Obama Administration Takes from American Farmers, Gives to Israel
Alison Weir, If Americans Knew
10/23/2009
Policy change slips in under the radar At a time of financial crisis in the United States in which thousands of Americans have lost their jobs and homes, an Israeli news service reports that President Obama has just signed a presidential memo eliminating a tariff on Israel that protected American dairy farmers and that raised money for the American economy.1 In addition, according to the Israeli report, US trade authorities have ordered the return of $17,000 to an Israeli export agent for a levy paid for butter produced by an Israeli company. The move comes at a time when American dairy farmers have been facing what industry representatives call a “crisis.” According to the National Milk Producers Federation website, “U.S. dairy producers have been facing unprecedented losses over the past year due to low milk prices and high input costs. The dire economic straits have forced many dairy farmers to exit the industry, oftentimes having to sell their herds or farms.”2 According to the news report by Israeli wire service Ynet, the Obama memo, which was signed several days ago, removed the import subcharge on dairy products from Israel. The report noted that such levies are important for protecting local production against competing imports, “which put the local production at risk.” The levy is required from most countries that export dairy products to the U.S. According to Ynet, Israeli agricultural attaché Yaakov Poleg was able to convince the US that “the trade agreement between Israel and the US prohibits placing taxes on exports from Israel.” more..e-mail
Hasbara author vs Iran’s 'bomb'
Gilad Atzmon, Redress
12/2/2009 Israel propagandist David Aaronovitch’s incitement against Iran - Gilad Atzmon looks at how Israel propagandist and Times columnist David Aaronovitch is whipping up British public opinion against Iran in a manner that is reminiscent of his role in advocating war on Iraq. Hasbara author1 David Aaronovitch is pretty much unstoppable. The man who together with the Jewish Chronicle writer Nick Cohen encouraged the war in Iraq, is now warning us about the evolving Iranian bomb. “Wake up”, he urges us in The Times, “this threat is too big to ignore.” As if the more than one million Iraqis killed in a war he advocated were not enough, the enthusiastic Hasbara author has a new conflict to propel. Israeli propagandist David Aaronovich: favoured war on Iraq and now inciting against Iran Aaronovitch, who back in 2003 was mobilized by an imaginary threat that was crudely forged by Blair and company, seems to be shaken again. This time it is the Iranian nuclear threat. “Most experts seem to agree, training the steed is mostly a matter of time,” he says. But there is something Aaronovitch is failing to mention. The state that lists him as its “Hasbara author”, the state that was recently found complicit in colossal crimes against humanity, also possesses hundreds of nuclear bombs that have kept the entire region on constant red alert for more than four decades. The Jewish state has not signed the non-proliferation treaty and does not let any International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors into its nuclear facilities. Aaronovitch is worried because “there are suggestions from different sources that Iran is indeed researching a weapons capability.” I would ask Aaronovitch, or any other Hasbara operator, to come with an answer to this rather pertinent question: why shouldn’t it? more..e-mail
Imposing idiot sanctions on Iran is a direct route to war
Simon Jenkins, The Guardian
12/1/2009 Britain has no interest in bullying Iran over nuclear proliferation. The very trap that led to Iraq and Afghanistan looms again. What is the difference between Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran? The answer, future historians may relate, is none. At the dawn of the 21st century, all three states were ruled by nasty undemocratic regimes to which America and its allies took exception. Antagonism began with hectoring ostracism. This led to economic sanctions, diplomatic isolation and bloodcurdling threats of "other measures". Finally a pretext was drummed up for military intervention, for bombing, invasion, occupation and appalling destruction. Will Iran really be on this list? At present the west, covered in blood and expense, is trying to leave Iraq and Afghanistan, yet at the same time it stumbles into an identical trap in Iran. The casus belli is the same. There is a declared ongoing threat and this is inextricably linked to a "humanitarian" need for regime change. In Afghanistan the trigger was the harbouring of Osama bin Laden. In Iraq it was a tenuous claim that Saddam possessed a nuclear capability and was preparing to use missiles against western targets. In Iran similar claims are being made about nuclear enrichment. There is the same stumbling UN involvement, the same histrionic spin and the same regime abuse. There are the same threats to increase economic sanctions and the same sabre-rattling about "no option being off the table". Childish tit-for-tat diplomacy sees yachtsmen arrested and cultural exchanges impeded. The rhetorical slither to confrontation is seen on every side. more..e-mail
Australia hosts war criminal Ehud Olmert Electronic Intifada: 1 Dec 2009 - The news that former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was in Australia and was welcomed by the honorable members of our parliament came as somewhat of a shock. It is one thing to have allowed a man charged with corruption and suspected of war crimes into Australia at all; it is another thing that he was listed as a distinguished guest in Hansard -- the official record of parliamentary proceedings -- and received a resounding "hear, hear" from our elected representatives. Sonja Karkar comments.
Israeli authorities deport African American political activists Electronic Intifada: 1 Dec 2009 - Al-Awda New York, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, condemns the racist denial of entry to Palestine of African American political activists Dhoruba Bin Wahad and Naji Mujahid by the Israeli occupation. Dhoruba Bin Wahad, a former US political prisoner and leader of the Black Panther Party, and Naji Mujahid, a student activist from Washington DC were deported en route to the International Conference on Palestinian Political Prisoners in Jericho that was sponsored by the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Prisoners and ex-Prisoners Affairs.
Palestinians organize for the Gaza Freedom March Electronic Intifada: 30 Nov 2009 - "From the besieged Gaza Strip, we call upon all peace lovers around the globe to come here to participate in our Gaza Freedom March that is aimed at breaking a repressive Israeli blockade on Gaza's 1.5 million residents." So said Mustafa al-Kayali, coordinator of the steering committee for the Gaza Freedom March. Rami Almeghari reports from the occupied Gaza Strip.
Discrimination keeps Palestinian women out of Israel's workforce Electronic Intifada: 30 Nov 2009 - Israel's finance minister was accused last week of trying to deflect attention from discriminatory policies keeping many of the country's Palestinian Arab families in poverty by blaming their economic troubles on what he described as Arab society's opposition to women working. Jonathan Cook reports.
decor In Gaza:
29 Nov 2009 - *’Eid decorations on Nasser street, the long-torn-up street serving a number of Gaza’s hospitals and clinics. Only now, after over one year (or more), small sections of it are slowly being repaved, using old interlocking blocks rather than pavement, building materials long-banned by the Israeli occupation authorities, despite the great need after Israel’s winter massacre of Gaza. *the sad, torn-up street somehow mirrors the feelings this ‘Eid
Will the Church Act to Save the Children of Gaza This Christmas? Palestine Chronicle:
1 Dec 2009 - By Stuart Littlewood – London (Open letter to: The Most Rev. and the Rt. Hon. the Archbishop of Canterbury, Spiritual leader of the Anglican Church) Dear Archbishop, Two years ago, on returning from Gaza and the West Bank, I wrote about the dire conditions and the British government's complicity in the crippling blockade, and reminded prime minister Gordon Brown that Gaza was formerly entrusted to Britain under mandate, which was reason for us to feel a special responsibility. I urged him: “Go see for yourselves the misery, the human tragedy and the devastation you have heaped on these nice people. Feel the pain and weep. “Then amaze us. Do something courageous for once. Lift the cruel siege. End the 90 years of betrayal that has so shamed Britain." That was before the horrific blitzkrieg launched by Israel last December/January, in which at least 350 children were murdered and thousands more maimed or made homeless. Gazans have to exist in circumstances that are simply indescribable. You know that the Strip is still under daily bombardment, the promised reconstruction has still not begun, all borders remain sealed to form a vast concentration camp and marauding Israeli warships machine-gun Gaza fishermen in their own waters. Today I was disgusted to learn that chocolate, which few can afford but all regard as a great delicacy, especially at Muslim holy festivals such as Eid, is prohibited by Israel and banned from entering Gaza. It has to be smuggled in at great risk through the tunnel...
Barry Rubin and Leonard Asper Rewrite History Palestine Chronicle:
1 Dec 2009 - By Jim Miles Canwest Global Communications Inc. is owned by the Asper family, with Leonard Asper its current CEO. The corporation is decidedly pro-Israel and frequently has news articles on television or in the daily newspapers that give strong support to Israel. A current article in the Vancouver Sun follows the tired and true formula of blaming the Palestinians for the problems that afflict the Palestinian people, the old victim as perpetrator rhetoric that is so prevalent with all occupying powers. The author of the article is Barry Rubin, director of the Global Research In International Affairs and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs, both rather impressive sound names, as all names of think tanks should sound. What was not mentioned is that Rubin is also professor at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya, Israel. While checking this out on the internet, I discovered that the IDC had recently held a conference on victims of terror and how to help them: “…the first advanced academic conference focusing on the victims of terror and their families. The conference dealt with the impact of terror attacks on society and the individual and presented theoretical approaches and practical methods of helping the victims.” Even though it is a side issue to what I initially set out discuss, it only emphasizes the pro-Israeli slant of Rubin’s connections as all the terror victims discussed in the precis were Israeli, soldiers, or U.S. victims of the Twin Towers. Absolutely no mention, as one...
Obama's Presidency: A One Term Show? Palestine Chronicle:
30 Nov 2009 - By Dr. Ludwig Watzal On December 10, 2009, President Barack Hussein Obama will be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. The award was premature, and for Obama it will be a heavy burden. That is why it would have classy to turn it down. Obama delivered many elegant speeches that gave rise to high expectations. But all his nice talk led to nothing. The discrepancy between his words and his deeds caused frustrations around the globe. In terms of foreign policy, his presidency has thus far remained empty rhetoric. After his speeches in Ankara and Cairo, the Muslim world expected some concrete results and a change of policy in the Middle East and Central Asia. So far, the results are elusive. The U. S. is still fighting its illegal war in Iraq and the so-called “war on terror” in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan the situation is catastrophic, and in Iraq the conditions are horrible. In Afghanistan, the Taliban are in control of 80 percent oft the country, and Iraq has been totally devasted by the “coalition of the willing”. All the talk about the success of the surge in Iraq is just spin. There are attacks by the Iraqis every day, and the control of the Iraqi government does not reach beyond the so-called green zone. In fact, both countries are run by American puppets. Without Western occupying forces both governments would be overthrown within weeks, and the indigenous peoples would settle their differences their own way, like many opposition...
Israel Killing Peace Hopes with Ethnic Cleansing Settlement Project Palestine Chronicle:
30 Nov 2009 - By Stu Harrison Israel's ongoing takeover of East Jerusalem shows it is trying to kill any hope of a negotiated settlement to Palestine’s struggle for self-determination. Israel approved plans to build 844 housing units outside the East Jerusalem Jewish-only Israeli settlement of Gilo on November 17. South of Jerusalem’s centre, Gilo is home to 40,000 residents. It is part of a ring of Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem that inhibits the possibility of it becoming the capital of an independent Palestinian state, based on the occupied territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. This has been the demand of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation since the 1993 Oslo Accords. Since 1967, East Jerusalem has been part of the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel, along with the West Bank and Gaza. The new settlement will expand Gilo in the direction of the Palestinian West Bank town of al-Walaja, where residents are struggling against Israeli plans to demolish their homes. The plan would also connect the settlement to Givat Yael, a planned settlement that will straddle the Jerusalem border and cut off access from Jerusalem to Bethlehem in the West Bank, Americans for Peace Now said on November 17. This effort is being further supported by the construction of an ever-growing “separation barrier/wall” that will force 55,000 mainly Palestinian residents outside the city limits. The wall’s planned route will help connect the Gush Etzion settlement block in the West Bank to Jerusalem. The ideology of Zionism, which supports an exclusively Jewish...
Perpetual predicament
Khaled Amayreh in Ramallah, Al-Ahram Weekly
11/26/2009 Delayed elections will not resolve the deep national crisis facing the Palestinians. Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to formally announce the postponement of Palestinian general elections until further notice. One PA official close to Abbas was quoted this week as saying that Abbas had no choice but to delay the polls. "The president has reached the conclusion that it is impossible to hold elections without the Gaza Strip. We are also not sure if Israel would allow the people of Jerusalem to participate in the elections." A few weeks ago, Abbas issued a decree calling for "presidential and legislative elections" to be held in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip on 24 January 2010. However, a standoff in reconciliation efforts between Fatah and Hamas, and especially a seemingly hopeless peace process with Israel, eventually prompted the PA leader to announce that he wouldn’t take part in the upcoming elections. In a series of recent interviews with Arab and foreign media, Abbas emphasised that his decision was no bluff and that he was likely to end his political career. "Perhaps they [the elections] will be delayed by a year, or less, I don’t know. What I am saying now is that I will not be a candidate," the PA leader said during an interview with the BBC Arabic Service. Abbas said the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) leadership would take unspecified "measures" to avoid a constitutional vacuum when his term of office expires on 25 January 2010. The PLO leadership, including Fatah, has been trying in vain to convince Abbas to reconsider his decision. Fatah leaders said they wouldn’t choose a successor to Abbas, which would further exacerbate a political and constitutional crisis facing both the PA and the PLO, endangering the continued survival of the former. more..e-mail
Resistance in focus
Omayma Abdel-Latif in Beirut, Al-Ahram Weekly
11/26/2009 The arms of the Lebanese resistance remains in focus amid reports of a possible shift in the US approach to Hizbullah. Lebanese political forces continue to haggle over the details of a ministerial statement that will define the mandate of the new coalition government for the next three and half years. Although there are several contentious issues, particularly those pertaining to the economic situation and the privatisation of some state-owned sectors, the most contentious issue remains Hizbullah’s arms. There is consensus among key political actors, including the president and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, on relegating the issue to national dialogue sessions. Christian 14 March forces, armed and backed by Maronite Patriarch Sfeir, insist, however, that a distinction be made between Hizbullah’s arms and the notion of resistance. According to one Lebanese observer, this will prove futile since the heavyweights in government are sticking to the formula mentioned in previous ministerial statements that "the Lebanese resistance is the honest and true expression of the Lebanese people’s right to liberate their land and defend their dignity." Anything less will not be ratified by the Lebanese opposition. The utmost that ministers belonging to the Lebanese Forces and Al-Kataib (the Phalange Party) can achieve is to register their reservations. This debate comes amid two important developments relating to Hizbullah this week. The resistance movement held its general conference for the first time since 2004. The proceedings were not material for media coverage as they have been shrouded in secrecy. Conference resolutions, however, indicated that there is hardly any change within leadership level of the movement. All major positions remain held by current occupants. Hassan Nasrallah was re-elected secretary- general, a position he has held since 1992. Sheikh Naim Qasim was re-elected deputy secretary-general. Mohamed Raad, head of the Hizbullah parliamentary bloc re- joined the resistance’s Shura council (Majlis Shura Al-Qarar).... more..e-mail
Boycott of Ahava Dead Sea products makes an impact Electronic Intifada: 2 Dec 2009 - The international campaign to boycott Ahava beauty products has recently won the support of a Dutch parliamentarian and an Israeli peace group. During the past few months, activists in Canada, the UK, Ireland, Israel, the United States and the Netherlands have campaigned against the sale of Ahava products because of the company's complicity in the Israeli occupation. Adri Nieuwhof reports for The Electronic Intifada.
"My Name is Rachel Corrie" and Israel's waning impunity Electronic Intifada: 2 Dec 2009 - Insidious pressures and overt threats have created a hostile environment to telling Rachel Corrie's story and of course, the countless tragic stories of Palestinians. They are emblematic of a determination to maintain ignorance about the realities of life in Palestine, and a desire to perpetuate the notions of Israeli innocence, virtuousness and victimhood. In maintaining any hold to this myth, we are preventing the stories of Palestinian lives from reaching the light of day. Charlotte Silver writes for The Electronic Intifada.
Australia hosts war criminal Ehud Olmert Electronic Intifada: 1 Dec 2009 - The news that former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was in Australia and was welcomed by the honorable members of our parliament came as somewhat of a shock. It is one thing to have allowed a man charged with corruption and suspected of war crimes into Australia at all; it is another thing that he was listed as a distinguished guest in Hansard -- the official record of parliamentary proceedings -- and received a resounding "hear, hear" from our elected representatives. Sonja Karkar comments.
Israeli authorities deport African American political activists Electronic Intifada: 1 Dec 2009 - Al-Awda New York, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, condemns the racist denial of entry to Palestine of African American political activists Dhoruba Bin Wahad and Naji Mujahid by the Israeli occupation. Dhoruba Bin Wahad, a former US political prisoner and leader of the Black Panther Party, and Naji Mujahid, a student activist from Washington DC were deported en route to the International Conference on Palestinian Political Prisoners in Jericho that was sponsored by the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Prisoners and ex-Prisoners Affairs.
quiet with the philosopher In Gaza:
2 Dec 2009 - After stopping in at the Jabaliya/ Dawwar Zimmo Red Crescent office yesterday, to catch up with some of the bravest people I know –the medics– I went by Ibrahim’s Gaza War cemetary . Run the Commonwealth War Graves Commission , the cemetary grounds have been kept for over five decades by Ibrahim, and now by his sons. My reason for stopping by yesterday was to gather some information on gravestones for someone outside of Gaza. But actually, I just like the place, particularly Ibrahim. He’s a mixed bag: a grandfather, a philosopher, a host –100% Palestinian–, enthusiastic like a child, a teacher… From the first visit, Ibrahim has extended an open welcome...
Solving the Problems of the Middle East on Sherbrooke Street Palestine Chronicle:
2 Dec 2009 - By Alfred Warkentin – Montreal All agree. Only America is important. There's a current of opinion in the Middle East that says: "If you want peace, you don't want justice." Peace, peace, but there is no peace, despite decades of peace prizes. The record is dismal. The Nobel people count on President Obama doing more for peace in the future because of the prize awarded him. That too is a doubtful proposition. Sometimes it is easier for decision makers in Washington to get the big picture from the sticks. Take a bus trip on Sherbrooke Street bus in Montreal. (I am, for the sake of clarity, condensing scenes, time periods and characters.) The Gaza Crisis itself had been over for months. Judge Goldstone had delivered his report. President Obama had been awarded the peace prize. Ms. Clinton had visited the region. The Middle East was at rest, although Mr. Abbas had indicated he wasn’t in for the long haul. The bus lurched to a stop. Working his way through the overflow mass in the aisle was Jonathan, a student. He stopped and stood beside me. Staggering toward us was Abdulrahman. Abdulrahman was from the Middle East. He was dark and dusky, the opposite of Jonathan. Like Jonathan he was taking international relations. I introduced them. They shook hands. “Alf,” Jonathan asked, “what’s your take on Gaza?” I shrugged. Said Jonathan: “Of course you use disproportionate force. Only that way can you win the peace. Israel is in the Middle East...
Hezbollah's New Manifesto: The 'Rebirth' Palestine Chronicle:
2 Dec 2009 - By Franklin Lamb - South Beirut, Lebanon Like many liberation and resistant movement 'Manifestos', 'Charters' or 'Declarations' issued to the public early in its founding - the African National Congress, Palestine Liberation Organization, Hamas, Algerian FLN, and various “Sons of Liberty” groups during the American Revolution, come to mind - Hezbollah has been criticized by its detractors over the years for some language in its 1985 “Open Letter” manifesto. Some have urged Hezbollah to remove ‘controversial language” such as the call for an Islamic Republic in Lebanon- even though the Party has made clear that establishing an Islamic Republic of Lebanon is no longer a priority and emphasizing that Lebanon’s diversity is respected, valued and permanent. Others have called Hezbollah’s 1985 manifesto ‘too religious” and too dogmatic for a broad international appeal political document. The 'Rebirth' Manifesto Ideas for Hezbollah’s original 1985 Manifesto evolved over 30 months following the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, during which the new resistance movement worked to establish itself in the turbulent period of military invasions, occupations and numerous internal and external conspiracies against it. Many secret discussions were held concerning all manner of subjects including what the new organization would be called. Many favored the name “The Islamic Movement of Lebanon” but before the matter came up for a vote, another of the more than 20 new local resistance groups preempted that name. Others thought the name “Nation (Umma) of Hezbollah” was more inclusive. Under time pressure to agree on a name before the...
Time Marches on but not for Obama Palestine Chronicle:
2 Dec 2009 - By George S. Hishmeh – Washington It is par for the course for the mainstream American media to adopt the U.S. official line on U.S. foreign policy, especially when it concerns the Arab-Israeli conflict, rather than take an independent stance. This does not mean, much to the delight of some foreign policy observers, that this position is universally true since there are few liberal groups, including American Jewish organizations, who do stick their neck out but regrettably with little impact in the halls of government. Both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Mideast peace envoy George Mitchell lauded the recent offer of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to go along with a partial settlement freeze in the occupied Palestinian territories although he excluded occupied Arab East Jerusalem, where several recent episodes of ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Arab citizens from the Holy City have occurred. “U.S. praises Netanyahu plan,” was the headline in The Washington Post on November 26 for the Israeli offer for a 10-month freeze on colonial expansion in the occupied West Bank where about 300,000 Israeli settlers have been living following the 1967 war. The half-baked Israeli offer would also allow the completion of 2900 housing units there as well as continue expansion into East Jerusalem which is slated to become the Palestinians’ capital city. The reaction of several American columnists was mainly noteworthy for the lack of any criticism of the limited Israeli offer. Writing three days later, Thomas L. Friedman chose to focus in The New...
Will the Church Act to Save the Children of Gaza This Christmas? Palestine Chronicle:
1 Dec 2009 - By Stuart Littlewood – London (Open letter to: The Most Rev. and the Rt. Hon. the Archbishop of Canterbury, Spiritual leader of the Anglican Church) Dear Archbishop, Two years ago, on returning from Gaza and the West Bank, I wrote about the dire conditions and the British government's complicity in the crippling blockade, and reminded prime minister Gordon Brown that Gaza was formerly entrusted to Britain under mandate, which was reason for us to feel a special responsibility. I urged him: “Go see for yourselves the misery, the human tragedy and the devastation you have heaped on these nice people. Feel the pain and weep. “Then amaze us. Do something courageous for once. Lift the cruel siege. End the 90 years of betrayal that has so shamed Britain." That was before the horrific blitzkrieg launched by Israel last December/January, in which at least 350 children were murdered and thousands more maimed or made homeless. Gazans have to exist in circumstances that are simply indescribable. You know that the Strip is still under daily bombardment, the promised reconstruction has still not begun, all borders remain sealed to form a vast concentration camp and marauding Israeli warships machine-gun Gaza fishermen in their own waters. Today I was disgusted to learn that chocolate, which few can afford but all regard as a great delicacy, especially at Muslim holy festivals such as Eid, is prohibited by Israel and banned from entering Gaza. It has to be smuggled in at great risk through the tunnel...
The Israel Lobby Celebrates Espionage in New York
Grant Smith, Antiwar.com
12/3/2009
The recent sting operation against former NASA scientist Stewart Nozette involved an undercover FBI employee posing as Mossad agent. Meeting in the posh Mayflower hotel in Washington, the agent set up clandestine payments in exchange for highly classified information. Nozette began delivering requested classified national defense information believing it to be destined for Israel while confidentially assuring the FBI agent that he thought he was already spying for Israel. This allegedly occurred under Nozette’s prior "consulting" contract with Israel Aerospace Industries, a major military contractor. Although the US has traditionally ignored, forgiven, or quashed investigations into Israeli espionage, the cost to America’s national security and economy may now have pushed law enforcement agencies toward a tipping point. Ironically, this very week, the Israel lobby is celebrating in New York the biggest clandestine operation ever conducted against US industries and workers. Israel Aerospace Industries was once called Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), a company launched by the legendary flight engineer and entrepreneur Adolph "Al" Schwimmer. Schwimmer was a key man in the vast underground Haganah smuggling (PDF) effort across the US trafficking in surplus WWII arms, supplies and veteran manpower for war in Palestine. He purchased heavily discounted surplus US military aircraft from the War Assets Administration but violated laws prohibiting their export use in armed conflict by creating a fake Panamanian shell corporation and flying the transport wing to Palestine to battle for the creation of Israel in 1948. None of the key American financial backers of the effort went to jail, though a handful of small operators such as Nathan Liff did eventually appear in criminal court. They received lenient sentences pleading they were only giving guns to "young Jewish boys who went to the door of Hitler’s ovens to bring Holocaust survivors to a Jewish homeland." Schwimmer, a convicted felon who served no prison time, left the US to become managing director of IAI with the backing of David Ben-Gurion and Shimon Peres. more..e-mail
Why does America hate us?
Haidar Eid, Ma’an News Agency
12/3/2009
The Palestinians have realized, thanks to Hillary Clinton, that the US is biased toward Israel. According to the American secretary of state, negotiations between "the two parties" should resume without preconditions. The Americans have even praised Netanyahu’s "unprecedented concessions." Gone is the sweet talk of the American president Barak Obama. Gone is the euphoria following his "groundbreaking" speech at Cairo University. We are back to square one. The question that begs for answers is why does America hate us Palestinians? Do the American people really believe that we have no rights even though those rights are enshrined in international law? Does President Obama truly believe that we are only a nuisance? American hegemonic political philosophy judges a belief by its effects, not its causes. The emphasis is on the connection between the truth of statements and their practical applicability by one measure only: how will they work for America? This is American pragmatism. That is, liberal American politicians, including President Obama, are interested in the function of ideas and statements and their effects rather than the sources and conditions of their production. "Workability"ť and "practicability"ť are the basis of the justification of positions taken by the American establishment. However that does not take into account the circumstances under which these positions are "workable", neither historically nor socially. Whatever "we,"ť white liberal Americans, want is justifiable and thus legitimate since it is ’workable’ and ’practical’ regardless of the means through which it is achieved. Thus Apartheid, Nazism, Zionism, American occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan can be easily justified and sold to CNNized citizens. more..e-mail
Report finds new Israeli war doctrine targets civilians Electronic Intifada: 3 Dec 2009 - The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) released today [2 December 2009] a new report which exposes the shifts in Israel's combat doctrine as evidenced in the prosecution of operation "Cast Lead" and from numerous public oral and written statements made by high ranking military officers and senior Israeli government officials.
Boycott of Ahava Dead Sea products makes an impact Electronic Intifada: 2 Dec 2009 - The international campaign to boycott Ahava beauty products has recently won the support of a Dutch parliamentarian and an Israeli peace group. During the past few months, activists in Canada, the UK, Ireland, Israel, the United States and the Netherlands have campaigned against the sale of Ahava products because of the company's complicity in the Israeli occupation. Adri Nieuwhof reports for The Electronic Intifada.
"My Name is Rachel Corrie" and Israel's waning impunity Electronic Intifada: 2 Dec 2009 - Insidious pressures and overt threats have created a hostile environment to telling Rachel Corrie's story and of course, the countless tragic stories of Palestinians. They are emblematic of a determination to maintain ignorance about the realities of life in Palestine, and a desire to perpetuate the notions of Israeli innocence, virtuousness and victimhood. In maintaining any hold to this myth, we are preventing the stories of Palestinian lives from reaching the light of day. Charlotte Silver writes for The Electronic Intifada.
quiet with the philosopher In Gaza:
2 Dec 2009 - After stopping in at the Jabaliya/ Dawwar Zimmo Red Crescent office yesterday, to catch up with some of the bravest people I know –the medics– I went by Ibrahim’s Gaza War cemetary . Run the Commonwealth War Graves Commission , the cemetary grounds have been kept for over five decades by Ibrahim, and now by his sons. My reason for stopping by yesterday was to gather some information on gravestones for someone outside of Gaza. But actually, I just like the place, particularly Ibrahim. He’s a mixed bag: a grandfather, a philosopher, a host –100% Palestinian–, enthusiastic like a child, a teacher… From the first visit, Ibrahim has extended an open welcome...
Palestinian Reflections on American Political Ideology Palestine Chronicle:
3 Dec 2009 - By Dr. Haidar Eid - Gaza The Palestinians have 'realized,' thanks to Hilary Clinton, that the US is biased towards Israel. According to the American Secretary of State, negotiations between "the two parties" should resume without preconditions. The Americans have even praised Netanyahu's "unprecedented concessions!" Gone is the sweet talk of the American president Barak Obama; gone is the euphoria following his "ground breaking" speech in Cairo university. We are back to square one. The question that begs for answers is why does America hate us Palestinians? Do the American people really believe that we have no rights even though those rights are enshrined in international law? Does President Obama truly believe that we are only a nuisance? American hegemonic political philosophy judges a belief by its effects not its causes. The emphasis is on the connection between the truth of statements and their practical applicability by one measure only: how will they work for America? This is American pragmatism. That is, White, liberal American politicians (including President Obama!) are interested in the function of ideas and statements and their effects rather than the sources and conditions of their production. ‘Workability’ and ‘practicability’ are the basis of the justification of positions taken by the American establishment. However that does not take into account the circumstances under which these positions are ‘workable,’ neither historically nor socially. Whatever ‘we’, white liberal Americans, want is justifiable and thus legitimate since it is 'workable' and 'practical' regardless of the means through which it is...
Native Orientalists at the Daily Times Palestine Chronicle:
3 Dec 2009 - By M. Shahid Alam 'The more a ruling class is able to assimilate the foremost minds of the ruled class, the more stable and dangerous becomes its rule.' -- Karl Marx A few days back, I received a 'Dear friends' email from Mr. Najam Sethi, ex editor-in-chief of Daily Times, Pakistan, announcing that he, together with several of his colleagues, had resigned from their positions in the newspaper. In his email, Mr. Sethi thanked his ‘friends’ for their “support and encouragement…in making Daily Times a ‘new voice for a new Pakistan.’” Wistfully, he added, “I hope it will be able to live up to your expectations and mine in time to come.” I am not sure why Mr. Sethi had chosen me for this dubious honor. Certainly, I did not deserve it. I could not count myself among his ‘friends’ who had given “support and encouragement” to the mission that DT had chosen for itself in Pakistan’s media and politics. Contrary to its slogan, it was never DT’s mission to be a ‘new voice for a new Pakistan.’ The DT had dredged its voice from the colonial past; it had only altered its pitch and delivery to serve the new US-Zionist overlords. Many of the writers for DT aspire to the office of the native informers of the colonial era. They are heirs to the brown Sahibs, home-grown Orientalists, who see their own world (if it is theirs in any meaningful sense) through the lens created for them by their...
Ben Bella Was in Cairo and Egypt was Alive Palestine Chronicle:
3 Dec 2009 - By Ahmed Amr Let it never be said that Pan-Arab nationalism died with a whimper. In the streets of Cairo, Algiers and Khartoum - Algerians and Egyptians celebrated the final death knell with gusto. But before we bury the ancient ideological beast, it might be worth our while to go for a nostalgic walk to a time before Egyptians and Algerians staked their national destinies on the outcome of a soccer match. I experienced my very first political moment at the ripe old age of six. It was an Algerian-Egyptian festival and what a time it was. The crowds lined the streets, the people were hanging out of balconies and the euphoria was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. Ben Bella was in Cairo and Egypt was alive. The man who secured Algeria’s independence rode in an open American Chariot with Nasser at his side. Two giants - two Arab political rock stars - were passing by my front door and every relative I’d ever own showed up to watch the festivities. I’ve never felt so much joy in my life. I didn’t know quite what was going on but it had to be something awesome and it was. Egyptians had paid a heavy price for their support of the Algerian revolution. The Anglo-French-Israeli invasion of 1956 was a plot hatched on the soil of France and Egypt was not only punished for nationalizing the Suez Canal but for daring to aid the Algerian revolutionaries in their epic struggle against...
Come Home, America: Escalation is not Withdrawal Palestine Chronicle:
3 Dec 2009 - By Kevin Zeese If I ever get cancer, I want Barack Obama to tell me I'm dying. He could probably convince someone like me who does not believe in the supernatural that death is life. He certainly did his best on Tuesday night to convince the American public that war means peace, and escalation means withdrawal. President Obama is not President Bush. He is a much more effective and eloquent advocate for American militarism who makes his case in ways that will challenge people who oppose war. He does not seek to merely energize his base, as President Bush did, but more to nullify and confuse it, something he is not only doing on war but on health care, banking, climate change ...seemingly every issue he touches. In his new Afghanistan war plan he tried to give everyone something. He gave General McChrystal and the war hawks what they want – tens of thousands of more troops. He gave the majority of Americans who oppose the war what they want – a promise, however vague, to begin withdrawal in 18 months. He told Pakistan that the U.S. will be there for them and escalated the war in Pakistan without clearly saying so. He gave the corrupt President Karzai the protection he needs to stay in office. Everybody’s happy, right? Well, not exactly. In fact, promising all things to all people seems likely to make no one happy. But, it may confuse people enough so that Obama gets the war funding...
Why Gush Shalom won’t end the Barkan boycott
Adam Keller, Ma’an News Agency
12/4/2009
Gush Shalom, the Israeli Peace Bloc, has rejected the demand of Barkan Wineries to remove the company’s name from Gush’s list of settlement products, the movement said in a statement. A Gush Shalom representative told the company that as long as it continues to maintain vineyards on the Golan Heights, which is an occupied territory, Gush will continue to regard it as a settlement company, despite its having completely removed its plant from the industrial zone of the Barkan settlement from which the vineries originally derived their name. The name Barkan Wineries appeared on the lists of settlement products which Gush Shalom has been compiling and distributing since 1995, with a call upon consumers in the country and abroad to boycott these products and avoid purchasing them. The struggle waged by Gush Shalom was joined by activists of the Coalition of Women for Peace, who created a website called "Who Profits from the Occupation?". Among other things, they deployed researchers to monitor the activities of Barkan Wineries in the occupied territories, as well as investigate the company’s financial reports and the statements it submitted to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. The struggle was also joined by European organizations, such as the Dutch "United Civilians for Peace," which threatened the Heineken beer company with a consumer boycott in the Netherlands due to its links with Barkan Wineries. After years of struggle and pressure, Barkan Wineries closed its plant in the Barkan settlement industrial zone and transferred it to Kibbutz Hulda inside the Green Line. Thereupon the company’s legal adviser, attorney Sa’ar Faraj, this week sent a letter to Gush Shalom spokesperson Adam Keller, stating..... more..e-mail
’Going Deeper’ Not ‘Muslim’: Islamophobia and its Discontents
Huma Dar, P U L S E
12/3/2009
I deeply missed June Jordan today. Back in Fall 1995 (or was it 96?) the acclaimed poet read not her own poems, but those of her Arab students, at the first ever Berkeley “Poetry at Lunch” event. I adored her, and adored her even more when she courageously asserted that Arabs/Muslims were one of last groups it was explicitly kosher (read: not un-PC) to be racist or prejudiced towards in any given circle. Way before 9/11… Tunku Varadarajan, a professor at NYU’s Stern Business School and a research fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, recently wrote a piece “Going Muslim: America after Fort Hood.”(1) He coins the phrase “Going Muslim” to “describe the turn of events where a seemingly integrated Muslim-American—a friendly donut vendor in New York, say, or an officer in the U.S. Army at Fort Hood—discards his apparent integration into American society and elects to vindicate his religion in an act of messianic violence against his fellow Americans.”(2) In her astute deconstruction of Varadarajan’s proposal, Aysha Ghani writes that in “the aftermath of “Going Muslim” ” she “shudders” to think that because of her critique and her sentiments, she “too might be categorized as an un-integrated American Muslim.” It is significant to note that Varadarajan’s argument here is even more insidious. He is asserting that being “integrated” or otherwise is moot for Muslims as their religion is founded on “bellicose conquest, a contempt for infidels and an obligation for piety” that may make them “more extreme” such that their “integration” is never to be trusted. It is simply a “camouflage” that could be “discarded” at any “calculated moment” of “revelatory catharsis.” Thus, all or “perhaps many more than a few” Muslims are just waiting to come out of their “camouflage” and one never knows which ones. This is where Varadarajan’s fear-mongering actually slides into fascism: the construction of the Muslim as the perfect Homo Sacer – uncannily, the term in German concentration camps for those who lost the will to live was “Mussulman”(3) – because s/he is intrinsically unpredictable, untrustworthy, fundamentally unlike the “civilized us,” and therefore ultimately intractable and dispensable. Through a deconstruction of Varadarajan’s article, I propose to show here the confluence of Islamophobia in America and with that operative in India, in the new configuration of global political and economic powers, offering a preliminary understanding of some emerging positionalities and relationalities. This will also be an initial foray into theorizing the manifestations of Islamophobia and its commonalities as well as divergences from racism as such. more..e-mail
Human currency Electronic Intifada: 4 Dec 2009 - "We do not negotiate with terrorists" -- a long-cherished mantra of Western democracies. In reality all the major powers have at some stage been forced to discuss with militants, from Northern Ireland to Iraq. Now Israel seems on the verge of granting their fiercest enemies Hamas a major coup with the mooted release of up to 1,000 prisoners. What message does this send? Kieron Monks comments for The Electronic Intifada.
Propaganda disguised as academic inquiry at the University of Illinois Electronic Intifada: 4 Dec 2009 - Chancellor Richard Herman of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign recently resigned due to his cooperation with political influence-peddlers seeking to gain admission for less qualified but privileged applicants. But Herman also participated in a more acceptable form of political corruption -- publicly displayed with the invocation of high principle -- in his cooperation with the Israel lobby in opposition to the British boycott of Israeli academics, and in the funding of the Israel Studies Project at the Urbana campus. David Green writes for The Electronic Intifada.
Gaza Freedom March less than one month away Electronic Intifada: 4 Dec 2009 - The Gaza Freedom March that will take place in Gaza on 31 December is an historic initiative to break the siege that has imprisoned the 1.5 million people who live there. Conceived in the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and nonviolent resistance to injustice worldwide, the march will gather people from all over the world to march -- hand in hand -- with the people of Gaza to demand that the Israelis open the borders.
Report finds new Israeli war doctrine targets civilians Electronic Intifada: 3 Dec 2009 - The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) released today [2 December 2009] a new report which exposes the shifts in Israel's combat doctrine as evidenced in the prosecution of operation "Cast Lead" and from numerous public oral and written statements made by high ranking military officers and senior Israeli government officials.
quiet with the philosopher In Gaza:
2 Dec 2009 - After stopping in at the Jabaliya/ Dawwar Zimmo Red Crescent office yesterday, to catch up with some of the bravest people I know –the medics– I went by Ibrahim’s Gaza War cemetary . Run the Commonwealth War Graves Commission , the cemetary grounds have been kept for over five decades by Ibrahim, and now by his sons. My reason for stopping by yesterday was to gather some information on gravestones for someone outside of Gaza. But actually, I just like the place, particularly Ibrahim. He’s a mixed bag: a grandfather, a philosopher, a host –100% Palestinian–, enthusiastic like a child, a teacher… From the first visit, Ibrahim has extended an open welcome...
Will Congress Criminalize Anti-Semitism and Israeli Criticism? Palestine Chronicle:
4 Dec 2009 - By Stephen Lendman - Chicago During Israel's war on Gaza, only 5 of 535 congressional members dissented on pro-Israeli resolutions. On January 8, 2009, the Senate unanimously passed S 10: "A resolution recognizing the right of Israel to defend itself against attacks from Gaza and reaffirming the United States' strong support for Israel in its battle with Hamas, and supporting the Israeli-Palestinian (no peace) peace process." On January 9, the House, by a 390 - 5 vote, passed HR 34 "Recognizing Israel's right to defend itself against attacks from Gaza, reaffirming the United States' strong support for Israel, and supporting the Israeli-Palestinian (no peace) peace process." More on this below. Then on October 28, Obama signed the expanded 2009 Hate Crimes Prevention Act, some call a stealth war on free expression and civil liberties. More on this as well. Also consider events in Canada, initiated by a body called the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism (CPCCA), a voluntary association of 22 MPs investigating anti-semitism because, it says: Its "extent and severity is widely regarded as at its worst level since the end of the Second World War," despite contrary evidence and much to show how Israel twists opposition to Zionism and its international law violations to be an attack on Jews. On October 29, in fact, Reuters reported that: "Anti-Semitic attitudes in the United States are at a historic low, with 12 percent of Americans prejudiced toward Jews, an Anti-Defamation League (ADL) survey found" based on polling done from...
Game Theory Approach to Palestinian Resistance Palestine Chronicle:
4 Dec 2009 - By Mary Rizzo Anyone who has witnessed the events in Palestine/Israel has been able to notice a cycle that repeats itself continually between the two groups of people. It can be summed up in two words: action/reaction. Sometimes the action is carried out to elicit a reaction (which we can define then as a provocation). A provocation has as its goal to incite or irritate another, sometimes it can be the prelude to the “true action” and sometimes it is there just to demonstrate something. We all have in our memories the famous sparks that set off the first and second Intifada. The first was Ariel Sharon “strolling” on the most important site for Palestinians, al-Haram al-Sharif as if he owned the place, and the second was provoked by Israeli soldiers running over two Palestinian workers at a checkpoint. In and of themselves, the events were bad enough, but they had a common aspect that certainly would have surprised Israelis and the West, and one that perhaps surprised even the Palestinians themselves. The fact that those relatively minor events could have such an impact: that a “stroll” and an “accident” could be the sparks that set off the most effective and widespread popular uprising in the history of the Palestinian struggle for liberation. The events that were “the breaking point” were far less damaging than a raid or bombardment, things that we seem to be convinced are the events that have the capacity of waking up the world to the...
Palestinian Reflections on American Political Ideology Palestine Chronicle:
3 Dec 2009 - By Dr. Haidar Eid - Gaza The Palestinians have 'realized,' thanks to Hilary Clinton, that the US is biased towards Israel. According to the American Secretary of State, negotiations between "the two parties" should resume without preconditions. The Americans have even praised Netanyahu's "unprecedented concessions!" Gone is the sweet talk of the American president Barak Obama; gone is the euphoria following his "ground breaking" speech in Cairo university. We are back to square one. The question that begs for answers is why does America hate us Palestinians? Do the American people really believe that we have no rights even though those rights are enshrined in international law? Does President Obama truly believe that we are only a nuisance? American hegemonic political philosophy judges a belief by its effects not its causes. The emphasis is on the connection between the truth of statements and their practical applicability by one measure only: how will they work for America? This is American pragmatism. That is, White, liberal American politicians (including President Obama!) are interested in the function of ideas and statements and their effects rather than the sources and conditions of their production. ‘Workability’ and ‘practicability’ are the basis of the justification of positions taken by the American establishment. However that does not take into account the circumstances under which these positions are ‘workable,’ neither historically nor socially. Whatever ‘we’, white liberal Americans, want is justifiable and thus legitimate since it is 'workable' and 'practical' regardless of the means through which it is...
Native Orientalists at the Daily Times Palestine Chronicle:
3 Dec 2009 - By M. Shahid Alam 'The more a ruling class is able to assimilate the foremost minds of the ruled class, the more stable and dangerous becomes its rule.' -- Karl Marx A few days back, I received a 'Dear friends' email from Mr. Najam Sethi, ex editor-in-chief of Daily Times, Pakistan, announcing that he, together with several of his colleagues, had resigned from their positions in the newspaper. In his email, Mr. Sethi thanked his ‘friends’ for their “support and encouragement…in making Daily Times a ‘new voice for a new Pakistan.’” Wistfully, he added, “I hope it will be able to live up to your expectations and mine in time to come.” I am not sure why Mr. Sethi had chosen me for this dubious honor. Certainly, I did not deserve it. I could not count myself among his ‘friends’ who had given “support and encouragement” to the mission that DT had chosen for itself in Pakistan’s media and politics. Contrary to its slogan, it was never DT’s mission to be a ‘new voice for a new Pakistan.’ The DT had dredged its voice from the colonial past; it had only altered its pitch and delivery to serve the new US-Zionist overlords. Many of the writers for DT aspire to the office of the native informers of the colonial era. They are heirs to the brown Sahibs, home-grown Orientalists, who see their own world (if it is theirs in any meaningful sense) through the lens created for them by their...
Trying to fill the hole our father has left
Jody McIntyre, Ctrl.Alt.Shift
12/3/2009
As we move into the cold months, many of you in the UK will be looking forward to Christmas. In the Palestinian village of Bi’lin, last weekend marked the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, a time to see family and friends and for people to eat together. But for many Palestinians, the Eid was not so festive. Rajaa Abu Rahmah, aged 19, only has one wish this festive season, to see her father freed from prison. On 10 July 2009, Adeeb Abu Rahmah, a leading activist and organiser from the occupied West Bank village of Bi’lin, was arrested during the weekly demonstration at the Wall. A man committed to non-violent direct action, Adeeb was charged with incitement to violence, a blanket charge often used to indict leading members of Palestinian communities resisting against the confiscation of their land. A judge initially ruled that Adeeb should be released with restrictive conditions, forbidding him from attending demonstrations, but an appeal filed by the military prosecution was upheld, meaning that Adeeb would be held until the end of legal proceedings. Trials for Palestinians in Israeli military courts often last for over a year, leaving Adeebs family fatherless for the holidays. Jody McIntyre spoke to Rajaa, Adeebs eldest daughter of eight children who is currenlty studying medicine at the All Quds University, to see how the family were coping during Eid al-Adha: Jody McIntyre: Why do you think your father was arrested? RA: Because he struggled against the Wall and the settlements, and to defend our land. They said in the judgement against him that they would serve a high punishment to make an example for others participating in the non-violent resistance here, so I suppose they are using my father as a symbol to dissuade others from continuing with the struggle. more..e-mail
Israeli concession is no concession at all
Yousef Munayyer, Ma’an News Agency
12/5/2009
The Israelis finally agreed to a 10-month moratorium on settlements in the occupied West Bank. This proposal does not include East Jerusalem, also occupied in 1967, and the would-be capital of a Palestinian state. Israel will attempt to characterize this as a painful concession in a sincere quest for peace, but in reality this is no concession at all. In 2003, the Road Map for Peace, adopted by the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and the Russian Federation, set forth that the first Israeli obligation was to stop settlements. Yet, in every year since 1994, when the Oslo Accords established a framework for peace negotiations, the world has seen more settlers, settlements and the expansion of existing settlements. Settlements contravene US policy on this issue and international law. A plethora of UN resolutions and the Fourth Geneva Convention (to which Israel is a signatory) decry the colonization of Palestinian land. In effect, what the Israeli prime minister has said is "I’ll stop breaking the law, in only some places, and only for a limited period of time." This does not meet the Road Map expectations of 2003, so to frame this as a concession in 2009 makes it clear to the Palestinians that Israel will not be held accountable by any American administration. Israeli spokesmen tell Americans that they want peace, but their consistent acts of colonization speak to different intentions. Palestinians would be fools to fall for this ploy again after years of seeing Israel disregard its obligations while Palestinians continue to live under occupation and the threat of sanctions if they do not march to the beat of Washington’s drum..... more..e-mail
Human currency Electronic Intifada: 4 Dec 2009 - "We do not negotiate with terrorists" -- a long-cherished mantra of Western democracies. In reality all the major powers have at some stage been forced to discuss with militants, from Northern Ireland to Iraq. Now Israel seems on the verge of granting their fiercest enemies Hamas a major coup with the mooted release of up to 1,000 prisoners. What message does this send? Kieron Monks comments for The Electronic Intifada.
Propaganda disguised as academic inquiry at the University of Illinois Electronic Intifada: 4 Dec 2009 - Chancellor Richard Herman of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign recently resigned due to his cooperation with political influence-peddlers seeking to gain admission for less qualified but privileged applicants. But Herman also participated in a more acceptable form of political corruption -- publicly displayed with the invocation of high principle -- in his cooperation with the Israel lobby in opposition to the British boycott of Israeli academics, and in the funding of the Israel Studies Project at the Urbana campus. David Green writes for The Electronic Intifada.
Gaza Freedom March less than one month away Electronic Intifada: 4 Dec 2009 - The Gaza Freedom March that will take place in Gaza on 31 December is an historic initiative to break the siege that has imprisoned the 1.5 million people who live there. Conceived in the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and nonviolent resistance to injustice worldwide, the march will gather people from all over the world to march -- hand in hand -- with the people of Gaza to demand that the Israelis open the borders.
quiet with the philosopher In Gaza:
2 Dec 2009 - After stopping in at the Jabaliya/ Dawwar Zimmo Red Crescent office yesterday, to catch up with some of the bravest people I know –the medics– I went by Ibrahim’s Gaza War cemetary . Run the Commonwealth War Graves Commission , the cemetary grounds have been kept for over five decades by Ibrahim, and now by his sons. My reason for stopping by yesterday was to gather some information on gravestones for someone outside of Gaza. But actually, I just like the place, particularly Ibrahim. He’s a mixed bag: a grandfather, a philosopher, a host –100% Palestinian–, enthusiastic like a child, a teacher… From the first visit, Ibrahim has extended an open welcome...
Will Congress Criminalize Anti-Semitism and Israeli Criticism? Palestine Chronicle:
4 Dec 2009 - By Stephen Lendman - Chicago During Israel's war on Gaza, only 5 of 535 congressional members dissented on pro-Israeli resolutions. On January 8, 2009, the Senate unanimously passed S 10: "A resolution recognizing the right of Israel to defend itself against attacks from Gaza and reaffirming the United States' strong support for Israel in its battle with Hamas, and supporting the Israeli-Palestinian (no peace) peace process." On January 9, the House, by a 390 - 5 vote, passed HR 34 "Recognizing Israel's right to defend itself against attacks from Gaza, reaffirming the United States' strong support for Israel, and supporting the Israeli-Palestinian (no peace) peace process." More on this below. Then on October 28, Obama signed the expanded 2009 Hate Crimes Prevention Act, some call a stealth war on free expression and civil liberties. More on this as well. Also consider events in Canada, initiated by a body called the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism (CPCCA), a voluntary association of 22 MPs investigating anti-semitism because, it says: Its "extent and severity is widely regarded as at its worst level since the end of the Second World War," despite contrary evidence and much to show how Israel twists opposition to Zionism and its international law violations to be an attack on Jews. On October 29, in fact, Reuters reported that: "Anti-Semitic attitudes in the United States are at a historic low, with 12 percent of Americans prejudiced toward Jews, an Anti-Defamation League (ADL) survey found" based on polling done from...
Game Theory Approach to Palestinian Resistance Palestine Chronicle:
4 Dec 2009 - By Mary Rizzo Anyone who has witnessed the events in Palestine/Israel has been able to notice a cycle that repeats itself continually between the two groups of people. It can be summed up in two words: action/reaction. Sometimes the action is carried out to elicit a reaction (which we can define then as a provocation). A provocation has as its goal to incite or irritate another, sometimes it can be the prelude to the “true action” and sometimes it is there just to demonstrate something. We all have in our memories the famous sparks that set off the first and second Intifada. The first was Ariel Sharon “strolling” on the most important site for Palestinians, al-Haram al-Sharif as if he owned the place, and the second was provoked by Israeli soldiers running over two Palestinian workers at a checkpoint. In and of themselves, the events were bad enough, but they had a common aspect that certainly would have surprised Israelis and the West, and one that perhaps surprised even the Palestinians themselves. The fact that those relatively minor events could have such an impact: that a “stroll” and an “accident” could be the sparks that set off the most effective and widespread popular uprising in the history of the Palestinian struggle for liberation. The events that were “the breaking point” were far less damaging than a raid or bombardment, things that we seem to be convinced are the events that have the capacity of waking up the world to the...
Palestinian Reflections on American Political Ideology
Dr. Haidar Eid - Gaza, Palestine Chronicle
12/3/2009
The question that begs for answers is why does America hate us Palestinians? The Palestinians have ’realized,’ thanks to Hilary Clinton, that the US is biased towards Israel. According to the American Secretary of State, negotiations between "the two parties" should resume without preconditions. The Americans have even praised Netanyahu’s "unprecedented concessions!" Gone is the sweet talk of the American president Barak Obama; gone is the euphoria following his "ground breaking" speech in Cairo university. We are back to square one. The question that begs for answers is why does America hate us Palestinians? Do the American people really believe that we have no rights even though those rights are enshrined in international law? Does President Obama truly believe that we are only a nuisance? American hegemonic political philosophy judges a belief by its effects not its causes. The emphasis is on the connection between the truth of statements and their practical applicability by one measure only: how will they work for America? This is American pragmatism. That is, White, liberal American politicians (including President Obama!) are interested in the function of ideas and statements and their effects rather than the sources and conditions of their production. more..e-mail
Armageddon Is Coming To East Jerusalem
Palestine Monitor
12/5/2009 Includes videos and photo This was the ominous warning issued yesterday by Rabbi Arik Asherman, director of Rabbis for Human Rights who believes that “if nothing changes, Jerusalem will burn.” His remarks come in response to a court decision on Monday permitting Israeli settlers to take possession of another Palestinian home in the East Jerusalem region of Sheikh Jarrah. This is the fifth family to be evicted in a neighbourhood where more and more Israeli flags are appearing atop of freshly occupied Palestinian homes. Yesterday Rabbis for Human Rights organized a demonstration in Jerusalem protesting the courts decision bringing together 150 Israeli and international activists from organizations such as ICHAD, EAPPI and Anarchists against the Wall. As they marched through the streets in West Jerusalem, they received a mixed reaction from passer bys. Some cheered them on whilst others shouted ‘traitor’, spat at demonstrators and at one point a hose was turned on the crowd from behind the curtain of an upstairs apartment. The demonstration culminated in the front yard of the Al-Kurd’s family home where the front section is now occupied by Israeli settlers and the family has been moved to the back. The Al-Kurd house was built in 1956 and an extension added 10 years ago is the current source of contention. On Monday the Magistrates Court ruled it illegal and gave permission for a group of Israeli settlers to take occupation. An immediate appeal issued by the Al-Kurd family was dismissed. On Tuesday a group of Israeli settlers, accompanied by armed private security guards and Israeli police forces, took possession of the extension strewing the Al-Kurd’s belonging across the front yard. more..e-mail
The height of kitsch
Uri Avnery, Ma’an News Agency
12/5/2009
It would have been the epitome of political kitsch. Benjamin Netanyahu and ten of his ministers were to hold a joint meeting with Angela Merkel and ten members of the German cabinet. What for? To demonstrate Germany’s love for Israel. At the last moment, Netanyahu announced that he was sick, and the meeting was canceled. I imagine that Netanyahu was not very sorry about this. What did he need it for? In any case the Israeli government is already getting from Germany anything it wants. A German journalist asked me about the reaction in Israel to the visit of the new German foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle. I had to disappoint him: most Israelis did not even hear about it. Another dignitary laying flowers in Yad Vashem. Another traffic jam in Jerusalem. As so often happens, there is no equality in this marriage. The German bride loves the Israeli groom much more than he loves her. From time to time, the relationship between Germany and Israel needs a review. The Germans do not forget the Holocaust. They are steeped in this subject all the time. It appears on TV programs, cultural discourse and art. That is as it should be. This monstrous crime must not be allowed to slip from memory. Young Germans must ask themselves again and again how it came about that their grandfathers and grandmothers were accessories to this enormous deed – those who took part in it, those who agreed silently and those who were silent out of fear or indifference. more..e-mail
Bilin teenager: "They arrested my father to discourage the struggle" Electronic Intifada: 7 Dec 2009 - The end of November marked the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, a time to see family and friends and for people to eat together. But for many Palestinians, the Eid was not so festive. Rajaa Abu Rahmah, aged 19, only has one wish this holiday -- to see her father Adeeb Abu Rahmah freed from prison. Jody McIntyre spoke to Rajaa to see how the family were coping during Eid al-Adha.
pulse In Gaza:
6 Dec 2009 - Flu season is here, and it’s going around. As I nurse a light case of it, through that haze of a throbbing head, congestion, and fever, I realize that am grateful for a number of things: -that I have a roof and walls, without craters from shelling, without leaks through bomb-cracked walls, with blankets and adequate protection from the cold nights -that I have the money to go to a pharmacy and buy meds -that every Palestinian I know who hears I’m not feeling 100% offers a ’salamtek’ (basically, ‘get well’) and home remedies (which are grounded in good sense and are quite effective) -that chamomile can be bought in...
Walled in by Myth and Deceit Palestine Chronicle:
6 Dec 2009 - By William A. Cook Ben Gurian '…realized that the holy book could be made into a secular national text, serve as a central repository of ancient collective imagery, help forge the hundreds of thousands of new immigrants into a unified people, and tie the younger generation to the land.' -- (Shlomo Sand, The Invention of the Jewish People, 108) Of what possible significance has Sand’s comment today as America watches in utter disbelief and dismay the demise of the President of Change and Hope into an obsequious and obedient Golem of Israel, subservient to Netanyahu and Lieberman? The great Golem of Prague in the 16th century, a mythological creature created of mud by incantations of the ancient Rabbi Loew to protect the walled ghetto of the Jews, lived without a soul but at the service of the Rabbi. So now, we watch in disbelief Obama bow before the scorn of Bibi and Avigdor as they mock the great agent of change, the bringer of peace to the world, and the savior of America from the ravages of Bush. The answer lies in a study of mythistory and deception. Mythistory is the creation of historical fact out of ancient stories placing the accuracies of these stories before the evidence of scientific investigation or epistemological study. In 1936, Yitzhak Baer published Galut (exile) stating conclusively, “The Jewish revival of the present day is in its essence not determined by the national movements of Europe; it harks back to the ancient national consciousness...
Arundhati Roy Disturbs Democratic Daydreaming Palestine Chronicle:
6 Dec 2009 - By Trond Øverland Listening to Grasshoppers; Field Notes on Democracy, Arundhati Roy, Hamish Hamilton, Penguin, India 2009, 240 pages, 499 rupees. Arundhati Roy is an unusual Indian woman. Instead of acting the graceful upholder of traditional values, she goes on challenging the hard core of establishment thinking. Roy is India's leading commentator on such evils as militaristic imperialist capitalism, Hindu-supported genocide of Muslims, and dam disasters. In her latest book, Listening to Grasshoppers; Field Notes on Democracy, she hammers at perhaps the most central of all contemporary sacred pillars, i.e. that of democracy, which in her words “have metastasized into something dangerous”. Grasshoppers is a collection of essays on such recent events as the 2008 terrorist attack on Mumbai, the 2006 visit to India by “the war criminal” U.S. President George W. Bush, the 2002 Gujarat carnage (between 2000-4000 Muslims slaughtered), the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament by "so-called" Pakistan-based terrorists, and the growing inequality in India (“the old society has curdled and separated into a thin layer of thick cream – and a lot of water …”). A radical analysis of democracy runs through the book’s fiery chapters, like a river running from its mountainous source towards the ocean. Roy’s conclusion is disquieting: she is forced by the rationale of her facts and arguments to approve of violence as a means of people’s resistance to injustice. She observes with understanding that many of the poor are “crossing over … to another side; the side of armed struggle.” While...
Height of Kitsch: Thanks Germany, But No Thanks Palestine Chronicle:
6 Dec 2009 - By Uri Avnery – Israel It would have been the epitome of political kitsch. Binyamin Netanyahu and ten of his ministers were to hold a joint meeting with Angela Merkel and ten members of the German cabinet. What for? To demonstrate Germany’s love for Israel. At the last moment, Netanyahu announced that he was sick, and the meeting was canceled. I imagine that Netanyahu was not very sorry about this. What did he need it for? In any case the Israeli government is already getting from Germany anything it wants. A German journalist asked me about the reaction in Israel to the visit of the new German foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle. I had to disappoint him: most Israelis did not even hear about it. Another dignitary laying flowers in Yad Vashem. Another traffic jam in Jerusalem. As so often happens, there is no equality in this marriage. The German bride loves the Israeli groom much more than he loves her. From time to time, the relationship between Germany and Israel needs a review. The Germans do not forget the Holocaust. They are steeped in this subject all the time. It appears on TV programs, cultural discourse and art. That is as it should be. This monstrous crime must not be allowed to slip from memory. Young Germans must ask themselves again and again how it came about that their grandfathers and grandmothers were accessories to this enormous deed – those who took part in it, those who agreed silently and...
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