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March 11, 2010
4:03
Settlers, protected by soldiers, destroy natural spring used by Palestinians for farming near Salfit
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

A group of Israeli settlers today destroyed a spring by the village of Qarawat Bani Hassan in the Salfit district. The settlers poured sand and cement into the spring, guarded by five armed members of the Israeli military.

Palestinians from the village were forced to watch helplessly as events unfolded, prevented by the soldiers from moving close to the spring or from filming what was happening. International Solidarity Movement volunteers were able to secretly film for a short time before the soldiers noticed, and made both Palestinians and Internationals leave, saying that the area was now designated as a Closed Military Zone.

Last Friday, a large group of both Palestinians and internationals spent the day clearing the area around the spring to make it more accessible from the village. This followed previous attacks from settlers on nearby springs and farmland, during which a child suffered serious head wounds, from which he is still recovering in hospital, and an elderly man had his arm and leg broken.

Locals intend to continue their attempts to keep the spring open, and to turn the area around it into a park for the use of the village.

Under international law, the settlement next to Qarawat Bani Hassan is illegal, as are all other settlements in the occupied West Bank.
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Possibly, the vilest, meanest and most nauseating brand of "humans" ever! As for the soldiers, remember that this is "the most moral army" in the world! VOMIT!
March 10, 2010

21:24

Sick People , Sicker Culture

» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

19:29
Haaretz: Israel planning 50,000 housing units in East Jerusalem
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

Some 50,000 new housing units in Jerusalem neighborhoods beyond the Green Line are in various stages of planning and approval, planning officials told Haaretz. They said Jerusalem's construction plans for the next few years, even decades, are expected to focus on East Jerusalem.

Most of the housing units will be built in predominantly Jewish neighborhoods beyond the Green Line, while a smaller number of them will be built in Arab neighborhoods. The plans for some 20,000 of the apartments are already in advanced stages of approval and implementation, while plans for the remainder have yet to be submitted to the planning committees.

The planned construction includes the 1,600 homes in the ultra-Orthodox East Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo that were approved Tuesday. Saying the decision undermines peace talks, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has publicly condemned the move, which the Interior Ministry announced during his visit to Israel.
19:06
"Peace" With Netanyahu......When...Donkeys Fly! By Emad Hajjaj. (No pigs in the Middle East?)
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)
17:32
Breaking news: European Parliament endorses Goldstone Gaza report ..Jewish lobbying efforts failed
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

The European Parliament on Wednesday urged its 27-member states to monitor the Israeli and Palestinian probes into alleged war crimes committed during last year's late-winter conflict in Gaza.

The resolution backed the findings of a UN-appointed expert panel chaired by South African Judge Richard Goldstone, which concluded that both sides committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during the war that began in December 2008 and ended in January 2009.

The parliamentary move, which would give the EU an unprecedented role in evaluating the progress of Israel's war crimes probe, was sharply criticized by Israel.
Haaretz

And here:

STRASBOURG (EJP)---Despite intense lobbying efforts from Jewish groups and attempts by the Christian-Democrats to prevent a vote, the European Parliament adopted Wednesday in Strasbourg a joint resolution urging "both sides" to follow up the Goldstone Report’s conclusions by conducting "investigations within five months”.
12:07
Rachel Corrie Family Finally Puts Israel in Dock
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

By Jonathan Cook - Nazareth
Palestine Chronicle

"Seven years after Rachel Corrie, a US peace activist, was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza, her family was to put the Israeli government in the dock today.

A judge in the northern Israeli city of Haifa was due to be presented with evidence that 23-year-old Corrie was killed unlawfully as she stood in the path of the bulldozer, trying to prevent it from demolishing Palestinian homes in Rafah.....

Although Israel has agreed to let in the four ISM witnesses, it has refused to allow Ahmed Abu Nakira, a doctor in Gaza who treated Corrie, to attend the hearing or to be questioned over a video link.

The lawsuit accuses the Israeli government of being responsible either for Corrie’s intentional killing or for the negligent conduct of its soldiers towards unarmed demonstrators....

In recent weeks the ISM’s office in the West Bank has been raided several times by the Israeli army, with computers and documents taken.

Mr Abu Hussein said he would be arguing in court that the D-9’s manual specifically states that work must not be carried out with civilians nearby, and that the state ignored a judicial decision that a US embassy representative be present at Corrie’s autopsy."
10:13
7 Years After Killing, Family of Slain US Peace Activist Rachel Corrie Heads to Israel for Wrongful Death Suit Against Israeli Gov’t
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

Democracy Now!
With Amy Goodman

"Rachel Corrie, a twenty-three-year-old student from Evergreen College in Olympia, Washington, was crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza seven years ago as she stood before a Palestinian home facing demolition. Today, a trial opens in Israel in a lawsuit brought by Corrie’s family against the Israeli government.
The eyewitness testimony is expected to challenge Israel’s version of events with evidence that she was clearly visible to the soldiers, standing before the bulldozer in her florescent orange jacket. We spend the hour with Rachel Corrie’s family: her father Craig, her mother Cindy, and her sister Sarah......"
10:05
Rachel Corrie’s (Posthumous) Day in Court
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

by Amy Goodman

"An unusual trial begins in Israel this week, and people around the world will be watching closely. It involves the tragic death of a 23-year-old American student named Rachel Corrie. On March 16, 2003, she was crushed to death by an Israeli military bulldozer.

Corrie was volunteering with the group International Solidarity Movement (ISM), which formed after Israel and the United States rejected a proposal by then-United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson to place international human rights monitors in the occupied territories. The ISM defines itself as "a Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land using nonviolent, direct-action methods and principles." Israel was building a large steel wall to separate Rafah from Egypt, and was bulldozing homes and gardens to create a "buffer zone." Corrie and seven other ISM activists responded to a call on that March day to protect the home of the Nasrallah family, which was being threatened with demolition by two of the armored Israeli military bulldozers made by the U.S. company Caterpillar.

Cindy Corrie, Rachel's mother, related what happened....."
10:02
Al-Jazeera Video: Peace activist's parents sue Israel
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

"The court trial for Rachel Corrie, the American peace activist killed aged 23 by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza in 2003, has begun in Haifa.

Corrie was peacefully protesting Israel's demolition of Palestian homes when the bulldozer crushed her to death.

The parents of Corrie are now suing the government of Israel on charges that she was denied "basic human rights" and of "gross negligence"."
9:51
Barghouthi: “Indirect Talks Should Stop”
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

(Click on cartoon by Carlos Latuff to enlarge)

"Palestinian Legislator, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, called on the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank to void its approval for holding talks with the Israeli government on Benjamin Netanyahu.

Barghouthi stated that Netanyahu acts like the head of a government of settlers, and that the decision to hold talks with his government would only encourage Israel to carry further violations, and would boost his fundamental government.

He added that “the Arabs gave Netanyahu four months while he did not even grant them four hours”, and responded to the Arab offer to give a chance for indirect peace talks by deciding to build 112 new units for Jewish settlers in the West Bank, and 1600 units in occupied East Jerusalem......

The Palestinian Legislator said that the idleness of the International Community is encouraging Israel to escalate its violations and attacks, and that the indirect talks with Netanyahu and his government will lead to new Israeli provocations.

“He [Netanyahu] does not want peace, he wants his own version of the solution”, Barghouthi said, “Netanyahu’s idea of a Palestinian State is a group of isolated ghettoes surrounded and controlled by Israel”."
9:34
Imam's ghost stalks Arab summit
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

By Rannie Amiri
Asia Times

"This month's Arab League summit hosted by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in Tripoli has hit a snag. Lebanon is threatening a boycott over the mysterious disappearance of a renowned Lebanese political and religious figure 32 years ago. The inscrutable Gaddafi may have skeletons in his cupboard on this controversy....

Gaddafi has already threatened to expel the 20,000 Lebanese nationals living in Libya should a boycott take place and institute other "painful" measures as necessary. This notwithstanding, Lebanon should still boycott the summit. Although historically nothing of substance has ever emerged from these gatherings, Lebanon now has the opportunity to send a powerful message before it even convenes.

With a boycott, it would say that the lives of great men who were instrumental in uplifting the downtrodden, who crossed sectarian lines to promote communal harmony, who fought for the betterment and welfare of the Lebanese people, will never be forgotten.

For a country that has endured so much in the way of civil strife since the disappearance of Imam Moussa al-Sadr, the leaders of the 21 other members of the Arab League would do well to appreciate what Lebanon has to say about justice and principle."
7:53
Iran, Israel Spoiling for a Fight?
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

Analysis by Mel Frykberg

"RAMALLAH, Mar 10, 2010 (IPS) - Iran and Israel appear to be spoiling for a fight, going by recent belligerent statements emanating from several regional capitals.

Military movement on the ground is also lending credence to the idea that the mutual loathing and major ideological differences between the two countries could lead to a vortex of violence capable of sucking the entire region into a new war......

Haaretz journalist and analyst Aluf Benn believes that both Ahmedinejad and Netanyahu are playing a game of brinkmanship and pondered what will happen if diplomacy and sanctions against Iran do not work.

Will Israel carry through with an attack on Iran or will it be forced to back down and admit that the Iranian threat has been exaggerated? asked Benn. Benn further argues that both leaderships too were counting on only one of them surviving any future confrontation.

Diker [senior policy advisor from the Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs] refused to be drawn into a debate on a possible preemptive Israeli strike on Iran. "However, many Arab officials who are also worried about Iran’s desire for regional hegemony have told me that the only way to deal with the Islamic theocracy is with militarily action," Diker told IPS."
7:40
Is the PA Guilty of undermining BDS Campaign?
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

By Samah Sabawi
Palestine Chronicle

".....Having established the reality of existing Industrial Zones let’s examine what we know about the new Industrial Zones that are coming into being under Netanyahu’s “economic peace” plan. Today, we are looking at the development of 3 or 4 new joint Palestinian Israeli industrial zones in the West Bank. The key words here are Joint Palestinian Israeli. This is significant to the BDS campaign because it introduces a new sinister twist to an already tragic tale. Products made in these Zones will have a “made in Palestine” stamp and therefore these zones will have an advantage that previous Israeli Industrial zones in the OT didn’t, they can now act as gateways to the Arab and World markets which have in the past rejected products made in the Israeli settlements.

The first and largest Joint Industrial Zone is being built near Jenin and it is predicted to be operational by 2011. According to a report by Shir Hever from Alternative Information Center in Jerusalem (AIC) (7) all of the new joint Industrial Zones will have a gate on the Palestinian side where Palestinian workers can come and go and another entrance on the Israeli side where the products go out into Israel for export or sales. Products from these zones can only be exported through Israeli companies. Hever reported that the zones are under strict security control and although they are built on Palestinian land, the security will not monitored by Palestinians but by private companies approved by Israel. Also, that all the Industrial Zones will be walled in by one side by the apartheid wall....."
7:23
Obama’s Potemkin Afghanistan
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

It's as phony as he is

by Justin Raimondo, March 10, 2010

"In a message to US troops in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates praised the soldiers who fought in the recent Marjah offensive, averring: "

“You all have had a very tough time. You came into an area totally controlled by the Taliban. You fought for a critical battle space, you bled for it and now you own it.”
Yes, we own it – but what is it, exactly, that we own?
Marjah, by all accounts appearing in the US media, is supposed to have been a city, or at least a major town. Described as containing some 80,000 inhabitants – and a bustling center of insurgent activity, a Taliban stronghold that had to be taken – Marjah was depicted as a rather large target, and our glorious "victory" was therefore portrayed as a major triumph. The only problem with this narrative is that it bears no relation to reality.

As Gareth Porter points out in a piece published on this site, Marjah, far from being a major city or even a town, is a minor hamlet consisting of one mosque and a few other buildings, mostly stores. There is no city of 80,000 souls, as Western "reporters" have been telling us, there are no "neighborhoods" as described in countless news dispatches from the "mainstream" media, and the imagery of house-to-house fighting imparted by these reports is a total fiction.......

Obama’s Potemkin village in Afghanistan may succeed in fooling some people for a limited period of time, but the flaw in the COIN strategy embraced by this administration is that it overlooks a key point. A self-serving and demonstrably false "mainstream" narrative invariably provokes a counter-narrative, one much closer to the truth. The War Party may be able to rely on the "mainstream" media to go along with the fraud for a good long time, but they would have to shut down the Internet to preemptively kill the counter-narrative and silence its adherents. Although, I hear, they’re working on that …."
7:07
حماس" تعزي مصر والأمة في وفاة شيخ الأزهر
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

حماس" تعزي مصر والأمة في وفاة شيخ الأزهر

TONY'S FATWA

Hamas should hang its head in shame for such servility and disservice to the Palestinian people. It can hide its head in the sand and try to kiss the Pharaoh's (almost dead) ass, but WE KNOW WHO TANTAWI WAS.

Tony's Fatwa: Tantawi is an Accessory to a War Crime; Haul Him to Stand Trial in The Hague.

Fatwas For Hire: Tantawi and Leading Egypt Clerics Back Gaza Tunnel Barrier. This is Islam in the Service of Dictators.
6:28
European group may probe Israel decision to indict Arab MK who protested the wall
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

The Inter-Parliamentary Union is considering sending representatives to oversee the legal proceedings against Hadash chairman Mohammed Barakeh, charged with assaulting a police officer during an anti-separation fence rally in the West Bank.
In November, then Attorney General Menachem Mazuz decided to indict Barakeh for allegedly attacking a policeman during a demonstration at the West Bank separation fence.
Barakeh allegedly assaulted a member of the Israel Prisons Service's elite Masada unit at a protest in the West Bank village of Bi'ilin in 2005.
The policeman was taking a detainee to a police car at the time of the alleged assault.
Mazuz was also considering including on the charge sheet the crimes of offending a public servant and issuing threats, offenses which Barakeh is alleged to have committed at two other demonstrations.
Haaretz
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They're right in being suspicious of the legality of the proceedings. The Israeli judicial system is famous for being an instrument used to enforce the illegal occupation and the Apartheid system..
6:20
الاستيطان عندما يتغول
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

**الاستيطان عندما يتغول **
رأي القدس

"اصبح الحديث عن القرارات الاسرائيلية ببناء وحدات سكنية جديدة في مستوطنات الاراضي الفلسطينية المحتلة مملا لتكراره بين الفينة والاخرى، وكذلك الاحتجاج باقوى الكلمات على رد الفعل اللامبالي تجاهها سواء من قبل السلطة الفلسطينية او الدول العربية، ولذلك لا نعتقد ان اعلان الحكومة الاسرائيلية اقامة 1600 وحدة سكنية في مستوطنة رامات شلومو شمال القدس المحتلة يوم امس سيكون استثناء، فاذا كانت الاقتحامات المتكررة لباحة المسجد الاقصى من قبل المتطرفين اليهود الذين يريدون اقامة كنيس يهودي فيها، وضم الحرم الابراهيمي ومسجد الصحابي بلال بن رباح الى قائمة الموروثات اليهودية، كلها لم تحرك ساكنا في اكثر من خمسين دولة اسلامية، فان علينا ان نتوقع استمرار هذه اللامبالاة، ليس فقط هذه المرة وانما في مرات قادمة ايضا، فالعالمان العربي والاسلامي باتا جثة هامدة لا حراك فيها على الاطلاق.
اللافت ان السلطة الفلسطينية في رام الله توفر الذرائع اللازمة لمثل هذه اللامبالاة لكي تستمر وتتجذر اكثر، من خلال استمرارها في الذهاب الى المفاوضات غير المباشرة مع الحكومة الاسرائيلية، وهي التي انسحبت منها احتجاجا على استمرار الاستيطان، وشددت على عدم العودة الا بعد تجميده كاملا في الضفة والقدس المحتلتين معا.
لا نعرف ما هي الحكمة في العودة الى المفاوضات في ظل تصاعد الاستفزازات الاستيطانية الاسرائيلية هذه، وصمت الادارة الامريكية عليها، بل وتبنيها، فقد كان المبرر في السابق يتمحور حول احتمال تقليص الاستيطان ان لم يتأت منعه في حال العودة الى المفاوضات استجابة لطلبات الراعي الامريكي لها، ولكن ما يحدث حاليا ان الحكومة الاسرائيلية تتعمد تسريع وتيرته، اي الاستيطان، فور بدء المفاوضات، وفي تزامن مع وصول المسؤولين الامريكيين الى المنطقة.
فيوم وصول السناتور جورج ميتشل مبعوث السلام الامريكي لوضع ترتيبات استئناف المفاوضات غير المباشرة، اعلنت الحكومة الاسرائيلية عن بناء 120 وحدة سكنية شمال مدينة بيت لحم، ويوم وصول جوزيف بايدن الى تل ابيب قررت استقباله باعلان آخر عن بناء 1600 وحدة سكنية في مستوطنة رامات شلومو شمال القدس.
المستر بايدن لم يوجه كلمة انتقاد واحدة الى هذه الاعلانات الاستيطانية الاستفزازية هذه، بل حرص على التأكيد مجددا على التزام الولايات المتحدة الكامل بامن اسرائيل، والتفاخر بانه صهيوني اصيل، بل ربما اكثر صهيونية من جميع المسؤولين الاسرائيليين الآخرين.
نتنياهو يعرف ما يريد، ويواصل تطبيق مشاريعه على الارض بثبات وثقة، وهو مطمئن الى الدعم
الامريكي واللامبالاة العربية والاسلامية، ولكن السلطة الفلسطينية هي التي تعيش حالة من التآكل السريع لوجودها واحترام الفلسطينيين قبل العرب لها، لانها اصبحت سلطة اقرب الى الصحوات العراقية منها الى الصورة التي كانت عليها عندما عادت الى الاراضي المحتلة على عربة اتفاقات اوسلو.
الاسرائيليون سيستمرون في الاستيطان وعمليات التهويد للمقدسات، والسلطة ستستمر في التفاوض ايضا، وسنظل ندور في هذه الدائرة المفرغة حتى نفيق يوما وقد استولى الاسرائيليون على كل شيء، الارض والمقدسات بعد طرد اهلها منها.
شعب لا يقاوم محتليه، وتقبل قيادته كل هذا الهوان، ويستسلم لراتب شيخ'قبيلة صحوته في آخر الشهر لن يصل الا الى هذه النتيجة المأساوية.
"
6:15
Jewish Lobbying Sways EU against Support of Goldstone Gaza Report
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

Al-Manar

"Members of the European Parliament have backtracked from their plan to pass a resolution demanding implementation of the Goldstone report, in response to pressure from European Jewish leaders, Israeli daily Haaretz has reported. After leaders of all the major EP parties had agreed on the wording of a draft demanding implementation of the document - which accused Israel of war crimes in Gaza last year and proposed prosecuting Israeli ....."
6:12
Israel’s Response to “Peace Talks”: Green Light for Settlement Expansion
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

Al-Manar

"US Vice President Joe Biden was meeting with Palestinian leaders on Wednesday as his bid to bolster new peace talks was marred by Israel's approval of settlement expansion in occupied east Jerusalem. Criticism of Israel's green light for the construction of 1,600 new settler homes in occupied east Jerusalem mounted on Wednesday as Biden was to meet Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and his prime minister Salam Fayyad in the West Bank ......"
March 09, 2010
21:40
Will Israel Spark New Wave of Suicide Bombing?
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

How much can a person take before snapping?
By Stuart Littlewood – London

'The suicide bomber wrote that he began to live the day he came to know he was to die. Where did he get this passion to kill?' -- Mahesh Bhatt

Here in the civilised West we hate suicide bombers with a passion.

We’re taught that the proper way to blow fellow humans to smithereens is to do it from 40,000 feet.

Or failing that, send Apache helicopter gun-ships at street level firing their laser-guided missiles and 30mm cannon.
Or failing that, turn loose our main battle tanks to shred and vaporize the “enemy”, reduce their homes to rubble with DU shells and spread birth defects for generations to come.

Nowadays we don’t even have to leave home to do it. We can train our really brainy chaps to steer armed drones to the target from the comfort of an armchair.

B-52s, F-16s, Apaches, drones and tanks… that’s the ticket. Awesome hardware gives any murky mission a moral superiority that gets nods of approval from the governing élite in the drawing rooms of London and Washington.
What is not acceptable is delivering the high explosive in person, all the way to the target, and looking your enemy in the eye as you push the detonator. That simply isn’t cricket.
19:01
Indirect "Negotiations," by Emad Hajjaj
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)
18:27
Biden Promises 'Total' US Commitment to Israel's Security
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

Biden reassured Mr. Netanyahu, who is known to his friends as "Bibi," that bonds remain strong.

"A cornerstone of the relationship is our absolute total, unvarnished commitment to Israel's security," Biden said. "Bibi, you heard me say before: progress occurs in the Middle East when everyone knows there is simply no space between the United States and Israel. There is no space between the United States and Israel when it comes to Israel's security."

The U.S. vice president is due to travel to the West Bank town of Ramallah to meet Wednesday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
18:25
Turkey says Syria-Israel talks may restart
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey's prime minister said Tuesday that Israel had accepted that his country again mediate talks with Syria but the Israeli prime minister said no decision had been made.
"Syria wants Turkey's mediation," the state-run Anatolia news agency quoted Recep Tayyip Erdogan as telling journalists during a visit to Saudi Arabia. "Israel has accepted this."
"I hope that we can start the new process," the agency also quoted him as saying.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office issued a statement saying "No decision has been taken to renew the Turkish mediation."
It added: "but if these comments reflect Turkey's desire to strengthen its relations with Israel and to contribute to peacemaking in the region — then Israel would clearly welcome that aspiration."
Erdogan's spokesman could not be reached for comment.
18:18
Rachel Corrie's parents to sue Israel
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The family of an American killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza will launch a damages case on Wednesday, stoking controversy over the treatment of pro-Palestinian protesters and angering Israelis frustrated by international criticism.
Rachel Corrie was one of several foreign activists killed in confrontations with Israel in occupied territory in the past decade. Her family is suing for $324,000 in the case, being heard by a court in the city of Haifa.
The Israeli army says Corrie, 23, a member of the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement, was fatally struck by a concrete slab on March 17, 2003, as a bulldozer cleared a militant hideout in the Gaza area. [Washington post lies , it was a house and had no military function]
Corrie's family, citing witness accounts, has charged the Israeli driver must have spotted her before moving the blade in her direction.
Revival of her case was expected to stoke anger in a nation still reeling from a scathing United Nations report alleging both the Israeli army and Palestinian militants committed war crimes during the 2008-9 Israel-Gaza conflict.
Steven Plaut, an Israeli from Haifa, charged in a column for the Jewish Press newspaper that Corrie's parents were a "two-person anti-Israel propaganda SWAT team" who supported Israel's enemies. [When will the world give the Zionists the middle finger and say ENOUGH lies]
16:20
Games Nations Play: Iran aid to Afghanistan at $280mn
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

Press TV

"Iran has spent more than $280 million in the reconstruction projects of Afghanistan so far, says Iran's envoy to its eastern neighbor.

"A total of $220 million has been spent in the road construction projects [Are these the roads the US and NATO are using now? Just curious!] while more than $60 million was provided in education, telecommunications, electricity, borders security, health sector, higher education and sports,” Iran's Ambassador in Kabul, Fada Hussein Maleki, told Press TV in an exclusive interview......."
12:28
"أنا السبب"
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

من روائع أحمد مطر
قصيدة بعنوان
"أنا السبب"

أنا السببْ
في كل ما جرى لكم
يا أيها العربْ
سلبتُكم أنهارَكم
والتينَ والزيتونَ والعنبْ
أنا الذي اغتصبتُ أرضَكم
وعِرضَكم ، وكلَّ غالٍ عندكم
أنا الذي طردتُكم
من هضْبة الجولان والجليلِ والنقبْ
والقدسُ ، في ضياعها ،
كنتُ أنا السببْ
نعم أنا .. أنا السببْ
أنا الذي لمَّا أتيتُ : المسجدُ الأقصى ذهبْ
أنا الذي أمرتُ جيشي ، في الحروب كلها
بالانسحاب فانسحبْ
أنا الذي هزمتُكم
أنا الذي شردتُكم
وبعتكم في السوق مثل عيدان القصبْ
أنا الذي كنتُ أقول للذي
يفتح منكم فمَهُ
Shut up
***
نعم أنا .. أنا السببْ .
في كل ما جرى لكم يا أيها العربْ .
وكلُّ من قال لكم ، غير الذي أقولهُ
فقد كَذبْ
فمن لأرضكم سلبْ ..؟
ومن لمالكم نَهبْ .؟
ومن سوايَ مثلما اغتصبتكم قد اغتَصبْ .؟
أقولها
صريحةً
بكل ما أوتيتُ من وقاحةٍ وجرأةٍ
وقلةٍ في الذوق والأدبْ
أنا الذي أخذتُ منكم كل ما هبَّ ودبْ
ولا أخاف أحداً
ألستُ رغم أنفكم
أنا الزعيمُ المنتخَبْ .!؟
لم ينتخبني أحدٌ لكنني
إذا طلبتُ منكم
في ذات يوم ، طلباً
هل يستطيعٌ واحدٌ منكم
أن يرفض لي الطلبْ .؟
أشنقهُ
أقتلهُ
أجعلهُ يغوص في دمائه حتى الرُّكبْ
فلتقبلوني ، هكذا كما أنا
أو فاشربوا
"من بحر العرب"
ما دام لم يعجبْكم العجبْ
ولا الصيامُ في رجبْ
فلتغضبوا إذا استطعتم
بعدما قتلتُ في نفوسكم روحَ التحدي والغضبْ
وبعدما شجَّعتكم على الفسوق والمجون والطربْ
وبعدما أقنعتكم
أن المظاهراتِ فوضى ليس إلا وشَغَبْ
وبعدما علَّمتكم أن السكوتَ من ذهبْ
وبعدما حوَّلتُكم إلى جليدٍ وحديدٍ وخشبْ
وبعدما أرهقتُكم
وبعدما أتعبتُكم
حتى قضى عليكمُ الإرهاقُ والتعبْ
***
يا من غدوتم في يديَّ كالدُّمى وكاللعبْ
نعم أنا .. أنا السببْ
في كل ما جرى لكم
فلتشتموني في الفضائياتِ
إن أردتم والخطبْ
وادعوا عليَّ في صلاتكم وردِّدوا
' تبت يداهُ مثلما تبت يدا أبي لهبْ '
قولوا بأني خائنٌ لكم
وكلبٌ وابن كلبْ
ماذا يضيرني أنا ؟!
ما دام كل واحدٍ في بيتهِ
يريد أن يسقطني بصوتهِ
وبالضجيج والصَخب أنا هنا ، ما زلتُ أحمل الألقاب كلها
وأحملُ الرتبْ .
أُطِلُّ ، كالثعبان ، من جحري عليكم فإذا
ما غاب رأسي لحظةً ، ظلَّ الذَنَبْ .!

هل عرفتم من أنا ؟؟؟؟
أنا رئيس دولة من دول العرب
"Ahmed Mattar أحمد مطر is an Iraqi poet who have been living in exile for decades, most recently in London.
His style is somewhat reminiscent of Nizar Qabbani نزار قباني but does not have the latter's knack for vulgarities and themes of womanizing.

His poetry is very critical of rulers of Arab countries, lack of freedoms, the use of torture, clinging to power at all costs. He also laments the general situation of Arab societies....."
10:09
A Tale of Two Richards
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

Mr. Goldstone and Mr. Falk

By NADIA HIJAB
CounterPunch

".....Richard Falk, professor emeritus at Princeton University and UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, has been attacked by Israel for years. But now, in a new twist, he is being hung out to dry by the Palestinian Authority. This, perhaps, the unkindest cut of all.

The PA pummeling is more discreet. It has quietly suggested to Falk himself that he resign. One reported reason is that Falk can't do his job because Israel will not allow him into the country -- though this should, one would have thought, be all the more reason to defend him.
And the PA has asked the Human Rights Council to take Falk's report off the March 22 agenda and "postpone" it to June, which the Council has done. The PA-appointed representative to the UN in Geneva insists that there are simply more important reports than Falk's on the agenda -- yet at the same time he says the PA has "many" reservations about the Falk report. The real reasons seem to be that the PA did not like the mention of Hamas in Falk's report and his earlier criticism when the PA tried to "postpone" the Goldstone Report in September under pressure from Israel and the United States. A public outcry among Palestinians reversed that decision.....

More recently, 19 Palestinian groups wrote to PA president Mahmoud Abbas criticizing Falk's treatment and pointing out the repercussions for the Palestinians' internationally recognized human rights.

If the attacks on the two Richards succeed, the Palestinian cause will suffer and the world will be a poorer and more dangerous place -- one in which the might of the strong is legally allowed to prevail against the rights of the weak."
COMMENT:
If the PA is a "Palestinian Authority," then I am not a Palestinian; I do not want anything to do with these bastards, not even the name.
9:40
Al-Jazeera Video: Inside Story - Egypt's political future
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

"With Hosni Mubarak's health now being examined under a microscope, people fear his illness or death could leave a power vacuum. With no vice-president, no successor and no peaceful transfer of office, could Egypt tailspin into chaos? And what will be the impact on the wider Arab world? "
9:18
Alternative reading of Hamas murder
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

By Ramzy Baroud
Asia Times

"....The tunnels that represent the lifeline for the vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza are being routinely blown up by Israeli warplanes, detonated by dynamites and blocked by an Egyptian steel wall. Gazans cannot be allowed any weapons to defend themselves either. The "international community" has held many meetings to ensure that no weapons find their way to Gaza. The US in particular is utterly firm regarding this issue - although not at all firm about ensuring that food or medicine reach the Strip.

Mabhouh may have been killed due to Israel's belief he was arming the resistance. This partly explains why the "international community" is not at all moved by the murder. Mabhouh might have been involved in breaking the Western consensus on denying Gaza both food and arms.

The European Union is only worried about its link to the story, and not the murder itself. An EU statement issued in Brussels on February 22 condemned the "fact that those involved in this action used fraudulent EU member-states passports". They didn't name Israel though. As the Financial Times resolved, "Criticism of Israel was as strongly worded as the EU could manage, given that Germany, Italy and several other countries place great emphasis on close relations with Israel."

One can only imagine what would happen if Hamas decided to strike back, expanding the battleground from Gaza to the rest of the world. Would the EU express disapproval of Hamas' use of fraudulent passports, but then refrain from actually naming the group - due to a fear, say, of upsetting Muslim countries?

No. But when the victim is a Palestinian and the killers are Israelis - 27 of them so far - it's an entirely different story, and an entirely different concept of justice. "
9:10
Oscar night in Baghdad
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

By Pepe Escobar
Asia Times

"Hollywood's take on the Iraq War, The Hurt Locker, swept Sunday's Oscars. Who will emerge victorious from Iraq's elections is less clear. Washington favors former premier Iyad Allawi - once an intelligence asset - over the Shi'ite incumbent aligned with Iran, Nuri al-Maliki. But ultimately it seems that as long as Maliki can hasten the Americans' exit, he will emerge triumphant......

Once again the unintended - or, as a matter of fact, intended - end result of Washington's "Western liberal democracy" imposed by the barrel of a gun will be sectarianism. The specter of civil war in Iraq will remain - much to the delight of Washington's full spectrum dominance crowd, which would love nothing better than a balkanization of Iraq to enfeeble both Iraq and Iran......"
7:29
Dubious Dubai Assassination, by Khalil Bendib
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

(Click on cartoon to enlarge)
7:12
Israeli Left Emerges From Coma Amid Atrocities
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

By Mel Frykberg

"SHEIKH JARRAH, Occupied East Jerusalem, Mar 9, 2010 (IPS) - Amid the wave of violence that swept through the occupied Palestinian West Bank, including East Jerusalem, over the last few days, there are signs that the Israeli left may be emerging from its collective coma.
On Saturday night over 3,000 Palestinian, Israeli and foreign peace activists, waving Palestinian flags and shouting "Free Sheikh Jarrah", gathered in the East Jerusalem suburb in support of Palestinians threatened with home demolitions and evictions.

Progressive members of the Israeli Knesset, or parliament, called for the removal of illegal Israeli settlers in East Jerusalem and for the rights of Palestinian residents to be respected.

The presence of hundreds of Israeli security forces kept the protestors separated from a counter-gathering of dozens of right-wing Israeli settlers who support Israel’s Judaisation of East Jerusalem.

The Sheikh Jarrah protest was the largest gathering to date and represented a victory of sorts for the Palestinians and their Israeli and international supporters......"
7:04
'Israeli Siege Causing De-development of Gaza'
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

David Cronin interviews MAHMOUD ABU RAHMA, Gazan human rights worker

"BRUSSELS, Mar 8 , 2010 (IPS) - For the first time since September 2006, Mahmoud Abu Rahma, a leading figure in the Palestinian human rights group Al Mezan, has been granted permission to travel outside Gaza.

More than 30 applications to leave the strip had previously been turned down by the Israeli authorities and it was not until German diplomats made representations on his behalf that he was finally allowed to visit Europe.

Rahma has been calling on European Union (EU) diplomats to hold Israel accountable for its attacks on innocent Gazans during the war it waged in late 2008 and early 2009. Yet convincing the EU to take a more robust line against Israel is an arduous task; only five of the Union’s 27 countries have supported the report on the Gaza war by a United Nations investigative team led by Richard Goldstone, a retired South African judge. The report found that there was no justifiable military objective for Israel’s targeting of civilians in that offensive.

Q: Why have you been prevented from leaving Gaza for three-and-a-half years?

A: There was one occasion when we had a meeting with the [Belgian] ministry of foreign affairs here. The Belgian ambassador intervened and the Israelis informed him that the director of my organisation and myself would be allowed to cross Erez [the crossing between Gaza and Israel]. And the next day they cancelled the papers. But other than that, we usually hear words like "rejected" without any explanations. Or "rejected for security reasons". More recently, we starting hearing the term "no sufficient grounds to grant a permit".

The Israeli policy now is that movement is allowed only for humanitarian reasons. They have this definition about minimum humanitarian needs, which is not in international law, but it has been adopted by the Israeli high court. And it is being implemented everywhere.

But this time the German embassy and many other embassies intervened and I managed to leave – eight days late......

Q: You have been documenting the use of pilotless drones – also known as unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) – by Israel. Is there a case for banning these weapons?

A: Based on our documentation on the number of drone attacks on Gaza during last winter’s war and based on the number of victims that have been documented and based on how most of these victims were actually civilians – many of them were children – the weapons that killed most civilians last winter were drones. They failed with excellence between distinguishing civilians and combatants....."
6:45
Living proof of the Armenian genocide
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

(Halide Adivar, centre, with ?Turkified? children. Top: Jemal Pasha, front, who helped run the orphanage, with dignitaries. Above: Armenian boys, who would have been forced to live as Muslims. )

The US wants to deny that Turkey's slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 was genocide. But the evidence is there, in a hilltop orphanage near Beirut

By Robert Fisk

"It's only a small grave, a rectangle of cheap concrete marking it out, blessed by a flourish of wild yellow lilies. Inside are the powdered bones and skulls and bits of femur of up to 300 children, Armenian orphans of the great 1915 genocide who died of cholera and starvation as the Turkish authorities tried to "Turkify" them in a converted Catholic college high above Beirut. But for once, it is the almost unknown story of the surviving 1,200 children – between three and 15 years old – who lived in the crowded dormitory of this ironically beautiful cut-stone school that proves that the Turks did indeed commit genocide against the Armenians in 1915.

Barack Obama and his pliant Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton – who are now campaigning so pitifully to prevent the US Congress acknowledging that the Ottoman Turkish massacre of 1.5 million Armenians was a genocide – should come here to this Lebanese hilltop village and hang their heads in shame. For this is a tragic, appalling tale of brutality against small and defenceless children whose families had already been murdered by Turkish forces at the height of the First World War, some of whom were to recall how they were forced to grind up and eat the skeletons of their dead fellow child orphans in order to survive starvation......

Hitherto, the argument that Armenians suffered a genocide has rested on the deliberate nature of the slaughter. But Article II of the 1951 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide specifically states that the definition of genocide – "to destroy in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group" – includes "forcibly transferring children of the group to another group". This is exactly what the Turks did in Lebanon. Photographs still exist of hundreds of near-naked Armenian children performing physical exercises in the college grounds. One even shows Jemal Pasha standing on the steps in 1916, next to the young and beautiful Halide Adivar who – after some reluctance – agreed to run the orphanage.

Before he died in 1989, Karnig Panian – who was six years old when he arrived at Antoura in 1916 – recorded in Armenian how his own name was changed and how he was given a number, 551, as his identity....

Panian described how, after cruel treatment or through physical weakness, many children died. They were buried behind the old college chapel. "At night, the jackals and wild dogs would dig them up and throw their bones here and there ... at night, kids would run out to the nearby forest to get apples or any fruits they could find – and their feet would hit bones. They would take these bones back to their rooms and secretly grind them to make soup, or mix them with grain so they could eat them as there was not enough food at the orphanage. They were eating the bones of their dead friends."....."
4:14
ZIONISTS GETTING BLOOD STAINED RED CARPET READY TO ‘WELCOME’ RACHEL CORRIE’S PARENTS
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

"Zionists are not unlike rabid dogs, they are mad and their bite is deadly. They prove this time and time again through their deeds and behaviour, but the following is an example of how sick they are. There is a cure for rabis, but unfortunately there isn’t one yet for zionism or most other forms of cancer.

The author of the following is a professor at the University of Haifa. His dribble appeared in the zionist rag from Brooklyn called the Jewish Press.

I have never seen anything as vile as this."
Desert Peace
--------------
A warning to our readers. If you are to read this professor's letter, subject of the post, then you better prepare a sick bag..This is hardcore stuff..low, vile and pathological, and not necessarily in that order!..
3:11
A CELBRATION OF MASS MURDER IN EAST JERUSALEM
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

"In case any of my readers have any doubts as to the type of people that are settling into Palestinian OWNED homes in Sheikh Jarrah, the following should clarify the matter.

These illegal settlers are truly among the lowest forms of life as we know it.

These are not ordinary people, they are inflicted with a deadly virus known as zionism. To date, there is no known cure.

Sheikh Jarrah Jews praise terrorist Baruch Goldstein on Purim
A video obtained by Ynet depicts Jewish residents of east Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood during their Purim celebrations singing songs of praise for Baruch Goldstein, a Jewish terrorist who murdered 29 Palestinians 16 years ago at the Cave of the Patriarchs.

The video was filmed this past Monday, and shows residents singing and dancing next to their Arab neighbors: “Dr. Goldstein, there is none other like you in the world. Dr. Goldstein, we all love you… he aimed at terrorists’ heads, squeezed the trigger hard, and shot bullets, and shot, and shot.”

One of the leaders of the leftist campaign in the neighborhood, Assaf Sharon, described to Ynet: “The settlers are allowed to hold political activities and aggravating and offensive as could possibly be, and the neighborhood’s original residents, who are still a majority there, are not allowed to do a thing. We saw them enter a house, have a party, and play very loud music.
DesertPeace
March 08, 2010
23:25
Do you allow me ? By Nizar Qabani
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

I find this poem to be relevant today. In a world where the Wahabis have hijacked Islam and are making it into a cooky religion with one absurd fatwa after another , it is refreshing to read what the great Nizar saw in Islam.
هل تسمحون لي؟

في بلاد يغتال فيها المفكرون، ويكفر الكاتب وتحرق الكتب، في مجتمعات ترفض الآخر، وتفرض الصمت على الافواه والحجر على الافكار، وتكفر اي سؤال كان ... ..

لابد ان استأذنكم ان تسمحوا لي..

فهل تسمحون لي ان اربي اطفالي كما اريد، وألا تملوا علي اهواءكم

واوامركم؟

هل تسمحون لي ان اعلم اطفالي ان الدين لله اولا، وليس للمشايخ

والفقهاء والناس؟

هل تسمحون لي ان اعلم صغيرتي ان الدين هو اخلاق وأدب وتهذيب

وامانة وصدق، قبل ان اعلمها بأي قدم تدخل الحمام وبأي يد تأكل؟

هل تسمحون لي ان اعلم ابنتي ان الله محبة، وانها تستطيع ان تحاوره

وتسأله ما تشاء، بعيدا عن تعاليم أي أحد؟

هل تسمحون لي الا اذكر عذاب القبر لاولادي، الذين لم يعرفوا ما

هو الموت بعد؟

هل تسمحون لي ان اعلم ابنتي اصول الدين وادبه واخلاقه، قبل ان

افرض عليها الحجاب؟

هل تسمحون لي ان اقول لابني الشاب ان ايذاء الناس وتحقيرهم لجنسيتهم

ولونهم ودينهم، هو ذنب كبير عند الله؟

هل تسمحون لي ان اقول لابنتي ان مراجعة دروسها والاهتمام بتعليمها

انفع واهم عند الله من حفظ آيات القرآن عن ظهر قلب دون تدبر معانيها؟

هل تسمحون لي ان اعلم ابني ان الاقتداء بالرسول الكريم يبدأ بنزاهته

وامانته وصدقه، قبل لحيته وقصر ثوبه؟

هل تسمحون لي ان اقول لابنتي ان صديقتها المسيحية ليست كافرة

والا تبكي خوفا عليها من دخول النار؟

هل تسمحون لي ان اجاهر، ان الله لم يوكل احدا في الارض بعد

الرسول لان يتحدث باسمه

ولم يخول احدا بمنح 'صكوك الغفران' للناس؟

هل تسمحون لي ان اقول، ان الله حرم قتل النفس البشرية، وان من قتل

نفسا بغير حق كأنما قتل الناس جميعا، وانه لا يحق لمسلم ان يروع مسلما؟

هل تسمحون لي ان اعلم اولادي ان الله اكبر واعدل وارحم من كل فقهاء

الارض مجتمعين؟ وان مقاييسه تختلف عن مقاييس المتاجرين بالدين،

وان حساباته أحن وارحم؟

هل تسمحون لي
17:53
Egypt president surgery successful
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

"Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's president, has successfully undergone a gall bladder operation in Germany.

Annette Tuffs, a spokeswoman for the Heidelberg University Hospital, where Mubrark was being treated said that the operation "went well"......"
17:42
Iraqi "Election," by Emad Hajjaj
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

The Choice is Between US Occupation or Iran Domination...
Some Choice!
17:15
ليبيا أكملت استعداداتها للقمة
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

Libya's Gadhafi storms out of Arab summit in Qatar

"....Gadhafi disrupted the opening Arab League summit in Qatar by taking a microphone and criticizing Saudi's King Abdullah, calling him a "British product and American ally.".....

"I am an international leader, the dean of the Arab rulers, the king of kings of Africa and the imam (leader) of Muslims, and my international status does not allow me to descend to a lower level," Gadhafi said......

"Now after six years, it has proved that you were the liar," Gadhafi told Abdullah...."

COMMENT:

I AM HOPING FOR A REPEAT PERFORMANCE FROM GADHAFI....THIS TIME IN LIBYA!
Entertainment is about all we get from These Farcical "Summits"....
So Please Bring it On, Colonel and "King of Kings!"
12:54
Current Al-Jazeera (Arabic) Online Poll
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

The question asked:
Do you see that Arab society has guaranteed women's rights?
With over 1,200 responding, 60% said no.
(I am surprised that only 60% said no)
12:32
The Siege of the Fictional City of Marja
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

A War of Perception and Misinformation

By GARETH PORTER
CounterPunch

"For weeks, the U.S. public followed the biggest offensive of the Afghanistan War against what it was told was a "city of 80,000 people" as well as the logistical hub of the Taliban in that part of Helmand. That idea was a central element in the overall impression built up in February that Marja was a major strategic objective, more important than other district centres in Helmand.

It turns out, however, that the picture of Marja presented by military officials and obediently reported by major news media is one of the clearest and most dramatic pieces of misinformation of the entire war, apparently aimed at hyping the offensive as a historic turning point in the conflict.

Marja is not a city or even a real town, but either a few clusters of farmers' homes or a large agricultural area covering much of the southern Helmand River Valley.

"It's not urban at all," an official of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), who asked not to be identified, admitted on Sunday. He called Marja a "rural community".....

Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, commander of ISAF, was clearly preparing to wage such a war in advance of the Marja operation. In remarks made just before the offensive began, McChrystal invoked the language of the counterinsurgency manual, saying, "This is all a war of perceptions."

The Washington Post reported Feb. 22 that the decision to launch the offensive against Marja was intended largely to impress U.S. public opinion with the effectiveness of the U.S. military in Afghanistan by showing that it could achieve a "large and loud victory."

The false impression that Marja was a significant city was an essential part of that message."
12:32
Finkelstein forced to cancel speaking engagment in Germany
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

[Comment: This is most discouraging about the state of the western /european"left". While the Right wing supports "Israel" and its crimes out of mutual self interests, the "left" in the west supports "Israel" out of conviction and white man's guilt and his tireless efforts not to be called a Nazi and to appear "liberal". You can argue that the Palestinian problem is the only post world war II crime that the entire west-especially the "left"- is in agreement on. It goes beyond the strength of the Zionist lobby, it is in essence the agreement in the west that "Israel" is nothing more than an imperialist extension of them , and supporting it is supporting their own colonial/imperialist/capitalist agendas in the middle east. This is the western "left" they care more about the plight of dolphins than suffering of Palestinians.]
Dr. Norman Finkelstein has cancelled his planned flight to Germany. He wanted to speak in Munich, Milbertshofen and Berlin on February 24, 25 and 26.
The scheduled title of his talk was: “One Year after the Israeli Assault on Gaza. The German Government’s Responsibility in the Ongoing Starvation of the Palestinian Population.”
This title does not beat around the bush. It violates the terminology accepted by official German politics. It violates the terminology accepted by the mainstream German media. And it tells the truth.
It is this truth that the German lobby for Israeli hit-and-smash nationalism is very much afraid of. Therefore a campaign was cranked up: Finkelstein, a man proud of the Jewish traditions bequeathed him by his parents, was defamed as an “anti-Semite” and “revisionist historian”, and thus made out to be in league with the Nazis. The Jewish Community of Berlin, look-alike Jewish groups in the party “The Left” (committees by the name of “Shalom”) and a Jewish committee in the German Social-Democratic Party (SPD) called for a demonstration against Finkelstein.
The Protestant Church did not want to poison its relations with these groups for no good reason. The same held for the Heinrich Böll Foundation associated with the Green Party, and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation associated with “The Left”, also. All of those withdrew their support for organizing Finkelstein’s talk. It was not enough that Finkelstein himself is a Jew, or that we – the “Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East” – were co-organizers.
12:21
Israel Set to Join Club of Richest Nations
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

Is Europe Planning Seal of Approval for Israeli Settlers?

By JONATHAN COOK
CounterPunch

in Nazareth.

"An exclusive club of the world’s most developed countries is poised to admit Israel as a member even though, a confidential internal document indicates, doing so will amount to endorsing Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian and Syrian territories.

Israel has been told that its accession to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is all but assured when the 30 member states meet in May.....

Israel’s bid for OECD membership has been opposed by the leaders of its Arab minority, one-fifth of the population. Last month the Higher Follow-Up Committee, the minority’s main political body, petitioned the OECD to reject Israel.

It has pointed out that half of Israel’s Arab citizens are living below the poverty line, a rate three times higher than among Israeli Jews, and that on average Arab citizens earn salaries that are one-third less than Jews. Mohammed Zeidan, head of the committee, blamed the disparities in wealth on what he called Israel’s “racist and discriminatory polices”.

Another OECD report, published in January, showed that, even on the basis of Israel’s figures excluding the Palestinians, Israel would still have the widest social gaps of any member state if it were accepted."
10:04
8th of March in Palestine, by Carlos Latuff
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

(Click on cartoon to enlarge)
9:55
Real News Video: Russell tribunal says sanction Israel
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

Russell Tribunal on Palestine concludes the EU should sanction Israel until violations stop

More at The Real News

"This week the Russell Tribunal on Palestine ruled in Barcelona, Spain on six questions concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Tribunal's judgements are not judicially binding but are meant to examine the complicity of the European Union in perpetuating what the Tribunal called Israel's "policy of war, occupation, and colonization for 60 years." The jurists were assembled from around the globe and issued their conclusions on Wednesday, March 3rd. Among the conclusions, the jury stipulated that Israel practices a form of apartheid. The Real News' Lia Tarachansky attended the Barcelona session and spoke to jurists and participants."
9:46
US – China: Provoking the Creditor, Hugging the Holy man (Washington’s Road to Ruin)
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

By James Petras

"The Obama Administration has heightened tensions with China through a series of measures which can only be characterized as major provocations designed to undermine relations between the two countries. These provocations include political support for separatist movements, such as the US-funded theocratic-monk led Tibetan secessionists and the Washington-based Uyghur secessionists, as well as through the $6.4 billion-dollar advanced arms sales to Taiwan, a virtual protectorate of the US Navy.....

Conclusion

Ultimately what we have is a conflict between two diametrically opposing political economic systems.

On the one hand, a United States military driven empire, which focuses on conquering Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran, backs the ambitions of a militarist Israel, seeks marginal client states in Latin America and militarizes Pakistan, Colombia and Mexico.

On the other hand, China deepens its economic ties with dynamic Asian countries; increases its oil links with Saudi Arabia, Iran, the Gulf States, Venezuela, Russia and Angola; displaces the US as the leading trading partner of Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Chile; and increases its trade and investment links with Southern Africa in minerals and related infrastructure projects. The contrast is striking.....

In the end the US will not resolve its budget deficits and trade imbalances, not to mention its endless imperial wars, by pandering to self-described divine rulers, like the Dali Lama, and provoking a dynamic economic power such as China. Nor can Washington escape its profound economic imbalances by catering to Wall Street speculators and ignoring the decline of America’s productive forces. Drones, military surges and surrogate puppet armies engaged in endless wars are no match for the surging investments, robust developing markets and joint ventures linking China with the dynamic emerging economies of the world. "
9:37
Iraqi "Elections," by Mr. Fish
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)
9:21
Calling All Rebels
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

(University of California at Berkeley student Natalia Garcia protests on campus during a day of demonstrations, marches, teach-ins and walkouts planned nationwide. Events are being held at most of California’s public colleges and universities to protest budget cuts that have led to canceled classes, faculty furloughs and steep fee hikes.)

Another Great Piece

By Chris Hedges
TruthDig

"There are no constraints left to halt America’s slide into a totalitarian capitalism. Electoral politics are a sham. The media have been debased and defanged by corporate owners. The working class has been impoverished and is now being plunged into profound despair. The legal system has been corrupted to serve corporate interests. Popular institutions, from labor unions to political parties, have been destroyed or emasculated by corporate power. And any form of protest, no matter how tepid, is blocked by an internal security apparatus that is starting to rival that of the East German secret police. The mounting anger and hatred, coursing through the bloodstream of the body politic, make violence and counter-violence inevitable. Brace yourself. The American empire is over. And the descent is going to be horrifying........

The capacity to exercise moral autonomy, the capacity to refuse to cooperate, offers us the only route left to personal freedom and a life with meaning. Rebellion is its own justification. Those of us who come out of the religious left have no quarrel with Camus. Camus is right about the absurdity of existence, right about finding worth in the act of rebellion rather than some bizarre dream of an afterlife or Sunday School fantasy that God rewards the just and the good. “Oh my soul,” the ancient Greek poet Pindar wrote, “do not aspire to immortal life, but exhaust the limits of the possible.” We differ with Camus only in that we have faith that rebellion is not ultimately meaningless. Rebellion allows us to be free and independent human beings, but rebellion also chips away, however imperceptibly, at the edifice of the oppressor and sustains the dim flames of hope and love. And in moments of profound human despair these flames are never insignificant. They keep alive the capacity to be human. We must become, as Camus said, so absolutely free that “existence is an act of rebellion.” Those who do not rebel in our age of totalitarian capitalism and who convince themselves that there is no alternative to collaboration are complicit in their own enslavement. They commit spiritual and moral suicide."
7:40
Once again, a nation walks through fire to give the West its 'democracy'
» ‎ Palestinian Pundit (palestine)

Democracy doesn't seem to work when countries are occupied by Western troops

By Robert Fisk

"In 2005 the Iraqis walked in their tens of thousands through the thunder of suicide bombers, and voted – the Shias on the instructions of their clerics, the Sunnis sulking in a boycott – to prove Iraq was a "democracy". There followed the most blood-boltered period in Iraq's modern history. Yesterday, the Iraqis walked in their tens of thousands through the thunder of mortar fire – at least 24 dead before voting stations closed – to prove that Iraq was a "democracy".

This time, the Sunnis did vote. And we Westerners tried to forget the past, even the recent past. Few news reports recalled that only weeks ago hundreds of candidates, most of them Sunnis, were banned from standing on the grounds that they had once had links with the Baath Party. It was a clear return to sectarian politics. Shias who were close to Saddam still hold their jobs in the "democratic" Iraq for which the Iraqis supposedly went to vote yesterday.

Under Iraq's new laws, the electoral system has been jiggled to ensure that no single party can win power. There has got to be a coalition, an alliance – or a "broad alliance" as the television analysts were telling us – among whomever of the 6,000 candidates from 86 parties gain seats in parliament. But all this means is that the next sectarian government will hold power according to the percentage of Shia, Sunni and Kurdish communities in Iraq....."

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