Holocaust Survivors Blast $20 Stipend

An "Israeli" government offer of a new $20 monthly stipend for Holocaust survivors provoked outrage Tuesday, with survivors charging the meager allowance will do nothing to make up for years of neglect of the 240,000 Israelis who lived through Nazi horrors.

Survivors have long claimed that European countries treat them far better than Israel, where many elderly survivors live in poverty. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's announcement of the new allowance did nothing to change that impression. One survivor called the offer "absurd and insulting."

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Foreign Journalists Tour of Gaza

• Stop One. Ismail Haniyeh's house.

"It's not a luxurious house," Hamas tour guide Ahmad Asmar said before the buses pulled up to the home of Haniyeh, whom Hamas still considers prime minister even though he was fired by Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah-affiliated president, after Hamas' takeover. Haniyeh lives among the people in the Shati refugee camp on the Gaza City beach. Dressed in a suit and tie on a hot summer day, Haniyeh suddenly appeared on his balcony and waved to the reporters.

• Stop Two. Yasser Arafat's house.

"It is our job to keep this house secure," said senior Haniyeh aide Ghazi Hamad, disputing Fatah and media claims that the home of the late Palestinian leader had been looted and vandalized. Hamas officials stressed that they respected Arafat and the Fatah movement he founded. Arafat's picture remains posted on the walls of many buildings controlled by Hamas.

• Stop Three. Presidential guest house.

The guest house, where Abbas used to entertain foreign dignitaries, remains just as it was when Fatah abandoned it in defeat. A photograph of Arafat and Nelson Madela adorns the wall of one room, and in the bedroom, a photo of Arafat and Bill Clinton. Even the ashtrays and water glasses have been left untouched. Hamad said it's Hamas' duty to preserve such places "until we reach a political compromise" with Fatah. At the moment, that's looks unlikely. Fatah, whose defeat in Gaza has left it in charge of the West Bank and eligible for fresh diplomacy with Israel and the West, says it has no interest in talking to Hamas.

• Stop Four. The Palestinian parliament.

Acting parliamentary speaker Ahmad Bahar offered journalists a long explanation of how the Hamas-controlled legislature favors human rights, Palestinian unity, press freedom and a swift end to Israeli occupation. The rub: Since Hamas' takeover, the Palestinian parliament has not been functioning, and no resumption is likely any time soon.

• Stop Five. National Security Headquarters.

The head of the Executive Force, Hamas' main security force in Gaza, was flanked by black-clad gunmen as he told the reporters that its job is "sacred" and that it has an obligation to tell the world the truth about Hamas. Abu Obeida said Hamas respects human rights and holds no political prisoners — denying claims by human rights workers that at least nine Fatah loyalists have been killed and more than 20 others arrested since Hamas' takeover.

"We are working according to the law," Abu Obeida said before taking journalists to a jail in the same compound. Prisoners prayed and cooked and answered journalists' questions, with many saying their conditions had improved since Hamas took power. "I can open the refrigerator" to show how nice the food is, said 46-year-old inmate Menahed Ehlayel. No one on the tour, in the jail or anywhere else, said anything negative about Hamas, which much of the world has branded a terrorist organization.

• Stop Six. A Roman Catholic church.

A Hamas minder tried to stop a reporter from asking Father Manuel Musallam, Gaza's only Catholic priest, about who was behind the ransacking of a Catholic convent and nearby school during June's Hamas-Fatah fighting. Musallam answered anyway, saying Haniyeh had offered his support in finding the perpetrators. "We suffer with them, but we haven't suffered from them," the priest said of Hamas and Gaza's other Muslim inhabitants. Still, a number of Gaza's 3,000 Christians have privately expressed concern about Hamas' intentions.

• Stop Seven. The Rafah border crossing.

Hamas gunmen guard the perimeter of Gaza's main gateway to the outside world, its border crossing with Egypt. Like all other Gaza crossings, the Rafah border has been shut since Hamas' takeover, leaving thousands of Gazans stranded on the other side. The reporters were taken within a few yards of the Egyptian side. Three truckloads of wheat flour passed by from another nearby crossing — part of the daily humanitarian aid flow that sustains the vast majority of Gaza's 1.4 million people. Hamad said Hamas would like to see Abbas' forces regain control of border crossings such as Rafah, aware that Israel would never permit Hamas to conduct security checks there. Fatah has ruled this out.

• Stop Eight. Haniyeh speaks.

The tour ended with a speech by Haniyeh at an upscale Gaza City hotel. To get there, the buses drove along the beach, where thousands of Gazans have been flocking since Hamas' takeover improved the internal security situation in Gaza. Veiled women sat waist-deep in the ocean with their children as Hamas security forces guarded the beach. Haniyeh described how Hamas' takeover had ended factional fighting and the murderous chaos that had taken over Gaza's streets. Father Musallam sat next to Haniyeh, who began his speech by saying Christians were "a very important part of our people."

"We do not want to establish an Islamic state in the Gaza Strip," Haniyeh said.

PA Rejects Qatari Draft

"Qatar and Indonesia had put a resolution on the table of the UN Security Council to provide unrestricted access for humanitarian aid and agencies in the Gaza Strip, mainly to resupply the Strip with fuel, water and electricity. The draft was opposed by the Palestinian Authority (the Ramallah government) and the American delegation to the UN. One human rights activist condemned the Palestinian delegation's reaction toward the Qatari draft for easing sanctions on the Palestinian people. (6)"

Now, what kind of a government would prevent humanitarian assistance to its own people?

Obviously, the Palestinian Authority is not working in favor of the Palestinian people, but rather in favor of the forces who are responsible for the suffering of the Palestinian people.

Solidarity With Rachel Corrie

Jane Horwitz's article on "My Name Is Rachel Corrie" could have been an example of reporting on the best aspects of the play [" 'Corrie' Fears Unrealized; Controversial Play Opens Without Incident in W.Va.," Style, July 18]. Instead she gave space to the likes of Stanley Marinoff, who spouted off that Corrie was "a human shield for an organization that's probably a terrorist [front] organization."

That statement is not only inaccurate, it borders on slandering the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), which has twice been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Even the courts in Israel have stated that the ISM is not a terrorist organization.

Corrie was not a "naive young lady" but a passionate advocate for justice for a people who have been forced to live under occupation, brutalized and ignored by the world.

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Europeans: Release Palestinian Ministers

45 Members of the European Parliament, from different politicalgroups, have decided to express their solidarity towards the 45 Palestinian colleagues imprisoned by Israel, and called for their immediate and unconditional release.

All the 45 MEPs stood up symbolically in the plenary, right before thebeginning of the debate with Mr. Solana on the situation on the MiddleEast, representing the 45 Members of the Palestinian Legislative Council detained in the Israeli jails in a clear violation of the international legality.

"Each of us, MEPs, is deeply concerned about the imprisonment of thePresident and of 1/3 of the Members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, democratically and legitimately elected by the Palestinian people", MEPs said in their declaration.

Through this initiative, MEPs want to strongly condemn these arrests by the Israeli Army, but also remind the anniversary of the beginningof the Israeli military occupation in the Palestinian territories, which is during 40 years exactly today.

"We are deeply worried not only for the plight of the 45 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council but also for the near 11000 Palestinian political prisoners currently imprisoned by the Israeli Army, without a true process and often brutally abducted by the Israeli soldiers."

"40 years of military occupation are enough: now it's urgent to implement a political solution of the conflict, based on "two Peopleand two States" and it's necessary that the Palestinian Legislative Council could continue its activity, instead of preventing its work because of the check points, the arrests, the summary killings kept on by the current Israeli policy of military occupation", concluded LuisaMorgantini.

MEPs participating to the initiative:

Adamou Adamos, Andria Alfonso, Aubert Marie-Hélène, Auken Margarete,Beer Angelika, Brepoels Frieda, Bourzai Bernadette, Bowis John,Carnero Gonzàlez Carlos, Cohn-Bendit Daniel, Davies Chris, De BrúnBairbre, De Keyser Véronique, Demetriou Panayiotis, De RossaProinsias, Evans Jill, Flautre Hélène, Gottardi Donata, GuerreiroPedro, Hammerstein Mintz David, Isler-Béguin Marie-Anne, KasoulidesIoannis , Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou Rodi, Locatelli Pia Elda, LucasCaroline, Madeira Jamila, Matsakis Marios, McMillan-Scott Edward,Menendez Del Valle Emilio, Meyer Pleite Willy, Morgantini Luisa,Napoletano Pasqualina, Patrie Béatrice, Portas Miguel, Purvis John,Resetarits Karin, Romeva i Rueda Raül, Roure Martine, Saïfi Tokia,Savi Toomas, Sudre Margie, Svensson Eva-Britt, Toussas Georgios,Triantaphyllides Kyriacos, Wurtz Francis.

Bush's real agenda in Palestine

The Hamas government crackdown on Mohamed Dahlan's corrupt security forces and affiliated gangs in the Gaza Strip in June appears to mark a turning point in the Bush administration's foreign policy regarding Palestine and Israel. The supposed shift, however, is nothing but a continuation of Washington's efforts to stifle Palestinian democracy, to widen the chasm separating Hamas and Fatah, and to ensure the success of the Israeli project, which is focussed on colonising and annexing what remains of Palestinian land.

It's vital that we keep this seemingly obvious reality at the forefront of any political discussion dealing with the conflict: the occupied Palestinian territories represent a mere 22 per cent of historic Palestine. Currently, Israel is on a quest to reduce this even further by officially conquering the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem. Gaza is only relevant to this issue insofar as it represents a golden opportunity to divide Palestinians further, to confuse their national project and to present a grim picture of them as an unruly people who cannot be trusted as peace partners to the far more civilised and democratic Israelis.

By prolonging Gazan strife, thus the Palestinian split, Israel will acquire the time required to consolidate its colonial project, and to further rationalise its unilateral policies vis-à-vis matters that should, naturally, be negotiated with the Palestinians.

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Report: Palestinian children in "Israeli" detention abused, tortured

"One child, Rashed Radwa, recalls being beaten whilst blindfolded. He was then forced into stress positions for ten hours in cold weather. He was then asked to sign papers in Hebrew and when he refused his interrogator smashed his head against a desk.

16-year-old Assem Lufti Abdel Lattif Khalil recounts his experience of torture at the hands of Israeli soldiers. He was beaten and put in a stress position outdoors in the rain. He spent 40 days in an interrogation centre.

One 15-year-old said that he was sexually abused and beaten repeatedly in sensitive areas of his body."

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Prisoners Released

Today, the apartheid state released about 250 Palestinian political prisoners as good well gesture to Mahmoud Abbas.

It seems more like a publicity stunt on the part of the apartheid state as most of the released prisoners already served a majority of their sentences and were supposed to be released relatively soon anyway.

Also, the daily incursions into Palestinian villages, where many Palestinians are illegally abducted, have not stopped. So, it should not be long before the released prisoners' jail cells are restocked.

Israel's Political Prisoners

9,850 still remain unjustly incarcerated

105 are women

359 are children

40 are members of the Palestinian Legislative Council

Sources: Palestinian Ministry for Prisoner Affairs (July 2006), B'Tselem (Oct 2006)

Freed Palestinians welcomed home
Abbas welcomes freed Palestinians

Evidence of Dahlan's Collaboration

During the takeover of Gaza, many files were collected indicating elements within Fatah's wide scale corruption. Files showed Fatah officials organizing secret meetings with the CIA and the apartheid state. This collaboration was widely known of, but evidence to solidify this relationship was not made public.

Below is a letter Fatah warlord Mohammad Dahlan wrote to the "Israeli" defense minister back in 2003.


"Be certain that Yasser Arafat's final days are numbered, but allow us to finish him off our way, not yours. And be sure as well that ... the promises I made in front of President Bush, I will give my life to keep.

Dahlan closes his letter to Mofaz saying, "it remains only for me to convey my gratitude to you and the prime minister [Ariel Sharon] for your continued confidence in us, and to you all respect."

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Cracks in Zionism

by Charley Reese

One of the myths created by the Israeli lobby is that Jews around the world are unanimous in their support of Israel, regardless of what it does. That's not true and never has been true.

Modern political Zionism, whose ideology demands a Jewish state with a Jewish majority, was invented by an Austrian journalist and for decades struggled desperately. It wasn't God who created the modern state of Israel. It was British colonialism, the U.S., the Soviet Union, and Zionists.

Only about a third of the world's Jews choose to live in Israel, despite nearly a century of efforts to persuade Jews to immigrate. There were many early Jewish critics of Zionism, and there still are, despite modern Zionists adopting fascist tactics to silence debate.

Avigail Abarbanel, a native-born Israeli Jew who lived there 27 years before emigrating, has even harsher words:

"Palestinian citizens of Israel live under an arbitrary and brutal police state. Their dealings with Israeli bureaucracy are not just frustrating but can be outright dangerous.

"The Palestinians in the Occupied Territories live under a Pinochet-like regime. They can and do disappear in the middle of the night. They are blindfolded, cuffed, beaten, humiliated, taken to unknown locations with no information given to them or their families, tortured physically and psychologically and incarcerated indefinitely, often without charges and regardless of whether they are guilty of anything.

"Israel is not a nice country. It is a powerful police state founded on pathological paranoia with only a veneer of civility, carefully crafted and maintained for the consumption of those who still believe in the myth of Israeli democracy."

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"Israeli" Hate Education

Israeli Textbooks and Children's Literature Promote Racism and Hatred Toward Palestinians and Arabs

By Maureen Meehan

Israeli school textbooks as well as children's storybooks, according to recent academic studies and surveys, portray Palestinians and Arabs as "murderers," "rioters," "suspicious," and generally backward and unproductive. Direct delegitimization and negative stereotyping of Palestinians and Arabs are the rule rather than the exception in Israeli schoolbooks.

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Shame of Ertas