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Israel’s Gaza mess
Dina Ezzat, Al-Ahram Weekly 1/31/2008
     The crisis created by Israel’s blockade of Gaza is unlikely to go away anytime soon.
     "What will happen next? Nobody is telling us anything. We had a few days of freedom, but now we are going back to our prison," said Randa, a 26- year-old Palestinian woman, as she tried to climb a one metre high ladder over the wall separating Egypt and Israeli-occupied Gaza.
     Speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly late Friday evening, Randa was in pain -- to the point of tears. She was carrying her nine-month-old son with one arm and around 20 kilos of groceries she bought in Arish with the other. Following were her three young daughters, all primary school age, each carrying a bag as heavy.
     Several wooden ladders lined both sides of the wall in Rafah, set there for women, children and the elderly. As for the men, they were simply jumping the wall in endless waves while hundreds of Egyptian border guards and riot police kept watch. more..

Palestinian predicament
Ayman El-Amir, Al-Ahram Weekly 1/31/2008
     Developments on the Gaza-Egypt border have exposed a number of myths; from now on things will not be the same again.
     The recent Palestinian breakout from the beleaguered Gaza Strip into Egypt has provided temporary relief from the collective punishment imposed on the Palestinian population by Israel that remains, in effect, the occupying power. Egypt has behaved responsibly and with humane restraint towards the forced and sometimes violent influx of desperate Palestinians who are starved of food, fuel and medical supplies. However, the predicament of the Palestinians is not an exclusive Egyptian responsibility. A new plan for collective Arab intervention, perhaps apt for March’s Arab summit meeting in Damascus, will be needed to save the Palestinian factions from themselves, from Israeli monstrosity, and to stave off a third Intifada that would be disastrous for all.
     In 2007, three fallacies were debunked: that the Arab land-for-peace initiative had taken any root in Israeli or US thinking; that the Palestinians are united in their approach to solving the conflict with Israel; and that United Nations resolutions and the edicts of international law are of significant relevance to the settlement of the Middle East conflict. Two months ago, the US effectively sabotaged the Arab peace initiative by way of the farcical Annapolis conference, with full Arab complicity. True to all expectations, the conference produced nothing and was followed by nothing... more..

They shoot blind people, don’t they
Gideon Levy, Ha’aretz 1/31/2008
     Ahmed Sabarneh feels his way in the dark. He can see shadows and figures only and can identify individuals only from up close. He can barely read, even when his face is on top of the text. A rare hereditary disease is gradually making him blind. Now Ahmed also needs to use crutches. He climbs the stairs to his home with difficulty, one step at a time, coping with his poor vision and his injured leg.
     Israel Defense Forces soldiers shot Ahmed in the foot and since then he has had difficulty walking. They claimed he threw rocks at them but Ahmed says he can’t see well enough to do so. But the travails of the family from Beit Omar don’t end there: Acting on Shin Bet security service orders, the Civil Administration confiscated his father’s permit to work in Israel. For over 20 years Samir Sabarneh has done yardwork for homeowners in Jerusalem’s Bayit Vegan neighborhood. Some of his employers drafted a petition describing his dedication and loyalty and requesting that the permit be restored, but a Shin Bet officer tore the permit to shreds in front of Samir when he refused to confess to his son’s alleged rock-throwing. more..

Breaking the Gaza Wall
Allan Nairn, Middle East Online 1/31/2008
     Most all political violence consists of clear wrongs, like murder or unjustified war, but sometimes, sadly, disgustingly, some violence is justified as a last resort, and sometimes -- as a subcategory of that -- some of that justified violence is also wise, tactically.
     Once you get far outside the murder and the crimes of war and those against humanity, some of the choices regarding whether or not to use some violence can be legitimately tough and debatable.
     But the Gaza wall-breaking was an easy call: No people were killed, some may have been saved, and the spectacle of an exodus into Egypt effectively dramatized a gross injustice.
     It’s ironic that this was apparently done -- its not yet clear from what level -- by or with some Hamas people, since that’s a movement that has, in its bombings of Israeli civilians, been immoral, criminal and tactically stupid, turning the oppressed into oppressors, in many eyes, and turning some victims into actual murderers. more..

Bush’s Delusions Die in Gaza
Gary Kamiya, MIFTAH 1/31/2008
     It was a heart-wrenching story. Hundreds of thousands of people, trapped for endless years in an open-air jail and recently subjected to an airtight siege, blew up their prison wall and poured out to freedom.
     A 24-year-old man named Fares Al-Ghoul talked to the Chicago Tribune. "It was like a dream," Al-Ghoul said. "Suddenly in the morning we found out that we could travel. Everybody started to rush to the border, and I found my way inside. We walked a few kilometers but we were not tired. I was ready to continue walking forever. I wanted to explore everything. It was a taste of freedom."
     Freedom. It’s the ultimate American ideal. It’s what George W. Bush says he launched his "war on terror" to defend. But because this is Gaza, and the people are Palestinians, their freedom isn’t worth defending. Al-Ghoul is not going to walk forever, or even for more than a few days. He and the rest of his fellow prisoners are going to go back to their jail. And we’re going to forget about them. more..

Short Term Gain for Hamas, Long Term Gain for Israel
Ghassan Khatib, MIFTAH 1/31/2008
     The dramatic recent developments on the Palestinian-Egyptian border are direct and predictable results of the internationally supported Israeli siege on Gaza. It should have been expected that the mounting pressure on Gaza would cause a popular explosion. The Egyptian border was the weakest link in the prison wall, since all other escape routes, including the sea, are blocked by Israel.
     That the Egyptian border should be the weakest link is not a reflection of the performance of Egyptian security. Rather it is a reflection of Egyptian and Arab public sympathy with the suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza and a sign of support for the challenge they pose to Israel. The Egyptian government has paid a heavy internal political price for the Israeli siege, which has not been successful in weakening Hamas but has rather backfired by stimulating public sympathy for the movement. more..

Security Council loses credibility over Iran, Israel
Thalif Deen, Electronic Intifada 1/30/2008
     UNITED NATIONS, 29 January (IPS) - The 15-member UN Security Council (UNSC) is set to lose its credibility once again as it prepares to impose a third set of sanctions on Iran while failing to pass any strictures on Israel for its continued heavy-handed repression of Palestinians in Gaza.
     "Many ask whether the UNSC still has any credibility left," says Mouin Rabbani, contributing editor to the Washington-based Middle East Report.
     But the more pertinent question, he pointed out, "is whether it should have any -- after its consistent failure to ensure either peace or security, and of turning a malignantly blind eye to so many threats to peace and security and the basic rights of many millions."
     "Indeed, the UNSC’s continued obsession with Iran’s apparently non-existent nuclear weapons program, and its dogged determination to do nothing of consequence to address Israel’s very real occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip -- to the point of currently failing to issue even the lamest of statements on the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip -- speaks volumes," Rabbani said. more..

Refugee stories - Letters from Gaza (4) ... giving birth
United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in, ReliefWeb 1/30/2008
     I’m pregnant. That’s the happiest news a woman can get…in normal circumstances. In Gaza, the news that you’re pregnant comes with all the fears, worries and anxieties you can imagine.
     I found the news that I am once again pregnant to be a source of concern, not a source of joy. It’s a burden to have to worry about giving birth to a healthy baby in a safe environment; more so because I have to take medication during the entire cycle of my pregnancy. With the siege imposed on Gaza, I’m constantly worrying about the availability of the medicine I need for my health and the health of my baby. Sometimes I find myself overwhelmed to the point of exhaustion by the negative thoughts that invade my mind. How will my pregnancy end? Will something happen to ruin my joy?
     When a friend of mine went into labour and was taken by her family to a private clinic, she thought she would get better treatment. Instead the clinic wouldn’t take her in because there was no electricity. She was transferred to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where they also refused to admit her this time because they didn’t have all the equipment. With increasing labour pains and a heightening fear that she would lose her baby, my friend went to Al Shifa Hospital - finally she was admitted and was able to give birth. more..

Israeli High Court defies international law by sanctioning collective punishment
The Palestine Monitor, ReliefWeb 1/30/2008
     Ramallah - Today’s ruling by Israel’s High Court sanctioning the Israeli government’s October 2007 decision to cut fuel and electricity supplies to the Gaza Strip "is nothing less than the legitimisation of collective punishment - in direct violation of international law - by the very entity that is charged with protecting civil and human rights," said PNI Secretary General Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi today.
     Dr. Barghouthi underlined that Israel’s High Court has a history of defying international law, and of supporting policies that violate the rights of Palestinians. He explained that this latest decision has come from the same High Court that legalised Israel’s construction of the Wall, in opposition to the July 2004 advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which termed the Wall illegal and called for its dismantlement. more..

Direct action from Birmingham to Gaza
Anna Baltzer writing from Minneapolis, US, Electronic Intifada 1/31/2008
     Last week, the US celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the official end to segregation and racial discrimination in this country. As we celebrate certain historic advances, we mustn’t forget that these policies are far from over in this country, and that as we struggle against one injustice we are perpetuating another system of discrimination and segregation on the other side of the world in occupied Palestine, a land where there are separate roads, schools, hospitals, neighborhoods, and legal systems, access to which depends on one’s ethnicity or religion.
     In his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Dr. King "wept" from disappointment with the laxity of the church and its leaders in taking action against the status quo for fear of being considered "nonconformist." I recently met a young Palestinian Christian dancer (one of those censored in New England last December) who echoed similar frustration with churches around the world who are doing nothing to ease the suffering of Christians and others in the Holy Land. more..

Another world is necessary
Serene Assir, Electronic Intifada 1/31/2008
     Under siege since 9 June 2007, the Palestinian people of Gaza moved the world by breaking out and materially reclaiming their stolen freedom of movement, rights to travel to and from their country, and right to resist the illegal status imposed on them through occupation since 1967 and economic and near-total physical blockade since the democratic election of Hamas in the legislative election of January 2006.
     The present siege, which began shortly after Hamas’ takeover of Gaza, led to a total collapse of the Gazan economy, as well as an escalating humanitarian crisis affecting every aspect of life for Palestinian residents of the world’s most densely populated area, including business, health care and sanitation, state of mind, infrastructure and indeed survival itself. Israel’s total blockade that began one week before the popular disruption of the siege led to total power blackouts, to the extent that the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, whose role in providing assistance to 1948 refugees living in Gaza is central for the provision and distribution of goods including baby milk and basic foodstuffs, was rendered almost incapable of continuing its work. Where Gaza would have stood today without the act of disruption that awed the world last week cannot be gauged -- without pushing the limits of our imagination beyond the parameters of the worst plausible. more..

Yet another nothing
Khaled Amayreh, Al-Ahram Weekly 1/31/2008
     While Hamas is changing facts on the ground at Rafah, the latest talks between Abbas and Olmert go nowhere, writes in occupied East Jerusalem Click to view caption Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert shaking hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Jerusalem. Israeli and Palestinian leaders met to discuss control of the Gaza-Egypt border The latest meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas was supposed to be devoted to discussion of the recently re- launched peace process, following the Annapolis conference, more than two months ago. Recent dramatic events in the Gaza Strip -- namely the breakout of hundreds of thousands of starving and deprived Gazans into Egypt -- overshadowed the talks.
     According to Palestinian officials in Ramallah, Abbas pressed Olmert to lift the blockade on Gaza and allow the redeployment of Palestinian security personnel affiliated with the Ramallah government to the Rafah border crossing. Abbas, weakened -- at least psychologically -- by Hamas’s triumph in partially undermining the Israeli blockade, wanted to tell the Palestinians that while Hamas could achieve the spectacular feat in Rafah, it was he and he alone who could bring about a sustained arrangement that would allow Gazans a semblance of normal life by re-opening border crossings in coordination with Israel and the international community. more..

AIC: Genocide in Gaza, Ethnic Cleansing in the West Bank
Ilan Pappe, International Solidarity Movement 1/30/2008
     "There is no other way of stopping Israel than that of boycott, divestments and sanctions. The only soft point of this killing machine is its oxygen lines to ‘western’ civilization and public opinion."
     Not long ago, I claimed that Israel is employing genocidal policies in the Gaza Strip. I hesitated before using this very charged term and yet decided to adopt it. The responses I received indicated unease in using such a term. I rethought the term for a while, but concluded with even stronger conviction: it is the only appropriate way to describe what the Israeli army is doing in the Gaza Strip.
     On Dec. 28, 2006, the Israeli human rights organization B’tselem published its annual report on Israeli atrocities in the occupied territories. In 2006, Israeli forces killed 660 citizens, triple the number of the previous year (around 200). Most of the dead are from the Gaza Strip, where Israeli forces demolished almost 300 houses and have slain entire families. Since 2000, almost 4,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, half of them children, and more than 20,000 wounded. The point is not just about escalating intentional killings but the strategy. -- See also: Original article can be read here more..

Experimenting with Famine
Neve Gordon, Palestine Chronicle 1/30/2008
     The experiment in famine began on January 18, 2008. Israel hermetically closed all of Gaza’s borders, preventing even food, medicine and fuel from entering the Strip.
     Power cuts, which had been frequent for many months, were extended to 12 hours per day. Due to the electricity shortage, at least 40 percent of Gazans have not had access to running water (which is channeled through electric pumps) for several days and the sewage system has broken down. The raw sewage that has not spilled onto the streets is now being poured into the sea at a daily rate of 30 million liters. Hospitals have been forced to rely on emergency generators leading them to cut back, yet again, on the already limited services offered to the Palestinian population. The World Food Programme has reported critical shortages of food and declared that it is unable to provide 10,000 of the poorest Gazans with three out of the five foodstuffs they normally receive. more..

George Habash’s contribution to the Palestinian struggle
As'ad AbuKhalil, Electronic Intifada 1/30/2008
     I lived more than half of my life in the US and I never felt the alienationthat I felt on the day I read George Habash, the Palestinian revolutionary who passed away last week, labeled as a "terrorism tactician" in a front page obituary in The New York Times. What do you when they want to convince you that a kind and gentle man you met and respected as a person is a terrorist when you know otherwise? Do you quibble with their definitions to no avail? Do you go back and see how they wrote glowing obituaries for Zionist militia leader and later Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, a man whose record of killing civilians is as horrific and grotesque as that of Osama Bin Laden, former Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, Fatah Revolutionary Council founder Abu Nidal or Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet?
     But they can’t invent facts, and they can’t distort the narrative of Palestinian history. Many of my generation and older knew and respected George Habash. We did not worship him or declare him infallible. We respected that on the personal level he was incorruptible. Here was a man who refused more than the $300 monthly pension he was receiving in Amman, Jordan. Once, a group of wealthy Palestinians schemed to try to pay him in his later years because they did not want the symbol of the Palestinian -- the Arab -- revolution to die in poverty.He would not budge, not even to accept funds to hire a research assistant to help with his memoirs. more..

Dire scenarios demand Gaza solution
Lamis Andoni, Al Jazeera Middle East analyst, Al Jazeera 1/30/2008
     The sense of elation Palestinians felt while watching Gazans break down the wall and flood into Egypt is being replaced by the creeping realisation that Israel is now in a better position to cut loose the already isolated enclave.
     As Egypt reinforces its eastern boundaries after allowing thousands to seek direly needed supplies from its border towns, Palestinians fear that Israel is de facto turning over control of Gaza to Cairo.
     Israel, according to both media reports and Palestinian officials, is not ready to end its blockade and is now giving out signals that it would reopen the crossing points only if Egypt takes control.
     That would mean either of two scenarios.
     First, turn over the strip to Egypt and, second, pressure Egypt into sharing "security responsibilities" with Israel to control the Palestinians. more..

Passports to progress
Daniel Barenboim, The Guardian 1/30/2008
     I have often said that the destinies of the Israeli and Palestinian people are inextricably linked and that there is no military solution to the conflict. My recent acceptance of Palestinian nationality has given me the opportunity to demonstrate this more tangibly. When my family moved to Israel from Argentina in the 1950s, one of my parents’ intentions was to spare me the experience of growing up as part of a minority - a Jewish minority. They wanted to me to grow up as part of a majority - a Jewish majority. The tragedy of this is that my generation, despite having been educated in a society whose positive aspects and human values have greatly enriched my thinking, ignored the existence of a minority within Israel - a non-Jewish minority - which had been the majority in the whole of Palestine until the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Part of the non-Jewish population remained in Israel, and other parts left out of fear or were forcefully displaced
     In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict there was and still is an inability to admit the interdependence of their two voices. The creation of the state of Israel was the result of a Jewish-European idea which, if it is to extend its leitmotif into the future, must accept the Palestinian identity as an equally valid leitmotif. The demographic development is impossible to ignore; the Palestinians within Israel are a minority but a rapidly growing one, and their voice needs to be heard now more than ever. They now make up approximately 22% of the population of Israel. This is a larger percentage than was ever represented by a Jewish minority in any country in any period of history. The total number of Palestinians living within Israel and in the occupied territories (that is, greater Israel for the Israelis or greater Palestine for the Palestinians) is already larger than the Jewish population. more..

Fallout from the Gaza Earthquake
Patrick Seale, Middle East Online 1/30/2008
     The mass break-out of some 700,000 Palestinians from Israel’s open-air prison at Gaza has profoundly changed the political landscape of the Middle East. In magnitude, it can be compared to the impact on Europe of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Nothing will be the same again. There can be no return to the past.
     All the main actors in the drama -- Israel, Egypt, the Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia, the European Union and the United States itself -- will have to rethink their policies in the light of new realities.
     The most striking of the new realities is that the 1.5 million inhabitants of Gaza -- who had been reduced to abject misery by Israel cruel siege -- will never again accept being locked up. Gaza must be allowed to breathe, to trade, to be supplied with the basic necessities of life, and to live normally. more..

Rafah Crossing Equals Economic Boon
Anisa Abd el Fattah, Palestine Chronicle 1/30/2008
     The opening of the Rafah crossing at the border of Egypt and Palestine creates some unique opportunities for both the Palestinians in Gaza, and the Egyptians living near the border. No one has yet offered a number to represent the amount of money that vendors in the Egyptian towns close to the border must have profited over these past few days. Even though it’s no secret that the Egyptian government is presently under extreme pressure from its own people to improve the economic situation in Egypt and to alleviate the deep and pervasive poverty suffered by many of its citizens, not a single pundit has sought to highlight the fact that keeping that crossing open not only helps the Palestinian people of Gaza, it also helps the Egyptian people
     While it might be true that opening the crossing alone is not enough to restore the ailing Gaza economy, which has been in a state of near collapse for months, the result of an inhumane embargo, arbitrarily placed upon Gaza by the US and Israel in response to what are purely internal Palestinian affairs, the opening represents, among other things, new economic opportunities and possibilities for the people on both sides. If the crossing is left open, that area will likely become one of the most prosperous Egyptian trade areas, perhaps similar to Port Said in Egypt. more..

Palestinian Factionalism is Speeding up its Trip to Nowhere
The Daily Star - Editorial, MIFTAH 1/29/2008
     The anarchic situation in the Gaza Strip marks a new low in terms of the performance of Palestinian resistance organizations. From its beginnings in the 1960s, the movement has been depressingly vulnerable to petty internecine disputes exacerbated by conflicting loyalties to regional powers with little or no interest in liberating Palestinian land - but plenty of appetite for falsely aggrandizing their own images at home and abroad. Reduced to implements in the maladroit hands of cynical regimes, many of the Palestinian factions have been so badly diverted from their raison d’etre that one is tempted to ask whether their respective leaders even know where Palestine is - or was.
     The Arab governments that have contributed to this sorry state of affairs deserve their share of scorn, but it is the Palestinian groups that are especially worthy of derision because the cause they have served so poorly is supposed to be their own. Instead they have loaned out their services to a plethora of disinterested police states concerned primarily with the short-term shoring up of their own security by pretending to back the right side in the Arab-Israeli dispute. more..

Hamas Should be Included
Gordon Clubb, Palestine Chronicle 1/29/2008
     It’s easy to portray Hamas as the sole obstacle to progression in Israel-Palestine peace talks. However, the policy of boycotting the elected government has inevitably led to the movements’ hardliners solely aiming to function as spoilers. Further, this simplistic view also ignores the difficulties within the Israeli politic of accepting requisite compromises.
     A Washington Post article (Jan. 24) stated that recent events involving Hamas in regards to the Gaza-Egypt border demonstrated its ability to ’disrupt any movement towards peace between Israelis and Palestinians’. It concluded that the international community should pay more attention to the ’relentlessly terrorized’ Israeli civilians instead of condemning ’a partial three-day disruption’ of power. It should also increase pressure on Hamas so the peace process can move forward.
     Firstly, it was inevitable that an isolated Hamas would aim to derail the peace process. Since Hamas were elected they have been blockaded until they met certain conditions. Many pragmatists within the international community accepted that this was unachievable. more..

A written letter
Anna Baltzer, International Solidarity Movement 1/28/2008
     Letter From Anna Baltzer (young Jewish American woman and author of book "Witness in Palestine"): (excerpts from a sermon delivered in Minneapolis last Sunday, combined with some recent events)
     This week, our country celebrated Martin Luther King Day and the official end to segregation and racial discrimination in this country. As we celebrate certain historic advances, we mustn’t forget that these policies are far from over in this country, and that as we struggle against one injustice we are perpetuating another system of discrimination and segregation on the other side of the world in Occupied Palestine, a land where there are separate roads, schools, hospitals, neighborhoods, and legal systems, access to which depends on one’s ethnicity or religion.
     In his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Dr. King “wept” from disappointment with the laxity of the church and its leaders in taking action against the status quo for fear of being considered “nonconformist.” I recently met a young Palestinian Christian dancer (one of those censored in New England last December) who echoed similar frustration with churches around the world who are doing nothing to ease the suffering of Christians and others in the Holy Land. She spoke to a group of church-goers in Old Lyme, Connecticut... more..

IHT: Light through the wall
Fida Qishta, International Solidarity Movement 1/30/2008
     Life in Rafah, Gaza’s southern-most city, has always been difficult. But the period since March 2006 has been the worst in my 25-year life. Israel placed Gaza under a siege after Hamas won the Palestinian elections and tightened the siege after Palestinians captured an Israeli soldier near Rafah in late June 2006. We have had little electricity, fuel, money, food or medicine since.
     We felt some hope last week, however, when Palestinians knocked down the wall that Israel built along Rafah’s border with Egypt, allowing us to escape our prison and cross to Egypt to buy essential goods.
     The Israeli Army has destroyed about 2,000 homes in Rafah in the last seven years. In January 2004 they demolished our home. My grandmother, aunt, uncles and cousins had gathered in our house because their homes had just been demolished. more..

My Talks with Hamas
Dror Ze’evi, MIFTAH 1/29/2008
     Now I can reveal this: Several months ago, I participated in a series of meetings in Europe that involved a small group of Israeli and Palestinian public figures and academicians, including senior Hamas supporters.
     During our talks, they made it clear to us that as far as they could see, in exchange for Israeli willingness to stop the fighting and open the Gaza borders, Hamas will guarantee that quiet will prevail for a period of time to be determined by both sides. They expressed their willingness to talk about a long period of time – 20 or 25 years.
     The Hamas supporters did not hide their motives: At this time their organization is hurt and fighting with clenched teeth. It is interested in utilizing the armistice in order to rearm and rebuild its power, in the hopes that in another generation or two it would be able to attack more effectively.
     In my view, there was something refreshing in their honesty. Those were people who were not resorting to hypocrisy or two-facedness. They openly expressed their hope for Israel’s elimination, but also said that nobody can tell what the future holds. It is possible that in 10 or 20 years their views would also change, and perhaps their sons and our own sons would view co-existence in a different light. more..

Finally, a popular uprising
Amira Hass, Ha’aretz 1/30/2008
     The fall of the Rafah wall was a fitting combination of planning and the precise reading of the social and political map by the Hamas government, mixed with a mass response to the dictates of the overlord, Israel.
     Quite a few people in Rafah knew that "anonymous figures" had secretly been destablizing the foundations of the wall for several months, so that it would be possible to knock it down easily when the time came - but the secret didn’t leak. The hundreds of people who began leaving Palestinian Rafah right after the wall was breached did so despite the risk, and the precedent of the Egyptians shooting at those who infiltrate through the border.
     The leadership and public of Gaza, as two elements of the occupied people, were partners in the courageous and necessary step of breaking the Israeli rules of the game. The breach of the wall is a clear manifestation of the conception and temperament of a popular resistance among the Palestinian people, which for various reasons, were dormant in recent years. more..

Australia: Gaza Needs Help!
Sonja Karkar, Palestine Chronicle 1/29/2008
     Letters to the government and the Israeli embassy have brought no announcements.Not a single human rights organisation like Amnesty International Australia or World Vision has held a media conference to protest Israel’s illegal collective punishment of the Palestinians and no emergency relief was promoted over the air waves.In fact, while the World Vision website says that it works in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, there is not a word about the current crisis in Gaza or how one can donate to the Palestinians.Its emergency appeals certainly include deserving causes like the Bangladesh Cyclone, the Sudan Crisis, the Kenya Crisis and the Papua New Guinea Floods, but the very human calamity in Gaza does not appear on the screen.
     The churches are not much better when it comes to emergency relief for Gaza even if they are doing other ongoing good works in the occupied Palestinian territories. I know that this will upset some who believe they are doing their best to help the Palestinians, but the truth is that so much more can and should be done and should have been done years ago. Public appeals and announcements from the churches in Australia is necessary to stir the consciences of their parishioners to act. In the case of Gaza particularly, it has been necessary for a very long time. more..

Gaza Border Crisis Puts Egypt on the Spot
Ian Pannell, MIFTAH 1/29/2008
     Alaa smiled and pulled me by the arm. Firstly he wanted to check my credentials. "You are a foreign correspondent?"
     I nodded and we got the camera ready to record an interview.He shook his head - not an interview, he just wanted to just tell me something.
     In faltering English he declared: "This is the happiest day of my life!"
     Hamas militants had just breached the border wall with Egypt and once again thousands of people were again pouring across no-man’s land and in effect breaching the economic blockade of Gaza, imposed Israel says to stop militants from firing rockets into its territory.
     Audacious act The day had begun with Cairo declaring that the crossing would be sealed shortly after midday.
     Thousands of extra security personnel were brought in to support the poorly-equipped Egyptian border guards. Extra barbed wire was erected and thetroops moved into place, allowing people to leave, but no-one to enter. more..

POLITICS: Security Council Loses Credibility Over Iran, Israel
Thalif Deen, Inter Press Service 1/29/2008
     UNITED NATIONS, Jan 29(IPS) - The 15-member U.N. Security Council (UNSC) is set to lose its credibility once again as it prepares to impose a third set of sanctions on Iran while failing to pass any strictures on Israel for its continued heavy-handed repression of Palestinians in Gaza.
     "Many ask whether the UNSC still has any credibility left," says Mouin Rabbani, contributing editor to the Washington-based Middle East Report.
     But the more pertinent question, he pointed out, "is whether it should have any -- after its consistent failure to ensure either peace or security, and of turning a malignantly blind eye to so many threats to peace and security and the basic rights of many millions."
     "Indeed, the UNSC’s continued obsession with Iran’s apparently non-existent nuclear weapons programme, and its dogged determination to do nothing of consequence to address Israel’s very real occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip -- to the point of currently failing to issue even the lamest of statements on the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip -- speaks volumes," Rabbani said. more..

LEBANON: Palestinians Rush for Confirmation They Exist
Mona Alami, Inter Press Service 1/29/2008
     BEIRUT, Jan 29 (IPS) - The Palestinian Liberation Organisation headquarters in the posh neighbourhood of the now closed Summerland Hotel in Beirut is buzzing with activity. A few men in black, Kalashnikovs firmly in their hands, guard the entrance to the elegant building. A handful of veiled women and older men carrying papers scurry past them up the stairs to the PLO offices.
     In the waiting room, al-Jazeerah news channel is showing footage of Palestinians in Gaza storming into Egypt, and carrying back baskets of food and consumer goods. They are trying to beat the Israeli blockade that has cut off basic supplies.
     Some people in the room express outrage. Otherwise, it’s business as usual. Employees gather documents of hundreds of ’non-ID’ Palestinians as they are called, following the announcement that their status would now be legalised by the Lebanese government.
     Non-ID Palestinians suffer an uncommon plight: not only did they flee their land decades ago, rooted out eventually by establishment of the Israeli state in 1948, but they have been left with no legal status in Lebanon, their current land of refuge. There are an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 ’non-IDs’ still in Lebanon, and this has only recently led the government to announce legalisation of their status. more..

The PeaceMaker
Jonathan Ben Efrat, Electronic Intifada 1/29/2008
     I have succeeded in making peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. In an interview preceding the Annapolis Conference, Palestinian Authority (PA) negotiator Saeb Erakat claimed that peace could be delivered in half an hour. The basis, everyone already knows, is the Clinton draft: two states with border adjustments and division of Jerusalem. In my case, peace took two hours -- or, well, two years. I delivered it in 2009. I watched the express train glide through the Safe Passage from Gaza to the West Bank. I brought together Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian farmers; we are planning a tri-state organic cooperative. Jerusalem is the capital for all. Euphoria!
     How did I pull this off? As a subscriber to the Israeli daily Haaretz, I received, in advance of Annapolis, a computer game from the workshop of the Peres Peace Center. It begins with a survey of the conflict from 1922 until the end of 2007. I was offered the choice of being either the Israeli or the Palestinian leader. I chose the former. The game set me the goal of lowering the level of violence, providing Israelis with a feeling of security, and improving the economy. In addition, I was supposed to make life easier in the occupied territories and advance toward a peace agreement. I was provided with a range of tools, including the "stick" of selective assassinations, air strikes, curfews, etc. and the "carrot" of opening roadblocks, granting permits to work in Israel, and economic cooperation (as a reward to the PA for combating terrorism). I could also expand or dismantle the settlements and initiate projects to improve the Israeli economy, such as tax breaks or aid to the elderly. more..

A break in the siege
Osamah Khalil, Electronic Intifada 1/29/2008
     It is 4:30 Friday morning and al-Arish’s souq is alive and packed with people.When asked where they are from, the inevitable reply with a broad grin is "I am from Palestine!" This sleepy Egyptian resort town nestled in the middle of the northern Sinai coast has been virtually transformed over the past 48 hours by a massive influx of Palestinians from Gaza.
     Since the towering metal and concrete border wall that Israel began to erect in 2003 was demolished by Hamas early Wednesday morning, hundreds of thousands of Gazans have crossed the border with Egypt daily. Traveling by foot, car, truck, and donkey cart it is an unbelievable -- almost indescribable -- movement of people. The highway is jammed with packed taxis and pick-up trucks whose beds are filled beyond capacity and racing from Egyptian Rafah to al-Arish. Some journalists have called it a huge "jail break" and while the analogy to a prison is apt it does not accurately describe the horrors and humiliation suffered by Gazans during forty years of occupation and over 18 months of sanctions and siege. While this appears to be a temporary "break" in the siege, perhaps the best description of how Gazans feel is a deep exhale of relief and some joy -- both rare commodities here. more..

Obama and the Jewish question
Editorial, Ha’aretz 1/30/2008
     Not a year has passed since Danny Ayalon completed his term as Israel’s ambassador in Washington, but he has already seen fit to criticize Barack Obama, who may well be the next U.S. president or vice president. In an article published in The Jerusalem Post, Ayalon wrote that during his two meetings with Obama, he got the impression that the Democratic candidate was "not entirely forthright" regarding Israel. Similar and even worse smears can be found in abundance in American blogs and e-mail chain letters.
     While Obama was taking advantage of Martin Luther King Day to speak out against anti-Semitism among blacks, Jewish spokesmen were using racist language against him, solely because his father was Muslim. Since it is hard to find so much as a single anti-Jewish statement in Obama’s political record, or even support for anti-Israel policies, his defamers base their arguments on the fact that his positions on the Middle East conflict are "leftist" - solely because he rejects the right’s positions, which are more acceptable to some Jewish-American leaders. more..

Punishing Gaza only harms those backing peace
Daoud Kuttab, Daily Star 1/30/2008
     When the Gaza Strip was plunged into darkness last week as a result of the Israeli fuel blockade, many people around the world were surprised. But the optimism produced by the Annapolis peace process, which included President George W. Bush’s promise of an agreement in 2008 to create a Palestinian state, was clearly unrealistic.
     Gaza is usually viewed in terms of Hamas’ overwhelming support there, but the reality is much different. Opinion polls conducted in Gaza by the Near East Consulting Group in late November 2007 indicated 74 percent popular support for a peace agreement with Israel. Only 15 percent would vote for Hamas parliamentarians or a Hamas presidential candidate, compared to 55 percent for Fatah candidates. The Annapolis-inspired peace process received 81 percent support.
     Like many territories in the region, Gaza has had a long history of foreign occupation, extending to ancient times. In 1949, the Arab-Israeli war ended with an armistice agreement that divided Palestine into three parts, each under separate political control. Israel encompassed more than 77 percent of the territory; Jordan was left to rule East Jerusalem and the West Bank; and Egypt took control of Gaza. The Palestinian Arab state envisioned by the United Nations’ 1947 partition plan, which was to include Gaza, was never established. more..

Power of the people
Nada Elia writing from US, Electronic Intifada 1/29/2008
     Today, more than any other day in my life, I am proud to be Palestinian.
     Let me explain. Nation-states mean little to me. They represent artificial boundaries, legal restrictions, "No Entry" signs, and collective brainwashing into the "uniqueness" of cultures that only humans acknowledge. What fish has ever stopped swimming as it approached that most invisible "water line" separating one country from another? What migratory bird’s instincts made it hesitate for even the briefest of moments as it crossed from Canada to the US to Mexico, heading south for the winter? Show me a flower, even in the most private garden, that doesn’t mix its aroma with the flowers in the garden next door, with the highest "security fence."
     Such boundaries are unnatural. And because they are unnatural, I have never related to them. Yes, I have long advocated Palestinian rights, but my own national identity is tangential to my passion. I advocate Palestinian rights because they are human rights that are violated for the sake of these artificial boundaries. But today, as I see the Palestinian people represent the finest in people power, I am proud to be Palestinian. I am proud to be part of a people that refuses to submit to unnatural limits on our most basic freedoms: the freedom to eat, to drink, to grow. more..

Habash: The bearer of the dream
Lamis Andoni, Al Jazeera 1/28/2008
     George Habash, the Palestinian leader who was laid to rest on Monday in Amman after six decades of unwavering struggle, had two dreams: an end to the dispossession of his people and the realisation of Arab unity.
     He died without seeing either dream come true. In his last years Habash watched, with deep sadness imprinted on his warm persona, as Israel expanded, the Palestinian movement splintered, Iraq fell under US occupation and the Arab World growing increasingly divided.
     But he lived and died without forsaking his dream or losing faith in his people.
     "His message to the Palestinians was to restore our unity," Issam Al Taher, a senior aide, who saw him a day before his death said.
     "Unity, unity, unity - that was his only message," said Al Taher.
     To millions of Palestinians those were not solely the words of a political leader but also a soulful cry from a man described as "the conscience of the Palestinian revolution". more..

Alarm bells sound over "Jewish state"
Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani, Electronic Intifada 1/28/2008
     CAIRO, 28 January (IPS) - Within recent months, several Israeli and US officials have stressed Israel’s unique character as a "Jewish state." But according to many Arab observers, the designation negates the right of Palestinian refugees to return to Israel, and leaves the door open to expulsion of Israel’s Arab citizens.
     "The idea of a ’state for Jews’ neutralizes the right of some five million Palestinian refugees to return to what is now Israel," Abdel-Halim Kandil, former editor-in-chief of opposition weekly al-Karama told IPS. "It would also subject Arabs resident in Israel to the possibility of expulsion at any moment."
     The description was mentioned several times by top-level Israeli officials in the run-up to the US-sponsored Annapolis peace conference held in late November.
     Weeks before the summit, convened with the ostensible aim of restarting Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said recognition of Israel "as a state of all the Jewish people" constituted a starting point for negotiations. Such recognition, he added, would represent a "condition" for Israeli acknowledgment of any future Palestinian state. more..

One and Two State Solutions
Kathleen Christison, Palestine Chronicle 1/28/2008
     Among the panoply of reasons put forth against advocates of a one-state solution for Palestine-Israel, perhaps the most disingenuous is the injunction, repeated by well meaning commentators who believe they speak in the Palestinians’ best interests, that Palestinians would simply be irritating the international community by pressing for such a solution, because the so-called international consensus supports, and indeed is based upon, a two-state solution. At a time when the "international consensus" could not be less interested in securing any Palestinian rights, particularly in forcing Israel to withdraw from enough territory to provide for real Palestinian statehood and genuine freedom from Israeli domination, this call for compliance with the wishes of an uncaring international community is at best an empty argument, at worst a hypocritical dodge that undermines the Palestinians’ right to struggle for equality and self-determination. By telling the Palestinians that they cannot even speak out for one state without antagonizing some mythical consensus around the world, this line of argument undermines their right simply to think about an alternative solution.
     The one-state solution is envisioned as an arrangement that would see Palestinians and Jews living together as citizens of a single, truly democratic state, with guaranteed rights to equality and guaranteed equal access to the instruments of governance. Such a solution would mean the end of Zionism as currently conceived and the end of Israel as an exclusivist Jewish state, but it would guarantee equal civil and political rights for Israeli Jews and the right to encourage further Jewish immigration, just as it would guarantee -- for the first time -- equal civil and political rights for Palestinians and the right of Palestinian refugees exiled over the last 60 years to return to their homeland. more..

Border Control / Olmert’s man in Ramallah
Akiva Eldar, Ha’aretz 1/29/2008
     Prime Minster Ehud Olmert wouldn’t have had to ask twice: The barest of winks, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) would have sent every journalist in Israel a petition calling to keep the prime minister where he is. For good reason. People in Ramallah read the public opinion polls published in those papers, too.
     They read that MK Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud) said at the Herzliya Conference that the economy must be rehabilitated before talk on peace may begin, and they didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. Let Netanyahu show them exactly where an economy has flourished under a foreign army’s spears. Nor is Abbas pinning any hopes on Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the inventor of "there’s no partner."
     Instead of petitioning the Israeli public, Abbas invited several Kadima politicians for a visit, including Deputy Foreign Minister Majali Wahabi, MKs Michael Nudelman and Ronit Tirosh and Rishon Lezion Mayor Meir Nitzan, who is also head of the Kadima council. They met an exhausted, even somewhat extinguished politician who has lost half his kingdom and is clinging to the other half. Before answering any question about the diplomatic negotiations, Abbas squinted at Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala), who heads the negotiating teams along with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. His eyes sought out Qurei after every answer, as though expecting confirmation. One of the guests discerned a trace of scorn on Qurei’s lips. more..

The Tragic Political Geography of Fleeing
Rami G. Khouri, Middle East Online 1/28/2008
     BEIRUT - It was not exactly the Red Sea parting to allow a persecuted, enslaved people to flee to safety, but it was pretty close as far as political symbolism goes: Palestinians this week blew holes through the wall on the Egyptian-Palestinian border that Israel built to pen in the Palestinians in Gaza, and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians poured over the border into Egypt. They went mainly to purchase the simple everyday needs that had been denied them recently due to Israel’s policy of total isolation and strangulation of Gaza and its people.
     The scale and symbolism of events in Gaza clarify some simple truths about the Palestinian issue in its wider historical, political, and geographic context - and perhaps also its moral context, thanks to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s insensitive and obtuse call to “think creatively” about how to deal with the Gaza situation. more..

Gaza then and Now
Daoud Kuttab, MIFTAH 1/28/2008
     (This article was written before the flow of Gazans to Egypt) When the Gaza Strip was plunged into darkness last week as a result of the Israeli fuel blockade, many people around the world were surprised. But the optimism produced by the Annapolis peace process, which included President George W Bush’s promise of an agreement in 2008 to create a Palestinian state, was clearly unrealistic.
     Gaza is usually viewed in terms of Hamas’s overwhelming support there, but the reality is much different. Opinion polls conducted in Gaza by the Near East Consulting Group in late November 2007 indicated 74 percent popular support for a peace agreement with Israel. Only 15 percent would vote for Hamas MPs or a Hamas presidential candidate, compared to 55 percent for Fatah candidates. The Annapolis-inspired peace process received 81 percent support.
     Like many territories in the region, Gaza has had a long history of foreign occupation, extending to ancient times. In 1949, the Arab-Israeli war ended with an armistice agreement that divided Palestine into three parts, each under separate political control. more..

Gaza: Perpetuating Balfour’s Betrayal
Stuart Littlewood, Palestine Chronicle 1/28/2008
     A few evenings ago the BBC World Service broadcast a discussion featuring three people from Gaza and three from the town of Sderot on the Israeli side of the border.
     If the programme hoped to bring about a meeting of minds it fell a long way short. To start with, the BBC failed to set the scene or put the discussion into proper context. The Israeli team argued that the Gazans were given the chance to build their economy after Israel had ’withdrawn’, and if the Qassams would stop they could all live in peace. What might have been an interesting exchange of views degenerated into a boring confrontation. I was left wondering how a calm, constructive conversation would ever be possible.
     One of the Gaza team remarked afterwards that their Israeli neighbours showed no empathy, didn’t want to hear the truth and had claimed "God gave us this land". To an outsider like me it seemed that the two sides were as far apart at the finish as when the broadcast began, and on different planets entirely. more..

The Great Escape from Gaza
Aijaz Zaka Syed, Palestine Chronicle 1/28/2008
     "MR Gorbachev, tear this wall down." Visiting West Berlin and the Wall that separated the West and East Germany, and the West from the Eastern bloc, US president Ronald Reagan looked eastwards and threw that famous challenge at Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader.
     Of course, it was another two years before Reagan’s vision became a reality. But the Berlin wall did come down on November 11, 1989. And with it came tumbling down the mighty Soviet empire and the entire socialist bloc.
     Watching the Palestinians trample the Gaza border wall at Rafah crossing this week, I was reminded of Reagan’s historic words.
     No wall is high enough to imprison a free people. As a breathless Jacky Rowland of Al Jazeera, standing over the remains of the corrugated metal wall that the Rafah crossing was, put it, if Gaza was the biggest prison on the planet, this was undoubtedly the biggest prison break in history. more..

My Words to the Judge
Steve Baggarly, Palestine Chronicle 1/28/2008
     Editor’s Note: This statement is written by Steve Baggarly, one of the Blackwater Seven recently sentenced in North Carolina for staging a die-in on the property of Blackwater Security. The protesters were re-enacting the Nisoor Square massacre which had just occurred in Baghdad. This is his sentencing statement that he made available after appearing in court to be charged.
     A joint study released in October 2006 by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad estimated Iraqi casualties from the March 2003 US invasion to July 2006 at 655,000.
     Using internationally accepted methods for determining casualties in war zones, and with 90% of interviewees presenting death certificates, the study found that about 2.5% of Iraq’s population died as a consequence of the war up to that point. It estimated that over 1/3 of those were killed by US violence. During that time, Iraq suffered the equivalent of 17 Virginia Tech massacres per day.
     The US invasion created the climate of violence and abuse against all of Iraq’s people which the occupation sustains daily. The past 18 months the violence has continued. It stands to reason that several times the number of fatalities have been wounded, orphaned, widowed, blinded, raped, terrorized, tortured, or driven mad by the war. Add to that some 4.2 million Iraqi refugees and one gets a picture of an entire nation being destroyed, its people killed, maimed, and forced out, its children targeted and traumatized. more..

Rebel from a bygone era
Karma Nabulsi, The Guardian 1/28/2008
     ’His very name scatters fire through ice,’ wrote Byron of an 18th-century revolutionary leader, and so it has always been with the name of that extraordinary Palestinian George Habash. For those in anti-colonial movements across the world who learned and trained under him, his name embodies that inextinguishable human demand for justice and freedom. His exhilarating emancipatory model of resistance to injustice, his radical optimism and, above all, his tight political organisation scorched the consciousness of young people across the Arab world, mobilised masses and inspired a huge wave of talented artists and intellectuals.
     One doesn’t have to be a Marxist to appreciate the value of his extraordinary force. For 60 years Habash engaged in a non-stop struggle for Arab unity, human progress, women’s rights, liberation and equality. By founding the anti-colonial Arab Nationalist Movement, he lit a fuse throughout the region, from Yemen, where forces he trained and organised liberated the country from British rule, through the battle for Egyptian-Syrian unity, and Kuwait - which only has a parliament thanks to the movement’s impact - to the founding of trade unions across much of the Gulf. more..

George Habash
David Hirst, The Guardian 1/27/2008
     In his later years, George Habash, who has died of a heart attack, at an age believed to be 82, was often known as "the conscience of the Palestine revolution". He had been one of the very earliest founding fathers of that movement, which pioneered armed struggle and revolutionary violence as the sole means of liberating Palestine. Since it first emerged, in the 1960s as a potent new force on the Middle East stage, the movement suffered all manner of vicissitudes, and its ambitions were eventually reduced, almost out of recognition, to an endless series of surrenders to the exigencies of Pax Americana.
     But, out of sincerity, rather than the opportunism which has tainted other, lesser radicals of his kind, "Al Hakim"(the doctor or wise man), remained faithful to his original conviction that by force - and force alone - could the Palestinians recover their rights. In 1967 he had been the founder, of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). and he was to be faithful to his conviction that the rights he was fighting for included the recovery of the whole of original, pre-1948 Palestine, not just the additional territories which the Israelis conquered in 1967. more..

Farewell Hakeem, George Habash
Yousef Abudayyeh, Palestine Chronicle 1/27/2008
     Dr. Habash, popularly known as Al-Hakeem in dual reference to him being a medical doctor and the conscience of the Palestinian movement, is unmatched in Arab history.
     He is the quintessential intersection of Palestinian democratic nationalism, pan-Arabism, progressive internationalism, and egalitarianism.
     Yet, even such monumental attributes are but a small part of Al-Hakeem’s legacy.It is his unparalleled principled character, humility, love for his comrades and people, and unblemished history that coin him as the archetypical revolutionary leader.
     From the day he became a refugee in 1948, to founding the Arab Nationalist Movement and subsequently the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, to emerging as one of the most beloved Palestinian Arab revolutionaries in the seventies, to his final departure in Amman, Jordan, Abu Maysa’s 83-year journey is that of Palestine itself. more..

Going around in circles on peace
Khader Khader, Daily Star 1/28/2008
     Maybe the most important statement that US President George W. Bush made during his historic visit to the Middle East recently came when he told the Palestinian and Israeli sides that "tough decisions have to be taken." One tends to doubt whether Bush was really serious, considering the domestic political ramifications of "tough choices" on the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert. No doubt Bush must feel very happy that he has spent two presidential terms without having to face any "tough decisions" vis-a-vis the Arab-Israel conflict. As usual, he is leaving the dirty job for others to do.
     On the Palestinian side, Abbas faces questions and dilemmas of paramount importance that raise serious doubts over his credibility as a leader who can deliver results to his own people. Abbas insists that the Palestinian leadership will cling to "Palestinian constants" and legitimate rights as stipulated in international resolutions as the only way to achieve a "just peace." In other words, Abbas insists on a Palestinian state built on all the land Israel occupied in 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital and the right of return of Palestinian refugees, not only to that state, but to the lands and villages where they actually come from inside Israel. more..

Where have all the reports gone?
Ze'ev Segel, Ha’aretz 1/28/2008
     In February, 1983 the Kahan Commission released its report on the massacre of Palestinians in the Lebanese refugee camps of Sabra and Chatila. This was the only commission of inquiry to date that recommended removing a minister from his post.
     In restrained language, the commission said that it "was appropriate" for then defense minister Ariel Sharon to draw conclusions about remaining at his post, due to his indirect responsibility for the massacre. If he did not do so, the commission added, the prime minister, Menachem Begin, would "consider" removing him from his post. The commission mentioned the clause in the Basic Law: the Government authorizing the prime minister to dismiss a minister from the cabinet.
     Begin announced that he would accept the recommendation, which seemed clear enough. However, the prime minister did ask attorney general Yitzhak Zamir to interpret the recommendation. Zamir gave the recommendation a problematic interpretation, which Begin happily adopted. Despite the fact that the commission cited a clause in the law regarding the dismissal of a minister, Zamir determined that the recommendation could be actually implemented only by invoking a different clause, which authorizes the cabinet to transfer a minister to another ministerial post. Sharon thus became minister without portfolio. more..

Olmert is not alone
Akiva Eldar, Ha’aretz 1/28/2008
     The impression given these past few days is that the prime minister has no intention of making life easy for the "peace camp" by switching places with the foreign minister. If his colleagues send him home, Ehud Olmert will drag down the entire government with him. The crowds that will rush to Rabin Square should know: Whoever wants to get rid of Olmert must be ready to accept Benjamin Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman, and to hell with the Annapolis process and the Bush vision. The prime minister will not take this lying down, allowing everyone, including history, to walk right over him.
     On the other hand it is possible to make things more difficult: If the prime minister genuinely believes that without a two-state solution "Israel is finished," as he has said, then one would expect that he would sacrifice his personal interest for the benefit of the diplomatic process. Is there no other leader capable of filling his shoes and leading the government in the same direction - with determination, wisdom and courage?
     Well, this question was answered by the leaders themselves. According to their testimony before the Winograd Committee, not one of those pretenders to the throne has stood up to the test of leadership. more..

Still in crisis
Khaled Amayreh, Al-Ahram Weekly 1/24/2008
     The Palestinian Fatah movement will hold a general congress in March, or so one man says.
     Fatah, the largest Palestinian political movement and the mainstream faction of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), is planning to hold its sixth general congress in March. The last congress was held 18 years ago outside Palestine, before the creation of the Palestinian Authority (PA). Then, late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat dominated Fatah with his charismatic character and near absolute powers.
     Fatah, which is often viewed as a "supermarket of ideas", is already beset by internal disagreements, contradictions and competing camps, which many observers contend will eventually lead to the postponement or even cancellation of the long-awaited congress. The congress is viewed as a key occasion since it will elect the local, regional and national leadership of the Fatah movement, including members of the Revolutionary Council, the more powerful Central Council, and Fatah’s representatives in the PLO Executive Committee -- ostensibly the highest Palestinian decision- making body. more..

Sovereignty by stealth: Eyal Weizman’s "Hollow Land"
Ben White, Electronic Intifada 1/24/2008
     Last year, I experienced at first hand Israel’s new-look occupation. Intending to cross into Israel from the northern West Bank, I arrived at the Jalama checkpoint expecting the usual token passport check. Instead, I was told that it was forbidden for me to use this particular crossing point. For six hours I sat under the watchful eye of two soldiers, making calls to the British consulate, which, in turn, called various Israeli military officials.
     During my extended visit, I had plenty of time to observe my surroundings. One of the new "terminals" that Israel has built, Jalama is on the "Green Line," but there are others that lie well inside the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). These new checkpoints are built like international borders, with metal detectors, turnstiles, winding passages and the disembodied voices of security personnel.
     The occupation’s architecture has undergone a number of fundamental changes in recent years. The entrance to Bethlehem is now marked by a terminal, a towering concrete wall and an Israeli sign that reads "Peace be with you." Palestinians traveling within the West Bank now pass through the equally substantial Qalandiya terminal. East Jerusalem, meanwhile, is divided by the contorted loops of the Separation Wall. more..

It’s all about Gaza
MIFTAH, MIFTAH 1/26/2008
     It has been a week full of hardships and surprises, with the most surprising turn of events taking place on January 23 when hoards of angry and besieged Gazans tore down the Rafah barrier between themselves and Egypt. Armed Palestinians dynamited several holes in the wall while bulldozers tore down huge sections of it, allowing thousands of Gazans to flood into Egyptian territory to stock up on much needed supplies.
     What can only be called a massive prison break, Gazans defied an Israeli siege imposed on January 17, which brought a screeching halt to necessary supplies coming into the Strip, including fuel for Gaza’s main power plant. Huge swathes of the Gaza Strip were plunged into darkness for two days after the plant was forced to shut down due to a lack of fuel. In the days between January 19 and 21, the majority of Gazans were without electricity, which eventually led to a lack of basic food supplies such as bread. Schools were also disrupted as were businesses and hospitals while the closing of the crossings also entailed a shortage of necessary medical supplies. Gaza hospitals were reportedly running on generators and admitting only extreme emergency cases. more..

No Protection: Attacks Against Gaza’s Civilians Must End
Al-Haq, MIFTAH 1/26/2008
     As a Palestinian NGO committed to the protection and promotion of human rights and international humanitarian law, Al-Haq is deeply concerned by the recent military attacks carried out by the Israeli occupying forces in the Gaza Strip. These attacks, including ground incursions and air strikes, have displayed an excessive and often indiscriminate use of force in crowded residential areas, putting civilians at severe risk of harm and in violation of fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.
     Between 15 and 18 January 2008, at least 39 people were killed in the Gaza Strip, including three children and three women, and at least another 127 have been wounded. Since the beginning of 2008, Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip have caused the death of at least 72 people, including six children and eight women, and have injured at least another 208, amongst those were 34 children and 13 women. During the same period, the Israeli authorities estimate that some 130 home-made rockets were fired towards Israel from the Gaza Strip. more..

Naming Names from Gaza to Damascus and all the Way Through Lebanon!
Raghida Dergham, MIFTAH 1/26/2008
     There are times when naming names becomes inevitable because any reluctance to do so, whether in the name of diplomacy, politics or any other consideration, may terribly discredit the hesitant party and hurt the victims of harmful maneuvering, be they innocent civilians in Palestine or an entire generation in Lebanon. There are times when entrusted mediators or self-proclaimed backchannels have to act according to their consciences under a moral and political responsibility that obliges them to name things as they are. There are times when accountability becomes inevitable because turning a blind eye, shifting blame, accepting an imposed status quo, or giving in to games aiming at buying time and eluding obligations can be costly for all concerned parties.
     The list of those who should be confronted and demanded to end excess today bears several names:
     * The Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak who is lusting to get even with the Palestinians whom he believes were responsible for sabotaging the opportunity he had to enter history in the Camp David and Taba negotiations and stripping him of premiership to hand it over to Ariel Sharon. Today, Barak is getting ready to inflict a “collective punishment” on Palestinian civilians in revenge, while negotiating with Syria through backchannels to retrieve Syrian influence and control back into Lebanon as part of a regional deal that combines the fictitious hope of separating Syria and Iran and the anticipation that Syria can be preserved as a sponsor of radical organizations to weaken the Palestinian Authority. more..

From London to Lebanon and back again with love
Ayman Oghanna, Daily Star 1/26/2008
     Interview - British artist and unabashed romantic Tom Young endeavors to paint a portrait of the country apart from bombs and wars.
     BEIRUT: Dangerous, war-torn, lawless, a terrorist-infested failed state - for most people outside of the country, Lebanon hasn’t lost its enduring reputation for political turmoil yet. In the mainstream Western media, it continues to conjure up an assortment of negative stereotypes, even 18 years after the end of the 1975-1990 Civil War.
     True, recent events have hardly helped. Nevertheless, some people inside of Lebanon may be surprised to discover that not only is the country listed among the business magazine Forbes’ top 10 most dangerous travel destinations in the world (coming in one notch above Zimbabwe and two above the Palestinian Territories), it is a frequent fixture on the British Foreign Office’s sternly titled "Don’t Go" list - a privilege Lebanon shares with Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq and a handful of illustrious geopolitical hotspots to which Her Majesty’s Government strongly advises its citizens against visiting. more..

No easy journey
Galal Nassar, Al-Ahram Weekly 1/24/2008
     Predictable it might have been, but Bush’s tour of the Middle East did nothing to mitigate growing concerns over the future of the region, writes Galal Nassar Bush’s tour of the region held no surprises. It turned out exactly as expected. To entertain hopes that it might have positive results would have required terminal optimism.
     Bush once again asserted his right-wing and conservative politics, and the Zionists were thrilled. At one point during his visit we heard that a third world war could not be ruled out if Israel’s existence was threatened. It was the rhetoric of someone with born-again zeal. At another point the US president seemed to brush aside the very existence of the Palestinians, wanting the Arabs to recognise Israel as a Jewish state. The gist of his message was simple. Forget about the Arab peace initiative. Get on with the normalisation. Keep Israel happy. more..

As the Lights Go Out in Gaza
Kim Bullimore, Palestine Chronicle 1/25/2008
     Even the dead cannot rest in peace in Gaza. As the world sits by and does nothing, Gaza enters its 85th day under complete siege since Israel began "phase I" of its illegal collective punishment of the people of Gaza on October 28, 2007.Not only have almost a million people been plunged into complete darkness as a result of fuel reserves disappearing, food and other basic necessities have become scarce, as have medical supplies and the death toll continues to rise. Last Tuesday (15/01) another 19 Palestinians were killed by Israeli occupation forces in less then 3 hours, their death bringing the total killed in the Gaza to 113 in the 48 days since the Annapolis peace conference on November 28 (with 52 killed in the first 15 days of the new year) [1].But still for those who died, there is no peace.
     On Saturday (19/01), Israel’s leading Hebrew newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth reported on its online news site, YNet, that Palestinian health officials in the Gaza are reporting, as a result of the siege and growing death toll, there is a shortage of burial shrouds and that cement for burial tombs is scare [2]. What there is available, is only available at exorbitant prices on the black market and according to YNet, the dead are being buried, draped in flags and bed sheets. more..

Worse than a War Crime
Uri Avnery, Palestine Chronicle 1/25/2008
     It looked like the fall of the Berlin wall. And not only did it look like it. For a moment, the Rafah crossing was the Brandenburg Gate.
     It is impossible not to feel exhilaration when masses of oppressed and hungry people break down the wall that is shutting them in, their eyes radiant, embracing everybody they meet - to feel so even when it is your own government that erected the wall in the first place.
     The Gaza Strip is the largest prison on earth. The breaking of the Rafah wall was an act of liberation. It proves that an inhuman policy is always a stupid policy: no power can stand up against a mass of people that has crossed the border of despair.
     That is the lesson of Gaza, January, 2008.
     One might repeat the famous saying of the French statesman Boulay de la Meurthe, slightly amended: It is worse than a war crime, it is a blunder! more..

Parochial calculations
Khaled Amayreh, Al-Ahram Weekly 1/24/2008
     Tragic events are laying the groundwork for Palestinian national unity, but can it happen, asks The ongoing bloody nightmare in the Gaza Strip, including macabre darkness and the paralysis of life resulting from the embargo by Israel of vital fuel supplies to the already isolated coastal territory, is prodding Fatah and Hamas to recover Palestinian national unity. Deep-seated mistrust, however, as well as parochial political calculations pertaining to factional stature, is preventing a speedy rapprochement between the two sides.
     The latest spate of killings by the Israeli occupation army last week, including the murder of Hossam Al-Zahar, son of Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Zahar, briefly brought Hamas and Fatah closer together. Palestinian Authority (PA) and Fatah leaders called Al-Zahar, expressing their condolences on the death of his son. The bereaved Islamist leader lost another son, Khaled, during an Israeli assassination attempt on his life a few years ago when an Israeli F-16 warplane bombed and destroyed his home in downtown Gaza. more..

Divided they Fall: A Powerful Incentive for Hamas and Fatah to Reconcile
The Daily Star - Editorial, MIFTAH 1/23/2008
     Some of the condemnatory language flowing out of the international community is finally looking commensurate with the appalling tactics employed by Israel’s government and military in the Gaza Strip. Direct reprisals against civilians and other forms of collective punishment are war crimes, after all, regardless of whether or not the perpetrator has deigned to sign that part of the Geneva Conventions defining them as such. But it is not enough for outside powers to summon the courage to speak out against Israeli abuses. The more important goal is for Palestinians themselves to recognize the true target of the onslaught - their ability and willingness to restore a united front in the face of occupation.
     What better incentive could Hamas and Fatah, the two main players in the Palestinian power struggle, have than Israel’s depredations in both of their respective strongholds, Gaza and the West Bank (but especially the former), as an incentive to set aside their differences? Right now they disagree vehemently, but mostly over which of them is to blame for the meltdown that resulted in Hamas’ takeover of Gaza last year. However, their core dispute is largely over semantics: Fatah favors negotiations with Israel to end the occupation, while Hamas prefers rhetorical resistance combined with a long-term cease-fire to see where the talks might go. more..

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Palestinians in Lebanon Seek Right of Return
Rebecca Murray, Inter Press Service 1/25/2008
     TYRE, Lebanon, Jan 25 (TerraViva/IPS) - "We know when we start a campaign we work for an achievable goal," declares Wafa Yassir, the energetic head of Norwegian People's Aid (NPA), which runs programmes for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
     "And we know the right of return is not an easy goal. It may not happen in our lifetime.But we have to keep this right for the coming generation, and after that. And one day we will get it because it's our historic right and we won't give it up."
     She adds softly, "I cannot give up a country that we had, when I find my father crying when he sees Jaffa on TV. I cannot give this away." Pro-Palestinian organisations are set to participate in the World Social Forum, which takes on a different structure this year with broad-based civil society marking a Global Day of Action on Saturday, Jan. 26, in capitals around the world. more..

Gaza scrambles for supplies as border forced open
Rami Almeghari writing from Rafah, occupied Gaza Strip, Electronic Intifada 1/25/2008
     Three kids, their mother and their aunt hurried towards the Salah al-Din gate in southern Gaza on Wednesday.
     The mother, in her early thirties, explained in a rush, "We are heading to al-Arish [the Egypt border town] to follow my mom and brother who entered today after the borders were reopened."
     The family was not alone; thousands of other Palestinians thronged nearby, on their way to al-Arish, following the blasting through of the Israeli-built steel walls by Palestinian resistance fighters earlier that day. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians poured from Gaza into Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, breathing a collective sigh of relief following a half-year of Israeli closure of all Gaza border crossings.
     Those returning to Gaza carried everything from food to livestock. Other Gazans were carrying on their shoulders boxes of another precious commodity in besieged Gaza -- cigarettes -- the price of which has at least doubled over the past several months. more..

Down goes the wall
Laila El-Haddad writing from the United States, Electronic Intifada 1/25/2008
     Last night I received a text message from my dear friend Fida: "It’s coming down -- it’s coming down!" she declared ecstatically. "Laila! The Palestinians destroyed [the] Rafah wall, all of it. All of it not part of it! Your sister, Fida."
     More texts followed, as I received periodical updates on the situation in Rafah, where it was 3am.
     "Two hours ago people were praising God everywhere. The metal wall was cut and destroyed. So was the cement one. It is great, Laila, it is great," she declared.
     For the first time in months, I sensed a degree of enthusiasm, hope ... relief even, emanating thousands of miles away, via digitized words, from Gaza. Words that have been all but absent from the Palestinian vocabulary. Buried. Methodically and gradually destroyed.
     Of course, the border opening will only provide temporary relief. more..

Ali Abunimah discusses US presidential candidates on Democracy Now!
Transcript, Democracy Now, Electronic Intifada 1/25/2008
     As the news out of Gaza makes international headlines, Democracy Now! took a look at where the Republican and Democratic presidential contenders stand on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Democracy Now! spoke with Electronic Intifada co-founder Ali Abunimah on 24 January:
     AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to Chicago to Ali Abunimah, the co-founder of the online publication The Electronic Intifada, author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse Welcome to Democracy Now!, Ali Abunimah. Your response to what’s happening now in Gaza, from here in the United States?
     ALI ABUNIMAH: Well, I’d like to say that the suffering in Gaza has been so unremitting and so horrible and will continue. But I think we have to recognize and celebrate the resistance and the power of the people in Gaza. And we have to recognize that there has been a deliberate siege on them by Israel, a decision taken by the leaders of Israel to starve and inflict suffering on a million-and-a-half people. more..

Italians awaken to Palestinian pain
Sabina Zaccaro, Electronic Intifada 1/25/2008
     ROME, 25 January (IPS) - Several Italian civil society groups will mark the World Social Forum’s global day of action Saturday by pledging support for Palestinians.
     "This decentralized World Social Forum (WSF) offers to Palestinian democratic movements the chance of asking Europe to intervene and stop what Nelson Mandela has defined ’the new apartheid of our century,’" said Mustafa Barghouthi, a pro-democracy activist who was candidate for presidency of the Palestinian National Authority in 2005. He spoke from Ramallah during a WSF press conference in Rome Tuesday.
     The Palestinian international campaign to end the Israeli siege on Gaza has proclaimed 26 January the international day of action against the Gaza siege. In support, pacifist groups from Israel and occupied Palestine, and their supporters all over the world, will organize solidarity initiatives for people of Gaza. more..

Hebrew and Palestinian history, in reverse
Rami G. Khouri, Daily Star 1/26/2008
     It was not exactly the Red Sea parting to allow a persecuted, enslaved people to flee to safety, but it was pretty close as far as political symbolism goes. Palestinians this week blew holes through the wall on the Egyptian-Palestinian border that Israel built to pen in the Palestinians in Gaza, and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians poured over the border into Egypt. They went mainly to purchase the simple everyday needs that had been denied them recently due to Israel’s policy of total isolation and strangulation of Gaza and its people.
     The scale and symbolism of events in Gaza clarify some simple truths about the Palestinian issue in its wider historical, political, and geographic context - and perhaps also its moral context, thanks to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s insensitive and obtuse call to "think creatively" about how to deal with the Gaza situation. more..

Israel’s Jewish Fundamentalism
Hasan Afif El-Hasan, PhD, Palestine Chronicle 1/25/2008
     US news media including its major newspapers have for a long time misrepresented the nature of the state of Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in their news coverage and editorials. While failing to hold Israel and the US accountable under the international laws and while they vilify Muslim fundamentalism, the US media avoids any reference to Jewish fundamentalism. The influence of rabbinical scholars on the treatment of the Jews to non-Jews in Israel has never been touched by the US media. Those who criticize Israel for its policies have been accused of the ritual epithet anti-Semite or self-hating Jews. Ironically, only in Israel itself, there have been few voices of reason, although not enough, including human rights organizations that dare to examine the Israeli policies and even the Talmud and the rabbinical traditions that have turned Israel into a theocracy for Jews only.
     The late human rights activist, Professor Israel Shahak, an Israeli Jew and a resident of Israel for forty years who spent his childhood in the concentration camp in Belsen suggested that despite the claim that Israel is a secular state, it has been “shaped by religious orthodoxies of an invidious and potentially nature”. He stated that despite the claim that Israel is a secular state “Judaism has been used to justify its policies that are as racist, as totalitarian and as xenophobic, as the worst excesses of anti-Semitism”. Shahak argued that the obvious Israeli chauvism is rooted in the Talmud and rabbinical laws fanaticism. This has been demonstrated every day by actions of the Israeli establishment and settlers against the Palestinians in Israel proper and in the apartheid system that it created in the West Bank and Gaza. more..

Inextricably linked
Lucy Fielder, Al-Ahram Weekly 1/24/2008
     Paralysed by its own presidential crisis, Lebanon this week felt the reverberations of the torment of its Arab neighbours, reports As darkness fell on the hapless citizens of Gaza this week after Israel cut fuel to the Strip’s only power plant, Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah taunted the theocratic state by revealing that his group still held the body parts of some of its soldiers.
     "They [the Israeli army] were so weak on the field that they left behind remains not of one, two or three, but a large number of its soldiers," Nasrallah said. "One body is almost complete ... What did the army say to the family of these soldiers, and what remains did they give them?" he asked.
     Analysts agreed that Nasrallah’s graphic comments were intended to embarrass the Israeli leadership and sow confusion ahead of the expected release at the end of this month of the Winograd report into Israel’s dismal performance in its 2006 war on Lebanon. Nasrallah has suggested before that the Israeli government had come under pressure -- presumably from the US -- not to bargain with Hizbullah over the two Israeli soldiers they captured during the war. more..

The Gaza ’tea party’
Sami Moubayed, Asia Times 1/26/2008
     DAMASCUS - The Arab world is infuriated by the continued blockade and seizure of Gaza by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Anti-Americanism is on the rise, even in capitals that are loyal to the United States, like Amman, Riyadh and Cairo.
     "This is the doing of America," most Arabs believe, in harmony with its "war on terror" against Hamas, the military group that has been in control of the Gaza Strip since June 2007. The Americans have decided to wipe out Hamas, via Israel, while the Arab world is watching. That is the feeling in Arab capitals from Casablanca to Baghdad.
     For one thing, the Gaza events were a rude awakening for the Arab street, after sugar-coated promises for regional peace were made at the Annapolis "peace" conference in the United States last November. To understand the magnitude of what is currently happening in Gaza, and how it backfires on the reputation of the US throughout the Arab and Muslim world, Americans must look back in history, searching for a certain injustice - done to them - that mirrors what is currently happening to the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza who are being collectively punished for being in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong people. more..

Darkness, starvation and imminent death
Saleh Al-Naami, Al-Ahram Weekly 1/24/2008
     As Gaza is completely cut off, Israel escalates its air bombing campaign in densely populated neighbourhoods, writes Click to view caption Palestinians carry candles during a protest in Bethlehem against the Israeli halt in fuel deliveries which forced the closure of Gaza’s sole power plant Maher Al-Nazil has asked everyone he knows help in finding an apartment to rent in the centre of Al-Maghazi Refugee Camp in Gaza. Maher lives with his wife and three daughters near a police station on the western border of the camp. He fears for his family should Israel bomb the neighbouring police station. "The image of the family whose joy over their son’s wedding turned into horror and grief when the headquarters of the Ministry of Interior in Gaza was bombed last Friday remains with me, and I don’t want that to happen to my wife and daughters," he told Al-Ahram Weekly.
     Like Maher, most families who live near ministries, institutions and security establishments in Gaza have begun thinking about renting other homes for fear of Israeli bombs. The possibility of that for most, however, is next to zero due to impoverishment and a general shortage of apartments in the Strip. Rafiq Youssef, an officer in the Civil Defence agency, affirms that homes near targeted headquarters are in danger. "Israeli military jets, such as F- 16s, drop one-ton bombs, meaning that all the homes within 200 metres of the bombed site would be damaged," he told the Weekly. more..

Sword dancing while Gaza starves
Osamah Khalil, Electronic Intifada 1/24/2008
     A staggering disparity in images has emanated from the Middle East over the past two weeks.While US President George W. Bush received a warm welcome during his tour of the Persian Gulf, Israel pounded Gaza killing over 40 Palestinians, nearly half of them civilians. Bush participated in sword dancing ceremonies, watched the prowess of hunting falcons, and in the United Arab Emirates he was finally greeted with the flowers that he once believed American troops would receive in Iraq. The obscene displays of wealth and extravagant gifts by the Gulf states, whose coffers are flush with cash from near-record oil prices, contrasted sharply with the images of death and destruction unleashed on impoverished Gaza. This was compounded by Israel’s total closure of the tiny strip late last week, leaving the 1.5 million Palestinian inhabitants with dwindling food and fuel supplies. As the only power plant in Gaza shut down Sunday night, Palestinian children in a candle-light march covered by Al Jazeera asked, "Where are the Arabs?" Yet, the Arabs weren’t the only ones absent from the scene. Indeed, Gaza appears to have been abandoned by the entire world, further revealing the state of fragmentation and isolation of the Palestinian national movement. more..

Breaking out
Al-Ahram Weekly 1/24/2008
     As ordinary Palestinians force their way into Egypt from besieged Gaza, the Israeli-instigated humanitarian and political crisis is carried with them Click to view caption Thousands of Palestinians crossed the Rafah border on foot into Egypt, as a mule-powered cart transports goods into Gaza, after militants exploded the wall between the Strip and Egypt, in Rafah, Wednesday. Gazans trapped in what is considered the "world’s largest concentration camp" by a tight Israeli blockade poured into Egypt to buy food, fuel and other supplies that have become scarce in Gaza. The Gazans have kith and kin in Rafah, Egypt. Egyptian border guards and Hamas police took no action as Palestinians hurried over the border and returned with bags of food, boxes of cigarettes and plastic bottles of fuel.
     Qualified as a "war crime" by Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and illegal "collective punishment" by the European Union and international agencies, the humanitarian and political crisis created by Israel’s five-day hermetic seal on Gaza is taking a toll not only on the 1.5 million inhabitants of the impoverished coastal strip. Damaged "beyond repair", according to several Palestinians speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly from Rafah, is the image of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is being widely blamed for "turning a blind eye to the misery of his own people in Gaza" while continuing to engage in talks with Israel on peace. more..

Chasing the mirage
Hassan Nafaa, Al-Ahram Weekly 1/24/2008
     Peace, in Israel’s eyes, means ridding itself of Arab Israelis. Just and lasting are no more than a joke, writes Arab regimes may have reconciled themselves to negotiating for negotiation’s sake but it is not something with which the Arab public should have to live with s. Negotiations are a means towards an end, not an end in itself: if they fail to achieve their objective within a reasonable period of time they lose all value and become a burden, even more so when the phase in conflict management is twisted into an instrument for imposing new de facto realities that intensify and complicate the conflict rather than containing or alleviating it. When negotiations drag on unjustifiably and appear, as is the case in the Arab- Israeli conflict, like a wheel that is set to perpetually spin in place then what we have is something akin to a mirage, designed to lure the thirsty yet remain irrevocably distant.
     The process that ostensibly aimed to resolve the Arab-Zionist conflict began in the immediate wake of the October 1973 War. It will soon be 35 years old. Even supposing that it only began seriously with the 1991 Madrid conference, i.e. when it became a collective process in which all Arab countries took part, it is still more than 15 years old. It is a long time for a negotiating process, though such a span of time could be tolerated should it offer a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. Rather than light, though, negotiations have brought only dismay and an intensifying gloom, to the extent that many now believe there will not be a viable peace settlement should negotiations continue for a millennium or more. more..

The true miracle of Israel
Ramzy Baroud, Al-Ahram Weekly 1/24/2008
     What is remarkable is not Israel’s creation, but rather the perpetuation of the lies and the injustice upon which it survives, Israelis and their supporters tend to depict Israel as a country of miracles. What else could explain the country’s astonishing "birth" and subsequent survival against all sorts of "existential threats"? How else would Israel develop at such a phenomenal pace, making the "desert bloom" and continually scoring a high ranking amongst developed nations in most noteworthy aspects?
     Meanwhile, Palestinians continue to be depicted as "their own worst enemies", a people who "never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity" and who stand outside the parameters of rational human behaviour. Israel is often, if not always, contrasted against a regional backdrop of "backward", "undemocratic" and essentially violent Arabs and Muslims. more..

What is Mahmoud Abbas waiting for?
Ghada Karmi, Al-Ahram Weekly 1/24/2008
     It appears clear to all but the Palestinian president that resistance, not supine collaboration, is the only strategic option, writes With the appalling death toll in Gaza, relentless assaults on the West Bank (in which negotiations chief Ahmed Qurei’s own bodyguard was killed), and Israel’s blatant settlement expansion, one must wonder what Israeli atrocity, if any, would make the Palestinian president change course. True, last week he raised with his colleagues the possibility of suspending peace talks with Israel if it persisted in its assaults, but he has not acted. Why not?
     Surely Gaza’s plight should have been enough to outrage him, as it has done legions of people across the globe. The crowning act in a catalogue of murders took place on 15 January when Israeli tanks and helicopters invaded the Zaytoun district of Gaza, killing 19 people and wounding 50 in just 24 hours. The following day, Israel’s army killed another three Gazans, and the day after it bombed the Gaza Interior Ministry, killing one woman and wounding 46 others. Many more will die after this week’s power shutdown across 80 per cent of the Strip. more..

The Algerian model
Yair Sheleg, Ha’aretz 1/24/2008
     The future of Judea and Samaria has been the focus of Israeli discourse for decades, with both sides employing a mixture of ideological, ethical and practical arguments. Ranged on one side are the national and religious connections to the territories and the security fears about withdrawing from them. On the other is the ethical problem involved in holding millions of Palestinians without citizenship, and the fear that this situation will lead to heavy pressure on Israel to agree to the "one state for two nations" solution, which would eliminate the Jewish character of the state.
     In the background of this dilemma are many voices from among the opponents of evacuation, who are threatening to tip the balance using force. These groups say that even if Israeli society decides by democratic means in favor of evacuation, they will prevent it with violent physical resistance, which will make the evacuation of Yamit and Gush Katif seem irrelevant and the violent struggle in Amona look like child’s play. In light of these declarations many people, even those who support evacuation, claim that it cannot be done and that the settlement enterprise is irreversible. more..

Tyranny in tar
David Kretzmer, Ha’aretz 1/24/2008
     How did a road which, according to official declarations, was paved for the benefit of the Palestinian population in the West Bank become a road along which that same population is forbidden to travel? The case of Route 443 demonstrates the "logic" of a judicial hypocrisy that has for years characterized Israel’s reign over the territories.
     From the day the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) first entered the territories, Israeli officials there have invoked the authority of a military commander over occupied territory as the basis for many acts, such as seizing real estate, declaring local territory to be state-owned land, and imposing severe restrictions on the movement of the population. On dozens of occasions, the Supreme Court has ruled that the legal framework which applies in the territories is one of belligerent occupation. Within this framework, the military leader is supposed to base his decisions on two considerations - and on them alone: military needs and the welfare of the local population. more..

The Gaza Quagmire
Joharah Baker, MIFTAH 1/23/2008
     Apparently, the Gazans have had enough. This morning, after two days of demonstrating at the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, armed Palestinians dynamited several holes in the barrier and scores of angry and beleaguered Gazan citizens surged into Egyptian territory to stock up on basic supplies.
     Citizens brought back food, fuel, clothes and even cigarettes after months of a brutal Israeli-imposed siege and two days of total darkness. On January 17, Israel refused to allow fuel into the Strip, forcing Gaza’s main power plant to shut down. The majority of Gaza’s 1.5 million residents were plunged into darkness during two of the coldest days of the year.
     The suffering endured by Gaza’s residents is obvious – Israel has clamped a tight siege on the Strip ever since Hamas overtook the 360 square kilometer territory last June, only opening the border crossings intermittently to allow basic necessities through. Israeli military operations have been ongoing, escalating at times while ebbing at others. Since January 15, 39 Gazans have been killed by Israeli operations, many of these unarmed civilians. more..

POWER TO THE (PALESTINIAN) PEOPLE!
Jeff Halper, International Solidarity Movement 1/23/2008
     The people of Palestine have done it again, taking their own fate in their hands after being let down by their own "moderate" political leadership and, indeed, the entire international community in their struggle for freedom. Early this morning they simply blew up the wall separating Gaza from Egypt, breaking a siege imposed on them by an Arab government in collaboration with Israel.
     We, the peoples of the world, should take great pride and encouragement in this quintessentially civil society refusal to accept subjugation, to abandon their fate to governments, including their own, for whom the lives of ordinary people are simply grist for their political charades - Annapolis and its subsequent "peace process" being but the last cynical expression. For the Palestinians represent far more than just themselves. Their refusal to submit to the dictates of governments, or to governments’ lack of interest in the well-being of people in general, reflects the desire of billions of oppressed people for identity, freedom, a decent life and actualization of their collective and individual rights and potentials... more..

MIDEAST: In Gaza, It’s Darkness At Noon
Mohammed Omer, Inter Press Service 1/23/2008
     GAZA CITY, Jan 23(IPS) - It gets dark, and cold, and people are getting hungry.
     Israel closed border crossings Friday, not allowing even UN humanitarian aid trucks carrying basic food. Crossings have been closed frequently since October 2007.
     "On Wednesday or Thursday we will have to suspend our food distribution programme in Gaza," spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Christopher Gunness told IPS. "We are running out of fuel for vehicles."
     With 80 percent of the 1.5 million people in Gaza dependent on food aid, this latest severing of food sources is building up to a humanitarian catastrophe.
     Umm Jamal Al Baba, a 60-year-old from Rafah camp, stands visibly tired in a queue of hundreds for bread. "I can no longer make bread in my house -- there is no gas for cooking, no electricity." more..

Gaza siege intensified after collapse of natural gas deal
Mark Turner, Electronic Intifada 1/23/2008
     Israel has dramatically intensified its military campaign in the Gaza Strip, stepping up air strikes and shelling of the beleaguered coastal strip. UN officials and human rights advocates warn that Gazans now face a humanitarian disaster of unprecedented magnitude with widespread disease and famine rapidly becoming reality as electricity generation, water supply, sewage treatment, food supplies and medical services grind to a halt as a consequence of the ever tighter Israeli blockade.
     Israel claims its recent moves are retaliation for continued rocket attacks originating in Gaza that despite their consistency cause scant damage and few actual casualties. But the reasons may include motivations with roots back in 2000, when the British firm British Gas Group (BG) discovered proven natural gas reserves of at least 1.3 trillion cubic meters beneath Gazan territorial waters worth nearly $4 billion. -- See also: Britain's energy company BG Group says closing down its Israel office more..

Gaza’s last gasp
Sonja Karkar, Electronic Intifada 1/23/2008
     By now, people watching their news programs around the world would have caught a glimpse of Gaza City in candle-lit darkness.A pretty sight indeed if it were not for the fact that most of the people in the Gaza Strip will have to depend on these candles as their only source of light now that the power plant servicing much of Gaza’s population has shut down completely. There is no fuel to keep the plant running because Israel has imposed a complete lock-down of this most densely populated place on earth.That means no movement in or out of the Gaza Strip for people, or any kind of shipments in of vital food, fuel supplies and medicines.It is more than a miserable existence: it is a slow death.
     This is the sixth day of Israel’s draconian action against a people already suffering from the punitive sanctions imposed on them after their democratic elections in January 2006 did not yield a result palatable to Israel and parts of the international community. Israel’s latest 24-hour reprieve to let in some supplies is not going to change the circumstances under which the Palestinians have had to live for the last two years.At most, these supplies will last two days.The Palestinians have been struggling to survive in conditions that reached emergency levels even before this latest siege. Hunger, poverty and unemployment are widespread and in this maximum-security prison surrounded by Israel’s military cordon, disease, malnutrition and anarchy are dangerously close to breaking out. more..

Economic Warfare in Gaza
Yossi Wolfson, Palestine Chronicle 1/23/2008
     Israel is saying at last what, in the past, it always refused to acknowledge: its war is against the Palestinian population.
     Until now, in discussions about the separation wall, closures, blockades, house demolition, and other sorts of collective punishment, the State Attorney’s Office lacked the gumption to admit in court that the aim of such measures is to harm civilians. It always came up with convoluted security claims in order to present some vital military necessity for the sake of the War against Terror. Harm to the population was described as a regrettable side effect.
     But now a Rubicon has been crossed. This happened after ten human-rights organizations petitioned the High Court on October 28, 2007 against cuts in the supply of electricity and gasoline to Gaza. The petitioners claimed that the cuts amount to collective punishment, which is forbidden under international law. The State might have answered that the cuts are a necessary military measure aimed at stopping the production of Qassam rockets. Or it might have tried some other tongue twister. But no. In their response to the petition, Dana Briskman and Gilad Shirman from the State Attorney’s Office announced openly, without blinking an eye, that the cuts’ main purpose is to exert pressure on the economy as a way of influencing Hamas. more..

A day at the breach/Hamas planned blast for months
Amira Hass, Ha’aretz 1/24/2008
     Hamas operatives had been sawing away the foundations of the wall between Egyptian and Palestinian Rafah for a few months to make it easier to blow it up when the time came, a source close to the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) in Rafah told Haaretz yesterday. A central Hamas operative partially confirmed the report, although he told Haaretz it was PRC operatives who had prepared to breach the wall, while Hamas policemen did not interfere.
     In any case, Hamas has for months been discussing the need to take the initiative in ending the siege of Gaza. Apparently, after four days of hermetic closure, following months of siege, the planners believed the political and social conditions were ripe to bring down the iron wall that Israel had put up.
     Yesterday around 3 A.M., the people of Rafah were awakened by a series of blasts - between 15 and 20, people said. The hospital in Rafah was put on advance alert to prepare for those who might be injured by Egyptian bullets. People started heading toward the blast sites, but a source who knew about the plan ahead of time told Haaretz Hamas men prevented them from going over to the Egyptian side before sunrise. At 6 A.M., the first people started to cross over to Egypt, and their numbers steadily increased. The market on the Egyptian side of Rafah opened early in honor of the visitors. more..

Life and wildlife in the Jordan Valley
Henry Martin writing from the Jordan Valley, Electronic Intifada 1/23/2008
     The Palestine Wildlife Society has recently installed 64 nesting boxes for barn owls and kestrels in the Jordan Valley, in the area around Atuf village. Imad F. Atrash, director of the society, arranged for a public event on 2 January 2008, to celebrate the completion of this project at Atuf school.
     Accompanying the event was live fire by the Israeli army, who were conducting military exercises less than a mile away. As the volunteers rigged up the sound system and displays, an Israeli army jeep drove past, no doubt attracted by the gathering.
     Atrash spoke of his journey to this part of the Jordan Valley, from Bethlehem via al-Hamra checkpoint. He was stopped by soldiers, who demanded to know why he was traveling to the area. He told them of his work with the Palestine Wildlife Society. "The Palestinians have a wildlife society?" they asked incredulously, "Of their own?"
     "Yes, of course," he told them. more..

Bush’s silence won’t make Israel’s brutality any less counter-productive
Editorial, Daily Star 1/24/2008
     Washington’s refusal to endorse a draft United Nations Security Council statement condemning Israel’s siege of Gaza effectively advocated the collective punishment of 1.4 million Palestinian men, women and children. The US ambassador to the United Nations said that the initial draft statement produced by Libya was "unacceptable" because it did not mention Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel. Therefore the Americans, who are trying to portray themselves as honest brokers in a renewed peace process, are in fact in perfect sync with their Israeli allies in excusing the starving and killing of Palestinian civilians on the basis that the Jewish state has a right to defend its citizens in towns like Sderot (formerly known as Najd, before the village was ethnically cleansed of all its Palestinian residents in 1948) by any and every criminal means possible.
     Even if one were to accept a logic that allows for Israelis (but not Palestinians) to ignore basic human rights when it comes to "self-defense," several questions would arise. Do Israel’s actions have any chance of guaranteeing the Jewish state’s security in the long term? Does denying ordinary Palestinians "luxuries" like food and medicine do anything to undermine the forces of radicalism in Gaza, or do these gestures in fact bolster and compound the problem of extremism, giving rise to a new generation of angry Palestinians who will seek to retaliate against their oppressors? Is it not true that Israel’s aggression is the most effective recruitment tool that the militants in Palestine and across the region currently have at their disposal. more..

Palestine’s partition: not a solution then, or now
Musa Budeiri, Daily Star 1/22/2008
     It is perhaps time we look back and admit that the events of 1948 have been misunderstood.The establishment of a Jewish state on the larger part of Palestinian territory and the dissolution of the Arab national community in Palestine did not lead to a winding down of the national conflict over Palestine. The newly established state, alongside other newly established states in "Greater Syria," remained contested terrain. Indeed, the dynamics of the Jewish state in the making became themselves a predominant challenge. The 1949 armistice agreements put an end to armed hostilities but at most they amounted to a declaration of unfinished business.
     The significance of the June 1967 war was similarly misunderstood. It resulted in the creation of a new entity, the Occupied Territories, and gave birth to a novel Arab demand: the removal of the results of the aggression. Since then, Israel, which in 1948 managed to unburden itself of the larger part of its indigenous population, found itself in control of coveted territories, but with a large and rapidly growing native Arab population, negating Israel’s claims to "Jewishness". more..

Camp or Conspiracy?
Soraya Ulrich, Palestine Chronicle 1/23/2008
     What monsters could possibly be responsible for summary killings and deportations of peoples merely for their identity?
     The horrendous memory of what man is capable of in his darkest hour is a reminder of the fragile thread of humanity easily broken if not protected from greed. Once torn, we assume the aspects of hell; our culpability in Gaza for our awareness makes us accomplices. Our guilt is undeniable. Palestinians look for ways to escape from the camps; we cannot escape our conscience, if indeed, we have one.
     A fleeting woman is hosed down, her dignity washed away with the scarce water that she should be offered to quench her thirst with, as she attempts to escape into neighboring Egypt; she is escaping hunger, disease and death brought on by Hitler’s victims, victims who are re-reliving their past by creating a concentration camp they can peer into - a window into their tragic history. Perhaps they need to punish Palestinians for their Arab identity as a reminder to themselves that they themselves were humiliated for being Jewish. Exorcising their hatred, and with the backing of all the powers in the world, not only are they abusing helpless people who seem to be abandoned even by God, but Israel’s actions are offending humanity. more..

He Came, He Spoke, He Left
James Zogby, Middle East Online 1/23/2008
     Failing at home, President Bush traveled to the Middle East in an effort to secure success and respect in the last year of his presidency. During his recent seven nation tour of the region, he promoted the themes around which he hoped to build his legacy.
     Overall, there were some interesting rhetorical highlights, but not much else. In fact, the rhetoric was so detached from the region’s current realities (many of which are due to Bush’s own blunders and neglect) as to render the effort surreal.
     Nowhere was all of this more in evidence than on the first leg of the visit, which was designed, in the President’s words, to "nudge forward" the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
     If you listened with one ear (hearing only one-half of what the President said), and closed your eyes (ignoring the context) you might have been impressed. more..

Annapolis is Weakening Both Leaderships
Ghassan Khatib, MIFTAH 1/22/2008
     The Annapolis conference and process came about as a result of domestic politics in Washington, Tel Aviv and Ramallah and will continue to influence these domestic scenes, especially in Israel and Palestine.
     There is no doubt that one of the main motivations behind the conference and subsequent process came from the domestic political travails of the three relevant leaders. US President George W. Bush wanted to achieve something positive in the Middle East, or at least to give the impression that no matter how late, he tried. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas thought that by reviving the peace process he might bring back hope of a solution to a despondent public, strengthen the peace camp and, by the same token, weaken the Hamas-led opposition. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert assumed that engaging in a peace process could protect his job, including from the possible negative effects of the coming Winograd report on the Israeli government’s performance in the 2006 Lebanon war.
     But having convened the conference and started the process, the respective leaders have found that subsequent dynamics pay little heed to their original intentions. This, obviously, is especially so in Palestine and Israel, not only because this is the arena of conflict, but because the two leaderships are domestically vulnerable. more..

Isaiah in Babylon, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gaza
Rami Khouri, Middle East Online 1/23/2008
     BEIRUT -- I have two texts that I pull off my bookshelf every now and then for renewed stimulation and hope in times of conflict and pessimism. One is the Book if Isaiah in the Bible -- that great work of Jewish warning, faith and hope during times of peril in exile -- and the other is the collected works of Martin Luther King, Jr., the great American civil rights leader whose annual commemoration took place this week in the United States.
     These texts are powerful and enduring because they are universal, not particular. They emanate from contexts of ancient Jews in exile in Babylon, and African-Americans in exile in their own society, shut out from mainstream life, and equal rights. Their common theme is a simple one: Moral faith can overcome all pain, injustice and oppression, if we allow God’s and humankind’s values to guide our actions in our temporal daily life. more..

This brutal siege of Gaza can only breed violence
Karen Koning AbuZayd in Gaza City, The Guardian 1/22/2008
     Gaza is on the threshold of becoming the first territory to be intentionally reduced to a state of abject destitution, with the knowledge, acquiescence and - some would say - encouragement of the international community. An international community that professes to uphold the inherent dignity of every human being must not allow this to happen. Across this tiny territory, 25 miles long and no more than 6 miles wide, a deep darkness descended at 8pm on January 21, as the lights went out for each of its 1.5 million Palestinian residents. A new hallmark of Palestinian suffering had been reached.
     There have been three turns of the screw on the people of Gaza, triggered in turn by the outcome of elections in January 2006, the assumption by Hamas of de facto control last June, and the Israeli decision in September to declare Gaza a "hostile territory". Each instance has prompted ever tighter restrictions on the movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza. Each turn of the screw inflicts deeper indignity on ordinary Palestinians, breeding more resentment towards the outside world. more..

They neither see nor remember
Amira Hass, Ha’aretz 1/23/2008
     The security establishment was quick on Monday to boast of the success of its tactic of escalation against Gaza: Look, the number of Qassams declined. By the time these lines are published, the security establishment may spin another logical axiom: Since we renewed the supply of diesel fuel on a one-time basis, the Palestinians have gone back to firing Qassams. The conclusion: Continue the escalation. The logic of escalation is the middle name of the current defense minister, Ehud Barak, and many Israelis are adopting it.
     Barak was prime minister in September 2000, when the Israel Defense Forces responded with escalation to popular demonstrations against the Israeli occupier and to the throwing of stones: lethal fire against civilians, among them many children. Not surprisingly, the Palestinians did not understand the lesson and turned to escalation tactics of their own. That is how we reached the point where we are now - homemade rockets of all kinds, which become even developed, the more Israel escalates its punishment measures in response to them. more..

These Aggressions on Gaza must be Stopped
Mohammed Shaker Abdallah, MIFTAH 1/22/2008
     At least twenty Palestinians were killed, victims to recent one-day Israeli aggressive attacks. It was not the first time that so many martyrs fell by the Israeli army’s firepower, its the rockets and artillery shells. Yet they were bloodiest operations that occurred since the Hamas capture of the Strip and up till now.
     The Israeli government is seemingly aiming at implementing a policy of escalating its aggression, with the intention of luring the world into adjusting to the ever increasing tally of Palestinian causalities, and to indifferently watch the tragic events as routines, even if the number of the dead soared to hundreds.
     The international community, and the Arab world in particular, are required to prevent this Israeli plan, and to move in two directions:First is to put an end to these Israeli deadly aggressions in order to save the blood of the Gazans. more..

Photostory: As long as there is life, there is hope
Slideshow, Anan Odeh, Electronic Intifada 1/21/2008
     The year 1948 is the worst year in Palestinian history. It is the year of the destruction of Palestinian society and the dispossession and expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinian Arabs from their villages and cities by Zionist forces. Today, there are about five million Palestinian refugees around the world, still waiting to exercise their right of return. Most refugees live in the surrounding Arab countries Jordan, Lebanon and Syria; however some of them live very close to their original homes. In my case, I live only three kilometers from my own village: Lifta.
     My parents were born in Lifta, they spent their childhood in its hills and valleys. I inherited from them the memories of the life in Lifta with its easiness and hardships. Since I was a child I was addicted to my grandparents’ stories about Lifta. They told me that before 1948, about 3,000 Palestinians lived in Lifta, most of them where farmers. The lands of Lifta totaled around 8,700 acres planted with olive trees, figs, cactus and almonds. Lifta had hundreds of beautiful old-style homes, two schools, community club, olive press, mosque, library, and cemetery. On 28 December 1947, a Zionist terrorist group attacked the village coffee shop, killed five civilians and threatened the rest of the people forcing them to leave the village. The people left with the hope that they would return after a few days. Afterwards the Zionist forces bombed Lifta’s houses to insure that the indigenous inhabitants did not find anywhere to return to. more..

Partition was an Imperial Get-out Clause, not a Solution
Musa Budeiri, MIFTAH 1/21/2008
     It is perhaps time we look back and admit that the events of 1948 have been misunderstood. The establishment of a Jewish state on the larger part of Palestinian territory and the dissolution of the Arab national community in Palestine did not lead to a winding down of the national conflict over Palestine. The newly established state, alongside other newly established states in Surriya al Tabi’iya, Greater Syria, remained contested terrain. Indeed, the dynamic of the Jewish state in the making became itself the predominant challenge. The 1949 armistice agreements put an end to armed hostilities but at most they amounted to a declaration of unfinished business.
     The significance of the 1967 war was similarly misunderstood. It resulted in the creation of a new entity, the occupied territories, and gave birth to a novel Arab demand, the removal of the results of the aggression. Since then, Israel, which in 1948 managed to unburden itself of the larger part of its indigenous population, found itself in control of coveted territories, but with a large and rapidly growing native Arab population, negating its claims to Jewishness. This has been called a state of exception. There is constant recall of a virtual Israel that conjures up images of Israel within its 1967 borders. Not, it needs to be stressed, within the 1947 UN partition borders... more..

Who’s Dismantling Whom?
Akiva Eldar, MIFTAH 1/21/2008
     It is hard to believe that when Defense Minister Ehud Barak is offering to legalize some of the outposts, he does not remember what was written in the road map agreement. Just to make sure, here is a quotation from the document: "The Government of Israel will immediately dismantle settlement outposts erected since March 2001. ... Consistent with the Mitchell Report, GOI freezes all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements)."
     If Israel is seeking discounts in the settlement provision, why shouldn’t the Palestinians seek discounts in the war on terror provision? Will Barak agree to letting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas not disarm some of the Hamas armed men in return for Israel not taking down some of the outposts?
     It is hard to believe that Barak does not know that laundering outposts, the vast majority of which are built on private Palestinian land, is liable to cause the crib death of the negotiations on the core issues. more..

Jenin, Jenin
Gideon Levy, MIFTAH 1/21/2008
     It’s cold in the alleys of the Jenin refugee camp; it’s even colder indoors. Cold that is absorbed between the thin walls at night is trapped in the unheated, frozen spaces, even when the sun rises. Wrapped in their coats, their teeth chattering from the cold, the people sit and switch between Al-Aqsa, the Hamas TV channel, and Falastin, the Fatah channel, spending their empty days staring. One sees mainly dead bodies on these channels. Bodies carried to ambulances, bodies lying in refrigerators, and for the sake of variety, the injured being rushed to neglected hospitals, mainly in Gaza. A daily loop of death.
     In the home of Jamal Zbeidi, a member of the camp committee, the television also silently spews out pictures of death. We have visited his home dozens of times, but he has never sounded so desperate, he has never been so totally hopeless about everything - the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, Israel, the United States, the Arab world, the entire world. more..

This Time Next Year?
Daoud Kuttab, MIFTAH 1/21/2008
     President George Bush, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have committed themselves to give the world a new year’s gift in 2009: an independent state of Palestine. After decades of war and homelessness, oppression and occupation, settlements and walls, this is a welcome move. However, much needs to be accomplished in 2008 for this vision -- unlike previous ones -- to become a reality.
     Despite skepticism, various pieces of the Palestinian statehood puzzle are falling into place. The Bush Administration has countered the pro-Israel lobby and spoken of the strategic importance of Palestinian statehood for the United States. Standing next to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah last October, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that the creation of a Palestinian state is in the national interest of the United States. US National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley was then sent to the region as proof that the issue has now taken on a national security priority. And now, President Bush has made his first trip as president to the occupied Palestinian territories. more..

The Proof of the Pudding
George S. Hishmeh, MIFTAH 1/21/2008
     “It’s the occupation, stupid!” That was the writing on the huge sign carried by a Palestinian demonstrator as the 45-car motorcade carrying US President George W. Bush and his entourage drove to Ramallah from Jerusalem without stopping at the notorious Israeli checkpoint for his talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
     That was the essence of the give-and-take the visiting American president had with the leaders of four Arab states - Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia - he visited after his talks with the Palestinian leader and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
     My source is none other than Bush himself at his roundtable with the press corps that accompanied him on his first tour, eight days long, to the Arab world by an American president and just before his meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Sharm El Sheikh on the Red Sea. more..

Guantanamo as a Symbol
Ramzy Baroud, Palestine Chronicle 1/21/2008
     11 January marked the sixth year anniversary of the establishment of the Guantanamo detention camp. Mere months after the start of the 2001 United States invasion of Afghanistan, a large cargo plane landed in a US military base in Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay, bringing in a group of hunchbacked, orange-clad, blindfolded, "terrorist" suspects, apparently representing the worst of the worst. They included children and aged men, charity workers, journalists and people who were sold to the US military in exchange for a large bounty.
     The debate over this notorious prison has ever since been marred by easy reductionism. The fact is that Guantanamo is neither a warranted compound holding "bad people" -- as explained by the ever straightforward President Bush -- nor is it a dark spot in the otherwise luminous US record for respecting human rights, rules of war and international treaties. If anything, Guantanamo is a mere extension of a long list of untold violations practised by the Bush administration, which condenses the camp to being a symbol of widespread policy predicated on nonchalantly undermining international law. more..

Bombing at Qarantina, Lebanon
Franklin Lamb, Palestine Chronicle 1/21/2008
     That word again, Qarantina.
     Qarantina was the site of January 15th message to the Bush administration where a 33lb bomb killed three and wounded 21.The explosion destroyed the bomb resistant titanium reinforced US four wheel drive SUV. This day it was being used for an Embassy errand, a drop off at Beirut’s airport.
     Qarantina, forever etched in the black annals of Palestinian history is the area of east Beirut near the Port where on April 13, 1976 Phalange forces killed 26 Palestinian bus riders.A grisly crime, followed by another massacre of Palestinians months later in nearby Tal al-Zattar Refugee Camp whichbegan on August 12, 1976 and according to scholar Helena Cobban killed 1,500 Palestinians in one day, and eventually as many as 3,000 according to other reports.Qarantina and Talal-Zattar. Some historians argue that these events ignited Lebanon’s 15 year and Civil War which killed and injured 152,000 and from which Lebanon has never recovered. more..

A thundering silence
Haaretz Editorial, Ha’aretz 1/23/2008
     The 14-year-old girls who spent three weeks in jail because they refused to identify themselves after being arrested at an illegal outpost are just one example of what is happening in the religious Zionist camp. It is easy to feel sympathy for minors whom the legal system arrested as a form of punishment, since arrest is not supposed to serve this purpose. In that sense, the court that released them was right to do so. But on the other hand, it is impossible to separate this act of rebellion from its context: a growing number of citizens who deny the state’s right to enforce its laws on them.
     Through this symbolic act of rebellion, and the religious Zionist leadership’s overwhelming silence in response to it, religious Zionism has positioned itself as a movement that denies the sovereignty of the state. Such widespread rejection of the Israeli legal system’s authority cannot be found among Israel’s Arab citizens, among the non-Zionist anarchists of the left nor even in the most extreme ultra-Orthodox circles. more..

Border Control / From bad to worse
Akiva Eldar, Ha’aretz 1/23/2008
     ....After every meeting with Abbas over the last few months, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised his colleague that he would reduce the number of roadblocks, which are disrupting the lives of West Bank residents. They said it was important to show the Palestinians the difference between Fatahland and Hamastan
     But something is happening to the promises on the way from Jerusalem to Nablus. The report confirms the claims of Palestinians and Israeli human rights organizations that not only did the situation not improve, it even got worse
     Despite repeated pledges by the Israeli authorities to ease the closure regime, the number of physical obstacles in the West Bank increased from 528 to 563 between January and September 2007. These fixed physical obstacles are augmented by flying checkpoints, estimated at 560 per month, as of October 6. The closure regime, which controls and restricts access to workplaces, markets, health and education services, and impedes normal economic activity, is the main cause of the deteriorating humanitarian situation. more..

LEBANON: Deminers find new cluster bomb sites without Israeli data
Hugh Macleod/IRIN, IRIN - UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 1/23/2008
     Deminers from MAG scour farmland in the village of Zawtar West in south Lebanon for Israeli-dropped cluster bombs. The UN says an average of 10 newly infected sites are found every month.
     ZAWTAR WEST, 22 January 2008 (IRIN) - Deminers clearing Israeli-dropped cluster bombs in south Lebanon are turning up an average of 10 new sites per month, while Israel continues to ignore requests for data that would assist clearing the estimated one million unexploded bomblets, which continue to kill and maim civilians and decimate rural livelihoods. A single cluster bomb can disperse hundreds of bomblets.
     [Read this report in Arabic]
     "All these weapons systems are computerised and grid references are entered before the bombs drop. Not receiving the cluster bomb strike data from the Israelis remains our biggest obstacle to clearance,"� Dalya Farran, a spokeswoman for the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre for South Lebanon (MACSL), told IRIN. more..

Rights org: Gaza situation potentially disastrous
Report, PCHR, Electronic Intifada 1/21/2008
     At approximately 8:00pm on Sunday, 20 January, the Gaza Strip power plant ran out of fuel and shut down, plunging the Gaza Strip into darkness. The closure of the Gaza power plant, in addition to Israel’s continued, tightened siege on the Gaza Strip, will have a catastrophic effect on the 1.5 million residents of Gaza, who are already suffering chronic shortages of fuel, medicine and some basic food stuffs. The director of Gaza’s main hospital, al-Shifa, describes the current situation as "potentially disastrous."
     Israel is manufacturing a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip that is seriously deteriorating every aspect of civilian life. To date, 45 patients have died as a direct result of Israeli Occupying Force (IOF) closure and siege of the Gaza Strip. According to the Director of al-Shifa Hospital Dr. Hassan Khalaf, patients’ lives continue to be at stake, including the lives of 30 premature babies in al-Shifa Hospital, who will die immediately if there is a power cut at the hospital. Gaza’s second major hospital, the European Hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, has now suspended all major surgical operations. more..

Economic warfare in Gaza
Yossi Wolfson, Electronic Intifada 1/21/2008
     No more lies or twisted tongues. Israel is saying at last what, in the past, it always refused to acknowledge: its war is against the Palestinian population.
     Until now, in discussions about the separation wall, closures, blockades, house demolition, and other sorts of collective punishment, the State Attorney’s Office lacked the gumption to admit in court that the aim of such measures is to harm civilians. It always came up with convoluted security claims in order to present some vital military necessity for the sake of the War against Terror. Harm to the population was described as a regrettable side effect.
     But now a Rubicon has been crossed. This happened after ten human rights organizations petitioned the High Court on 28 October 2007 against cuts in the supply of electricity and gasoline to Gaza. The petitioners claimed that the cuts amount to collective punishment, which is forbidden under international law. The state might have answered that the cuts are a necessary military measure aimed at stopping the production of Qassam rockets. Or it might have tried some other tongue twister. But no. In their response to the petition, Dana Briskman and Gilad Shirman from the State Attorney’s Office announced openly, without blinking an eye, that the cuts’ main purpose is to exert pressure on the economy as a way of influencing Hamas. more..

Never against! European collusion in Israel’s slow genocide
Omar Barghouti, Electronic Intifada 1/21/2008
     The European Union, Israel’s largest trade partner in the world, is watching by as Israel tightens its barbaric siege on Gaza, collectively punishing 1.5 million Palestinian civilians, condemning them to devastation, and visiting imminent death upon hundreds of kidney dialysis and heart patients, prematurely born babies, and all others dependent on electric power for their very survival.
     By freezing fuel and electric power supplies to Gaza, Israel, the occupying power, is essentially guaranteeing that "clean" water -- only by name, as Gaza’s water is perhaps the most polluted in the whole region, after decades of Israeli theft and abuse -- will not be pumped out and properly distributed to homes and institutions; hospitals will not be able to function adequately, leading to the eventual death of many, particularly the most vulnerable; whatever factories that are still working despite the siege will now be forced to close, pushing the already extremely high unemployment rate even higher; sewage treatment will come to a halt, further polluting Gaza’s precious little water supply; academic institutions and schools will not be able to provide their usual services; and the lives of all civilians will be severely disrupted, if not irreversibly damaged. And Europe is apathetically watching. more..

Where does it end?
Ali Abunimah, Electronic Intifada 1/21/2008
     "The residents of Gaza can walk": A gas station attendant sits at his empty station that ran out of gas due to the Israeli closure of Gaza. (Wissam Nassar/ MaanImages Much of Gaza is once again in darkness, as Israel cut off the fuel to its only power plant. Hospital patients have reportedly died, communications are out, and movement and commerce in an already beleaguered economy have come to a near halt.
     Michele Mercier, spokesperson for the the International Committee of the Red Cross, said Gaza hospitals still had medications "but it won’t last for more than two or three days." Now, Gazans must also contend with the possibility of already scarce food supplies being cut off. Christopher Gunness of UNRWA, the UN relief agency, said the agency could be forced to suspend food distribution to 860,000 people because of the shortage of fuel and plastic bags.
     The New York Times, always to be counted on to provide the right euphemisms, reported that "Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak, ordered a temporary halt on all imports into the Hamas-run Gaza Strip late last week. The measure, along with stepped-up military operations in Gaza, was meant to persuade Palestinian militants there to stop firing rockets at Israel." (Isabel Kershner, "Fuel Shortage Shuts Gaza Power Plant, Leaving City Dark," 21 January 2008.) more..

Lift the Siege off Gaza
MIFTAH, MIFTAH 1/21/2008
     MIFTAH, the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy expresses its grave concern for the deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip, particularly after Israeli authorities completely banned basic fuel and food supplies from entering the Strip. Gaza’s main power plant shut down on January 20 due to the lack of fuel, plunging the overwhelming majority of the Strip into darkness.
     The Gaza Strip, which has been suffering from the blockade imposed by Israel since last June, is now facing an escalating humanitarian crisis. There is a severe shortage of medical and food supplies, hospital generators have shut down and basic necessities are extremely scarce.
     MIFTAH views this newest Israeli punitive measure with much concern and alarm, given that an entire civilian population is being punished in order for Israel to forward its own political agenda. MIFTAH calls on Israel to immediately reverse these punitive measures in line with its obligations towards international humanitarian law. MIFTAH also calls on all voices of conscience worldwide to protest this cruel and inhumane collective punishment and demand that Israel reopen the borders to allow fuel and basic supplies into the Strip. more..

Gaza and the recognition of Israel
Bobby Noe, International Solidarity Movement 1/21/2008
     Gaza Region
     As has been covered in the news extensively, Gaza’s only power plant has shut down as there is no longer any fuel left to run it. 1.5 million people are in darkness and according to a health ministry official the hospitals " have the choice to either cut electricity on babies in the maternity ward or heart surgery patients or stop operating rooms,"�. The UN is almost out of bags with which to distribute the pitiful amount of humanitarian aid Israel allows into the strip. Gaza is a humanitarian disaster on epic proportions.
     Most western news outlets are talking incessantly about the rocket attacks, stating that they are the reason for the siege of Gaza, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
     Hamas have actually offered numerous ceasefires and the level of rocket attacks have decreased of late (ref 1). As the level of rocket attacks has decreased, Israeli military operations have intensified to include regular air strikes, and the level of supplies reaching the strip has been further reduced. more..

What Bush left behind
Mohammed Ali writing from the Gaza Strip, occupied Palestine, Electronic Intifada 1/21/2008
     Since US President George W. Bush’s visit to this part of the world, at least 38 Gazans were killed and another 1,500 were injured as a result of Israeli military attacks. This escalation of violence came right after Bush’s trip to Israel and Ramallah, as Israel enjoyed an obvious green light from the US as the Arab and Islamic world sat by and watched.
     For anyone who might believe that Bush’s visit would improve the lives of Palestinians in general and of Gazans in particular, let me assure you that the opposite has occurred.
     Electricity cuts still plague Gaza. Ambulance sirens wail one after the other; the smell of death is everywhere. Gazans have no life anymore, and Bush and Israel are to thank.
     On Wednesday a 27-year-old father, his nine-year-old son and his brother were all killed in an Israeli air strike. Israel said that the incident was an error. Such a mistake ended the lives of three innocents civilians from the same family. more..

Voices From the Past Pose Questions in the Present
Ghassan Khatib, MIFTAH 1/21/2008
     It is sometimes interesting and useful to revisit important chapters in the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to draw lessons from the past that can benefit the present. One example is the 1937 findings of the Peel Commission. These findings on the one hand captured the dilemma of the British Mandate, and on the other reached a conclusion that continues to guide efforts to solve the conflict today.
     It is somewhat ironic to recall that the Peel report concluded that, "Neither of the two national ideals permits of combination in the service of a single State," and therefore recommended that, "Partition offers a chance of ultimate peace. No other plan does." The commission reached that conclusion after looking at the reality on the ground and the interests of the United Kingdom--representing those of Europe and maybe the West in general.
     The commission realized at the time that neither maintaining the British Mandate nor allowing one party to dominate and govern the other would help bring peace to the country. Rather, the options would either leave the country under continuous outside oppression or at war... more..

’The cold keeps the food from going bad’
Amira Hass, Ha’aretz 1/22/2008
     Gaza Strip residents yesterday moved from worrying about the electricity cuts of the previous 40 hours to worrying about a water shortage. The municipality needs electricity to bring water to homes and the houses need it to pump water to the roof tanks.
     Hence 40 percent of Gaza Strip homes - 600,000 people - had no running water yesterday, the Palestinian water authority said.
     Oxfam International said yesterday that unless diesel and fuel supplies were resumed immediately, all the Strip’s water pumps could stop working today. The non-governmental organization also warned of the sewage system’s collapse in the absence of diesel.
     "Without electric power we can manage somehow, without bread too," says a resident of the Nasser neighborhood in northern Gaza. "It’s cold enough to prevent the food from going bad and we try to open the refrigerator as little as possible." more..

Strong in numbers
Gideon Levy, Ha’aretz 1/21/2008
     Here we have the yardstick for security success: the number of Palestinians killed. As in the most primeval wars, the heads of the defense establishment are boasting about the number of people Israel has killed. Their job is to ensure protection for the residents of the state. And, as we know, the residents of the "Gaza perimeter" are not receiving this protection. So the death toll has become the measure of their success.
     Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin briefed the cabinet last week about the "achievements" of his organization: 810 Palestinians killed during the past two years. His predecessor, Avi Dichter, once appeared before the editorial board of Haaretz and proudly presented a sophisticated slideshow from his laptop computer: a pie chart of Palestinian casualties, in several colors. more..

No peace without Damascus
Marek Halter, Ha’aretz 1/21/2008
     Peace in the Middle East will only happen with the involvement of Damascus. I realize that saying this will surprise some and probably offend others. I have been convinced of this since my first visit to Syria under the regime of Bashar Assad. My visit itself was criticized by several French politicians. Isn’t Syria, after all, part of what President George W. Bush calls the "axis of evil"?
     It seems obvious that peace can only be reached through negotiating with one’s enemies. Unfortunately, this common-sense statement is not shared by all. It is mostly a matter of knowing when to start the discussions. The issue is political rather than moral. I believe Syria is now ready for peace.
     The presence of the Syrian deputy foreign minister side-by-side with Israeli and Saudi Arabian delegates, the sworn enemies of its Iranian ally, at the Annapolis conference, is an important sign. It is a mistake for the West to continue to isolate Syria, a country with extensive borders with Israel, Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, particularly at a time when the United States is wallowing in the Iraqi quagmire and struggling to find a peace agreement between Israel and Palestine acceptable to both sides. more..

The Nasrallah addiction
Shlomi Barzel, Ha’aretz 1/21/2008
     The Israeli media is addicted. Its drug of choice is called Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary general of Hezbollah, and it is hard to discern any genuine attempts to kick the habit. As is the norm among addicts, the only thing that changes is the repertoire of excuses. The situation has gotten so bad that someone here is seemingly always ready to offer an extensive analysis of the significance of the action within seconds after the news breaks that Nasrallah hiccuped at some press conference or another. He is under pressure, or relaxed; he radiates authority; pressure from Iran is forcing his hand; etc., etc., etc.
     The possibility of being selective, which would require the exercise of judgment, has been forgotten. Perhaps the multipicity of media outlets is the reason, since the fear of being left behind on the battlefield motivates them all; but that is a facile excuse. This is a disease that has raged here for years. First they swallow the spin, then they warn against it. The benefit, from the standpoint of those who either believe in this approach, or have simply thrown up their hands, is twofold: Not only did we report, we analyzed. A glance to the right, one to the left, up, down - we’re covered. more..

The March of Cynics
Meron Benvenisti, MIFTAH 1/19/2008
     The prize for the most sharply cynical remark goes to President George W. Bush, who said in Ramallah of the Israel Defense Forces crossing points: "You’ll be happy to hear that my motorcade of a mere 45 cars was able to make it through without being stopped." No doubt, he was speaking ironically, but even if he added that he wasn’t "so exactly sure that’s what happens to the average person," he should be reminded of the saying that one doesn’t mention rope in a hanged man’s home. Okay, so there’s a lack of political and human understanding here, but isn’t there even a drop of sensitivity and empathy?
     This cynical remark made only the slightest impression on those who heard it. After all, the people who met with Bush are not the ones who are exposed to the humiliations that thousands go through at the barriers every day, and they even receive VIP treatment. Why should they express dissatisfaction with a spontaneous bit of nonsense when they feel no need to react to a stupid thing that someone in Bush’s retinue formulated for the president? "Swiss cheese isn’t going to work when it comes to the outline of a state. And I mean that," declared Bush. Right after that he said the drawing up of the future border will reflect the current reality. But it is the reality of the settlement blocs that has created the "Swiss cheese." more..

Is it a Budding Partnership?
Ziad Asali, MIFTAH 1/19/2008
     Even the most sceptical of us would have to concede that things are better now than they were a few months ago, as they hasten to add that we have been here before and that this too shall pass.
     Yes, things are better: Palestinian and Israeli officials are talking, and final status issues are being discussed, though they are not being resolved.
     Palestinian security forces are being trained by General Keith Dayton. These forces have already been deployed in Nablus and Tulkarem and have secured a peaceful Christmas in Bethlehem. Enough law and order in these cities have returned to give their people a sense of hope and a taste of what might be if the present trend continues.
     Pledges of $7.4 billion have been made in Paris to rebuild Palestinian institutions and the economy with the stated goal of establishing a Palestinian state.
     Nevertheless, astonishingly, expansion of colonies continues, checkpoints have not been removed, Qassam rockets are still being fired, Israeli incursions and assassinations go on, and Gazans sink deeper into isolation and suffer economic and social degradation under siege. Public and private racist discourse still rages - everywhere. It is still considered politically risky to ascribe anything but bad motives and nefarious designs to the "enemy", be he an Arab or a Jew. more..

Palestinians Demand Protection of Civilians
MIFTAH, MIFTAH 1/19/2008
     MIFTAH, the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy strongly condemns the latest escalation in Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip, which have resulted in the deaths of innocent civilians and has brought the death toll over the past four days to 35. On January 18, Israeli F-16 fighter planes dropped a bomb on the former Ministry of Interior building in the Tel Al Hawwa neighborhood of Gaza City, completely destroying it. Three people, celebrating a wedding in an adjacent building, were killed and 46 others injured.
     Fifty-two year old Haniyeh Abdul Jawad was killed during the interior ministry raid while 15-year old Mahmoud Al Barsh was killed in a separate Israeli raid east of Jabaliya along with 23-year old Ismail Radwan, a member of the Izzedin Al Qassam Brigades.
     This latest Israeli raid is particularly alarming in terms of its complete disregard for Palestinian civilian life. MIFTAH finds it particularly concerning that the United States, the so-called broker in the recent re-launching of Palestinian/Israeli peace efforts, has stated that Israel’s military escalation falls within Israel’s “right to self-defense.” more..

The Recent Outbreak of Violence in Gaza only Serves Hamas’ Enemies
The Daily Star - Editorial, MIFTAH 1/19/2008
     The past week has seen a rapid degeneration from bad to worse in the Gaza Strip, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s vow to continue waging "war" on the besieged territory does not bode well for more than one million civilians who live there. Having already been half-starved into submission by the economic strangulation imposed on them by Israel and the international community, Gazans now find themselves caught between an escalating battle between militants and Israeli forces.
     Hamas, whose leaders unilaterally seized control of Gaza last June, needs to step back and realistically examine its current predicament. The resistance arm of the party had until this week refrained for many months from firing rockets across the border into Israel, and had even recently extended an offer to forge a truce with the Israeli military, though that gesture was unreciprocated. But after Israeli assaults in the territory on Tuesday killed 19 Palestinians, including three civilians and the son of senior Hamas leader Mahmud Zahar, Hamas responded by lobbing dozens of rockets into Israel, prompting swift and fierce retaliation from the Jewish state. Now the two sides appear to be digging their heels into another tit-for-tat cycle of violence, which may or may not claim the lives of any Israelis, but will almost certainly result in the deaths of more Palestinians, including civilians. more..

Israel Paralysing Christianity in Holy Land
Stuart Littlewood, Middle East Online 1/19/2008
     Stuart Littlewood argues that Israeli policy in the occupied territories is undermining the custody of the Holy Land, its Christian churches and their religious congregations. He shows how Israeli restrictions are making pastoral work a nightmare and participation at major religious ceremonies impossible.
     I have nothing but admiration for the work of Catholic priests in the Holy Land. Unlike church life in the leafy suburbs of England, theirs is a dangerous job in a perpetual war zone, a world where religion and international politics collide.
     With great skill and dedication they hold together the Christian communities in towns and villages that suffer greatly under Israeli occupation and where Catholic schools teach Muslim as well as Christian children. These courageous men are routinely abused and subjected to humiliating searches, and some have been shot at. Let’s not forget the nuns in the front line either, surely some of the most remarkable women on the planet. more..

Palestinians Need Action, not Words
Daoud Kuttab, Middle East Online 1/19/2008
     Daoud Kuttab argues that the commitment to a solution of the Palestine-Israel conflict made during President Bush’s visit to the Middle East will be meaningless unless Palestinians see a true reversal of Israel’s 40-year-old occupation, starting with an end to Israeli settlement activity and the release of Palestinian political prisoners.
     President George Bush, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have committed themselves to give the world a new year’s gift in 2009: an independent state of Palestine. After decades of war and homelessness, oppression and occupation, settlements and walls, this is a welcome move. However, much needs to be accomplished in 2008 for this vision – unlike previous ones – to become a reality.
     Despite scepticism, various pieces of the Palestinian statehood puzzle are falling into place. The Bush administration has countered the pro-Israel lobby and spoken of the strategic importance of Palestinian statehood for the United States. Standing next to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah last October, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that the creation of a Palestinian state is in the national interest of the United States. more..

Hooray, they hate me
Uzi Benziman, Ha’aretz 1/20/2008
     Like Mottel the son of Peysi the cantor, who evades his responsibilities with the declaration, "Hooray, I am an orphan," Israelis sometimes tell themselves, "Hooray, I am hated," thus rationalizing their refusal to reach an agreement with the Palestinians. The hero of Shalom Aleichem’s book exploits his status as an orphan in order to misbehave and create a worldview that allows him to abandon his studies and prayers while avoiding punishment. The Israeli right wing, meanwhile, observes reality through the lenses of someone who has been the object of Arab hatred. This gives the right wing a pretext for clinging to its positions, if not hardening them.
     This weekend, Avigdor Lieberman, who announced his resignation from the cabinet, supplied fresh evidence of the sense of victimhood underlying the way the conflict is understood. If Yisrael Beiteinu represented a minority opinion, one could view it as a marginal party with negligible power. But the conceptual underpinning of Lieberman’s views are shared by increasingly large segments of Israel’s Jewish population, even if they do not belong to his movement. more..

Palestinian Citizenship
Samia Khoury, MIFTAH 1/19/2008
     Many Palestinians greatly appreciated the gesture by the Palestinian Authority of granting the renowned Maestro Daniel Barenboim Palestinian citizenship. But once again like everything else in our part of the world, one cannot but reflect on the paradox of this gesture.
     After the Oslo agreements in 1993, the Palestinian flag and passport, the long awaited symbols of statehood have become normal despite the non-existence of the state itself. As our identity has continuously and unsuccessfully been challenged since 1948, these symbols seemed a positive step towards consolidating our identity. It was not long ago when one would serve time in Israeli jails for displaying a Palestinian flag, yet children had their way of expressing their yearning for the white, green black and red colors of the flag through their art work. Mothers have all along been innovative in knitting those colors into sweaters and scarves. This is not a challenge anymore, and the sense of innovation in resisting the occupation has taken a different track. more..

Stalemate in Palestine after 60 years
Rami G. Khouri, Daily Star 1/19/2008
     In a few months, the Arab-Israeli conflict will be 60 years old, if we use the 1948 war and the establishment of Israel as its starting point. What happened in Palestine and Israel this week? Israeli troops attacked assorted targets in Gaza, killing dozens of militants and civilians. Various Palestinian resistance groups (the US, Israel, Micronesia and a few other powers see them only as terrorist groups) fired hundreds of missiles into Israel. The Israeli government threatened tougher military measures, "no mercy", and a tighter blockade of the Gaza Strip, including cutting off all fuel supplies. Israeli and Palestinian leaders met to negotiate a peace accord,while US President George W. Bush traveled to the region to show his support for a negotiated Arab-Israeli peace agreement.
     What’s wrong with this picture? The juxtaposition between military action on the ground and the words and acts of politicians is dizzying in its contradictions. Sixty years after the tensions between Zionism and Arabism in Palestine erupted into a full war, we continue to experience warfare as a routine mode of interaction between Israelis and Arabs, mostly on the Palestinian-Israeli front, and occasionally on the Lebanese-Israeli front. Simultaneously, politicians explore opportunities to end the conflict through a negotiated peace agreement, but without any major successes on the Palestinian-Israeli front more..

Recognizing Israel as a Jewish State
Serge van Erkelens, Palestine Chronicle 1/18/2008
     No country should officially recognised Israel as a Jewish state, for the same obvious reason that no country has or should recognize France as a state with a particular nature. The same logic applies to Spain, the US, or any other.
     So demanding such a thing from the Palestinians -- living under Israeli occupation -- is ridiculous, to say the least.
     Of course, Israel suddenly might demand from other governments to qualify their recognition of itself as a Jewish state; it could utilize history, to create pressure and to brand anti-Semitic, any country that refuses to comply.
     But can it be done? Is it possible? If yes, why hasn’t it been done yet? [end]

This Time Next Year?
Daoud Kuttab, Palestine Chronicle 1/18/2008
     Despite skepticism, various pieces of the Palestinian statehood puzzle are falling into place. The Bush Administration has countered the pro-Israel lobby and spoken of the strategic importance of Palestinian statehood for the United States. Standing next to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah last October, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that the creation of a Palestinian state is in the national interest of the United States. US National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley was then sent to the region as proof that the issue has now taken on a national security priority. And now, President Bush has made his first trip as president to the occupied Palestinian territories.
     For his part, Mahmoud Abbas has shown determination to negotiate a peace agreement, despite the daily pressures on the Palestinian people created by ongoing Israeli military attacks, movement restrictions and expansion of Jewish-only settlements on Palestinian land. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called for "a significant change of the reality" Israel created in our region in 1967 when it occupied Palestinian and Arab lands. Though he did not mention his name, he confirmed President Carter’s apartheid fears when he told journalists that long-term Israeli survival is jeopardized if the two-state solution doesn’t become a reality. Otherwise the Palestinian struggle "would become a South African like apartheid struggle," he said. The world community has also dug deep into its pockets and pledged a record 7.4 billion dollars in assistance to the nascent Palestinian state. more..

On Walls, Castles and Embassies
Jamil Toubbeh, Palestine Chronicle 1/18/2008
     Walls, Castles and Imperious-Embassies Walls, castles and embassies: none is home for one’s soul.
     Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it And spills the upper boulders in the sun, And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
     [’] Before I built a wall I’d ask to know What I was walling in or out, And to whom I was like to give offense.
     Something there is that doesn’t love a wall’.-- Robert Frost Something there is that doesn’t love any wall nor its cleansing euphemisms—separation wall, great wall, electronic fence, green zone, green line, a castle or an embassy. Their architectures and configurations are a measure of the gap between those who erect them and those who live in their shadows. more..

Killing in the Name of Peace
Agustin Velloso, Palestine Chronicle 1/18/2008
     In the early hours of Tuesday, January 15th 2008, the Israeli occupation army in Palestine killed 20 Palestinians and injured about fifty others, some critically. Once again, it was just another incursion with soldiers, helicopters, tanks, armoured bulldozers and snipers in the city of Gaza, which is under an international blockade.
     This army did not confront another one in the battlefield, it did not face an army hiding in trenches, guarded by anti-aircraft batteries and equipped with state of the art weapons. It attacked, as it usually does, civilians living under occupation - people who should enjoy special protection according to Geneva Conventions. These people were in the streets of their hometown, Gaza, one of the most populated cities in the world, defenceless. Half Gaza’s inhabitants are under the age of 15.
     Beyond the area where the victims’ families live, this crime against humanity is not an issue. Crimes like this have been committed so many times by Israel, and then pardoned and forgotten so fast by its allies in Europe and the United States, that each crime quickly covers the one preceding it. more..

Gagged While Gaza is Crushed
Stuart Littlewood, Middle East Online 1/17/2008
     Stuart Littlewood calls on readers to request the Committee on Standards in Public Life to examine whether there is undue Israeli influence at the heart of the British government that is preventing it from taking a principled stand on Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights.
     The British government has maintained a strict silence on the cruel blockade of Gaza and efforts by Israel and its Western allies to crush the civilian population and eliminate their democratic choice, Hamas.
     Not a word of criticism has been heard from the great and the good about this wickedness.
     In the meantime, some 20 surgeons, academics and others, with knowledge of Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories, have written urging Britain’s corruption watchdog, the Committee on Standards in Public Life, to examine whether there is undue Israeli influence at the heart of the British government. more..

The Cases of Sudan and Israel
Josh Reubner, Middle East Online 1/17/2008
     Josh Reubner highlights the double standards of the US government and Congress which are instituting sanctions and divestments against Sudan for its human rights abuses in Darfur while simultaneously giving Israel the wherewithal to occupy Palestinian lands and kill and maim Palestinian civilians.
     Today, two movements for the promotion of human rights in Sudan and Palestine seek to emulate the successful role played by boycotts, divestment and sanctions in achieving democracy and equality in South Africa. The two movements, however, have received radically different receptions on Capitol Hill. This double standard testifies to official Washington’s selectivity when it comes to promoting human rights around the globe and its tendency to overlook the faults of its allies while using human rights as a pretext to punish its adversaries.
     On 31 December, President Bush signed into law the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act of 2007, which was passed unanimously by Congress earlier in the month. The bill, sponsored by Senator Chris Dodd, authorizes state and local governments to divest their holdings from corporations that profit from dealings with the Sudanese government and immunizes mutual fund managers from lawsuits for doing the same. more..

Iraq War: 1,760 Days and Counting
Robert Higgs, Palestine Chronicle 1/18/2008
     On October 19, 2001, in speaking about the new government controls and heightened surveillance already being clamped on the American people in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, Vice President Dick Cheney said that the new war "may never end. At least not in our lifetime. . . . The way I think of it is, it’s a new normalcy." We should have taken his grim forecast more seriously.
     The U.S. attack on and occupation of Iraq, represented by the Bush administration as a critical element in the larger Global War on Terror, began nearly five years ago, and it shows no signs of ending soon. Indeed, if John McCain is elected president and (with help from his successors) carries out the not-so-veiled threat to keep U.S. troops in Iraq for a hundred years, then we can confidently expect that the war will not end in our lifetime. Such a prospect is so seemingly preposterous, however, that one’s mind does not readily assimilate it. more..

Gaza’s fate left to the whim of an Israeli court
Rami Almeghari - Rami aL-Meghari, International Middle East Media Center 1/16/2008
     It’s almost midnight. I rushed to my laptop when I saw the glow of the lamp after almost 12 hours darkness following one of the electricity cuts that hundreds of thousands of Gazans like myself have been subjected to over the past week or so.
     As a journalist in Gaza, I was keen to file to my editors a story on the electricity cuts. I did the job, I talked with the people, I collected the material but when I went to my office and sat down in front of my PC, there was no electricity.
     I have done my best over the past three days to have my report done in due time. I rented a benzene power generator but as soon as I plugged in my PC, the screen went black.
     I came home, switched on the generator once again, and my children happily insisted on seeing their favorite TV program. However, another failure occurred, this time with the satellite receiver. more..

Ahmed Yousef: Israelis Hear No Objections
Palestine Chronicle 1/16/2008
     We, the representatives of the Palestinian people, write as we mourn the victims of another massacre in our midst. The Israeli Defense Forces committed a crime against humanity on Tuesday January 15th, resulting in the deaths of innocent civilians as well as the loss of limb among many others.
     We reach out to all those of conscience to denounce the atrocious disregard of civilized conduct by an invading army; and to demand that the Israeli government end its military incursions into the sovereign Palestinian territories. We ask that all NGOs, aid organizations, and governments as well as business leaders urge members of the International Community to demand that the Israelis withdraw their soldiers and end their attack against the civilian population.
     These acts of violence followed a state visit by U.S. President George Bush; and it is reasonable to assume that tacit approval was given for the Israeli leadership to attack Gaza’s inhabitants whenever the opportunity presented itself. more..

Insubstantial Pageant
The Guardian - Editorial, MIFTAH 1/15/2008
     After all the supercharged talk of change in the primaries this week, George Bush’s trip to the Middle East served as a reminder that America still has a way to go before it can wave goodbye to all that. As with the US summit in Annapolis last year, it is hard, even for the congenital optimist, to find much to cling on to after Mr Bush’s first visit to the region as president. In Prospero’s words, "the great globe itself, yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve and, like this insubstantial pageant faded, leave not a rack behind". There could be few pageants less substantial than a belated trip by a discredited US president to the Middle East.
     But nor would it be right to dismiss every word uttered as unimportant. There are adjustments in tone or wording which, in the right circumstances, could be built on. Mr Bush called explicitly for an end to the Israeli occupation after his first visit to the West Bank. He called for an end to Israeli settlement expansion and for the Palestinians to confront terrorism. He said the question of Palestinian refugees should be solved by compensation and the chance for them to live in a future Palestinian state. He set out a framework for a deal and said it could be achieved by the end of the year. more..

Believing Olmert
Gideon Levy, MIFTAH 1/15/2008
     After listening to many of his statements, some of them very impressive, one comes to recognize that Ehud Olmert perhaps truly desires peace with the Palestinians. The fact that he has not zigzagged, not even once, that he only reiterates the same things, speaking like Uri Avnery (even if 40 years late), that he does not backtrack or stutter - only reinforces this feeling. It is permissible, therefore, to succumb to the temptation and believe that the man who told Haaretz on November 28, "two states, or Israel is finished," indeed has undergone a profound change.
     However, there’s a catch: This welcome change of consciousness has not yet been accompanied by any practical action. The settlements are flourishing, 10,000 Palestinian prisoners are rotting in prisons, Gaza is starved and blacked-out, Shin Bet security service investigators are torturing, the checkpoints incarcerating and the acacias blooming in the territories. The conclusion: Olmert wants, but is unable. Or perhaps he wants, but is afraid. The common explanation: If he takes any practical step to implement his intentions, his government will collapse immediately. Olmert is imprisoned in his impossible coalition. If he only dares to do something, Avigdor Lieberman and Eli Yishai will quit, and Olmert will be left without parliamentary support. more..

An Arab Woman Blues: Indicting the Reader
Garda Ghista, Palestine Chronicle 1/15/2008
     Layla Anwar is the pseudonym for an Iraqi blogger, in her early to mid-forties, who appears to be writing directly from Baghdad, right in the line of fire, so to speak. She comes from a secular, upper-middle class, Sunni background and remains loyal to Saddam Hussein. Unlike the blogger Baghdad Burning, Layla does not write for the American left. Rather, she writes to all Americans, including the American left, and condemns us all along with the Bush-Cheney regime. She indicts every single American for being a part of the destruction and devastation of her motherland. She writes to the enemy.
     Her blogs are a blunt description of life in Baghdad in the time of war - a war of American imperialism in its endless quest for natural resources. But then again, this war is not limited to oil. War makes a handful of people extremely rich and renders millions destitute or dead. The rich elite are the scores of corporations and sub-contractors who receive lavish contracts from the U.S. government -- companies like Halliburton, Blackwater, Monsanto, Citibank, Chase Morgan, AT&T and Bechtel - who have all gone to Iraq to make millions in the work of "reconstruction", that is, reconstructing everything the U.S. bombed to the ground. So this is an illegal war of aggression for the sake of plunder and profit. The Nuremberg Trials called such wars the "supreme international crime." more..

William Cook: Seeking Victory in Defeat
Palestine Chronicle 1/16/2008
     "Iraq will be a central challenge -- perhaps the central challenge -- for whoever succeeds President Bush and has to repair the profound damage he has wrought with a war that should never have been fought ’"- (Editorial, The New York Times, 1/13/2008) It has come to this after seven years; the venerable New York Times, without acknowledging its own culpability in fermenting the President’s drive to war with its front page declarations of imminent threats from Saddam Hussein against America as reported by Judith Miller, finally acknowledges that this war "should never have been fought" and places the responsibility for its "repair" on the President that succeeds Bush. How righteous. How simply stated -- "to repair the profound damage he has wrought." more..

Face to Face with Hezbollah
Dan Lieberman, Palestine Chronicle 1/15/2008
     They speak English, carry I-pods and listen to Santana and Guns and Roses. They don’t approach with anger and don’t behave overbearing. They seem well-educated, mostly from Beirut’s American University, and are alert to world happenings. They impress as being more secular than pious. They are spokespersons for Hezbollah -- the Party of God.
     Maybe they are a selected group of well-trained talkers for foreigners; a subtle means to convince the unwary that Hezbollah’s followers are just every-day guys and gals. Maybe, but observations and events were inconsistent with the media’s drastic descriptions of the militant Lebanese Shiite movement. The Party of God has insufficient support for exercising political control of Lebanon and knows it doesn’t have the numbers or the strength to turn the Levant into an Islamic Republic. Hezbollah’s clerics don’t indicate they intend to force Shari’a upon their constituencies. More an amalgam of differing viewpoints - religious, social, political and militant -- Hezbollah is solidified by a common struggle for the dispossessed and a battle against corruption. more..

The horror of Amona
Alexander Yakobson, Ha’aretz 1/17/2008
     There is certainly more than one reason for the ongoing scandal regarding the non-evacuation of the illegal West Bank outposts, a matter on which the prime minister and defense minister trade accusations in a way that sounds farcical. But it’s clear that one of the reasons is the trauma of Amona. The government fears that outpost evacuation will be accompanied by serious violence and that it will be the one to pay the public price, which is what happened following the 2006 evacuation of the Amona outpost.
     Those who organized the violence at Amona, then, achieved their goal - belligerent intimidation of the government. They stated from the beginning that they would oppose the evacuation with force - with great force - and they kept to their word, winning big from the fact that the suppression of the violence they instigated looked bad on camera. more..

Honorary citizenship of the moon
Amira Hass, Ha’aretz 1/17/2008
     "Daniel Barenboim, the world-renowned Israeli pianist and conductor, has received Palestinian citizenship" and a Palestinian passport, the Haaretz English edition reported on Monday, using a Reuters story. The Ynet version said that the Palestinian Authority had granted Palestinian citizenship to Barenboim, whereas The New York Times reported that the Argentinian-born Israeli pianist and conductor had agreed to accept Palestinian citizenship and an honorary Palestinian passport.
     The passport was given at the conclusion of a concert in Ramallah, in appreciation of the way (and this is the present writer’s version) in which Barenboim has for years linked musical initiatives to his clear opposition to the Israeli occupation; of his willingness to come and visit Ramallah at a time when most Israelis see it as a bastion of terror; and of the way in which he became friendly with prominent Palestinians who were not popular with most Israelis, like Edward Said. more..

Citizenship, Zionism and separation of religion from the state
Michael Warschawski, Electronic Intifada 1/16/2008
     It is customary to say that the Israeli daily Haaretz is a progressive newspaper. However, its progressive character is generally nowhere to be seen when Israel initiates a war against one of its neighbors -- its opposition to the previous two wars came only after the newspaper provided support to the policies of the government and the military -- or abuses against the Palestinian people. However, when dealing with matters of religion, and particularly hatred of the religious, the progressiveness of Haaretz, its editors and community of readers, is endless.
     In an op-ed from 27 December, the writers rail against the "ultra-orthodox blockade" that prevents the conversion of hundreds of thousands of new immigrants from the former Soviet Union: "the ultra-orthodox rabbis are pressuring and threatening the government, and causing intentional difficulties for the rabbinical courts, which are acting under state authority. The ultra-orthodox are truly not interested in additional members joining the chosen people." more..

Refugee stories - Letters from Gaza ...without electricity or water
United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in, ReliefWeb 1/13/2008
     Two complete days without electricity or water. My life is paralysed.
     My kids are bored. I’ve run out of ideas for how to make them have fun. Nothing keeps them occupied anymore. When there’s no electricity and only candlelight, you have to be creative to keep children busy; you have to be patient, telling them stories, encouraging them to play with the shadows cast by the candles. No point in worrying about the housework in those moments - the laundry, cooking, ironing. I used to fill the bathtub for the kids and they would play in the water for hours. They loved that, especially when it was hot. It gave me time to do some work around the house too. Now, with the water shortage, I can’t do that anymore. I ask myself, are we really living in the 21st century where all people have an equal right to their basic needs?
     When my husband arrived home last night, he felt sorry for the kids. Without electricity for days on end, they hadn’t been able to watch their favourite cartoons or to play on the computer. Although it was already 7 p.m., my husband convinced me to go for a walk. The kids were so excited to go out. We went to the market. Just imagine, there were crowds of people everywhere, groups of young and old men sitting in the streets, looking for respite. There were some old women there too, though the younger ones had to stay in their homes, in the dark and the cold. more..

West Bank’s Jewish ’Outposts’ Dig In
Jonathan Finer, MIFTAH 1/15/2008
     With a pellet gun in his jeans pocket and a hammer in his hand, Dani Landesberg and a crew of teenage Jewish settlers began adding a second story to what has become their new home. They stole occasional glances down the winding access road in case the police came by to evict them, again.
     Last Sept. 30, a dozen settlers moved into the small stone house at the base of a gentle hill in the northern West Bank and turned what was once a barn for donkeys into a synagogue. Two weeks later, Israeli security forces banished them for the first of eight times from land that a Palestinian family says is its property, a claim backed by legal documents and an Israeli human rights group.
     The settlers returned the next day, so police sealed the windows and doors with metal siding and plowed a berm across the driveway, all to no avail.
     "They can drag us away a hundred times and we’ll come back," said Landesberg, 18, who like many religious Jews wears a yarmulke and long, curled sideburns. "And if the army wants to stay and guard it, then we win, because if the Israeli army is here, the land is being occupied by Jews." more..

"It felt like a kind of resistance to celebrate"
IRIN writing from Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, Electronic Intifada 1/15/2008
     Ahmed and Liliane Hassan, who are 25 and 17, were supposed to marry in August, but instead were driven from their homes in Nahr al-Bared camp, along with up to 40,000 other people, by 106 days of fighting between the Lebanese army and militant group Fatah al-Islam.
     They were among several thousand Palestinians allowed to return from 10 October, and soon after tied the knot. Ahmed explained:
     "When we celebrated our engagement during the 2006 July War, the Israelis bombed Abdeh, on the edge of Nahr al-Bared and we ended up in the shelters. Then the fighting delayed our wedding.
     "My parents had planned a three-day traditional feast because I’m their first son to marry. Now we have nothing, only a few small pots we were given, and there’s no money for food. So we had a quick, basic ceremony..." more..

Gaza’s fate left to the whim of an Israeli court
Rami Almeghari writing from occupied Gaza Strip, Electronic Intifada 1/15/2008
     It’s almost midnight. I rushed to my laptop when I saw the glow of the lamp after almost 12 hours darkness following one of the electricity cuts thathundreds of thousands of Gazans like myself have been subjected to over the past week or so.
     As a journalist in Gaza, I was keen to file to my editors a story on the electricity cuts. I did the job, I talked with the people, I collected the material but when I went to my office and sat down in front of my PC, there was no electricity.
     I have done my best over the past three days to have my report done in due time. I rented a benzene power generator but as soon as I plugged in my PC, the screen went black.
     I came home, switched on the generator once again, and my children happily insisted on seeing their favorite TV program. However, another failure occurred, this time with the satellite receiver. more..

Let’s not forget the hardship in Palestinian areas
Douglas Alexander, Daily Star 1/15/2008
     Politics isn’t just about words and ideas; it has to be about action. The recently held Palestinian donors’ conference in Paris was a day when the international community collectively put its money where its mouth is and committed the funds which are desperately needed if the Palestinians are to rebuild their economy and take further strides down the road to peace.
     I was in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories recently and had talks with President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. The challenges they face are enormous and can only be overcome if we in the international community step up to the plate to work with them in the month ahead.
     And I saw some of those challenges first-hand. I saw the real hardship that the Palestinian people endure on a daily basis - obstacles that are both physical and economic. Mothers and fathers unable to earn a living to look after their families in an environment where physical barriers imposed to ensure Israel’s security, also stifle Palestinian growth and prosperity. I met one family with two daughters aged four and six. They live just 40 kilometers from the sea, but they have never seen it because they cannot travel there. more..

The Arab League might get results by moving the battle of Beirut to Cairo
Editorial, Daily Star 1/16/2008
     Tuesday’s deadly bombing near Beirut may be directly related to Lebanon’s internal political problems, to foreign governments and/or terrorist groups with axes to grind against America, or to US President George W. Bush’s current tour of the Middle East. Whatever the direct cause, the blast is just the latest indicator that the security situation in this country is perilously close to unraveling. This makes it all the more urgent to end the crippling power struggle between the ruling March 14 coalition and the rival March 8 camp.
     Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, who has been leading the latest outside effort to resolve the impasse, is due back in Lebanon today. But he - and countless other representatives of foreign governments and international organizations - have been here before, and nothing has moved the feuding factions to greater understanding of the threat their squabbling poses to the future of this country and that of its inhabitants. And when the principals of the Lebanese arena have convened for "dialogue" at home, they have agreed on nothing, including the question of whether or not they agreed on anything. more..

’Attack the court, save the country’
Editorial, Ha’aretz 1/15/2008
     A recent letter to Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch demanding that she recuse herself from any deliberations on settlements, outposts or the separation fence was signed by 20 Knesset members from six factions, both coalition and opposition. This was nothing more than another sorry joke in the ongoing farce of "attack the Supreme Court and save the country."
     The parliamentary letter of rebuke was sent because of Beinisch’s meeting with the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Richard Jones. Its signatories - from the National Union-National Religious Party, Shas, United Torah Judaism, Yisrael Beiteinu, Likud and Kadima - see the very fact that this meeting took place as an "unprecedented blow both to Israel’s sovereignty and to the judicial system’s independence."
     That is nonsense. Such a meeting harms neither the state’s sovereignty nor the judiciary’s independence. Meetings between Supreme Court presidents and foreign ambassadors, at the request of the latter, are standard practice. Many ambassadors seek to meet the chief justice, who is a symbol of the state, and the justices accede because they understand their public role. Such meetings have never before elicited complaint - in contrast to the justified criticism of meetings between Supreme Court presidents and Knesset members. more..

The Political Bankruptcy of George W. Bush
Patrick Seale, Middle East Online 1/15/2008
     The Presidency of the United States of America is a position of immense power, even when the office is tarnished and debased, as it has been by its present occupant.
     George W. Bush’s recent Middle East tour was a unique opportunity -- very probably his last -- to restore his country’s prestige and his own reputation by making a decisive contribution to regional peace and security.
     But Bush threw it away with the stubborn wrong-headedness which has been the hallmark of his two terms in office.
     In the Gulf, he delivered the wrong message about Iran, sharpening rather than easing regional tensions. In Israel and the Palestinian territories, his message was muddled and muted, when it should have been clear and strong. It is highly doubtful that he has advanced the cause of Israeli-Palestinian peace. more..

It’s Not About Iran
Shibley Telhami, MIFTAH 1/15/2008
     As President Bush travels through the Middle East, the prevailing assumption is that Arab states are primarily focused on the rising Iranian threat and that their attendance at the Annapolis conference with Israel in November was motivated by this threat. This assumption, reflected in the president’s speech in the United Arab Emirates yesterday, could be a costly mistake.
     Israel and the Bush administration place great emphasis on confronting Iran’s nuclear potential and are prepared to engage in a peace process partly to build an anti-Iran coalition. Arabs see it differently. They use the Iran issue to lure Israel and the United States into serious Palestinian-Israeli peacemaking, having concluded that the perceived Iranian threats sell better in Washington and Tel Aviv than the pursuit of peace itself.
     Many Arab governments are of course concerned about Iran and its role in Iraq, but not for the same reasons as Israel and the United States. Israel sees Iran’s nuclear potential as a direct threat to its security, and its support for Hezbollah and Hamas as a military challenge. more..

President Bush’s only Achievement in the Middle East is to Increase the Power of Iran
Johann Hari, MIFTAH 1/15/2008
     Just as we were all sighing with relief at the end of the Bush years, the lame duck President has waddled into the Middle East to remind us his beak is still nuclear-tipped. With one year to go, he is standing on the sands of Arabia to announce Iran is "the world leading state sponsor of terror" and must be confronted "before it’s too late". He then quacks a few words about peace between Israel and the Palestinians and the "success" of the surge in Iraq.
     So what can we really expect from Act III of Bush in Arabia? Most of us assumed the recent US National Intelligence Estimate – showing Iran stopped its nuclear weapons programme in 2003 – killed the prospect of a Bush bombing raid on Iran. But Bush knows that as it currently stands, he will be remembered as the President who emboldened and empowered the Islamic Republic of Iran. He took out the Ayatollahs’ two biggest strategic enemies – Saddam and the Taliban – and helped them become gold-lined by sending oil prices soaring to more than $100 a barrel. more..

Palestinians Collectively Reject Bush Proposal
Ali El-saleh, MIFTAH 1/15/2008
     The proposal by US President George Bush during his visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories of laying down an international mechanism to compensate the Palestinian refugees has aroused Palestinian reactions that could be described as homogenous in their content, whether at the official, unofficial, or opposition levels. The Palestinian stance can be summarized by saying that this proposal if it indicates anything, it does indicate an attempt to bypass the resolutions of the international legitimacy, especially Resolution 194, which gives the refugees the right to choose between return and compensation for those who do not want to go back.
     Nimr Hammad, political advisor to Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas (Abu-Mazin), told Asharq Al-Awsat, "What President Bush said expresses his viewpoint." Hammad added: "We do not believe that the solution is to shrink the international resolutions, including Resolution 194 for which the United States have been voting all the past years, and consider them as nonexistent. There is a resolution and a right that have to be taken into consideration. The formula agreed upon and ratified at the Arab, Palestinian, and even US levels is that of an agreed and negotiated settlement based on Resolution 194. Here I am also talking about the Arab initiative, the Road Map, and UN Resolution 1515, which was sponsored by the United States." Hammad concluded by saying: "Perhaps through this proposal President Bush is trying to convince the Israelis and attract them to the negotiations’ table." more..

Witnessing the siege
Safa Joudeh writing from occupied Gaza Strip, Electronic Intifada 1/14/2008
     It is supposed that one can build factual perception by reading the statistics and getting all the hard evidence, but I recently realized that a complete cognitive process relies first and foremost on visuals -- seeing the picture for oneself.
     I joined a camera crew and producer shooting footage for a first-person interview on the Israeli siege on Gaza. The interviewee was Dr. Eyad El-Sarraj, head of the Palestinian International Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza, a coalition of organizations and individuals set out to do just that. We met with Dr. Sarraj at his office and booked him for the day. Based on his humanitarian activism with the campaign, Dr. Sarraj would determine which areas were most pressing in terms of the crisis in Gaza, and therefore deserved priority over other aspects during the short interview.Dr. Sarraj confirmed what the producer and the rest of the crew had already mentioned -- when it came to crisis in Gaza, the health sector and the economic sector were at the top of the list. It was decided we would visit a couple of hospitals and a factory to shoot the right footage. This is where the cameraman started taping and didn’t stop till the end of the day. more..

Photostory: Volvo equipment used in house demolitions
Adri Nieuwhof, Electronic Intifada 1/14/2008
     The photographers of the group Activestills have documented Volvo equipment being used for the illegal construction of the wall and the settlements, and the demolition of Palestinian houses in Israel and occupied Palestine. Activestills gave special permission to publish some of the images on The Electronic Intifada to inform a wider audience about the systematic use of Volvo equipment in house demolitions in East Jerusalem
     The Israeli government zoned almost all the undeveloped Palestinian land in East Jerusalem as "open green space" after 1967. The Israeli leaders decided to increase the Jewish population in East Jerusalem rapidly, to hinder growth of the Palestinian population and to force Palestinian residents to make their homes elsewhere. Withholding permission from Palestinians to build houses in East Jerusalem and the demolition of Palestinian houses fit in this policy. Houses built before 1967 and houses built without a permit more than seven years ago are considered "legal" by Israel. For all the other Palestinian houses in East Jerusalem Israel thinks it can justify demolition. West Jerusalem city engineer Shitreet gave a bizarre example of reasoning, "We can bar residents from entering their homes, even if we can’t destroy them." And by sealing the homes and preventing the Palestinian residents from entering their homes, they can be demolished after some time as "abandoned" or "absentee" property. more..

Independence and Sovereignty
Rami G. Khouri, Middle East Online 1/14/2008
     BEIRUT - I thought the most intriguing aspect of US President George W. Bush’s call in Jerusalem last week for a Palestinian state that was “viable, contiguous, sovereign and independent” was the simultaneous use of the words “sovereign” and “independent.” This tells us nothing new about American rhetoric on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but it is intriguing for how it can help clarify crucial political sentiments in other parts of the Arab world.
     Why does Bush feel the need to use both the words “sovereign” and “independent”? You would think that if a country enjoyed one of these attributes, the other would come automatically. Well, not really - and not only in the case of Palestine’s desire to gain genuine independence and end Israeli control of its land, air, water, people and natural resources. In fact, one of the major concerns of ordinary citizens and mass political movements in much of the Arab world today is the sense of living in independent Arab states that are not fully sovereign, because they do not fully control their own resources or foreign policy. more..

The Hands of Esau
Uri Avnery, MIFTAH 1/14/2008
     WHICH OF the two men is the leader of the greatest power on earth and which is the boss of a small client state?
     A visitor from another planet, attending the press conference in Jerusalem, would find it hard not to answer: Olmert is the president of the great power, Bush is his vassal.
     Olmert is taller. He talked endlessly, while Bush listened patiently. While Olmert anointed Bush with flattery that would have made a Byzantine emperor blush, it was quite clear that it is Olmert who decides policy, while Bush humbly accepts the Israeli diktat. And Bush’s flattery of Olmert exceeded even Olmert’s flattery of Bush.
     Both, we learned, are "courageous". Both are "determined". Both have a "vision". The word "vision", once reserved for prophets, starred in every second sentence. (Bush could not know that in Israel, "vision" has long become a jocular appellation for highfaluting speeches, usually in combination with the word "Zionism".) more..

U.S. Presidents and the Drive for Middle East Peace
Ray Hanania, MIFTAH 1/14/2008
     What is it about Presidents who wait until the last minute to try and achieve peace in the Middle East? President George W. Bush is in Jerusalem meeting with Israelis and Palestinians to help nudge the latest generation of the “peace process” along. Why does this all sound so familiar? Bush is on the last leg of a presidential career. His final year. And all of a sudden, he wants to do all he can to bring about peace in the Middle East between Palestinians and Israelis.
     I recognize that peace between Palestinians and Israelis is the Holy Grail of achievements for any American politician, despite all its political land mines and the wolf pack of lobbyists who nip and tear at anything remotely challenging to their vision of what needs to be done.
     But why always so late? more..

Has Bush ’Nudged’ the Peace Process Along?
Caelum Moffatt, MIFTAH 1/14/2008
     At the moment, US President George W. Bush is completing the second stage of his tour of the Middle East. The purpose of his trip to Palestine, Israel, Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt is to rally support behind the Israeli/Palestinian peace process and to address the pressing issue of Iran’s increasing regional influence. While he has been warmly welcomed by his oil-rich allies in the Gulf, did he successfully execute the first stage of his journey, his first to the Holy Land as president, which aimed at making a significant impact by providing the necessary “nudge” to push the peace process along?
     It is important to mention first that the president’s visit was positive in some respects. The arrival of the head of state for the world’s only superpower to the West Bank for only the second time is a step forward. In addition, a US President advocating the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state also cannot be overlooked. President Bush also delivered some promising rhetoric which could imply that he intends to start applying serious pressure, such as referring to the situation since 1967 as “occupation” – a word he very rarely uses. Furthermore, the presence of President Bush could prove very beneficial to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Both showed no hesitation in announcing the extent of their close friendship, especially Olmert who showered the president with a host of compliments and praise. This relationship could crucially act as a counterweight for Olmert who currently balances on a tightrope of authority with the ongoing Winograd report and his alleged illegal dealings, surrounded by influential ministers threatening to resign if peace meetings with the Palestinians continue. If individuals within the coalition, such as Avigdor Lieberman, abandon the prime minister now, Olmert and his party will invariably collapse, plunging the peace process into further delay. more..

Holocaust Lessons: Interviewing Hedy Epstein
Palestine Chronicle 1/14/2008
     Hedy Epstein, is a German Jewish Holocaust survivor, born in 1924, whose parents were sent to Auschwitz in 1942, where they perished. In 1948, Hedy Epstein went to live in United States. In 2003, she decided to make a trip to Palestine. Shocked by the oppression that the Israeli government is imposing on the Palestinians, she is, since then, devoting herself to make it known to the world.
     In the interview she gave to the Swiss journalist Silvia Cattori, Hedy Epstein speaks, with her gentle and mild voice, about her last travel to Palestine after a moving visit to one of several concentration camps to which her parents were deported. And she said: "I would like to dedicate this interview to the children of Gaza, whose parents cannot protect them or send them away to safety as my parents did when they sent me to England in May 1939 on a Kindertransport" (*) Silvia Cattori: In 2004, after the humiliating and dehumanizing abuse you had to undergo at Tel Aviv airport, where you had to get undressed and were internally searched as you explained it to me in our first conversation [1], you were very upset and you declared: "I will never return to Israel". But since then you have been back four more times. Last summer you were there again. more..

The Death of the Stalinist Left in Palestine
Randa Abu Naeem, Palestine Chronicle 1/14/2008
     To understand the reasons behind the rapid deterioration of the Palestinian Left, especially following Hamas’ June 2007 take-over of the Gaza Strip, one needs to scrutinize the verbalized positions of its’ leaders. Interviews and media statements made by Abdul Rahim Malouh, Deputy Secretary General of the PFLP, following his release from Israeli prisons, indicates that the PFLP has chosen to support the right-wing within Fatah. Amazingly, this is also the position of the DFLP and the People’s Party, in spite of the pro-American agenda spouted and supported by Mahmoud Abbas and his cabal within Fatah.
     The U-turn taken by the Palestinian Left should not come as a surprise since it has historically expressed an undemocratic world-view, both in general and in relation to its’ Palestinian agenda in particular. This lack of democracy is, of course, the outcome of its Stalinist ideological orientation. As a result of this dominant orientation, both the People’s Party (which has recognized Israel since its inception) and the DFLP (which made the proposal that led to the interim solution later accepted by the PLO), could not accept the results of the January 2006 Palestinian elections. These elections, in fact, are the only non ethno-religious elections in the entire Middle East to date... more..

An Interview with Ali Jarbawi - Action, Please
Bitterlemons, MIFTAH 1/14/2008
     bitterlemons: Are you optimistic about US President George W. Bush’s visit?
     Jarbawi: Palestinians are not optimistic. We always hear a lot of talk and promises but on the ground we see the opposite. Settlements are expanding, Israeli army incursions continue unabated, there are arrests, and land is confiscated. All these Israeli policies continue and we hear only promises. We need action rather than words.
     bitterlemons: What exactly do you see Washington’s role as being?
     Jarbawi: We have to wait and see the level of real involvement. The US is talking about moving ahead with the peace process and how crucial the year 2008 is, but up to now we haven’t seen much. We have to see if Washington is committed not only in words but in reality. more..

The Grand Jury and the persecution of Dr. Abdelhaleem Ashqar
Michael E. Deutsch, Electronic Intifada 1/14/2008
     Ever since his sentencing on 21 November, I have been ruminating on the extreme injustice perpetrated on Abdelhaleem Ashqar by the US government and the federal court in Chicago culminating in a draconian sentence of 135 months for nonviolent acts of civil disobedience.Dr. Ashqar, a Palestinian and a former professor of business administration at Howard University, was acquitted this past February by a federal court jury of participation in an alleged racketeering conspiracy charged against Hamas, the elected government of the Palestinian Authority, which had been designated in 1997 as a foreign terrorist organization by the US government. [Disclosure: the author was one of the counsel for Dr. Ashqar’s co-defendant Muhammad Salah who was acquitted of racketeering conspiracy, but convicted of obstruction of justice for filing false answers to interrogatories in a civil case and sentenced to 21 months in prison.]
     Dr. Ashqar, who received his PhD from the University of Mississippi and was a candidate for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority in 2005, was convicted of one count of obstruction of the administration of justice and one count of criminal contempt stemming from his refusal to collaborate with federal grand juries, one in New York and one in Chicago, investigating Hamas and the Palestinian anti-occupation movement. His refusals to testify before investigative grand juries about his work and relationships with other Palestinians -- in effect to become an informer against his people and his liberation movement -- was part of a long history of resistance by activists in this country to "naming names" of political associates before government investigative bodies. Such refusals to cooperate with grand juries have occurred in response to the usurpation by prosecutors of the purported independent power of the grand jury. more..

Abbas should be safeguarded
Akiva Eldar, Ha’aretz 1/14/2008
     President George W. Bush, who came to jump-start the peace talks, is fading in the distance, and the large-scale military action in Gaza is getting closer. It is as if there are two peoples: The people of the West Bank and the people of Gaza. With the first we make peace and with the second we go to war.
     There are even those who "know" that the president of the West Bank, Mahmoud Abbas, "begged" Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to go all-out against Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh’s state. They propose bringing back Fatah people to rule Gaza, riding in Israel Defense Forces tanks, and hope that Abbas’ police will protect the children of Sderot. It is hard to tell which possibility is worse - that these advisors believe what they say, or that they have decided to eradicate the last Palestinian. more..

Making do with foreplay
Uzi Benziman, Ha’aretz 1/13/2008
     The new term in the Israeli diplomatic lexicon is "shelf agreement." President George W. Bush begged Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to redouble their efforts to create the outline of a final-status agreement, and the two sounded as if they intended to carry out the task. The new effort’s starting assumption is that even if the redeeming formulas are found and understandings are reached on all the controversial issues, an agreement will not be signed due to the political difficulties each leader faces. Instead, the agreement will be put on the shelf to be available at the right time. In any case, the current effort is considered significant and has aroused opposition on the Israeli right.
     The simple truth is that the outline of the final-status agreement is known, and there is no need for a whole year to turn it into a polished diplomatic accord. Formulas are not lacking, but rather the daring and willingness to transform the reality that has been created in Judea and Samaria since June 1967. Bush himself, in his public appearances here, marked out the basic lines of the only possible agreement between Israel and the Palestinians: An almost total withdrawal to the 1967 lines, the end of the occupation and the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza with territorial contiguity between them, a solution to the refugee problem without implementing the right of return, and a practical solution to the Palestinian demand to extend their sovereignty over part of Jerusalem. more..

Occupation of Palestinian Land must End, Bush Tells Israel
Donald Macintyre, MIFTAH 1/12/2008
     President George Bush last night called for Israel to end what he unequivocally called its "occupation" of territory seized in 1967 and proposed "compensation" as a means of solving the issue of Palestinian refugees.
     As his first presidential three day visit to Israel and the West Bank neared its end, the US President went his furthest yet in publicly promoting what he had bullishly predicted would be a "signed peace treaty" between Israel and the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas "by the time I leave in office" in January 2009.
     Mr Bush’s – for him – unusual choice of the word occupation, a term still widely disliked on the Israeli right, came after a day on which he had sought after a meeting here with Mr Abbas to show he understood Palestinians’ frustration at hundreds of Israeli checkpoints and closures in the occupied West Bank. He also warned Israel of its obligations to negotiate a "contiguous" independent Palestinian state, adding: "Swiss cheese isn’t going to work when it comes to the outline of a state." more..

Welcome, Mr President, to the Misery You’ve Created
Jonathan Steele, MIFTAH 1/12/2008
     It is a well-deserved irony for George Bush that his first presidential visit to Israel coincided this week with the storm of excitement produced by the unexpected outcome of the two New Hampshire primaries. Nothing could better highlight the irrelevance of the final year of the Bush presidency.
     The moment at which an incumbent becomes a lame duck fluctuates in every US administration, depending on circumstances. The day on which the first votes are cast is traditionally the symbolic date, even though the race has been under way in the media for months. This year’s riveting contests in New Hampshire certainly proved that true, overshadowing whatever interest there was in Bush’s plans for influencing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
     Even before the president left Washington, expectations for his visit were low. His much-trumpeted meeting of Middle Eastern leaders in Annapolis in November produced a predictably tinny follow-up. Little happened in the subsequent six weeks, and it was only courtesy to Bush that impelled Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas to meet again in advance of the president’s touchdown in Tel Aviv on Wednesday and produce the blandest pretence of progress. According to Olmert’s spokesman, they agreed to "authorise their negotiating teams to conduct direct and ongoing negotiations on all the core issues". more..

Ignorance or bias?
Manal Jamal, Al-Ahram Weekly 1/10/2008
     Bush’s visit must face up to hard facts.
     As Bush embarks on his Middle East tour to jump-start the Israeli- Palestinian peace process, he should be made aware of the sad and desperate reality that shapes Palestinian lives. Bush’s latest request that Israel must dismantle "unauthorised illegal settler outposts" suggests that Israel’s continued settlement expansion, restriction of Palestinian movement, and land expropriation in the West Bank is by contrast "legal" and "acceptable". This is illustrative of either Washington’s ignorance or its unprincipled bias.
     In the privileged West Bank, settlement expansion, check points, closure policies, and a separation barrier have strangled the population. Israel’s settlement expansion has continued unabated in the post-Oslo years. In blatant disregard for international law, especially the Fourth Geneva Convention which prohibits an occupying power from transferring its citizens into occupied territory, Israel has more than doubled its settler population in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, to over 400,000 since 1993. Last month, Israel confirmed its proposed expansion of two settlements in occupied East Jerusalem -- Har Homa and Maaleh Adumim. more..

Mediation Bush-style
Saleh Al-Naami, Al-Ahram Weekly 1/10/2008
     Bush’s visit to Israel was preceded by the seizure of swathes of Palestinian land and the announcement that there will be no halt in settlement building. What hope for negotiations then?
     OFFICIAL VERSUS POPULAR: Israeli President Shimon Peres and US President George W Bush inspect the honour guard during a welcoming ceremony upon Bush’s arrival at Ben Gurion International Airport yesterday. Meanwhile, Palestinians prepare anti-Bush banners on the eve of his visit to the Palestinian territories. Official Palestinian welcome sharply contrasts with popular discontent in anticipation of the presence of the US president in the region.
     Mohamed Al-Nuseir, 57, who lives in Bethlehem, had no warning that Israel was about to confiscate his family’s land. The first he heard was on Saturday, when he was sitting in front of the television with his family and the satellite news presenter announced the Israeli government’s decision to seize Palestinian territory south of the Mount Abu Ghoneim settlement bordering occupied Jerusalem in order to build 1,000 units to house yet more settlers. Nor had he conceived such a thing possible, not on the eve of American President George Bush’s visit to Israel. His family, like all the others in the area, has all the documents to prove its legal ownership of the land. more..

A Letter from Gaza: New Year Misery
Palestine Chronicle 1/12/2008
     PC Editor’s Note: This is a personal letter from a physician in Gaza to a friend and supporter in the UK. It arrived, January 9, the day George W. Bush arrived at Ben Gurion Airport, to talk, on arrival, of the need for Israel’s security.
     Thanks for the great efforts you’ve been exerting to help us, I am writing so fast as the charge of my battery will be lost while we live in the gloom with the seldomly available electricity. My children are studying on candles for their exams.
     Today, a friend of mine, he is the head of pharmacy in the (Ministry of Health) asked for some life saving medications for a cancer patient, the very limited resource that we have were not enough to meet his need, I could not sleep when I went home, thinking that additional victim will die because we do not have money to pay for his treatment.
     Two days ago the elevator had fallen at a local clinic. Thank God there were no injuries as it had fallen at a height of less than two meters. Our generators are surrendering, I lost one three days ago in (...) hospital and today I need another one for (..) paediatric hospital. In a time where no vegetables for the hospitals because we can’t cover the suppliers invoice. This is what we have in Gaza for the new year of 2008. more..

Bethlehem Blues
Eileen Fleming, Palestine Chronicle 1/12/2008
     By 2002 the costs to American Taxpayers because of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict was already $3 Trillion.
     American tax payers financially support the construction of The illegal Separation Wall at a tune of $1.5 million per mile.
     The Wall is three times as long and twice as high as the wall that fell in Berlin.
     On November 15, 2005, Senator Hillary Clinton stood on the Jerusalem side of The Wall and was quoted in Ha’aretz, expressing support for The Wall because it "is against terrorists" and "not against the Palestinian people."
     Senator Clinton did not visit the Little Town of Bethlehem: Occupied Territory, to see what The Wall has done to the Bethlehem economy. But I have.
     On New Years Eve Day 2005, I visited a family who had just rebuilt their home in the adjacent Dheisheh refugee camp, one of the three refugee camps in the open air prison that is Bethlehem. more..

Letter to the Editor: Bush in Palestine
Roger Lafontaine, Palestine Chronicle 1/12/2008
     The visit of President Bush is adding insult to the slaughter of Palestinians.
     The ’Peace Process’ is not a process that will bring peace, rather it is a process to facilitate the killing of Palestinians and the destruction of their society.
     First they will use Mahmoud Abbas to destroy Hamas. Then, surprise, surprise, Abbas will become all of a sudden, another Arafat, persona non grata, a pariah who should be ignored and isolated.
     That is the plan and it is a miracle of naivety that Abbas apparently cannot see this coming.
     None of the coming candidates, Democrat or Republican, save Kucinich and Paul are free of the clutches of the Zionist lobby. They will do everything they can to satisfy Israel’s longing to shed Palestinian blood aka the ’Peace Process’. more..

The President Visits the Holy Land
MIFTAH, MIFTAH 1/12/2008
     When US President George W. Bush announced after Annapolis that he planned to make his first trip to the Middle East as President in January to push the peace process along, one could have predicted that a visit by the head of state of the world’s only superpower would dominate and monopolize the proceedings in the press that week, which is exactly what happened.
     On January 7, the respective heads of the Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, met in an attempt to resolve some of the issues currently existing between the two sides. The major dispute centers around Jewish settlement expansion on occupied land near Jerusalem, especially the enlargement of the Har Homa / Jabal Abu Gheim settlement just days after Annapolis. However, by the close of the meeting, no agreement had been announced. more..

A Palestinian Exploration
Hassan Haidar, MIFTAH 1/12/2008
     A few years after Lebanon gained its independence in 1943, the Palestinians were hit by what is known as the naqba - or ’catastrophe.’ The Israelis seized more than half of their country and several Arab armies were unable to recapture the land. Thus, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees poured into neighboring Arab countries - including a certain small country barely managing its politics through a delicate sectarian system. Even before it armed itself, the Palestinian presence became a source of polarization in Lebanon’s political, strategic, economic and social affairs - the strength of this polarization varying with prevailing inter-sectarian tensions which themselves were a function of either internal competition or external provocation.
     The Palestinians - for reasons of ideology, regional loyalties and petty calculations - became participants in Lebanon’s minor and major civil wars. They became so involved in the affairs of militias, alleyways and local conflicts that their cause began to disappear. They scored victories for one side or the other and embraced the Lebanese conflict to an extent that made them many enemies. Their involvement became a source of conflict between the Palestinians themselves just as it had been for the Lebanese and, even more dangerously, would form the basis of Israel’s first invasion of an Arab capital with the explicit aim of driving out the Palestinian Liberation Organization. more..

Many Palestinians Offer a Bleak Opinion of Bush
Isabel Kershner, MIFTAH 1/12/2008
     President Bush did not come to this oasis city of beige hills, lush green plantations and ancient ruins on his visit to the Palestinian Authority on Thursday. Given the apparent antipathy of the local population, it is probably just as well.
     “It would be much better if he didn’t visit our land at all,” said Bashar Fadl Ahmed, 34, an orthopedic surgeon who was shopping in the town square early this week, echoing sentiments expressed by many here. “He won’t achieve anything. He is trying to do something in his last year, but where was he before?”
     Jericho, a relatively tranquil town of about 25,000 Palestinians north of the Dead Sea, was on the short list of West Bank destinations for the Bush visit, with Bethlehem and Ramallah, the site of the Palestinian Authority headquarters.
     Arif Jaabari, the governor of Jericho appointed by the Palestinian Authority, said members of the American security and diplomatic staff had been to his compound twice. But Jericho was not included in the president’s final schedule, causing little disappointment among residents. more..

Bush Gets No Promises in Mideast Visit
Richard Bourdreaux, MIFTAH 1/12/2008
     President Bush completed two days of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders Thursday without a firm public commitment from Israel to halt expansion of West Bank settlements or give the Palestinians a bigger role in policing the territory.
     Nor did the president make progress on a key Israeli concern that has stood in the way of peace talks for years: a halt in rocket attacks on southern Israel by Palestinian militants based in the Gaza Strip.
     Bush nevertheless insisted that a peace accord was possible by the end of his term, and spelled out guidelines for a deal to end what he called Israel’s "occupation" of Arab lands and to create an independent Palestinian state.
     Israeli officials embraced the proposals, which appeared to take the Palestinians by surprise.
     A top aide said Bush would return to the region at least once before he left office in a year to gauge progress in talks on the main issues of the decades-old conflict. Spurred by Bush’s visit, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas agreed Tuesday to launch those negotiations soon. more..

Barring Blair
Akiva Eldar, Ha’aretz 1/13/2008
     A pleasant surprise awaited Tony Blair, the Quartet’s envoy to the Middle East, who returned to Jerusalem for the visit of U.S. President George W. Bush. His small staff, which has taken over the south wing of the American Colony Hotel in East Jerusalem, celebrated a major success this week, maybe the biggest since the office’s inauguration last June: The sewage project in Beit Lahia is starting to move forward. If all goes as planned, and Israel allows the concrete and equipment to be brought in, the first stage will be completed this March.
     A document the Blair team drew up at the beginning of last November said the sewage project in the northern Gaza Strip has the highest priority among the tasks that will have an immediate impact. Last March, a flood caused by the collapse of a wall in a small oxidation pool killed three people and destroyed 140 homes in Beit Lahia.
     If the rehabilitation work is not completed quickly," the detailed 35-page work plan states, "there is a risk of a breach of the main sewage lake - with much more devastating consequences." The World Bank offered to underwrite the project four years ago. "The project by the World Bank to upgrade the plant is long overdue," the document says. more..

Believing Olmert
Gideon Levy, Ha’aretz 1/13/2008
     After listening to many of his statements, some of them very impressive, one comes to recognize that Ehud Olmert perhaps truly desires peace with the Palestinians. The fact that he has not zigzagged, not even once, that he only reiterates the same things, speaking like Uri Avnery (even if 40 years late), that he does not backtrack or stutter - only reinforces this feeling. It is permissible, therefore, to succumb to the temptation and believe that the man who told Haaretz on November 28, "two states, or Israel is finished," indeed has undergone a profound change.
     However, there’s a catch: This welcome change of consciousness has not yet been accompanied by any practical action. The settlements are flourishing, 10,000 Palestinian prisoners are rotting in prisons, Gaza is starved and blacked-out, Shin Bet security service investigators are torturing, the checkpoints incarcerating and the acacias blooming in the territories. more..

Gaza suffering severe fuel shortages
Report, Al Mezan, Electronic Intifada 1/10/2008
     The Gaza Strip continues to witness a dramatic decline in the fuel and power supplies since 16 October 2007. The Israeli high court upheld the decision of Israeli authorities to reduce the amount of fuel, including industrial fuel that is used for electricity generation, into the Strip on 13 November 2007. Under this decision, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) reduced the amount of fuel necessary for operating the power station to 250,000 liters per day. Prior to 16 October 2007, the average amount was 350,000 liters per day (since 16 October 2007: 350,000 liters per day x the five days when Gaza receives fuel = 1,750,000 liters/seven days = 250,000 liters per day used for operating Gaza’s power station. This limits the daily megawatts generated to 42). Thus, the power station now produces only 42 megawatts. Before the implementation of that decision, it generated 65 megawatts.
     Before the Israeli shelling of the power station on 28 June 2006, the station produced 90 megawatts. After it was partially repaired, it was able to generate roughly 65 megawatts. In light of this continued shortage of fuel to the power station during the last three months, the station consumed all of its emergency fuel storage and, since 6 January 2008, it has been forced to limit its production by 23 megawatts of power under the pressure of fuel shortages. more..

Hopeless in Gaza
Stefanie Marsh, MIFTAH 1/10/2008
     We were in east Jerusalem, the day before we were due in the Jordan Valley to document the plight of Palestinian farmers, when the man from Oxfam burst in to the room. This was last week, when I spent five days in the occupied territories – Gaza, Hebron, the Jordan Valley and Bethlehem – inspecting living conditions in anticipation of President George Bush’s visit to Israel today. I’ll get back to the utter hopelessness of the situation in a moment, the misery, the intractable mess – all man-made – the power cuts, the wall, and the things that are festering behind it.
     But first, the inconsistencies: the obsession with “narrative”: the utter impossibility of saying anything without being crushed, ridiculed, accused of racism, antiSemitism, Islamophobia, ignorance, brainwashing or lying. This from the Left, the Right, the Jewish lobby, the Muslim lobby, NGOs, evangelical Jew-loving Christians from America, radical Jew-hat-ing Muslims from the Middle East, the Israeli lobby. more..

Disempowering Arabs empowers Islamists
Rami G. Khouri, Daily Star 1/12/2008
     I thought the most intriguing aspect of US President George W. Bush’s call in Jerusalem this week for a Palestinian state that was "viable, contiguous, sovereign and independent" was the simultaneous use of the words "sovereign" and "independent." This tells us nothing new about American rhetoric on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but it is intriguing for how it can help clarify crucial political sentiments in other parts of the Arab world.
     Why does Bush feel the need to use both the words "sovereign" and "independent?" You would think that if a country enjoyed one of these attributes, the other would come automatically. Well, not really - and not only in the case of Palestine’s desire to gain genuine independence and end Israeli control of its land, air, water, people and natural resources. In fact, one of the major concerns of ordinary citizens and mass political movements. more..

Letter to the Editor: Bush and the current realities in the Middle East
David Pegg, The Guardian 1/12/2008
     So Mr Bush realises that "there should be an end to the occupation that began in 1967" with "mutually agreed adjustments to ... reflect current realities" and that Palestinian refugees should be accommodated in a new state of Palestine (Report, January 11). Has anybody looked at the simple arithmetic of the situation that these pronouncements create? The area of Palestine that Israel is now offering for the creation of a quasi-autonomous Palestinian state is in five disconnected blocks and amounts to only about 13% of the total area of mandate Palestine. If Palestinian refugees from the neighbouring countries are also to be accommodated in the new state, and if some at least of the Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel are forced or choose to live there, then the total Arab population of that state will be around 8 million. That would give population densities of 2,300/sq km in Palestine and 230/sq km in Israel. Palestine would then rank number six in the world, at 10 times the Israeli density. (Britain’s rank is 51 at 246/sq km). more..

Twilight Zone / A window on interrogation
Gideon Levy, Ha’aretz 1/12/2008
     Imad Khotri says he is a clerk in the Qalqilyah municipality and serves as a volunteer imam in the city’s Saladdin Mosque. He is 23 years old, and was arrested in his home late at night on October 17, 2007 by Israel Defense Forces soldiers. The next day he was transferred to a Shin Bet security service interrogation facility in the Kishon detention camp. That was the start of a prolonged series of interrogations involving torture. His hands have remained partially paralyzed as a result of the torture, and the tight and prolonged binding of his hands to a chair with iron handcuffs.
     Anyone who saw him brought to the military court saw a person with dangling palms, which he is barely able to move. A judge who saw him in this condition ordered the cessation of his interrogation and medical tests. A test performed in Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center indicated "quite serious partial axonal damage to his nerve." The Shin Bet doctor determined that this was caused by "strong pressure" on his hands. The legal bureau of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) filed a harsh complaint with the attorney general. more..

In exclusion, Hamas counts
Mohammed Omer, Electronic Intifada 1/11/2008
     GAZA CITY, 10 January (IPS) - As US President George W. Bush began talks Thursday with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas supporters in Gaza were determined to make their absence count.
     Leaders from the Palestinian party Hamas that won the elections in Gaza two years back have inevitably not been invited to meet Bush. The US considers Hamas a terrorist organization.
     Hamas took control of Gaza by force from the Fatah party headed by Abbas in June last year, about a year and a half after it swept the polls in January 2006.
     As Hamas leaders and supporters see it, Bush’s talks with Abbas can count for little if they are kept out. And so with Abbas’s talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert just ahead of Bush’s visit. more..

The Primacy of the Ear
Gilad Atzmon, Middle East Online 1/11/2008
     The road from music to ethics: an alternative take on the Israeli Palestinian conflict and peace activism.
     Rather often I face the same question when interviewed by Arab media outlets: Gilad, how is it that you observe that which so many Israelis fail to see? Indeed, not many Israelis interpret the Israeli ethical failure as an inherent symptom. For many years I didn’t have any answer to offer. However, recently I realised that it must have something to do with my Saxophone. It is music that has shaped my views of the Israeli Palestinian conflict and formed my criticism of Jewish identity.
     Today I will talk about the road from music to ethics.
     It is known that life looks like a meaningful event when reviewed retrospectively from its end to its very beginning. Accordingly, I will try to scrutinise my own battle with Zionism through my late evolvement as a musician. more..

US Elections: Just Like the Movies
Ramzy Baroud, Palestine Chronicle 1/11/2008
     The United States political process bears an uncanny resemblance to mainstream filmmaking. Elections and speeches are scripted to the letter, politicians put on a tirelessly rehearsed act, catering endlessly to the whims of the target audience. A successful Hollywood filmmaker can’t afford to risk raising issues in a way that don’t immediately reflect audience sympathies. Good politicians vying for votes are similar in that they speak according to the already existing expectations -- and prejudices -- of the voting public.
     Rarely do candidates stand behind a podium without amending or overriding their personal beliefs in return for generating applause. You would hardly hear, for example, of a US presidential candidate getting booed by an audience.
     Candidates do not bring fresh principals to the table, but instead shape their views based on what national and local polls tell them matters to the voting public. And what matters is largely manipulated by the media and the state. Their combined scare tactics convinced most Americans of outright falsehoods, such as Saddam’s ties to 9/11, his stockpiles of WMDs, the "liberation" of women in Afghanistan, and so forth. more..

Him and them
Dina Ezzat, Al-Ahram Weekly 1/10/2008
     Dina Ezzat wonders how the visit by George Bush to Egypt can help Cairo and Washington manage their differences and maintain what they used to dub a strategic partnership.
     "So why is he coming now? Are they going to strike Iran?" wondered Hussein, a Cairo taxi driver. The "he" in Hussein’s question referred to US President George W Bush. As for the "they", Hussein was reluctant to offer a straight answer. For him, however, it was not a strict reference to the Americans because one way or the other it also involves a hidden mention of America’s regional allies: Israel and "others".
     Heading towards his 60th birthday, the grey- haired taxi driver, of Palestinian origin, spends over 10 hours on the road every day during which he listens to a lot of radio news, mostly from the Arabic service of BBC. more..

Oil for Iraqi citizens
Hana Al-Bayaty, Al-Ahram Weekly 1/10/2008
     Precedent exists in international law that could explode the US occupation of Iraq, its genocidal strategy, and be a step towards healing the wounds of the Iraqi nation.
     Some 4.7 million Iraqi citizens -- one fifth of the population -- have been forcibly displaced, within and outside their country, by the US occupation and the policies of the sectarian governments it installed since the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003. It is a human catastrophe, a national tragedy, and a destabilising factor for the region. This exodus has been labelled "the fastest growing humanitarian crisis on the planet", unprecedented in size since the 1948 Nakba that uprooted at least one million Palestinians from their land. more..

Ali Abunimah and Jonathan Cook discuss Israel’s "generous offers" on Flashpoints
Interview, Flashpoints Radio, Electronic Intifada 1/10/2008
     EI co-founder Ali Abunimah and EI contributor and author Jonathan Cook were interviewed on Flashpoints radio out of Berkeley, California on Monday, 7 December 2007. The two were invited on just days before US President George W. Bush’s first ever presedential visit to the Middle East and discussed past Israeli "generous offers" including Camp David in 2000, and Ehud Olmert’s continued policy of ethnic cleansing.
     Listen Now [MP3 - 4.30] [end]

Bush’s "vision" is Palestine’s nightmare
Sam Bahour writing from al-Bireh/Ramallah, occupied West Bank, Electronic Intifada 1/10/2008
     US President George W. Bush landed in Israel yesterday on his first presidential trip to the country.He participated in a press conference in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, what both men termed a "historic" and "monumental" occasion.After listening to both so-called leaders make their opening comments and fielding questions from journalists, the only groundbreaking revelation I could register was that Bush’s naivete, either real or feigned, only served the agenda of one party in the region -- Hamas.The radical Islamists at Hamas could not find a better recruiter for their movement if they tried.
     My opinion may be extreme, but then again, I live in extreme limbo under Israeli military occupation, shaped by a policy both men continuously refuse to call by its true name -- state terror.
     My opinion is certainly subjective but I started my day by reading a communique from the real world: a report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs that the background of the issue: on 28 June 2006 the Israeli Air Force bombed the power plant in the Gaza Strip, destroying all six transformers and cutting 43 percent of Gaza’s total power capacity.The report states, "households in the Gaza Strip are now experiencing regular power cuts" and notes that "the irregular [electricity] supply causes additional problems. Running water in Gaza is only available in most households for around eight hours per day... more..

George W. Bush: You are not welcome
Mohammed Ali writing from the Gaza Strip, occupied Palestine, Electronic Intifada 1/10/2008
     While I was driving in the car the other day, there was a radio report that the Israeli high court has approved to cut off the electricity from Gaza and leave Gaza in darkness to intensify the collective punishment on Gaza.
     When the Israeli high court previously agreed to ban the transfer to Gaza of fuel to supply the main power plant, there were power cuts for at least eight hours a day.
     Power and fuel cuts mean that hospitals, factories and other essential services suffer as a result. Such Israeli court decisions ignore the humanitarian impact on Gaza.
     I drove back home and I found the streets without light and not even much traffic as if Gaza was under curfew. When I arrived home, my family was sitting in darkness with a little candlelight. My three-and-a-half-month-old son was crying. I felt that he didn’t want to be in darkness as darkness to him means bed time. more..

Turning the screws
Marian Houk, Al-Ahram Weekly 1/10/2008
     Israeli justice condones collective punishment.
     A Palestinian merchant works by a gas-generated lamp in his shop in Gaza City Immediately after the Israeli High Court of Justice rejected a petition on 3 January from a group of 10 Israeli and Palestinian human rights organisations asking for an injunction to stop the state-ordered second round of deep fuel cuts to Gaza, the petitioners submitted an urgent request for a new injunction.
     Their new request for court intervention concerns the continuing shortfall in delivery of industrial diesel fuel that is used to operate the main Gaza Power Plant, according to Sari Bashi, the executive director of GISHA, which has taken a leading role in the case.
     The Gaza Power Plant currently supplies about one-third of Gaza’s electricity. Before the June 2006 Israeli air strike, which destroyed all six of the plant’s transformers, the power plant was able to provide nearly two-thirds of Gaza’s electrical supply. more..

A ’helping’ hand
Khaled Amayreh, Al-Ahram Weekly 1/10/2008
     Israel’s way of supporting its negotiating partner leaves something to be desired.
     Just ahead of George Bush’s visit to the region, Israel was helping Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in its own peculiar way. Last week, thousands of Israeli occupation soldiers, backed by an armada of military vehicles and armoured personnel carriers, stormed Nablus, which the PA regime had just declared a "safe and secure city".
     For three successive days, the invading army ransacked the city of 200,000 inhabitants, particularly its ancient quarter, raiding private homes, beating, humiliating and terrorising residents, rounding up youngsters and vandalising property. Dozens were injured, some seriously, by trigger-happy soldiers, allegedly for violating a military curfew the invading forces imposed on the town.
     The PA has a few thousand security personnel in Nablus, in addition, to a back-up force of hundreds of Fatah militiamen, who had been active in persecuting and hounding Hamas supporters in the city. more..

Illusions of peace
Salama A Salama, Al-Ahram Weekly 1/10/2008
     Almost to the last one, all US presidential candidates agree on one thing: the need for change. In the run-up for the August primaries and the November elections, many names will pop up and disappear as the American people ponder their options. The next president may be an African American, Barack Obama, or a woman, Hillary Clinton. But on both sides of the Democratic-Republican divide, Americans are visibly disenchanted with the policies of the Bush administration. The Democrats say the Bush administration undermined US international standing, wrecked the economy, and boosted joblessness. The Republicans are all working hard to disassociate themselves from Bush’s legacy.
     Here in the Arab world, it is a different story. Even though Bush looks like a student cramming too late for the exams, our leaders are still trying to stay on his good side. From day one, the policies of the Bush administration weakened the Arab world while boosting the despotic regimes that support US policies. Under the Bush administration, Israel opted for aggression, shedding any semblance of interest in peace. Bush has used its so-called friendship with Arab countries to interfere in their domestic affairs. It blackmailed and pressured. It bullied Arab governments while claiming to be democratising the Arab world and saving it from backwardness, extremism, and terror. more..

One last tour
Hassan Nafaa, Al-Ahram Weekly 1/10/2008
     In the dying days of his presidency Bush has much unfinished business, and it doesn’t involve a viable Palestinian state.
     By the time this newspaper hits the stands Bush will have already embarked on his week long tour of the Middle East which begins in Israel and ends in Egypt. The media has already begun to spew out the usual flood of reports and commentaries lauding the visit as proof of the sincerity of Bush’s desire to personally sponsor and encourage Palestinian-Israeli negotiations set in motion at Annapolis in November last year, heralding the visit as an opportunity to reach a final settlement before the end of 2008, i.e. before Bush leaves the White House.
     How I wish such assessments were true. Who among us does not dream of peace and stability in this war-torn part of the world and the advent of an era in which its material and human resources can be turned towards securing development? But dreams are one thing and reality another. Whatever the illusions surrounding the Bush visit no good will come of it, not for the Palestinians or for Arab and Muslim peoples in general. The visit simply furnishes yet more proof of Bush’s determination to serve the Zionist project until his very last moment in office. more..

Bush’s visit to the Middle East: triumph of form over substance?
Mazin Qumsiyeh, ZNet 1/10/2008
     The President’s visit to the Middle East this week will show once and for all that status quo lives on under the attempt to validate the old saying that an ounce of image is worth a pound of performance. In this case the image came seven years too late.
     In public appearances the Bush administration claims it supports "the road map for peace". In 2218 words that "map" lacks any mention of human rights and International law. But even with this shortcoming, it calls for total freeze on settlement activities including so called "natural growth".
     Israel simply refuses to abide by this. Bush sent a letter to assure Israel that some settlements will be exempt since they would stay with Israel under any final deal. In so doing, Bush himself undermined his own "road map". It is not surprising that US policy evolved from describing settlements as illegal to "obstacles" to "unhelpful" and finally to Jewish neighborhood that will remain part of the Jewish state. more..

The world according to Avigdor
Oriol Poveda, International Middle East Media Center 1/9/2008
     Anyone staying long enough in the West Bank comes to realise that the apparatus of the Occupation (prevention of free movement, house demolitions, indefinite administrative detention - just to mention a few of its features) disrupts civilian life beyond any possible security concerns and has a further unstated, though clearly identifiable, goal.
     For the observer it is clear that the burdens of Occupation aim, among other goals, to make the life of Palestinians so miserable that they would find relocation a desirable option. This could very well be inspired in the approach put forward in very similar terms by the late Israeli general Rehavam Ze’evi. This unofficial policy of the Occupation, that Ze’evi cynically labelled "voluntary transfer"�, has been used to achieve the overall aim of getting as much land as possible with as few Arabs as possible. more..

Israel Hiding Settlement Facts to Protect Image
The Sydney Morning Herald - Ed O'loughlin, MIFTAH 1/9/2008
     THE Israeli Government has told a court that it does not want to reveal the true extent of Jewish settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories because the information would damage its image abroad, a local newspaper has reported.
     The news comes on the eve of the arrival of the US President, George Bush, for a three-day state visit in which the settlement issue is likely to figure.
     Last week Mr Bush said that Israeli settlement building in the West Bank was an obstacle to peace between Israelis and Palestinians. The office of the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, has said that during the visit he would again commit Israel to removing some of the smaller and newer settlements.
     The Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz said the Israeli Defence Ministry, which rules the Arab territories seized by Israel in 1967, is resisting a petition from two Israeli rights groups for the publication of an official report showing the extent of settlement is greater than Israel has previously admitted. more..

Action, Please, an Interview With Ali Jarbawi
Bitterlemons, MIFTAH 1/9/2008
     bitterlemons:
     Are you optimistic about US President George W. Bush’s visit?
     Jarbawi:
     Palestinians are not optimistic. We always hear a lot of talk and promises but on the ground we see the opposite. Settlements are expanding, Israeli army incursions continue unabated, there are arrests, and land is confiscated. All these Israeli policies continue and we hear only promises. We need action rather than words.
     bitterlemons:
     What exactly do you see Washington’s role as being?
     Jarbawi:
     We have to wait and see the level of real involvement. The US is talking about moving ahead with the peace process and how crucial the year 2008 is, but up to now we haven’t seen much. We have to see if Washington is committed not only in words but in reality. more..

Interview: Ethnic Cleansing Goes On
Ilan Pappe and Emanuela Irace, ZNet 1/9/2008
     Ilan Pappe arrived in Italy without causing any sensational uproar. He is IEMASVO’s guest [1], at the ISIAO’s Roman venue [2], for a conference over Israel-Palestine. Title: "One land, two peoples".
     After having denounced in recent months the impossibility of working peacefully in a hostile milieu, namely at Haifa University, Pappe moved to Britain where he now teaches at Exeter University. Historian of dissent, "revisionist", born in 1954 in Israel, son of Jews who fled from the Germany of the ’30s, he has published a half dozen books. Amongst the most recent works there is "The ethnic cleansing of Palestine", not yet translated into Italian. The core of the exploration by the great historian is the Zionist policy comprised of deportations and compulsory expulsions carried out against the Palestinians during and after the 1948 war, when some 400 villages were evacuated, razed and destroyed in the space of five years. more..

Media Distortion by Omission
Ben White, Palestine Chronicle 1/9/2008
     In the second such incident since the 2006 war, two rockets fired from within Lebanon struck Israel Monday night. The news understandably made headlines in Israel, and was featured as a major story by all the major Western news outlets such as CNN and the BBC, coming just before President Bush starts his Middle East tour.
     However, completely unreported, or at best featured as a small afterthought, was the fact that Lebanese-Israeli border tensions had been already raised Monday by the Israeli abduction of a Lebanese shepherd.
     Lebanon’s Prime Minister Siniora condemned the snatch as an act of "aggression" as well as "a clear violation of Lebanese sovereignty and an unacceptable provocation". Lebanese authorities contradicted Israel’s claim that the shepherd had crossed over into Israeli territory, with a source telling AFP that Israeli soldiers first made an incursion before they found the shepherd herding his goats. more..

The President has Arrived
Joharah Baker, MIFTAH 1/9/2008
     No doubt, the subject of the hour is US President George W. Bush’s visit to Israel and Palestine, which begins today, January 9. Both Israel and the Palestinians are taking extraordinary measures to ensure that Bush’s visit proceeds without a hitch. In Jerusalem, where the US President will be staying, a reported 8,000 Israeli police and security guards have been stationed for his protection.
     The Palestinians are pulling out all the stops as well, with a reported 4,000 Palestinian police force out to ensure that Bush has a safe trip to Ramallah tomorrow. The roads will be closed, stringent security measures taken at the Muqata’ (presidential headquarters) and residents in the middle of town advised to stock up on essential food stuffs for Thursday since it will be virtually impossible to travel anywhere near the presidential entourage that is expected to pay a visit to Palestine’s leaders. more..

An American President and the outposts of Zion
Ben White, Electronic Intifada 1/9/2008
     This week US President George W. Bush embarks on a tour of some of the US’ Middle East allies, including his first visit while in office to Israel. The trip has been presaged by a lot of media guesswork about what exactly Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will discuss, and one of the likely topics will apparently be the so-called "illegal outposts." [1] The New York Times last Saturday reported remarks made by Bush in an interview with Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot about the need for Israel to dismantle these outposts and the apparent "awkward" nature of the issue for both US and Israeli governments. [2] However, the issue of outposts -- framed as Bush forcing a reticent Israeli administration to compromise for the sake of peace -- risks clouding far more crucial issues that go to the heart of the conflict.
     "Settler outposts" refer to sites scattered around the West Bank where Zionist Jews have established often as little as a tent or a caravan, as part of the wider effort to colonize "Judea and Samaria." [3] They are "illegal" in the sense that they have been established without the official authorization of the Israeli state (although it has been alleged sometimes with the collusion of individual officials). more..

How Barack Obama learned to love Israel
Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 4 March 2007, Electronic Intifada 1/9/2008
     I first met Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama almost ten years ago when, as my representative in the Illinois state senate, he came to speak at the University of Chicago. He impressed me as progressive, intelligent and charismatic. I distinctly remember thinking ’if only a man of this calibre could become president one day.’
     On Friday Obama gave a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in Chicago. It had been much anticipated in American Jewish political circles which buzzed about his intensive efforts to woo wealthy pro-Israel campaign donors who up to now have generally leaned towards his main rival Senator Hillary Clinton.
     Reviewing the speech, Ha’aretz Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner concluded that Obama "sounded as strong as Clinton, as supportive as Bush, as friendly as Giuliani. At least rhetorically, Obama passed any test anyone might have wanted him to pass. So, he is pro-Israel. Period." more..

The time for mere talk of Palestinian statehood is well and truly over
Editorial, Daily Star 1/9/2008
     US President George W. Bush is scheduled to arrive in the region today to press forward with a mission into which many of his predecessors have put more effort and still failed. Many of his critics have already concluded that his belated push for Middle East peace during his final months in office is about as likely to succeed as the efforts of a lazy student who whittles away an entire semester in fraternity halls before cramming at the last minute for final exams.
     Certainly, the odds are stacked against Bush, not only because of the existing obstacles to peace, such as the illegal expansions of Israeli colonies on occupied land, but also because of the questions that surround Bush’s real intentions. As expected, some of the American president’s enemies have denounced his efforts to restart the peace process as a charade designed to further advance Israeli interests, but even his closest friends in the region have publicly expressed skepticism over his sincerity - and over the prospects for a breakthrough. An editorial in a state-owned newspaper in Jordan, for example, warns that Bush cannot expect to reach a comprehensive agreement so long as he continues to treat the Jewish state "like a spoiled child".
     more..

The evil decree
Editorial, Ha’aretz 1/10/2008
     The scene shown Tuesday night on television was one of the most harsh and shameful seen here in recent times: a two-and-a-half-year-old boy, Ahmed Samut from Khan Yunis, and a nine-and-a-half-year-old girl, Sausan Jaafari, of Rafah, as they entered the Erez crossing alone, after being torn from the arms of their weeping parents.
     The two children have heart conditions and need urgent surgery to save their lives. Wolfson Medical Center in Holon agreed to care for them, as part of their Save a Child’s Heart program that saves the lives of children around the world.
     The hospital is to be praised for the project. The editors at Channel 10 News and reporter Shlomi Eldar are also to be praised. Israel and its security establishment, however, deserve a mark of disgrace. more..

Bush, accessory after the facts
Editorial, Ha’aretz 1/10/2008
     The Migron outpost, which was established on privately owned Palestinian land, and whose dismantlement the United States has been demanding with fake determination, is already an established locale: It is seven years old, with well-tended gardens, swings, a nursery, a kindergarten, infrastructure in which NIS 4 million of state funds have been invested and inhabitants who look not like "hilltop youth" but like ordinary citizens, the sort who work for their living in Jerusalem and come home every night and never even dream that anyone might dare to evacuate them some day.
     And the Migron outpost is just one example. There are outposts that already have more than 500 residents, and outposts that are in effect expansions of veteran settlements in which thousands of people live. The term "outpost," with its implication of "temporary," is a meaningless one. The falsity of the distinction between a legal settlement and an illegal settlement - as if anyone recognized the legality of the veteran settlements, and as if the outposts had been established in violation of government decisions and not with the government’s active help - has by now become obvious. more..

Israel’s False Friends
John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, MIFTAH 1/8/2008
     Once again, as the presidential campaign season gets underway, the leading candidates are going to enormous lengths to demonstrate their devotion to the state of Israel and their steadfast commitment to its "special relationship" with the United States.
     Each of the main contenders emphatically favors giving Israel extraordinary material and diplomatic support -- continuing the more than $3 billion in foreign aid each year to a country whose per capita income is now 29th in the world. They also believe that this aid should be given unconditionally. None of them criticizes Israel’s conduct, even when its actions threaten U.S. interests, are at odds with American values or even when they are harmful to Israel itself. In short, the candidates believe that the U.S. should support Israel no matter what it does.
     Such pandering is hardly surprising, because contenders for high office routinely court special interest groups, and Israel’s staunchest supporters -- the Israel lobby, as we have termed it -- expect it. Politicians do not want to offend Jewish Americans or "Christian Zionists," two groups that are deeply engaged in the political process. Candidates fear, with some justification, that even well-intentioned criticism of Israel’s policies may lead these groups to turn against them and back their opponents instead. more..

Storm Grows Over Jerusalem District
Martin Patience, MIFTAH 1/8/2008
     Yellow cranes swivel in the winter sun on a hill in south-east Jerusalem; occasional bursts of drilling puncture the otherwise peaceful atmosphere.
     In almost any other part of the world this scene would go largely unnoticed.
     But for Israelis and Palestinians the issue of construction at Har Homa/Jabal Abu Ghneim has rapidly become a political battleground.
     The Israeli government announced plans last month to build 300 new apartments at the Har Homa development in occupied East Jerusalem, drawing a furious diplomatic response from the Palestinians.
     The row has dominated the first few weeks of the Annapolis process - a renewed US-sponsored attempt by the Israelis and Palestinians to end the conflict - and will be high on the agenda during US President George W Bush’s visit to the region this week. more..

Israel Uses Absentee Land to Build Settlement
Mohammed Mar’i, MIFTAH 1/8/2008
     The Israeli Housing Ministry expropriated land belonging to residents from West Bank cities of Bethlehem and Beit Sahour in accordance with the “absentee law” for the construction of more than 1,000 housing units in East Jerusalem’s Har Homa settlement in Jabal Abu Ghneim.
     The ministry’s move is in violation of both an instruction from the Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to stop applying the absentee law in East Jerusalem and explicit promises by Israel to the United States that it will not apply that law in Jerusalem’s eastern quarters.
     Israel’s 1950 absentee property law states that land and homes left behind by Arabs as of Nov. 29, 1947 are deemed “enemy” property and are liable for expropriation by Israeli authorities. more..

The Real Freiers
Sherri Muzher, Palestine Chronicle 1/8/2008
     Call me a freier, but I happen to think that those in Israeli society who are looking continuously for ways to shake off accountability and ultimately subjecting future generations to more bloodshed are the real freiers.
     Freier. In Yiddish slang terms, a freier is better known as a sucker or a fool, and this principle guides most every aspect in Israeli society even in international relations.
     Back in 2007, there was an unforgettable article in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, "Thou Shall Not Be a Freier."Apparently, it’s the unwritten Eleventh Commandment in Israel. Dr. Linda-Renee Bloch of Bar-Ilan University explained that "it’s shocking to hear boastful and haughty words like: ’Laws are meant to be circumvented.’How many times have we heard people who’ve returned from trips abroad, who make fun of the citizens of the countries they visited, because they act like nerds: They stand in line, they make sure to pay. They look at these citizens as freiers." more..

When you can’t Choose your Neighbors
Fadi Abu Sada, MIFTAH 1/7/2008
     Not long ago, and not much more than a 100 meters from the house in which I grew up and where I still live, lay the greenest hill around Bethlehem. Jebel Abu Gheneim is no longer green. Instead the view--and so much more--has been spoiled by Bethlehem-area settlement number 19, better known as Har Homa.
     Har Homa was originally designed to house 60,000 settlers, a figure that does not include the 750 new "housing units" Israel is now planning to add to it. The number 19 signifies the number of settlements encircling Bethlehem.
     Surrounding this eyesore is an army road. This road is off limits to locals. We cannot cross it or near it. We cannot pick our olives at harvest time. The road is in constant use by Israeli army jeeps that waste little opportunity to disturb us with their horns and loudspeakers.
     Living next to Har Homa for so long, I have been able to observe the transformation of this once green hill. It is odd to think that it took us 25 years to have lights installed on the main road from my house to nearby Beit Sahour, or Shepherds’ Field, while, since only 2002, Jebel Abu Gheneim has been transformed into a mountain of light and concrete. more..

The Case of the White Bird
Uri Avnery, Middle East Online 1/8/2008
     Tzipi Livni , as her name indicates, is the white bird of Israeli politics (Tzipi is short for Tzipora, "bird", and Livni comes from Lavan, "white"). As against the hawk Binyamin Netanyahu, the vulture Ehud Barak and the raven Ehud Olmert, she was seen as the immaculate feathered friend.
     In public opinion polls, she has enjoyed a remarkable popularity. She trumps all the other politicians in the governing coalition. While the rating of the two Ehuds - Olmert and Barak - was going down, hers was on the way up.
     Why? Perhaps it was a case of the wish being the father of the thought. It is generally accepted that in the present Knesset no coalition could be set up without Kadima. Therefore, if one wants to throw Olmert out while avoiding new elections, Olmert’s substitute must also come from Kadima. Livni is the only creditable candidate. more..

Israeli intransigence to greet Bush
Lamis Andoni, Al Jazeera 1/8/2008
     Even before George Bush, the US president, arrives in the Middle East, Israel has its red lines all drawn up: It will continue its control of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and expansion of Jewish settlements despite the ongoing talks with the Palestinians.
     Israeli actions and words have left Palestinian negotiators little room to manoeuvre, signalling "a peace process" that gives Tel Aviv the upper hand both on the ground and at the negotiating table.
     But it is the policy of accommodation of US terms pursued by the Palestinian Authority (PA) to deliver relief and place the Palestinians on the path of independence, that was dealt a serious blow as it struggles to assert its authority over the Hamas leadership. more..

Crossing the Line features a speech by Michel Shehadeh
Podcast, Electronic Intifada 1/8/2008
     This week on Crossing The Line: host Christopher Brown airs a speech given by Palestinian activist Michel Shehadeh. Shehadeh was a member of what the media dubbed, the Los Angeles Eight (LA8), who were a group of individuals accused of aiding a member group of the Palestinian Liberation Organization which the US government considers a terrorist organization. Shehadeh spoke on 29 November 2007 -- the international day of solidarity with Palestine -- in San Francisco about the Palestinian struggle for liberation.
     As always, Crossing the Line begins with "This week in Palestine," a service provided by The International Middle East Media Center . The program finishes with a segment called, "The Occupation’s Impact" which lists the names of people killed as a result of the occupation.
     Listen Now [MP3 - 20.9 MB, 52:11 min] more..

A living martyr
Rami Almeghari writing from Shati' refugee camp, occupied Gaza Strip, Electronic Intifada 1/8/2008
     "He insisted that we all take a photo; it was the first in the last 12 years since we got married, as if he was feeling his death was approaching," says Ghada al-Khatib, widow of Awni al-Khatib at their home in al-Shati’ refugee camp in western Gaza City.
     Awni al-Khatib died a few days of the brain damage he suffered since 1990 when he was shot in the head by an Israeli-fired, rubber-coated steel bullet.
     Awni is one of thousands of Palestinians who sustained injuries from such bullets during the first intifada that broke out in 1987.
     "Awni’s state of mind has been unstable since we got married as he has always hoped for death rather than staying alive," Ghada explains.
     The young widow, in her twenties, speaks of her husband’s traits, saying was kind and tolerant, to the extent he favored his family over himself.
     However, he always prayed to die sooner rather later, she recalls. more..

In Memoriam: Dr. Ahmad Maslamani
Stop the Wall, Electronic Intifada 1/8/2008
     The morning of 7 January 2008, Dr. Ahmad Maslamani, a leading national figure in the Palestinian grassroots struggle against the occupation, passed away as a result of a heart attack. In 1985 he was a founder member of the Union of Health Work Committees, where he was director from 1992. From 2004, he was a member of the steering committee of the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign. He was a member of the central committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
     His passing is a great loss for the Palestinian people. As one who dedicated his life to our cause, he will remain a model for all of us in his steadfastness, determination and humanity. He remained faithful to the principles of our struggle, committed to every dunum of our land and to the return of our refugees. His strategic understanding of the cause helped him to focus on the core issues of our people.
     He was imprisoned four times by the occupation, and repeated detention sharpened his sense of justice. In his quiet manner he kept his gentleness, generosity and humanity. more..

Double standard on divestment
Josh Ruebner, ZNet 1/9/2008
     Today, two movements for the promotion of human rights in Sudan and Palestine seek to emulate the successful role played by boycotts, divestment, and sanctions in achieving democracy and equality in South Africa . The two movements, however, have received radically different receptions on Capitol Hill. This double standard testifies to official Washington ’s selectivity when it comes to promoting human rights around the globe and its tendency to overlook the faults of its allies while using human rights as a pretext to punish its adversaries.
     On December 31, President Bush signed into law the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act of 2007, which was passed unanimously by Congress earlier in the month. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Chris Dodd, authorizes state and local governments to divest their holdings from corporations that profit from dealings with the Sudanese government and immunizes mutual fund managers from lawsuits for doing the same. more..

"Injustice every day": An interview with Leila Khaled
Interview, Electronic Intifada 1/7/2008
     One of the most legendary figures of the Palestinian struggle for national liberation, Leila Khaled was recently in the Palestinian refugee camps of northern Lebanon.Visiting for the first time since last summer’s battle between the non-Palestinian Islamist group Fatah al-Islam and the Lebanese army, during which the Nahr al-Bared camp was destroyed, Khaled sat down with EI editor Matthew Cassel to discuss Annapolis, Nahr al-Bared, and how the Palestinian movement must move forward.
     A refugee herself, Khaled was forced to flee Haifa as a young girl in 1948 and later became the first female member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in 1967 and remains a member in the PFLP Leadership Council. Khaled put herself and Palestine in the front pages of newspapers by hijacking two passenger airplanes in 1969 and 1970, under the PFLP motto "Going after the enemy everywhere." more..

Two Palestinian villages ask Susan Sarandon to repudiate Leviev
Mohammed Khatib and Sharif Omar, Electronic Intifada 1/7/2008
     Dear Ms. Sarandon, We felt sorrow when we learned that you accepted Lev Leviev’s invitation to attend the opening night event for his new jewelry store in New York City on 13 November while our friends protested outside, because we respect you for your support for human rights, your courage in speaking since 2002 against the US war on Iraq, and for your many other honorable public positions.
     Lev Leviev is building Israeli settlements on Bil’in and Jayyous’ land, and is also building in the settlements of Har Homa and Maale Adumim around Jerusalem, in violation of international law. Leviev is destroying the olive groves and farms that have sustained our villages for centuries, and is profiting from human rights abuses.
     We were reassured to learn from our colleagues in New York City that you expressed interest in learning more about these issues. We hope that you will speak in support of peace and justice in Palestine. We invite you and would be very pleased to welcome you to visit Palestine, specifically Jayyous and Bil’in, in order to witness what Leviev’s settlements are doing to our communities. more..

Legal situation / Seven years of inaction
Yuval Yoaz, Ha’aretz 1/8/2008
     Almost seven years have passed since the Migron outpost was established. The first stage was the erection, without a permit, of a cellular antenna on a hill near the settlement of Kochav Ya’akov. Subsequently, a shipping container was brought to the site, in which the antenna’s guard lived. The site was then connected to electricity and other infrastructure.
     Five and a half years ago, the Palestinian owners of the land, who lived in the villages of Burka and Dir Dibwan, began to take action to have the settlers evacuated. But by the time the Palestinians, together with Peace Now, petitioned the High Court of Justice in October 2006, Migron consisted of 60 mobile homes and two permanent homes that together housed 43 families.
     Two months after the petition was filed, the State Prosecutor’s Office said it recognized the justice of the Palestinians’ arguments. "The only questions now on the agenda," attorney Aner Helman from the State Prosecutor’s Office wrote, "are the timing and the date of the evacuation of the outpost, and whether the outpost will be evacuated, and its structures demolished, voluntarily by its residents, or whether the authorities will have to be called in for this purpose." more..

The settlers’ view / Dressed like the pioneers
Nadav Shragai, Ha’aretz 1/8/2008
     It used to be, before the outposts came about, that the settlers saw the demographic struggle against the Palestinians as the be-all and end-all. The old worldview of the Yesha Council of settlements and its political patrons was that most of the effort should go into increasing the number of settlers. But at some point in the early 1990s, the settlers despaired of the demographic struggle, and the outposts became the new focal point.
     In the outpost approach, the struggle for Jewish control over the land moved to center stage. In this context, settlers planted olive trees and established industrial zones, orchards, farms, yeshivas, gas stations and, primarily, outposts - especially along main traffic arteries - as a way of linking isolated settlements.
     Every branch of the establishment helped the settlers set up outposts. Nothing was official, but everything was official. Former prime minister Ariel Sharon cooperated with the head of the Amana settlement movement, Ze’ev Hever, and the two old friends coordinated their moves on the outpost issue on multiple occasions. Sharon was also the one who, at the time of the Wye Accord, called on settlers to run and grab the hilltops. more..

Border Control / But he loves me the most
Akiva Eldar, Ha’aretz 1/8/2008
     Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s aides are not hiding their mission to get U.S. President George W. Bush to help rescue Olmert from the claws of the Winograd Committee. If it were up to them, Olmert would follow Bush even into the bedroom. In preparatory talks with the U.S. rescue team, the prime minister’srepresentatives suggested Olmert accompany Bush on a visit to the Mount of Beatitudes, where according to the New Testament, Jesus gave his Sermon on the Mount and the 12 apostles were chosen.The Americans politely responded that Bush would prefer to conduct the religious part of his visit in a private forum.
     Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas also did not get everything he wanted from Bush. Bush’s representatives informed the Palestinian team that Bush would forgo the pleasure of placing a wreath on the grave of Yasser Arafat, on his way to a meeting with the new rais (leader) in the Muqata in Ramallah. more..

A thorn in the Shin Bet’s side
Amira Hass, Ha’aretz 1/8/2008
     About a month ago, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti was invited to the Italian Consulate in Jerusalem to receive a citation of honor from the government of Italy. The consulate submitted requests to the Israeli authorities for 15 entry permits to Jerusalem, for Barghouti and another 14 guests - family members and friends. The consulate was informed that 14 permits were issued. Only Barghouti did not receive a permit, he relates with a laugh.
     Ever since March 2007, upon the establishment of the Palestinian unity government, the Civil Administration has not granted Barghouti - a physician by profession - entry permits to the Gaza Strip. A member of the Legislative Council for the National Initiative list that he established, Barghouti was the information minister in that short-lived unity government.
     For the past three months he has not been receiving entry permits for Jerusalem either. He estimates that he has requested entry into Jerusalem 12 or 13 times. For the most part, it was European diplomats who invited him to meetings, and it was they who submitted the request for the permit. On one occasion it was Labor MK Ophir Pines-Paz. more..

Palestinian Cinema -- An Example for the Region?
Omar Al-Qattan, ZNet 1/6/2008
     The Artist and the World
     In trying to reconcile their imagination and their desires with the world around them, artists often find themselves trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea. Yet a work of art can momentarily lift us out of that trap, briefly allowing us to understand our past and present and also glimpse what could potentially happen in the future.
     But what if the reference points are fading, if the fundamental objective realities and moral certainties we took for granted are no longer valid? What if the physical world itself has been changed beyond recognition? This paradigm of disorientation applies to several Arab nations, but for Palestinians there are none of the illusions and complacency of demarcated borders nor the comforts of a state with an army and police force to protect us. Only a battered, brittle sense of being and a fierce desire to survive. more..

Evidence of Israeli ’Cowardly Blending’ Comes to Light
Jonathan Cook, MIFTAH 1/5/2008
     It apparently never occurred to anyone in our leading human rights organisations or the Western media that the same moral and legal standards ought be applied to the behaviour of Israel and Hizbullah during the war on Lebanon 18 months ago. Belatedly, an important effort has been made to set that right.
     A new report, written by a respected Israeli human rights organisation, one representing the country’s Arab minority not its Jewish majority, has unearthed evidence showing that during the fighting Israel committed war crimes not only against Lebanese civilians -- as was already known -- but also against its own Arab citizens. This is an aspect of the war that has been almost entirely neglected until now.
     The report also sheds a surprising light on the question of what Hizbullah was aiming at when it fired hundreds of rockets on northern Israel. Until the report’s publication last month, I had been all but a lone voice arguing that the picture of what took place during the war was far more complex than generally accepted. more..

Ungenerous Occupier: Israel’s Camp David Exposed
Jonathan Cook, MIFTAH 1/5/2008
     After seven years of rumors and self-serving memoirs, the Israeli media has finally published extracts from an official source about the Camp David negotiations in summer 2000. For the first time it is possible to gauge with some certainty the extent of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s "generous offer" to the Palestinians and Yasser Arafat’s reasons for rejecting it.
     In addition, the document provides valuable insights into what larger goals Israel hoped to achieve at Camp David and how similar ambitions are driving its policies to this day.
     The 26-page paper, leaked to the Haaretz daily, was drafted by the country’s political and security establishments in the wake of Camp David as a guide to what separated the parties. Entitled "The Status of the Diplomatic Process with the Palestinians: Points to Update the Incoming Prime Minister," it was prepared in time for the February 2001 general election. more..

Israel’s Quiet War
Fred Schlomka, MIFTAH 1/5/2008
     While Ehud Olmert and Abu Mazen were wheeling and dealing at Annapolis, several Israeli government ministries and security agencies were deploying their combined resources in a massive operation aimed at Israel’s southern Negev Desert. While the eyes of the world are on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel is in the middle of a campaign to complete the displacement of Palestinian Arabs who also are Israeli citizens.
     The indigenous Bedouin are the target, and their lands are required by the state in order to complete the implementation of a master plan for the Negev. The plan relegates the Bedouin to ghetto enclaves while allocating huge swathes of territory for Jewish suburban development and agricultural communities. The Negev is the final frontier inside Israel, the last tract of largely undeveloped land in the state. Israel has virtually completed the dismemberment of Palestinian lands in the center and north of the country, and now is consolidating the ‘Jewish redemption’ of the southern desert. more..

A hostile president
Gideon Levy, Ha’aretz 1/6/2008
     George Bush is coming to Israel this week. He will take pleasure in his visit. One can assume that there are few prime ministers with a giant photo of themselves with the U.S. president hanging on the wall in their home, as our Ehud Olmert boasted last week that he does, to his exalted guest, the comic Eli Yatzpan. There are also few other countries where the lame duck from Washington would not be greeted with mass demonstrations; instead, Israel is making great efforts to welcome him graciously. The man who has wreaked such ruin upon the world, upon his country, and upon us is such a welcome guest only in Israel.
     A man is coming to Israel this week who has left a trail of killing, destruction and global hatred. Never has the U.S. been so despised as during Bush’s seven years in office, which abruptly brought his county back to the not-so-merry days of Vietnam. more..

2008 Holds Bleak Prospects Despite Ongoing Diplomacy
MIFTAH, MIFTAH 1/5/2008
     The Palestinian territories heralded in 2008 under a barrage of Israeli attacks, mainly in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank city of Nablus. For the third day in a row, Israeli tanks, military vehicles and bulldozers entered Nablus to carry out a wide-scale incursion, ostensibly to crack down on Palestinian resistance groups. Thirty-eight people were injured on January 4 as the Israeli army carried out raids and arrests, mainly in Nablus’ old city. A tight siege was imposed around the city and its surrounding refugee camps and a curfew clamped down on its residents.
     According to local sources, at least 70 army vehicles rolled into the city on January 4. Even hospitals were under siege, with Rafidiya hospital sources saying Israeli soldiers were checking all incoming and outgoing visitors and patients.
     Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad strongly criticized the Nablus incursion, even canceling a trip to Cairo because of the new developments. He accused Israel of trying to sabotage the Palestinian Authority’s achievements in the city, namely the newly installed Palestinian police force, which has been operating in Nablus since November. more..

The Iraq Charade
Ramzy Baroud, Palestine Chronicle 1/5/2008
     In recent months, we have been inundated by media reports bringing good news from Iraq, with countless testimonials to the great improvement in security enjoyed by the country in general and the Baghdad area in particular.
     This progress is attributed solely to the judicious ’surge’ of US military presence, and the astute tactics enacted by occupation forces in a place that once personified despair and violence. Indeed, reports repeatedly point to the figure indicating that violence in Iraq has dwindled by 60 per cent in the past three months.
     BBC reporter in Iraq, Jim Muir, is one of the leading enthusiasts of the apparent miracle. In his report, ’Is Iraq Getting Better?’, he indulges in over-generalised estimations which just happen to be shared by the US military.
     "Over the past three months, there has been a sharp and sustained drop in all forms of violence. The figures for dead and wounded, military and civilian, have also greatly improved...People walk in crowded streets in the evening, when just a few months, ago they would have been huddled behind locked doors in their homes. Everybody agrees that things are much better." more..

Israel’s provocative Nablus invasion
Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 1/4/2008
     Just two days ago, there were several articles that came out in the Israeli and Palestinian media about the calm that had settled over the Nablus area since Palestinian security forces were deployed there last month.
     Hours after the articles were published, Israeli forces invaded Nablus in a large-scale, full-on invasion.The troops have remained there for two days, with no end in sight.Why did the Israeli military choose to invade now -- after having made such a big show in the November ’peace summit’ about the Palestinian Authority being required to "restore law and order" in the Palestinian Territories.
     The Palestinian Authority, under Mahmoud Abbas, immediately began implementing its ’security plan’, despite one block after another by Israeli forces, who prevented the security forces and their vehicles from crossing checkpoints on multiple occasions, and openly attacked and even killed commanders of the Palestinian security forces. more..

Time for Deal Running Out
Sever Plocker, MIFTAH 1/5/2008
     For several years now, and certainly since the second Intifada’s outbreak, Palestinian economist demanded in every forum that the Paris Agreement, which in 1994 created a uniform external border for Israel and Palestinian for the purpose of duty collection, be annulled. The Palestinians viewed this duty collection amalgamation as a tangible and irritating expression of Israeli occupation. Therefore, they demanded that a clear economic border be drawn between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (along the Green Line, of course) that would illustrate the separation and sovereignty of the Palestinian economy.
     Yet this time around I was surprised to hear the Palestinians praising the joint duty arrangement and viewing it as the right approach. Their new demands now focus on the thorough and strict implementation of that same hated Paris Agreement: Free movement of goods, services, people, and capital between the territories and Israel. Just go ahead and remove the roadblocks, the Palestinians say, and everything will be alright. There is no need for any kind of separation fence, or wall, or economic border between you and us. For them, one economy is a step on the road to a bi-national state. more..

Letter to Editor: Petition to Stop Genocide
Vijaya Rajiva, Palestine Chronicle 1/5/2008
     The creeping genocide of the Palestinians is taking place not only in Gaza but also in the West Bank, with Israel’s daily targeted killings of civilians. The time has long since come for the international community to bring the perpetrators to justice. This can be done by setting up an International Criminal Tribunal for Israel as was done for the former Yugoslavia. The General Assembly can initiate this by virtue of its powers to establish subsidiary organs underArt.22 of the UN Charter. The process can be outlined as follows:
     1. The GA member states vote for ICTI.
     2. They vote by a simple majority.
     3. The GA instructs the Secretary General to draft the Statute for ICTI along the lines of ICTY. (This latter Statute is extremely important for an understanding of the scope and functions of the ICTI).
     4. The Statute is approved by the GA.
     5. The GA appoints the Judges and the Prosecutors. more..

Intifada Part Three?
Khaled Amayreh, Al-Ahram Weekly 1/9/2008
     New settlements being built under Abbas’s nose are a time-bomb.
     A visibly cordial meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in West Jerusalem last week had all the trappings of a good beginning. The smiles were broad, the atmosphere cheerful, an aura of optimism was hovering over them. The meeting, which took place at Olmert’s official residence on 27 December, was meant to launch the final-status talks between the two sides, in the hope that they would lead to a final resolution of the decades-old Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
     In addition to re-launching the revived talks, which many critics already term doomed and futile given Israel’s insolence and intransigence, the PA leadership had hoped to use the meeting to get Olmert to cancel recently-announced plans to build thousands of fresh settler units all over the West Bank, particularly in Israeli-occupied Arab East Jerusalem. more..

The Fence Failure
Gershom Gorenberg, MIFTAH 1/4/2008
     When George W. Bush visits Israel next week, he’s reportedly planning to take time off for a visit to the ruins of Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus is said to have lived and preached. I shouldn’t begrudge someone shlepping across the world a couple hours for a private pilgrimage. But if Bush wants to pry time free from meetings in Jerusalem, it would be better spent on a tour of the Israeli separation barrier, a.k.a. fence, a.k.a. wall. Plenty of human rights activists who speak good English (maybe too good for W.) would be happy to guide him. The trip could give him a visceral feeling for why he should finally devote himself seriously to an Israeli-Palestinian agreement, instead of just dabbling.
     Realistically, the president is no more likely to head out to the fence than a visiting CEO looking over a company is likely to talk to the shop-floor workers who know how the place really runs. So let me describe a bit of what he’ll miss, and what it means. more..

What, me worry that Bush is coming?
Rami G. Khouri, Daily Star 1/5/2008
     Recent experience suggests that we should be very worried that President George W. Bush is coming to the Middle East next week to promote peace. The last time he made such a journey, in June 2003, what ensued was an accelerated cycle of violence and ideological conflict that sees most of the Middle East today wracked by warfare, routine terrorism, and intense political confrontation, threats, and stress.
     This has been more or less a typical week for the Middle East and adjacent areas, with major bombings of civilian and government targets in Algeria and Turkey, continued foreign militarism and indigenous ethnic warfare in many parts of Iraq, worsening mutual attacks by the Turkish Army and anti-government Turkish Kurds, political stalemate that threatens to spill over into something worse in Lebanon, spreading reassertion of power by the Taliban in Afghanistan, assassinations and political ... more..

To invade or not to invade
Saleh Al-Naami, Al-Ahram Weekly 1/9/2008
     Israel’s policy of assassinations in lieu of re-occupation in Gaza is doomed, argues Last Thursday at 8pm, in a home in an alley of the eastern quarter of the Al-Bureij Refugee Camp, a very human scene was taking place between a mother and her eldest son. The mother was trying with all her power to prevent her son, who is wanted by the occupation forces, from leaving the house. She had noticed pilotless reconnaissance planes flying in the area and was worried that harm would befall him. Yet her efforts were to no avail. Mohamed Abdullah Abu Murshid, 30, a military leader for the Islamic Jihad movement in central Gaza Strip, insisted on going out to join some of his colleagues on a visit to a comrade who was in hospital after an Israeli shelling.
     Murshid and his three colleagues left his home for Shuhada’s Al-Aqsa Hospital on the eastern edge of the nearby city of Deir Al-Balah. After their car had travelled two kilometres, one of the reconnaissance planes in the area fired two missiles at the vehicle, killing the four and injuring 10 bystanders, one of whom died from his injuries three days later. The car was turned into a pile of scrap metal. Not an hour passed before Israeli reconnaissance planes attacked another car transporting four others. This targeting of Islamic Jihad activists came two weeks after another assassination campaign in which 11 members of the military department of Islamic Jihad were killed, including Majed Al-Harazin, the leader of the movement’s military wing, which calls itself Saraya Al-Quds. more..

USS Liberty: God Kept Us Afloat
Eileen Fleming, Palestine Chronicle 1/4/2008
     "Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all... The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave...a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils."- George Washington, Farewell Address In an email from USS LIBERTY survivor, Donald W Pageler, Seaman E-3 Communications Technician at the time of the attack on the USS LIBERTY [honorably discharged as an E5 2nd class] Petty Office wrote: "I was once in email contact with an ordained rabbi who was a professor in an Eastern University. He said he was of the belief that there could be no peace in the Middle East until Israel owned its own atrocities."
     In a phone call interview with Don on December 31, 2007, I inquired who that rabbi was and Pageler responded, "I can’t remember his name, but after Jim Bamford’s, Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency, was released [2001] I read a review about it on Amazon.com by a rabbi. He included his email address so I wrote him to thank him and that was his reply." more..

Off limits and beyond the borders
Dina Ezzat, Al-Ahram Weekly 1/3/2008
     Has the time come for Egypt to re-visit its relationship with Israel?
     Khadra, an elderly Palestinian pilgrim, could have been one of the first 2,500 Palestinians, stranded in Arish and Nuweiba on their way back from the Holy Muslim pilgrimage in Mecca, to return to Gaza, possibly through the Rafah crossing point.
     Khadra’s privileged access is simple: she is dead. The transfer of the body through the Rafah crossing point was easier to secure than the passage of the rest of the pilgrims. Following one night at the Olympic Village at Arish where a few hundred Palestinians were kept throughout last week after completing the hajj, Khadra, nearing 80 years old according to other members of the same group of pilgrims, passed away. Khadra, along with the other pilgrims, were waiting pending a deal between Egypt and Israel that would help them get back to the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing point, over which Israel has no control, rather than the Kerm Abu Salem point which is controlled by the Israelis. more..

Lurching from crisis to crisis
Marian Houk, Al-Ahram Weekly 1/9/2008
     The Israeli Defence Ministry’s programme to punish all Gazans for Qassam missiles fire into Israeli territory is apparently moving into a new phase. A second round of fuel cuts reportedly started on 30 December, with a military-ordered reduction of some 35-43 per cent (depending on what numbers are used as the baseline) in the amount of gasoline that will now be supplied to the Gaza Strip.
     The Israeli human rights organisation GISHA has brought together a group of Israeli and Palestinian human rights bodies who have petitioned the Israeli High Supreme Court to block the military-ordered cuts in fuel and electricity to Gaza, and to revoke the 19 September Israeli cabinet decision that is the basis of these cuts -- the declaration that the Gaza Strip is a hostile entity or enemy territory. The petitioners argued that this is not purely and simply an economic boycott. more..

Honesty and Courage, Not Fear-mongering Rodeos
Rami Khouri, Middle East Online 1/4/2008
     BEIRUT - Four separate events in different parts of the world - Pakistan, Israel, the United States, and wherever Osama Bin Laden makes home these days - provide a gloomy but instructive start to the New Year, in the matter of the threat of Al-Qaeda-linked terrorism.
     The events are: the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan, a new audio tape by Osama Bin Laden, Israel telling the world that Al- Qaeda is making inroads in Palestine, and the American presidential candidates wildly riding their horse race campaigns like performing drunks and clowns at a rodeo.
     Bin Laden’s new audiotape shows his resilience and durability, but also his profound political weaknesses in connecting with public opinion in the Middle East. His policy of provoking ethnic strife among Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq is widely rejected throughout the region; and his promise to strike against Israel is a desperate ... more..

Stand-offs Threaten Arab Region
Francis Matthew, MIFTAH 1/4/2008
     The Middle East has never needed effective political leadership more than at present. Palestine, Lebanon, and Iraq are three very troubled states which are in danger of seeing very little political progress in the coming year, and the effects of the continuing violence ripple out to all other nations in the region.
     All three share similar problems of poor state structures, lack of leadership and endemic violence, but each has very different local conditions which have created their bad situations.
     Palestine remains the key issue. The disastrous effects of 60 years of fighting the Israelis, including 40 years of occupation, means that the whole Palestinian political structure has been naturally focused on gaining political freedom, and has not been successful in managing what civil responsibilities they were able to achieve.
     This civil weakness of the Palestinian governments has been gleefully compounded by years of military and political actions by successive Israeli governments. The result is a broken state in which the use of political violence which has become deeply ingrained. more..

Time to say no
Editorial, Al-Ahram Weekly 1/9/2008
     The plight of 2,500 Palestinian pilgrims stranded in Arish and Aqaba in the north and east of Sinai is one more facet of the catastrophic injustice suffered by the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation, and with the complicity of the international community.
     The pilgrims left Palestine for Saudi Arabia last month to perform the hajj, one of the most sacred rituals in Islam which Muslims are obliged to complete at least once in a lifetime if their health and means permit. The hajj itself is no simple task, though pilgrims willingly endure its hardships in their quest for spiritual fulfilment. For Palestinian pilgrims, however, the hardships have no clear end in sight.
     Arab public opinion was shaken last week when the pilgrims, returning from Saudi Arabia via the Gulf of Aqaba, were told they could only go home through the Israeli-controlled Kerm Abu Salem border crossing. While they rightfully demand they return through the Egyptian-Palestinian Rafah border crossing, where they will not be subjected to Israeli inspection, the Egyptian authorities have refused to open the border in the face of Israeli warnings not to do so. As a result the pilgrims, who face certain humiliation and possible arrest at the Kerm Abu Salem border crossing, have protested, in words and deeds, against their "imprisonment" by the Egyptian authorities in the Arish shelter camps into which they have been herded. Three elderly pilgrims have already died and dozens suffer from serious health problems. more..

The cognitive map
Abdel-Wahab Elmessiri, Al-Ahram Weekly 1/3/2008
     Abdel-Wahab Elmessiri is among the Arab world’s most distinguished historians of ideas, perhaps best known for his gargantuan Encyclopedia of Jews, Judaism and Zionism. To be launched by May 2008, the English edition of his autobiography -- to appear with Awakening (London-Los Angeles) -- spans the widest range of topics from Judaism to an Easterner’s experience of the West. Originally written in Arabic, this is the latest chapter to have been added to the book.
     The problem of subject versus object is a central theme in western philosophical discourse, and naturally I faced the same philosophical problematic during my residence in the west and after my final return to Egypt. During my intellectual journey, the passage from the materialist phase to the broader and more humanist one, necenistated the development of a new concept of the human mind, and a new methodology and analytical categories. Epistemological and explanatory paradigms are the prime tool in my analytical discourse, be it political or philosophical. Closely related, is the idea of the cognitive map. So what is the cognitive map?
     Some people believe that when someone looks at his surroundings or conditions he sees them for what they truly are. This belief comes out of the view that the mind of man is a passive recipient of data that indiscriminately records what it receives and perceives. But the truth is that contrary to the belief of some, man only rarely perceives his reality in an immediate way through his five senses. This occurs in extremely simple cases, as when he is burnt by a cigarette, or when a solid body enters his eye. Man is not simply a bundle of material desires (economic and physical), nor is his behavior conditioned actions and reactions governed by mechanical or biological laws. His mind is not a group of cells or a mere tabula rasa on which material givens are accumulated. It is a mind with generative powers, a repository of many experiences and moral and symbolic systems, a storehouse of images and memories stocked in the conscious and subconscious. more..

Gaza Sewage, Water Disaster Looms
Mel Frykberg, MIFTAH 1/3/2008
     More than 1.4 million Gaza Palestinians are facing an impending health disaster from decaying sewage and water systems that lack vital spare parts, fuel, and maintenance work, due to an Israeli economic siege on the Gaza Strip.
     "We are a one-generator-failure away from disaster," Michael Bailey, an Oxfam spokesman, told the Middle East Times.
     "The situation is verging on critical. There are 35 sewage pumping stations operational in Gaza. If one of the pumps breaks there is no way to replace it, because of a lack of spare parts," said Bailey, whose organization works with Gaza’s Coastal Municipalities Water Utilities. "This would mean sewage backing into homes and onto the streets and the resulting health problems associated with it."
     In March an earth embankment around a sewage reservoir in the northern Gaza Strip collapsed spewing a river of waste and mud that killed at least five people. more..

Israel’s Jews-only Land Policy
Hasan Afif El-Hasan, Palestine Chronicle 1/3/2008
     "Jews-only land policy is at issue" was the title of an article in my US town local newspaper. It is about a housing discrimination story in Israel against an Arab Israeli couple Baha, an attorney, and Fouad Abu Raya, a dermatologist from the Israeli town of Sakhnin, referred to them by the paper as Muslims. According to the paper, the couple offered to buy a house in the Israeli town of Karmiel. And when these buyers went to the local land registry to transfer the ownership "the clerk told [them] she couldn’t transfer ownership because the house was built on land belonging to the Jewish National Fund (JNF) and it is illegal to sell JNF land to Arabs". The JNF is the biggest Israeli land owner.
     The paper should be given credit for publishing the story in the US although it was buried in the "Religion Calendar" section on page 14 suggesting either the story is not important or it is old news that no body cares for since it is about Palestinians victimized by Israel. If ordinary Americans who care to read page 14 have just discovered Israel as it is, a country for all the Jewish people in the world but not for all its citizens, Israeli Arabs have been living this nightmare since the creation of Israel. more..

Prisoners’ dilemma
Akiva Eldar, Ha’aretz 1/3/2008
     The phrase "blood on their hands" makes Hisham Abdel-Razeq’s blood boil. The former minister of prisoner affairs in the Palestinian Authority has spent more than a third of his life - he is 54 - in Israeli prisons. He was arrested for the first time at age 17 and three years later, in 1974, was jailed again after being wounded by an explosive device he was preparing, and which he wanted to detonate in Rishon Letzion.
     "When you use the expression ’blood on their hands,’ you only consider the victims on your side and not those on the other side," he said this week (in fluent Hebrew) in a phone conversation from his home in besieged Gaza. "You differentiate between blood and blood, between suffering and suffering, between pain and pain. It’s a racist way of seeing things." more..

Freezing out a Settlement
Ron Taylor, International Middle East Media Center 1/3/2008
     One sure-fire way of scuttling Israeli-Palestinian peace talks is for Israel to carry on with settlement construction in the Occupied Territories. In every attempt at a solution to the conflict, the freezing of the settlement programme has been seen as an essential condition to diplomacy and as a way of reassuring the Palestinians of Israel’s commitment to meaningful negotiations.
     In 1979, at the first Camp David summit US President Jimmy Carter sought a 5-year freeze. Prime Minister Menachim Begin was only prepared to agree a 3-month halt, neglecting to say that the expansion of existing settlements would continue unhindered. By 1992, when the number of settlers had risen from 50,000 to 250,000, the then Israeli prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin agreed on a freeze only to insist on an allowance for ’natural growth’. The so-called final status talks foundered in 2000, one of the reasons being Israel’s inability or unwillingness to stop settlement building. The number of settlers had then risen to 400,000. more..

Settlements Contradict the Essence of Peacemaking
Ghassan Khatib, MIFTAH 1/3/2008
     The policy of establishing and expanding settlements may well be the only constant in Israeli practices on occupied Palestinian territory since 1967. Yet it is possible to discern several distinct phases in this policy depending on the party in power in Israel.
     In the early years of the occupation, the settlement policy of Israel in the occupied territories was determined by the Labor Party’s vision of future Palestinian-Israeli relations. Labor aimed at a future final settlement based on territorial division, first between Israel and Jordan and later between Israel and the Palestinians. Thus, settlement building was concentrated in the parts of the Palestinian territory the Labor Party wanted to ensure Israel would not give up in any final agreement, such as East Jerusalem, the Jordan Valley and certain areas of the West Bank adjacent to the 1948 borders near Qalqiliya and Tulkarm, as well as areas on top of aquifers. more..

POLITICS-US: Christian Zionists Gain Israel’s Inner Sanctum
Bill Berkowitz, Inter Press Service 1/3/2008
     OAKLAND, California, Jan 3(IPS) - After raising more than two hundred million dollars for various projects in Israel, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein and the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), the organisation he founded and is president of, has hit pay-dirt.
     In late December, the Jewish Agency for Israel, which helped found the State of Israel, announced that the IFCJ "will be declared a funding partner of the Jewish Agency... [and] Eckstein will ... receive new voting powers that will include spots on the committees that oversee the agency’s budget and that meet with the prime minister and his Cabinet," the Jewish Daily Forward reported.
     The announcement indicates a major shift in agency policy. Nearly 10 years ago, the head of the Jewish Agency "refused to be photographed taking a check" from Eckstein. more..

Ungenerous occupier: Israel’s Camp David exposed
Jonathan Cook, Electronic Intifada 1/2/2008
     After seven years of rumors and self-serving memoirs, the Israeli media has finally published extracts from an official source about the Camp David negotiations in summer 2000. For the first time it is possible to gauge with some certainty the extent of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s "generous offer" to the Palestinians and Yasser Arafat’s reasons for rejecting it.
     In addition, the document provides valuable insights into what larger goals Israel hoped to achieve at Camp David and how similar ambitions are driving its policies to this day.
     The 26-page paper, leaked to the Haaretz daily, was drafted by the country’s political and security establishments in the wake of Camp David as a guide to what separated the parties. Entitled "The Status of the Diplomatic Process with the Palestinians: Points to Update the Incoming Prime Minister," it was prepared in time for the February 2001 general election. more..

The rodeo ride of manipulating Middle East politics
Rami G. Khouri, Daily Star 1/3/2008
     Four separate events in different parts of the world - Pakistan, Israel, the United States and wherever Osama Bin Laden makes his home these days - provided a gloomy but instructive start to the new year in the matter of Al-Qaeda-linked terrorism. The events were the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan, a new audio tape by Osama bin Laden, Israel telling the world that Al-Qaeda is making inroads in Palestine, and US presidential candidates riding the terrorism horse like clowns at a rodeo.
     Bin Laden’s new audio tape shows his resilience and durability, but also his profound political weaknesses in connecting with public opinion in the Middle East. His policy of provoking ethnic strife among Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq is widely rejected throughout the region; and his promise to strike against Israel is a desperate attempt to anchor his rejected terrorism in more legitimate popular Arab anger against Israel and its continuing brutal, colonial policies. Bin Laden and his sidekick, Ayman al-Zawahri, have tried this several times before, always falling flat on their faces. In the past seven years since the 9/11 attacks, an overwhelming majority of Middle Easterners have rejected Al-Qaeda’s philosophy and tactics, especially when they see the damage they do to their own societies. more..

Our violent presence
Amira Hass, Ha’aretz 1/3/2008
     There is no Israeli whose presence in the West Bank is neutral. Civilian or armed, soldier or woman settler, resident of a quality-of-life settlement or a nearby outpost, MahsomWatch activist or guest at a settlement, Bezek worker or client at a Palestinian garage. All of them, all of us, are in this Palestinian territory, in the West Bank, because our state occupied it in 1967.
     The presence of every Israeli in the West Bank is based on a regime of privilege that developed out of that primary act of occupation. We have the privilege of hiking in Palestinian areas to our heart’s content, of buying subsidized housing for Jews only on the lands of Bethlehem, of raising cherries and grapes in the wadis of Hebron, of quarrying on the mountain slopes, of driving on roads whose land was expropriated from the indigenous inhabitants for public use. more..

When is it the Palestinians’ turn?
Christopher Brown writing from Shatila refugee camp, Lebanon, Electronic Intifada 1/2/2008
     The four of us sat in the tight confines of a shop nestled in the curving alleyways of Shatila, a Palestinian refugee camp established to house those whose families fled historical Palestine in 1948. Twenty-five years ago this then little-known camp -- along with a nearby area called Sabra -- was also the site of a bloody massacre that left more than 2,000 Palestinians dead at the hands of Phalangist militias backed by the Israeli army.
     But none of that was on the minds of my three hosts. We were too busy talking about more important things, "Inta mitjowez?" (are you married?) asked one of them.
     "La" (no) I replied, knowing exactly what the next question would be.
     "Lesh?" (why?) my inquisitor pressed.
     "Inshallah" (if God wills), I answered and with that the interrogation stopped and a new topic started up. My friend Salah leaned in close to me and said, "Doesn’t matter where you go, you run into a Palestinian and they’re going to ask that question." more..

Border politics leaves Palestinians stranded
Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani, Electronic Intifada 1/2/2008
     CAIRO, Jan 2 (IPS) - Hundreds of Palestinians still remain stranded on the Egyptian side of the border following last summer’s closure of the Rafah crossing between Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip.
     Their uncertain circumstances have come to reflect the complex politics between Cairo, Tel Aviv, the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank and Palestinian resistance faction Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
     "The crisis on the border is just a part of the ongoing power struggle between Fatah and Hamas," Gamal Zahran, political science professor at Suez Canal University and independent MP, told IPS.
     The Rafah crossing has traditionally served as the sole transit point along Egypt’s 14 km border with the Gaza Strip. In June, however, days before control of the strip was wrested from Fatah by Hamas, Cairo -- citing security concerns -- sealed the Rafah terminal. more..

CHALLENGES 2007-2008: Terror Prosecutions Shed More Heat Than Light
William Fisher, Inter Press Service 1/2/2008
     NEW YORK, Jan 2(IPS) - The U.S. government’s spotty record in obtaining convictions of people charged with providing "material support" to terrorist organisations is adding new impetus to the efforts of prominent constitutional lawyers to seek substantial changes in the law.
     The latest failure in a terrorism-financing prosecution came late in 2007, when a Texas jury failed to render any guilty verdicts in the trial of the Holy Land Foundation (HLF), once the largest and most prominent charity dedicated to supporting Palestinian and other Muslim causes. Several HLF officials were charged with giving money to Hamas, the militant Palestinian organisation designated a terrorist group by the U.S. in 1995. The trial ended with a mix of acquittals and deadlocks.
     The Federal Bureau of Investigation started looking into HLF in 1993. In December 2001, the U.S. Treasury Department seized and confiscated the charity’s assets and records, effectively putting the organisation out of business. Given that outcome, some legal scholars have questioned why the government pursued a criminal prosecution at all. The trial did not begin until mid-2007. more..

We won’t Win in Gaza
Gabi Sheffer, MIFTAH 1/2/2008
     IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi declared recently that should the IDF enter the Gaza Strip in full force, in the framework of an Israeli military operation, he has no doubt that this time around the army and the entire State of Israel will be triumphant. Several commentators were quick to explain that this declaration was an attempt to highlight the great defeat suffered by his predecessor, Dan Halutz, and to promise to the people that under Ashkenazi’s leadership the army will not suffer another defeat such as the Second Lebanon War failure.
     This interpretation may be correct, and it is possible that just like other politicians and generals Ashkenazi too aims to glorify himself and win the sympathy of the public and leadership. Yet it is clear this is not enough to explain all the considerations that likely made the army chief boast like this.
     Another reason for the army chief’s message may have been his desire to offer support to soldiers and commanders, who do not enjoy great prestige in the wake of the previous war, which the army initiated and which ended in a blatant failure. The desire to ensure maximal designation of funds during the 2008 budget discussions may have also led to such declaration. more..

US Must Re-Evaluate its Relationship with Israel
Scott Ritter, MIFTAH 1/2/2008
     The government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has embarked on policies that are questionable at best when one examines them from a purely Israeli standpoint; they are nothing less than a betrayal of the United States when examined from a broader perspective.
     I have for some time now publicly articulated my sympathy and support for the State of Israel, even while criticizing those cases that I believed constituted poor judgment and bad policy. My stance was based upon my past experiences with Israel, which began indirectly in 1990-1991 when I was involved in counter-SCUD activities during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, and continued in a much more direct fashion as a weapons inspector with the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), charged with disarming Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
     As a weapons inspector I made numerous visits to Israel for the purpose of coordinating with the Israeli intelligence community on matters pertaining to Iraqi WMD. I was greatly impressed not only with the professionalism of the Israeli intelligence services, but also with the Israeli people and society. During my time in Israel, I was witness to numerous horrific events, including several terrorist bombings and the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The resilience of the people of Israel in absorbing these blows yet continuing to live life to its fullest was remarkable, and worthy of admiration. more..

Dark Christmas in Palestine
Elias Akleh, MIFTAH 1/2/2008
     While driving around the suburbs of Los Angeles enjoying the bright lights decorating the houses and the trees in celebration for Christmas, I could not help thinking about what kind of Christmas Christian Palestinians are celebrating, that is if they still can celebrate anymore.
     I called my brother-in-law, a Lutheran priest in the city of Bethlehem, to ask him about Christmas celebration in the birth town of Jesus. He replied “This is the darkest Christmas ever”. He explained that Christian Palestinians do not have any spiritual energy to celebrate because every house is inflicted with a tragedy perpetrated by the Israeli occupation and the financial and economical siege enforced by the American/Israeli policies. One house-hold has lost their young child, who was gunned down by an Israeli sniper. The two sons of a second house had been snatched from their beds in the early morning hours by the Israeli soldiers and had disappeared in a yet unknown Israeli dungeon suffering all kinds of torture. In the third house lives a family, who has been separated from their olive field –their major source of living- by the separation wall.The head of the next house had been without a job for the last two years due to the economic siege. His family has been living on the small food parcels donated by a charity institution. Shop owners and small businesses are not making any money because the whole town of Bethlehem is contained within the Israeli imprisoning wall that separates Palestinian towns and their inhabitants from each other. more..

An Unholy Land Grab: The Story of a Palestinian Farm and Settlers
Janine Roberts, Palestine Chronicle 1/1/2008
     No matter what was promised in Annapolis, a Two State Solution for Israel and Palestine now seems utterly impossible, judging from what I have just seen during a 3-week visit to the West Bank.
     Its hills, terraced with olive groves, are now totally dissected by fortified highways and crowned by luxurious illegal housing developments -- the latter occupied by nearly a half a million Israelis. Seized Arab land has clearly provided a bonanza for investors who think their money secure. What remains is a shredded West Bank from which it will be near impossible, in my view, to construct anything truly independent of Israel.
     I went to the West Bank at the invitation of a Fair Trade Palestinian olive oil company, Zaytoun. I expected a healthy break from chilly English weather; to pick olives, eat with farmers and learn from them how 60 years of military occupation has affected their lives. But it turned out to be far more dramatic a visit than ever I had envisioned. more..

Interview: Enough with Arab demands
Yoav Stern, Ha’aretz 1/2/2008
     Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit appears to be dissatisfied with a great many things lately. After pouring out his wrath on the human rights organizations that inform the U.S. Congress of the dimensions of human trafficking in Israel, he complained that the police are not using enough force against offenders and that the courts mete out overly lenient punishments. Now, judging by Sheetrit’s remarks to Haaretz, the Arab-Israeli public can expect uneasy times.
     Israel’s Arab minority is linked to the government through a system of delicate and complex ties. In public or personal matters, many of these ties pass through the Interior Ministry. Here, in a 1950s Jerusalem building, every few years a new minister takes his seat and dictates policy that can seal the fate of many families.
     Sheetrit began the interview by defining the demands and rights of the more than 1 million Arabs in Israel. These remarks will almost certainly render any human rights organization or Arab political party fit to be tied... more..

Words won’t stop the construction
Editorial, Ha’aretz 1/2/2008
     The announcement that the prime minister has directed cabinet ministers not to build in the territories behind his back sounds like a sleight of hand. The prime minister should not instruct his ministers to "increase awareness" of their ministries’ actions that might impair negotiations with the Palestinians, but rather he should once and for all bring the Sasson report to the cabinet for approval. The report states clearly how to monitor settlement expansion.
     First of all the state must take back the powers it surrendered to the settlers’ local councils. Since the Civil Administration is the highest authority in the territories, it can stop the construction of any house in every settlement, if it would only be given the proper directive.
     Stopping construction in East Jerusalem is more problematic, but possible. Since East Jerusalem has been [illegally "annexed"] to Israel, the usual laws of planning and construction apply to it, and not every decision on the construction of a house is brought before the government. When Ehud Olmert was mayor, he encouraged building in the eastern part of the city through foreign millionaires, who purchased buildings and expanded them into Jewish neighorhoods. more..

Pollution without borders
Report, The Electronic Intifada, Electronic Intifada 1/1/2008
     BEER SHEBA/RAMALLAH, 30 December 2007 (IRIN) - In what should be a dry river bed at this time of year, grey water flows, revealing the extent to which the River Hebron, which runs from the West Bank into Israel, is polluted. The stench underlines the problem.
     "Most transboundary streams in the region are contaminated and characterized by widespread pollution from Palestinian sources [typically raw sewage], as well as a variety of ...sources from within Israel," said a working paper, entitled Monitoring Transboundary Palestinian-Israeli Streams, released in December by the Arava Institute and other Israeli and Palestinian organizations.
     In some cases, downstream Palestinian towns receive Israeli waste. There are at least 10 transboundary streams in the region, with flows that go both ways. Untreated waste water from the West Bank can even end up flowing via Israel into the Gaza Strip and then the sea. more..

Aida camp residents say wall harming their livelihoods
Report, The Electronic Intifada, Electronic Intifada 1/1/2008
     AIDA REFUGEE CAMP, BETHLEHEM, 31 December (IRIN) - Behind a luxurious five-star hotel and close to Bethlehem, yet unknown to most visitors who converged on nearby Manger Square for the recent Christmas mass, residents of Aida refugee camp -- home to nearly 5,000 people -- say their lives have been adversely affected by the Israeli restrictions on movement, in particular the barrier built around the city.
     "I worked in Israel for over 15 years," Muhammed, aged 44, registered with UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, told IRIN. "It’s been two years now since I lost my permit. At first I snuck into Israel through valleys and other illegal ways, but now, with the wall completed, I can’t get in at all."
     All Palestinians from the occupied Palestinian territory require an Israeli-issued permit to enter Israel.
     Israel credits the barrier for the cessation of suicide bombings, while officials note that some of the last bombers came from Bethlehem. Palestinians say the wall and fence structure "strangles" the city. more..

Hajj pilgrims stranded in Egypt
Rami Almeghari writing from Gaza City, occupied Gaza Strip, Electronic Intifada 1/1/2008
     "We are in a prison. Our situation is so miserable in the arena the Egyptian authorities have placed us in. Yesterday a 45-year-old woman pilgrim died in front of us," says Nayef al-Khaldi. The 55-year-old al-Khaldi is stuck at an arena turned into a shelter at the Egyptian border town at al-Arish along with more than 1,100 other Palestinians, including high-ranking Hamas members, following the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
     The pilgrims refused Egypt’s demands that they return to Gaza through an Israeli-controlled border crossing, fearing that they would be vulnerable to arrest and interrogation. Israel and Egypt claim that Palestinians could be smuggling cash to the desperate strip. Around 2,000 returning pilgrims are stranded at the Egyptian Red Sea port of Nuweiba after traveling from Saudi Arabia via ferry.
     "It’s hell. The Egyptian authorities should have taken us back to the Rafah crossing terminal instead of placing us in this sports stadium. Our situation is unbearable, as no one seems to care," al-Khaldi explains in a phone interview. more..

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