed an agreement to purchase a ship worth 560,000 euros to participate in the flotilla II expected to sail to Gaza Strip from several European ports late this month.

Sakka noted that the ship, which can accommodate about 200 passengers, was bought by Nour Company, founded by Arab shareholders who met in Amman two months ago to discuss the Arab participation in the flotilla to which about activists from 26 Arab and foreign countries will contribute.

عزمي بشارة اتوقع انتكاسات ومتفاءل علي المدي البعيد