Saturday, January 31, 2009

Israel hopes to colonize parts of Iraq as ‘Greater Israel’

An Important Article

By Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing Writer

"(WMR) -- Israeli expansionists, their intentions to take full control of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and permanently keep the Golan Heights of Syria and expand into southern Lebanon already well known, also have their eyes on parts of Iraq considered part of a biblical “Greater Israel.”

Israel reportedly has plans to relocate thousands of Kurdish Jews from Israel, including expatriates from Kurdish Iran, to the Iraqi cities of Mosul and Nineveh under the guise of religious pilgrimages to ancient Jewish religious shrines. According to Kurdish sources, the Israelis are secretly working with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to carry out the integration of Kurdish and other Jews into areas of Iraq under control of the KRG.

Kurdish, Iraqi Sunni Muslims, and Turkmen have noted that Kurdish Israelis began to buy land in Iraqi Kurdistan, after the U.S. invasion in 2003, that is considered historical Jewish “property.”

The Israelis are particularly interested in the shrine of the Jewish prophet Nahum in al Qush, the prophet Jonah in Mosul, and the tomb of the prophet Daniel in Kirkuk. Israelis are also trying to claim Jewish “properties” outside of the Kurdish region, including the shrine of Ezekiel in the village of al-Kifl in Babel Province near Najaf and the tomb of Ezra in al-Uzayr in Misan Province, near Basra, both in southern Iraq’s Shi’a-dominated territory. Israeli expansionists consider these shrines and tombs as much a part of “Greater Israel” as Jerusalem and the West Bank, which they call “Judea and Samaria.”

Kurdish and Iraqi sources report that Israel’s Mossad is working hand-in-hand with Israeli companies and “tourists” to stake a claim to the Jewish “properties” of Israel in Iraq. The Mossad has already been heavily involved in training the Kurdish Pesha Merga military forces.

Reportedly assisting the Israelis are foreign mercenaries paid for by U.S. Christian evangelical circles that support the concept of “Christian Zionism.”

Iraqi nationalists charge that the Israeli expansion into Iraq is supported by both major Kurdish factions, including the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan headed by Iraq’s nominal President Jalal Talabani. Talabani’s son, Qubad Talabani, serves as the KRG’s representative in Washington, where he lives with his wife Sherri Kraham, who is Jewish.

Also supporting the Israeli land acquisition activities is the Kurdistan Democratic Party, headed by Massoud Barzani, the president of the KRG. One of Barzani’s five sons, Binjirfan Barzani, is reportedly heavily involved with the Israelis.

The Israelis and their Christian Zionist supporters enter Iraq not through Baghdad but through Turkey. In order to depopulate residents of lands the Israelis claim, Mossad operatives and Christian Zionist mercenaries are staging terrorist attacks against Chaldean Christians, particularly in Nineveh, Irbil, al-Hamdaniya, Bartalah, Talasqaf, Batnayah, Bashiqah, Elkosheven, Uqrah, and Mosul. These attacks by the Israelis and their allies are usually reported as being the responsibility of “Al Qaeda” and other Islamic “jihadists.”

The ultimate aim of the Israelis is to depopulate the Christian population in and around Mosul and claim the land as biblical Jewish land that is part of “Greater Israel.” The Israeli/Christian Zionist operation is a replay of the depopulation of the Palestinians in the British mandate of Palestine after World War II.

In June 2003, a delegation of Israelis visited Mosul and said that it was Israel’s intentions, with the assistance of Barzani, to establish Israeli control of the shrine of Jonah in Mosul and the shrine of Nahum in the Mosul plains. The Israelis said Israeli and Iranian Jewish pilgrims would travel via Turkey to the area of Mosul and take over lands where Iraqi Christians lived."

Video: Turkey PM Hailed a Hero for Walkout



"Reuters
"Tayyip Erdogan arrives home to a hero's welcome after his dramatic walkout during a debate with Israel's president in Switzerland.

Erdogan stormed out of the debate with Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum in Davos after haranguing the Israeli President over the offensive in Gaza. Paul Chapman reports." "


By Naser Jafari


This photo from Gaza says a lot; no?
Not a single Arab regime flag was raised there and for a very good reason....

When Erdogan stormed out of Davos after blasting the war criminal Peres, all the Arab delegates, including Amr Moussa, stayed and quietly applauded Peres secretly!

When did we stop caring about civilian deaths during wartime?

The mere monitoring of bloody conflict assumes precedence over human suffering
A Good Comment
By Robert Fisk

"I wonder if we are "normalising" war. It's not just that Israel has yet again got away with the killing of hundreds of children in Gaza.

And after its own foreign minister said that Israel's army had been allowed to "go wild" there, it seems to bear out my own contention that the Israeli "Defence Force" is as much a rabble as all the other armies in the region. But we seem to have lost the sense of immorality that should accompany conflict and violence. The BBC's refusal to handle an advertisement for Palestinian aid was highly instructive. It was the BBC's "impartiality" that might be called into question. In other words, the protection of an institution was more important than the lives of children. War was a spectator sport whose careful monitoring – rather like a football match, even though the Middle East is a bloody tragedy – assumed precedence over human suffering.

I'm not sure where all this started.....

I'm not sure when the change came. Was it Israel's disastrous invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and the Sabra and Chatila massacre by Israel's allies of 1,700 Palestinian civilians? (Gaza just missed that record.) Israel claimed (as usual) to be fighting "our" "war against terror" but the Israeli army is not what it's cracked up to be and massacres (Qana comes to mind in 1996 and the children of Marwahine in 2006) seem to come attached to it. And of course, there's the little matter of the Iran-Iraq war between 1980 and 1988 which we enthusiastically supported with weapons to both sides, and the Syrian slaughter of thousands of civilians at Hama and...

No, I rather think it was the 1991 Gulf War. Our television lads and lasses played it for all it was worth – it was the first war that had "theme" music to go with the pictures – and when US troops simply smothered alive thousands of Iraqi troops in their trenches, we learned about it later and didn't care much, and even when the Americans ignored Red Cross rules to mark mass graves, they got away with it. There were women in some of these graves – I saw British soldiers burying them. And I remember driving up to Mutla ridge to show a Red Cross delegate where I had seen a mass grave dug by the Americans, and he looked at the plastic poppy an American had presumably left there and said: "Something has happened.".....

Then there was Afghanistan and all that "collateral damage" and whole villages wiped out and then there was Iraq in 2003 and the tens of thousands – or half a million or a million – Iraqi civilians killed. Once more, at the very start, we were back to our old tricks, bombing bridges and radio stations and at least one civilian estate in Baghdad where "we" believed Saddam was hiding. We knew it was packed with civilians (Christians, by chance) but the Americans called it a "high risk" operation – meaning that they risked not hitting Saddam – and 22 civilians were killed. I saw the last body, that of a baby, dug from the rubble.

And we don't seem to care. We fight in Iraq and now we're going back to fight in Afghanistan again and all the human rights and protections appear to have vanished once more. We will destroy villages and we will find that the Afghans hate us and we will form more criminal militias – as we did in Iraq – to fight for us. The Israelis organised a similar militia in their occupation zone in southern Lebanon, run by a crackpot Lebanese army major. But now their own troops "go wild". And the BBC is worried about its "impartiality"? "

Friday, January 30, 2009

Online Petition: ما بعد غزة

To Arabic Speakers: Please sign this important petition.

"To: Palestinian & Arab Professionals
"ما بعد غزة"

"حتى لا يكون العدوان الصهيوني على قطاع غزة حدثا عابراً في التاريخ "

بيان صادر عن مثقفين فلسطينيين وعربا في الولايات المتحدة

28 كانون الثاني 2009

نحن الموقعون أدناه، مثقفون وناشطون فلسطينيون وعربا في الولايات المتحدة، نشاطر شعبنا الفلسطيني نضاله لتحرير وطنه والعودة ونؤكد أن العدوان الإسرائيلي الإجرامي على قطاع غزة وصمود شعبنا ومواجهته الباسلة للعدوان هو نقطة تحول مفصلي في الصراع العربي- الصهيوني.

لقد فضح العدوان الصهيوني على قطاع غزة لـ23 يوما متواصلة استحالة التعايش مع كيان احتلالي وعنصري ، الأمر الذي يثبت عبثية المفاوضات التي شاركت فيها قيادة السلطة الفلسطينية مع حكومة الاحتلال طوال السنوات الماضية في محاولة لتزييف وعي المواطن الفلسطيني وإقناعه بأن التفاوض هو السبيل الوحيد لنيل الحقوق وأن "إسرائيل ليست عدوا" ، وهو ما ساهم في إرساء شراكة بين أنظمة التبعية العربية وإسرائيل كان أحد مظاهرها الأخيرة القمع الذي مارسته السلطة عبر أجهزتها الأمنية لمنع شعبنا في الضفة الغربية من التضامن والتفاعل قطاع غزة.

ولم تقف قيادة السلطة عند ممارساتها القمعية بل تعدتها إلى الاصطفاف فعليا إلى جانب العدوان الصهيوني بتجريمها للمقاومة التي هي حق طبيعي ومشروع لشعب تحت الاحتلال، وتحميلها مسؤولية التسبب في العدوان.

إننا نؤكد على ما يلي :

أولا: اعتبار السلطة الفلسطينية التي جاءت بها اتفاقات أوسلو وإفرازاتها والمدعومة من إسرائيل والولايات المتحدة والتبعية العربية – وعلى رأسها محمود عباس - فاقدة للشرعية، وحظر التعامل معها ومع رموزها وأدواتها.

ثانيا: الالتزام بحقوق ومطالب شعبنا الثابتة في التحرير والعودة التي لا يمكن أن تتحقق في ظل اختلال ميزان القوى إلا بالمقاومة الشعبية.

ثالثا: محاسبة كل من تواطأ مع إسرائيل في عدوانها على قطاع غزة وسوّغ إراقة الدماء الفلسطينية والاستهداف الإسرائيلي المجرم لشعبنا في القطاع ، عبر تحميل المقاومة مسؤولية التسبب في العدوان.

رابعاًً: دعوة فصائل المقاومة الفلسطينية وفعاليات شعبنا داخل الوطن والشتات إلى إقامة جبهة وطنية متحدة تتولى قيادة مرحلة النضال الوطني ,وتتمسك بثوابته وتستند إلى نهج المقاومة.

*********************
الموقعون : ....

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

Click Here to Sign Petition

My terror as a human shield: The story of Majdi Abed Rabbo


As battle raged in Gaza, Israeli soldiers forced Majdi Abed Rabbo to risk his life as a go-between in the hunt for three Hamas fighters. This is his story...

By Donald Macintyre in Jabalya, Gaza
Friday, 30 January 2009

(Left) Majdi Abed Raboh's house is in ruins following Israeli attacks.

".....The soldiers then ordered two other residents to take cameras into the house to photograph it and the Hamas fighters. Next, the army sent in a dog which returned injured and died soon afterwards. The gunmen were then told: "You have 15 minutes to come out with no clothes on and with your hands up. If you don't, we will bring the house down on you."

After 15 minutes, Mr Abed Rabbo said, a bulldozer moved into the area between the houses and the mosque, destroying large parts of his house before systematically demolishing the one the gunmen were hiding in. It was now Tuesday afternoon.

Before he was taken away, Mr Abed Rabbo had a clear view of his wrecked house, the pulverised property next door, and the bodies of the three Hamas gunmen lying in the rubble. "

Gaza Will Survive



The Song of War and Pain

By Subcomandante MARCOS
CounterPunch

"....But that's not all. The Palestinian people will also resist and survive and continue struggling and will continue to have sympathy from below for their cause.

And perhaps a boy or girl from Gaza will survive, too. Perhaps they'll grow, and with them, their nerve, indignation, and rage. Perhaps they'll become soldiers or militiamen for one of the groups that struggle in Palestine. Perhaps they'll find themselves in combat with Israel. Perhaps they'll do it firing a gun. Perhaps sacrificing themselves with a belt of dynamite around their waists.

And then, from up there above, they will write about the Palestinians' violent nature and they'll make declarations condemning that violence and they'll get back to discussing if it's Zionism or anti- Semitism.

And no one will ask who planted that which is being harvested. "

One State for Palestine / Israel: A Country for All Its Citizens?

Announcement and Invitation to an International Conference

"Trans Arab Research Institute (TARI), an independent American think tank registered in the state of Massachusetts, and the William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Its Social Consequences of the University of Massachusetts are convening an international conference to undertake a critical assessment of the current status of the two state solution to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict and to explore the logic and feasibility of a one-state solution based on equal citizenship for Palestinians and Israelis. The conference will be held on March 28 and 29, 2009 on the campus of the University of Massachusetts......"

Al-Jazeera Video: Israel faces calls for Gaza war crimes probe - 30 Jan 09



".....Al Jazeera has been out with Amnesty International investigators conducting house-to-house searches in Gaza and collecting all of the evidence, such as shrapnel fragments, that will aid in the investigation.

Al Jazeera's Zeina Awad reports. "

Al-Jazeera Video: Gaza crisis stirs heated debate in Davos - 30 January 09



"A debate on the Middle East crisis focusing on the aftermath of Israel's war on Gaza has dominated the second day of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.

Al Jazeera's Matthew Moore has more from Davos"

Al-Jazeera Video: Hamas delivers cash relief to Gaza victims - 30 January 09



"Hamas, the Palestinian group in power in the Gaza Strip, has begun handing out the promised aid money as part of a broader relief effort to those who lost their homes or loved ones in Israel's recent military offensive.

Al Jazeera's Zeina Awad reports from Gaza City. "

Real News Video with Pepe Escobar: The letter to Iran

Pepe Escobar: How the Obama presidency is developing its Iran strategy



"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent a detailed letter of congratulations to new U.S. President Barack Obama. Now comes the time for Obama to return the courtesy. But drafting a letter is not all there is to it: the new administration is also taking other diplomatic steps, such as naming an Iran envoy, which may even tower among his pairs. Pepe Escobar examines who seems to be on Obama's side, and who seems to be peddling a different agenda."

Spanish Judge accepts PCHR lawsuit against senior Israeli officials, Israel to appeal decision


"A Spanish judge accepted a lawsuit filed by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) against senior Israeli officials for committing war crimes against the Palestinian people after the officials gave the go ahead for shelling the house of a senior Hamas leader in 2002, killing 15 Palestinians and wounding more than 100, the Arabs48 news website reported.

At least nine of the casualties in the shelling were children and women. The Israeli Army dropped a 15 ton bomb on the house of Salah Shihada, a Hamas leader.

The Spanish Judge, Fernando Andreu, accepted the lawsuit, which was filed by the PCHR, and sent two letters; one to Israel informing Israeli officials that a probe is underway, and the second to the Palestinian Authority informing them that the case has been accepted....... "

Every family has a story, here are some of them


Eva Bartlett writing from the occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 30 January 2009
(Eva Bartlett is a Canadian human rights advocate and freelancer who spent eight months in 2007 living in West Bank communities and four months in Cairo and at the Rafah crossing. She is currently based in the Gaza Strip after having arrived with the third Free Gaza Movement boat in November. She has been working with the International Solidarity Movement in Gaza, accompanying ambulances while witnessing and documenting the ongoing Israeli air strikes and ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.)

One family's story

(Left) Destruction in Izbet Abed Rabu.

"There are many stories. Each account -- each murdered individual, each wounded person, each burned-out and broken house, each shattered window, trashed kitchen, strewn item of clothing, bedroom turned upside down, bullet and shelling hole in walls, offensive Israeli army graffiti -- is important.

I start to tell the stories of Ezbet Abbed Rabu, eastern Jabaliya, where homes off the main north south road, Salah al-Din, were penetrated by bullets, bombs and/or soldiers. If they weren't destroyed, they were occupied or shot up. Or occupied and then destroyed. The army was creative in their destruction, in their defacing of property, in their insults. Creative in the ways they could shit in rooms and save their shit for cupboards and unexpected places. Actually, their creativity wasn't so broad. The rest was routine: ransack the house from top to bottom. Turn over or break every clothing cupboard, kitchen shelf, television, computer, window pane and water tank......"

Iraqi shoe hurler inspires art in Saddam hometown


The Big Stimulus

Get rid of the empire

By Justin Raimondo

".........Along these lines, President Obama and his party have come up with a "stimulus package," and I must pause to remark how important language is to these people. It's a "package," you see, just like a Christmas gift, only better, because they, the politicians, get to play Santa Claus and shower their constituents with presents. This legislative larceny is predicated on the oddly counterintuitive notion that we can and should spend our way out of poverty – that the sins of our profligacy can be forgiven if only we indulge in yet more ravenous forms of gluttony.

To ordinary Americans, this kind of Washington-think is wholly alien: it is Bizarro economics. After all, when normal human beings are in financial trouble they cut back on their spending, as they are doing now. The American polity, in its younger days, would naturally apply the same logic to government, but, in our dotage, we impart magical powers to the organs of the state, which can produce wealth out of thin air, with only the aid of a printing press. Oh, yes, we understand – albeit vaguely – that this is debt for future generations to pay. Yet we recall – even more vaguely – old bromides like "We owe it to ourselves," which are embedded in our collective memory like flies in amber, and we are reassured.

Putting aside Bizarro economics, for now, and my wholesale rejection of same, there is one way we can stimulate the economy with a mighty injection of cash into the hands of one and all. No, not another government subsidy, but the cutting of the single largest federal expenditure down to a manageable size: the U.S. military budget...... "

"New" Approach towards Iran
By Steve Bell, The Guardian

انسحاب اردوغان درس للعرب


انسحاب اردوغان درس للعرب

عبد الباري عطوان

".....
السيد اردوغان لم يتحمل مرور سموم بيريس دون رد مفحم ، خاصة انه دافع عن عدوان ادى الى استشهاد اكثر من الف وثلاثمائة وخمسين شخصا، ثلثاهم من الاطفال والنساء، وادعى ان اسرائيل حريصة على السلام، وحمّل حركة 'حماس' وفصائل المقاومة الاخرى مسؤولية ما حدث، ولكن المشرف على ادارة الندوة رفض اعطاءه الكلمة تحت ذريعة انتهاء الوقت، مما يكشف عن مدى تستر مثل هذه الملتقيات على المجازر الاسرائيلية، والانحياز بالكامل للذين يرتكبونها
.....
السيد اردوغان قال ما لم يقله الزعماء والمسؤولون العرب المشاركون بصفة دائمة في هذا المنتدى، لاظهار اعتدالهم وحضاريتهم في اجراء حوارات مع المسؤولين الاسرائيليين، والجلوس معهم في لقاءات جانبية، ومجاملتهم في المناسبات الاجتماعية وحفلات الاستقبال والعشاء، وكأن هؤلاء اصدقاء يمثلون دولة شقيقة.
لا نعرف كم مسؤولا عربيا من المشاركين في منتدى دافوس صافح بيريس والوفد المرافق له، ولا نستغرب ان يكون السيد موسى الذي كان جالسا الى جانبه في الندوة نفسها قد فعل ذلك، وهو يدرك تماما، اي السيد موسى، ان الدماء الطاهرة لاطفال غزة التي سفكها جيش بيريس وطائراته ما زالت طرية لم تجف بعد.

مشكلتنا ان النظام الرسمي العربي ليس متواطئا فقط، لا بل هو مشارك ايضا في العدوان الاسرائيلي، ويتضح ذلك بجلاء من خلال سلوك مندوبيه وممثليه في المحافل الدولية، واستقبالاتهم الحارة للمبعوثين الأمريكيين، مثل جورج ميتشيل، دون أن يقدموا على الاحتجاج على تصريحاته وتصريحات رئيسه ورئيسته المنحازة بالكامل إلى المجازر الاسرائيلية.
....
أردوغان وليس القادة العرب، الذي بات يملك الشجاعة، وهو الحليف الأقوى لواشنطن، ويتصدى للتزويرين الأمريكي والاسرائيلي في كل المحافل الدولية دون استثناء، رغم ان هذه المواقف الشجاعة قد تكلفه وبلاده الشيء الكثير، مثل اغلاق الباب نهائياً امام مساعيها للانضمام إلى الاتحاد الاوروبي. فالرجل يتماهى مع شعبه ومشاعره، هذا الشعب الذي تظاهر بالملايين في شوارع أنقرة واستانبول، ويستند إلى تراث اسلامي عريق لا يخجل منه بل يتباهى به، وانعكس في قوله انه واحد من أحفاد الامبراطورية العثمانية.
شكراً للسيد أردوغان، نقولها للمرة الألف، ومن قلب مفعم بالمرارة والاحباط من قيادات تدعي انها عربية ومسلمة، تصمت على مجازر غزة تواطأً، وتغلق المعابر في وجه ابناء القطاع المحاصرين المجوّعين.
نقول أيضاً شكراً لهؤلاء الناشطين والمحامين الذين يطاردون السفاحين الاسرائيليين الذين ارتكبوا المجازر في قطاع غزة، وخاصة مجزرة اسرة العثامين شمال القطاع، ومجزرة الشاطئ، ومجزرة اغتيال الشهيد صلاح شحادة وافراد أسرته. فهؤلاء هم العرب والمسلمون الحقيقيون، والذين تجري في عروقهم دماء العزة والكرامة والعدالة، وهي قطعاً ليست من فصيلة دماء معظم الزعماء العرب."

خطاب السيد حسن نصر الله في مناسبة الذكرى السنوية للاسرى 29-1-2009


خطاب السيد حسن نصر الله في مناسبة الذكرى السنوية للاسرى 2009-29-1-

Click Here to Listen

Video (1 hour:21 minutes) of Sayyed Nasrallah's speech on 1-29-2009.

Egypt Firms Supplied Israel Army with Food During War?



Al-Manar

"30/01/2009 An Egyptian newspaper revealed a local Egyptian firm was regularly supplying the Israeli occupation army with food supplies via the “Oja” crossing, throughout the war on Gaza, at a time the Rafah crossing was closed for aids and medical supplies for injured Palestinians.

The “Ousbou’” Arabic for “Week”, expressed deep resentment at the Egyptian firm’s move to supply the Israeli army with Egyptian food at a time “all of Egypt was grieving Gaza and praying for the innocents who were starving in the besieged Strip.”

The newspaper revealed what it said was details about the people involved, their license numbers and places of residence as well as the quantities they had transferred and the dates."

شركة مصرية زوّدت الاحتلال بالأغذية إبان حرب غزة فيما يوصد معبر رفح أمام إطعام أهل غزة



وثيقة تثبت ضلوع شركة مصرية في تزويد الاحتلال بالطعام أثناء الحرب على غزة

"القاهرة - المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام
كشفت صحيفة مصرية في تحقيق لها عن قيام شركة محلية بتزويد الجيش الصهيوني بالمواد الغذائية بصورة منتظمة عبر معبر العوجة في أوج الحرب الصهيونية على غزة، وذلك في وقت كان فيه معبر رفح مغلقاً أمام إدخال مواد الإغاثة والمساعدات الطبية للجرحى الفلسطينيين.

وقالت الأسبوع إن "أسطول شاحنات مصري يتحرك ذهاباً وإياباً على الطريق الممتد من مدينة السادات حتى معبر العوجة أقصي شرق مصر، ليسلم منتجات شركة "الاتحاد الدولي للصناعات الغذائية المتكاملة" إلى شركة "تشانل فود" الإسرائيلية التي تقوم بتوريدها لجيش الاحتلال".

وأبدت الصحيفة استياءها من تزويد جنود العدو بأغذية مصرية اسمها "لذة" في الوقت الذي كانت فيه مصر كلها تنتفض حزناً على ما يحدث لغزة، والدعاة والأئمة والقساوسة يتوجهون إلى الله بالدعوات لنصرة الأبرياء الجائعين في القطاع المحاصر.

وقدمت الصحيفة تفاصيل عن الأشخاص وأرقام رخصهم ومحل سكنهم، وعن الكميات التي نقلوها والتواريخ التي ركزت فيها على أيام العدوان الصهيوني الأخير على غزة، وقرنت نقل المواد بعدد الشهداء والجرحى من الفلسطينيين، وبإغلاق معبر رفح.

وفي سياق هذا الخبر نبهت الصحيفة إلى أن قطاعاً من المصريين، وبالذات بين المطبعين مع الكيان الصهيوني اصطفوا مع الموقف الرسمي لدواع أهمها شعورهم بأن علاقاتهم بشركائهم الصهاينة ستتعرض للتدهور.

وخصت الأسبوع بالذكر شركة الاتحاد الدولي التي رأت أن خوفها كان مضاعفاً، أولا لأن العدوان قد أحيا الحملة الشعبية الداعية لقطع جميع العلاقات مع الكيان الصهيوني، وثانياً لشعور إدارتها بأنها ستتعرض لحملة شعبية واسعة إذا تسرب أي خبر عن قيامها بتصدير الأغذية لجيش الاحتلال.

واستغربت الصحيفة أن تبقى هذه الشركة التي تتعامل مع الكيان الصهيوني منذ فترة ليست بالقصيرة بعيداً عن لوائح الشركات المطبعة، عازية ذلك إلى السرية البالغة التي تتم فيها عمليات التبادل بينها وبين عملائها في الكيان الصهيوني. "

Egyptian company supplied IOF with food during war on Gaza

"CAIRO, (PIC)-- An Egyptian newspaper revealed that an Egyptian company supplied IOF troops with food through the Owja crossing during the war on Gaza while the Rafah crossing was closed in the face of relief supplies to Palestinians.

Al-Osbo' weekly said that regular convoys of lorries carried the food supplies from the Sadat city to the Owja crossing to deliver the products of the "International Union of Wholesome Food Products" to the Israeli "Channel Foods" company which in turn supplies it to the IOF troops.

The paper expressed horror at the thought of an Egyptian company supplied the IOF troops with foods labelled "Latha" which means "Delicious" at the time the Egyptian people were expressing their rage at the sorry state of the people of Gaza under siege and under attack.

The paper gave details of drivers, their licence numbers, their addresses, the amount of food they transported and the dates of their deliveries, especially during the war on Gaza and compared those figures with the figures of casualties in Gaza and the closure of the Rafah crossing.

The paper also pointed out that some Egyptian advocates of normalisation with the Zionists have sided with the Egyptian official stand fearing deterioration in relations with their Zionist business partners.

Businesses that had links with the Zionists were especially worried that their businesses would lose out because of the renewed calls for boycotting the Zionist state, and tried to keep their business under wraps."

Erdogan to Peres: You Are Killing People!


Al-Manar

"30/01/2009 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan received a hero's welcome on his return to Istanbul on Friday after he stormed out of a heated debate on Israel's Gaza war at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Thousands of people gathered at Istanbul's Ataturk airport to greet Erdogan when he returned, waving Turkish and Palestinian flags and chanting his name.

During the debate, Peres, with a raised voice and a pointed finger at Erdogan, sought to defend Israel’s massacre of 1,300 Palestinians in 22 days of war on Gaza. "I don't think I will come back to Davos because you don't let me speak," said Erdogan, who then stood up and walked out of the conference hall.

"Do you understand the meaning of a situation where hundreds of rockets are falling a day on women and children who cannot sleep quietly, who need to sleep in shelters? What is the matter with you? You don't understand, and I am not prepared for lies."

Peres's comments were met by hearty applause.
Erdogan asked the moderator, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, to let him speak once more.

"Only a minute," Ignatius replied.

Speaking in Turkish, Erdogan said, "I remember two former prime ministers in your country who said they felt very happy when they were able to enter Palestine on tanks. I find it very sad that people applaud what you said. There have been many people killed. And I think that it is very wrong and it's not humanitarian."

Apparently, the Turkish Prime Minister was never given the necessary time by Ignatius, to reply......

"President Peres, you are older than I am. Maybe you are feeling guilty and that is why you are so strong in your words. You killed people. I remember the children who died on beaches," Erdogan said, through an interpreter.

The Turkish premier then said, "Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. I don't think I will come back to Davos after this."......

Erdogan brushed past reporters outside the hall. His wife appeared upset. "All Peres said was a lie. It was unacceptable," she said, eyes glistening. "

COMMENT: Erdogan showed courage and was true to principle, unlike any Arab who was sitting there at Davos. This included the eunuch Amr Moussa, of the so-called "Arab" League, who sat quietly in close proximity to the war criminal, and his new ally, Peres!
Bravo Erdogan; you provided a badly needed example to the cowardly Arabs!

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Current Al-Jazeera (Arabic) Online Poll


The question is:

Do you support Hamas' call for a new nationalist Palestinian organizaion (authority) to replace the PLO?

With over 4,000 responding so far, 87% said yes.

Sayyed Nasrallah: Around 350 Martyrs' Remains Still with Israel


Al-Manar

When Sayyed Nasrallah Speaks I Listen Carefully -- Palestinian Pundit.

"29/01/2009 Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah held on Thursday a press conference to commemorate the "Freedom Day" (the commemoration of freeing Lebanese and Arab detainees out of the Israeli jails on 29/1/2004). The main part of the conference was devoted to details of the Operation Al-Redwan accomplished last May and in which all detainees in Israeli prisons, including chief of detainees Samir Qintar, were freed......

ISRAEL INCAPABLE OF ACHIEVING ITS GOALS IN GAZA
The Hezbollah Secretary General then tackled the 22-day Israeli deadliest offensive against Gaza that has claimed the lives of more than 1,400 Palestinians, including 420 children and injured thousands others. "The actual goal of the Gaza war was to subjugate and wipe out the Resistance and topple the Hamas government," Sayyed Nasrallah declared, noting that the Zionists did not have any declared goals of their war on Gaza.

Indeed, and according to Sayyed Nasrallah, the Zionist entity was incapable of achieving any of its goals in Gaza. "There was an international and Arab US decision to exploit what is left of the Bush period to change the facts. However, Israel has politically and militarily failed and some voices in Israel are saying that the failure of Gaza war is the same as the July War in Lebanon," his eminence pointed out.

Sayyed Nasrallah praised the Palestinian Resistance for its steadfastness, heroism and firmness. His eminence recalled that the Resistance's strength has pushed the Israelis to declare a unilateral ceasefire, although it hasn't achieved any of its goals. "Those who did not recognize the Resistance's victory in Lebanon won't recognize the victory in Palestine for the same political reasons," Sayyed Nasrallah noted.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah Secretary General noted that the Israeli war against the Palestinians, which has started even before the latest aggression, was still ongoing. "Gaza blockade continues amid dire humanitarian and economic conditions," his eminence noted, stressing that the war and aggression against Gaza is still going on, but in different forms.

"Linking the reconstruction of Gaza to political terms represents an unacceptable and humiliating form of political blackmail," Sayyed Nasrallah stressed. His eminence called on everyone to provide the Gazans with help without asking for return or setting conditions.

Hezbollah leader also condemned all “impudent” statements made by some European officials against the Palestinian Resistance. "One of the European officials condemned Hamas and called it a terrorist organization that launches missiles because it kills what he called "Israeli civilians." However, he didn't dare to accuse Israel of committing crimes," Sayyed Nasrallah noted. "This proves to us that the American-European do not even admit that Israel has committed the most barbaric crimes before the whole world."

Answering a question, his eminence reiterated Hezbollah firm position towards Egypt over the Gaza offensive. His eminence re-condemned the Egyptian regime "because it continues to close the Rafah crossing." His eminence accused the mentioned regime of "lying," stressing that the Rafah crossing was not open, “I doubt that this regime is an honest mediator because it works on imposing the conditions of others on the Palestinians.”

"My stance against the Egyptians was correct, and I still denounce their ongoing closure of the Rafah border crossing with Gaza," Sayyed Nasrallah said. "The opening of the Rafah crossing is crucial to the Palestinian people, the Resistance and the living conditions there… its closure is one of the biggest crimes in history," his eminence added.

More to follow.... "

Al-Jazeera Video: Gaza farmers devastated by war - 29 Jan 09



"The scale of the damage caused by Israel's war on Gaza continues to emerge.
Palestinian agriculture officials estimate the cost to the strip's farming sector will be more than 200 million dollars.
Al Jazeera's Mike Kirsch reports from Gaza, where many farmers are devastated at having to start again from scratch."

Al-Jazeera Video: Riz Khan - Jimmy Carter - 28 Jan 09

Part 1:



Part 2:

Al-Jazeera Video: Half of Gazas need psychological help to cope with the war 29 Jan 2009



"Israel's 22-day War on Gaza took a heavy emotional toll on the people there. Doctors say at least half the population needs professional help to come to terms with what happened.

And Palestinian men seem to have been hit particularly hard. Many had already struggled for two years looking for work in a territory under siege. Now the horrors of war have made the search even harder...and far more traumatic..."

Mash'al: we are working towards a political organization that represents all Palestinians

"Khaled Mash'al, head of Hamas' political bureau, said last night that the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in its current situation does not represent all Palestinians. [COMMENT: This is very true. Hamas should capitalize on the wide-spread support it has among Palestinians to organize a new Palestinian body representing all Palestinians, including those in the Diaspora. A new Palestine National Council, democratic, inclusive and open to all patriotic forces should be elected. The old PLO has long been hijacked and its carcass has been rotting in Ramallah for a while; we smell it all the way here in the U.S.]

The Hamas leader made his comments during a meeting in the Qatari capital of Doha at a conference called "celebrating the Gaza victory".

He added that the PLO serves to divide instead of reconcile. Moreover, he announced that he is working to reconstruct the factional body into what can be called, by today's terms, “the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.”

We must build a national reference to represent the Palestinians at home and abroad, including all national forces, the Palestinian people and the national trends.” Mash'al said.

During his speech, the Hamas leader sent a message to George Mitchell, the newly appointed US envoy to the Middle East, saying that political, security and military efforts would fail if the resistance groups are ignored........

At the end of his speech, Mash'el gave the stage to Mohammad Nazzal, Hamas political bureau member. At first, Nazzal thanked Mauritania and Qatar for the moral and financial support to the people of the Gaza Strip. He noted that the money that has been donated will reach those who desperately need it. "We want to ensure that funds reach those in need and that mechanisms for distribution run in a fair and transparent manner."

Nazzal finalized his speech by accusing some Palestinian and Arab parties of giving a cover to Israel's latest attack on Gaza. "I can confirm that there are Palestinian parties who knew of an impending strike, and also there is the involvement of the Arab parties before the outbreak.” "

Obama's arc of instability

By Pepe Escobar
Asia Times

"Announcing his new State Department, United States President Barack Obama stressed "America's commitment to lead". But lead where? Where's the boldness, the real change of mindset? The Pentagon's "arc of instability" hovers over Obama's "Clinton-3" State Department like a ghostly self-fulfilling prophecy. Unless, of course, the Obama White House really kicks out ideology and steers the US back to politics....

This will be a long war, which happens to be another Pentagon denomination for the "war on terror". Envoy Holbrooke himself said so, in a Foreign Affairs article published before the US presidential election: "The situation in Afghanistan is far from hopeless. But as the war enters its eighth year, Americans should be told the truth: it will last a long time - longer than the United States' longest war to date, the 14-year conflict [1961-75] in Vietnam."

A new Vietnam? No wonder progressive America is having a collective heart attack. This means, among other things, that Holbrooke will not talk to the Taliban - or the neo-Taliban in Pakistan. He will go all the way for Obama's surge - more US troops, more NATO troops and hardcore Vietnam-style counter-insurgency across the Hindu Kush. Obama needed only three days in office to already draw his first blood inside the Pakistani tribal areas....... "

The Charter of Hamas vs. the Charter of the Likud Party

The Charter of Hamas vs. the Charter of the Likud Party

"Zionist hasbara fighters claimed that it is impossible to talk with Hamas because its charter, written in 1988, calls for the destruction of the state of Israel.

Hamas leader Haniyeh has said publicly that Hamas is willing to accept a Palestinian state with 1967 borders and thereby will effectively recognize Israel. So from Hamas' site, a solution of the conflict is possible.

The Likud charter from 1999 as available on www.knesset.gov.il says:

The Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza are the realization of Zionist values. Settlement of the land is a clear expression of the unassailable right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel and constitutes an important asset in the defense of the vital interests of the State of Israel. The Likud will continue to strengthen and develop these communities and will prevent their uprooting.

The Government of Israel flatly rejects the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan river.

Judea and Samaria are the West Bank.

Likud is likely to win next month' election in Israel. Its leader, Netanjahu, promises to extend the Zionist settlements in the West Bank.

This violates international law, the roadmap and other peace plans......

The Golan

Based on the Likud-led government's proposal, the 10th Knesset passed the law to extend Israeli law, jurisdiction and administration over the Golan Heights, thus establishing Israeli sovereignty over the area. The government will continue to strengthen Jewish settlement on the Golan......."

We will sail again


Thursday, 29 January 2009 11:18
Written by Free Gaza Movement

"After talking to our partners in Gaza, many of our donors and discussing the situation in Gaza, we are announcing our next trip to Gaza during the week of March 2, 2009. We hope to bring in a cargo ship loaded with building supplies and medical equipment plus take a passenger boat as well. Over the next month, the organizers will be busy raising the funds to purchase both boats and are also going to put out a plea for building materials, especially cement, wood and PVC piping...."

Uprooted lives


By Ewa Jasiewicz - Jabaliya, Gaza
(Ewa Jasiewicz is an experienced journalist, community and union organizer, and solidarity worker. She is currently Gaza Project Co-coordinator for the Free Gaza Movement)
Palestine Chronicle

"Yesterday saw the first canvas tents go up in the Gaza strip to house internally displaced people. The UN estimates 50,000 people have been made homeless due to the bombing and bulldozing of homes and properties by Israeli occupation forces in Israel's 21 day offensive in the Gaza Strip. The displacement is just meters in the case of many families who don't want to move far from their ancestral land, and have opted to move into tents on the site of their destroyed houses.

People have lost more than their homes here. Entire families, living on family land, handed down throughout generations, have had their protection, life's investment, and community networks literally crushed. The Al Eer family, living on land close to the border in 'Izbat 'Abed Rabbu had eleven homes reduced to rubble, and had five members dragged out from under one home........."

'Five Minutes' With the PA Interrogators


By Khalid Amayreh – The West Bank
Palestine Chronicle

"When the Beirut-based Al-Quds satellite television interviewed me last week on the recent genocidal Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip, it never occurred to me that the few sound bites I uttered would land me in a slimy prison cell at the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority (PA) Preventive Security Apparatus (PSA) in Hebron.

During that interview, I was asked why the American-backed regime in Ramallah was not allowing large protests in solidarity with the Gaza Strip. I answered that the PA didn't want things to get out of control and that it didn't wish to antagonize Israel.

Interestingly, Israel itself had allowed a massive demonstration against the war on Gaza to take place in the Israeli Arab town of Sakhnin where as many as 150,000 people, including some Jewish peace activists, took to the streets to protest the nauseating killings and bombings of civilian targets all over the coastal enclave.

I further pointed out that Israel didn't really respect the PA and was effectively treating it as a subservient entity serving Israeli interests.......

On Jan. 18, shortly afternoon, someone from the local PSA center invited me to drink a cup of coffee with the head of office for five minutes. Eventually, the "five minutes" were stretched into 55 hours of nightmarish experience......

Half an hour later, I was taken to the PSA headquarters in Hebron, 14 kilometers away. There, I was scolded for "besmirching and distorting the PA image," "sowing discontent," and "indulging in incitement." ......

I told my interrogators that what they were doing was against the law, since the Palestinian law stated that "the security apparatus has no right to question, interrogate or detain a journalist in connection to his or her work." When I uttered these words, one operative scoffed at me, saying that "we are in Palestine, not in Sweden." .......

....... However, I did forcefully argue that suppressing freedom of expression, especially press freedom, was a very harmful idea. I further explained that when people are made to fear the government, it means that that the government is undemocratic and had a lot of things to hid from the people.......

I knew that the main aim behind my brief but unjustified incarceration was to make me exercise "self-censorship" and refrain from calling things by their real names.......

Unfortunately, very few people within the Palestinian security establishment understand the language of human rights and civil liberties......

Hence, one would exaggerate very little by saying that the situation of human rights and civil liberties is the West Bank is probably worse today than it ever has been since the establishment of the PA more than 15 years ago.

Rampant Violations

In truth, my latest experience pales in comparison to the more serious persecution haunting non-conformist journalists throughout the West Bank. Last week, PA security personnel assaulted and severely beat AP correspondent Majdee Ishtayyeh while filming an "unlicensed" demonstration in Ramallah. Ishtayya reportedly was taken to a nearby building where he was badly beaten, causing a severe hemorrhage from his nose.....

Last year, as many as 20 Palestinian journalists were imprisoned for relatively lengthy periods for reporting news or views the PA regime considers detrimental to their interests or image. Many of these journalists were beaten and even tortured for refusing to abide by the "official line." And in nearly all cases, concocted charges were leveled against them, such as "sowing division, incitement, and endangering national unity."

Last year, Awad Rajoub, an Al-Jazeera.net correspondent was detained in a PSA prison cell in Hebron in what he described "harsh and humiliating conditions" for 32 days.....Rajoub was accused of interviewing critics of the PA......

During my brief stint at the Hebron jail, I saw several inmates being subjected to the Shabah (hooding) technique where a prisoner is made to sit down in a small room with his hands tied to his back. At one point, I heard an inmate crying "why are you beating me, why are you beating me." ........"

اعترافات خطيرة للسيد أبو الغيط


اعترافات خطيرة للسيد أبو الغيط

رأي القدس

"اعترف السيد أحمد أبو الغيط وزير الخارجية المصري بأن بلاده عملت بدأب من أجل تقويض قمة الدوحة العربية الطارئة حول العدوان الاسرائيلي على قطاع غزة، لان انعقادها كان سيؤدي إلى الحاق ضرر كبير بالعمل العربي المشترك على حد قوله.
هذا الاعتراف يدين الحكومة المصرية ويؤكد ما كان يردده الكثيرون داخل مصر وخارجها حول مباركة هذه الحكومة للعدوان، بل والتورط فيه من خلال احكام اغلاق معبر رفح، ومنع وصول المساعدات إلى أبناء القطاع المحاصرين.
فالسيد أبو الغيط يتباهى بإفشال بلاده لهذه القمة، ولكنه لم يتحدث عن البديل الذي قدمته حكومته من أجل دعم العمل العربي المشترك الذي قال انه أفشل تلك القمة من أجل الحفاظ عليه، خاصة ان الضغوط التي مارسها رئيسه في قمة الكويت الاقتصادية هي التي عرقلت مبادرة المصالحة السعودية مع كل من سورية وقطر.
نتفق مع السيد أبو الغيط في أن قناة فضائية 'الجزيرة' لا يمكن أن تسقط الدولة المصرية، لان مصر أقوى من ذلك بكثير، ولكن ما نختلف معه هو ان السياسات الداخلية والخارجية التي تتبناها وتنفذها حكومته هي التي ستؤدي الى اسقاط النظام بعد تعاظم الغضب الشعبي المصري بسبب سياسات حكومته الفاشلة، واستفحال الفساد، والرضوخ للاملاءات الاسرائيلية.
فما يمكن استنتاجه من تصريحات السيد ابو الغيط هذه التي ادلى بها الى محطة 'اوربيت' الفضائية، ان الدور المصري الرسمي بات دورا 'تخريبيا' ومحصورا في افشال جهود الآخرين، خاصة اذا تعلق الامر بالسعي من اجل التصدي للآثار المدمرة للعدوان الاسرائيلي على قطاع غزة، وممارسة ضغوط على اسرائيل والدول الغربية الداعمة لها من اجل وقفه، مثلما تبين من قرارات قمة الدوحة الطارئة، ومساعي المشاركين فيها.
مصر تكبر بدورها كقوة اقليمية عظمى تتصدى لمن يهددون امنها الوطني والقومي، ويحاولون التطاول على دورها، ولكنها تصغر، وتتقزم، عندما تتخلى عن هذا الدور طواعية، ومقابل فتات المساعدات، ثم تتباكى عن ضياعه ومحاولة آخرين سرقته.
الهجوم اللفظي على ايران و'حزب الله' وحركة 'حماس' مثلما يفعل السيد ابو الغيط وبعض وسائل الاعلام الرسمي المصري، لا يمكن ان يجعل مصر تستعيد دورها ومكانتها في المنطقة، بل يعطي نتائج عكسية تماما، من حيث اظهارها بمظهر المرتبك العاجز.
مشكلتنا، والكثير من العرب الآخرين، مع الحكومة المصرية، تنبع من اصرارها على التصرف كقوة هامشية تابعة لمشاريع امريكية ـ اسرائيلية في المنطقة. فنحن نريد ان تستعيد مصر مكانتها ودورها الطليعي في العالمين العربي والاسلامي كقوة تتصدى للعربدة الاسرائيلية، ومشاريع الهيمنة الامريكية، ولا نعتقد ان النظام الحالي، برموزه التي نراها تطل عبر الشاشات، وبالسياسة التي يتبناها قادر على تحقيق هذا الحلم المأمول
."

The seeds of Latin America's rebirth were sown in Cuba


There was one region that saw the bankruptcy of neoliberalism - and now the rest of the world is having to catch up

Seumas Milne
The Guardian, Thursday 29 January 2009

"On 9 October 1967, Che Guevara faced a shaking sergeant Mario Teran, ordered to murder him by the Bolivian president and CIA, and declared: "Shoot, coward, you're only going to kill a man." The climax of Stephen Soderbergh's two-part epic, Che, in real life this final act of heroic defiance marked the defeat of multiple attempts to spread the Cuban revolution to the rest of Latin America.

But 40 years later, the long-retired executioner, now a reviled old man, had his sight restored by Cuban doctors, an operation paid for by revolutionary Venezuela in the radicalised Bolivia of Evo Morales. Teran was treated as part of a programme which has seen 1.4 million free eye operations carried out by Cuban doctors in 33 countries across Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa. It is an emblem both of the humanity of Fidel Castro and Guevara's legacy, but also of the transformation of Latin America which has made such extraordinary co-operation possible......

None of that means the global crisis now engulfing Latin America isn't potentially a threat to all its radical governments, with falling commodity prices cutting revenues and credit markets drying up. Revolutions can't stand still, and the deflation of the oil cushion that allowed Chávez to leave the interests of the traditional Venezuelan ruling elite untouched means pressure for more radical solutions is likely to grow. Meanwhile, the common sense about the bankruptcy of neoliberalism first recognised in Latin America has now gone global. Whether it generates the same kind of radicalism elsewhere remains to be seen."

أولمرت يؤكد لميتشل على ضرورة عودة غزة لـ "حكم عباس"


"القدس المحتلة - المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام

شدد إيهود أولمرت، رئيس الوزراء الصهيوني المستقيل، للمبعوث الأمريكي للشرق الأوسط جورج ميتشل على أهمية عودة السلطة الفلسطينية بقيادة محمود عباس (المنتهية ولايته) إلى قطاع غزة الذي يدير شؤونه حركة المقاومة الإسلامية "حماس" منذ الحسم العسكري الاضطراري.

وقال مسؤول صهيوني: "من الضروري بعد العملية التي قامت بها (إسرائيل) في قطاع غزة أن تتقلص سلطة حركة حماس وأن تكون السلطة الفلسطينية (سلطة رام الله) قادرة على ترسيخ قدميها من جديد في قطاع غزة"، على حد قوله.

وحسب المسؤول؛ فإن أولمرت أوضح لميتشل أن "فتح المعابر بصورة دائمة مع قطاع غزة مرتبط بقضية الجندي جلعاد شاليط"، الذي أسرته المقاومة الفلسطينية في حزيران (يونيو) 2006، وفشلت جميع المحاولات الصهيونية العسكرية والسياسية في الإفراج عنه أو معرفة مكانه.

وأشار أولمرت إلى أن "وقف إطلاق النار الساري منذ 18 كانون الثاني / يناير سيتم الالتزام به وتقييمه تبعاً لعودة الهدوء التام ووقف إطلاق الصواريخ وتهريب الأسلحة"، حسب ادعائه. وأضاف: "إذا أطلقت حماس النار فإننا سنرد".
"

Olmert tells Mitchell: Gaza should return to Abbas's rule

"OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Ehud Olmert, the Israeli premier, has told the American envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell that the PA leadership in Ramallah led by Mahmoud Abbas, the former PA chief, should return to rule the Gaza Strip.

An Israeli official quoted Olmert as saying that following the Israeli war on Gaza the Hamas authority should be eliminated and the PA in Ramallah should restore power in the Strip.

Olmert also told Mitchell that permanent opening of all Gaza crossings was hinged on releasing the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who is held captive in Gaza by Palestinian resistance factions.

The Israeli premier said that the ceasefire that went into effect as of 18/1/2009 would be evaluated in accordance with the halt in firing of locally made rockets on Israeli targets and a halt to the smuggling of weapons. ........"

Mishaal: We'll build national authority for the Palestinians at home and abroad

"DOHA, (PIC)-- Khaled Mishaal, the head of the Hamas political bureau, stated Wednesday in Qatar that his Movement would embark on building a national authority referred to by the Palestinian people at home and abroad and involving all national forces and trends.

During a ceremony held in Doha to celebrate the victory of Gaza, Mishaal said that there could be no reconciliation while the Palestinian people inside and outside are left without a national authority representing them, adding that the PLO, which Hamas is banned from joining or rebuilding, is impotent and an instrument of division.

He underlined that Hamas and other Palestinian resistance factions welcome dialog and reconciliation but on the basis of the national constants and not according to foreign agendas.

The Hamas leader said that any invitation for reconciliation would lose its credibility in light of the political arrests, the closure of national institutions and the coordination with the occupation, adding that those who want reconciliation must provide the appropriate climate and show good intentions. "I say clearly, after the blood of Gaza, the coordination in the West Bank with the enemy, that committed massacres against our people in the Strip, is nationally unacceptable. It is an enemy, not a neighbor or a normal party," Mishaal highlighted.

He pointed out that the statement which says that Israel withdrew from Gaza in deference to the will of the world is untrue and unjust because the Israeli occupation was aware that the cost of its aggression and invasion would be dearly.

The Hamas leader considered the victory of Gaza as the beginning of the liberation of Palestine, adding that the battle is still going on politically and militarily, and the Palestinian resistance has not yet put down their weapons.

Mishaal outlined a number of urgent issues which, he said, are on the agenda of Hamas for the next stage including the reconstruction file, noting that the criterion of success in this file is that the funds should reach every Palestinian in Gaza not the pockets of corrupt parties.

The Hamas leader declared his rejection of the Israeli ceasefire conditions, confirming that his Movement would not accept the equation of opening the crossings in exchange for Israeli captive soldier Gilad Shalit. He explained that the release of Shalit could be achieved through the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and the truce equation could be fulfilled through lifting the siege and opening the crossings."

Mashaal to Child Killer, Olmert: We Reject Israeli Conditions for Truce


Al-Manar

"29/01/2009 Hamas politburo Chief Khaled Mashaal said Wednesday that Israel's conditions for a long-term truce with Hamas were "unacceptable."

Mashaal said Hamas will not accept that Israel open the crossings with the Gaza Strip only after Hamas releases an Israeli soldier captured by Gaza resistance fighters in June 2006. "We were recently informed of (Israel's) conditions for calm ... We reject these Israeli conditions. We will not accept them," Mashaal said.

Mashaal spoke from Doha, Qatar, where he is visiting to thank Qatar for its solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza during Israel's 22-day offensive. His remarks were aired on Al-Jazeera satellite television.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said earlier Wednesday that crossings with Gaza "will only open permanently" after the freeing of Shalit.

Mashaal reiterated that Hamas insists that thousands of Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails be released in return for Shalit. Hamas has resisted any linkage between Shalit and the reopening of crossings. "In response to the child killer, Olmert," Mashaal said, "I say to you in the name of Hamas and in the name of the heroes who are holding Shalit, we will not accept that crossings be opened in return for Shalit."

Mashaal added that Hamas wants Palestinian detainees in return for Shalit's freedom. Israel has in the past rejected the demand, but media reports have said it is softening its position following the recent military offensive in Gaza..... "

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

عزمي بشارة: من ليس معنا يمكن أن يصبح معنا

عزمي بشارة

".....
وموقف أوباما من هذا الموضوع لا يبشر بأي الخير، وذلك ليس فقط في المضمون بل في التوجه والمقاربة أيضا. فهو ما زال يستخدم أدوات ومفردات مرحلة بوش في تقسيم العرب إلى معتدلين ومتطرفين بموجب ما يتطلبه أمن إسرائيل.
من حيث المقاربة لم ينبس الرجل ببنت شفة حول الجرائم الإسرائيلية في الحرب المجرمة على غزة، ثم عبر عن أسفه لحياة المدنيين في الجانبين، في غزة وفي "جنوب إسرائيل". ثم يبرر لإسرائيل قائلا أنه لا توجد دولة ديمقراطية تقبل أن تبقى مكتوفة الأيدي إزاء إطلاق الصواريخ عليها.
....
ونتابع في مسألة التوجه والمقاربة فنقرأ في لغة أوباما التي تمكنت في وقت قصير من استيعاب لغة الفوقية والوصاية اللازمة عند التعامل مع العرب والمسلمين. فهو يقول: "يجب على حماس أن توقف إطلاق الصواريخ، وسوف تكمل إسرائيل انسحابها من غزة، وسوف تعمل الولايات المتحدة وشركاؤها على وقف التهريب كي لا تعيد حماس تسليح ذاتها" ( نفس الخطاب يوم 22 يناير/كانون الثاني).

أنظر عزيزي القارئ أين تستخدم كلمة يجب، وأين تستخدم كلمة سوف!! وهو نفس التعالي الذي يجعل شخصا مثل لوي ميشيل يتكلم بهذه الوقاحة في غزة التي تسيطر عليها حركة حماس دون أن يتعرض له أحد. في حين أن دولته لا تسمح لممثل حماس بدخولها، وربما كانت سوف تسجنه لو صرَّح بمثل هذا التصريح على أرضها.. نقول هذا مع الاحترام للشعب والرأي العام في بلجيكا.
.....
لم يبق حاليا من جرائم الحرب الإسرائيلية والصمود الأسطوري لقطاع مأهول بكثافة ويمنع سكانها من الهرب من القصف إلا هذا التواطؤ بين الاتحاد الأوروبي والولايات المتحدة ودول عربية لغرض تحويل الإغاثة وإعادة الإعمار إلى أسلحة فتاكة (ضد المدنيين). ويفترض أن تكمل هذه الأسلحة طريق الحرب في الضغط على المدنيين وعلى حركات المقاومة لقبول الشروط الإسرائيلية.

وإذا اعتقدت أنك رأيت كل الغرائب الممكنة في حياتك القصيرة في هذه المنطقة، فسوف يفاجئك أن دولا أوروبية تدعو إلى الوحدة الفلسطينية. منذ متى هذا الحرص الأوروبي عليها؟ منذ أن فهمت أن هذا هو الطريق الوحيد لإنقاذ حلفائها العرب، ودفع حركات المقاومة لقبول شروط الرباعية.

فالولايات المتحدة، الـ"نحن" أعلاه لم تتغير كثيرا في قفزة واحدة. ما تغير هو استعدادها للحوار مع من ليسوا "معنا". ولكن هدف الحوار يبقى التوصل إلى نفس الأهداف (أو أهداف معدلة) بوسائل أخرى، تتناسب أكثر ليس مع العدالة والإنصاف، بل مع فهم أميركا الحالية لذاتها كقوة متنورة.

لم تنته الحرب على غزة. هي مستمرة بالأدوات التي فصلنا أعلاه: المعابر، الحصار، شروط الرباعية، التحالف مع المعتدلين، التأكيد على دور أجهزة الأمن الفلسطينية والدول المعتدلة.. ولا بد أن ترى القوى الشعبية وقيادتها أنه من المبكر إجهاض حركة الاحتجاج للمطالبة بتجميد العلاقات مع إسرائيل وعلى رأسها التنسيق الأمني، وفتح المعابر، ورفع الحصار، ومحاكمة المجرمين. فلا يجوز أن يتحرك الاحتجاج لمشهد الفظاعة والصورة التلفزيونية فحسب.

لن ينفع القوى المغتربة عن شعوبها دعم أوباما لها، فهو لن يكون أكثر حزما في دعمه لها من سلفه. وفي النهاية يبقى من يمسك بالأرض ويقاوم، بشرط أن يحْسِنَ تشخيص المرحلة والتخطيط وصنع التحالفات اللازمة لمواجهة التحديات المقبلة."

Gazan children denied treatment abroad

By Jonathan Cook

"JERUSALEM // For four days running, an ambulance has driven 15-year-old Amira Ghirim from Shifa Hospital in Gaza to the Rafah border in the hope that she will be allowed to cross into Egypt and then on to France, where she has been promised emergency surgery.

Amira’s left arm and thigh were crushed and her internal organs damaged by falling rubble when a shell hit her home in the Tel al Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza City in the final days of Israel’s offensive. The attack killed her father, brother and sister, leaving her an orphan.

But, despite her urgent need for surgery, Amira has been turned away at the border each time, said her aunt, Mona Ghirim. “Each morning we arrived at the crossing and the Egyptian soldiers cursed us and told us to go away.”.....

Mohammed Salem, the head of a medical group based in France known as Pal Med, was among the doctors accompanying the children through the crossing last Friday. He said the doctors had been allowed through, but the ambulances carrying the children were blocked. When the doctors tried to return, they were denied entry into Gaza.

We do not know why the children were refused,” he said. “We had organised all the relevant papers and documents. We were told once we passed through Rafah that the ambulance carrying the children would be allowed to follow.”

The reason appears to be a sudden change of policy by the Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah, which issued a statement the day before the four children tried to leave Gaza saying that it believed there was “no more reason to refer any more children for treatment abroad”......"

Behind the Bloodbath in Gaza

Foiling Another Palestinian "Peace Offensive"

By NORMAN FINKELSTEIN
CounterPunch

"......After the 2006 Lebanon war Israel was itching to take on Hezbollah again, but did not yet have a military option against it. In mid-2008 Israel desperately sought to conscript the U.S. for an attack on Iran, which would also decapitate Hezbollah, and thereby humble the main challengers to its regional hegemony. Israel and its quasi-official emissaries such as Benny Morris threatened that if the U.S. did not go along “then non-conventional weaponry will have to be used,” and “many innocent Iranians will die.” To Israel’s chagrin and humiliation, the attack never materialized and Iran has gone its merry way, while the credibility of Israel’s capacity to terrorize slipped another notch. It was high time to find a defenseless target to annihilate. Enter Gaza, Israel’s favorite shooting gallery. Even there the feebly armed Islamic movement Hamas had defiantly resisted Israeli diktat, in June 2008 even compelling Israel to agree to a ceasefire......."

Al-Jazeera Video: Palestinian father mourns son killed in Gaza 28 Jan 09



"The children of Gaza suffered heavily during Israel's 22-day assault on the territory.

More than 400 were killed and many suffered severe shrapnel or blast injuries when the Israeli military bombarded Gaza with air and mortar strikes.

One father who lost his son is Suleima Baraka. He was in the US and unable to return when an Israeli fighter jet bombed his home. This is his story in his own words..."

Al-Jazeera Video: Israeli army chief rabbi under fire over booklet - 28 Jan 09



"The Israeli army's chief rabbi has been critcised over a controversial booklet distributed to soldiers before the war on Gaza suggesting that they can ignore the rules of war concerning civilians.

Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland reports from Jerusalem."

Houses in a shocking state


Amnesty International

".....Today, we visited several families whose homes were taken over and used as military positions by Israeli soldiers during the three-week military campaign. In most cases, the families had fled or were expelled by the soldiers. In some cases, however, the soldiers prevented the families from leaving, using them as “human shields.”

In the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City, members of the Sammouni family told us that 46 of them, mostly children, were held captive in their home for two days in early January......

Every single room in the house had been extensively vandalized. In the houses, we saw Israeli army supplies, sleeping bags, medical kits, empty boxes of munitions and spent cartridges of Israeli bullets, providing incontrovertible evidence of the soldiers’ stay in these houses.

Every one of these houses we visited was in a shocking state. All the rooms had been ransacked, with furniture overturned and/or smashed. The families’ clothing, documents and other personal items were strewn all over the floors and soiled and, in one case, urinated on. In one house in the Sayafa area in north Gaza, several cardboard boxes full of excrement were left in the house – although there was a functioning toilet which the soldiers could have used.

Walls were defaced with crude threats written in Hebrew, such as “next time it will hurt more” and, in one house, a drawing of a naked woman. As well, in every case, the soldiers had smashed holes in the outer walls of the houses to use as lookout and sniper positions......"

No Change Coming With Obama

By Noam Chomsky

"The following is a Press TV interview with respected American author, political analyst and world-renowned linguist, Professor Noam Chomsky.

January 24, 2009 -- Press TV: Professor Chomsky, we better start with Pakistan. The White House not commenting on the killings of people [in cross-border drone attacks from Afghanistan into Pakistan]. Richard Holbrooke, someone whom you've written about in the context of Yugoslavia, is the man [President Barack] Obama has chosen to solve the situation......"

Gates returns to his Tehran hard line

By Gareth Porter
Asia Times

"Recent accusations from United States Defense Secretary Robert Gates that Iran is engaged in "subversive activity" sound oddly familiar. As a senior Central Intelligence Agency official and advisor to presidents, Gates has claimed for years that Iran wants weapons of mass destruction and plans terrorist attacks. And this would not be the first time Gates has used intelligence claims to torpedo an opening with an adversary...."

Video: Ali Abunimah discusses Obama's presidency with "progressives"

Video, GRITtv, 28 January 2009



"From closing Guantanamo to lifting the gag rule Bush era policies are coming to an end. But is it a new era of progressive government?......."

The shortcut to peace


A Very Good Comment

By Hasan Abu Nimah, The Electronic Intifada, 28 January 2009

"Because it is generally accepted by the so-called "international community" that Hamas is a major threat to Israel, and therefore to world peace and security, France has dispatched a frigate to participate in a new blockade of the Gaza Strip. The Sunday Times reported that United States naval ships hunting pirates in the Gulf of Aden have been instructed to track down Iranian arms shipments (25 January). Many other European states offered their navies to assist. Indeed, United Nations Security Council resolution 1860 emphasized the need to prevent illicit trafficking in arms and ammunition.

Unfortunately not one European country offered to send its navy to render humanitarian assistance to the thousands of injured, hungry, cold and homeless people in Gaza as a result of Israel's attack. Perhaps helping children dying from white phosphorus burns, or just lack of clean water, would be seen as supporting "terrorism.".......

The gunboats that Europe is sending to police the inmates of the Gaza Ghetto are not manifestations of strength, neither are they -- or the recent shocking statements of European Union Humanitarian chief Louis Michel in Gaza blaming Hamas for Israel's crimes on 26 January -- acts of responsible diplomacy in pursuit of peace and stability; they are a new prescription, if not a clear endorsement, for further bloodshed and war crimes. They are signs of a moral weakness and corruption unparalleled since Europeans stood by silently at stations and watched as their compatriots were loaded onto Nazi trains. Who could have thought that in the 21st century such things would need to be said -- and to those we thought had overcome their terrible history? But silence is not, and should not be an option any more. For years we have been told we should learn from the darkest episode in Europe's history, but never make comparisons to it lest we diminish its enormity. But the horrifying atrocities in Gaza which an Israeli official proudly predicted last March would be a "bigger holocaust" compel us to cast our reservations aside.

There is a shortcut to calm, the elimination of violence and eventually peace. It is a lesson that should have been learned many years, and countless thousands of lives ago: justice."

Protest EU Policy on Gaza: Sign the Petition


"To: European Union
January 26, 2009

Touring some of Gaza's worst-hit areas of Israel's 22-day assault which killed about 1,300 Palestinians, including 400 children, Louis Michel, a senior EU official and former Belgian foreign minister, described the situation as "abominable, indescribable". He then added:

"At this time we have to also recall the overwhelming responsibility of Hamas. I intentionally say this here - Hamas is a terrorist movement and it has to be denounced as such."

He then went on to state that there would be no dialogue with Hamas, saying its use of terrorism against Israeli civilians, including the use of "human shields" in Gaza meant it was not a legitimate resistance movement. He called on Hamas to recognize Israel's right to exist and to renounce violence.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7851545.stm

We the signators of this petition are shocked, appalled and outraged by these comments.

They are the moral equivalent of rubbing salt into the wounds of the people of Gaza.

We demand the immediate ouster of Louis Michel from his position as EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid. We also demand a public apology be immediately given to the people of Gaza, especially to those who have lost members of their family in Israel's 22-day attack on Gaza.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned "

Click Here to Sign the Petition