Anti-"Israel"

Is Peace Out of Reach?

2009-01-26T19:19:00.000-08:00

Thank You 60 Minutes and CBS! Finally, a true glimpse of what is occurring in the Holy Land.

Bob Simon reports...

Watch CBS Videos Online

Israelis 'shot at fleeing Gazans'

2009-01-14T23:30:00.000-08:00

"Israel" is deliberately targeting civilians. No lies can change this.

From the BBC:

"The Israeli army was saying: 'This is the Israeli Defence Forces, we are asking all the people to leave their homes and go to the school. Ladies first, then men.'

"We decided to send the women first, two by two," he said.

"The army was about 15 metres (50 feet) away from the house or less. They shot her in the head," he said.

Another family:

"They told us you all have to go to the centre of the town, where the school is.

"We put the women first, and we put our children on our shoulders, with white bandanas on their heads.

"When we were walking, with the women first, they saw soldiers and they started to shout to them, to tell them 'we have children, we have children'. They started to shoot us. My aunt was killed with a bullet in her head."

"We have tried to leave the house during the three-hour humanitarian ceasefire, but we got shot at," he said.

Complete Article

Who Broke the Cease-Fire?

2009-01-14T23:27:00.000-08:00

Another good clip.. Mark Regev, again, is humiliated.

The Truth About the 2009 Gaza Massacre

2009-01-14T20:55:00.000-08:00

Holocaust?

2009-01-12T22:15:00.000-08:00

Red Cross Prevented from Reaching Victims

2009-01-11T11:45:00.000-08:00

Notice how Mark Regev, the Israeli spokesman, insisted on talking about Hamas rather than addressing the question. Alex Thomson, the reporter, notices this and keeps him on topic.

Well done.

"I will pray here until Judgment Day"

2009-01-10T21:05:00.000-08:00

You will not break their spirits.

Another Massacre in Gaza

2009-01-09T20:35:00.000-08:00

When this brutal invasion ends, I am sure more stories like this will be discovered.

(excerpts from article)

The United Nations says it has received reports that about 30 Palestinians were killed when Israeli forces shelled a house after they had moved about 110 civilians inside it.

"According to several testimonies, on 4 January Israeli foot soldiers evacuated approximately 110 Palestinians into a single-residence house in Zeitun, warning them to stay indoors," the UN report said on Friday.

"Twenty-four hours later, Israeli forces shelled the home repeatedly, killing approximately 30."

The incident took place on Monday in the Zeitun neighbourhood of Gaza City on Monday, the report said.

The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) called it "one of the gravest incidents since the beginning of operations" by Israeli forces in Gaza on December 27.

"Those who survived and were able walked two kilometres to Salah Ed Din road before being transported to hospital in civilian vehicles," OCHA said.

"Three children, the youngest of whom was five months old, died upon arrival at the hospital."

The Israeli military said on Friday that it had no knowledge of the incident.

Complete Article

This Brutality Will Never Break Our Will to Be Free

2009-01-08T17:46:00.000-08:00

By Khaled Mishael (Head of Hamas Political Bureau)

(excerpts)

The logic of those who demand that we stop our resistance is absurd. They absolve the aggressor and occupier - armed with the deadliest weapons of death and destruction - of responsibility, while blaming the victim, prisoner and occupied. Our modest, home-made rockets are our cry of protest to the world. Israel and its American and European sponsors want us to be killed in silence. But die in silence we will not.

From Deir Yassin in 1948 to Gaza today, the list of Israel's crimes is long. The justifications change, but the reality is the same: colonial occupation, oppression, and never-ending injustice. If this is the "free world" whose "values" Israel is defending, as its foreign minister Tzipi Livni alleges, then we want nothing to do with it.

Gaza's people are more united than ever, determined not to be terrorised into submission. Our fighters, armed with the justice of their cause, have already caused many casualties among the occupation army and will fight on to defend their land and people. Nothing can defeat our will to be free.

Israel will no doubt wreak untold destruction, death and suffering in Gaza. But it will meet the same fate in Gaza as it did in Lebanon. We will not be broken by siege and bombardment, and will never surrender to occupation.

Complete Article

Vatican: Gaza "Big Concentration Camp"

2009-01-08T17:39:00.000-08:00

The survivors of the Nazi concentration camps have created their own in Gaza.

ROME (Reuters) - Pope Benedict's point man for justice and peace issues on Wednesday issued the Vatican's toughest criticism of Israel since the latest Mideast crisis began, calling Gaza a "big concentration camp."

Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Vatican's Council for Justice and Peace, made his comments in an interview in the Italian online newspaper Il Sussidiario.net.

"Defenceless populations are always the ones who pay. Look at the conditions in Gaza: more and more, it resembles a big concentration camp," Martino, whose informal title is Vatican "justice minister," was quoted as saying.

Pope Benedict has made several general appeals for an end to the violence in Gaza but has not openly criticised Israel.

The pope is due to visit Holy Land sites in Jordan, Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank in May.

Hamas Speaks

2009-01-08T17:36:00.000-08:00

By Mousa Abu Marzook

From Damascus -- While Americans may believe that the current violence in Gaza began Dec. 27, in fact Palestinians have been dying from bombardments for many weeks. On Nov. 4, when the Israeli-Palestinian truce was still in effect but global attention was turned to the U.S. elections, Israel launched a "preemptive" airstrike on Gaza, alleging intelligence about an imminent operation to capture Israeli soldiers; more assaults took place throughout the month.

The truce thus shattered, any incentive by Palestinian leaders to enforce the moratorium on rocket fire was gone. Any extension of the agreement or improvement of its implementation at that point would have required Israel to engage Hamas, to agree to additional trust-building measures and negotiation with our movement -- a political impossibility for Israel, with its own elections only weeks away.

Not that the truce had been easy on Palestinians. In the six-month period preceding this week's bombardment, one Israeli was killed, while dozens of Palestinians lost their lives to Israeli military and police actions, and numerous others died for want of medical care.

The war on Gaza should not be mistaken for an Israeli triumph. Rather, Israel's failure to make the truce work, and its inevitable resort to bloodshed, demonstrate again that it cannot permit a future built on Palestinian political self-determination. The truce failed because Israel will not open Gaza's borders, because Israel would rather be a jailer than a neighbor, and because its intransigent leadership forestalls Palestinian destiny and will not make peace with history.

Complete Article

CNN: "Israel" Broke the Cease-Fire

2009-01-08T17:33:00.000-08:00

CNN starting to speak truth?

Inside Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital

2009-01-05T21:30:00.000-08:00

Hospitals are overflowing with casualties and injuries as the apartheid state continues its illegal invasion of Gaza. There are a few foreign doctors that have been able to make it into Gaza and this report features one of them.

Report from the BBC from one of Gaza's biggest hospitals, Al-Shifa Hospital.

Pray for Gaza and all the oppressed peoples of this world.

"Israeli" Lies Exposed

2009-01-03T10:50:00.000-08:00

The Israeli military says it bombed a lorry which Hamas fighters were loading with rockets on Monday.

But an Israeli human rights group says civilians were killed as they tried to protect their goods.

Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid talks to a Palestinian who says the vehicle was his and that it was being loaded with gas canisters by his family.

Who Ended the 6-Month Cease-Fire?

2009-01-03T10:44:00.000-08:00

by Shiko Behar

On December 30, 2008 the New York Times published its first editorial on the recent bombings of Gaza. The editors open their text with the following claim: “Hamas must bear responsibility for ending a six-month cease-fire this month with a barrage of rocket attacks into Israeli territory.”

While the editors assign the blame conveniently and squarely on Hamas, this nevertheless remains a factually erroneous statement contradicting reporting by Israeli newspapers (in both Hebrew and English), the British press, Amnesty International and – perhaps curiously enough – November 2008 reporting by the NYT itself.

On November 12, the paper’s Jerusalem reporter, Isabel Kershner, wrote: “At least six Palestinian militants were killed in a clash and an Israeli airstrike on Nov. 4 after an Israeli force entered Gaza for the first time in five months.”

Therefore, the rockets into Israeli territory after nearly six months of cease-fire followed – rather than preceded – the Israeli invasion into, and the killings of Palestinians inside, the occupied Gaza Strip. On November 14, the paper’s Jerusalem Bureau Chief, Ethan Bronner, re-stated the same facts reported by Kershner; he additionally voiced them in his accompanying interview on NYT radio – both can be read/heard here.

More crucially, Israeli and international sources from the first week of November 2008 – sources that are scholarly (and otherwise) more reliable than the NYT – shed further light on the misleading claim by the NYT editors. They include, but are by no means limited to:

The Israeli Haaretz, November 5, 2008: “Israel Defense Forces troops yesterday killed a Hamas gunman and wounded two others in the first armed clash in the Gaza Strip since a cease-fire was declared there in June. […] An Israeli army spokeswoman said troops had entered the territory.”

The Israeli Yediot Ahronot, November 5, 2008: “For the first time since the ceasefire took effect in June, IDF forces operated deep in the Gaza Strip Tuesday night.”

(Note: had the NYT editors bothered to consult Hebrew sources they would have easily found that the Hebrew version of the news item cited above is even clearer.)

The Times (UK), November 5, 2008: “A five-month truce between Israel and the Islamist rulers of the Gaza Strip was foundering yesterday after Israeli special forces entered the besieged territory and fought.”

Amnesty International, November 10, 2008: “A spate of Israeli and Palestinian attacks and counter-attacks in the past 24 hours could spell the end of a five-and-a-half-month ceasefire. […] The killing of six Palestinian militants in Gaza by Israeli forces in a ground incursion and air strikes on 4 November was followed by a barrage of dozens of Palestinian rockets.”

The Guardian, November 5, 2008: “Hamas militants fired more than 35 rockets into Israel today, hours after the Israeli army killed six people inside the Gaza Strip in the first major exchange of fire since a truce took effect in June.”

The Independent, November 5, 2008: “Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip fired more than 35 rockets towards Israel today, the army and the Islamist group said, hours after the Israeli army killed six militants in the coastal territory.”

Gazans: God is Sufficient for Us

2008-12-31T15:19:00.000-08:00

"Israel" is continuing its illegal bombardment of Gaza with American-sponsored F-16s and is showing absolutely no sign of restraint. I have been watching much footage of the aftermath of these attacks and the amount of destruction and carnage is truly sickening. What has surprised me the most about these images is not the devastation that the “Israeli” war machine is capable of, as we are well aware of its destructive nature and complete disregard for innocent life from the Summer War of 2006, where more than 1,000 Lebanese civilians lost their lives.

Rather, it is the will and steadfastness of the struggling people of Gaza that is truly inspiring. Whether it has been a father holding his murdered daughter or a young boy in awe standing next to the rubble of his mosque, they are all repeating the same phrase “Hasbuna-llahu Wa Ni'mal Wakeel.” (God is sufficient for us and is the best to depend on) You can take their lives, but you will never break their faith in God that He, and only He will alleviate their suffering and give them justice. God is greater than the F-16s, God is greater than the Apache Helicopters. God is always on the side of the oppressed. You cannot and will not defeat a people like this.

"Israel's" Failure to Learn

2008-12-31T14:41:00.000-08:00

By Nir Rosen

When George Bush, the US president, first entered the White House as the commander-in-chief in 2001, Palestinians were being killed in the al-Aqsa intifada.

Eight years later, as Bush prepares to leave office, Israel is carrying out one of the largest massacres in its 60-year occupation of Palestine.

The US, then and now, strongly backs Israel's offensive, justifying it as being, in fact, defensive.

An Israeli general recently threatened to use military force to set Gaza back decades in much the same language used before the invasion of Lebanon in 2006.

But despite the Israeli devastation of Lebanon, Hezbollah emerged victorious and the Shia resistance and social movement emerged a hero to the Arab world.

Israel is about to make the same mistake with Hamas.

Its notion of a truce with Hamas was that the Palestinians would quietly accept the siege. Israel would deny them the basic means of survival, let alone the basic means to create a functioning society.

If the Palestinians attempted to resist, they would be crushed.

As in Lebanon, Israel should have learned years ago that military might cannot crush Palestinian resistance movements.

Complete Article

Gaza Massacres Must Spur Us To Action

2008-12-27T10:49:00.000-08:00

By Ali Abunimah from the Electronic Intifada

"I will play music and celebrate what the Israeli air force is doing." Those were the words, spoken on Al Jazeera today by Ofer Shmerling, an Israeli civil defense official in the Sderot area adjacent to Gaza, as images of Israel's latest massacres were broadcast around the world.

A short time earlier, US-supplied Israeli F-16 warplanes and Apache helicopters dropped over 100 bombs on dozens of locations in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip killing at least 195 persons and injuring hundreds more. Many of these locations were police stations located, like police stations the world over, in the middle of civilian areas. The US government was one of the first to offer its support for Israel's attacks, and others will follow.

Reports said that many of the dead were Palestinian police officers. Among those Israel labels "terrorists" were more than a dozen traffic police officers undergoing training. An as yet unknown number of civilians were killed and injured; Al Jazeera showed images of several dead children, and the Israeli attacks came at the time thousands of Palestinian children were in the streets on their way home from school.

Shmerling's joy has been echoed by Israelis and their supporters around the world; their violence is righteous violence. It is "self-defense" against "terrorists" and therefore justified. Israeli bombing -- like American and NATO bombing in Iraq and Afghanistan -- is bombing for freedom, peace and democracy.

The rationalization for Israel's massacres, already being faithfully transmitted by the English-language media, is that Israel is acting in "retaliation" for Palestinian rockets fired with increasing intensity ever since the six-month truce expired on 19 December (until today, no Israeli had been killed or injured by these recent rocket attacks).

But today's horrific attacks mark only a change in Israel's method of killing Palestinians recently. In recent months they died mostly silent deaths, the elderly and sick especially, deprived of food and necessary medicine by the two year-old Israeli blockade calculated and intended to cause suffering and deprivation to 1.5 million Palestinians, the vast majority refugees and children, caged into the Gaza Strip. In Gaza, Palestinians died silently, for want of basic medications: insulin, cancer treatment, products for dialysis prohibited from reaching them by Israel.

Complete Article

Profiting Off Occupation

2008-12-11T20:11:00.000-08:00

Free Gaza Movement Sailing Strong

2008-12-08T22:43:00.000-08:00

The free Gaza movement is about to set sail its FOURTH ship to the Gaza Strip and symbolically break the illegal siege that has caused so much suffering. More info about the fourth trip can be found here: Free Gaza Goes Fourth -- Setting Sail Again

The official spokesperson for the "Israeli" Prime Minister, Mark Regev, made the following comments about the Free Gaza Movement. .

"Free Gaza is a cool idea, but free them from what?" said Regev. "If they want to free Gaza they should take out women who fear for their lives, Christians and gays. We want to free Gaza from this terrible Taliban regime. This terrible Taliban regime is oppressing women, Christians and gays."

Here is their response:

Dear Mr. Regev,

Thank you for your recognition of our efforts to break Israel's inhumane and illegal siege of Gaza. We also think that "Free Gaza" is a very cool idea.

With respect, Israel's siege is directly preventing all the people of Gaza from accessing clean water, electricity, adequate food supplies, and freedom of movement to seek essential medical care, educational development, as well as from being able to freely visit with family and friends.

Israel's siege is indiscriminate, and unjustly affects everyone in Gaza -including, but not limited to, the women, Christians, and gays that you speak of. These denials all stem from your government's policy of collective punishment, in direct violation of international law and basic human dignity - both Israel's and that of the Palestinian people.

All of the people of Gaza have reason to fear for their lives due to the Israeli army's reckless use of force, bombing civilian areas, bulldozing homes, shelling civilian areas using flachette shells, and terrorising young and old with the frequent use of sonic booms which have resulted in the permanent deafening of children. The perpetual threat of a ground invasion and escalation of aerial bombardment is both an immediate and continuing threat, as well as an ongoing form of psychological torture.

The humiliation of those trying to exit Gaza for medical treatment, the visitation of loved ones and for the right to pursue education also creates the fear of never being able to develop, to learn, to survive, to live, and to love.

We will be leaving Cyprus this evening on our fourth voyage to Gaza, in order to symbolically break Israel's siege, in particular drawing attention to the generation of Palestinians denied the right of self and national realisation and advancement through education - a right not a privilege, for the youth of every country in the world. We also aim to draw attention to the humanitarian catastrophe the siege has caused, and inspire deeper and more sustained political action across the world to end the illegal and inhumane Israeli occupation.

Mr. Regev, we urge you and other members of your government to join us in this vital mission, see first hand the brutal affects of Israeli policies on the families of Gaza, and work with us to end Israel's siege of Gaza and the ongoing Occupation of Palestine. We appeal to your humanity and once again echo a point of evident agreement between us: Yes, Free Gaza is a cool idea - now let's put into practice.

Sincerely Yours,
Ewa Jasiewicz
Ramzi Kysia
Lubna Masarwa
Free Gaza Movement, Cyprus
http://www.FreeGaza.org

The Collective Punishment of Gaza Continues

2008-11-15T15:07:00.000-08:00

Urgent deliveries of fuel and food was turned away again at the borders.In addition the Israelis blocked the delivery of United Nations food aid intended for 750,000 Palestinian refugees. Also twenty European consuls whom had planned to visit Gaza were denied entry at the Erez border crossing. Aid workers were also turned away by the border to Gaza, and medical patients were prevented from leaving Gaza Strip for treatment.

"We cannot describe the situation in Gaza Strip except as a terrible and terrifying one.There are 750,000 refugees who depend on what we offer them in food supplies, and the Israelis are preventing us from distributing these supplies," - John Ging concluded: "the Israeli closure, collectively punishing civilians, is a violation of international law."

Complete Story

Palestinian Speech

2008-09-11T15:00:00.000-07:00

Not sure if this really occurred, but its funny nonetheless..

An ingenious example of speech and politics occurred recently in the United Nations Assembly and made the world community smile.

A representative from Palestine began:

'Before beginning my talk I want to tell you something about Moses.

When he struck the rock and it brought forth water, he thought,
'What a good opportunity to have a bath!'
He removed his clothes, put them aside on the rock and entered the water.
When he got out and wanted to dress, his clothes had vanished.
An Israeli had stolen them.'

The Israeli representative jumped up furiously and shouted,

'What are you talking about? The Israeli weren't there then.'

The Palestinian representative smiled and said

'And now that we have made that clear, I will begin my speech.'

You Know You are a Zionist Fascist When...

2008-09-10T17:02:00.001-07:00

The Myth of the Rubber Bullet

2008-09-09T10:58:00.000-07:00

More Israeli Brutality

2008-09-02T11:38:00.000-07:00

Here's just a glimpse of the type of people that are enforcing the illegal occupation of Palestine.

An Israeli court has convicted two border guards over the unlawful killing of a Palestinian teenager in the West Bank town of Hebron in 2002.

Imran Abu Hamdieh died after the two men, Shahar Botbeka and Denis Alhazov, pushed him from the back of a military vehicle travelling at 50mph (80km/h).

He suffered serious head injuries when members of the border police unit - celebrating the end of their posting in Hebron - made him jump from their jeep as it sped through the streets.

They grabbed several Palestinians off the street and drove them to remote locations to beat them.

As the jeep reached 70-80km an hour, the policemen managed to prise his grip loose, and pushed him out of the vehicle and it sped off.

The Israeli army was unable to provide figures, but the main Israeli human rights group said it had no record of a soldier or policeman being convicted for the killing of a Palestinian.

Complete Article

Free Gaza Boats Arrive in Gaza

2008-08-23T13:17:00.000-07:00

GAZA (23 August 2008) - Two small boats, the SS Free Gaza and the SS Liberty, successfully landed in Gaza early this evening, breaking the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The boats were crewed by a determined group of international human rights workers from the Free Gaza Movement. They had spent two years organizing the effort, raising money by giving small presentations at churches, mosques, synagogues, and in the homes of family, friends, and supporters.

They left Cyprus on Thursday morning, sailing over 350 kilometers through choppy seas. They made the journey despite threats that the Israeli government would use force to stop them. They continued sailing although they lost almost all communications and navigation systems due to outside jamming by some unknown party. They arrived in Gaza to the cheers and joyful tears of hundreds of Palestinians who came out to the beaches to welcome them.

Two small boats, 42 determined human rights workers, one simple message: “The world has not forgotten the people of this land. Today, we are all from Gaza.”

Tonight, the cheering will be heard as far away as Tel Aviv and Washington D.C.

QUOTES FOR PUBLICATION

“We recognize that we’re two, humble boats, but what we’ve accomplished is to show that average people from around the world can mobilize to create change. We do not have to stay silent in the face of injustice. Reaching Gaza today, there is such a sense of hope, and hope is what mobilizes people everywhere.”
--Huwaida Arraf.

Huwaida is Palestinian-American, and also a citizen of Israel. She’s a human rights activist and co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement. In 2007 she received her Juris Doctor from American University in Washington D.C. Currently she teaches Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at Al Quds University in Jerusalem. Huwaida sailed to Gaza aboard the SS Liberty.

“We’re the first ones in 41 years to enter Gaza freely - but we won’t be the last. We welcome the world to join us and see what we’re seeing.”
--Paul Larudee, Ph.D.

Paul is a cofounder of the Free Gaza Movement and a San Francisco Bay Area activist on the issue of justice in Palestine. He sailed to Gaza aboard the SS Liberty.

“What we’ve done shows that people can do what governments should have done. If people stand up against injustice, we can truly be the conscience of the world.”
--Jeff Halper, Ph.D.

Jeff is an Israeli professor of anthropology and coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), a non-violent Israeli peace and human rights organization that resists the Israeli occupation on the ground. In 2006, the American Friends Service Committee nominated Jeff to receive the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize with Palestinian intellectual and activist Ghassan Andoni. Jeff sailed to Gaza aboard the SS Free Gaza.

For More Information, please contact:

(Gaza) Huwaida Arraf, tel. +972 599 130 426

(Gaza) Jeff Halper, tel. +972 542 002 642

(Cyprus) Osama Qashoo, tel. +357 99 793 595 / osamaqashoo@gmail.com

(Jerusalem) Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, tel. +972 547 366 393 / angela@icahd.org

Biden: I am a Zionist

2008-08-23T13:09:00.001-07:00

Presidential candidate Barack Obama announced yesterday that his running mate will be Senator Joe Biden. Below is an excerpt from an interview that was done by Shalom TV with Biden.

When I was a young Senator, I used to say, "If I were a Jew I'd be a Zionist." I am a Zionist. You don't have to be a Jew to be a Zionist.

Click Here for Full Interview

The prospects of peace in the Middle East don't look promising when the possible VP of the US is an open Zionist.

Palestinian Protester Shot at Point Blank

2008-07-20T17:57:00.000-07:00

Apparently, this Palestinian protester was detained and hand bound. Then he was taken to the side of the army jeep and shot by a rubber-coated bullet at point blank range.

The footage stops after the shot because the 14-year old girl who was filming dropped the camera out of shock.

Another crime caught on camera thanks to the Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem. They have attempted to shed light on the Israeli abuses that are taking place by providing Palestinians with cameras.

This has shown to be very useful tactic as they have been successful in documenting some recent abuses.

Sailing to Gaza

2008-07-20T14:43:00.000-07:00

On August 5, 2008 a group of Internationals will attempt to set sail to Gaza with much needed humanitarian supplies and break the illegitimate siege. The group of 60 consists of Holocaust and Nakba survivors.

For more info, visit www.FreeGaza.org

"Legally, the group says there should be no problem passing each of these lines since Israel disengaged from the Gaza strip in 2005 and should no longer its control airspace and territorial waters.

The initiative hopes to draw attention to the continued de facto occupation of Gaza.

The trip organizers think one of four things will happen to the ship: it may be stopped as it crosses or approaches the barrier marking the international waters boundary, in which case the crew is prepared to stay on board for at least two weeks in protest of the illegal halt of passage. The second possibility envisioned by the organizers is that the ship will be allowed to pass into the area, and will be stopped in the territorial waters. In this eventuality the crew expects to be arrested, and the ship dragged to shore.

A third possibility is that the ship will be sunk by the navy.

The final option is that the ship actually makes it through to the Gaza port near Gaza City in the north of the Strip.

According to Holocaust survivor and crew member Hedy Epstein, in the event that they can get through to Gaza they will "open the port, fish with the fishermen, help in the clinics, and work in the schools."

What Epstein hopes to do on this journey is to "remind the world that we will not stand by and watch 1.5 million people suffer death by starvation and disease."

Full Article

'Jewish settler attack' on film

2008-06-12T15:03:00.000-07:00

Masked settlers beat Palestinians as they herd their sheep. The footage was taken by B'tselem. No arrests were made.

This is a daily experience for Palestinians, unfortunately the cameras arent always rolling.

Reminds me alot of the KKK attacks on African Americans in this country during the Civil Rights movement.

The Footage HERE

Gazan Students Denied Travel to US for Fullbright Scholarships

2008-05-30T14:15:00.000-07:00

Even an education is a threat to Israel's existence..

"I regret to inform you that the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State will not be able to finalise your Fulbright Student Scholarship for 2008."

With those words, in a brief letter from the United States Consulate in Jerusalem, the dreams of seven talented and ambitious young people from Gaza were dashed.

Read On

Tutu: Gaza Blockade Abomination

2008-05-29T13:36:00.000-07:00

Who knows apartheid like Desmond Tutu of South Africa?

"My message to the international community is that our silence and complicity, especially on the situation in Gaza, shames us all. It is almost like the behaviour of the military junta in Burma "

Complete Story

NOTE: Tutu has been trying to enter Gaza for a UN fact finding mission since 2006, but has been denied by Israel. A massacre took place in Beit Hanoun in November 2006 that killed 19 civilians, including five women and eight children.

Before Tutu's visit to Beit Hanoun, residents of the town were summoned to the townsqaure by Israeli forces and 60 were arrested. These most likely included witnesses of the massacre and could be an attempt to conceal the truth of the Beit Hanoun massacre.

Divestment Gaining Ground

2008-05-29T13:29:00.000-07:00

Haaretz: U.K. academic union moves to consider boycott of Israeli academia

Members of the University and College Union in England (UCU) passed a motion at their annual conference on Wednesday to consider severing ties with Israeli universities.

Tom Hickey, who teaches philosophy at the University of Brighton, says the motion highlighting the "humanitarian catastrophe imposed on Gaza by Israel" is just shy of a full boycott, The Telegraph said.

The UCU, the largest trade union and professional organization for academics and lecturers working throughout the United Kingdom, called on its colleagues to consider the moral and political implications of educational links with Israeli institutions, and to discuss the occupation with individuals and institutions concerned.

The motion noted "the continuation of illegal settlement, killing of civilians and the impossibility of civil life, including education" as a result of the occupation.

Complete Story

The Zionist response? Pretty predictable, when in doubt scream anti-semitism!

The Academic Friends of Israel condemned the UCU for passing a resolution "which is clearly discriminatory and anti-Semitic and, we believe, in clear violation of the U.K. Race Relations act."

New U: Up the ‘Wall’ with Palestine Awareness Week

2008-05-28T22:51:00.000-07:00

By Maisam Alomar

As I stood at the Muslim Student Union table on Ring Mall last week, I noticed a young boy standing with his mother at the mock apartheid wall. David was 5 years old, and he carried a stuffed animal in his hand. As I approached them, his mother said, “I am usually at work at this time, but I just wanted my son to see this. I know it’s too much for a young child, but I want him to know that not everyone comes home at night without worrying that their house might have been destroyed or that their family may have been killed.” This year’s Palestine Awareness Week, “Never Again? The Palestinian Holocaust,” was an opportunity to educate both young and old people about the urgent humanitarian crisis and historical injustice in Palestine.

The mock apartheid wall, situated on Ring Mall from May 12 through May 15, was perhaps the main attraction of the event. Curious passersby stopped to read about Palestine, often realizing that they should investigate the issue before trusting the biased, limited and often plainly inaccurate image of the situation presented by the mainstream media. The change of heart came easily to many people because aside from the fact that Israel’s genocidal activities should be cause for concern, they discovered where $10 million of our tax dollars go every day.

Hundreds of people from many different backgrounds came to hear the eight speakers at the event. The speakers all agreed that Palestinian suffering and subjection to injustice had to end, but offered a slightly varied set of solutions. They demonstrated that people working for freedom for the Palestinians should unite, no matter how they think this freedom should be attained. The MSU stressed that the source of a problem must always be examined before a solution can be found. Therefore, while the MSU acknowledged the deaths on both sides, it reminded its audience not to ignore the historical and political context of the situation. The problem began with the theft of Palestinian land and the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. This is why, as Rachel Corrie’s mother stated, there is no balance of power, and as Ilan Pappe stated, this is not merely a “conflict.”

Overall, the week succeeded in providing facts and historical background about the issue. However, it did not escape criticism. The most popular criticism of the MSU’s Palestine Awareness Week is that it is anti-Semitic, or more accurately, anti-Jewish. The MSU went the extra mile to clear up any misconceptions and to draw a distinction between the racist, genocidal Israeli apartheid and the Jewish faith. Four of the eight speakers were Jewish. In fact, a whole panel of the wall was dedicated to this distinction, acknowledging that the week’s events were not comprised of hate speech, but rather the truth about the injustices that Israel continues to perpetrate in the Holy Land.

In the very first lecture of the week, “What’s the Fuss? Is Criticism of Israel Anti-Semitic,” Norman Finklestein argued the same position to an audience of nearly 600 attendees. It is puzzling that people continue to insist that the Jewish faith would advocate Israel and its atrocities, but this insulting misrepresentation of Judaism is not supported by the MSU.

The two Muslim speakers also had unique criticism. It is interesting to note that while all eight speakers had a similar message, the Muslim speakers were accused of expressing “thinly-veiled hate speech” or being “radical.” However, the messages from the Jewish speakers were only labeled as “dramatizations.” The speakers were referred to as “misled” or “misinformed activists” with good intentions. Even more interesting is that Anna Baltzer had already predicted these criticisms. When Baltzer was asked how she handled criticism of her work, she said that she considered it “the light version of harassment.” She explained that people claimed she was just a naïve and misinformed young girl, whereas the hatred and criticisms that Muslims endure are much worse.

What about raising cultural awareness? The Palestinian people don’t have too much time to focus on that, as they’re too busy dying and being expelled from their homes. As David’s mother taught him, the world is not always a happy place. Besides, since Anteaters for Israel so thoughtfully took care of raising awareness about Arab culture by presenting the campus with Arabic food and Arabic music during this year’s iFest, MSU decided to focus on politics.

Why don’t we focus on what Muslims are doing around the world, instead? The MSU does not stand by the un-Islamic activities of self-proclaimed Muslim leaders, which is exactly what we ask of the Jewish people. Just as there is no Islamic country in the world today, Israel does not represent Jewish people. Although no oppressed people in the world today are as ignored or as directly affected by American foreign policy as the Palestinians, MSU also holds activities to help other oppressed people. For example, this year’s “Fashion Fighting Famine” event collected money to send to Darfur as humanitarian aid, and the “Fast-a-thon” was a fundraiser for all those hurt by the African Food Crisis.

Due to the awareness that the campus gained from this year’s Palestine Awareness Week, it is important to remember the wise words of Martin Luther King, Jr.: “True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.” Using this as a guideline, people around the world can start to come together to work for true peace in the Middle East, finally ending what is often considered a never-ending conflict.

Norman Finkelstein Arrested in Israel

2008-05-23T12:10:00.000-07:00

"And the American academic Norman Finkelstein has been arrested and ordered deported from Israel. Finkelstein arrived in Tel Aviv earlier today on his way to the Occupied Territories. He was immediately detained and told he is banned from Israel for ten years. He's expected to be deported tomorrow. Finkelstein is known as one of the most prominent academic critics of Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. He was detained by the Interior Ministry and Shin Bet.")

Click Here For More Info

Democracy Now Debate

2008-05-17T14:13:00.000-07:00

Help End "Israeli" Apartheid!

2008-05-11T20:50:00.000-07:00

The UC Divestment movement against the apartheid state of "Israel" is picking up momentum, be a part of it NOW!

To UCI Administration:

We, the undersigned, are appalled by the human rights abuses against Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli government, the continual military occupation and colonization of Palestinian territory by Israeli armed forces and settlers, the forcible eviction of Palestinians from their homes, and the demolition of Palestinian dwellings, neighborhoods and towns.

We categorically condemn the loss of any innocent life, Israeli or Palestinian. We therefore call on UC Irvine and the UC system (1) to use its influence--political and financial--to encourage the United States government to suspend its military aid and arms sales to Israel, and (2) to divest its $54 million in investments from Israel, from all companies that manufacture arms and other military hardware sold to Israel, and from companies that sell such arms and military hardware to Israel, until these conditions are met:

Israel is in compliance with United Nations Resolution 242 which notes the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war, and which calls for withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from occupied territories.
Israel is in compliance with the United Nations Committee Against Torture 2001 Report which recommends that Israel's use of legal torture be ended.
In compliance with the Fourth Geneva Convention ("The occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into territories it occupies"; Article 49, paragraph 6), Israel ceases building new settlements, and vacates existing settlements, in the Occupied Territories.
Israel acknowledges in principle the applicability of United Nations Resolution 194 with respect to the rights of refugees, and accepts that refugees should either be allowed to return to their former lands or else be compensated for their losses, as agreed by the Palestinians and Israelis in bilateral negotiations.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

http://www.petitiononline.com/UCI2008/petition.html

Official MSU Statement Regarding Palestine Week

2008-05-11T11:32:00.000-07:00

Every May, the Muslim Student Union, along with a coalition of other progressive student groups, puts on a week long series of events about the Palestinian-Israeli issue. This year our events spans over two week and began last Wednesday with a lecture by renowned political scientist Norman Finkelstein. The event, which addressed whether criticism of the state of Israel is anti-Semitic, drew close to six hundred students and community members, with a lively and humorous talk by the professor followed by an interactive question and answer session.

As the MSU, our goal in organizing these events is to promote a better understanding of the conflict, and to open doors for discussion and critical thinking. Furthermore, we hope that by empowering students with a better understanding of the conflict, students will become actively involved in promoting a just solution in the region. As such we invite students, faculty and the community at large to attend our programs with an open mind ready to listen, understand and question. As a campus community, we feel this is the best way to create dialogue around issues which are sometimes considered taboo.

A university serves as the free marketplace of ideas; in this spirit, we invite you all to attend our week on Palestine. May 14, 2008 marks 60 years since the beginning of the Palestinian tragedy, commonly referred to by Palestinians as the Nakba (Catastrophe). 60 years of dispossession, statelessness, and ethnic cleansing have created the largest group of refugees in the world; has left thousands of innocent men, women and children dead; and has shattered the livelihood of millions of people facing the scourge of the longest, most brutal occupation in modern history. This week, we will tell their story, we will mourn their suffering, and we will honor their resistance. This week, we will stand with them.

Our title asks whether another holocaust is on the horizon for the natives of Palestine, as the Israeli deputy of defense threatens. Attend our events to hear our perspective, independent of media bias and negative stereotypes that you may have seen. Furthermore, we invite you to question what you hear, do your own research and formulate an opinion on the issue. The truth speaks for itself.

The real issue about the crisis of Palestine should not get lost in campus politics. We owe it to the people suffering in that region to educate ourselves; especially since our own government helps support many of the policies in place in Palestine. To that end, we have flown in world-renowned Israeli historian Ilan Pappe from the United Kingdom to speak about the history of the region on the anniversary of the Nakba. As an Israeli, he will provide a balanced perspective that sheds light on both sides of the issue.

Cindy and Craig Corrie lost a daughter to the conflict; as Americans who know all to well the costs of the occupation, they will discuss on Tuesday evening why it is important for us to understand the experience of Palestinians and advocate a just solution as their daughter did, before she was brutally murdered by an Israeli soldier. Rachael stood in front of a Palestinian home and tried to stop it from being illegally demolished through non-violent action. Her death stands as a witness to the brutal injustice practiced by Israeli Armed Forces.

Anna Baltzer is a Jewish American Columbia graduate, Fulbright scholar, and the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. She is a three-time volunteer with the International Women's Peace Service, where she documented human rights abuses in the West Bank and supported the nonviolent movement against the Occupation. Her acclaimed presentation, Life in Occupied Palestine: Eyewitness Stories & Photos, will be presented on Wednesday afternoon.

For more information on the entire week of events, please visit www.msu-uci.com. As a concluding thought, a clarification should be made: Judaism is a religion that is respected and upheld within the Muslim faith, as Moses is a distinguished prophet in the Holy Qur'an. For centuries, Muslims and Jews have lived together in peace and still do live together in peace, even at UC Irvine. Zionism, however, is a political movement that has twisted biblical and historical truths to justify the illegal occupation of Palestine. It is a philosophy that has bred violence over the past 60 years; it has also created inequality and prejudice against innocent Palestinians to make them live as strangers in their own homeland. We draw a clear distinction between the world faith that is Judaism, and the political ideology that is Zionism.

We hope to see you all this week!

Moron Humiliated by Finkelstein @ UCI

2008-05-10T10:42:00.001-07:00

The Collective Punishment of Gaza

2008-05-01T20:33:00.000-07:00

Never Again? The Palestinian Holocaust

2008-04-22T15:41:00.001-07:00

May 14, 2008 marks 60 years since the beginning of the Palestinian tragedy, commonly referred to by Palestinians as the Nakba (Catastrophe). 60 years of dispossession, statelessness, and ethnic cleansing have created the largest group of refugees in the world; has left thousands of innocent men, women and children dead; and has shattered the livelihood of millions of people facing the scourge of the longest, most brutal occupation in modern history. This week, we will tell their story, we will mourn their suffering, and we will honor their resistance. This week, we will stand with them.

Another Massacre in Gaza

2008-04-16T15:40:00.000-07:00

Children and a cameraman amongst those murdered..

In Their Own Words

2008-04-13T22:35:00.000-07:00

"All of the Palestinians must be killed; men, women, infants, and even their beasts."

This was the religious opinion issued one week ago by Rabbi Yisrael Rosen, director of the Tsomet Institute, a long-established religious institute attended by students and soldiers in the Israeli settlements of the West Bank.

Complete Article

Inherent Racism

2008-04-04T23:39:00.000-07:00

Former Sephardi chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu:

"Even when we seek revenge, it is important to make one thing clear – the life of one yeshiva boy is worth more than the lives of 1,000 Arabs."

Link to Story

A letter from a mother in Gaza to a mother in Sderot

2008-03-25T19:08:00.000-07:00

Dear Rima Haimov,

When I read your words the only thing I can say is that I feel sorry for your son, and that I can understand you as a mother and the traumatic events that your child is experiencing. I cannot deny the fact that life becomes very difficult in such circumstances when you realize that you and your family are in danger at any moment; I fully understand your worries, your feelings and concerns. I am addressing this letter to you with the hope that you will understand my pain too.

Like I feel sorry for your son, I feel sorry for my Palestinian children who are born and will die in Gaza, unable to have the chance of seeing other worlds, and who have to face F-16s, Apache helicopters and the Israeli army's brutal invasions into Gaza. However, my children are not fortunate enough to have the excellent medical care that your son has. My children do not have the chance to run to a shelter and there is no alarm to tell them that there is a strike coming. My children cannot be guaranteed the love and care that your son found because all of their family might be killed in one strike, they might witness the death of their parents, or any of their dear family members as the Palestinians are targeted everywhere, even in their homes and among their children.

My children cannot find the counseling that your child will have to help him deal with his appalling experience. They have to keep their pain inside them, and recall it day after day. Even in their dreams they suffer from remembering the things they have witnessed.

My children are not children anymore; they lost their innocence and are forced to act like adults so they can protect themselves. They no longer cry to their parents because they realize that even adults are scared and also need comfort and security. Instead they swallow their pain and deal with it on their own.

When your child is sick or injured he has the chance to go to the best hospitals to receive treatment while my children have to live with their pain and injuries because they cannot go to a good hospital like you have in Israel. In Gaza, they can only wait for the pain to pass or count the days waiting for the end. They have learned how to face death fearlessly, because they hope to find justice and a better life in heaven.

While your child enjoys his new schoolbooks, my children have to use old, disreputable books because the borders are closed and even schoolbooks cannot be brought in.

My children have to face the extreme temperatures because of the electricity cuts. They cannot enjoy sitting in front of the electric heater in winter or the fan in summer. While you as a mother can plan for your child's future, I cannot because my child is locked in a prison called Gaza, and he cannot dream of having the chance to receive a better education and work outside of Gaza.

While you as a mother can give your child all the promises of a better life, I can not give my child these guarantees, simply because we are both eligible to die in any moment by an Israeli strike, without any plans, dreams, nothing.

After all of this do you think that my children deserve their pain only because they are born to Palestinian parents? Do you think it is fair that they are treated in this way? Is it fair to be subjected to the sanctions that your government has imposed on us? I hope you can understand my pain too.

Sincerely,
Najwa Sheikh

Najwa Sheikh is a Palestinian refugee from al-Majdal located just north of the Gaza Strip. Shiekh has lived in refugee camps in Gaza her entire life where she is married and has three children.

Dr. Sami Al-Arian Hunger Strike

2008-03-15T00:40:00.000-07:00

Former University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian stopped taking food or water last week to protest a third attempt by prosecutors to compel his testimony. Dr. Al-Arian was transferred Tuesday morning, on the 9th day of his hunger strike, to a federal medical facility in Butner, North Carolina run by the Bureau of Prisons.

Since beginning his no water or food hunger strike on March 3, Dr. Al-Arian has lost 23 pounds and grown weaker. He has not yet been given an IV. A doctor who examined him on Monday said he is suffering from starvation and dehydration.

Dr. Al-Arian was acquitted by a jury of the major charges brought against him by the U.S. Government. Despite reaching a plea agreement, the Government has refused to release Dr. Al-Arian.

Given that Dr. Al-Arian has been on a hunger strike since March 3,
2008 we urgently ask all conscientious and justice-seeking individuals to call, email or write officials to ask for an immediate end to Dr. Al-Arian's suffering and to responsibly care for his deteriorating health.

To learn more read "The Torture of Sami Al-Arian" or click here.

Take Action:

Contact Prison Today

03.14.2008 | Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace

Even after being transferred to a federal medical facility, Dr. Sami Al- Arian still has not received water or been offered an IV. A doctor who examined him Monday said he is suffering from hydration and starvation.

TAKE ACTION TODAY (URGENT)

Please call the Butner Medical Center today and inquire about Dr. Al- Arian's health.

Ask why they haven't taken any steps to give him an IV to make sure he survives. Their number is (919) 575-3900.

House Judiciary Chair:
The Honorable John Conyers, Jr
2426 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5126
(202) 225-0072 Fax
john.conyers@mail.house.gov

Senator Patrick Leahy
433 Russell Senate Office Building
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
(299029)224-4242
senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov

Honorable Judge Gerald Lee
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
401 Courthouse Square, Alexandria, VA 22314
Fax: (703) 299-3339

Attorney General Michael Mukasey
Department of Justice
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Fax Number: (202) 307-6777

Complain about the Prosecutorial Misconduct and Grand Jury Abuse in Dr. Al-Arian's Case:
U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Professional Responsibility
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530
BY E-MAIL:
E-mails to the Department of Justice, including the Attorney General, may be sent to AskDOJ@usdoj.gov

Gaza Protest in LA

2008-03-10T23:32:00.001-07:00

This past Saturday, hundreds of students across Southern California took a stand and told the nation that the Gaza atrocities that took place last week will not go silently ignored. The demonstration was held outside of the Apartheid “Israeli” Consulate in Los Angeles and was organized by the Muslim Students of Southern California.

A handful of pro-Zionist supporters organized a counter-demonstration across from the consulate, but we did not waste any time with them. Rather, we turned our backs to them and focused our chants and signs towards the consulate.

Some pictures below..

Gaza situation 'worst since 1967'

2008-03-05T18:57:00.000-08:00

Gaza's humanitarian situation is the worst since 1967 when Israel occupied it, says a coalition of UK-based human rights and development groups.

They include Amnesty International, Save the Children, Cafod, Care International and Christian Aid.

They criticise Israel's blockade on Gaza as illegal collective punishment which fails to deliver security.

Israel says its military action and other measures are lawful and needed to stop rocket attacks from Gaza.

The groups' report, Gaza Strip: A Humanitarian Implosion, says the blockade has dramatically worsened levels of poverty and unemployment, and has led to deterioration in education and health services.

Complete Article

Revealed: the US plan to start a Palestinian civil war

2008-03-04T17:49:00.000-08:00

not surprising..

Dahlan goes on the record about these events for the first time, saying that despite pleas from Fatah that they were unprepared for elections, Bush pushed ahead. "Everyone was against the elections," Dahlan is quoted as saying. "Everyone except Bush. Bush decided, "I need an election. I want elections in the Palestinian Authority."

Following Hamas's victory, "everyone blamed everyone else," the report quotes an official with the Department of Defense as saying. "We sat there in the Pentagon and said, "Who the f*** recommended this?"

Vanity Fair

Electronic Intifada

Jerusalem Post

Protest This Friday at "Israeli" Consulate in LA

2008-03-04T00:00:00.000-08:00

"Israeli" Massacres in Gaza

2008-03-03T13:47:00.000-08:00

B'Tselem: More than 50% of Gaza casualties weren't militants

2008-03-03T13:42:00.000-08:00

With the sophistication of the apartheid state's military arsenal, there is no excuse for this. Civilians are being targeted.

The human rights organization B'Tselem on Monday said in a statement that more than half of the Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip in Israel Defense Forces operations in recent days did not take an active part in the fighting. This statement came after the IDF Chief of Staff issued a statement saying that 90 percent of those killed were in fact armed militants.

In their statement, B'Tselem outlined a string of incidents in which IDF allegedly killed innocent bystanders in the course of military operations aimed at battling the escalating rocket fire from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel.

According to data gathered by B'Tselem, 106 Palestinians were killed between February 27 and march 3. Fifty four of them were civilians who didn't take part in the fighting, and 25 were under 18, the statement said.

The human rights group cites as an example an incident that occurred on Thursday, in which four children were killed and two others were wounded in an Israel Air Force strike targeting rocket launchers. The children had been playing soccer in a street east of the Jabaliya refugee camp. The organization's inquiry into the incident revealed that the Qassam launcher may have been situated 100 meters from the site of the strike, and no militants were harmed in the strike.

Another incident cited by B'Tselem is the death of a brother and sister aged 16 and 17 while they were watching the violence from the window of their home east of Jabaliya. According to witnesses, the two were shot in the head and the chest.

"Israeli" Terror Continues in Gaza

2008-03-01T11:17:00.000-08:00

Israeli Airstrike in Gaza Destroys Medical Relief Head Office, Kills Baby

Abbas: Gaza attacks 'a holocaust'

Israeli-Palestinian clashes kill 46

Dozens die in Israel-Gaza clashes

Reuters: Palestinians mourn next to the bodies of four boys after they were killed on Thursday by Israeli forces, in Gaza February 29, 2008. Israeli forces killed the four Palestinian boys while they were playing football.

Not Worthy for Headline News

2008-02-29T00:36:00.000-08:00

UN expert: Palestinian "terror" inevitable result of occupation

2008-02-26T13:21:00.000-08:00

interesting read from Haaretz..

A report commissioned by the United Nations suggests that Palestinian terrorism is the inevitable consequence of Israeli occupation and laws that resemble South African apartheid - a claim Israel rejected Tuesday as enflaming hatred between Jews and Palestinians.

The report by John Dugard, independent investigator on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the UN Human Rights Council, will be presented next month, but it has been posted on the body's Web site.

In it, Dugard, a South African lawyer who campaigned against apartheid in the 1980s, says "common sense ... dictates that a distinction must be drawn between acts of mindless terror, such as acts committed by Al-Qaida, and acts committed in the course of a war of national liberation against colonialism, apartheid or military occupation."

"While Palestinian terrorist acts are to be deplored, they must be understood as being a painful but inevitable consequence of colonialism, apartheid or occupation," writes Dugard, whose 25-page report accuses the Israel of acts and policies consistent with all three.

He cited checkpoints and roadblocks restricting Palestinian movement to house demolitions and what he terms the Judaization of Jerusalem.

"As long as there is occupation, there will be terrorism," he argues.

"Acts of terror against military occupation must be seen in historical context," Dugard says. "This is why every effort should be made to bring the occupation to a speedy end. Until this is done, peace cannot be expected, and violence will continue."

Israel's UN ambassador in Geneva slammed Dugard's analysis.

"The common link between Al-Qaida and the Palestinian terrorists is that both intentionally target civilians with the mere purpose to kill," Itzhak Levanon said. "The fact that Professor Dugard is ignoring this essential fact, demonstrates his inability to use objectivity in his assessment."

"Professor Dugard will better serve the cause of peace by ceasing to enflame the hatred between Israelis and Palestinians, who have embarked on serious talks to solve this contentious situation."

Dugard was appointed in 2001 as an unpaid expert by the now-defunct UN Human Rights Commission to investigate only violations by the Israeli side, prompting Israel and the U.S. to dismiss his reports as one-sided. Israel refused to allow him to conduct a UN-mandated fact-finding mission on its Gaza offensive in 2006.

The report will be presented next month at the 47-nation rights council's first regular session of the year. The new body has been widely criticized - even by its founder, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan - for spending most of its time criticizing one government, Israel's, over alleged abuses.

Link to Article

Major Gaza Demonstration Planned

2008-02-24T22:26:00.001-08:00

Tomorrow, tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza will make a courageous stand and tell the international community that they have had enough of this illegal siege of Gaza. Thousands of men, women, and children will form a "human chain" across the entire Gaza Strip in protest of the current policies of the apartheid state against the improverished strip.

Articles on the demonstration:
BBC News
Aljazeera English

Gush Shalom Warning:

“When Qassam missiles are shot, the Government of Israel is quick to accuse the Palestinians of violent terrorism. But now, also the possibility of mass non-violent protest is presented as a threat justifying the brute force. There have been many cases when the army faced rampaging settlers, who resorted to the worst of violent behaviour – and not a single drop of blood was ever shed. The light finger on the trigger is reserved only for Arab demonstrators – but tomorrow, the whole world will be minutely watching the behaviour of the State of Israel and its armed forces. Your acts tomorrow might cause many to feel ashamed of being Israeli, and lose Israel a large part of the few international friends it still has”.

New U- Prison Break: Gaza Wall vs. National Will

2008-02-11T22:10:00.000-08:00

By Ilgiz Khisamov

The news that the Palestinians broke the wall between Gaza and Egypt should be considered one of the largest prison breakouts in world history. For the first time in their lives, 750,000 Palestinian inmates could venture outside the Gaza strip, which is like the largest open-air prison in the world. This event demonstrates the resilience of human beings who are brutally denied their basic rights and forced to survive in a hostile environment. Although the Israeli government tried everything to extinguish the resistance of the outnumbered and outgunned Palestinians, it has utterly failed. Oppressors can only offer methods that, at their best, are simply inhumane.

Recently, the Israeli government imposed a total blockade on Gaza, cutting off the supply of essential foodstuffs, fuel and desperately needed medical supplies. The best minds in Israel schemed so that the inmates would revolt against their government, Hamas, and beg the Israelis to give them reprieve. As an additional incentive, Israel launched scores of missiles and air raids, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians.

If such conditions were imposed on any other nation in the world, such as the United States, Serbia or China, their populace would probably break down and sue for peace. Not that Americans are cowards, or that Palestinians are different from the rest of us. Instead, their resilience comes from the fact that for three generations, they have had to live and fight one of the most oppressive regimes in the modern world. They continue to survive violence which, if revealed in all its ugly reality, would spur citizens to demand their governments to intervene and stop this genocidal oppression.

Yet this does not happen, for the true image of suffering is not shown in American media. Rather, Israel is given carte blanche by the U.S. government to deal with the Palestinians however they choose. Thankfully, Palestinians learned long ago that they cannot count on world powers to alleviate their suffering. They have learned to rely only on themselves.

Thus, when Israel blockaded the tiny strip of land called Gaza in hopes of crippling its will, Palestinians found a powerful yet simple answer. Just like the Berliners, who stormed and toppled their wall in 1989, the Palestinians leveled this symbol of oppression and division in one exuberant stroke of national will. Though Palestinians were able to taste the sweet air of freedom, they still remain in prison and are still encircled by walls of indifference and neglect.

Once again, these imprisoned, impoverished and oppressed people have proven their resilience in retaining their human dignity. They showed Israel that its military cannot extinguish their quest for freedom. The oppressive state of Israel should recognize that it is impossible to impose its will by sheer force, and that it needs to recognize Hamas as a legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. Only then will it be possible to start productive peace talks to resolve this bitter conflict. However, if we are to judge from past Israeli actions, the future does not look bright.

Google removed Aboutrika’s “Sympathize with Gaza” Images

2008-02-10T12:23:00.000-08:00

The apartheid state's collective punishment of Gaza has drawn worldwide condemnation and many have urged the international community to at least show its sympathy for the suffering people of Gaza.

In an attempt to shed light on the oppression of Gaza, Egyptian soccer player Mohamed Aboutrika wore a tee shirt reading “sympathize with Gaza” in Arabic and English during a match of the African Cup of Nations.

Aboutrika flashed the shirt after he scored his first goal in view of cameras and millions of spectators throughout the world which prompted the referee to slap him with yellow warning card for violating the FIFA rules which prohibit religious and political slogans during the games, although this phrase is more humanitarian than political.

His act was praised worldwide and images of him flashing the shirt traveled all over the globe.

Recently however, Google caved in to Zionist demands and removed all images of Aboutrika's expression off the internet.

It seems that nowadays, we are not even supposed to express our sympathy or concern for the inhumane acts against the Palestinians. Are we supposed to simply ignore the atrocities?

How sad of a time it is, when we are even prohibited for expressing our grieve for the suffering peoples of the world? How is it wrong for us, for even at the least, to express our sympathy?

How has "Symapthize with Gaza" even become a political slogan?

Finkelstein Interview: Tear Down the Walls

2008-02-09T22:42:00.000-08:00

Norman Finkelstein is one of Israel's fiercest academic critics and a vocal supporter of the Palestinians.

Excerpts from interview with Al Jazeera:

So where does that leave the Palestinians?

The suggestion has to be, as I said earlier, God helps those who help themselves. The Palestinians have to find a way to act on their own, and I think what happened in late January [the destruction of part of the wall separating Gaza from Egypt] is a good sign.

That is exactly what they should be doing in the West Bank. One million Palestinians armed with picks and hammers should go to that wall and say "The International Court of Justice (ICJ) said this wall has to be dismantled. We are implementing the ICJ decision. We are knocking down the wall."

Does that mean you encourage violence?

What happened in Gaza last month was not violence. I advocate what international law allows - that people under occupation can resist occupation using means which are legal under that law. This includes violence so long as you are targeting combatants and not civilians.

George Bush, the US president, has called Iran and North Korea "rogue states". Do you consider Israel a "rogue state"?

It is more than a rogue state. It is a lunatic state. The only country in the world where the population overwhelmingly supports an attack on Iran is Israel - 78 per cent want to attack Iran. The state has gone berserk. The whole world is yearning for peace, and Israel is constantly yearning for war.

You have been called an extremist, a neo-Nazi, an anti-Semite and a Holocaust denier.

What I have to say is not particularly radical. I have said pretty much what the whole international community has said for the past 30 years. When people actually hear what I say, it's not particularly extreme.

What about the claim that you testified as an expert witness for Hamas in a 2006 US court trial?

In Chicago, there was a person who was indicted on some lunatic terrorism charge and I was called in as an expert witness on what Hamas' record was in Gaza. That's all I was called in for. I would certainly support them of course, what's wrong with Hamas? They're the elected government of Palestine. Who cares what they are considered, the people elected them.

Are you deliberately trying to provoke a reaction with your views?

No, I have no desire to provoke, I want to win this cause [for Palestine]. I think we can really win it; that's one of the reasons I'm on this tour.

I think public opinion about Israel is now in freefall. I think it is going to be even worse now because nobody is going to defend Israel when the Palestinians blow up the wall.

Complete Interview

Obama to UN: Allow "Israel" to Continue its Terror of Gaza

2008-02-09T19:57:00.000-08:00

While the international community was engaged in protests and condemnation of the apartheid state's illegal siege of Gaza, presidential candidate Barack Obama sent a letter to the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in support of the Israeli government, despite numerous international condemnations of its human rights violations.

Below is the letter..

Dear Ambassador Khalilzad,

I understand that today the U.N. Security Council met regarding the situation in Gaza, and that a resolution or statement could be forthcoming from the Council in short order.

I urge you to ensure that the Security Council issue no statement and pass no resolution on this matter that does not fully condemn the rocket assault Hamas has been conducting on civilians in Southern Israel for over two years.

All of us are concerned about the impact of closed border crossings on Palestinian families. However, we have to understand why Israel is forced to do this. Gaza is governed by Hamas, which is a terrorist organization sworn to Israel's destruction, and Israeli civilians are being bombarded by rockets on an almost daily basis. That is unacceptable and Israel has a right to respond while seeking to minimize any impact on civilians.

The Security Council should clearly and unequivocally condemn the rocket attacks against Israel, and should make clear that Israel has the right to defend itself against such actions. If it cannot bring itself to make these common sense points, I urge you to ensure that it does not speak at all.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama
United States Senator

Actual Letter

700-year old Mosque to be Demolished

2008-02-08T22:55:00.000-08:00

Collective Punishment

2008-01-21T18:35:00.000-08:00

More Murder in Gaza

2008-01-16T12:23:00.000-08:00

Fresh Gaza air strike kills three

Israeli Strike Kills Gaza Civilians

Peace Process?

2008-01-15T14:40:00.000-08:00

Massacre after massacre, a great way to establish peace..

Checkpoints Not a Joke, Mr. President

2008-01-13T01:33:00.000-08:00

Palestinian Women Forced to Give Birth at Home

2007-12-27T15:01:00.000-08:00

Pregnant Palestinian women in Azzun Atma, a village near Qalqiliya encircled by the security fence, prefer to take up residence outside of the town in the later stages of their pregnancy for fear that they will be prevented from crossing the fence to get to the local hospital when they go into labor.

The IDF checkpoint which separates the village from the rest of the West Bank is not manned during the night and thus women who go into labor are unable to reach the local hospital.

In the last year, some 20 out of the 33 pregnant women from the village relocated to outside of Azzun towards the end of their third trimesters.

Hanan Yakoub, one of the few women who took the chance of staying in the village in her ninth month asked: "How am I, at 40 years of age, expected to give birth in a car? Where is your mercy? At my age it isn't easy to give birth, and certainly not in a car."

Complete Article

Gaza's Christian Minority

2007-12-23T03:58:00.001-08:00

Father Manawel Musallam and Ismail Haniyeh

As Christmas approaches, I thought it would be good to look at the plight of the Christians in Gaza after the Hamas takeover.

There was much talk that the Christians in Gaza were being harassed and persecuted. Indeed, after the takeover, there were isolated incidents of hate crimes against Christians in Gaza, but there are extremists in every society.

The Gazan Christians enjoy the same rights as the Gazan Muslims. The relationship between Christians and Muslims is one of mutual respect. The long history of peaceful coexistence is cherished and embodied everyday in Gaza.

Israeli oppression does not discriminate against the Palestinian Muslim or Christian. All Palestinians suffer from the occupation and all Palestinians resist the occupation.

Gazan Priest, Father Manawel Musallam :

"Of course, I am a Christian believer, but politically I am a Palestinian Muslim. I resist Israel's military occupation, obviously not with weapons. The Jihad can never be mine but with my words, my sermons, I am a Palestinian priest."

Christians in Gaza have lived side by side with Muslims for many generations and they will continue to do so for many more to come.

"We are all one people who suffer together for the sake of freedom, independence and restoration of our inalienable citizenship rights," Hanyieh stated publicly. "We are waging a single struggle and refuse to allow any party to tamper with or manipulate this historical relationship, [between Muslims and Christians]."

Christmas under Hamas rule

Christians And Muslims Coexist In Gaza

Life in Gaza

2007-12-18T22:14:00.000-08:00

If someone could please point out the armed militants that are the supposed targets of this missile?

Yahoo Pics

Reality of Occupation

2007-12-18T21:55:00.000-08:00

A typical day at a checkpoint in the West Bank city of Bethlehem

EU, US Criticise "Israel" Settler Plan

2007-12-11T00:09:00.000-08:00

After the "negotiations for peace" at Annapolis, the apartheid state revealed a new settler plan which would build 300 new ILLEGAL homes in occupied Jerusalem.

The agreements at Annapolis state that both parties should work towards abiding by the Road Map to Peace drafted by the US. The road map clearly states that the apartheid state should SEIZE all illegal settlement activity.

The EU and US made rare criticisms of this plan, but they will fall on deaf ears.

Obviously, the apartheid state doesn't want peace.

Complete Story

Note: The settlements are illegal under international law.

Ahmed Yousuf: Open Letter to Condoleezza Rice

2007-12-08T09:48:00.001-08:00

Dr Ahmad Yousuf is a Senior Political Advisor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Gaza; he is the top advisor to deposed Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Hanyieh.

The Honourable Secretary of State
Ms. Condoleezza Rice
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520

Dear Secretary Rice,

I am writing to you in light of the conference in Annapolis to fulfill our obligations to the Palestinian voters who have overwhelmingly legitimized our governance. Your administration cannot want peace more than the Palestinian people want and need peace. However, peace initiatives and conferences are ineffectual if the basic ingredients for success are not present. Meaningful steps toward a resolution cannot take place while the legitimacy of the elected government in Palestine continues to be ignored by your administration. Not only is the policy to isolate Hamas unethical it is ineffectual as well. Your administration ignores the realities on the ground. The Change and Reform Party, the name of the new political party we formed for the Palestinian elections, won an overwhelming majority in the occupied territories. To pretend otherwise is not only futile but detrimental to US interests in the region for many years to come and likely to add to the anti-American sentiment throughout the Middle East and the Muslim world. You cannot preach about exporting democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan and ignore the democratic process in Palestine.

Many people make the mistake of presuming that we have some ideological aversion to making peace. Quite the opposite; we have consistently offered dialogue with the U.S. and the E.U. to try and resolve the very issues that you are trying to deal with in Annapolis. Our conflict with the Israelis is a grievance-based conflict. We want to end the occupation of our land and the systematic human rights abuses that our people suffer from daily. We do not have any ideological problems with living side by side with Christians and Jews. When we have not been occupied we have successfully done this for thousands of years. However, they can not live in peace and security in a land that was usurped. Indeed if you asked a Jewish person where they would have been safest to live over the last two millennia, with Arabs or Europeans, the answer would be obvious. Nor do we have any ideological arguments with the West. We are not anti-American, anti-European or anti-anyone. The root of the problem which neither Israel nor the US is willing to acknowledge, let alone address, is the dispossession of the Palestinian people upon the creation in their homeland of Israel in 1948.

It would come as no surprise to us if this letter were to be met with dismissal, in keeping with this administration's policy of not dealing with "terrorists", despite the fact that we entered the democratic process and held a unilateral ceasefire of our own for over two years. But how do you think the Arab and Muslim worlds react to this American hypocrisy? Even our growing ranks of western supporters complain about U.S. narrow-mindedness and the bullying of its allies to tow the American line. The State of Department should be looking for new solutions instead of reinforcing old stereotypes. On a personal note we found it amusing that a black person empathizes with Israeli deaths on the one hand and Palestinian segregation on the other if media reports are accurate. It is a military occupation Ms. Rice. Their citizens face insecurity and death because that is the situation they have created for themselves. We do not beg you to recognize us. Our party is the legitimately elected party in the occupied territories. You owe it to your sense of fairness to engage meaningfully with all relevant parties to the conflict.

The conference is faulty in its inception. It was conceived in a vacuum and hastily announced for political expediency. In addition, it ignores the inherent weaknesses of the negotiating parties involved. Furthermore, despite your efforts the conference has not secured the key Arab support you were hoping for. Arab leaders are leery of committing to an American initiative that exhibits no fundamental change from the past. Annapolis' failure will have negative consequences for those Arab states that supported it further destabilizing the region.

Our skepticism is based on experience. You know that despite every call for restraint by the U.S. over the last twenty years the Israelis have continued to expand and develop their vast network of towns and roads on Palestinian land. While you sat and talked in Annapolis the sound of cranes and bulldozers were echoing across the West Bank as those networks continue to grow. It is therefore hard to imagine an Israeli government bent on a peaceful withdrawal from our land. We can only presume that they are paying lip-service to your request to participate, seeing it as a delaying tactic to talk about peace with no real intention to deliver.

Meanwhile the entire Palestinian people are being punished for having the temerity to hold a free and fair election and choosing us as their government. It is hard to get across the appalling level of privation that the Palestinian people and in particular the 1.3 million Palestinians who live in Gaza currently suffer from. Our isolation is complete, confining us in a ghetto (worse than the Jewish ghettos of Warsaw ) where our sewage, power and water systems have been destroyed, all normal supplies constrained and even humanitarian aid withheld. Many people have not been paid for nearly two years, over 75% are unemployed and now the Israelis are threatening to cut off fuel and power supplies and to invade us once again.

You have made it a precondition to any engagement with us that we accept certain conditions. Yet you don't apply the same preconditions to the Israelis. You don't require of them recognition of Palestinian rights or a renunciation of the terrible violence that they daily invoke on us. Nor do you require that they comply with previous agreements or the settlement building would long since have stopped.

Your predecessor General Collin Powell stated that the U.S. has to find a way to engage with Hamas because it won the Palestinian elections and it continues to enjoy support among a large portion of the Palestinian people. He did not make that statement because he is less of an American or less committed to the service of America. He simply practiced at home what you are preaching about democracy abroad.

If you were even-handed in this conflict, if you engaged with us openly then the chances of peace would dramatically increase. As it is, you are setting yourself up for failure and with that failure will come more pain and anguish for the Palestinian people, a further colonization of our lands and a blank space in history for the Bush administration' s role in making peace in the Middle East.

In the meantime, the people will hold steadfast to their rights and national constants. The internationally sanctioned resistance will not be quashed until the occupier packs its bags and leaves. And the aspiration of a free and independent Palestinian state is realized.

We Will Never Be Silenced

2007-12-05T18:32:00.000-08:00

We will never submit
We will never leave
We will never be silenced
We will never forget

Pipes Back at UCI with Hate

2007-12-02T16:20:00.000-08:00

Daniel Pipes, a leading Islamophobe, visited the UC Intifada for a second time.

Below is an excerpt of the question and answer session from his lecture, where the Muslim Student Union's Spokeswoman Mariam Moustafa challenged his hateful message:

Mariam: What if Muslims do not accept your modernized versions of Islam?

Pipes: The war goes on.

Mariam: For how long?

Pipes: Until they do. We are fighting a defensive war…Which is worse, being attacked by terrorists, or being afraid of being perceived as a terrorist?

Mariam: So because I’m a Muslim, people should be afraid of me?

Pipes: I’m afraid so. [Applause]

Read on at: Muslamics

Al-Awda Statement On Annapolis Conference

2007-11-26T19:21:00.000-08:00

November 26, 2007

With the upcoming US-sponsored international conference in Annapolis MD, Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, reiterates once again that a just and lasting peace can only be achieved with the return of all Palestinians to their original homes, towns, and villages, with full restitution of all of their confiscated and destroyed property, and compensation. The Palestinian Arab people, regardless of their religious affiliation, are indigenous to Palestine. Therefore, they are entitled to live anywhere in their homeland Palestine which encompasses present-day "Israel", the West Bank and Gaza Strip. No agreement, negotiations or parties which purport to trade away these rights or any other inalienable rights can have any legal basis and cannot bind or compel the Palestinian people to end the struggle for the fulfillment of all of their rights.

The definition of Israel as a "Jewish state", granting exclusive rights to citizenship and land to any Jew from anywhere in the world, while denying the indigenous inhabitants of Palestine their fundamental rights, is part and parcel of the racism inherent in the colonialist Zionist ideology which underlies the policies and laws of the settler state of "Israel". Any sacrifice of any part of our land and culture will represent a blow to the entire Arab peoples and the lands of West Asia and Africa.

The US government subsidizes Israel's injustices with billions of dollars annually. Any Palestinian and other Arab participating in accommodation with the Zionist and US regimes in order to promote normalization and put an end to the Palestinian liberation struggle, stand exposed naked before the world as traitors to our people.

Until all Palestinians exercise their right to return and self determination, Al-Awda calls on all its members and supporters to redouble their efforts, working for and demanding:

1. An end to all US political, military and economic aid to "Israel"
2. The divestment of all public and private entities from all Zionist corporations, American corporations with subsidiaries operating within "Israel"
3. An end to the investment of Labor Union members' pension funds in "Israel"
4. The boycott of all "Israeli" products

The 60 year commemoration of the Palestinian Nakba will take place in May 2008. Al-Awda's 6th Annual International Convention will take place in Anaheim, California, May 16-18, 2008. The convention will be dedicated to renewing our struggle to return and to reclaim our land no matter what deals are made in Annapolis.

Until Return

Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition

PO Box 131352

Carlsbad, CA 92013, USA
Tel: 760-685-3243

Fax: 360-933-3568
E-mail: info@al-awda.org
WWW: http://al-awda.org

Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition (PRRC) is the largest network of grassroots activists and students dedicated to Palestinian human rights. We are a not for profit tax-exempt educational and charitable 501(c)(3) organization as defined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the United States of America. Under IRS guidelines, your donations to PRRC are tax-deductible. To make a donation, please go to
http://www.al-awda.org/donate.html

West Bank settlements 'expanding'

2007-11-07T15:02:00.000-08:00

Peace Now published a report stating that the apartheid state is still active in expanding it's illegal settlements. "Israel" openly makes promises to seize construction, but behind the scenes continues.

"Israel" does not want peace, it wants all of Palestine.

Construction is continuing in dozens of Jewish settlements in the West Bank despite Israel's pledge to freeze their expansion, an campaign group has said.

Peace Now says Jewish population growth is three times higher in the area occupied in 1967 than in Israel itself.

Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are deemed illegal under international law.

Israel had pledged to stop their construction as part of internationally-backed peace efforts.

Complete Story

Faulty Logic

2007-10-28T15:34:00.000-07:00

Ethnic Cleansing in Hebron

2007-10-22T22:38:00.000-07:00

Palestinian Olive Farmers Face Threat of Attack

2007-10-22T22:33:00.000-07:00

MSU Headlining OC Weekly

2007-10-18T21:58:00.000-07:00

'Against the Wall'
Praying, eating and bowling with the most hated student group at UC Irvine

With a brief red flash, the sun disappears behind the trees at Aldrich Park in the center of the UC Irvine campus as I pray.

“Pray as if this is your last prayer,” instructs a man standing in front.

I place a digital recorder on the ground. A dark-skinned man at my side says, “Follow my lead.” We bow and then lie prostrate on cooling cement. I stand at the end of a row of 30 men, shoulder-to-shoulder. Behind us, another row has nearly the same number of women. All the women wear hijabs, or scarves over their hair and neck. We bow in unison.

The man at the front is named Kareem Elsayed; he’s 21. He leads the prayer with a musical and mournful verse. His cracking voice invokes an abysmal melancholy. I have no idea what he’s saying, but the suras—chapter of the Koran—flow meditatively, centering and calming the Muslim Student Union (MSU) of UCI. Suddenly, familiar words: “Allahu Akhbar.” Followed by several beats of silence. “Allahu Akhbar.”

God is Greatest.

The phrase, in its most reverent use, is a parallel of the Judeo-Christian “Hallelujah” (Praise to God). But the words “Allahu Akhbar,” repeated melodically, strike a cold chord. A simple statement of belief that has become, to many non-Muslims, synonymous with extremism, a jihadist battle cry. Much like the group that now utters it, the phrase has become indelibly linked in many minds with intolerance.

The prayer ends. I dust off, feeling content and serene. I haven’t prayed in months. The Muslim prayer seems as good as any other, I guess.

It’s dusk, and the students begin ambling toward a picnic table near Ring Road, a narrow walking and biking road encircling the park. They are hungry. It is late September, and the holy month of Ramadan is in full swing. The students break their sun-up-to-sundown fasting regimen—no food, water, sex—with a sweet date.

I eat a date, too; it’s good. Elsayed tells me that dates are high in glucose, providing an instant rush of energy and potassium for rehydration. The perfect appetizer for a thirsty, starving Muslim.

The women and the men of the group eat at separate tables. It’s part of tradition, one of the students tells me. Like the conservative dress of the women, eating separately is a way to avoid the distractions of physical attraction so one can focus only on God.

I pile delicious lamb and some kind of spicy rice on a plate and move to a table full of solemn faces. “Mind if I sit down?” I ask with a smile.

They neither object nor invite. They barely look at me, instead staring at their plates. Three thin freshmen and a man in his 40s who looks like an Arab Tony Soprano sit at the table. Not a word is said for several minutes. One of the young men is somewhat sloppily eating with his hands; the rest use plastic cutlery.

“So,” the Soprano look-alike asks me, “how long have you been a Muslim?”

“I’m not a Muslim,” I answer.

He raises his eyebrows and turns his attention back to his food. He seems to regard me suspiciously, not surprising considering the MSU is likely the most hated––and feared––student group at the university.

Complete Article

UN Expert Rails at Quartet Policies

2007-10-15T22:46:00.000-07:00

good article from BBC, just wait for John Dugard to be labeled as an "anti-semite"..

John Dugard speaks slowly and carefully. He rarely hesitates. But from his measured voice comes a reputation for being outspoken.

Earlier this year, in his role as special rapporteur to the UN Human Rights Council for the Palestinian Territories, the South African law professor wrote a report for the UN General Assembly in which he compared Israel's actions to those of apartheid South Africa.

Indeed, the word "apartheid" appears 24 times in the 24-page report.

But in his interview with the BBC, Mr Dugard goes further than before.

He has been trenchant in his belief in the past seven years that he has held the UN post that Israel is collectively punishing the Palestinians.

Now, though, he has the international community, and the UN itself, in his sights for complicity.

Complete Article

In Memory of Iman Al-Hams

2007-10-09T14:09:00.000-07:00

On the morning of the 5th of October, 2004, a morning as rudimentarily awful as any lived under a brutal occupation, 13-year-old Iman, wearing her blue and white school uniform and carrying her schoolbag, left her house in Rafah refugee camp to go to school. Iman wandered a few meters away from her usual route to school and ventured into the large security zone surrounding an Israeli military base, which is, as is common, located near Palestinian civilians’ houses and schools. What follows is a gruesome tale of sickeningly cold-blooded murder.

Iman was spotted by the Israeli military base’s watchtower. She was about 100 yards away from the military base when the following conversation took place between a soldier in the watchtower, an army operations room and a certain Captain R, who remains unnamed to this day:

From the watchtower: "It's a little girl. She's running defensively eastward."

From the operations room: "Are we talking about a girl under the age of 10?"

Watchtower: "A girl about 10, she's behind the embankment, scared to death."

A few minutes later, Iman is shot from one of the army posts

Watchtower: "I think that one of the positions took her out."

Captain R: "I and another soldier ... are going in a little nearer, forward, to confirm the kill ... Receive a situation report. We fired and killed her ... I also confirmed the kill. Over."

Captain R—along with another soldier—walks towards Iman, and shoots two bullets at point-blank range into her head to “confirm the kill.” He starts to head back to his base, before turning around again and emptying all the bullets from his machine gun into the body of Iman.

Captain R then "clarifies" why he killed Iman: "This is commander. Anything that's mobile, that moves in the zone, even if it's a three-year-old, needs to be killed. Over."

After she was taken to the hospital, doctors counted 17 bullet wounds in Iman’s body, and three in her head, though they were unsure of the exact number since her little body was shattered to the point where one couldn’t accurately count how many bullets had riddled it.

Anywhere in the world, you would expect such a murderer to be tried and to receive a very harsh sentence. Unfortunately, the laws that apply in most of the world do not apply to Palestinian children and their murderers. An Israeli military court, on October 15, 2004, cleared the soldier of any wrongdoing or unethical behavior, declaring that “confirming the kill” is standard procedure.

Complete Story

Iran-born German out of "Israel" Game

2007-10-08T15:39:00.000-07:00

Why legitimize apartheid?

Iran-born German soccer player refuses to play his match in the apartheid state, now thats a modern day hero.

Ashkan Dejagah, an Iranian-born player in Germany's under-21 national football team, has withdrawn from an upcoming match against Israel citing "personal reasons", according to the German Football Association (DFB).

Dejagah, 21, who plays for VfB Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga, asked national team managers to allow him to withdraw from Germany's European Championship qualifier against Israel, which is scheduled to be played in Tel Aviv on Friday, the DFB said.

Complete Article

Google Earth Provides Bird’s Eye View of "Israeli" Reactor

2007-10-06T16:13:00.000-07:00

can't pretend to not have nukes anymore..

Courtesy of: ConflictBlotter

Complete Story

Palestinian Child Prisoners

2007-09-30T23:42:00.000-07:00

It is illegal under international law to hold child prisoners.

This from "the only democracy in the middle east"

No Apartheid in "Israel'?

2007-09-25T17:19:00.000-07:00

Kaid Dabah has dreamed of living in Carmiel, near his hometown of Dir al-Asad, since he was 15 years old. He was drawn to the neighboring town's orderly streets, quiet and clean neighborhoods, and entertainment and leisure options that his village lacked. As an adolescent, he remembers, he longed above all for personal freedom and presumed he would find it in Carmiel, out of his family's reach.

In August 2004, at age 28, Dabah and his fiancee decided to realize that dream and buy a home in Carmiel. The housing crunch in his village only reinforced his decision and persuaded his parents. He found an apartment on He'asif Street in Carmiel's Givat Ram neighborhood.

"Within a week, I had reached an agreement with the owner on the price and signed a contract with him. I worked on the bank, and they approved a mortgage for me. I thought I was at long last making the dream come true," Dabah said. But the Jewish National Fund had other plans.

"A month before the wedding, after I had signed the contract and made a down payment of NIS 40,000 to the apartment's owner, the lawyer called me and told me to come see him as soon as possible," he continued. When Dabah arrived for a meeting, the lawyer informed him that the land on which the apartment building stands belongs to the JNF.

"The lawyer said to me: 'I'll give it to you straight: The JNF doesn't sell to Arabs and you can't buy the apartment.' I felt my world cave in," Dabah said.

Ditching the Buck

2007-09-24T14:52:00.000-07:00

even our closest ally wont use our currency..

Secretary of State Rice has acknowledged a communique from Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Levni which requests that all foreign aid payments and loans from the United States be made in Euros rather than in Dollars. Foreign Minister Levni cited the rapidly declining dollar and it's disfavor as a world currency as reasons for the request.

"In the spirit of Yom Kippur, the United States will not hold Israel to any agreements obligating them to accept Dollars as payment for their foreign aid. We will translate our obligations into Euros or whatever currency that best fits Israel's needs.

We need to place our Israeli obligations at the top of our national prioriy list. Israel should not suffer any inconvenience due to currency fluctuations," said Rice before heading off to Camp David.

A similar request from Egypt was declined last week.

Ban: "Israel" violating Palestinian rights

2007-09-22T00:08:00.000-07:00

just words, but never action..

Israel is violating the human rights of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, the top U.N. official said.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday that Israel’s decision to interrupt the provision of essential services, such as electricity and fuel, to Gaza contravenes its obligations under international humanitarian and human rights toward the territory’s civilian population.

In a statement Ban called on the Israeli government to reconsider its decision, which also includes a declaration that the Gaza Strip is an “enemy entity.”

“There are 1.4 million people in Gaza, including the old, the young and the sick, who are already suffering from the impact of prolonged closure,” he said. “They should not be punished for the unacceptable actions of militants and extremists.”

The statement noted that the United Nations has broad humanitarian responsibilities and is mandated to provide assistance to and meet the humanitarian needs of civilians in Gaza and the West Bank.

Ban added that “the continued indiscriminate rocket fire from Gaza into Israel is unacceptable and I deplore it. I call for it to stop immediately. I understand Israel’s security concerns over this matter.”

UN: "Israel" has added dozens of new roadblocks in West Bank

2007-09-22T00:06:00.000-07:00

By Avi Issacharoff

Despite repeated promises to reduce the number of roadblocks in the West Bank, Israel has in fact added dozens of new ones, according to the United Nations.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak promised U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this week to remove 24 roadblocks and consider additional alleviations of movement restrictions on the Palestinians. This followed a similar promise to alleviate movement restrictions that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

However, the number of roadblocks has now reached 572, an increase of 52 percent compared to 376 in August 2005, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). In the past two months alone, Israel put up 40 new roadblocks, OCHA said.

Complete Article

Welcome to Planet Gaza

2007-09-22T00:05:00.000-07:00

By Pepe Escobar

It is one of the most scandalous instances of collective punishment anywhere in the world in recent times. And what is the response of the high-minded "international community"? It's the standard "three monkeys" - willfully deaf, dumb and blind.

Complete Article

Teen Crushed by "Israeli" Bulldozer in Gaza

2007-09-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

the brutal ways of the IDF..

A 16-year-old Palestinian boy was killed on Thursday after being run over by an Israeli army bulldozer during a military incursion in the Gaza Strip, medics and witnesses said.

Mahmud Kayed was run over by the bulldozer when it lurched towards a group of youths throwing rocks at the vehicle during the army incursion in the Al-Bureij refugee camp, they said.

Full Story

How to Spin a Military Occupation as "Self-Defense"

2007-09-17T22:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Ramadan - "israeli" style.

2007-09-17T19:55:00.000-07:00

IDF guns down 16yr old, lets him bleed to death

Palestinian sources reported that the youth, Mohammed Jabbarin, was not armed and was shot after he hurled rocks at Israeli troops. The IDF had been carrying out a routine operation in the West Bank town when the clash erupted.

* * *

According to hospital officials in the city, three bullets were found in Muhammad Jabrin's body.

* * *

Both eyewitnesses and medical sources reported that the Israeli army prevented ambulances from entering the area and dispensing first aid to the gravely injured teenager. The boy subsequently bled to death.

Video "Israel" Doesn't Want You to See

2007-09-15T09:36:00.000-07:00

Accidents Happen: "Israelis" Kill 892 Palestinian Kids

2007-09-09T20:53:00.000-07:00

" . . . on the BBC the Israeli military stated that the killing of Yehya, Mahmoud and Sarah was an accident: 'at the very last second, it was apparent that they were children, but it was impossible to stop the explosion.' There was no mention of holding accountable the soldiers who killed them or at the very least any offer of support to the families and the community. They cannot leave their area, or their land, as they have nowhere else to go. Where's the justice for 12-year-old Yehya and his childhood, or 10-year-old Mahmoud who wanted nothing more than to have the same things as his friend, or 10-year-old Sarah who never got to wear her new school clothes?"

Since September 28, 2000, there have been 892 such accidents.

Ban on Political Junkets to "Israel" Deals Blow to Lobbying Efforts

2007-09-09T20:49:00.000-07:00

Watch AIPAC scream "Anti-Semite" at this one!

In a challenge to one of the most powerful lobbying tactics used by the Jewish community, a county in Maryland decided last week that local legislators could no longer go on sponsored trips to Israel.

Complete Article

"Israel" furious over Norway torture claim

2007-09-06T23:37:00.000-07:00

The Foreign Ministry has in recent days exchanged "strong words" with the Norwegian embassy in Tel Aviv over a diplomatic document the embassy sent back to Oslo calling for criticism of Israel for allegedly using torture in prisons, diplomatic officials in Jerusalem said Thursday night.

The Norwegian state radio network NRK reported Thursday it had obtained a secret diplomatic document from the embassy urging action by "expressing our concern that torture is still practiced in Israel." According to NRK, the embassy's concern stemmed from a report by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel claiming that prisoners were sometimes beaten during interrogation, held in painfully tight handcuffs and suffered isolation, threats, humiliation and sleep deprivation.

Complete Article

Born in Lakeland; detained by "Israel"

2007-09-06T17:23:00.000-07:00

An American family is told seven of their children cannot leave via Tel Aviv.

"I can't believe that children who were born in Lakeland could have their American citizenship ignored by a country so friendly to the U.S," said Wedad.

Complete Article

Study finds U.S. Jews distance selves from "Israel"

2007-09-06T17:18:00.000-07:00

as they should..

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Young U.S. non-Orthodox Jews are becoming increasingly lukewarm if not alienated in their support for Israel in a trend that is not likely to be reversed, according to a study released on Thursday.

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Sara, Mahmoud and Yehya

2007-09-05T23:42:00.000-07:00

The story of the three children murdered in Gaza last week by the apartheid state.

Sarah Abu Ghazal's school uniform still lay on her mattress, untouched as she had left it before running out after her cousins Mahmoud and Yehya Abu Ghazal on Wednesday, 29 August. She was to begin the fourth grade on 2 September, but her friend Amani, who has accompanied her to school since the first grade, would walk alone this year. Sarah's mother had bought her the blue school uniform, blue jeans and the black shoes just the day before she was killed by Israel tank fire. Her mother waited until the last minute to buy Sarah's school supplies because she was waiting for her husband's salary which he had not received since June. Still full of life, Sarah was readying her new clothes for the start of the school year when Yehya called for her to come out and play.

Ten-year-old Mahmoud looked up to Yehya and followed him wherever he went, as he did not have any brothers of his own. On the day he died he had just finished telling his mother not to buy him anything for school until Yehya had acquired his things. He made her promise only to buy the same things that Yehya had. Mahmoud was killed alongside Yehya and now lies buried right beside him.

"Israel just wants to shed our blood," said Yehya's mother, choking on her words. "They didn't do anything wrong ... they had no rockets, no tanks ... they were just playing," added Mahmoud's mother. They were all sitting on the mattress Yehya shared with Mahmoud. Mahmoud would sneak out of his mother's bedroom at night to go and sleep by Yehya. "They were meant to go together," said Yehya's mother, "Mahmoud would not have lived without Yehya. May God rest their souls together."

The Israeli army stated it had "identified and fired at several rocket launchers aimed at Israel." According to the Abu Ghazal family, rockets had not been fired from that area for the past nine months and the Israeli army knew this. However, the tanks were close enough for the soldiers manning them to see the children and they could have also relied on their large white reconnaissance balloon that constantly hovers over Beit Hanoun.

Where's the justice for 12-year-old Yehya and his childhood, or 10-year-old Mahmoud who wanted nothing more than to have the same things as his friend, or 10-year-old Sarah who never got to wear her new school clothes?

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Children of War

2007-09-03T00:41:00.000-07:00

By Gideon Levy

Again children. Five children killed in Gaza in eight days. The public indifference to their killing - the last three, for example, were accorded only a short item on the margins of page 11 in Yedioth Ahronoth, a sickening matter in itself - cannot blur the fact that the IDF is waging a war against children. A year ago, a fifth of those killed in the "Summer Rain" operation in Gaza were children; during the past two weeks, they comprised a quarter of the 21 killed. If, heaven forbid, children are hurt in Sderot, we will have to remember this before we begin raising hell.

The IDF explains that the Palestinians make a practice of sending children to collect the Qassam launchers. However, in this case, the children killed were not collecting launchers. The first two were killed while collecting carob fruit and the next three - according to the IDF's own investigation - were playing tag. But even if we accept the IDF's claim that there is a general trend of sending children to collect launchers (which has not been proven), that should have brought about an immediate halt to firing at launcher collectors.

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