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Kidnapped for Christ-Documentary
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Kidnapped for Christ Documentary looking for donations to finish the Film
Kidnapped for Christ follows the stories of several American teenagers who were taken from their homes and sent to an Evangelical Christian reform school located in The Dominican Republic known as Escuela Caribe. The school is run by Americans and is advertised as a “therapeutic Christian boarding school” whose mission is to “help struggling youth transform into healthy Christian adults.” In reality, this school employed classic brainwashing techniques to breakdown and re-build its students.
One such student was David, a gay teenager taken in the middle of the night to the Dominican Republic to be re-programmed into a straight, born-again Christian. Once David’s community found out what had happened to him, they formed a plan to bring him home on his 18th birthday. The struggles they faced to get David released revealed just how far Escuela Caribe (Caribe School) would go to prevent a student from leaving.
The Impact
This film addresses an issue that very few Americans are aware of, but that has impacted the lives of millions of adolescents and families over the past several decades – the rise of inappropriate and abusive “treatment” in the troubled teen industry. All over the US and abroad, so-called therapeutic boarding schools, boot camps, and wilderness rehabilitation programs take in teenagers with a wide range of issues and use unsafe and often harmful tactics to reform them. Using positive façades, religious affiliations, and substantial amounts of money, many such camps and schools have committed inappropriate and abusive acts behind their guarded walls for decades with impunity.
Few journalists or law enforcement agencies have investigated the considerable number of abuse allegations and even deaths arising from these types of programs. No one has been able to comprehensively document on film what goes on behind closed gates at any of these institutions – until now.
Kidnapped for Christ will tell the stories of students who were sent to one of many similar institutions, so that they may make people aware of the danger these programs constitute for our youth.
Evangelical Christian group admits homosexuality can’t be ‘cured’
The former leader of Exodus International, which had touted a ‘cure’ for homosexual attraction, has himself admitted to same-sex attraction.
“I am sorry that some of you spent years working through the shame and guilt you felt when your attractions didn’t change,” he wrote on June 19. “I am sorry we promoted sexual orientation change efforts and reparative theories about sexual orientation that stigmatized parents. I am sorry that there were times I didn’t stand up to people publicly ‘on my side’ who called you names like sodomite – or worse.” Alan Chambers
We were all monitored closely, but a gay student was always under a microscope. I learned this the hard way. On a rare free day I was playing monopoly with several students; my back hurt. Using a machete to cut grass will do that. One of my housemates started giving me a shoulder massage. Immediately, veteran students around us reported this to our house staff. For the next 20 minutes I was yelled at and berated by a staff person for touching a gay student. He couldn’t understand how I could let someone so filthy touch me. I remember the loathing and hate that was in his voice. I remember him saying, “If you only knew who he was you never would have let him touch you.” My punishment was swats on the ass with a leather strap, administered by a 30-something male staff member with others watching. My housemate’s were much worse. Former student of Escuela Caribe
BRAZIL: Evangelicals Force Approval Of Bill Legalizing “Gay Cure” Therapy
Brazil outlawed “ex-gay” therapy in 1999, but yesterday a congressional commission approved lifting that ban after pressure from evangelicals.
The commission is led by evangelical pastor Marco Feliciano of the Social Christian Party (JMG: above), who has been accused of homophobia and enraged activists by calling AIDS a “gay cancer” in a tweet. His appointment as head the Commission for Human Rights and Minorities in the lower house of Brazil’s Congress was fiercely opposed by gay and human rights groups. “In practice, (the initiative’s) result would be that a person over 18 years of age, responsible for his actions, who is homosexual and wants to reorient his sexuality, can be attended by a psychologist,” said lawmaker Joao Campos, a member of the evangelical bloc of Brazil’s lower house.
The bill must now be approved by other committees in the House of Deputies as well as the Senate.
What We Need
FINISHING FUNDS – Since our last fundraising campaign we have been able to complete the remaining interviews and shoots we needed to get a rough cut of the film done. Now we need funds to complete post production on the film. This includes funds to pay for editing, sound mixing, music composition, color correction, graphics and titles and deliverable for film festivals. Everyone working on this film so far has done so on their own time and without a salary because we all believe in this project, but there comes a point where we need to hire people in order to get the film done well – that’s why we are fundraising again.
Other Ways You Can Help
Spread the word to all your friends and family! Tell your rich uncles, neighbors, yoga instructors, baristas, dog walkers, and blind dates to check out the website and donate even a small amount. If everyone who watched the trailer on You Tube gave just $5 dollars we’d have more than enough funds to finish the film. If you want to see the film donate a little money so we can finish it for you 🙂
Also, if you are a former student of Escuela Caribe or a similar school or camp, we would love to hear your stories. You can contact us at http://www.kidnappedforchrist.com/#!contact.
Donations are tax-deducible through our fiscal sponsor, the International Documentary Association. They also make sure we spend the money according to the budget for the film we submitted to them, so there’s an extra layer of accountability – you can rest assured that your hard earned money is going towards completion of this film and not our bar tabs.
Your donation is tax deductible!!! Kidnapped For Christ is a fiscally sponsored project of the International Documentary Association (IDA), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions on behalf of Kidnapped For Christ are payable to IDA and are tax deductible less the value of any goods or services received, as allowed by law. The value of goods and services being offered is noted under each donation level. If you would like to deduct the entire donation you have the option to simply decline the reward at check out.
Society inequalities keeps me busy!
Posted on January 09, 2012 by Akashma Online News
Educating in the economics of the poor.
“Half of the world population starves.. other half diets” this statement it is not an over exaggerated sentence. I think it tells the whole story in few words. But to know how wide the disparity is between the rich and poor and the effect of concentration of wealth and power in few hands we need to carefully look beyond the surface and be willing to learn the world we are living in.
Here are some facts from an extensive research about world poverty.
According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.” other 25,000 die of poverty related diseases. Every year nearly 11 million children living in poverty die before their fifth birthday
Around 27-28 percent of all Children in developing countries are estimated to be underweight or stunted. Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
1.4 billion people live below poverty line, that means they earn less than $1.00 per day.
About 0.13% of the world’s population controlled 25% of the world’s assets in 2004.
The wealthiest 20% of the world’s population consumes 76.6% of the world’s goods while 80% of humanity gets the remainder.
For every $1 in aid a developing country receives, over $25 is spent on debt repayment.
A mere 12 percent of the world’s population uses 85 percent of its water, and these 12 percent do not live in the Third World.Source .
Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen.
For the price of one missile, a school full of hungry children could eat lunch every day for 5 years.
The assets of the world’s three richest men are more than the combined GNP of all the least developed countries on the planet.
One out of every eight children under the age of twelve in the U.S. goes to bed hungry every night.
The Capitals of the 3 major religions in the world and the Church of England control the money of the world.
The Country Invented For the Rich
Country Invented for the Super Rich Arabs
Stolen Money, Unaccounted. Rich individuals and their families have as much as $32 trillion of hidden financial assets in offshore tax havens, representing up to $280 billion in lost income tax revenues, according to research published on Sunday.
The Vatican Gold belongs to the world
The study estimating the extent of global private financial wealth held in offshore accounts – excluding non-financial assets such as real estate, gold, yachts and racehorses – puts the sum at between $21 and $32 trillion. Reuter Report
Extreme Poverty
Invest on people Not War
The Vatican Billions
The Catholic Church, therefore, once all her assets have been put together, is the most formidable stockbroker in the world. The ‘Wall Street Journal’ said that the Vatican’s financial deals in the U.S. alone were so big that very often it sold or bought gold in lots of a million or more dollars at one time.
Therefore, the Vatican was, and still is, the most redoubtable wealth accumulator and property owner in existence. No one knows for certain how much the Catholic Church was, or is worth in terms of dollars and other currencies, not even the pope himself.
That is the true situation borne out by a Vatican official who, when asked to make a guess at the Vatican’s wealth today, replied very tellingly, “Only God knows.” The Battle Cries, 1986 The Vatican Billions
- Saudi Royal Family The Emirates Palace-Extreme Luxury
Extreme Poverty
The Saudi Family Billions
Where is the money accumulated? Saudi Arabia hosts the largest market of ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNW) in the Middle East, representing 1,225 people holding a collective wealth of $ 227 billion, according to a global wealth intelligence report released Thursday.
A few kilometers from the binged-out shopping malls of Saudi Arabia‘s capital, Souad al-Shamir lives in a concrete house on a trash-strewn alley. She has no job, no money, five children under 14 and an unemployed husband who is laid up with chronic heart problems.
Saudi Arabia’s riches conceal a growing problem of poverty, In a country with vast oil wealth and lavish royalty, an estimated quarter of Saudis live below the poverty line
“The state hides the poor very well,” said Rosie Bsheer, a Saudi scholar who has written extensively on development and poverty. “The elite don’t see the suffering of the poor. People are hungry.”
The Saudi government discloses little official data about its poorest citizens. But press reports and private estimates suggest that between 2 million and 4 million of the country’s native Saudis live on less than about $530 a month – about $17 a day – considered the poverty line in Saudi Arabia.
Gold of England Bank
Extreme Poverty
Average home of the poor
The Church of England and The Bank of England-The Crown
Parliament of the United Kingdom gives the Church of England the power to pass primary legislation called Measures. Measures have the same force and effect as Acts.
The Governors of the Bank of England are appointed by the Crown for periods of five years, and the Directors for three years.
The Crown Gold The Crown Estate is one of the largest property owners in the United Kingdom with a portfolio worth £7.0 billion, with urban properties valued at £5.179 billion, and rural holdings valued at £1.049 billion; and an annual profit of £240.2 million, as at 31 March 2012.The majority of the estate by value is urban, including a large number of properties in central London, but the estate also owns 144,000 ha (356,000 ac) of agricultural land and forest,[3] more than half of the UK’s foreshore, and retains various other traditional holdings and rights, for example Ascot racecourse and Windsor Great Park. Royal Residences
thanks God is Friday Sucking the Cow’s Shit to Eat while billions of dollars are stored in gold in the banks of the Rich. And billions of grains stored in multiple warehouses around the world.
The Usurers Billions and the Banking Industry Central Banks Issuers of Debt Paper Money
This prophecy, by Benjamin Franklin, was made in a “CHIT CHAT AROUND THE TABLE DURING INTERMISSION,” at the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention of 1787. This statement was recorded in the dairy of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, a delegate from South Carolina.
“I fully agree with General Washington, that we must protect this young nation from an insidious influence and impenetration. The menace, gentlemen, is the Jews.
In whatever country Jews have settled in any great number, they have lowered its moral tone; depreciated its commercial integrity; have segregated themselves and have not been assimilated; have sneered at and tried to undermine the Christian religion upon which that nation is founded, by objecting to its restrictions; have built up a state within the state; and when opposed have tried to strangle that country to death financially, as in the case of Spain and Portugal.
For over 1,700 years, the Jews have been bewailing their sad fate in that they have been exiled from their homeland, as they call Palestine. But gentlemen, did the world give it to them in fee simple, they would at once find some reason for not returning. Why? Because they are vampires, and vampires do not live on vampires. They cannot live only among themselves. They must subsist on Christians and other people not of their race.
If you do not exclude them from these United States, in their Constitution, in less than 200 years they will have swarmed here in such great numbers that they will dominate and devour the land and change our form of government, for which we Americans have shed our blood, given our lives our substance and jeopardized our liberty.
LUTHER, MARTIN. 16th century German religious reformer. “They are the real liars and bloodhounds, who have not only perverted and falsified the entire Scriptures from beginning to end and without ceasing with their interpretations. And all of the anxious sighing, longing and hoping of their hearts is directed to the time when some day they would like to deal with us heathen as they dealt with the heathen in Persia at the time of Esther… On how they love the book of Esther, which so nicely agrees with their bloodthirsty, revengeful and murderous desire and hope.
Now what are we going to do with these rejected, condemned Jewish people?… Let us apply the ordinary wisdom of other nations like France, Spain, Bohemia, et al., who made them give an account of what they had stolen through usury, and divided it evenly; but expelled them from their country.
HENRY FORD in (The Dearborn Independent, 12-19 February 1921
“Jews have always controlled the business… The motion picture influence of the United States and Canada… is exclusively under the control, moral and financial, of the Jewish manipulators of the public mind.”
HARRINGTON, LORD. 19th century British statesman. Opposed admission of Jewish immigrants to England because:
“They are the great moneylenders and loan contractors of the world… The consequence is that the nations of the world are groaning under heavy systems of taxation and national debt. They have ever been the greatest enemies of freedom. (Speech in the House of Lords, July 12, 1858)
The Privileged by “God”
Oil Wealth belongs to the WorldRohingyas Refugees October 30 2012 Jakarta News
Rhingya refugees seeking refugee
in Indonesia are forced to go back.Rohingyas Refugees languish in poor refugee camps
Rohingya Culture-Kaladan News Photo Credit
Starvation is an engineered social disease
Guatemala children digging for food
Palestinian Refugees 1948
Palestinians Refugees 65 years later
Palestinians refugees in Gaza after
Israel assault 2009-2010Orphans children soldiers in Africa
orphan children soldiers
orphan children soldiers
Orphan child soldier in Serbia
people protesting IMF
International Monetary FundSmall child working building bricks
Chinese Flip Flop Slaves Feet
Chinese Sweat Shop Crowding living and working space
Chinese slavery-illegal Chinese born out of One Child
state policy. They do not have Chinese citizenship, they
are not allowed to go to school.Palestinian Child in Gaza under the rubles of his house
after Israel missile destroyed it. He lives now in a tentGaza-Egypt underground tunnel-food and products
are transported day and night thru these dangerous
tunnels. Israel black listed more than 5000 needed
itemsDead for Starvation in Africa Nobody Cares
Refugees line up for aid, March 11, 2015. With the camp under a government-imposed blockade, the refugees must endure starvation and disease. Credit/Reuters
The Vatican Billions
The Vatican Billions
Source: ‘Battle Cry’, September/October 1986
by Avro Manhattan
Origin of the Current Colossal Wealth of the Catholic Church
The following is an excerpt from chapter 26 of “The Vatican Billions” by Avro Manhattan.
The current spectacular accumulation of wealth by the Catholic Church is a comparatively recent phenomenon. It really was initiated when the See of Peter was deprived of the Papal States by the Italians in 1870. These states included Rome itself and comprised almost one third of the Italian peninsula.
It was then that she began the accumulation of riches according to the success formula of the modern industrial and financial world. The main foundation stones however, were laid by Pope Benedict XV (1914-22) during and after the First World War (1914-18).
He originated today’s Vatican policy that church and papal investments should not be limited by political or religious considerations, but instead should be handled purely on the basis of sound, good, concrete and profitable business.
The Vatican at that time had not the liquid resources which it received a decade later from Fascist Italy, but it had sufficient millions to invest in the world markets. Benedict XV, to prove that he meant business when he promulgated the new policy, promptly invested most of the Vatican’s money.
Where? Shades of the crusading pontiffs! In Turkish Empire Securities! It was the beginning of a road which was to bring the Catholic Church into the ranks of the top billionaire corporations of the twentieth century.
By 1929, the time of the Lateran Treaty, the Vatican’s State treasure had become an official fund. In that same year Mussolini turned over 1,750 million lire (the equivalent at that time of 100 million dollars) to the Vatican as a final settlement of the Roman question.
Pope Pius XI, no less a good businessman than Benedict, invested most of this vast sum in America immediately after the market collapse. The move was a profitable one, for, following the great depression of the thirties, the Church reaped colossal profits when the U.S. economy recovered.
But, while investing largely in the U.S., the Vatican was sufficiently astute to invest a good portion of the Lateran compensation in Italy itself. The results, by any standards, have been staggering. It is estimated that the Holy See presently owns between 10 and 15 per cent of all the stocks and shares registered on the Italian Stock Exchange.
The matter-of-fact British periodical, ‘The Economist’ put it: “It could theoretically throw the Italian economy into confusion if it decided to unload all its shares suddenly and dump them on the market.”
This was confirmed a few years later by the Italian finance minister when, in February 1968, he declared that the Vatican owned shares worth approximately 100 billion lire.
The wealth of the Church, besides becoming an increasing moral embarrassment, had also become a financial dilemma. The Church found herself top-heavy with wealth, not only because of the laborious collection of money derived from thousands of religious, ecclesiastic and lay organisations, but equally because of the skill of top financial brains which, since the Second World War had invested the Vatican’s billions in most parts of the world with dexterity second to none. Their skill, with the help of the global intelligence at their disposal, had truly turned the Vatican millions into billions.
Special Investment Office Created
The accumulation of such colossal riches made the haphazard methods of the past obsolete, indeed, dangerous. The pope was compelled to set up a special Prefecture for Economic Affairs.
The Prefecture, directed mostly by American, French, German and other brains, has to operate mainly outside Italy, since the investments were spread over a global field. The celebrated Jewish house of the Rothschilds – who, incidentally had been lending money to the Vatican since 1831 – came once more to the fore with the buying, selling and amalgamating of millions of shares and other investments on behalf of the Vatican.
Vatican financial operations can trespass into semi-illegality at times because of their diversity and secrecy. Scandal erupted in the eighties to the astonishment of millions of Catholics and the chagrin of many who genuinely thought the Vatican was engaged only in charitable operations.
By and large, however, its investments are well looked after by those financial experts whose experience is second to none! The Vatican’s traditional financial dealers are a mostly non-Catholic fraternity of Protestants, agnostics, non-Christians, Jews and even atheists.
Its traditional financial transactions have been handled for years by the great banking concerns of J. P. Morgan in New York (mostly for American investments), Hambros of London for British investments, and the Swiss Credit Bank of Zurich for European investments – without mentioning the Vatican’s own concerns such as Banco di Roma, Banco Commerciale, Banco Santo Spirito.
Now, it must never be forgotten that all the above form only the “liquid” financial assets of the Holy See. We have entirely excluded the solid properties, real estate, land, industrial and commercial concerns owned and controlled by the Catholic Church in Italy, Spain, Germany, Great Britain, and North, Central and South America. To estimate the actual current values of the Churches tremendous possessions and real estate properties is an impossibility.
It must be remembered that the Vatican – or rather, the Catholic Church – owns thousands upon thousands of churches, cathedrals, monasteries, nunneries and sundry edifices throughout the Western world.
What is the value of the land upon which all these buildings stand, in current money? What is the value of the actual buildings themselves? If one should give modest prices for the humble parish churches and parish halls, what prices would an estate agent give, for instance, for St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, Notre Dame in Paris, and St. Peter’s in Rome, to mention only a few?
The claim that such property is not owned by the Catholic Church is like saying that a Communist dictatorship does not own anything because all the property is owned by the people.
When the Catholic Church sells a piece of land or buys one, the bishop as a rule signs the deed, which means his See becomes the owner or receives the money. Whether the transaction is localised to the diocese, or deputised from the national hierarchy or from the Vatican, is basically irrelevant since ultimately it concerns the property of the Catholic Church.
Government Collected Millions for Vatican
In some countries, not only does the Church evade taxation, but the state itself collects taxation on her behalf. This absurdity has been one of the most extraordinary peculiarities of Germany, which “compels” German citizens to pay a “Kirchensteuer” (Church Tax).
It was first inspired by the Weimar Constitution of 1919, and confirmed by the pact between Hitler and the Vatican in their concordat of 1933. The Kirchensteuer was made constitutional in 1949, after the Second World War. The Catholic government – that is the Christian Democrats – not only enforced the church taxation upon an unwilling populace, it put the state machinery at the disposal of the church. Thus the Government collected the tax, enforced its payment, and then handed over the money thus collected to the Church.
Before the Second World War, the German citizens used to pay an average of two or three marks a year. By 1972, the figure rose to between fifty-five and sixty marks.
In Germany, therefore, the Vatican, besides enjoying outstanding financial benefits from its skilful penetration of the giant industrial concerns (as it did in Italy and in the United States), had its coffers replenished with additional millions from the Kirchensteuer, to the tune of some 350 million dollars a year. The scheme being the result of the political Catholicism which dominated the life of post-war Germany for so long.
World’s Biggest Stock Broker
The Catholic Church, therefore, once all her assets have been put together, is the most formidable stockbroker in the world. The ‘Wall Street Journal’ said that the Vatican’s financial deals in the U.S. alone were so big that very often it sold or bought gold in lots of a million or more dollars at one time.
Therefore, the Vatican was, and still is, the most redoubtable wealth accumulator and property owner in existence. No one knows for certain how much the Catholic Church was, or is worth in terms of dollars and other currencies, not even the pope himself.
That is the true situation borne out by a Vatican official who, when asked to make a guess at the Vatican’s wealth today, replied very tellingly, “Only God knows.”
by Avro Manhattan
Source: ‘Battle Cry’, September/October 1986
Search history for Jews instances of usury, abuse of power, assimilation, intolerance and abuse of religion to emotionally black mail people’s minds and hearts.
The Jews are the only people in the world who have found hostility in every country in which they settled in any numbers. The big question is – WHY?
Today it is taught in the schools that “Anti-Semitism” began in Germany in the 1930s after which they were deported. What is not studied is the fact that at one time or other the Jews have been expelled from every nation in Europe! When the Jews first began to immigrate to America the early colonialists in New York, Charleston and Savannah tried to ban their entry. Benjamin Franklin pleaded with the members of the Continental Congress to enter a specific ban against Jewish immigration into the U. S. Constitution to bar them for all time to come.- What’s famous man says about the Jews thru out history
Employment of nuclear weapons is illegal and “haram” – Sin
Posted on October 04, 2012 by Akashma Online News
How can a set of countries seating on thousands of nuclear weapons heads are barking at another Nation that wants to take advantage of the nuclear age discoveries. The word nuclear is not necessarily to be linked to “Nuclear Bomb”, all the applications of the Nuclear Technology: Energy generation, In Medicine to diagnosis to treatment, Food and Agriculture, Industry.
I know that Hiroshima and Nagasaki comes to your mind when you think nuclear, but remember not every Nation has the desire to control the world as US, UK, France and Israel do.
Think twice before supporting the mentality of war and empty strikes of US and Israel, the way they do their dealings with other Nations is wrong. Educate yourself on the possibilities of a world of peace without the bully in the block dictating global policies that benefit Corporations and not people.
Iran’s Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a message to the international nuclear disarmament conference held in Tehran on April 17, 2010 said employment of nuclear weapons is illegal and “haram” (Arabic for Sin) but using nuclear energy was the right of all nations.
Although several countries have produced and stockpiled nuclear weapons that could lead to commission of a major nuclear crime and have seriously threatened world peace, only one government has committed the ultimate nuclear offense(Hiroshina and Nagasaki), the United States of America,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.
“A careful study of the critical events leading up to 6 August 1945 offers many distinct explanations. Contemporary discussions on the subject matter introduce a host of theories but taken individually they are far from satisfying. To suggest that a single overriding factor dominated the decision calculus of American policymakers would be to miss the point entirely. Rather, President Harry Truman’s decision to drop the bomb on Japan was a culmination of military, political and social motivations used to promote the self-interests of the United States, whether it be in the number of American lives saved in a potential invasion of the island or in shaping the geopolitical structure of the postwar era. Given the magnitude of what transpired during the summer months”The deception to drop the Bomb
The full text of his message is as follows:
“In the name of God the most merciful, the most gracious”
I wish to welcome the honorable guests that have gathered here for this conference. It is a source of pleasure for the Islamic Republic of Iran to be the host for this international disarmament conference. I hope this occasion will be an opportunity to yield enduring and important results from your dialogues and discussions for the whole humanity.
Atomic and nuclear sciences are among the greatest achievement of humankind and must be at the service of welfare and advancement of all human societies. The application fields of nuclear science cover a wide spectrum of medical, energy and industrial uses, each being of essential importance. For this reason, we can rightly say that nuclear technology occupies a prominent position in our economic life and its importance will only rise as we move forward. As the needs of industry, the health and energy sectors grow, so do the efforts to make more use of nuclear energy. The nations of the Middle East, like other nations of the world, are thirsting for peace, security and progress. They have the right to ensure the economic position and prosperity of the future generations. Most likely, one of the reasons behind efforts to cast clouds of doubt on the peaceful nuclear activities of the Islamic Republic of Iran is to hold back the nations of the region from paying serious attention to this natural and important right of theirs.
The deceptive ploy by the sole nuclear offender that falsely claims to be advocating non-proliferation of nuclear arms, while doing nothing substantive for this cause, will never succeed. If the campaign by the United States were not fictitious, could the Zionist regime refrain from accepting the rules of international law, especially the non-proliferation regime, and turn the occupied land of Palestine into an arsenal with huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons?
The word “atom” implies as much the advancement of human knowledge, as it does remind us of the most appalling event in history, the most dreadful genocide, and the gravest exploitation of scientific achievements of humankind. Although several countries have produced and stockpiled nuclear weapons that could lead to commission of a major nuclear crime and have seriously threatened world peace, only one government has committed the ultimate nuclear offense, the United States of America. The innocent people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were attacked by atomic bombs in an unequal and cruel war.
From the time of the first explosion of an atomic weapon by the government of the United States in Hiroshima and Nagasaki that caused human catastrophe with colossal proportions, the security of the entire humankind has been threatened and there has been a global consensus on the need for complete elimination of these weapons. The use of nuclear weapon not only caused massive loss of lives and destruction, but was also totally indiscriminate toward military and civilian population, young and old, women and men. Its ruthless consequences crossed political and geographical boundary lines and even wreaked irreparable losses on the next generations. As a consequence of these devastating effects, any use of or even threat to use nuclear weapons is a serious and material violation of indisputable rules of humanitarian law and a cogent example of a war crime. After a few countries acquired these weapons, it has been proven beyond any doubt that there is no winner in a nuclear war and entering such a war is irrational and inhuman. Nevertheless, despite these simple moral, rational, humane and even military facts and justifications and emphatic and repeated desire of the international community for the total elimination of these weapons, a small number of governments that have built their illusion of security on the insecurity of others continue to ignore this global call.
The insistence of these governments on holding on and increasing the destructive powers of these weapons will have no use but to serve as a tool for collective intimidation and terror and to create a false sense of security based on deterrence resulting from assured destruction and perpetuation of the global nuclear nightmare. Colossal amounts of resources have been spent in this irrational arms race, so each superpower could have this illusion and power to imagine that it is able to destroy its rivals and other inhabitants of the planet Earth, even their own population, many times over. It is for good reason that the deterrent strategy based on “mutually assured destruction” is referred to as MAD.
Over the recent years some government have gone beyond the “mutually assured destruction” deterrence doctrine in facing other nuclear powers. They have gone so far that their nuclear strategy emphasizes on maintaining nuclear choice in countering conventional threats by violators of NPT, while the greatest violators of NPT are those powers that, in addition to violating their commitments under article 6 of NPT on nuclear disarmament have even taken over others in the race for vertical and horizontal proliferation. They have played a direct role in proliferating these weapons by helping to arm the Zionist regime with nuclear weapons and supporting the policies of this regime. This is contrary to their undertaking under article 1 of NPT, and poses a serious threat to the Middle East region and beyond. The bullying and aggressor regime of the United States is leading these efforts.
It behooves this international conference on disarmament to review and examine the perils resulting from production and stockpiling of nuclear weapons in the world, and to present sensible and practical ways and solutions to counter this threat against humanity so, serious steps could be taken toward protecting world peace and security.
We believe that other weapons of mass destruction, in addition to nuclear weapons, such as chemical and biological weapons, also pose a serious threat to humanity. The people of Iran were themselves victims of the use of chemical weapons and are better aware of the dangers of production and stockpiling of these weapons. We are prepared to make resources available to us to counter this threat.
We regard the use of these weapons to be illegal and haram, and it is incumbent on all to protect humankind from this grave disaster.
Freedom of Expression at the Core of The French Ban
Posted on April 11, 2011 by Marivel Guzman
yamnulke
Just think about it, we as a society must not “imposed” our beliefs on others, being religious, political or any other kind.
If I allowed a group of men on women (sitting government) to decide what they think is good for 1 million or billion people,then we as a society are exposing ourselves to end up in a fascist society. To impair my ability to decide what to wear is the same as to impair my ability to decide what to say, or to impair my ability to decide what to eat. You could change the subject line to what ever word is that you want and applies to everyone of them.
Don’t allow yourself to be victim of radical minds that are working in their interest and not in the interest of society. We have come long way fighting for the “Rights OF BE OR NOT TO BE”……
Please show your support for the citizens of France that are facing a draconian law that is going to put their liberties in danger. Support our sisters in France to retain their freedom to wear or not to wear a religious accessory.
Protest against France’s Niqab ban – Defend freedom of religious and
What I like to Do or Say is in Danger
cultural expression – No to Islamophobia
Monday 11 April, 6pm
Outside the French Embassy
58 Knightsbridge
London SW1X 7JT
(nearest tube Knightsbridge)
or
Called by
Unite Against Fascism and One Society Many Cultures
Supported by
British Muslim Initiative / Islamic Forum of Europe / Islam Expo /
Enough Coalition /Free Minders of The Word
The ban on the niqab (full face veil) is due to come into force in
France on Monday 11 April. This denies Muslim women freedom of religious and cultural expression and the right to choose what they wear. Free and democratic societies should allow people to express their faith and culture, and women to dress however they choose.
The only beneficiary of this ban and the Islamophobic campaign that has accompanied it is the fascist Front National, which recently polled 36% of the vote where it stood candidates and 11% across the country, in France’s regional elections. There is a danger that FN leader Marine Le Pen could finish second in next year’s presidential elections.
Although there are no proposals to introduce such legislation in Britain, the ban on the niqab in France has provoked Islamophobic discussions and campaigns here. UKIP and the BNP have called for a ban on the burqa and niqab. There have also been racist attacks on Muslim women wearing head scarves and face veils
Thanks.
Peace
In Between! Religion As a Tool of Division
Posted on March 28, 2011 by Marivel Guzman
Islam a Thread to the Western Powers
I think all of us got mistaken their goal. They do not want to destroy Muslims because of their Religion, No! We all got into their game and because we went into their game is that they started controlling us.They want to destroy any movement, any religion that unite humanity.
It is not because Religion itself. Remember already happened in the past, it has happened many times before.
The Crusades, The Inquisition, The Witch Hunt, Pagans Slaughter, Native Indians Holocaust, in every one of those events people got exterminated, murdered, oppressed, always using Religion to excuse the slaughter.
They want the control of the people and Religion it is the best weapon they have.
People get passionate about their religion. Religion Itself is to blame because it is wrongly prescribed, I have my arguments to explain and without any sentiment to disrespect any Religion or Belief; In the Holy Books we read horrible stories of massacres ordered by God Order, they teach us to Kill for our religion,They teach us To defend Our God,they Teach us to Defend our religious ideas. And there is always the argument that those people were slaughtered because they were Away from God.
Some will do “NO MATTER WHAT”! and those are the ones being USED for their Agenda. Those are the ones Called Extremist, Fundamentalists. They are not Too religious per say, but weak minds that let themselves be victims of a doctrine or credo that will work against his own well being, and that of the community.
I do not see it wrong to tell the world my religion, but when I do so, I take the risk to open a susceptibility against me, and this goes for every one on earth that publicly subscribe to a Certain religion. And it is not wrong, not that they should be ashamed, but we must learn and be smarter than them, the Controllers of Earth (Elite-Globalists-NWO) and not allow them to make us players in their game.
This time on Time, Islam is the fastest Religion in the Planet, and because of that, it is a threat to them; There is important for them because Islam it is thought to be a way of life, with their civil rules, and Official Regulations making with this a Secular Government Obsolete, so it is a threat to them that Islam grows as a Governmental Entity. And Why?
“Their Banking System” does not allow Interest to be charged, Does not allow usury. And that it is in the Heart of this “Islamophobia” War on Terror.
Libya Invasion is the best example of their “War in Terror”, when you have a Political Figure such as Moamar Gadhafee that prays 5 times a day, that stands against to the Stronger Country of the world, and works against her spoil brat, Israel and in top of that, do everything for his people, and want to help all Africa to shake out the grip of the west and is planing to Institute a Muslim African Central Bank, for the people of Africa (No interest Bank)
When we have famous and important scholars preaching that Islam is not a Religion but a Way of life, that constitute a danger for the Western Powers, the Colonialist/European powers, that lives out of the sweat of the people and out of ravaging the land that they conquer.
Why we have to be between the two alternatives If Islam is a way of life and Politics are the way to control life why not make a cocktail of the two and Make One. But in a way to not to hurt sensitives leave the name Islam out of the equation. Do your duties as Muslim, respect your neighbors as Christian, respect nature as Buddhist, love humanity as Human.
If only the people of the world understand Islam in its core; is not a Religion per say, Is not a controlling government wing, is not just spiritual realization or human manifestation. Islam is all that we will need if we would only understand the deep meaning of its inception in human conscientiousness.
For Centuries humanity has been being used as a labor hand, as a slavery group on Earth.
Various Religions tried in the pass to enlighten humanity and liberate us from the chains, but time and time again the Religious Strong Heads of the Churches in power oversaw the danger on letting all humanity being enlighten, and united, and with this to be lost as fervent followers or working hands. So All the religions of the Past had felt victims of their own control.
When Islam came to humanity 1400 years ago, it was shown as a great force to unify all humanity, but again the controllers of Earth radicalized the ideas of Islam and converted it by propaganda in a Religion of Violence. And here we are trying to converge the two powers in one. The power of Islam Vs the Power of Politics.
Merciful God, You made all of the people of the world in Your own image and placed before us the pathway of salvation through different Preachers who claimed to have been Your Saints and Prophets. But, the contradictions in their teachings and interpretations of them have resulted in creating divisions, hatreds and bloodshed in the world community. Millions of innocent men, women and children have so far been brutally killed by the militants of several religions who have been committing horrifying crimes against humanity, and millions more would be butchered by them in the future, if You do not help us find ways to reunite peacefully.
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE COMPASSIONATE, THE MERCIFUL, look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the controversial teachings of arrogance, divisions and hatreds which have badly infected our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; reunite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish Your purposes on earth; that, in Your good time, all nations and races may jointly serve You in justice, peace and harmony. (Amen) Movement for Reforming Society
I want to understand the true meaning under all the published and twisted baggage of all religions. The real meaning of the message so trilled, cropped, changed, misunderstood.
I read the Bible and find beautiful examples of harmony, peace and love, but also find terrible stories of massacres, hate and intolerance.
I read the Qur’an and find more examples of good will, love and compassion, but also find the same stories rehearsed of hate, massacre and intolerance.
I read the Buddha teachings and also has wonderful recipes for a life, and love between men, and love for nature.
So I wonder!
Why doctrines keep changing with the time. We seen that none of the religions had unify humanity in its entirely, they had divided us greatly. Divided so much, that now we have entire encyclopedias written explaining why X religion is better than Y, but in reality we see that humanity has not changed. We still have the same economic problems of the past, political games play. Religion has not fix none of our problems.
Earth still ravaged by greed, people still dying under the bombs of powerful nations, millions living under the line of poverty, thousands dying every day by starvation and diseases.
What religions do to alleviate our problematic?
Do religions make the situation worse fighting each other trying to force the other religions to recognized them as the “true religion” ?
The Elite went into war apply for their advantage and they getting richer, selling their Gadgets of war. They do not care who live or die, they sell their war weapons to the two sides of the conflict. And there is no US, Britain, Israel or UN countries against Muslims, No!, the men behind the curtain are the ones plotting this war in Terror Scheme, and Bush and Company are the Pawns in their Game.
Think for Instance the Most Islamic Country in the World “Saudi Arabia”??? The best Ally and Friend of the Makers of War. GO FIGURE THAT OUT. SO I say, stay out of their game, just STAY HUMAN OUR HEART WILL DICTATE THE BEST FOR HUMANITY
Obamas’s Inner Eisenhower
Obama’s Inner Eisenhower
Posted on 29. Sep, 2010 by Raja Mujtaba in Opinion
By Jeff Gates
Is Barack Obama waking up to the agenda of those who produced his political career? Was his “Inner Eisenhower” on display last week in his televised speech to the U.N. General Assembly?
Did listeners detect a distraught commander-in-chief seeking to bypass Congress and appeal directly to the international community for help in containing Israel’s expansionist goals?
In 1948, the Joint Chiefs cautioned Harry Truman about the “fanatical concepts” of a Jewish-Zionist elite that sought recognition as a legitimate state. U.S. military leaders warned Truman that this elite wanted “military and economic hegemony over the entire Middle East.”
Albert Einstein and other prominent Jews were even more critical. They cautioned Americans about the Zionist political party that produced Menachem Begin, Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu, calling it a “terrorist party” with “the unmistakable stamp of a Fascist party.”
Eight years later, President Eisenhower experienced how they advance their agenda when, during the last days of his November 1956 presidential campaign, Israel, France and Britain sought to induce a war with Egypt over control of the Suez Canal.
Though Ike was distracted by presidential politics, London and Paris were quickly persuaded to abandon their efforts. Not Tel Aviv. Then as now, Jewish fanatics were not inclined to listen to a U.S. commander-in-chief regardless of the impact of their behavior on our national interests.
When this Republican leader sought Congressional support to counter the Zionists’ agenda, he found none. That’s when this former five-star general turned in desperation to a televised address to counter Israeli Congressional influence that has grown far stronger over the past 54 years.
In April 2010, a bipartisan 363 members of Congress committed themselves to an “unbreakable bond” with Israel—regardless of its behavior. No one dared even whisper the word treason.
That same Israel-first agenda was addressed to the commander-in-chief over the signatures of 76 Senators led by Democrat Barbara Boxer of California. GOP Congressman Eric Cantor of Virginia and New York Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat, launched a bipartisan pro-Israel assault on the commander-in-chief that sounded less like the Congress than the Knesset.
Obama’s Inner Ike
Could this be why Obama made an appeal to the international community to halt Israeli expansionism? Like Ike, did he wake-up to the fact of Israeli dominance in the Congress?
Has this young president—with no military experience—been forced to face the reality of an enemy within? If so, we may yet have an opportunity to restore representative government. If so, those who deceived the U.S. to invade Iraq for a Zionist agenda may yet be held accountable.
However, this past week also saw Congressman Barney Frank join others circulating a petition to free Israeli Master Spy Jonathan Pollard. A dual-citizen operative, Pollard did more damage to our national security than anyone in U.S. history. When he stole more than one million classified documents and Tel Aviv sold them to Moscow, our “special friend” gutted Cold War defenses on which American taxpayers spent more than $20 Trillion (in 2010 dollars) from 1948-1989.
Is Barney Frank committing treason? Or is he circulating that petition so that our national security apparatus has a list of those complicit in the treason that induced us to war in the Middle East on false pretenses? Was Obama’s speech to the U.N. a cry for help by a president whose advisory corps is dominated by pro-Israelis and Israeli-Americans?
Read More………….Opinion Maker Foresight with Insight
Palestinian Diaspora
The Palestinian Diaspora
Posted on 14. Sep, 2010 by by Marivel Guzman Original Posted by Raja Mujtaba in Gaza Today
Does It Care Enough To Become Engaged?
By Alan Hart
IDF doing ethnic cleansing
The real history of the making and sustaining of the conflict in and over Palestine that became Israel invites the conclusion that the Arab regimes – more by default than design in my view – betrayed the Palestinians. The question this article addresses is: Will future historians conclude that the Palestinian diaspora betrayed its occupied and oppressed brothers and sisters?
There’s no mystery about the Arab (regime) betrayal. When the Palestine file was closed by Israel’s 1948 victory on the battlefield and the armistice agreements, the divided and impotent Arab regimes secretly shared the same hope as the Zionists and the major powers. It was that the file would remain closed for ever. The Palestinians were supposed to accept their lot as the sacrificial lamb on the altar of political expediency.
Nor is there any mystery about why the Arab regimes were at one with the Zionists and the major powers in hoping that there would never be a regeneration of Palestinian nationalism. They all knew that if there was, there would one day have to be a confrontation with Zionism; and nobody wanted that.
When Yasser Arafat, Abu Jihad and a few others lit the slow burning fire of the regeneration, it was the security services of Eygpt, Jordan and Lebanon which took the lead in trying to put it out.
Fast forward to today.
The incredible almost superhuman steadfastness of the occupied and oppressed Palestinians is the reason why Zionism will never be able to close the re-opened Palestine file again unless it resorts to a final round of ethnic cleansing, to drive the Palestinians off the West Bank and into Jordan or wherever. In my analysis it is more likely than not that Zionism’s in-Israel leaders will create a pretext to do just that at a point in the foreseeable future
What point?
When it becomes apparent even to them that with bombs and bullets and brutal repressive measures of all kinds they can’t break the will of the occupied and oppressed Palestinians to continue the struggle for their rights and compel them to accept crumbs from Zionism’s table.
As things are I think it is unrealistic to expect the governments of the major powers either to use the leverage they have to call and hold the Zionist state to account for its past crimes, or to intervene to prevent the crimes it will commit in a foreseeable future.
And it can be taken as read that the Arab regimes will not lift a finger to prevent a final Zionist solution to the Palestine
problem. (Before Sharon sent the IDF all the way to Beirut to exterminate the PLO’s leadership and destroy its infrastructure, Gulf Arab leaders met in secret, without advisers present, in order to agree a message to the Reagan administration. The message was to the effect that they would not intervene in any way when Sharon made his move. After that message was sent, one of the Arab leaders present, Oman’s Sultan Qaboos, said to Arafat: “Be careful. You are going to ask for our help and it will not come.” Last year I had a private conversation in London with a major royal from the Arab world. I said to him, “Nothing is going to change in the Arab world until your regimes are more frightened of their own masses than they are of offending Zionism and America”. He replied, “You’re right.” I also said to him, “If the Zionists do resort to a final round of ethnic cleaning to close the Palestine file, Arab leaders, behind closed doors, will give thanks and celebrate.” His reply was the same, “You’re right.”)
Question: What can the Palestinians do to help themselves?
My view is that they should wind-up (close down) the discredited Palestine National Authority (PNA), and put policymaking and implementation back into the hands of the Palestine National Council (PNC), which is supposed to be (it once was) the highest and most supreme Palestinian decision-making body. To become relevant again it would have to be reconstructed and re-invigorated by elections in every place where there are Palestinians – the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem, the Gaza concentration camp and the diaspora.
The fact that the PNA is corrupt, impotent and discredited is reason enough for it to be put out of its misery, but there’s more to it.
In their claim for justice, the Palestinians have 100% of right, legal and moral, on their side (whereas the Israelis have 99% of the might, conventional and nuclear, on their side). If this claim was properly presented and pressed by a credible Palestinian leadership, by definition a democratically elected leadership duly authorized to represent the views of all Palestinians, it would be more difficult for the governments of the major powers, the one in Washington DC especially, to go on refusing to use the leverage they have to end Israel’s occupation of Arab land grabbed in the Zionist state’s 1967 war of aggression. (Not self defense as Zionism asserts).
Because Israel and the major powers won’t talk to Hamas (despite the fact that its leaders have signalled their willingness to live in peace with an Israel inside its pre-1967 borders), and because the Fatah-dominated PNA is so discredited (I imagine Arafat is revolving with anger in his grave), the occupied and oppressed Palestinians are effectively leaderless in the sense that they are without an institution to represent them in the corridors of power.
It follows, or so I believe, that a demand for putting policy making and implementation back into the hands of a reconstructed and re-invigorated PNC must come from the Palestinian diaspora – from Palestinian communities in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Eygpt, Kuwait, Iraq, Yemen, Western Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia, Chile, Honduras, Brazil, Columbia and Guatemala.
The question arising is the one of the headline for this article: Does the Palestinian diaspora care enough to become engaged?
I have long been of the view that the major difference between Jews and Arabs is that Jews know how to play the game of international politics and Arabs don’t. The Palestinians could prove me wrong. The world, not just the occupied and oppressed Palestinians, needs them to do so.
Alan Hart has been engaged with events in the Middle East and their global consequences and terrifying implications – the possibility of a Clash of Civilisations, Judeo-Christian v Islamic, and, along the way, another great turning against the Jews – for nearly 40 years…
He’s been to war with the Israelis and the Arabs, but the learning experience he values most, and which he believes gave him rare insight, came from his one-to-one private conversations over the years with many leaders on both sides of the conflict. With, for example, Golda Meir, Mother Israel, and Yasser Arafat, Father Palestine. The significance of these private conversations was that they enabled him to be aware of the truth of what leaders really believed and feared as opposed to what they said in public for propaganda and myth-sustaining purposes.
It was because of his special relationships with leaders on both sides that, in 1980, he found himself sucked into the covert diplomacy of conflict resolution…Now Alan is an Institution in himself. Now, Alan is a regular contributor to Opinion Maker.
PALESTINE: Arabs Damaging The Palestinian Cause
PALESTINE: Arabs Damaging The Palestinian Cause
Posted on 01. Aug, 2010 by Raja Mujtaba in Palestine
Saudi regime is the most reactionary and the most backward regime in the whole region. They’re closer to the Taliban than to anything else in terms of regime and society. Saudi rulers are better advised to change their own regime rather than trying to change the regimes in other countries.
Prof Gilbert Achcar
Arabs’ ties with Israel damages the Palestinian cause: Prof Gilbert Achcar
By Kourosh Ziabari
Prof Gilbert Achcar
Prof. Gilbert Achcar is a renowned Lebanese academician, writer, socialist and anti-war activist. He left Lebanon in 1983 and taught international relations and politics at the University of Paris VII for several years. Since 2007, Achcar has been Professor of Development Studies and International Relations at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London. He is a frequent contributor to Le Monde Diplomatique and ZNet.
Prof. Achcar joined me in an interview to discuss the latest developments related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel’s attack on the Freedom Flotilla and the prospect of Israel’s occupation of West Bank and Gaza.
Kourosh Ziabari: Dear Prof. Achcar, what’s your estimation of the prospect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
Gilbert Achcar: This is extremely difficult to answer because the situation of the Middle East is changing so quickly and frequently that any kind of prediction about the future is always very risky, so what I can say in reply to your question is that in the foreseeable future, there can’t be any serious and acceptable compromise leading to a peaceful coexistence between Israel and the Palestinians. The reason is that the Israeli society has been continuously shifting to the right so that more and more extreme branches of Zionism are governing Israel, and therefore it’s extremely difficult to imagine that governments like the present government of Israel would make all of the concessions that are required for a true peace with the Palestinians. There can’t be any beginning of peace actually without an end to the occupation of the territories that were occupied since 1967, the dismantlement of the separation wall which Israel has been building and the dismantlement of the settlements. These are basic conditions to which of course one should add the immediate lifting of the blockade of Gaza. So, there’s absolutely no indication at present that the Israeli government as it is, has any inclination to go in that direction.
KZ: Both of the Palestinians and the Israelis, from a religious viewpoint, claim that the land of Israel belongs to them. Both of them cite the historical evidences and religious implications in this regard. What’s your idea about that? How should this interminable conflict come to an end?
GA: This should be hardly debatable among serious people because it’s absolutely clear that when the United Nations voted on the partition of Palestine and voted on creating a Jewish state on Palestine which was the goal of the Zionists, it gave 56 percent of the land of Palestine to the Jewish population which constituted only one third of the whole population. Moreover, the majority of this one third were immigrants, the overwhelming majority of whom had been in Palestine less than 15 years, so there is no fair standard on earth by which this kind of resolution could be considered as legitimate and just; it was completely unjust and completely unfair. No people on earth would admit that recently arrived immigrants have a right to establish their own state in their country. However, I believe that a just solution to the problem is one that would not involve any new expulsion of population; it should be a solution based on democratic principles and peaceful coexistence of Muslims, Christians and Jews, Arabs and Israelis in the region. But, for this to happen, the very nature of Israel’s relationship with its environment should change whereas what we’re seeing now is more and more violence, barbarity and cruelty on the part of Israel.
KZ: Israelis believe and claim that they should have a state with its borders spanned from Nile to Euphrates. This is the “Promised Land” which they recurrently refer to. What do you think about that? Is it a reasonable and justifiable claim?
GA: Even in Israel, very few people subscribe to this view. Only some extremist branches of Zionism believe in this idea. It sounds so absurd that only crazy people can uphold such perspectives. Now, if we had to redraw the map of the world to go back to how the world was 2,000 years ago, we can imagine what a terrible mess would happen in the whole world. Besides, there’s much debate even on the fact that the European Jews who came to Palestine in the 20th century are descendants of the Jews who were in Palestine 2,000 years ago. But even if that were the case, and again, if we had to redraw the map of the world as it was 2,000 years ago, why not 3,000 years ago or 1,000 years ago? So the only legitimate claim to a land is that of the people who were living on it in recent centuries. But no Palestinian group among the main Palestinian forces is calling for the expulsion of Jews and Israelis from the Middle East. All of them call for coexistence, but coexistence based on democratic principles and on equal footing, not the present situation of very harsh oppression of the Palestinians and the Lebanese by Israel.
KZ: Some Arab nations are progressively taking steps to normalize their ties with Israel. We can name the United Arab Emirates which invited the Israel’s transport and infrastructure minister to an international summit held in Abu Dhabi. Other Arab states, in turn, are making efforts to establish new relations with Israel. Isn’t it going to be harmful and destructive for the cause of Palestinian people?
GA: Four countries have established relations with Israel among the Arab states and they are Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and Oman. This is damaging for the cause of the Palestinians, especially when the country betraying them is Egypt which is the largest Arab country. This is a result of the increasing hegemony of the United States over the Middle East, which pushes the Arab governments to establish relations with the state of Israel against the will of their own people. If you look at Jordan and Egypt, you’ll see that the overwhelming majority of their population is opposed to Israel and its policies, and this creates a wide gap between governmental policies and what the population wants.
KZ: What’s your view regarding the recent Israeli assault on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla? What would happen if another country rather than Israel, say Iran, had attacked the flotilla of 600 international peace activists? Would the international community’s response have been the same?
GA: You should ask me what would happen if the United States had attacked the flotilla, because they do such things quite often. But, you’re right in saying that Israel gets the least protest in comparison with other countries when it comes to the violation of international law and perpetration of war crimes and crimes against humanity. This judgment is in line with the reports of Judge Richard Goldstone who is a devout Jew and even a devout Zionist, but honest enough for acknowledging the fact that Israel committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. So of course Israel gets much less condemnation than any countries that are opposed to the United States and to Western hegemony. One should say, however, that Israel started to lose even the support of Western public opinion recently, especially since the Gaza war of 2008-2009 which was a brutal and cruel attack on defenseless civilians and was criticized even by traditional friends of Israel. After the attack on Freedom Flotilla, the international condemnation of Israel reached an unprecedented level. A few countries cut their diplomatic relations with Israel in Latin America like Venezuela and Bolivia in the last year and Nicaragua in the current year. A number of countries recalled their ambassadors: we have seen a shift in the stance of public opinion and even a wave of protests has taken shape in the United States. So there’s been a real impact and this shows that the Israeli state by its cruelty and brutality is losing more and more ground in the global public opinion.
KZ: The Saudi King has recently made remarks in which he likened Iran’s government to the state of Israel and said that these two countries don’t deserve to exist. Is this a fair and rational statement? Doesn’t it damage the Islamic solidarity and integrity?
GA: First of all, this statement, if true, is a really infamous statement. Putting Iran and Israel on the same level is totally absurd. Israel is a state that has been created through a colonial process and is violently oppressing the original population of the land it seized. Iran is a country which has been there for a long period of history and there was no involvement of colonial powers in its creation. Its government is certainly more legitimate than that of the Saudi kingdom, which was established by armed conquest less than one century ago, and never elected since then. However, the Saudi King meant probably that both the Israeli government and the Iranian government are extremist to his taste. The truth is that the Saudi regime is the most reactionary and the most backward regime in the whole region. They’re closer to the Taliban than to anything else in terms of regime and society. Saudi rulers are better advised to change their own regime rather than trying to change the regimes in other countries.
Kourosh Ziabari is Iranian media correspondent, freelance journalist and the author of Book 7+1. He is a contributing writer for websites and magazines in the Netherlands, Canada, Italy, Hong Kong, Bulgaria, South Korea, Belgium, Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. . Currently, he works for the Foreign Policy Journal as a media correspondent. He is a member of Tlaxcala Translators Network for Linguistic Diversity and World Student Community for Sustainable Development. Kourosh Ziabari is an Iranian freelance journalist and media correspondent. He has interviewed political commentator and linguist Noam Chomsky, member of New Zealand parliament Keith Locke, Australian politician Ian Cohen, member of German Parliament Ruprecht Polenz, former Mexican President Vicente Fox, former U.S. National Security Council advisor Peter D. Feaver, Nobel Prize laureate in Physics Wolfgang Ketterle, Nobel Prize laureate in Chemistry Kurt Wüthrich, Nobel Prize laureate in biology Robin Warren, famous German political prisoner Ernst Zündel, Brazilian cartoonist Carlos Latuff, American author Stephen Kinzer, syndicated journalist Eric Margolis, former assistant of the U.S. Department of the Treasury Paul Craig Roberts, American-Palestinian journalist Ramzy Baroud and the former President of the American Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Sid Ganis.
K Ziabari contribute regularly to Opinion Maker
PALESTINIANS IN LEBANON; RAW DEAL
Posted on 23 Jul, 2010 by Marivel Guzman
Dr Franklin Lamb
Shatila Palestinian Refugee Camp, Beirut
“Some members of Parliament prefer that the camps explode and then they will insist that, “Palestinian security problems must be resolved before Parliament can consider giving them civil rights”—meaning several more years of delay. That would be a disaster for all concerned.”
‘Ahmad’, Resident of Al-Buss refugee camp, Tyre, Lebanon;
Following some initial optimism after MP Walid Jumblatt’s June 15 introduction of draft legislation that would exempt Palestinians from the Kafkaesque work permit process, grant them the right to own a home outside their oxygen scarce ‘sardine can’ camps, and allow them to receive some worker paid earned social security benefits, progress has dramatically slowed .
During last week’s Parliamentary session Head of the Administration and Justice parliamentary committee, MP Robert Ghanem, reiterated his request to Berri and Parliament for a two-month “rest period”. Premier Saad Hariri called for postponing the voting for “two months or two months and a half.” Several other members asked the same. Parliament Speaker Berri quickly agreed and postponed voting on the subject until August 17, adding that “…the law will not pass unless it enjoys consensus among Lebanese parties.”
Some supporters of Palestinian civil rights see problems with more delays and with Berri’s “no passage of civil rights without consensus”. What is meant by consensus? A simple majority plus one, two-thirds or..? “ Does it mean taking no legislative action on Palestinians civil rights unless and until MP Jumblatt can agree with MP Sami Gemayel-normally polar opposites on important issues?. Others argue that Berri has no authority to require ‘consensus’ as it would likely mean any proposal will deteriorate into the lowest common denominator with virtually no rights being granted. Under the Lebanese Constitution, a law passes when it receives one more vote in favor than against and what is needed for passage is not determined by the Speaker. Some in Parliament are insisting on a straight up or down vote on bills presented on the subject of Palestinian civil rights. If Jumblatts or any other draft law garners 65 votes out of 128 it passes.
A review of Lebanon’s Parliamentary history shows that virtually all of Parliament’s important decisions have been made by a straight up or down vote, not ’consensus’. Surely one very important vote was the one that took place on August 17, 1970. The Parliamentary vote margin that elected ‘consensus’ candidate Suleiman Frangieh President of Lebanon over Elias Sarkis was one vote, a result of last minute vote switches engineered by Druze leader Kamal Jumblatt. Forty years later to the day, August 17, 2010, the ‘consensus’ vote” on Kamel’s son Walid’s historic Palestinian Civil Rights bill is scheduled for a vote.
InsaAllah? We hope so!
Ambivalence has spread around Parliament despite two additional measures being offered. One was introduced in Parliament in early July by the Syrian Socialist National Party (SSNP). This draft law closely reflects internationally mandated civil rights for refugees and of all the proposals to date the SSNP draft is what Parliament should enact to finally remedy six decades of civil wrongs. If enacted it would remedy the serial discrimination by successive Lebanese governments since the 1969-1982, “Ayyam al-Thawra” (“the Days of the Revolution”), when Palestinian refugees had many more employment prospects and benefited from improved camp living conditions. The SSNP proposal is a preferred “one package” solution that will avoid a protracted piece by piece process and would largely finish this urgent problem.
Faced with two substantive draft bills, the right wing Christian parties, often at odds, have joined ranks with Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s ( “If it were up to me I would grant Palestinians their rights tomorrow”-April, 2010) Future Movement (“Muqtaqbal) to slam on the Parliamentary brakes. All the March 14th coalition except the Phalange Party have accepted this draft bill which currently has the most support in Parliament probably because it offers the refugees the least civil rights. According to its sponsors, the draft must be studied more before formally considered. A draft being circulated reveals that those refugees with a Palestinian ID Card approved by the Lebanese General Security can receive a temporary residency permit including a 5 year ‘laissez passer’ travel document but not the approximately 5000 non-ID’s who came in the 1970’s following Black September. Regrettably, this draft bill keeps the work permit and only amends Article 59 of the labor law in order to waive work permit fees for Palestinians. Nor does it allow participation in the 25 Syndicated Professions because it retains the impossible to meet Reciprocity requirements.
Some MPs are dexterous in their efforts to limit civil rights granted to Palestinians. MP Robert Ghanem, argued on 7/19/10 that work permits are good for Palestinians “because they will preserve the refugee status of Palestinians in Lebanon. We fear that if we exempted the Palestinians from a work permit, we will drop their refugee status and this does not come in line with their interests.” MP Ghanem surely is aware that being allowed to work is very much in line with the refugees interests and has nothing at all to do with “dropping their refugee status.” In fact they do not have refugee status as provided by international law. That is one of the main problems. Lebanon considers Palestinians variously as “foreigners”, “special category of foreigners” and other times a “Palestinian refugees” without allowing them the legal rights that their refugee status warrants.
With respect to Social Security benefits, the March 14 proposal requires that refugees pay into the Lebanese Social Security Fund but allows only for end of service and a family allowance payment. Its specifically forbids sickness, accident or maternity benefits to Palestinian refugees. Without health and accident coverage the incentive to even seek a work permit wanes. This ‘consensus’ proposal is more of a gesture than a solution and unless redrafted remains a bare bones proposal that will do little to provide internationally mandated civil rights. Nor will it satisfy the pursuit of genuine rights among Lebanon’s Palestinians, increasingly insisted on by the international community. Many Palestinians and their supporters are critical of this latest proposal and see it as offering ‘a little something’ that will allow its supporters to say, as one MP boasted last week: “we will finally have achieved something for the refugees and anyhow, how much more can we be expected to squeeze from our flesh for these Palestinians?”
No InsaAllah please! Just tell us Yes or No ok?
Meanwhile scores of Palestinians protested outside Parliament last week as Palestinian frustration continues to mount in the camps over delays in granting civil rights. True, it sounds nice enough and more likely than not it comes from lips with a smile, and the literal translation is good also: “God willing”.
However in reality, it’s a deadly and vicious expression that every guide book publisher on Lebanon has a moral duty to warn their readers about. For the real meanings of “InsaAllah” are: “probably not”, “almost certainly not going to happen”, “forget about it fool”, or simply, “no way and go away!” So if one is presented with the response, ‘InsaAllah’, whether by the office of the Speaker of Lebanon’s Parliament , or from someone you might be asking out on a date or trying to get something done in Lebanon, or tying to get civil rights legislation enacted into law, one has a big chance of being disappointed.
In Lebanon’s Parliament, about the worst thing that can happen to a members pet legislative initiative is to have it placed in “the InsaAllah drawer”, meaning it is set aside for ‘Enshalleh’ consideration sometime in the ‘InsaAllah’ future. Often never to be heard from. Some fear this is what may happen to proposals to grant Palestinian refugees their internationally mandated right to work and to own a home.
Other reasons for Parliamentary delay?
Some Parliament watchers speculate that certain members seek to delay granting Palestinians civil rights until the Special Tribunal for Lebanon hands down expected indictments, concerning the 2005 assassination of Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. They calculate the STL announcements will dramatically increase Lebanese-Palestinian tensions. Change and Reform parliamentary bloc MP Michel Aoun (Free Patriotic Movement leader), no advocate of any meaningful civil rights for Palestinians, is warning of a US ‘green lighted’ Israeli invasion of Lebanon if the STL indicts “uncontrolled” Hezbollah members. Others claim the main problem is that Lebanon cannot move beyond the 1975-1990 Civil War and raising in Parliament the subject of Palestinians brings up also many painful memories that most of the confessions wish to forget.
While some political analysts in Lebanon think there is a chance that Parliament may well ease the restrictions on the right to work, there is still strong opposition to granting Palestinian refugees the internationally recognized right to own real property or even a single home–an international right allowed in all other countries. As a scare tactic on this issue the specter of ‘Naturalization’ is again raised even though it has nothing to do with home ownership.
If Israelites can buy homes in Lebanon why not Palestinian refugees?
There is no shortage of Lebanese politicians who will explain why Palestinian home ownership is out of the question including the claim that there is simply not enough land in crowded Lebanon for foreigners to be allowed to purchase any. Kataeb-Phalance bloc MP Elie Marouni told his followers on Bastille Day last week “that the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon will never be naturalized as long as there are Christian believers who will sacrifice themselves for the sake of Lebanon. We don’t have the space.” His colleague and Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel warned the day before that “granting Palestinians the right to own property would lead to their naturalization”.
Neither of these leaders has explained why during the half century (1948-2001) when Palestinian refugees were allowed to own property the question of “naturalization” was never an issue. There was no problem. The fact is that the assertion that ‘naturalization’ would be the result of a refugee family owning a home is false and it is was invented solely for the reason that it provides ‘raw meat’ for detractors who basically don’t want any rights for any Palestinians no matter what the facts are.
According to Lebanese Human Rights Ambassador Ali Khalil: “Fanning the coals of ‘naturalization’ is a recent bogeyman meant to scare Christians who already are nervous because their numbers continue to shrink. Generally more affluent than other sects, they are able to leave Lebanon for better prospects. If Palestinians were able to work and became a bit more affluent many of them would leave also but that fact appears lost on those who prefer to keep them in squalid camps in Lebanon rather than allowing them to work and perhaps move out of Lebanon.”
The ‘not enough land for foreigners’ claim is faulty on two grounds. Regarding population density, in Saida’s Ein el Helwe Camp, the largest of the 12 in Lebanon, approximately 90,000 refugees are tightly packed into less than 1 km sq. area whereas the average Lebanese population density is close to 350 persons per sq, km.
Foreigners buy as much land in Lebanon as they wish and can afford despite the ‘legal’ limitations for foreigners of 3,000 sq. meters in Beirut and 5000 sq. meters outside Beirut. Foreigners regularly ignore the “law” and sometimes pay bribes to purchase whatever land they want and sometimes even citizenship.
Free Patriotic Movement leader and Hezbollah ally MP Michel Aoun is calling for a new law to reclaim property from foreign owners in response to complaints about his voicing strong objection to granting Palestinian refugees in Lebanon the right to own property.
“We can’t issue a law that gives the Palestinians the right to own property, but we can issue a law to reclaim properties owned by foreigners,” Aoun said with a straight face, adding that “Christian parties didn’t act with prejudice when the issue of civil rights for Palestinian refugees was raised. “Our stance is similar to that of the Phalange Party and the draft law would only be put to the vote of the parliament after being studied,” Aoun added. Some in Lebanon are waiting to see if General Aoun’s “No buying a little bit of Lebanon” law gets introduced in Parliament and what the US Congress and Arab league reaction will be if it does.
BayIt BeyLebnan? ( Hebrew for ‘your home in Lebanon?’)
The Israeli-American Likud banker and warmonger Irving I. Moscowitz, financial backer of the archeological tunnel in east Jerusalem and supporter, financially or otherwise, of virtually all Zionist groups developing stolen Palestinian land including his own properties in Maale Adumim, Har Homa in Palestinian east Jerusalem and Beitar Illit is claimed to have moved into the real estate market in Lebanon.
Regarding occupied Palestine, Moscowitz has for years advised would be investors, (ignoring the Geneva Conventions and settled International law) at Jewish only “real estate fairs” in American and European Synagogues: “Your investment is insured, protected and 100% legal. You should consider strengthening your portfolio and Israel’s future!”
Moscowitz is said to expect competition for Lebanese land from Lev Leviev, who the NYT refers to as ‘the missionary mogul”. Leviev, now the world’s largest cutter and polisher of diamonds, also specializes in illegal real estate developments on stolen Palestinian land. Leviev’s, Leader Management and Development, is currently building the settlement of Zufim on Palestinian land in the illegally occupied West Bank. When asked recently by Ha’aretz Daily if he has a problem building on expropriated Arab land he replied, “For me, Israel, Jerusalem, Lebanon are all the same.” So are the Golan Heights. As far as I’m concerned, all of Eretz Israel is holy. To decide the future of Jerusalem? It belongs to the Jewish people. What is there to decide? Jerusalem is not a topic for discussion.”
Both tell associates that with their American partners, they are moving into the Lebanese real estate market which they find attractive. If true, Lebanon’s Parliament might want to consider using some of the extra time they have extended themselves this summer, currently being devoted to sounding the ‘chicken little sky is falling’ alarm about Palestinians wanting to exercise their internationally mandated civil right to own a home pending their return to Palestine. Parliament should investigate claims that “American” companies”, some with 100% Israeli stockholders are buying up Lebanese land and using bribes to avoid Lebanese law.
‘Darwish’, a school teacher in South Lebanon explained this week what many Palestinians feel:
“My family home and property were stolen by Zionist thugs in Akkad in 1948 and also our cousin’s home outside Jerusalem. If you look at the current advertisement in Israeli newspapers, (‘Darwish shows a copy of an ad he printed off the internet from Haaretz.com that reads, “Own a little piece of Switzerland” which describes a quaint Swiss like scene, and it shows a bucollic vista that Darwish claims was his family’s village, now a Zionist colony.) so you see this is my problem. In Palestine our home was stolen and in Lebanon I cannot own one. Worse than this, it bothers me and my family that Zionists can now sell my land in Palestine to foreigners while as a Palestinian in Lebanon I cannot buy a temporary home. Israelites can invest their profits from our stolen Palestinian land and they can build homes in Lebanon and sell to other foreigners, but Palestinians can’t buy a home here. We have heard that some of the same “American and European” companies that sell our Palestinian land to foreigners in Palestinian now operate in Lebanon. One ‘American’ company is reported to have 11 stockholders. All of them Israelis”.
Parliament appears to be ‘playing’ the Palestinians this summer, as well as ‘playing’ the international community that expects more courage, compassion and respect for international human rights from a gifted people. Parliament risks degrading Lebanon in the process and its leaders should schedule a straight up vote without further dilatory tactics such a ‘more study’ and ‘building near unanimous consensus’ that appears designed to produce the lowest common denominator which means that without political will and courage it will likely produce not much at all.
Regarding six decades of annual calls for ‘more study of this sensitive problem’ there are already more than 30 studies completed just since 2000. They unanimously conclude what nearly every ten years old in Lebanon understands needs to be done and that is to grant the internationally mandated right to work, to own, inherit and bequeath a home, and access to some social security protection without further dilatory tactics.
LACK OF RIGHTS
• Palestine refugees lack many basic rights, are restricted from employment in
most professions and are not allowed to own property
• Palestine refugees have extremely limited access to the legal system
• Palestine refugees who do not have identification cards (known as non-IDs)
have even fewer rights and less freedom of movementPOVERTY
• 2/3 of Palestine refugees are poor, subsisting on less than $6 per day
• 6.6% of these subsisting on less than $2.17 per day
• The majority of those living in poverty and extreme poverty reside
in camps in South Lebanon UNRWA LEBANON
The events 28 years later by a survivor of the Massacre: The untreated psychic wounds are still open. Accountability, justice and basic civil rights for the survivors are still denied.
Scores of horror testimonies have been shared over the past nearly three decades by survivors of the September 1982 Sabra- Shatila massacre. More come to light only through circumstantial evidence because would be affiants perished during the slaughter. Other eyewitness are just beginning to emerge from deep trauma or self imposed silence Munir’s Story: 28 years after the Massacre at Sabra-Shatila
Franklin Lamb volunteers with the Palestine Civil Rights Campaign as mission of his life. He blogs at Civil Rights.
Dr. Franklin Lamb is Director of the Americans Concerned for Middle East Peace, Beirut-Washington DC, Board Member of The Sabra Shatila Foundation, and a volunteer with the Palestine Civil Rights Campaign, Lebanon. He is the author of “The Price We Pay: A Quarter-Century of Israel’s Use of American Weapons Against Civilians in Lebanon” and is doing research in Lebanon for his next book.
Lamb has been a Professor of International Law at Northwestern College of Law in Oregon. He earned his Law Degree at Boston University and his LLM, M.Phil, and PhD degrees at the London School of Economics.
As a Middle East expert and commentator, Dr. Lamb has appeared on Press TV, Al-Manar and several other media outlets. His articles and analyses have been published by Counter Punch, Veterans Today, Intifada Palestine, Electronic Intifada, Opinion Maker, Dissident Voice, Daily Star and Al Ahram.
Dr Lamb is a frequent contributor to Opinion-Maker.org
- Palestinians Refugees on the Move
Fear and Love: War and Peace
Posted on May 31, 2010 by Marivel Guzman
Fear and Love Two Frequencies
We the people, the thinkers of this era, the intellectuals, the workers, the weak, the disenfranchised, the poor, the oppressed, we have to make the first move, the Elite, is so used to our silence that they do not care to fight for our rights.
We need to speak loud and clear, we have to take the fear out of our heart, and claim for justice, for peace.
We the collective conscientiousness has to step forward and speak for the ignorant.
So the Western Governments are not going to move a finger, but we are moving the rug under their feet.
Can you see the people is awakening, is clamoring for justice. They craving for peace, they are hungry and they are demanding equality.
Do you think that the Elite want a revolution?, off course NO, they will throw grumps to the crowd to calm them to buy time, to change the mood. A made up revolution somewhere far away from home, those are good ways to show us that we are doing…just….fine. Maybe a great event to disperse the stress, such a world soccer match…Very clever entertainment of the 20 century.
Beauty contests work just fine: for the glamor, the addicts to fashion, to magazine followers. Christmas time has worked perfectly, I love that red Santa Claus, I’ll make sure to have my son in his knees for a picture for my family room.
But not soon Christmas snows is melting in the drive way, when the rabbits are jumping in my grass, those eggs, darn it..where did they go?
We have more holidays to celebrate that heroes in our history books. They keep you busy, entertain and without money, luckily we have credit cards and personal bank loans.
All designed for you, and if that is not enough, we have games boys for the youth, soap operas for the housewife, soccer for the European Mind, and Latino brother. But wait, we have some time left.
Are you mad? Do you think your leaders care how you feel? I do not think so. They are too comfortable in their chairs, they are killing the poor, while the middle class stay silence, right?…..Well! no more seems to be the case because they have destroyed the middle class, the cushion is gone, now there is a even field of poverty all around the globe, and there is discontent, there is dissent every where..
And not that dissent is a crime, is only a state of conscientiousness, the thinker mind is taking over, the lethargic consumer that for years was a client of the TV adds, in this society sick of consumerism.
The logic is being use more and more, and People is finally thinking,…. but we will prefer that the heart will speak for the change that love will brings togetherness, instead of drums of war.
So, what are they going to do? They do not want to be lynched outside of their offices or homes, they do not want to be afraid of their maids.
No, they will act upon the situation, that it is too tense too ignore.
The masses are awakening, can you see the winds of revolution, but not the revolution that extremists ask for, that Christian crusaders miss so dearly in their churches engraved with gold, their Popeteer jumping in his popemovil spreading..God’s messages, what? …the good news…yes, the Vatican thinks that, maybe intelligent life in another places outside the Earth.
War and Peace
The war complex machine is at work, they are pushing the bottoms, they are creating world madness, but I am not talking of that kind of revolution, not an arm conflict, that certainly in this nuclear age, will wipe us all for sure, I am talking of the the revolution of ideas, the mentality is evolving.
We are evolving as a human race, our programs are being upgraded. Humanity 1.01 program is ready to be download it, get yours is Free and once in your brain is auto up grade able…
Count on that.
Fear and Love two frequencies hard to miss.
War and Peace two choices…which one you pick.
Fighting occupation in Palestine: Palestine is facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
The UN reports that 70% of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are now living in acute poverty, a figure comparable to poverty levels in sub-Saharan Africa. Over 50% are now dependent on food aid.
Palestinians are not victims of a natural disaster. The poverty they are suffering is an acknowledged product of the Israeli occupation. According to the UK government’s Department for International Development: “Poverty in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is a product of occupation and conflict.” Only by ending the occupation can the root causes of poverty be addressed.
Israel’s recent assault on the people of Gaza in late 2008/early 2009 demonstrated the brutality of Israel’s army. The assault left over 1400 people dead and thousands more injured. It marked the culmination of a policy of collective punishment practised by Israel against the people of Gaza over the past 2 years.
Israel imposed a state of siege on Gaza in 2007 turning the world’s most densely populated area of land into the world’s most densely populated prison. John Dugard the former UN special rapporteur for human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories described the situation in Gaza before the attack as “collective strangulation” of a people.
Yet this is nothing new. Over the last 61 years Israel has continuously acted in defiance of UN resolutions, international law and global outrage. Through the continuing occupation, Israel has engaged in excessive and disproportionate force, house demolitions, targeted assassinations, detention of minors, detention without trial, attacks on water supplies, violation of the right to food and attacks on medical personnel and equipment. This, alongside the systematic and deliberate destruction of schools, hospitals, water systems, farmland and the building of an illegal Separation Wall, has destroyed any semblance of a Palestinian economy.
In addition, millions of Palestinians are still living with human rights abuses and crushing poverty in refugee camps as a result of the ‘nakba’, or catastrophe in which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were driven from their homes 61 years ago in the displacement that made the state of Israel possible.
The international community has largely ignored international law with respect to Israel’s crimes. Instead the British government amongst others has rewarded Israeli aggression with financial, military and diplomatic support.
The British government continues to license the sales of arms of Israel and in the first nine months of 2008 licensed the sale of 27 million pounds worth of military equipment.
As Israel’s principal trading partner, the European Union has been called on to suspend the trading preferences which Israel enjoys as a result of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. The Agreement is based upon respect for human rights, yet UN representatives have made clear these rights are regularly violated by Israeli forces.
Palestine is in crisis. We must put pressure on our government to play its part and end the injustice.
source:http://www.waronwant.org/campaigns/fighting-occupation-in-palestine
Do not forget that on 30 March 2009 is the Global Day of Action for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions against Israel. All over the world demonstrations and actions will be taking place calling for an end to Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian and in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Illegal Detention Of Palestinian Children
Illegal Detention Of Palestinian Children
The Biggest Hoaxes Perpetrated to the people
Hoax # 1-Are We Running Out of Water?
IS A PHYSICAL IMPOSSIBILITY SINCE THE EARTH IS ¾ OF WATER, AND MY THEORY THERE IS NO GLOBAL WARMING…THE GLACIERS ARE SWEET WATER…SO.. THE GLACIERS MELTING COULD BE A DEFENSE MECHANISM OF EARTH TO BALANCE THE DEPLETION OF SWEET WATER. IT’S BEEN MONOPOLIZED FOR PROFIT, WE NEED TO MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD AND ASK FOR THE RELEASE OF THE WATER IN THE VARIOUS DAMS OF THE WORLD. AND RESTORE THE NATURAL RIVERS AND SWAMPS
Hoax # 2-We are running out of Oil? Really
SAYS WHO? HAVE YOU SEEN THE NUMBERS THEY ARE IN THE TRILLIONS, WE BEEN EXTRACTING TRILLIONS OF BARRELS OF OIL DAILY FOR MORE THAN 50 YEARS, BEFORE THAT BILLIONS DAILY INDUSTRIALIZED FOR MORE THAN 100 YEARS, I WONDER IF WE RETURN THAT OIL TO THE EARTH, IT WILL FIT?…..I DOUBTED IS PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE.
Which Oil? That is the Question?
BIODIESEL: SEEDS, BIOALGAE -BIOMASS DIESEL: PALM TREES AND A GREAT VARIETY OF VEGETATION SO, ASKS AGAIN….WE BEEN EXTRACTING OIL FOR MORE THAN 5000 YEARS, ASK THE CHINESE
Hoax # 3- Humans Need Vaccines to Survive
SINCE WHEN…SINCE IT BECAME MANDATORY OR …ELSE
There are others hoaxes perpetrated on humanity but they are less socio-economically detrimental to the population. I do have data, is scientific data and most importantly is official, you just have to really look, and the information is there.
HOAX # 4 – WATER FLUORINATION, BUT FLUORIDE IS POISON..ATOMIC BOMB..WHAT..HOW?
How they got away for so long? Toothpaste with fluoride..Interesting.
HOAX # 5 – SOLAR FILTERS AND SUN GLASSES-SUN IS THE ENEMY # 1 OF YOUR SKIN AND SUN GLASSES ARE NECESSARY TO PROTECT YOUR EYES..SO IF I USE SUN SCREEN AND SUN GLASSES HOW THE MELATONIN IS GOING TO BE PRODUCE, HOW MY PINEAL GLAND SURVIVE? IT WON’T…. EVENTUALLY WILL CALCIFY.
The Association Of Sunlight And Mental And Sexual Health Has Long Traditions. The Summer Solstice Is Historically Linked With Fertility And Sexuality By Cultures Everywhere. Wow but is only about procreation I don’t think so, there other disorders that arise from lack of sun exposure like depression and latest results suggest the high incidence of Parkinson, Alheirmeser Disease , Melatonin slow the aging process, regulate sleep patterns , Melatonin has been shown to inhibit the growth and metastasis of some tumors in experimental animals, and may therefore play a role in cancer inhibition. Removal of the pineal gland and/or reduction in melatonin output have been implicated in the increased incidence of breast cancer in laboratory animals. Patients who have breast cancer have lower levels of melatonin in the blood. The hormone has also been shown to be protective against genetic damage, and it has a stimulatory effect on the immune system. So think again when you go to your local drug store to buy sunscreen or glasses.
NUMEROUS STUDIES INDICATE THAT FERTILITY AND SEX DRIVE INCREASE WHEN SUNLIGHT IS MORE INTENSE,
Hoax # 6-Flu Shot really which virus strain they used to create the vaccine—Do they??????Who????you Know who, create the vaccine and then create the flu, or they create the flu and then create the vaccine? Who was first? The Chicken or the EGG? Uhh am confused.
Hoax # 7- Treatment against cancer pseudonym with American Cancer Association. This theme is obscure so that’s your homework, research, CURES FOR CANCER not treatment C U R E, cancer is curable.
My Land
My Land
I love my Land with all my heart, I can not fight in her name
I can not go and kill people with the pretext that I am protecting her,
I can not put soldiers on the borders of the country that confine her,
I can not name her,
I can not buy her,
I can not give her to others,… but there is something I can do:
I can work with her with my bare hands I can plant a seed, and see her create a beautiful plant that will bear fruits,
I can protect her from harm,
I can nurture her and let her rest as it was prescribed by the creator….. that…. I CAN DO.
The Land belongs to all of us, do not allow to be destroyed or genetically manipulated, is not Natural…
Please Protect her is not My Land is OURS and …. is the only one we have
Peace
Love be with you and around you
Akashma
We are for a change-Indigo Kids-The New Kids In The Block
THE NEW KIDS IN THE BLOCK
I AM A LIGHT WORKER
Have you notice that the last 2 generations have arrived with a distictive view of the world, they seem smartest if you will. We can not blind ourselves to the reality, the Elite have worked hard to stop the the wave of awakening souls, the gaming and movie industry did arduous job for the last 20 years or so to keep our kids busy, and the drugs sprout like weed in our society, it was not a coincidence that this happened to our world. We are for a change, it was due.
Indoctrination is not that easy any more, religion is loosing the grip, they hold on us for more than 2000 years. Is not easy any more, the new kids ask questions and they demand answers, but not just any answer they are determined to get the truth, and believe me there is nothing hardest than trying to hide the truth.
More you try more the truth try to surface.
You don’t have to believe me, we are for a change and is coming to you also, like a beautiful sunny day.
The light is almost here, let it in…. be a light worker.
The Indigo Kids are the New Kids in the Block.
they are not sick, they don’t have ADD -Attention Deficit Disorder is a misdiagnosis for the advance kids in our society that don’t fit
in the mass of fit kids, This kids are too smart to follow the educational system that they feel entrap them. The need to be challenge, but our system is not prepare for this wave of new kids, so they separated , they drugged them and they got rid of them. But they are too much to handle, they are opening the door by themselves.
Akashma Online News 