Image by Frieda 100
PASSOVER ~~ THE FESTIVAL OF FREEDOM THAT ISN’T
March 26, 2010 at 13:06 (Corrupt Politics, DesertPeace Editorial, Flashback.... from the archives, Holidays, Israel, Palestine)
RABBINICALLY PLANNED ‘MIRACLE’ UNVEILED AT MUSLIM HOLY SITE
March 25, 2010 at 19:37 (Ethnic Cleansing, Israel, Occupied West Bank, Palestine, Status of Jerusalem)
Israel’s Provocation at al-Aqsa: Rabbi Plans ‘Miracle’
By Jonathan Cook
JEWS SILENCING JEWS
March 25, 2010 at 13:11 (Activism, Censorship, Free Speech, Israel, zionist harassment)
Norman Finkelstein booted, again
Norman Finkelstein may be a curmudgeon who can barely contain his contempt for institutions he feels have violated the public trust. But look past the attitude and sometimes poor choices (which, after all, Finkelstein’s nemesis Dershowitz has in spades) and he’s an excellent, even obsessively detailed scholar, and certainly no anti-Semite. And he’s fundamentally morally right. We Jews especially should be outraged.
Finkelstein is someone possessed with the intense and justified anger of a son of concentration camp survivors who saw his parents’ devastating experiences exploited while they received little support. He rails against not just the financial but also the ideological exploitation of the Holocaust. And I think he has the rage of disappointment of the loyal Jewish son who believed all the words about all Jews working to stop injustice, and discovered they weren’t true.
(Many of his charges are by now well-documented by numerous scholars and accounts, but it goes so far against the cinematic swelling violin background music of our favorite Holocaust narratives, that we still can’t even imagine elderly Israeli Holocaust survivors and their families protesting in the streets because they are living in poverty, while prominent lawyers and various advocacy organizations pocket millions and Israel continues to take Palestinian land while crying anti-Semitism every time someone says “No!”. And so Finkelstein becomes the target of our collective discomfort. He’s essentially a whisteblower for corrupt Jewish organizations and it’s no wonder that many of us, in the Jewish community and beyond, don’t want to listen. To be fair, it’s also true that he doesn’t seem concerned about getting more people to listen.)
Finkelstein lost tenure at DePaul. He most recently got disinvited by the Greens in Germany. And this morning, word that the global shunning continues in Chicago, where event organizers report that since he’s not allowed to speak at DePaul (part of his severance agreement-amazingly), they found, and then just lost, an alternative venue:
I’ve been very involved in organizing Norman Finkelstein’s April midwest tour, which will include Purdue, Beloit, Michigan State, and Chicago events (DePaul, Northwestern, UofC). Unfortunately, today I received this news from our friends and partners at DePaul:As you know, former professor and academic Norman G. Finkelstein is scheduled to speak in Chicago on Friday, April 16th. SJP DePaul and friends have been working diligently for this event, from securing a venue, booking his flight and hotel, and fundraising from scratch to make this event happen successfully. Everything was finally coming together, and we were all excited. Unfortunately, today we received horrible news. The event coordinator received the following email from the venue we had secured for the event:
“Good morning Shirien,
We had a Parish council meeting this past week, I notify everyone on the up coming events that are held at our church, and of course, your event was one of the topics
A few of our board members are attorneys and they are the ones that look into almost everything from the individuals that rent the gym out and if they are covered insurance wise.
they looked deeper into the Professor that will be speaking at our church and they insisted that we couldn’t be affiliated with the ideologies of Mr. Norman Finkelstein so I am sorry to say that the church is going to have to cancel and will not be able to rent the gym the night of April the 16th 2010
Please again I am very sorry for the inconvenience.”
Write a nice note to St. George Greek Orthodox Church to let them know Finkelstein should speak:
Deno Diamantakos
DDiamantakos@tempel.com
And if you have an alternative venue idea for April 16 in Chicago, contact organizer shiriendamra@gmail.com
GAY PRIDE COMING TO ISRAEL EARLIER THAN USUAL (semi adult content)
March 24, 2010 at 20:00 (Humour, Israel, Sarcasm)
Now that the AIPAC circus has more or less made it certain that no sanctions will be made against Israel…. preparations for the tourist season are under way…..
Gay porn magnate Michael Lucas offering tours of Israel
Here’s a first - Michael Lucas, megawatt gay porn star and entrepreneurial owner of Lucas Entertainment, is now a travel agent, offering group trips to Israel, according to The Advocate.
Why Israel, you ask? Because Lucas says it’s one of his favorite places in the world, and the trip was inspired by two movies he filmed there called Men of Isreal and Inside Isreal.
A look at the Lucas Entertainment website reveals all the details. Lucas says:
- This is not your average tourist vacation. I will not take you nor will I send you to any tourist restaurants! We will eat only the finest authentic Israeli cuisine preferred by the locals, and I will organize a dinner for whomever is interested with some of the top Lucas Entertainment performers.
- I’ll also be sure to take you to one of my favorite beaches, hidden far away from the overcrowded coastal scene: Gaash Beach. This is the premiere clothing-optional beach in Tel-Aviv known only to insiders. You can feel free to lie in the sun as nude as you’d like, enjoy the ocean, or feel free to watch any number of hot guys have sex up and down the shore!
- An optional photo shoot with photographer Ronen Ackerman, in which you can have your photo taken with some hot Israeli soldiers!
- In addition to the friends you meet out and around, there are many close friends of mine I can’t wait to introduce you to! They will help make sure you get the best locals’ experience of Israel possible, with no time wasted at frivolous or sub-par tourist sites
The price tag for this extravaganza is $2,755 US for a 9-day tour or $3790 for a 12-day tour, which includes excursions to Eilat and Petra. You must book your trip in advance by paying a non-refundable $200 deposit. Groups are limited to no more than 20 in number.
Go here to learn more and here to pre-book your trip.
When you pay your deposit, you get Michael’s personal phone number. That’s worth $200 all by itself!
Groups depart from and return to New York City.
Taken FROM
See for yourself what you could be missing out on…..
Sunset on the Mediterranean Sea
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Israeli soldiers having fun in Tel Aviv
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Gaash Beach
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The Dead Sea
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Tel Aviv
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Me on a photo shoot in Jerusalem
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The Church of the Holy Sepulcher
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Old Jaffa Port
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My models floating in the Dead Sea
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Old Jaffa
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Sunset over the gay beach in Tel Aviv
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Me with an Israeli soldier
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Jerusalem at night
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Petra
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During filming at Gaash Beach
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Tel Aviv
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Eilat Red Sea Resort at night
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The Dead Sea
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Tel Aviv
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Guys washing off healing mud at the Dead Sea Resort
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The Mediterranean Sea
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Jerusalem
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My models on the beach
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Tel Aviv at night
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The Wailing Wall in Jerusalem at night
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Church of the Holy Sepulcher
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Nachalat Benjamin Pedestrian Market
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The Caves of Qumran
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Old Jaffa at dusk
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Scuba diving in the Dead Sea in Eilat
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The city of Haifa
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Nahariya
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Haifa
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The Red Sea Resort
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The Qumran Caves
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The Dolphin Reef in the Red Sea Resort in Eilat
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Eilat
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Two men kissing in Tel Aviv
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Gay Pride in Tel Aviv
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My models posing in the Dead Sea
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Israeli soldiers
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Old Jaffa
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Old Jaffa
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Me in the Negev Desert
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My models showering after floating in the Dead Sea
PALESTINIAN STUDENT ACTIVIST BEATEN, BROKEN, BATTERED ….. THEN RELEASED
March 24, 2010 at 11:14 (Associate Post, Israel, Occupied West Bank, Soldier Brutality, Torture, zionist harassment)
Yesterday, after 6 days of kidnapping and beating our friend Omar Mousa Ala'eddin from the village of Al-Ma'sara, the Israeli occupation authorities released him broken and battered. We spend much of the day with him. Omar is an English student at Hebron University and was returning with other students and two of his professors from a field trip to Ramallah where they watched a play. On the way back, a soldier at the checkpoint entered into a verbal exchange with Omar when Omar tried to explain to him about a fellow female student who did not have her ID card with her since Omar spoke Hebrew. The soldier ordered him out of the bus and the first blows were delivered to Omar in front of his friends and teachers. After they took him to a back room and have received information about him (perhaps that he had been in jail or that he participated in the weekly nonviolent protests), the beatings became more regular. The initial beating of Omar on the face and head made his mouth bleed and his head hurt and he was not able to speak to the soldiers and this only made them beat him more for not answering their questions. Omar told our friend Sevtap that one of the soldiers told him "do you think the international solidarity will protect you". Omar was transferred during those 6 days from the container checkpoint to a police station in the settlement of Maale Adumim, then to a military doctor at an unknown location (but the doctor only looked briefly at him and basically told him to shut up, then to the Russian compound prison in Jerusalem, then to Ramle prison, then to Ofer prison, and finally to Ramleh prison again. On the last day, he was brought before a judge and assigned a state lawyer who made a deal for him to be released on bail. Many hours passed because the prison authorities refused to let him make a call to get someone to come pay the bail. After the bail was paid, Omar was not released but finally, the military brought him to the South of Ramallah and dumped him on the side of the road. Omar was initially treated at Al-Hussain hospital in Beit Jala and released but his condition deteriorated and his family decided to take him to a hospital in Hebron where he spent last night. He might be released at noon today. Video of Omar at Hospital at Photos of injuries before his situation deteriorated is at Fatenah animation is now on You Tube! Summary: Fatenah is a 27 year old woman living in the Gaza Strip. Her life is similar to the lives of many other women in Gaza. Her life changes the day she discovers to have breast cancer. This animation, the first produced in Palestine, shows with great accuracy the scenarios of Gaza city. The 27 minutes long story is a breath-taking journey into Fatenah's daily struggles. It uncovers the human drama of her fight to survive. This journey into the heart of the Gaza Strip will touch and move you. Part 1/3 Part 2/3
Part 3/3 Directed by Ahmad Habash, Screenplay Saed Andoni, Ahmad Habash, Ambrogio Manenti, Produced by Saed Andoni, Music Said Murad, Editing Saed Andoni, Animation Ahmad Habash, Director of Photography Ahmad Habash, Sound Designer Zaher Rashmawi, Voices - Actors: Buthaina Sumairi (Fatenah), Ahmad Abu Saloom (Abu Rasheed), Shaden Saleem (Amal), Imad Ahmad (Mualem), Mesbah Deeb (Ayman), Waleed Aqel (Dr. Salah / AMB. Driver), Nibal Thawabteh (Lutfieh), Hanan El Hilu (Dafna), Amira Habash (IDF soldier), Ahmad Habash (Palestinian Dr. / IDF soldier), Saed Andoni (IDF sergeant), Gabriel Lambert (Israeli Dr.), Chiara Stefanini (Israeli nurse).. Quote from US Secretary Hilalry Clinton at the powerful AIPAC lobby: "Under President Obama's leadership, we have reinvigorated defense consultations, redoubled our efforts to ensure Israel's qualitative military edge, and provided nearly $3 billion in annual military assistance. (Applause). The United States . did lead the boycott of the Durban Conference and we repeatedly voted against the deeply flawed Goldstone Report. (Applause.) This Administration will always stand up for Israel's right to defend itself. (Applause.) And for Israel, there is no greater strategic threat than the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran. (Applause.)"
THE “MOST MORAL ARMY IN THE WORLD”
March 24, 2010 at 08:13 (Israel, Occupation, Palestine, Soldier Brutality)
Image ‘Copyleft’ by Carlos Latuff
By Mel Frykberg
RAMALLAH, – Many Israelis like to believe, and the cliché is repeated regularly in Israel, that their army is the “most moral army in the world.”
However, following the Gaza war which left 1,400 Palestinians dead, most of them civilians, some Israelis have begun to question this.
Furthermore, the fatal shooting of four Palestinian teenagers in the course of 24 hours over the weekend, in highly questionable circumstances, has forced the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) to investigate the incident amidst contradictory statements issued by the soldiers involved.
In the last few weeks violent protests have been breaking out all over the occupied Palestinian West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in protest at Israel’s continued Judaisation of the eastern sector of the city.
This has involved the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from occupied East Jerusalem to make way for illegal Israeli settlers.
Other measures, aimed at curbing the demographic presence of Palestinians, have included limiting building permits for Palestinians despite a chronic housing shortage and demolishing homes built “illegally”.
Tempers reached boiling point recently when the Israeli government declared plans to build thousands of new apartments in East Jerusalem and extremist Jews tried to enter Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest shrine.
Alarmed at the volatile demonstrations sparked in villages and towns across the West Bank, Israeli security forces have been cracking down on grassroots activists with arrest campaigns and declaring some villages closed military zones.
Inevitably the closed military zone orders in the villages of Nilin and Bi’lin near Ramallah were ignored so the IDF began to employ lethal force there and elsewhere.
Kelly Stark, an American activist with the International Solidarity Movement, was shot at close-range with a rubber-coated metal bullet the size of a large marble. Israeli military law says the bullets can only be shot from a distance of 40 m and at the legs.
Stark was not involved in stone-throwing and was standing with a group of medics. She underwent surgery to remove the bullet lodged in her arm which fractured her wrist.
Ussayad Qaddous, 19, and his cousin Muhammad Qaddous, 16, died over the weekend after Israeli soldiers used live ammunition during protests in the village of Iraq Burin in the northern West Bank.
Clashes erupted after Palestinian protestors tried to reach village land that has been confiscated for the adjacent illegal Israeli settlement.
Eyewitnesses state that the two cousins were not involved in the protests and that calm had returned before IDF jeeps reinvaded the village, sparking fresh confrontations.
Ussayad was shot in the back of the head while Muhammad was shot through the torso. The IDF initially denied using live ammunition and stated that only rubber-coated metal bullets had been used.
However, x-rays and pictures taken, showing a bullet lodged in the skull of Ussayad and the entry and exit wounds on Muhammad’s torso, suggest otherwise and have been corroborated by the testimony of doctors.
“The IDF uses two types of rubber bullets; one is shaped like a ball and the other is cylindrical. The object lodged in Ussayad’s skull is shaped like a prism, pointed at the end. It’s a bullet,” Israeli activist Jonathan Pollack from Anarchists against the Wall told Ma’an News Agency.
“There is an entry wound and an exit wound in Muhammad’s torso, and no rubber bullet in the world can cause such an injury,” added Pollack who was backed by doctors who examined the bodies.
The IDF was eventually forced to retract its initial denials and admitted that it had used live ammunition, adding that had the soldiers involved not violated the correct procedures of engagement the cousins would still be alive.
Israeli rights group B’tselem has asked the army to conduct a criminal investigation into the killings.
On Sunday, shortly after the fatal shootings in Iraq Burin, two other Palestinian teenagers, both 19, from the nearby village of Awarta were shot dead as they approached their agricultural land carrying farming equipment.
Muhammad Faysal and Salah Qawariq were accused by soldiers, from the same brigade responsible for the deaths of the Iraq Burin teenagers the previous day, of being “terrorists disguised as farmers who had attacked them alternatively with pitchforks, then broken glass, then bottles with pebbles in them, and finally with a syringe.”
Once again the IDF has opened an investigation after Israeli military police stated “events at Awarta reveal discrepancies.”
Meanwhile, The Coalition Against Racism and the Mossawa Centre, which work to promote equality in Israel, have accused the current Israeli Knesset, or parliament, of being the “most racist since the country’s founding.”
They state that 21 bills aimed at discriminating against Israel’s Arab citizens have been presented to the Knesset during the last year.
Included is a proposed legislation that would allow the imprisonment for a year of anyone who publishes or says anything that would “bring contempt upon or discomfort to the country”.
Other bills mentioned involve exclusive sale of land to Jews and an attempt to change all street names in Israel to Hebrew only.
AMERICAN ‘OUTRAGE’ AT ISRAEL NOTHING BUT A PLOY
March 24, 2010 at 07:11 (AIPAC, Corrupt Politics, Israel, zionism)
Stephen Maher
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the AIPAC conference in Washington, DC, 22 March 2010. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP) |
The speeches at AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby group, on Monday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Netanyahu’s subsequent meeting with US President Barack Obama are widely seen as drawing to a close what Israeli ambassador to the US Michael Oren called the “most severe crisis in US-Israel relations” in decades. This rapprochement comes on the heels of a series of seemingly angry statements top members of the Obama Administration released, after Israel announced construction of 1,600 new illegal housing units in occupied East Jerusalem while US Vice President Joe Biden was in the country.
In fact, the basis for the Obama Administration’s criticisms of the settlement announcement — as well as the significance of the crisis itself — has been widely misconstrued by both supporters and critics of Israel. AIPAC and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) were “shocked and stunned” that Biden and Clinton called the Israeli announcement “insulting.” AIPAC urged the administration to “take immediate steps to defuse the tension with the Jewish state” and “move away from public demands and unilateral deadlines directed at Israel.” Meanwhile, the ADL mused, “One can only wonder how far the US is prepared go in distancing itself from Israel.”
Voices more critical of Israel, such as Richard Dreyfuss of The Nation, suggested that “this is not just the reaction to an insulting announcement during the visit of Vice President Biden,” but rather “the Obama Administration is beginning to realize that Israeli intransigence … is a major obstacle to US policy in the region.” Dreyfuss predicted that this “might turn into the most significant confrontation between the United States and Israel” since the 1956 Suez War.
Contrary to both of these positions, the Obama Administration merely reacted to a diplomatic affront it was dealt by the Israeli government. Israel’s announcement came on the same day that Biden had arrived in the country to proudly confirm the US’ “absolute, total and unvarnished” commitment to its ally, and commence indirect talks with the Palestinians. Following the announcement, protests and violent clashes broke out in Jerusalem and elsewhere throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Responding to this pressure, the Arab League threatened to cancel its endorsement of the indirect negotiations, with Secretary Amr Moussa even announcing that the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had decided not to participate in the talks. As the endorsement was the only political cover Abbas had to re-enter negotiations, the US administration took careful notice of these events as pressure on Abbas to abandon talks from within the territories mounted. With the Arab world outraged and Biden humiliated due to the degree of US complicity that the timing of the announcement revealed, the Obama Administration was forced to react.
Clinton said the timing of the announcement was “insulting,” while top aide David Axelrod called it an “affront” that “seemed calculated” to undermine the peace talks. The Obama Administration hopes that this PR display will allow the US to fortify its farcical claim to be an “honest broker” in the peace process, provide Abbas the political cover to re-enter negotiations, and send a message to the Israeli government that American leaders are to be treated with respect. As CNN reported, Netanyahu has now set up a team to investigate why the settlement construction announcement was made during Biden’s visit.
Netanyahu may well have been telling the truth when he claimed to be “surprised” by the public criticisms by the US government. The day before, one day after US envoy George Mitchell arrived to broker newly-announced “proximity talks,” the State Department explicitly approved Israel’s construction of 112 new apartments in an illegal settlement outside Bethlehem. The assent came despite Netanyahu’s declaration of a “moratorium” on settlement building, which he has insisted cannot include such illegal construction in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, a position the US has accepted.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has also chastised Israel for its “provocative actions,” including record-high rates of stripping Palestinians from Jerusalem their residency rights and infringements on Palestinian religious sites that are clearly designed to incite a Palestinian response or otherwise make it impossible for Abbas to return to the negotiating table. Yet even when the administration was at its most critical of Israel, following Obama’s speech in Cairo last year, Israel was reassured that the actions taken by the US would be “largely symbolic.” Indeed, Obama unconditionally re-authorized the loan guarantees program and massive US aid — conservatively estimated at $7 million per day — has continued without threat of reduction.
Obviously, the Obama Administration is hardly concerned about Israeli violations of international law, previous agreements it has signed, or the human rights of the Palestinians. The implication throughout is that had the announcement come a week before Biden visited (or even a day before, as the Bethlehem announcement did) there would have been no problem. Indeed, just one week later, after the Israeli government announced construction on an additional 426 East Jerusalem settlement homes, Clinton “bolstered her support for the Jewish state,” according to The Washington Post. The Israeli army then opened fire on peaceful protestors in Gaza twice in two days, and carried out air strikes on targets in Gaza, while Clinton issued another statement saying that the steps offered by the Israeli government to resolve the dispute were “useful and productive.”
The escalating repression continued Sunday, when the Israeli army shot and killed four Palestinian youths in 24 hours in the West Bank, two aged 18 and two 16. Simultaneously, Netanyahu issued a statement proclaiming that Israel would never cease building illegally in East Jerusalem as Ban Ki-moon arrived in Israel. Clearly, recent condemnations of these projects as “illegal” by Ban and the European Union did not stop Obama from welcoming Netanyahu to Washington on Monday with a private meeting, nor Clinton from proudly sharing the stage with him at the AIPAC conference to reaffirm the US commitment to support Israel’s rejection of the international consensus for resolving the conflict. Though she did say the settlements “undermine mutual trust,” she did not acknowledge their illegality and mostly stressed the threat that US support for them poses to its “credibility” as an “honest broker,” thus urging Israel to refrain from such flagrantly provocative behavior while reinforcing that the US-Israel relationship is “rock solid.”
The US hopes that this pretended outrage will lend its role as “honest broker” enough credibility to keep the “peace process” moving, itself merely a PR facade that shields Israeli crimes from public scrutiny. If it does not, the US will undoubtedly pay little mind to the harsh words spoken this week and do as it has done before: blame the Palestinians for its failure and support Israeli repression.
Stephen Maher is an MA candidate at American University School of International Service who has lived in the West Bank, and is currently writing his masters’ thesis, “The New Nakba: Oslo and the End of Palestine,” on the Israel-Palestine conflict. His work has been appeared in Extra!, ZNet and other publications. His blog is www.rationalmanifesto.blogspot.com.
CINDY SHEEHAN’S ARREST ~~ IN HER OWN WORDS
March 23, 2010 at 19:52 (Activism, Civil Rights, Democracy, Iraq War)
Whose Streets? (Our Streets between 1pm and 4pm With a Permit)
On the 7th commemoration of the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq, there was a rally and march in DC sponsored by the A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition that was attended by about eight thousand people.
For quite awhile, I have been having problems with marches on Saturday, anyway. It seems like we march past empty buildings and shake our fists at them and promise that if those empty buildings don’t change their ways, we will be back next year to do the same thing. The arrests are symbolic and don’t shut down anything, except in the case of large arrests, where the police stations are busy for a few hours.
As far as I know, there were no large civil disobediences scheduled for last Saturday’s rally, but some coffins were built on the sidewalk in front of the White House and four protesters decided to lie down near them and not move. Two of these protesters were good friends of mine: Elaine Brower of Military Families Speak Out and Matthis Chiroux of Iraq Vets Against the War. When I went over to check the action out, the four were begging the hundreds of others surrounding the protest to join them. The four were cordoned off with barriers and crime scene tape.
I began to plan a way to join Matthis and Elaine when I went to the front of the barrier and saw my dear friends, who have always been there for me, lying on the sidewalk by themselves. Just as I was figuring out how to get over the barriers, the section I was at collapsed onto the sidewalk and I took the opportunity to step over hoping that dozens, if not hundreds, would follow.
As soon as I crossed the barrier, I was slammed by a couple of cops, handcuffed and then actually run around the front of the White House while the cops tried to find a paddy wagon to stick me in—about 50 people were running with the cop and I, yelling: “Let her go, let her go.” When the officer and I finally got to the paddy wagon, I was surprised to find that only two others had followed me. One other crossed the line to bring our detained numbers up to eight.
During my speech at the rally, I iterated the importance of “throwing our bodies upon the gears” of the machine, as well as marching—I got a huge cheer and during the march the participants chanted: “Whose streets, our streets.” Eight detainees? Apparently the streets are only “ours” when we have a permit–god forbid we take them when the event is not permitted by the Police State!
Why, when the barrier was compromised, did more people not follow us to actually put their beliefs into higher relief than merely marching in a circle on Saturday? While we were being (tightly) handcuffed and loaded onto the hot paddy wagon, the crowd of on-lookers chanted, “This is what hypocrisy looks like.”
I was, to say the least, very disheartened that hundreds of people didn’t join us. Watching the video of my “crossing over,” you can see a couple of people go over and then run back when the police come—but most of the people step back like the downed barrier is a livewire.
After a bumpy and sweaty ride, we eight arrive at the Park Police Station in Anacostia. As we were being processed, it started to become very clear that some of us were going to be detained until Monday. Ultimately, two of us were released and six of us were held. The two that were released were from DC and those of us held were out-of-towners. Immediately, we knew this explanation was total b.s. because I have been arrested in DC about 13 times now and I have always been from “out-of-town,” and have never even been held overnight, let alone two nights.
Was it a coincidence that Camp OUT NOW had two major actions over the weekend to try and hold our campsite that I missed due to being jailed? I don’t think so
Well, those two days were some of the most miserable days of my life! We were taken to a lock-up and Elaine and I were put into a freezing room and I had a t-shirt and flip-flops on, being unprepared to be arrested. For four women, our cell had one cement block bench that was about 7-8 feet long, so at least one of us always had to be on the stone-cold floor. Sleeping was fitful as it was very chilly all night—and very noisy!
Thirty-six hours, and eight bologna-like and cheese-substitute sandwiches later, we were taken to the court for our arraignment and stayed in that cell for seven hours and were finally released at 5pm after we all pled “not-guilty” and were scheduled for a trial on June 9th.
Basically, six of us stayed in jail for 50 hours for an offense that ends up to be the equivalent of a traffic ticket and we even had to go to traffic court to be arraigned. I am positive that everyone in DC who gets a traffic ticket and is from “out-of-town” does not have to stay over night. Then, I found out that the penalty for my charge “Crossing a police line” doesn’t even carry any jail time. I spent two nights in jail on an offense with no jail time! The maximum penalty is $300! Boy, I will be even more pissed if I go through a trial and have to pay $300 dollars after I have already spent two nights in jail.
To make matters even worse, I was the only one who was forced to come back for a trial even though Elaine has more DC arrests than I do. The other seven have chosen to go to trial with me, but they were given the option to “pay and forfeit” which means to pay the fine and forfeit your right to a trial.
The icing on the entire crappy cake came when the eight of us were given a “stay away order” from the White House—I asked the Judge how could that be legal because we weren’t convicted of anything, but the Judge assured me that conditions could be placed on our release. I also think this is very suspicious considering our Camp OUT NOW actions were focusing on the White House.
Many times during the 50 hour ordeal, Elaine and I were asked if we thought it was “worth it,” to go through so much hardship for so little gain.
My answer is, first of all, if more people crossed the line with me, we wouldn’t have had to stay 50 hours in jail and I was very upset that we were left to hang out to dry like that. Secondly, the war didn’t end while we were suffering—but knowing how awful it is to spend so much time in jail and be treated like one is a serial killer and not a protester—I would do it again and again, as I have.
There are literally billions of people suffering all over this planet due to my nation’s militarism and greed and I know many people would have traded places with me in a heartbeat and think the conditions were pretty damn good.
AND this never happened to me when Bush was president.
UPDATE: Three of us went to pick up our property this morning at the Park Police station and as we were being jacked around, an officer named Thomas (Badge number 628) told me that if I “stopped getting arrested” I wouldn’t have to go through all of this.
I said: “when the wars stop, I will stop.” He actually then told me: “The wars will stop when we nuke them and take their oil.”
I wonder why they are called “pigs.”
‘PINKOS’ CHALLENGE THE ‘KOSHER NOSTRA’
March 23, 2010 at 16:05 (AIPAC, Activism, Israel)
Netanyahu AIPAC speech disrupted by CodePink activists in settlement protest
CODEPINK Protests Netanyahu inside AIPAC Gala
Activists call for end to siege on Gaza and illegal settlementsWASHINGTON – March 23 – Shortly after announcing Israel’s commitment to defense in his address to the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Gala, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was disrupted by a demonstrator. Rae Abileah, 27, from Half Moon Bay, CA, jumped onto AIPAC Executive Director Howard Kohr’s private table alongside the stage and unfurled a pink banner that said “Netanyahu: Build Peace Not Settlements!” Abileah shouted, “Lift the siege of Gaza! No illegal settlements!” as she was forcefully removed from the building. A second disruption came moments later from Joan Stallard, from Washington, DC, who shouted, “Stop the settlements!”
Today, Tuesday, March 23, at noon CODEPINK is planning to build a settlement (including homes and beds) inside Senator Schumer’s and Senator Lieberman’s offices (Hart Senate Building, offices 313 and 706). CODEPINK’s protests of the policies of AIPAC during their national conference this week have included daily morning protests, staging of a checkpoint for attendees, an afternoon press conference announcing the launch of a city-wide boycott of products illegally made in the settlements, and the release this morning of a spoof press release from AIPAC announcing that the organization was calling for a settlement freeze.
American Jewish peace activists are outraged at the influence that AIPAC has on U.S. policy. “AIPAC supports policies of aggression that damage Israel’s reputation, harm innocent Palestinians, and contribute to making America less safe in the world,” said Jewish-American activist Medea Benjamin of CODEPINK.”
###CODEPINK is a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, stop new wars, and redirect our resources into healthcare, education, green jobs and other life-affirming activities. CODEPINK rejects foreign policies based on domination and aggression, and instead calls for policies based on diplomacy, compassion and a commitment to international law. With an emphasis on joy and humor, CODEPINK women and men seek to activate, amplify and inspire a community of peacemakers through creative campaigns and a commitment to non-violence.
Take a look at what Dershowitz had to say….. but make sure you didn’t just eat
AIPAC is a criminal organization
Dershowitz explains how the Cosa Nostra should work
Taken from Uruknet
CLEANSING THE LAND OF BREAD AND ARABS
March 23, 2010 at 09:58 (DesertPeace Editorial, Ethnic Cleansing, Flashback.... from the archives, Holidays, Israel, Nostalgia, Racism)
WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS HEADLINE?
March 23, 2010 at 09:33 (Illegal Settlements, Israel, Occupied West Bank, Palestine)
Using satellite imagery and other technology, the research institute mapped every home and structure put up in the settlements.
Its work was the result of a years-long effort to gauge the total value of the Jewish settlement enterprise in the West Bank.
The findings will be unveiled Tuesday at a conference.
RACHEL CORRIE’S LAST MOMENTS CAPTURED ON FILM
March 22, 2010 at 16:06 (Activism, Assassinations, Gaza, Humanitarian Aid, International Solidarity, Israel, Rachel Corrie, War Crimes)
In Her memory and all fallen victims of Israel’s crimes,
light the flame of freedom, boycott Israel, end apartheid!
Her name is Palestinian
Her dress and sorrow Palestinian
Her kerchief, her feet and body Palestinian
Her words and silence Palestinian
Her voice Palestinian
Her birth and her death Palestinian
Mahmoud Darwish
CELEBRATING MOTHER’S DAY IN PALESTINE
March 22, 2010 at 10:54 (Activism, Associate Post, Occupied West Bank, Palestine)
By Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
Today was mother’s day in Palestine. It was not a good day for my mother. In the morning my sister took her to an eye doctor in Hebron as her sight is affected by her diabetes. On the way back, my sister was slapped by an Israeli policeman with a ticket of 500 NIS (roughly $120) for making what he considers an illegal turn. The stress made my mother forget a pot of syrup on the stove and it burned through with smoke all over the house as she was visiting with my brother in law who has cancer. I felt bad because instead of being with them most of the day, I was in two popular resistance events in Beit Jala and Beit Sahour. The demonstration in Beit Jala, birth place of St. Nicholas, got a delayed start as we negotiated with Palestinian security forces to let us through. It was a commemoration of the murder of Rachel Corrie and it was coincidental with Mother’s day. After several phone calls and conversations, the baton holding Palestinian security forces retreated and we were allowed to proceed down the hill towards where the Israeli soldiers were stationed. In this regards we felt fortunate. But we also noted a new Israeli procedure this week as opposed to last week here: a barbed wire was strung across the road to prevent people from trying to continue down the hill to their lands. The demonstration proceeded peacefully and several people spoke including Jewish Israelis. We left before the demonstration ended because we wanted to get to the even in Beit Sahour.
On the way we heard that Israeli forces shot dead two young Palestinians who were working in their own lands because as they claim they were carrying deadly tools with intend to harm (one was carrying a shovel and digging in his land). The two 19 year old farmers Muhammad Faysal Qawariq and Salah Muhammad Qawariq) were shot in their village of Awarta near Nablus. We also heard that the other 16 year old kid shot in the head yesterday died; the two 16 year olds are Mohammed and Useid Qadus from Iraq Burin village. This brings the casualty figure in 30 hours to 4 Palestinians murdered and over 100 injured. An ISM volunteer was among those injured see Many were arrested.
Huwaida Arraf of ISM was arrested and released 31 hours later but two Palestinian young men who were with her in detention in an illegal colonial settlement were abused worse and are likely to face further repercussions for demonstrating against the illegal colonial apartheid soldiers on their lands of Nabi Saleh. It appears that Israel is upping the pressure on popular protests. They also bombed Gaza injuring 12 Palestinians.
At Ush Ghrab, we had a small number of people (15) who volunteered to do some cleaning in the area photos at We could not proceed beyond superficial cleaning of a staging area and some of the land around it because land owners were not there for us to build stone hedges etc. I wondered if they are with their mothers and wives. But I kept thinking of those in Israeli jails (over 10,000 of them) and of their families. Here are excerpts from Fatma Abu Rahima whose husband is in jail: “I am grief-stricken since Adeeb’s imprisonment. However, I cannot allow myself to lament my husband’s loss as I have a family of nine to take care of. Since Adeeb has been away, I have to be both mother and father to my children. We shared the care over the children, this is now my sole responsibility. We miss him very much. Batuh, the youngest daughter, has caught on the topic of the conversation, stops playing, and stresses the tensity by softly, but firmly addressing her mother: “I want to go with you, to see ‘baba’!” We have only been allowed one visit since Adeeb’s arrest [four months ago]. Batuh was there to see her father, but she was afraid of the pale and sad figure that her lively father had turned into. She did not even recognize Adeeb and refused to talk to him. Since this visit, no one from the family has been allowed to visit. We are all considered to be “security threats”. It has been even harder on an emotional level. Two months ago, Alaah, my daughter of 17, was very sick and was even hospitalized twice. She could not walk or move, as if she was paralyzed. The doctors could not find anything wrong with her and decided it was psychosomatic…”
I thought about these mothers and wives of prisoners (and over 300 women prisoners) and the mothers of the many murdered Palestinians, thousands over the past 20 years alone, tens of thousands injured. How will they spend their mother’s day? When I talked to my mother this afternoon over a cup of mint tea, she wondered when the death and killing end will and she seemed very sad. I wondered what I can say that comforts her or any of the millions of Palestinian mothers worried sick about “the situation”. I wondered this and many other things silently. I wondered when we in Palestine will celebrate a mothers’ day in freedom. I wondered what happened to Cindy Sheehan, mother of American marine who was killed in Iraq and who was arrested yesterday in Washington in an anti-war demonstration. I wondered how much longer we will suffer of colonial occupation, ethnic cleansing, and oppression after 62 years. I wonder why people are so patient on injustice. I wondered why politicians can’t think of themselves as fellow human beings. I wondered who will visit the mothers of the dead Palestinians. Will the Palestinian President or the Israeli Prime Minister go visit some day and try to comfort the grieving mothers. I wondered for how long my US taxes will still go to fund all of this. I wondered when I will stop wondering about these and many things. I tell myself to take a deep breath and meditate to regain hope and energy.
There is much to be hopeful about. Yesterday there were many other popular resistance actions throughout the West Bank as more and more people take matters into their own hands. See for example these reports: Bethlehem district: al Ma’sara and al Walaja defend their lands and homes Ramallah district: anti-Wall protests spread to five villages.
(to remember Rachel Corrie) Video: Gaza the killing Zone watched by over 3.3 million viewers on youtube and 140,000 comments!
I end with a Greek song for Palestine (English subtitles)!
RUN SOLDIERS, RUN!
March 21, 2010 at 19:46 (Humour, Israel, Occupation, Videos)
FIRST THEY EVICTED US FROM OUR HOMES, THEN THEY REFUSED TO RENT US ONE
March 21, 2010 at 17:17 (Ethnic Cleansing, Human Rights, Israel, Racism)
NEVATIM, ISRAEL // The Zakai and Tarabin families should be a picture of happy coexistence across the ethnic divide, a model for others to emulate in Israel.
But Natalie and Weisman Zakai say the past three years – since the Jewish couple offered to rent their home to Bedouin friends, Ahmed and Khalas Tarabin – have been a living hell. “I have always loved Israel,” said Mrs Zakai, 43. “But to see the depth of the racism of our neighbours has made me question why we live in this country.” Three of the couple’s six dogs have been mysteriously poisoned; Mrs Zakai’s car has been sprayed with the words “Arab lover” and the windows smashed; her three children in school are regularly taunted and bullied by other pupils; and a collection of vintage cars in the family’s yard has been set on fire in what police say was an arson attack. To add to these indignities, the Zakais have spent three years and thousands of dollars battling through the courts against the elected officials of their community of Nevatim, in Israel’s southern Negev desert, who have said they are determined to keep the Tarabins from moving in. Last week the Zakais’ legal struggle looked like it had run out of steam. The supreme court told the two families the Tarabins should submit to a vetting committee of local officials to assess their suitability – a requirement that has never been made before by the Negev community in the case of a family seeking to rent a home. “The decision of the committee is a foregone conclusion,” Mr Tarabin said. Chances for Jews and Arabs to live together – outside of a handful of cities – are all but impossible because Israel’s rural communities are strictly segregated, said Alaa Mahajneh, a lawyer representing the Zakais. Israel has nationalised 93 per cent of the country’s territory, confining most of its 1.3 million Arab citizens, one-fifth of the population, to 120 or so communities that existed at the time of the state’s creation in 1948. Meanwhile, more than 700 rural communities, including Nevatim, have remained exclusively Jewish by requiring that anyone who wants to buy a home applies to local vetting committees, which have been used to weed out Arab applicants. But Mr Mahajneh, from the Adalah legal centre for the Arab minority, noted that legal sanction for such segregation was supposed to have ended a decade ago, when the supreme court backed an Arab couple, the Kaadans, who had been barred by a committee from the community of Katzir in northern Israel. Although the Kaadans were eventually allowed to move into Katzir, the case has had little wider effect. In fact, Mr Mahajneh said, the decision in the Zakais’ case suggests “we’re going backwards”. The Kaadans won the right to buy a home in a Jewish community, whereas the Tarabin family were seeking only a short-term rental of the Zakais’ home. The Zakais said they had been told by the officials of Nevatim, a community of 650 Jews a few kilometres from the city of Beersheva, that it would not be a problem to rent out their home. Mrs Zakai brought the Tarabins’ ID cards to the community’s offices for routine paperwork. “When I handed in the IDs, the staff looked at the card and said, ‘But they’re Muslims’.” Later, according to Mrs Zakai, the council head, Avraham Orr, rang to say he Arabs would be accepted in Nevatim “over my dead body”. Several weeks later, Mrs Zakai said, two threatening men came to their door and warned them off renting to Arabs. Soon afterwards 36 cars belonging to Mr Zakai, who has a used car business, were set on fire. Then behind the Zakais’ back, Nevatim went to a local magistrate’s court to get an order preventing them from renting their home. The couple have been battling the decision ever since. Mr Mahajneh said the Tarabins had accommodated a series of “extraordinary conditions” imposed by Nevatim on the rental agreement, including certificates of good conduct from the police, a commitment to leave after a year, and limited access to the house’s extensive grounds. But still Nevatim officials were dissatisfied, insisting in addition that the Tarabins submit to questioning by a vetting committee to assess their suitability. Although 40 other homes in Nevatim are rented, Mr Mahajneh said testimonies from past members of the vetting committee showed that this was the first time such a demand had been made. “It is true that anyone buying a property in Nevatim is supposed to be vetted by the committee, but there is no reference in the community’s bylaws to this condition for renters,” Mr Mahajneh said. In 2008, a district court judge in Beersheva overruled Nevatim’s new condition, arguing that the vetting requirement would be “unreasonable and not objective”. The supreme court judges, however, sided with Nevatim in their concluding statements on March 10. Mrs Zakai said they had offered to rent their home to the Tarabins after the Bedouin couple’s home burnt down in their village in early 2007, killing one of their 10 children. The Tarabins have been living with relatives ever since, unable to afford a new home and keen to move away from the site of the tragedy. Mr Tarabin, 54, said: “I want Khalas to rest and heal and this place would have been perfect for her. The house has large grounds and we could have kept to ourselves. No one in Nevatim needs to have anything to do with us if they don’t want.” A Nevatim resident who spoke anonymously to the Haaretz newspaper last week suggested reasons for the community’s opposition: “If tomorrow the entire Tarabin tribe wants to live here and we don’t agree, what will people say? The problem will start after the first one comes because then dozens more families will want to move here.” The close friendship forged between the Zakais and Tarabins is rare in Israel. The privileged status of Jews legally and economically, communal segregation and the hostility provoked by a larger national conflict between Israel and the Palestinians ensure that Jewish and Arab citizens usually remain at arm’s length. But Mr Zakai, 53, whose parents emigrated from Iraq and who speaks fluent Arabic, befriended Mr Tarabin in the late 1960s when they were teenagers in Beersheva. Later they served together in the Israeli army as mechanical engineers. Mrs Zakai said: “If Jews were being denied the right to live somewhere, it would be a scandal, but because our friends are Arabs no one cares.” Avraham Orr, the Nevatim council head, denied that he was opposing the Tarabins’ admission because they are Arab. “There are rules,” he said. “Every family that wants to buy or rent a property must first go through the committee.” Fearful of the implications of the Kaadan ruling, Jewish communities in the Galilee unveiled a new approach to barring Arab applicants last year. They introduced bylaws amounting to loyalty oaths that require applicants to pledge to support “Zionism, Jewish heritage and settlement of the land”.
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