By Amira Hass
GAZA – During the past 10 days, the Defense Ministry’s claims and insurance division received a registered letter including an official document describing the damages suffered during Operation Cast Lead by Sabbah Abu Halima. Also in the envelope were 12 similar notices, detailing the damage sustained by members of her family (seven of whom were killed and six wounded). According to the short letter accompanying the forms, they were sent as per “the Civil Damages Regulations (State Responsibility) 2003.” “Please fax us confirmation of receipt,” added (in Hebrew) the signatory: Iyad al-Alami, attorney, Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) in Gaza. The center has to date sent about 500 such registered letters with forms enclosed to the claims and insurance unit in the last month, detailing the damage done during the Israel Defense Forces offensive from December 27, 2008 until January 10, 2009. Another 300 letters are expected to be sent in the coming weeks, referring to the period of January 11-18.
The letters are just the first step in a process being undertaken by the PCHR and various Palestinian, Israeli and foreign organizations, lawyers and civil rights advocates. Their aim: to put an end to what they see as the impunity Israel enjoys after it attacks the Palestinians.
The law demands that a detailed notification of damages be sent to the Defense Ministry within 60 days of the reported event. Accordingly, since January 18, nearly all the staff of the PCHR have been involved in the process of preparing the notifications. Twenty-five field workers collected testimonies and took photographs in all the areas that were affected. People who wanted to have reports submitted went to the center’s offices, where each of the staff’s 10 young lawyers heard 10-20 complainants a day, took detailed affidavits and received power-of-attorney. The affidavits were then entered into a computer and a full report of the event was compiled (involving cross-checking of testimonies, field visits, drawing of maps, etc.). Later, an abstract was prepared and the “notification forms” were filled out with the aid of senior lawyers.
Some $900 million pledged by the United States to the Palestinians will be withdrawn if the expected Palestinian Authority coalition government between Fatah and Hamas does not recognize Israel’s right to exist, Western and Israeli diplomats said Wednesday.
During her visit to the region last week Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas against forming a coalition with Hamas that will not meet the expectations of the Quartet.
Clinton told Abbas that Congress will not approve funding of a Palestinian government that does not recognize Israel’s right to exist and renounce violence. She added that if those requirements are not met the U.S.-funded program under the supervision of General Keith Dayton training PA security forces would be the first to be axed. Fatah and Hamas are currently engaged in talks intended to reestablish ties between the Palestinian factions that were severed two years ago when Hamas forcibly took over the Gaza Strip, routing Fatah-backed PA security forces.
For all those out there, who thought the Obamah regime will be different, just read what this vile woman is saying and doing.
By Gideon Levy
Suddenly we’re all in consensus: The recent war in Gaza was a failure. The bon ton now is to list its flaws. Flip-floppers say its “achievements” were squandered; leftists say the war “should never have started” and rightists will say the war “should have lasted longer.” But on this they all agree: It was a blunder. Because we consider the war to have been almost cost-free, with just 13 Israeli dead, it will be the first in 36 years without a Commission of Inquiry formed in its wake. Of course, the war’s blunder was just as serious as its predecessors, but because we did more killing than being killed, because we caused more damage than we sustained, there’s nothing deemed worthy of investigation. It was all in vain: no progress made, no goal achieved, nothing. Deterrence wasn’t reestablished, arms smuggling into Gaza was not stopped, Hamas was not weakened and abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit was not freed. On these facts we all agree. Moreover, we paid a huge price: Hamas is stronger, the hurt Palestinian people are even more hateful toward us, and Israel is viewed as a pariah in world public opinion, with rioting on a basketball court in Ankara where an Israeli team played and the banning of spectators from Israel’s Davis Cup tennis encounter with Sweden in Malmo, as the last of the rogue states.
Gaza’s Hamas rulers issued rare criticism Thursday of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel from the strip, saying now is the wrong time for such attacks. The Islamic militant group has fired thousands of rockets at southern Israel in recent years. But Hamas said Thursday that it was not behind recent attacks and that it was investigating who was responsible. It apparently fears that new rocket fire could disrupt the reconciliation talks currently underway in Cairo.
Israel has agreed to free all 450 of the prisoners demanded by Hamas in exchange for kidnapped Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, and the dispute now revolves around Israel’s demand that some of these prisoners be deported rather than returned home, Palestinian sources in Cairo said yesterday. Ofer Dekel, Israel’s lead negotiator on the issue, was in Cairo yesterday for further talks with Egyptian mediators.According to the sources, Israel is insisting that several dozen of the released prisoners be exiled abroad and that others be released to Gaza rather than the West Bank. However, Hamas has thus far agreed to the deportation of only a handful of prisoners, and has conditioned even this on the consent of the prisoners to be deported. It also opposes releasing prisoners to Gaza rather than the West Bank.
The State Prosecutor’s Office occasionally has to close investigative cases due to lack of evidence, lack of public interest or other legal reasons. But in the case of a University of Haifa lecturer who was suspected of racism, the case was closed because the police lost the investigative material. In January 2005, attorney Ala Khaider submitted a complaint to the attorney general against Dr. David Bukay, a lecturer in political science at the University of Haifa, on behalf of the Center Against Racism and Defamation. The complaint quoted Dr. Bukay as telling his students, “The Arabs are after money, sex and alcohol. They cannot be trusted, they are stupid and they have contributed nothing to humanity.”
And also, “All the Arabs have to be rounded up, a pistol held to their head and then shot. A building in which Arabs and Palestinians live must be destroyed.” Following the submission of the complaint by student Fadi Abu Yunis, an investigation was launched against Dr. Bukay.
However, the results of the investigation were not made known either to the state prosecution or to the Center Against Racism. Then, a few days ago, Khaider was surprised to receive a letter from the deputy state attorney, Shai Nitzan, in reply to a message he sent last June, stating that the investigative files in the case against the lecturer had been lost by the Haifa police.
“Did we even fight a war in Gaza?” asked one Israeli newspaper editorial. This was a reference to the fact that rockets are still falling on Israeli soil two months after the Gaza offensive. It the time, Israeli officials said the aim of Operation Cast Lead was to restore the principle of deterrence in southern Israel. As it is understood in this part of the world, that means bludgeoning your enemies into submission, causing enough pain that they will hesitate to come back for more. In fact, this traditional Middle Eastern way of doing things was given a modern twist. Israel now had a new military doctrine: “go nuts” once and your enemies will fear to strike again. As Israeli commentator Ofer Shelah put it: “In the face of enemies who have opted for a strategy of attrition and attacking from a distance, Israel will present itself as a ‘crazy country’, the kind that will respond (albeit after a great deal of time) in a massive and unfettered assault, with no proportion to the amount of casualties it has endured.”
Certainly, there was massive bombing of Gaza; some 1,300 Palestinians lives were lost, many civilians. From Israel’s point of view, did it work? The answer must be, only partially.
Ismail Haniyeh appeared in public for the first time since the Gaza war
UK Member of Parliament George Galloway has received a Palestinian passport from a Hamas leader in Gaza. The passport was given in “deep appreciation” for his support for the Palestinians and their cause. Mr Galloway was part of a convoy which delivered financial and material assistance to Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt on Wednesday. The aid convoy was organised by the Viva Palestina group and supported by Mr Galloway. He personally donated £25,000 and a fleet of vehicles. The group visited sites which had been hit during the three-week offensive.
The presentation of the passport to Mr Galloway was the first time Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader in Gaza and former Palestinian prime minister, had appeared in front of the cameras since the end of the recent Israeli assault on Gaza which ended on 18 January. Mr Galloway said: “The material destruction is very great, the suffering is very real, but the spirit of the people is strong. If anyone is calculating that by starving and sieging and bombing the Palestinian people that they will one day surrender, I’m sure that they are wrong, the spirit of the Palestinian resistance remains.”
The Obama administration’s candidate for a top US intelligence post has withdrawn, after his past criticism of Israel came under heavy fire.
Charles Freeman had been named to head the National Intelligence Council, which produces security assessments. But his comments about Israel, as well as links to China and Saudi Arabia, had enraged dozens of US lawmakers. Mr Freeman said he did not think the council could work effectively “while its chair was under constant attack”. It is the latest embarrassment for President Barack Obama, who has seen a number of appointees withdraw or forced out. Some observers are interpreting it as a test case of the Obama administration’s willingness to stand up to powerful pro-Israeli forces in US politics.
Are they still confused about this in the White House? How many times do we have to say: No Criticism of Israel is Allowed!
JERUSALEM – An Israeli politician who based his election campaign on baiting the country’s Arab minority, drawing accusations that he is a racist demagogue, now seems likely to become the Jewish state’s top diplomat. US, European, and moderate Arab officials have maintained public silence on the issue of Avigdor Lieberman’s ascent, but privately acknowledge serious concern.
An emerging coalition deal expected to be wrapped up in the coming days would make Lieberman foreign minister at a time when Israel’s international image is suffering from its bloody war in Gaza and last month’s election of a hawkish government likely to be at odds with would-be Mideast peacemakers. Lieberman, 50, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, has said Palestinian prisoners should be drowned in the Dead Sea, that Israeli-Arab lawmakers who meet Palestinian militants should be executed, and that the president of Egypt could “go to hell.”
By LUDWIG WATZAL
Israel has used Gaza as a free fire zone for 22 days and nights. Inevitably, the question arises how could Israel’s occupation become so brutal taking into account the country’s claim of being a “benign occupation power”. Neve Gordon’s book asks exactly that question. Did it happen because of decisions made by politicians or military officers or did the reasons lay in certain elements of the occupation’s structure? The author sees the latter as the main cause of the conflict. Initially, “the occupation operated according to the colonization principle” which means the administration of people’s lives, while exploiting the territories’ resources. Structural contradictions undermined the original principle and gave way in the mid-1990 to the separation principle. By separation, Gordon means “the abandonment of efforts to administer the lives of a colonized population”. This lack of interest towards peoples’ lives that is characteristic of the separation principle “accounts for the recent surge in lethal violence”.
Neve Gordon, professor for Politics and Government at the Ben-Gurion University in Be’er Sheva, has written the first comprehensive history of the Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory since 1967. Early on, he makes it clear that the conflict started way before 1967. The struggle for land began in the late 19th century and reached its peak in 1948. One cannot understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “without taking into account the ethnic cleansing that took place during and after the 1948 war”. The author does not intend to reduce the conflict to the military occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem although his analysis concentrates on the occupation since 1967. Gordon hints at ambivalence: Israel has neither emphasized the de jure distinction nor the de facto bond between the regions, because in each case a contradiction emerges. To show to what absurdity this might lead the author asks the reader to imagine, for instance, that the Secretary of State of the United States would live permanently outside the country as several Israeli legislators and government ministers do, who live in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).
A family of Gaza fishermen work together to untie their nets, now in short supply after the almost two-year-long Israeli siege of the territory. (Erica Silverman/IRIN)
GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IRIN) – A combination of damage to fishing resources caused by the Israeli offensive, and a restriction on the zone in which Gazans are allowed to fish is reducing catches and adversely affecting people’s diets in Gaza, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). In January 2009 the Israeli authorities reduced the area in which fishermen can fish from six to three nautical miles from Gaza’s coastline. In Rafah (southern Gaza) fishing has almost completely stopped due to the damage inflicted on fishing gear and boats during the 22-days of attacks that ended on 18 January. Fishing nets, rope, twine and gas mantles are in short supply due to the Israeli blockade of Gaza since June 2007, according to OCHA, along with engines and spare parts.
“During Operation Cast Lead a naval closure was imposed on the Gaza Strip. Following the end of fighting the navy decided to allow fishing from up to three miles from the coast,” said an Israeli military source who preferred anonymity. “The closure was imposed to prevent the smuggling of weapons and ammunition into the Gaza Strip by sea.”
Gazan fishing was permitted up to 12 nautical miles from the coast before 2000, but was reduced to six after 2000, according to OCHA. Under the Oslo Accords signed in 1993 fishing off Gaza was allowed within 20 nautical miles of the coast.
The international Derail Veolia and Alstom campaign is gaining momentum by coordinating efforts to pressure French transportation giants Veolia and Alstom to withdraw from the Israeli tramway project in Jerusalem that runs illegally on Palestinian land. With its involvement in this project, Veolia is directly implicated in maintaining illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the company is playing a key role in Israel’s attempt to make its annexation of Palestinian East Jerusalem irreversible.
Veolia, for example, is heavily involved in the project with a five percent stake in the City Pass Consortium that holds the contract with the State of Israel for the construction of the tramway. The French company also has a 30-year contract as operator of the tramway. Activists and lawyers from Israel, Palestine, Australia, France, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom share information and work together to inform the public, influence local governments and politicians, and take legal action on this issue.
Veolia’s activities in the light rail in Jerusalem are not only in violation of international law, but also contravene the company’s commitments with respect to codes of conduct and conventions which regulate the activities of multinational corporations, some of which the company has itself pledged to uphold. As a transnational corporation, Veolia must comply with international rules governing corporate responsibility with respect to human rights. These include, but are not limited to, the Tripartite Declaration of Principles Concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy (2000), UN Norms on the responsibilities of transnational corporations (2003), OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (2000), including guidance in respect of Weak Governance Zones, and the UN Global Compact (2000). It is notable that Veolia is not only a participant in the UN Global Compact but has also contributed to the Foundation for the United Global Compact. Its first two principles state that businesses should support and respect the protection of international human rights within their spheres of influence, and make sure they are not complicit in human rights abuses. Yet, by participating in the construction and maintenance of the Jerusalem tramway, Veolia flagrantly violates both of these provisions.
Denizen of Camden: Veolia is the company cleaning your streets! Write to your council to demand revoking the contract. This company also builds the Jerusalem light railway on occupied land!
Press release, Ad-hoc Coalition for Justice in the Middle East – Los Angeles
Dozens of Los Angeles-area Jews, Palestinians and other allies erected a mock checkpoint at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) annual Valley Fundraiser in protest of AIPAC’s attempt to steer US policy makers to ignore recent Israeli war crimes in Gaza and the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. Cars were confronted by people dressed as Israeli soldiers and those attending the event were “allowed to pass through” after receiving a new program for the event that exposes AIPAC support for Israeli policies which contravene international law. A boisterous crowd also chanted “Angelenos choose a side, human rights or Apartheid!” at AIPAC donors as they approached the hotel entrance.
“At a time when President Obama’s administration seeks to restart peace talks with Palestinians and Israelis, AIPAC advocates a one-sided US policy of supporting Israel at any cost,” said Julie Hey, a graduate student. “As a Jewish American, I am particularly appalled that my tax dollars are funding Israel’s apartheid policies.”
AIPAC is self-described as “America’s leading pro-Israel lobby,” and as such has supported Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land, including the use of military checkpoints and the erection of a 450-mile-long wall that has encircled entire communities, leaving Palestinians prisoners in their own land. The South African apartheid regime broke the country into 10 noncontiguous Bantustans made of 13 percent of the total land –“homelands” for the black population. Israel’s “separation wall” and settlements have broken the Palestinian territories into 12 noncontiguous cantons representing only 12 percent of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
Visual artist Van Thanh Rudd recently created a stir in Melbourne, Australia with his installation “Economy of Movement – A Piece of Palestine.” Rudd was invited to exhibit at an art space called the Platform in the group show Resisting Subversion of Subversive Resistance. The Platform is situated directly beneath Melbourne’s major Flinders Street train station. Rudd, 35 years old, has won several awards and his work has been shown in Australia since 1993. In 2004, he established an arts movement called The Carriers Project, which involves carrying artwork on foot through public and private spaces of major cities to expose challenging artwork to mass audiences. Although Rudd has declined to talk to the media about his latest artwork, he commented on his installation to The Electronic Intifada.
When asked what inspired him to create “Economy of Movement – A Piece of Palestine,” Rudd replied that “As Melbourne’s city rail network is operated by Connex [a subsidiary of the French company Veolia], I thought it would be a great opportunity to make artwork that would clearly outline Veolia’s illegal operations on occupied Palestinian territory.”
He added, “I am a member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, and have taken part in many street protests against Israel’s occupation of Palestine over the last few years. It is not very often that a public space is available to political art, so I really embraced this opportunity. I was very careful and strategic about how I would make this piece of art.
Rudd decided to make a museum-style piece that displayed upon a glass plinth, a rock from occupied East Jerusalem. A panel hanging behind it reads: “The stone exhibited is from East Jerusalem (Occupied Palestinian Territory). It was thrown at an Israeli Defense Force (IDF) tank by a Palestinian youth.” Another panel to the right reads: “IDF tanks are protecting French companies Veolia (Connex) and Alstom as they conduct illegal [under international law] operations on Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
By Ahmad Barqawi
March 12, 2009 “Information Clearing House” — -Something happened in Gaza that shook the very core of my foundation & being; something that has fundamentally altered my perception of mankind in the 21st century; if this is what the “progress” & “evolution” of the human species have yielded so far; then I don’t even want to imagine what our fated future is holding in store for us. It gives me shudders to think that I am living in a day & age where rationalizing the bombing of unaided infants & children audaciously live on T.V. is just as effortless as opening a soda can, all you have to do is throw in broad & ambiguous justifications… -the most common one of course being “Fighting Terrorism”- & you’re automatically immune against the slightest form of protest, condemnation or even friendly critique.
The Viva Palestina convoy arrived to its final destination after a long & heroic journey leaving us emotionally jam-packed with feelings of gratitude not only as Arabs or supporters of the Palestinian cause but also as human beings for the flicker of hope this convoy has symbolized; that there is still goodness in humanity after all amid the never-ending injustice & cold materialism that seem to have become the most common characterization of our world as of late; a world that has gone a stray for more than 60 years turning its back on hundreds of thousands of all sort of massacres & atrocities in our region & elsewhere; a world that’s growing even more vile & prejudiced with each & every new American administration; with all do respect for president Obama & his promises of “hope & Change” (which I can assure you do not even remotely concern us & our righteous issues); but real hope & change can be found in everyone who contributed to the success of this convoy; from the organizers to the donors; the drivers; the loaders & even those who prayed for it to reach the people of Gaza; that’s real hope & change if you ask me.
AT TUWANI, West Bank, Mar 9 (IPS) – “I couldn’t run. My pregnancy was too far advanced and there was nowhere to hide,” said Amna Salman Rabaye, 31, as she recalled the terrifying incident several months ago.
Rabaye from the Palestinian Bedouin village of At Tuwani in the southern West Bank was grazing her sheep when she was assaulted by a security guard from the adjacent illegal Israeli settlement of Ma’on.
“We saw a group of masked Israeli settlers armed with sticks and chains heading towards us. The younger shepherds ran and managed to escape, leaving me with the flock of sheep,” Rabaye told IPS.
“It was physically impossible for me to run and I also didn’t want the settlers to kill or steal my sheep. The security guard pushed me over but I was not injured,” recalled Rabaye who was then seven months pregnant.
At Tuwani was established over 300 years ago by nomadic tribes of Bedouin who first moved into the area seeking shelter in the nearby caves. However, Israeli settlers built the adjacent Ma’on settlement in 1982. The nearby illegal outpost of Havot Ma’on was built at a later date.
Outposts normally comprise small settlements ranging from a few caravans, which are sometimes connected to water and electricity, to slightly larger settlements. They are referred to as outposts by the media as they are generally not recognised by the Israeli government.
The settlements, however, which are legal under Israeli law can number from several hundred residents to small towns with thousands of inhabitants, and all the associated infrastructure. There are nearly 300,000 Israeli settlers living in the West Bank and nearly 200,000 in East Jerusalem, according to the Israeli information centre for human rights B’Tselem.
Under international law, including various UN Security Council resolutions, the settlements are built illegally on Palestinian land.
The Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits an occupying power from transferring citizens from its own territory to the occupied territory (Article 49). The Hague Regulations prohibit an occupying power from undertaking permanent changes in the occupied area unless these are due to military needs in the narrow sense of the term, or unless they are undertaken for the benefit of the local population.
You will by now have seen the statement by Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair reporting that I have withdrawn my previous acceptance of his invitation to chair the National Intelligence Council. I have concluded that the barrage of libelous distortions of my record would not cease upon my entry into office. The effort to smear me and to destroy my credibility would instead continue. I do not believe the National Intelligence Council could function effectively while its chair was under constant attack by unscrupulous people with a passionate attachment to the views of a political faction in a foreign country. I agreed to chair the NIC to strengthen it and protect it against politicization, not to introduce it to efforts by a special interest group to assert control over it through a protracted political campaign.
As those who know me are well aware, I have greatly enjoyed life since retiring from government. Nothing was further from my mind than a return to public service. When Admiral Blair asked me to chair the NIC I responded that I understood he was “asking me to give my freedom of speech, my leisure, the greater part of my income, subject myself to the mental colonoscopy of a polygraph, and resume a daily commute to a job with long working hours and a daily ration of political abuse.” I added that I wondered “whether there wasn’t some sort of downside to this offer.” I was mindful that no one is indispensable; I am not an exception. It took weeks of reflection for me to conclude that, given the unprecedentedly challenging circumstances in which our country now finds itself abroad and at home, I had no choice but accept the call to return to public service. I thereupon resigned from all positions that I had held and all activities in which I was engaged. I now look forward to returning to private life, freed of all previous obligations.
I am not so immodest as to believe that this controversy was about me rather than issues of public policy. These issues had little to do with the NIC and were not at the heart of what I hoped to contribute to the quality of analysis available to President Obama and his administration. Still, I am saddened by what the controversy and the manner in which the public vitriol of those who devoted themselves to sustaining it have revealed about the state of our civil society. It is apparent that we Americans cannot any longer conduct a serious public discussion or exercise independent judgment about matters of great importance to our country as well as to our allies and friends.
The libels on me and their easily traceable email trails show conclusively that there is a powerful lobby determined to prevent any view other than its own from being aired, still less to factor in American understanding of trends and events in the Middle East. The tactics of the Israel Lobby plumb the depths of dishonor and indecency and include character assassination, selective misquotation, the willful distortion of the record, the fabrication of falsehoods, and an utter disregard for the truth. The aim of this Lobby is control of the policy process through the exercise of a veto over the appointment of people who dispute the wisdom of its views, the substitution of political correctness for analysis, and the exclusion of any and all options for decision by Americans and our government other than those that it favors.
There is a special irony in having been accused of improper regard for the opinions of foreign governments and societies by a group so clearly intent on enforcing adherence to the policies of a foreign government – in this case, the government of Israel. I believe that the inability of the American public to discuss, or the government to consider, any option for US policies in the Middle East opposed by the ruling faction in Israeli politics has allowed that faction to adopt and sustain policies that ultimately threaten the existence of the state of Israel. It is not permitted for anyone in the United States to say so. This is not just a tragedy for Israelis and their neighbors in the Middle East; it is doing widening damage to the national security of the United States.
The outrageous agitation that followed the leak of my pending appointment will be seen by many to raise serious questions about whether the Obama administration will be able to make its own decisions about the Middle East and related issues. I regret that my willingness to serve the new administration has ended by casting doubt on its ability to consider, let alone decide what policies might best serve the interests of the United States rather than those of a Lobby intent on enforcing the will and interests of a foreign government.
In the court of public opinion, unlike a court of law, one is guilty until proven innocent. The speeches from which quotations have been lifted from their context are available for anyone interested in the truth to read. The injustice of the accusations made against me has been obvious to those with open minds. Those who have sought to impugn my character are uninterested in any rebuttal that I or anyone else might make.
Still, for the record: I have never sought to be paid or accepted payment from any foreign government, including Saudi Arabia or China, for any service, nor have I ever spoken on behalf of a foreign government, its interests, or its policies. I have never lobbied any branch of our government for any cause, foreign or domestic. I am my own man, no one else’s, and with my return to private life, I will once again – to my pleasure – serve no master other than myself. I will continue to speak out as I choose on issues of concern to me and other Americans.
I retain my respect and confidence in President Obama and DNI Blair. Our country now faces terrible challenges abroad as well as at home. Like all patriotic Americans, I continue to pray that our president can successfully lead us in surmounting them.
I included it all due to its importance.
Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi’ charges have been dropped
Naomi on protest before she was arrested and chrged
Naomi protested peacefully at the “Salute Israel” festival last June, displaying “blood” on her hands as the marchers passed by (see attached photo taken on the day). She was arrested and was due to face charges at the City of London Magistrates Court tomorrow. There is now no need for a protest outside the court so this has been called off.
This just goes to show what a marvelous police force and judiciary we have in London, ever eager to protect the public from the truth. It seems that to spill blood by killing thousands is quite OK, but to demostarate about such murder is threat to public order in London.
This is just one of many examples of the behaviour of the Metropolitan police when Israel and demostartions against its britalities are concerned. Many of us have witnessed their own brutality against demonstartors in front of the Israeli embassy, and how careful they are about women and children when they charge forward with their riot gear, when no rioting was in progress. Part of this is the use of Anti-Terrorism squads on those ocassions, in order to terrorise the demonstrators. Those are combined with covert and open filming of demonstartors who are just excercising their right to protest. It seems that this police state is quite unhappy with the meagre protest which still takes place, and is intent on putting an end to it by any means possible.
Salam Fayyad’s resignation may help reconcile Palestinian factions – but is most likely to benefit Fayyad himself
Ben White
As the Palestinian factions meet in Cairo for crucial reconciliation talks this week, analysts are still trying to decode the resignation of Salam Fayyad from his role as prime minister.
The standard assessment, such as that reported by the BBC on the Cairo unity talks, is that Fayyad’s resignation was “intended to pave the way for the formation of a national unity government”. Why would removing Fayyad help? Because, goes the theory, such a step is an appeasement of Hamas, who have always maintained that Fayyad – appointed rather than elected – was an “illegitimate” prime minister.
But the narrative of Fayyad’s removal being a concession to Hamas for the sake of political reconciliation is not adequate to convey everything that is happening here. For a start, Fayyad is also unpopular with many in Fatah. Some have attributed this to the perception of Fayyad’s reforms of the PA as “carried out at the expense of Fatah’s standing” with most of the international aid “going directly to Fayad’s government and not into the bank accounts of [Fatah’s] leaders in Ramallah”.
