Urgent collective international action needed to protect the Rohingya – We express our serious concern that the most brutal violence is now reoccurring in Arakan; and we strongly condemn the ongoing mass killing, burning and destruction of Muslim villages and rape of their women.
Maungdaw, Arakan State: Thousands of Rakhine mobs led by Rakhine ruling political party – Rakhine Nationalities Development Party-(RNDP) had restarted mass attacking, burning and destruction of Muslims villages and houses, in Minbya, Mrauk Oo, Kyaukpru, Pauktaw, Ratheydaung, Myebone, and Kyauktaw Townships since October 21, 2012, according to joint statement of 11 national and international Rohingya organizations.
“This was the second time of genocide and persecutions of Muslims in Arakan in 2012 by the RNDP led Rakhine people with the direct help and strong involvement of the Burmese Government security forces of President Thein Sein from both central and Rakhine State Government.”
Thousands of Rakhine mobs surrounding the Kyauk Nimaw village of Manaung Township, Arakan State, for torching the houses and killing the Rohinya villagers even though the international pressure to the Burmese government, regarding the violence in Arakan State today morning at about 10:00 am, according to villagers from the locality.
“The Rakhine mobs tried early morning at about 5:00am to attack and set on fire the village – Kyauk Nimaw -, failed as the army stayed between two communities to protect the village. The Rakhines again gather at Thayoung Byine and Magyi Gone Rakhine village to attack the village at 10:00am where the army shot to the sky for not advancing and killed 5 Rakhines while the Rakhines forced them to fire on them.”
“More than 10,000 Rakhines gather near the Kyauk Nimaw village from other village which was supported by Taungup businessman U KyaukTaung for Rakhines travel cost to joint.”
“In Kyauk Nimaw, there are around 6,000 people – Male, female and children – are not able to protect their lives and no foods security for them if they are surrounded like this more.”
“Please, inform to the international community to save us and need your help to protect our village,” said a woman from Kyauk Nimaw.
The Rakhine mob is marching to the Rohingya villages with four lines such as— children are in the front line, then the women are on the second line, on the third line are Rakhine men and the last line are Buddhist monks, according to a reliable source.
But the security forces—-police and army are firing bullets into air to disperse the mob. However, we do not now the situation till writing the report.
Similarly, the Rakhine monks sent letters to Rohingya village- Sentaymaw village under PauktawTownship- as threaten, to leave the village which they ( Rakhines) want to touch the village to show less killing to the international community who are protesting the killing of Rohingya community in Arakan, said a villager from Pauktaw.
“Beginning from the month of October 21, 2012, at least fourteen villages were burnt down and thousands of people killed. Hundreds of Muslim girls and women were raped by the Burmese security forces and Rakhine extremists during attacking the Muslims in those townships. The Burmese Government officials and Security forces did nothing to prevent and stop these mass killings and attacks. President Thein Sein led Burmese Government had claimed that Arakan State is in normal situation but, in reality the situation has become more worsened day after day. These atrocities and mass killings were being committed under the open eyes of the Burmese security forces involving the Police, Lun Htein, and Army. Available reports confirmed that Buddhist Rakhine people led by RNDP President Dr. Aye Maung and Rakhine State Prime Minister Hla Maung Tin are trying to spread this violence across the whole Muslims residing areas of all Townships in Arakan,” the joint press release of 11 Rohingya Organizations stated on recent situation of Arakan state Muslims.
We, the organizations are- Odhikar, Bangladesh; Human Security Alliance, Thailand and Asian Muslim Action Network, Thailand- deeply concerned at the recent reports in the international media that scores of Rohingyas were killed in the fresh outbreak of violence in the northern Arakan state. We are also alarmed by the reports that hundreds of Rohinyga homes were burnt by a vengeful Rakhine community, that in turn has led to the displacement of thousands of people. This is in addition to the 75,000 people who are still languishing in overcrowded camps set up by the Myanmar authorities with very little basic amenities. Observers have noted that the recent outbreak of violence against the Rohinygas is in line with the long-term plan of the Rakhine community to eliminate Rohingyas from all the townships where they are a minority. We, the three organizations notes that the local Burmese authorities in connivance with the central government is pursuing a policy of apartheid under which tens of thousands of Rohinygas are housed in camps beyond the city limits under barbed wire fencing with armed guards placed at the entrances, according to press release “International support needed to protect Rohingyas from persecution.”
More News…..
Urgent collective international action needed to protect the Rohingya – We express our serious concern that the most brutal violence is now reoccurring in Arakan; and we strongly condemn the ongoing mass killing, burning and destruction of Muslim villages and rape of their women.
Rohingya Humanitarian Mission – Hundreds from the Rohingya refugee community turned up to support a humanitarian mission by the Putera 1Malaysia Club to help their ethnic group. They were led by chairman of the Union of World Rohingya Organisation, Rashed Osman.
Posted on October 9, 2012, by Akashma Online News
Due to a one-two punch of a booming population and severe droughts across the globe, the Earth is in what the United Nations is calling a “water crisis”
People don’t think much of water when they play golf, except when they sit to rest under a nice shade to enjoy a refreshing glass ice water.
I personally do not find entertaining a game that involved two people hitting and following a tiny little hard ball to follow it for hours, all to sink it in a hole. Well, this is just me, boring, boring, boring game.
I beat if I ask a thousand people, if they like golf, probably a 99.99% will say NO! SO! the golf lovers will think that I m incorrect, that the answer will depend where do I ask, and I will say. Exactly! I will ask the ordinary people in the market, in the coffee shop, in the bus, the train station, the factories, and offices. Those places are where I most likely will find ordinary people.
First, they will tell you that it is a game for the rich, because usually you need to join a private club to be able to play, or to have money to rent your private time in a public golf course. The big cities have few golf courses for public use, but seriously, how many ordinary citizens go to play golf? Even if it is free, you need to have little money to buy you golf clubs, shoes, globes, and enough supplies of balls. Why? well, if you are a regular golfer and not good, you will lose these tiny balls in the lake, or so far away from your game that you just do not bother to find it.
The beautiful greenish carpet of the golf courses can not be such a beauty if it wasn’t for the billions of gallons of water they receive every day around the world.
A rough approximation of 10 billions of gallons of water daily it is needed to keep those greenish, immense fields, needless to say that those billions of water will be enough to serve at least 80 billions of people a glass of water, and not only that, but to satisfy their daily water necessities, from showers, agriculture irrigation, and drinking water .
Water crisis in the 18 hole
Some of the golf courses are maintained with recycled water, but those courses are in well developed countries. Most of the water that these giants sponges drink it is a vital liquid that kills every day thousand people and animals around the globe because of the lack of it.
World Water Shortage vs. Golf Course Consumption, November 24, 2009, by Dessire D’Alessandro.
This video is protected as an instance of **FAIR USE** Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
“There is no difference between us and Muslims when it comes to paying bills and taxes. But we are discriminated against when it comes to distribution of rights.”
The non-Muslims in Pakistan are not satisfied with the functioning of separate electorates. Their main objection relates to ineffective representation of their interests.
What will Prophet Mohamed will say about the dual electorate system in Pakistan, when the the makers of laws give less rights to the Non Muslims. Are they forgetting the lessons in Surah Al-Qamar, Allah(swt) informed Prophet Muhammad that there were people before him who received the Message from Allah through a series of Prophets. It was a lesson to the new generations to learn from the past history. Such type of revelation was a piece of Wisdom to those who wish to learn and benefit from it.
The National Minority Day was celebrated in Pakistan on Saturday to highlight the contribution, services and sacrifices made by the minority communities in the creation of Pakistan and in nation building.
Several events, seminars and social gatherings were arranged across the country by members of various religious minorities as well as the Ministry of National Harmony.
Minister In-charge for National Harmony Dr Paul Bhatti issued a message saying, “The day we celebrate every year on August 11, recalls the vision of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah with reference to his speech and the contribution of non-Muslim communities to Pakistan.”
“The celebration of Minority Day provides us with an opportunity to re-assure that despite belonging to different faiths we are one nation that continues to march for a united and prosperous Pakistan,” he said adding that the commendable service of religious minorities, along with Muslims, is a glorious chapter in the history of the independence movement of Pakistan.
The minister added that the religious minorities in the country have given a considerable contribution to different fields in the society including health, education, defence and social welfare.
He further urged all religious communities to stay united and to promote interfaith harmony, creating unity, peace, equity and justice in the society.
Political party representatives appeared to fall over each other to court the minority vote on Friday, and took great pains to appear as if they had great empathy for the systemic disadvantages minorities face in the country’s electoral field.
Meanwhile, members belonging to various minority communities demanded that they should be allowed to compete for general seats in constituencies where their communities were in the majority during the next general elections.
They were all attending a seminar on the electoral process for minorities, which was organised by the Social Forum, Diocese of Karachi, Church of Pakistan at the Holy Trinity Church.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement MNA Munawar Lal lent his support to the demand when he said, “We want our people to be elected in those areas where we are in the majority”. Lal added that minorities should also be allowed to contest elections on the dual voting system, something which Kashmiri Muslims living in the country are already allowed to do.
Religious minorities in Pakistan, meanwhile, currently contest the elections under the joint electorate system, in which political parties nominate non-Muslim representatives to legislative bodies. The number of minority seats in these bodies are already fixed. Karachi, August 10, 2012
When President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari was claiming “Minorities are enjoying equal rights and fully protected in Pakistan” addressing a gathering in President House to mark Minorities Day, the electronic media was telecasting images of train at Jacobabad railway station boarding 250 Pakistani Hindus migrating to India.
There was 20% Hindu population in Pakistan in 1947, when it became independent state after division of sub-continent of India but millions migrated to India when East Pakistan fought for independence from West Pakistan and Hindus were targeted on allegation of supporting Mukti-Bahni. Islamabad: August 10, 2012.
Amid increasing cases of violence and lack of security against their community, 60 Hindu families from Balochistan and Sindh have decided to migrate to India, Express News reported on Thursday.
Four out of the 60 families left for India during midday via Samjhota Express from Lahore Railway Station. The rest of the families are expected to travel by today.
According to Express News correspondent Aftab Bukhari, five families residing in Aatma Raam Haweli – joint residence – vacated it this morning in order to move out to India.
Bukhari said that the families had complaints that their shops were looted, their houses were raided by unknown men and their women were forcefully converted.
He said that the visas on their passports were not permanent, however, he said that chances of them coming back to Pakistan were slim.
There is no mistake, I purposely titled this article with the name of Bassam Aramin. The life of these two fathers, Bassam Arami and Rami Elhanan are bonded by their daughters memories.
By Rami Elhanan Posted originally March 27, 2008
Their father’s pain united two forces for reconciliation and forgiveness Abir Arami and Smada Elhanan deaths, started a project called; Combatants for Peace, their fathers; Bassam Arami and Rami Elhanan want peace.
JERUSALEM—Last Thursday evening, my family was invited to dinner at the home of Bassam Aramin, in Anata.
Anata is a twenty minute ride from Motza, twenty light years away from Jerusalem.
We ate a mountain of maqloube with almonds and yogurt. Bassam told us about his meeting with the actor Shlomo Wizcinski who is slated to play Bassam in a new play. And my wife gave his wife, Salwa, a gift: a silver pendant with the name of her daughter Abir, may she rest in peace, made by a Jerusalem silversmith.
We laughed. It was fun. It was emotional.
And then, on the television screen, we saw the images of the attack on the Jerusalem Merkaz Harav school.
And again a cold hand seizes your heart, and again the blood freezes in your veins, again that sword twists inside you, knowing again there will be no rest until that blood is avenged. On the side of the screen, a news ticker of stark updates from Gaza: eight dead in one hour.
And beside the television, Salwa is bitter with tears for the mothers of the dead.
It was hard. Truly hard.
“Alright,” said Bassam when we parted. “At least we’ll see each other in Warsaw on Sunday…”
The two of us were invited, Bassam and me, by Warsaw television and HBO for the premier of a new documentary about the Israeli-Palestinian bereaved families organization, Parents Circle-Families Forum. I was glad. I knew that together we would be able to pass on a message of hope to people who, for the most part, had not the faintest idea about the conflict. I knew that by virtue of our shared grief people would listen to us—and perhaps even talk about peace.
I was naïve. I completely forgot that the average Palestinian couldn’t just get up one morning, like most free men, and travel to wherever he pleases. Despite a barrage of telephone calls, scores of angry emails, pleas and shouting, Bassam stayed at home without a visa.
And thus I find myself Monday evening at the Polish National Theater in Warsaw, alone, in front of a curious Polish audience, two ambassadors, Israeli and Palestinian, and an empty chair—Bassam’s chair.
The film begins. Deathly silence. Heartbreaking stories of unbearable human anguish, without political demands, without attempts to quantify suffering. Stories of bereavement and futile attempts to give even a little meaning to the incredible, needless loss each family experienced. An unsure outreaching of a hand to the other side, a hug, reconciliation, and the shade of a smile, a bud of hope. Men and women, faces lined with suffering, in extreme close-up, telling and telling. A sigh can be heard from the audience in the dark hall, and perhaps tears falling—the atmosphere is heavy and onerous.
As the screening ends, the Israeli ambassador fidgets in his seat, his body language communicating impatience and blatant aggression. “Count to ten!” shouts an Israeli from the audience, but it’s already too late.
He stands and takes the single microphone, and everyone, including the Palestinian ambassador, sits admonished like disobedient children, listening to the words of His Lordship. And he explains, his Honor, that he had had misgivings and hesitancies about appearing at the evening’s event after what happened in Jerusalem on Thursday, but out of respect for the bereaved families he had decided to come. And he went on to say that Israel would be resolute in its fight against terror, without compromise. And that there is no comparing the pain of someone who was hurt by terror with that of someone who was hurt as a result of others acting in self-defense…that Israeli children don’t go blow themselves up in the market in Gaza, and…
And then someone from the audience yells at him that Israel sends tanks and fighter planes to Gaza, that the Israeli occupation is also a form of terrorism. Immediately the same ugly argument restarts, with His Excellency affirming that everyone has a right to their opinion—meanwhile his press agent has no idea where to bury himself from embarrassment, in front of his astonished Polish hosts. We too, myself and my son, cast our eyes downwards in shame at this strange behavior, this bombastic performance of our representative in Warsaw.
Bassam Aramin Peace Activist
That same morning, across from the remains of the Warsaw ghetto wall, I had asked myself how I, as a Jew, as an Israeli and as a human, could express my feelings about Bassam’s loss. Then, I was not able to come to any conclusion. And now, in a split-second decision, I said to those assembled at the screening, “I—am Bassam Aramin! I represent here the missing character of this brave and noble combatant for peace.”
I told them that the fact that Palestinians are missing from nearly every international forum that speaks about the conflict is a source of embarrassment. I said that this absent bereaved father, this ex-prisoner who chose the path of reconciliation and peace, is a powerful voice against the glaring injustice that continues to assert that there is no one to talk with, that there is nothing to talk about, and that we should give up talking.
At that point, the ambassador assembled his bodyguards and left in a suitably royal huff. The head Rabbi acknowledged that “there is no pain like your pain,” and the panel nodded in agreement out of Polish politeness.
We went together to be photographed, and afterwards to drink and then to eat, and while present physically, my soul and in my heart were in Anata. I could not for an instant stop thinking about Bassam and Salwa Aramin. I though to myself that only Bassam, with his nobility and his endless smiles, could have made the ambassador embarrassed and lower his glare in shame; only he could have helped him understand that the attacks in Gaza preceded the ones in Jerusalem, that Sderot preceded Gaza, that the Occupation preceded Jenin, and ad infinitum—an endless cycle of senseless violence…
But Bassam was not there with me. I left Warsaw with a bowed head, wounded, shamed and hurting.
And that is all there is. It is up to us to move forward… or not.
* Rami Elhanan is the father of Smadar Elhanan, who was killed in a suicide bombing in Jerusalem in September, 1997. He lectures daily for the Israeli-Palestinian bereaved families organization Parents Circle-Families Forum. This article, translated from Hebrew by Miriam Asnes, is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at Common Ground
“It’s painful to acknowledge, but there is no basic moral difference between the [Israeli] soldier at the checkpoint who prevents a woman who is having a baby from going through, causing her to lose the baby, and the man who killed my daughter. And just as my daughter was a victim [of the occupation], so was he.” The heroes in Israel/Palestine
There is no mistake, I purposely titled this article with the name of Rami Elhanan. The life of these two fathers, Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan are bonded by their daughters memories. Abir Bassam and Smada Elhanan
Their father’s pain united two forces for reconciliation and forgiveness Abir Arami and Smada Elhanan deaths, started a project called; Combatants for Peace, their fathers; Bassam Arami and Rami Elhanan want peace.
Bassam Aramin became involved in the Palestinian struggle as a boy growing up in the ancient city of Hebron. At 17, he was caught planning an attack on Israeli troops, and spent seven years in prison. In 2005, he co-founded Combatants for Peace, an organisation of former Israeli and Palestinian combatants leading a non-violent struggle against the occupation. Since then, Bassam has not once picked up a weapon – not even when, two years later, his ten-year-old daughter Abir was gunned down and killed.
As a child I fought the occupation by raising the Palestinian flag in our playground. We never felt safe. We were always running from jeeps to avoid the soldiers beating us. Our homes were invaded and children were killed. At the age of 12 I joined a demonstration where a boy was shot by a soldier. I watched him die in front of me.
From that moment I developed a deep need for revenge. I became part of a group whose mission was to get rid of the catastrophe that had come to our town. We called ourselves freedom fighters, but the outside world called us terrorists. At first we just threw stones and empty bottles, but when we came across some discarded hand-grenades in a cave, we decided to hurl them at the Israeli jeeps. Two of them exploded. No one was injured but we were caught, and in 1985, at the age of 17, I received a seven-year prison sentence.
Bassam Aramin Peace Activist
In prison we were treated like heroes by other prisoners, but our jailers taught us how to continue hating and resisting. On 1st October 1987, all 120 of us – all teenage boys – were waiting to go into the dining room when the alarms suddenly went off. Over a hundred armed soldiers appeared and ordered us to strip naked. They beat us until we could hardly stand. I was held the longest and beaten the hardest. What struck me was that all the soldiers wore smiles on their face. They were beating us without hatred, because for them this was just a training exercise and they saw us as objects.
As I was being beaten, I remembered a movie I’d seen the year before about the Holocaust. At the time I’d been happy that Hitler had killed six million Jews. I remember wishing that he’d killed them all, because then I would never have been sent to prison. But some minutes into the movie, I found myself crying, and feeling angry that the Jews were being herded into gas chambers without fighting back. If they knew they were going to die, why didn’t they scream out? I tried to hide my tears from the other prisoners: they wouldn’t have understood why I was crying about the pain of my oppressors. It was the first time I felt empathy.
So now, walking between the soldiers who were beating me, I remembered the movie and I started screaming at them: ‘Murderers! Nazis! Oppressors!’ And as a consequence, I felt no pain.
The incident with the soldiers made me realise that we had to preserve our humanity – our right to laugh and our right to cry – in order to save ourselves. I also slowly realised that the Israeli oppression was because of the Holocaust, and I decided to try and understand who the Jews were. This led to a conversation with a prison guard. The guards all thought of us as terrorists and we hated them, but this guard asked me, ‘how can someone quiet like you become a terrorist?’ I replied, ‘no, you’re the terrorist. I’m a freedom fighter’. He really believed that we, the Palestinians, were the settlers, not the Israelis. I said, ‘if you can convince me that we are the settlers, then I’ll declare this in front of all the prisoners.’
It was the start of a dialogue and a friendship. We discovered many similarities and some months later the guard said he understood now that we were not the settlers. He even became a supporter of the Palestinian struggle. From then on he always treated us with respect, and once even smuggled in two big bottles of Coca Cola, which I shared with all the other prisoners. Seeing how this transformation happened through dialogue and without force made me realize that the only way to peace was through non-violence. Our dialogue enabled us both to see each other’s purity of heart and good intent.
When I was released it was the time of the Oslo Accords, and there was a great feeling of hope for a two-state solution. But it never happened because the politicians said we weren’t ready for it. I think if I hadn’t had such strong beliefs and principles, anger would have taken over. It wasn’t until 2005 that some of us who believed in non-violence started meeting in secret with former Israeli soldiers. We were meeting as true enemies who wanted to speak. The Israelis were refusing to fight, not for the sake of the Palestinian people, but for the sake of the morals of their society. We too were not acting to save Israeli lives, but to prevent our society from suffering more. It was only later that we both came to feel a responsibility for each other’s people.
There is a much darker side to my story. On 16th January 2007, my 10-year-old daughter, Abir, was shot in cold blood by an Israeli soldier while standing outside her school with some classmates. The children hadn’t even been throwing stones. I have been appalled by the details of what happened, not least that she had just bought a candy at the store and hadn’t had time to eat it.
The case is not yet closed, but it is unlikely that justice will be done. The position of the state is shameful, and in court no humanity was shown. The soldier responsible has not even been identified. For there to be reconciliation, and for me to consider forgiveness, Israel has to recognize such crimes.
Abir’s murder could have led me down the easy path of hatred and vengeance, but for me there was no return from dialogue and non-violence. After all, it was one Israeli soldier who shot my daughter, but one hundred former Israeli soldiers who built a garden in her name at the school where she was murdered.
My name is Rami Elhanan. Thirteen years ago, on the afternoon of Thursday the fourth of September 1997, I lost my daughter, my Smadar, in a suicide attack on Ben-Yehuda street in Jerusalem. A beautiful sweet joyous 14 year old girl. My Smadar was the granddaughter of the militant for peace, General (Ret.) Matti Peled, one of those who made the breakthrough to Israeli-Palestinian dialogue. And she was murdered because we were not wise enough to preserve her safety in Matti’s way, the only correct and possible way – the way of peace and reconciliation.
I do not need a Remembrance Day in order to remember Smadari. I remember her all the time, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, 60 seconds a minute. Without a pause, without a rest, for 13 long and accursed years now, and time does not heal the wound, and the unbearable lightness of continuing to exist remains a strange and unsolved riddle …
But Israeli society very much needs Remembrance Days. From year to year, like clockwork, in the week after Passover, it is drawn into the annual ritual: from Holocaust to the Rebirth of the nation, a sea of ceremonies, sirens and songs – an entire people is swept into a whirlpool of addictive sweet sorrow, eyes tearful and shrouded; mutual embraces accompanied by `Occupation songs` and sickle and sword songs against the background of images of lives that were cut short and heart-rending stories … and it is hard to avoid the feeling that this refined concentration of bereavement, fed directly into the vein, is intended to fortify our feeling of victim hood, the justice of our path and our struggle, to remind us of our catastrophes, which God forbid we should forget for a single moment. This is the choice of our lives – to be armed and ready, strong and resolute, lest the sword fall from our grasp and our lives be cut short.
And when all this great sorrow is dispersed with the smoke of the barbeques, when Israelis return to their daily routines, I am left enveloped in great sorrow. I miss the old good Land of Israel that never existed, and I have feelings of alienation and estrangement that keep increasing with the passage of years, from war to war, from election to election, from corruption to corruption.
Abir Aramin, Palestinian girl, killed at age of 10 by an Israeli sniper in January 2007 and Smadar Elhanan, Israeli girl killed in 1997 at age of 13 in a bomb attack in Jerusalem. Their fathers founded Combatants for Peace and are active in Parents Circle – Families Forum (PCFF), a grassroots organization of bereaved Palestinians and Israelis. The PCFF promotes reconciliation as an alternative to hatred and revenge.
Special Rapporteur Richard Falk. UN Photo/Jess Hoffman
A United Nations independent expert Richard Ralk today called on the world body’s General Assembly, as well as civil society, to take action against Israeli and international businesses that are profiting from Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.
“My main recommendation is that the businesses highlighted in the report – as well as the many other businesses that are profiting from the Israeli settlement enterprise – should be boycotted, until they bring their operations into line with international human rights and humanitarian law and standards,” the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Richard Falk, said in a news release issued as he presented a report on his work to the Assembly.
Highlighting the activities of companies such as Caterpillar Incorporated of the United States, Veolia Environment of France, G4S of the United Kingdom, the Dexia Group of Belgium, Ahava of Israel, the Volvo Group of Sweden, the Riwal Holding Group of the Netherlands, Elbit Systems of Israel, Hewlett Packard of the USA, Mehadrin of Israel, Motorola of the USA, Assa Abloy of Sweden, and Cemex of Mexico, the Special Rapporteur noted that a wide range of Israeli and international businesses are involved in the establishment and maintenance of the Israeli settlements.
“All Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have been established in clear violation of international law,” said Mr. Falk.
“Yet today Israeli settlements control over 40 percent of the West Bank and between 500,000 and 600,000 Israeli citizens are living in Palestinian territory,” he added. “In the last 12 months alone, the settler population has increased by over 15,000 persons.”
He drew the Assembly’s attention to developing international law and standards concerning businesses and human rights, including the UN Global Compact and the UN Guiding Principles on Businesses and Human Rights.
“The principles outlined in the Global Compact are clear,” Mr. Falk said. “Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights and ensure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.”
The Global Compact is a strategic policy initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. The Guiding Principles, endorsed by the Human Rights Council, provide a global standard for preventing and addressing the risk of adverse impacts on human rights linked to business activity.
Mr. Falk also noted guidance developed by the International Committee of the Red Cross that points to the prospect of corporate and individual criminal responsibility for violations committed during a situation of armed conflict.
“In short, businesses should not breach international humanitarian law provisions. Nor should they be complicit in any breaches. If they do, they may be subject to criminal or civil liability. And this liability can be extended to individual employees of such businesses,” the Special Rapporteur said in presenting his report.
Mr. Falk noted that he had written to all the businesses mentioned in his report, and that positive responses were received from some of them.
“It is encouraging to be informed that Assa Abloy has moved its Mul-T-Locks factory from the West Bank to Israel, and that the Dexia Group, G4S, and Cemex are looking for ways to bring their operations into line with their commitments under the UN Global Compact,” he added.
Independent experts, or special rapporteurs, are appointed by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. The positions are honorary and the experts are not United Nations staff, nor are they paid for their work.
The following speech was given by Russell Means in July 1980, before several thousand people who had assembled from all over the world for the Black Hills International Survival Gathering, in the Black Hills of South Dakota. It is Russell Means’ most famous speech.
For America to Live, Europe Must Die!
The only possible opening for a statement of this kind is that I detest writing. The process itself epitomizes the European concept of “legitimate” thinking; what is written has an importance that is denied the spoken. My culture, the Lakota culture, has an oral tradition, so I ordinarily reject writing. It is one of the white world’s ways of destroying the cultures of non-European peoples, the imposing of an abstraction over the spoken relationship of a people.
So what you read here is not what I’ve written. It’s what I’ve said and someone else has written down. I will allow this because it seems that the only way to communicate with the white world is through the dead, dry leaves of a book. I don’t really care whether my words reach whites or not. They have already demonstrated through their history that they cannot hear, cannot see; they can only read (of course, there are exceptions, but the exceptions only prove the rule). I’m more concerned with American Indian people, students and others, who have begun to be absorbed into the white world through universities and other institutions. But even then it’s a marginal sort of concern. It’s very possible to grow into a red face with a white mind; and if that’s a person’s individual choice, so be it, but I have no use for them. This is part of the process of cultural genocide being waged by Europeans against American Indian peoples’ today. My concern is with those American Indians who choose to resist this genocide, but who may be confused as to how to proceed.
You notice I use the term American Indian rather than Native American or Native indigenous people or Amerindian when referring to my people. There has been some controversy about such terms, and frankly, at this point. I find it absurd. Primarily it seems that American Indian is being rejected as European in origin-which is true. But all the above terms are European in origin; the only non-European way is to speak of Lakota-or, more precisely, of Oglala, Brule, etc.-and of the Dineh, the Miccousukee, and all the rest of the several hundred correct tribal names.
There is also some confusion about the word Indian, a mistaken belief that it refers somehow to the country, India. When Columbus washed up on the beach in the Caribbean, he was not looking for a country called India. Europeans were calling that country Hindustan in 1492. Look it up on the old maps. Columbus called the tribal people he met “Indio,” from the Italian in dio, meaning “in God.”
It takes a strong effort on the part of each American Indian not to become Europeanized. The strength for this effort can only come from the traditional ways, the traditional values that our elders retain. It must come from the hoop, the four directions, the relations: it cannot come from the pages of a book or a thousand books. No European can ever teach a Lakota to be Lakota, a Hopi to be Hopi. A master’s degree in “Indian Studies” or in “education” or in anything else cannot make a person into a human being or provide knowledge into traditional ways. It can only make you into a mental European, an outsider.
I should be clear about something here, because there seems to be some confusion about it. When I speak of Europeans or mental Europeans, I’m not allowing for false distinctions. I’m not saying that on the one hand there are the by-products of a few thousand years of genocidal, reactionary. European intellectual development which is bad; and on the other hand there is some new revolutionary intellectual development which is good. I’m referring here to the so-called theories of Marxism and anarchism and “leftism” in general. I don’t believe these theories can be separated from the rest of the of the European intellectual tradition. It’s really just the same old song.
The process began much earlier. Newton, for example, “revolutionized” physics and the so-called natural sciences by reducing the physical universe to a linear mathematical equation. Descartes did the same thing with culture. John Locke did it with politics, and Adam Smith did it with economics. Each one of these “thinkers” took a piece of the spirituality of human existence and converted it into code, an abstraction. They picked up where Christianity ended: they “secularized” Christian religion, as the “scholars” like to say- and in doing so they made Europe more able and ready to act as an expansionist culture. Each of these intellectual revolutions served to abstract the European mentality even further, to remove the wonderful complexity and spirituality from the universe and replace it with a logical sequence: one, two, three. Answer!
This is what has come to be termed “efficiency” in the European mind. Whatever is mechanical is perfect; whatever seems to work at the moment- that is, proves the mechanical model to be the right one- is considered correct, even when it is clearly untrue. This is why “truth” changes so fast in the European mind; the answers which result from such a process are only stopgaps, only temporary, and must be continuously discarded in favor of new stopgaps which support the mechanical models and keep them (the models) alive.
Hegel and Marx were heirs to the thinking of Newton, Descartes, Locke and Smith. Hegel finished the process of secularizing theology- and that is put in his own terms- he secularized the religious thinking through which Europe understood the universe. Then Marx put Hegel’s philosophy in terms of “materialism,” which is to say that Marx despiritualized Hegel’s work altogether. Again, this is in Marx’ own terms. And this is now seen as the future revolutionary potential of Europe. Europeans may see this as revolutionary, but American Indians see it simply as still more of that same old European conflict between being and gaining. The intellectual roots of a new Marxist form of European imperialism lie in Marx’- and his followers’- links to the tradition of Newton, Hegel and the others.
Being is a spiritual proposition. Gaining is a material act. Traditionally, American Indians have always attempted to be the best people they could. Part of that spiritual process was and is to give away wealth, to discard wealth in order not to gain. Material gain is an indicator of false status among traditional people, while it is “proof that the system works” to Europeans. Clearly, there are two completely opposing views at issue here, and Marxism is very far over to the other side from the American Indian view. But let’s look at a major implication of this; it is not merely an intellectual debate.
The European materialist tradition of despiritualizing the universe is very similar to the mental process which goes into dehumanizing another person. And who seems most expert at dehumanizing other people? And why? Soldiers who have seen a lot of combat learn to do this to the enemy before going back into combat. Murderers do it before going out to commit murder. Nazi SS guards did it to concentration camp inmates. Cops do it. Corporation leaders do it to the workers they send into uranium mines and steel mills. Politicians do it to everyone in sight. And what the process has in common for each group doing the dehumanizing is that it makes it all right to kill and otherwise destroy other people. One of the Christian commandments says, “Thou shalt not kill,” at least not humans, so the trick is to mentally convert the victims into nonhumans. Then you can proclaim violation of your own commandment as a virtue.
In terms of the despiritualization of the universe, the mental process works so that it becomes virtuous to destroy the planet. Terms like progress and development are used as cover words here, the way victory and freedom are to justify butchery in the dehumanization process. For example, a real-estate speculator may refer to “developing” a parcel of ground by opening a gravel quarry; development here means total, permanent destruction, with the earth itself removed. But European logic has gained a few tons of gravel with which more land can be “developed” through the construction of road beds. Ultimately, the whole universe is open- in the European view- to this sort of insanity.
Most important here, perhaps, is the fact that Europeans feel no sense of loss in all this. After all, their philosophers have despiritualized reality, so there is no satisfaction (for them) to be gained in simply observing the wonder of a mountain or a lake or a people in being. No, satisfaction is measured in terms of gaining material. So the mountain becomes gravel, and the lake becomes coolant for a factory, and the people are rounded up for processing through the indoctrination mills Europeans like to call schools.
Genocide
Genocidal Results of the Failed American Indian Policies of the United States Government:
Lakotah People is not dead, was not exterminated as the European would wanted to, we survived the iron fest of the gun of the European soldier, we survived and still fighting for our rights for our land, for our heritage, our identity.
But each new piece of that “progress” ups the ante out in the real world. Take fuel for the industrial machine as an example. Little more than two centuries ago, nearly everyone used wood- a replenishable, natural item- as fuel for the very human needs of cooking and staying warm. Along came the Industrial Revolution and coal became the dominant fuel, as production became the social imperative for Europe. Pollution began to become a problem in the cities, and the earth was ripped open to provide coal whereas wood had always simply been gathered or harvested at no great expense to the environment. Later, oil became the major fuel, as the technology of production was perfected through a series of scientific “revolutions.” Pollution increased dramatically, and nobody yet knows what the environmental costs of pumping all that oil out of the ground will really be in the long run. Now there’s an “energy crisis,” and uranium is becoming the dominant fuel.
Capitalists, at least, can be relied upon to develop uranium as fuel only at the rate which they can show a good profit. That’s there ethic, and maybe they will buy some time. Marxists, on the other hand, can be relied upon to develop uranium fuel as rapidly as possible simply because it’s the most “efficient” production fuel available. That’s their ethic, and I fail to see where it’s preferable. Like I said, Marxism is right smack in the middle of European tradition. It’s the same old song.
1. The United States outlawed our religion, our spirituality. Outlawed it. Out people were sent to prison if they caught practicing our ways.
2. They rounded up our children, all of our children, for over 80 years and forced them into government and religious boarding schools. These utilized corporal punishment and mental and physical torture. They worked to erradicate our language and our songs. To forcefully teach us that our parents and grandparents were nothing more than stupid, savage pagans. That education goes on today. Colonialism of the Lakotah
There’s a rule of thumb which can be applied here. You cannot judge the real nature of a European revolutionary doctrine on the basis of the changes it proposes to make within the European power structure and society. You can only judge it by the effects it will have on non-European peoples. This is because every revolution in European history has served to reinforce Europe’s tendencies and abilities to export destruction to other peoples, other cultures and the environment itself. I defy anyone to point out an example where this is not true.
So now we, as American Indian people, are asked to believe that a “new” European revolutionary doctrine such as Marxism will reverse the negative effects of European history on us. European power relations are to be adjusted once again, and that’s supposed to make things better for all of us. But what does this really mean?
Right now, today, we who live on the Pine Ridge Reservation are living in what white society has designated a ” National Sacrifice Area.” What this means is that we have a lot of uranium deposits here, and white culture (not us) needs this uranium as energy production material. The cheapest, most efficient way for industry to extract and deal with the processing of this uranium is to dump the waste by-products right here at the digging sites. Right here where we live. This waste is radioactive and will make the entire region uninhabitable forever. This is considered by the industry, and by the white society that created this industry, to be an “acceptable” price to pay for energy resource development. Along the way they also plan to drain the water table under this part of South Dakota as part of the industrial process, so the region becomes doubly uninhabitable. The same sort of thing is happening down in the land of the Navajo and Hopi, up in the land of the Northern Cheyenne and Crow, and elsewhere. Thirty percent of the coal in the West and half of the uranium deposits in the United States have been found to lie under reservation land, so there is no way this can be called a minor issue.
We are resisting being turned into National Sacrifice Area. We are resisting being turned into a national sacrifice people. The costs of this industrial process are not acceptable to us. It is genocide to dig uranium here and drain the water table- no more, no less.
Now let’s suppose that in our resistance to extermination we begin to seek allies (we have). Let’s suppose further that we were to take revolutionary Marxism at it’s word: that it intends nothing less than the complete overthrow of the European capitalists order which has presented this threat to our very existence. This would seem to be a natural alliance for American Indian people to enter into. After all, as the Marxists say, it is the capitalists who set us up to be a national sacrifice. This is true as far as it goes.
Missoula, Montana, USA — 6/21/1948-Missoula, MT: Father John J. Brown, first full-blooded Blackfoot Indian to become a priest of the Roman Catholic church, bestows blessings upon (l to r) Joe Woodcock, Chief Paul Charlo, and Pete Beaverhead in historic St. Ignatius Mission here. Brown, whose Indian name is Ksistaki-Poka, was ordained a short while before this picture was taken.
But, as I’ve tried to point out, this “truth” is very deceptive. Revolutionary Marxism is committed to even further perpetuation and perfection of the very industrial process which is destroying us all. It offers only to ” redistribute” the results- the money, maybe- of this industrialization to a wider section of the population. It offers to take wealth from the capitalists and pass it around; but in order to do so, Marxism must maintain the industrial system. Once again, the power relations within European society will have to be altered, but once again the effects upon American Indian peoples here and non-Europeans elsewhere will remain the same. This is much the same as when power was redistributed from the church to private business during the so-called bourgeois revolution. European society changed a bit, at least superficially, but its conduct toward non-Europeans continued as before. You can see what the American Revolution of 1776 did for American Indians. It’s the same old song.
Revolutionary Marxism, like industrial society in other forms, seeks to “rationalize” all people in relation to industry- maximum industry, maximum production. It is a doctrine that despises the American Indian spiritual tradition, our cultures, our lifeways. Marx himself called us “precapitalists” and “primitive.” Precapitalist simply means that, in his view, we would eventually discover capitalism and become capitalists; we have always been economically retarded in Marxist term. The only manner in which American Indian people could participate in a Marxist revolution would be to join the industrial system, to become factory workers, or “proletarians,” as Marx called them. The man was very clear about the fact that his revolution could only occur through the struggle of the proletariat, that the existence of a massive industrial system is a precondition of a successful Marxist society.
I think there’s a problem with language here. Christians, capitalists, Marxists. All of them have been revolutionary in their own minds, but none of them really means revolution. What they really mean is continuation. They do what they do in order that European culture can continue to exist and develop according to its needs.
The Pikes Peak region is Ute Country. The Utes passed along the Garden of the Gods in the foothills of Pikes Peak, which they called Tava (Sun Mountain), as they traveled to and from their summer and fall hunting grounds to their winter campgrounds.
So, in order for us to really join forces with Marxism, we American Indians would have to accept the national sacrifice of our homeland; we would have to commit cultural suicide and become industrialized and Europeanized.At this point, I’ve got to stop and ask myself whether I’m being too harsh. Marxism has something of a history. Does this history bear out my observations? I look to the process of industrialization in the Soviet Union since 1920 and I see that these Marxists have done what it took the English Industrial Revolution 300 years to do; and the Marxists did it in 60 years. I see that the territory of the USSR used to contain a number of tribal peoples and that they have been crushed to make way for the factories. The Soviets refer to this as ” the National Question.” The question of whether the tribal peoples had the right to exist as peoples; and they decided the tribal peoples were an acceptable sacrifice to the industrial needs. I look to China and I see the same thing. I look to Vietnam and I see Marxists imposing an industrial order and rooting out the indigenous tribal mountain people.
I hear the leading Soviet scientist saying that when uranium is exhausted, then alternatives will be found. I see the Vietnamese taking over a nuclear power plant abandoned by the U.S. military. Have they dismantled and destroyed it? No, they are using it. I see China exploding nuclear bombs, developing uranium reactors, and preparing a space program in order to colonize and exploit the planets the same as the Europeans colonized and exploited this hemisphere. It’s the same old song, but maybe with a faster tempo this time.
The statement of the Soviet scientist is very interesting. Does he know what this alternative energy source will be? No, he simply has faith. Science will find a way. I hear revolutionary Marxists saying that the destruction of the environment, pollution, and radiation will all be controlled. And I see them act upon their words. Do they know how these things will be controlled? No, they simply have faith. Science will find a way. Industrialization is fine and necessary. How do they know this? Faith. Science will find a way. Faith of this sort has always been known in Europe as religion. Science has become the new European religion for both capitalists and Marxists; they are truly inseparable; they are part and parcel of the same culture. So, in both theory and practice, Marxism demands that non-European peoples give up their values, their traditions, their cultural existence altogether. We will all be industrialized science addicts in a Marxist society.
Cut-Mouth Moses (seated in the center) was first sergeant of Apache Company A when this photograph was taken in the early 1880s. During the ill-fated Cibecue affair in 1881, he remained loyal when others in his unit mutinied.
I do not believe that capitalism itself is really responsible for the situation in which American Indians have been declared a national sacrifice. No, it is the European tradition ; European culture itself is responsible. Marxism is just the latest continuation of this tradition, not a solution to it. To ally with Marxism is to ally with the very same forces that declare us an acceptable cost.
There is another way. There is the traditional Lakota way and the ways of the American Indian peoples. It is the way that knows that humans do not have the right to degrade Mother Earth, that there are forces beyond anything the European mind has conceived, that humans must be in harmony with all relations or the relations will eventually eliminate the disharmony. A lopsided emphasis on humans by humans-the Europeans’arrogance of acting as though they were beyond the nature of all related things-can only result in a total disharmony and a readjustment which cuts arrogant humans down to size, gives them a taste of that reality beyond their grasp or control and restores the harmony. There is a need for a revolutionary theory to bring this about; it’s beyond human control. The nature peoples of this planet know this and so they do not theorize about it. Theory is an abstract; our knowledge is real.
Distilled to its basic terms, European faith-including the new faith in science-equals a belief that man is God. Europe has always sought a Messiah, whether that be the man Jesus Christ or the man Karl Marx or the man Albert Einstein. American Indians know this to be totally absurd. Humans are the weakest of all creatures, so weak that other creatures are willing to give up their flesh that we may live. Humans are able to survive only through the exercise of rationality since they lack the abilities of other creatures to gain food through the use of fang and claw.
Chief Iron Tail (1857–1955) Oglala Sioux
But rationality is a curse since it can cause humans to forget the natural order of things in ways other creatures do not. A wolf never forgets his or her place in the natural order. American Indians can. Europeans almost always do. We pray our thanks to the deer, our relations, for allowing us their flesh to eat; Europeans simply take the flesh for granted and consider the deer inferior. After all, Europeans consider themselves godlike in their rationalism and science. God is the Supreme Being; all else must be inferior.
All European tradition, Marxism included, has conspired to defy the natural order of all things. Mother Earth has been abused, the powers have been abused, and this cannot go on forever. No theory can alter that simple fact. Mother Earth will retaliate, the whole environment will retaliate, and the abusers will be eliminated. Things come full circle, back to where they started. That’s revolution. And that’s a prophecy of my people, of the Hopi people and of other correct peoples.
American Indians have been trying to explain this to Europeans for centuries. But, as I said earlier, Europeans have proven themselves unable to hear. The natural order will win out, and the offenders will die out, the way deer die when they offend the harmony by over-populating a given region. It’s only a matter of time until what Europeans call “a major catastrophe of global proportions” will occur. It is the role of American Indian peoples, the role of all natural beings, to survive. A part of our survival is to resist. We resist not to overthrow a government or to take political power, but because it is natural to resist extermination, to survive. We don’t want power over white institutions; we want white institutions to disappear. That’s revolution.
American Indians are still in touch with these realities-the prophecies, the traditions of our ancestors. We learn from the elders, from nature, from the powers. And when the catastrophe is over, we American Indian peoples will still be here to inhabit the hemisphere. I don’t care if it’s only a handful living high in the Andes. American Indian people will survive; harmony will be reestablished. That’s revolution.
At this point, perhaps I should be very clear about another matter, one which should already be clear as a result of what I’ve said. But confusion breeds easily these days, so I want to hammer home this point. When I use the term European, I’m not referring to a skin color or a particular genetic structure. What I’m referring to is a mind-set, a worldview that is a product of the development of European culture. People are not genetically encoded to hold this outlook; they are acculturated to hold it. The same is true for American Indians or for the members of any culture.
It is possible for an American Indian to share European values, a European worldview. We have a term for these people; we call them “apples”-red on the outside (genetics) and white on the inside (their values). Other groups have similar terms: Blacks have their “oreos”; Hispanos have “Coconuts” and so on. And, as I said before, there are exceptions to the white norm: people who are white on the outside, but not white inside. I’m not sure what term should be applied to them other than “human beings.”
What I’m putting out here is not a racial proposition but a cultural proposition. Those who ultimately advocate and defend the realities of European culture and its industrialism are my enemies. Those who resist it, who struggle against it, are my allies, the allies of American Indian people. And I don’t give a damn what their skin color happens to be. Caucasian is the white term for the white race: European is an outlook I oppose.
The Sioux and Cheyenne Indians defiantly left their reservations, outraged over the continued intrusions of whites into their sacred lands in the Black Hills. They gathered in Montana with the great warrior Sitting Bull leading the fight for their lands. The following spring, two victories over the U.S.7th Cavalry emboldened them to defeat the U.S. Army.
The Vietnamese Communists are not exactly what you might consider genetic Caucasians, but they are now functioning as mental Europeans. The same holds true for Chinese Communists, for Japanese capitalists or Bantu Catholics or Peter “MacDollar” down at the Navajo Reservation or Dickie Wilson up here at Pine Ridge. There is no racism involved in this, just an acknowledgment of the mind and spirit that make up culture.
In Marxist terms I suppose I’m a “cultural nationalist.” I work first with my people, the traditional Lakota people, because we hold a common worldview and share an immediate struggle. Beyond this, I work with other traditional American Indian peoples, again because of a certain commonality in worldview and form of struggle. Beyond that, I work with anyone who has experienced the colonial oppression of Europe and who resists its cultural and industrial totality. Obviously, this includes genetic Caucasians who struggle to resist the dominant norms of European culture. The Irish and the Basques come immediately to mind, but there are many others.
I work primarily with my own people, with my own community. Other people who hold non-European perspectives should do the same. I believe in the slogan, “Trust your brother’s vision,” although I’d like to add sisters into the bargain. I trust the community and the culturally based vision of all the races that naturally resist industrialization and human extinction. Clearly, individual whites can share in this, given only that they have reached the awareness that continuation of the industrial imperatives of Europe is not a vision, but species suicide. White is one of the sacred colors of the Lakota people-red, yellow, white and black. The four directions. The four seasons. The four periods of life and aging. The four races of humanity. Mix red, yellow, white and black together and you get brown, the color of the fifth race. This is a natural ordering of things. It therefore seems natural to me to work with all races, each with its own special meaning, identity and message.
But there is a peculiar behavior among most Caucasians. As soon as I become critical of Europe and its impact on other cultures, they become defensive. They begin to defend themselves. But I’m not attacking them personally; I’m attacking Europe. In personalizing my observations on Europe they are personalizing European culture, identifying themselves with it. By defending themselves in this context, they are ultimately defending the death culture. This is a confusion which must be overcome, and it must be overcome in a hurry. None of us has energy to waste in such false struggles.
Caucasians have a more positive vision to offer humanity than European culture. I believe this. But in order to attain this vision it is necessary for Caucasians to step outside European culture-alongside the rest of humanity-to see Europe for what it is and what it does.
To cling to capitalism and Marxism and all other “isms” is simply to remain within European culture. There is no avoiding this basic fact. As a fact, this constitutes a choice. Understand that the choice is based on culture, not race. Understand that to choose European culture and industrialism is to choose to be my enemy. And understand that the choice is yours, not mine.
This leads me back to address those American Indians who are drifting through the universities, the city slums, and other European institutions. If you are there to resist the oppressor in accordance with your traditional ways, so be it. I don’t know how you manage to combine the two, but perhaps you will succeed. But retain your sense of reality. Beware of coming to believe the white world now offers solutions to the problems it confronts us with. Beware, too, of allowing the words of native people to be twisted to the advantages of our enemies. Europe invented the practice of turning words around on themselves. You need only look to the treaties between American Indian peoples and various European governments to know that this is true. Draw your strength from who you are.
A culture which regularly confuses revolt with resistance, has nothing helpful to teach you and nothing to offer you as a way of life. Europeans have long since lost all touch with reality, if ever they were in touch with who you are as American Indians.
So, I suppose to conclude this, I should state clearly that leading anyone toward Marxism is the last thing on my mind. Marxism is as alien to my culture as capitalism and Christianity are. In fact, I can say I don’t think I’m trying to lead anyone toward anything. To some extent I tried to be a “leader,” in the sense that the white media like to use that term, when the American Indian Movement was a young organization. This was a result of a confusion I no longer have. You cannot be everything to everyone. I do not propose to be used in such a fashion by my enemies. I am not a leader. I am an Oglala Lakota patriot. That is all I want and all I need to be. And I am very comfortable with who I am.
Here, in a piece that was originally presented as a lecture at Navajo Community College in Fall, 1995, Russell Means discusses freedom and responsibility in our present-day world. He talks about the true nature of education, and why we must think critically about the educational and government structures that constrain us.
Free to be Responsible
Hello, my relatives. I am an ally. I come from Yellow Thunder Village in our very sacred holy land, the Black Hills.
I’m going to talk about freedom today. Freedom. You all know what that means, don’t you? No, you don’t. If you knew what it meant, you wouldn’t be here. If you knew what it meant you would be out on the land being free, instead of colonizing your mind. If you knew what freedom really meant then you would have no fear. This is a fear-based society. You fear the police. Do you slow down when you see the highway patrolman? Of course you do. A fear based society is usually a male-driven society. You come from a matrilineal way of life, as I do.
Freedom means you are never in a hurry. Think about that the next time you have to get to class. You are never in a hurry, and never is a long time. Freedom means you are free to be responsible. No one has any rules or regulations for you to follow because you are a responsible individual: responsible for your own behavior, responsible for your generations, responsible for your Mother the Earth, responsible for every living being, and responsible for the universe. That’s what freedom means. Those are the things that I have found out in my life about freedom, because I’ve lived it. I’ve been free.
At Wounded Knee in 1973, we were surrounded by the armed might of the United States of America, the most militarily powerful country in the world, but we were free. For seventy-one days we walked in freedom, without a white man’s rules or regulations. We had no rules or regulations.
Laws are made for lawless people. This is a nation of laws, and lawless people, and that’s why the white man lies to you all the time. That’s why this is a society of liars, and they pass more laws every year and build more jails. You can always tell how civilized the reservation is becoming by the amount of jails. The older Dine remember when there were no jails on this reservation. You’re civilized now, a part of this great country of freedom and democracy: pick up a gun, let me train you to be a murderer of human beings. Then let me train you to be proud to be a trained murderer of human beings, and to fight for this piece of cloth. That’s what I want you to do, and if you don’t do it, I’ll put you in jail because there are laws.
One of those laws knocked the hearing from my father’s ear when he was in boarding school. It was against the law to speak your own language, so they beat him, accidentally hit him on the head, and busted one ear drum. Every time my dad tried to speak Lakota, he would speak softly because it was against the law to speak your language. You were beaten and terrorized if you spoke Lakota. Some old people on this reservation and on my reservation have arthritis in their knees because they had to kneel on marbles, or pebbles, or rocks, for hours, because they violated the law.
You live in the greatest country in the world. That’s what they keep telling you. If a man doesn’t stand up to salute the flag, make him leave this country. He’s not respecting your piece of cloth. Now, if a white man walked into this room and told you that it’s now a new law to stand up for the shirt that Russell Means is wearing today, would you do it? You see how ridiculous that is: a piece of cloth is a piece of cloth. It’s used to clean your car, wipe your hands. This shirt I’m wearing will eventually probably wash my car or my pickup.
Freedom. You are free to be responsible. If you are a responsible person, then you need no laws. If you are a responsible person, you’re proud of who you are. I know there might be Navajos in this room, but I don’t know if there are any Dine. The reason I say that is because of freedom. I’ve fought for freedom, the freedom of my people according to the law. It was the only law my ancestors ever made, and they made it in agreement with the white man. It’s called a treaty, and it’s backed by Article VI of the United States Constitution.
The Constitution comes from us, from our way of life. The Greeks didn’t have it. John Locke didn’t have it. No society on earth had it. We had it. Individual liberty through representative government. Rousseau didn’t have it. None of the European philosophers, or the Mediterranean philosophers, or the Far Eastern philosophers, had that concept, only us. Freedom for the individual through representative government. Our government is a clan system run by the women. The women tell their children: you are free to be responsible as long as you understand the universe because the universe is your tabernacle. If you don’t understand the universe, then you don’t know who you are, and if you don’t know who you are, then how can you be free to be responsible? You’re going to need laws to function. You need time schedules. Freedom is worth fighting for, freedom is worth risking your life for, and freedom is worth going to jail for.
When I was a young man I grew up in an America that was talking about freedom. They weren’t talking about political correctness. We didn’t call ourselves Native Americans because the government told us to. People of all colors, all the sacred colors of the human race, were talking about freedom in the sixties and seventies. We were talking about freedom, and we were doing something about it – everybody in this country. You don’t hear the word freedom any more. You hear about civil rights. My ancestors never talked about civil rights. What ‘s a civil right? It’s according to the laws, that’s a civil right.
Freedom. What is it? It’s also survival. You corner any free animal, not a domesticated one that the white man brought over; but you corner one of our relatives, and they will fight by any means necessary for survival. They’re free. Wounded Knee ’73 was an expression of freedom.
In a matrilineal society, when I married, my last name would change, not my wife’s. Indigenous people the world over, specifically in the western hemisphere, never gave a new-born child the name of someone else, because that would not respect that someone else, and because you want that child, who just came into this earth, to have their own personality and individuality, their own freedom. It’s respecting the individual. This country was based on the clan system. The United States of America doesn’t have founding fathers. That’s an insult to our ancestors. This country, the United States of America, has founding mothers, and they were primitive ones at that. The Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy used to be called at that time the Five Nations. The men didn’t have the right to vote. It was the women who picked the leaders and removed them if necessary. It continues today among those people. That’s the basis of this country. If the white man was really telling the truth, he would talk about the founding mothers. But women had no rights when this country was founded, black people were counted as three-fifths of a human being, and we weren’t considered human beings.
Self-respect, freedom. Are you Dine? Or are you educated Navajos? That’s what your educated tribal council calls you. They’re ashamed of their language, ashamed of their ancestors, ashamed of their beauty. Do you know why they proclaim: we do not want to be called Dine; we want to be called Navajo? Because it costs too much to change the letterheads. What an insult. You should have had an insurrection right there. A coup d’etat. If you had any dignity you would have thrown them all out of office, and run them off the reservation. Tell them to go live with the white man, like the Navajos.
I came to this reservation and I fell in love with a Dine; she’s also half Omaha. We were driving around, and she was telling me about the sacred mountains of the Dine land. I thought it was wonderful that she knew them. We drove up to this man, and I stopped the car all of a sudden. She said, “Why are you stopping the car?” And I said. “Wait, right over there. I just want to watch that free man.” He was a sheep rancher, that people demean by calling a sheepherder. He’s a stock owner, that’s what white men call themselves when they own stock. They call themselves ranchers if they have two peach trees. She says. “Why do you want to watch him?” And I said, “Because I want to watch the most successful individual entrepreneur in Indian county today. No one tells him when to get up in the morning, nor when to go to bed. No one tells him anything all day long. And look at all the sheep he has. He’s a very rich man. And the most important thing that he’s doing, is that he’s praying.” My wife, a Presbyterian, said, “What do you mean he’s praying?” And I said, “To the Lakota, to the Indian, when you listen, you’re praying. That’s a form of prayer, when you listen.” She said, “Oh,” and started to watch with me. And to this day, when I see a sheep rancher, I stop, or at least slow down, just to acknowledge, and say thank you.
I was in the Navajo Nation during a time of internal strife, an important time in the history of this nation. I went to a chapter meeting in Chinle. One of my in-laws translated for me. The chairman of the meeting was a Navajo who spoke the language well and wore two braids. He is known on the Pow-wow circuit as a “traditional dancer.” It was muddy outside, and a man, all muddy from working in his field, started to speak Dine. A traditional man, you could tell he’d been outdoors all his life. My translator was translating in one ear, and I was listening. This man started his talk, like my people did when they were traditional. He talked about the things he saw outside his hoogan. He talked about what the wind has to say, and the flowers. He talked about birds, when all of a sudden: Bang, Bang, Bang. And in Dine that “traditional dancer” said, “Five minutes, your time is up!” I thought, wait a minute! I’m on an Indian reservation. I’ve never seen or heard of that in my life. It tells you I’ve never been to a tribal council meeting.
We come from an oral society. I’ve never seen anyone interrupted in a meeting on a reservation when they were speaking, except one other time. Our own traditional people were speaking on the Black Hills Yellow Thunder Village issue, where I come from. We had repossessed 800 acres of land in our holy land from the U.S. Forest Service, because we said we have a right to pray. We lost that case in the Supreme Court. It was the last case before the peyote case that was lost. The U.S. Forest Service called a meeting, and they paid for our traditional people to come from all over Lakota land, and they came. We started the meeting.
In an oral society there are protocols that you have to understand and observe. If you’re an Indian, you know these things. In an oral society the old people get up and establish a format, an agenda, but it’s done orally, one person at a time. They seem to be talking about the same thing, and you must listen closely. That’s what an oral society requires, because Indian people always talk in a circle. You always end up where you began. You have to listen very carefully, so you don’t miss any of the spokes in the wheel that holds it together. The tradi-tional people all speak about the same thing in different ways, from their own experience, so that we can all have one mind and one body, before we begin the serious business. And they usually talk about having one mind, one body, one spirit, one heart. And you listen.
A young Lakota woman sat in the meeting while an old man with a bunch of dirt on him was talking. You could tell she was educated because she had nice jewelry, a nice hairdo, and the proper heels. She raised her hand, and of course no one acknowledged her; she wasn’t the Chairman. “Excuse me, excuse me, I’m sorry, but where is the agenda?” Everybody looked at her, and nobody said anything. So she said, “Well, if I’m not going to get an answer, there’s no sense in me attending this meeting.” And she stormed out. Educated. And we went on with our meeting.
Freedom. I picked up a hitchhiker outside of Chinle, and brought him here. He said, “Why are you coming to Tsaile?” And I said, “To give a speech.” He said, “What about?” I said, “Freedom, I’ll talk about freedom.” He sat for a while, and then he turned to me and said, “I don’t know what to say to you.” I said, “Well, I’m going to talk about what you just gave up.” He said, “What’s that?” And I answered, “Well, you gave up your freedom to ride in this damn vehicle.” I’m going 70 miles per hour. We talked about freedom. He had a lot to say.
He has three teenage daughters, and we talked about youth and the highway and about electricity and the fact that youth need their electricity now. And once you get electricity what’s the first thing you buy? A TV. What’s one of the first things the kids turn on? The TV. If it’s not that, they’ve got two things in their ears so they can’t hear anything. And you wonder why we’re having problems.
When you didn’t have TV guess what time kids went to bed? When it got dark, and they got up when it got light. Now, they go to bed late, and get up late. And they don’t want to work. Wonder why? Because you don’t have a garage, a swimming pool, or a jacuzzi – all the fine things the white man has, and teaches you to want, to consume, and be greedy. How many of you have been to Basha’s and seen all that greed? You go into a super-market and you get tons of food, tons of greed. We don’t need all that food. Think about it – it’s greed! Everything is greed. You turn on the TV, it’s all about greed. And you expect to be Dine?
No wonder your educated people who watch TV will vote for the word Navajo, and shame on you. I remember when my people only called themselves Sioux. Sioux was a French corruption of an Ojibway word meaning snake. Now they say Lakota. But the white man doesn’t want us to give away that word Sioux, so you hear him call us Lakota Sioux. I’m Lakota. I don’t put anything else behind it.
I said earlier that if you don’t know the universe then you don’t know who you are, and it’s true. My wife recently completed a book about the plants of the Dine in the Chinle area, which incudes this area. She runs a curriculum center – you should all visit it, just for a touch of your own pride, and shake the hand of Mike Mitchell, who started her on this journey. Actually she says it was me who started her on this journey, but not really, it’s our ancestors.
My wife started studying the plants, along with other Dine, and consulted Mike Mitchell, and other medicine men and medicine women. They identified the plants indigenous to this area, and the Dine uses for them. They listed them in the Dine language, and sent the plants to the biology department of the University of New Mexico or the University of Arizona, requesting information on the white man’s use of these plants. They identified about 160 plants. In every case the Dine traditional use and white contemporary use coincided. However, in over sixty percent of the plants, the Dine used the plant for more reasons than the white man. What? Our biology and botany are superior to western culture?
We Lakota, one of our instructions is not to give out certain information. And we’re jumpy; those educated Sioux started giving this information out. And now the anthropologists, and other “ologists”, have grabbed it, and are trying to put in into a linear, mathematical equation, just like the white man. We have our own universe and interpretation, except our universe isn’t just a roadmap. We know that the universe re-energizes itself, every seven years. We know the power it gives us. We know that through the power of the universe, manifested through the womb, it purifies women naturally. Think about that! In the universe there is only one living being on the entire Grandmother Earth (that’s what the Lakota call it – Grandmother Earth) that is purified naturally every twenty-eight days, the same number of ribs in a buffalo. It is manifested through the universe, and they picked the human woman, to purify. No wonder we’re a matrilineal society. Men aren’t purified naturally. So if you understand this rhythm, then you begin to grasp who you are.
In the curriculum center at Chinle they’re doing the same thing with astronomy that they did with plants. They’re finding that Dine knowledge of the universe is superior to western science. They’re doing geology – the rock people. The rock people are among all indigenous societies. They know one another when they come upon one another. My grandfather was from the rock people, and some medicine men who work with my wife are rock people. Our geology is superior to western science.
Two years ago I went to visit the curriculum center. They were having a special event for all the teachers of the school. I don’t know how many teachers they have, more than my toes and fingers. They’re all white. Gloria introduced me to a Ph.D. in botany, a Ph.D. in astronomy, and another Ph.D. in geology. Three Ph.D.’s. I shook their hands, and then I looked over in the corner. Sitting in the corner in one of those little chairs was Mike Mitchell, unassuming and humble.
Coincidentally, the next school board meeting was at Tsaile. I went before the board, as a community member, and demanded a raise for Mike Mitchell. I told the school board that they had to pay him at least a minimum of $120,000 per school year, because that’s the very least those three Ph.D.’s are getting a year, about $45,000 each, and he’s worth more than those three guys. He’s never been to school, can’t speak English well, but he knows more than three Ph.D.’s.
Now that’s freedom. Mike Mitchell was making $8 an hour. I’m proud to say they did raise his salary. He now gets $10 an hour.
Think of the pride in your self image, if you had known when you were in kindergarten, that you, your people, and your ancestors are in fact superior in knowledge. Not wisdom, because the linear, mathematical Eurocentric male world view has no wisdom. If they did, you wouldn’t see steam shovels on this land. You wouldn’t see satellites; in fact, they might even allow you some freedoms. You now know that your knowledge is superior to western science. Not your tom-tom beating and your chanting. I’m not talking about those stereotypical images. I’m talking about knowledge and science. I’m not talking about culture. They always want us to go into culture, and it’s always an elective in a high school curriculum. It’s never a required subject.
You’re surrounded by freedom and you can’t see it. The people in the canyon come to me, and say, the Park Service is not letting us live. I was riding with my son in the canyon. His family has been riding in the canyon for generations, and the Park Ranger had the stupidity to stop us and ask if we had permission to go into the canyon. He went away sufficiently chastised, and respectful. I saw what the U.S. government did to the canyon, with the two weeds they put there, that are now overgrowing the canyon. Farmers from the canyon are complaining about those weeds.
I look at this reservation, and yes, I see a nation, a captive nation. One without pride. I’m sorry, I’m sad, because I see your nation the way my nation was twenty-five years ago. The old people are still alive, the ones with no education, who can’t speak English. Whitehair Begay just died, in Forest Lake. I knew him. We couldn’t talk together because he only spoke Dine. His medicine prayers died with him, he couldn’t pass on his knowledge. While he was here he held a Blessing Way and a protection ceremony for my son.
The Navajo Tribal Court is trying to give my son to a white man, and has threatened and tried to put my wife in jail. A Navajo woman, who all of her adult life, since she was a teenager, has been a gold mine for Dine children, and a proud example for this nation: from her trick riding at rodeos when she was a teenager, to her college years, Masters’ degree, and work with the curriculum center. Yet, because a white man points a finger at an Indian child on this reservation, who’s not even enrolled here, he’s enrolled on my reservation, these educated Navajos say he belongs to that white man. My son has long hair, because he knows it’s sacred, and he knows why long hair is sacred. He knows that it holds memory. He knows why Indian people have long hair, and he takes care of it.
You want to talk about freedom in the great country you live in, and the flag that you learn to fight for? Look at the individual jeweler entrepreneurs. They cannot sell their jewelry, and have to get permits to sell at the tourist stops along the canyon wall. And have you ever seen that jewelry they’re trying to sell? It compares with nothing you see at Thunderbird Lodge. You don’t want to lose those individual entrepreneurs, the only suc-cessful ones you have on this reservation, the only ones whom no one tells when to get up in the morning. The individual entrepreneurs that don’t have alarm clocks.
Look towards your children’s future. Almost everyone of you, if not all of you, if you’re Dine, intend to have children. Or you already have children or grandchildren. If you care about your eternity, then come to our reservation, and I’ll show you the way the educated people will take you. You have less than six years left at those two big mines here, and then it’s gone. You’re going to have to strip mine the disputed land, when the New Mexico and Gallup mines are finally depleted, because that’s where the remaining coal is very rich. But it too will go, in your lifetime, along with the water.
Come to my reservation, and see that no youth ride horses anymore. Only the breeds, only the rich Indians with jobs can afford to rodeo now. When I grew up everybody could rodeo, if you had the guts to climb on, or no guts, and were foolish enough to climb on a bucking horse, a bull, or a steer. Now you can’t afford to rodeo, or be a Pow-wow Indian. You’re lucky if you can afford to pay to see the Pow-wow.
I don’t go to Pow-wows on this reservation, because I’m not a Pow-wow Indian. I understand my culture. You know what I want to hear when I live down here. I want to hear the songs that the traditional people sing. I was driving north from Burnside Junction, when I saw about fifty cars stopped. I thought it was an accident, so I passed them all. Then I saw the riders on horseback with the staff. I’ve seen that a lot of times on this reserva-tion, and I always stop and give a prayer of thanks. This time it was big, it was huge. A hundred riders, carrying that staff, and everyone was stopped on both sides of the highway. One hundred riders. I wanted to know about it, I wanted to follow them, but I couldn’t, because I’m not from this reservation. Traditional dancers, when they gather, speak about important matters concerning the nation.
In my culture we have people who dress half-man, half-woman. Winkte, we call them in our language, but gay people are dressing up as women in our dances, and that’s not the way. If I ever go to a Pow-wow here and I see them dancing, I’m going to grab the microphone, and tell them: that’s not the way. If you are Winkte, that is an honorable term, and you are a special human being. And among my nation and all Plains people, we consider you a teacher of our children, and are proud of what and who you are. If you’re going to sing my songs, and do my dances, then ask us. Quit butchering my songs, my dances, and the things that I am proud to wear. It means nothing now. Our beadwork means nothing. My grandmother wrote a book about our beadwork. You can read it if you want to steal my songs and my dances.
So, you see, you don’t know the universe if you’re a Pow-wow Indian. Otherwise, you would have respect, because you would know who you are, and you would know yourselves. And Whitehair Begay, and all his brethren and sisters, would not die saddened.
It’s not your language that tells you who you are, it’s your songs. We are the most musical people on earth. We have a song for everything. Think of one thing, and we have a song for it. That’s why we don’t need psy-chologists, marriage counselors, treatment centers, jails, locks, and keys. Know your heritage! That’s your her-itage! You come from a people with no locks and keys. You had so much respect for your women, that you lis-tened to them and followed their advice, and you didn’t have war.
And I don’t care what the white man says – he says the Dine, like the Lakota, were nomads. I live by the canyon. I see people when they go from their winter home to their summer home, and return. That’s what the Lakota did, but it took a little longer in those days. We didn’t have RV’s and refrigeration, and had to stop, dry some meat, pick some fruit, and slowly reached our summer home. When a white man has a winter home and a summer home, he’s not called a nomad. He’s called rich. Think about it – he’s a rich man.
You cannot beat our heritage; you cannot beat what our ancestors had to teach us and tell us. That’s why they made a treaty, because they thought of you, all of you. And they allowed the white man to have peace. Think about this, you can write it down on your own paper in your own language, so you can understand it. We can remember, because we have long hair, and we remembered.
Learn your songs, and understand that our way of life has all the answers, all of them, and if it doesn’t, then sing a song. That’s what freedom is. Now maybe you can understand why it’s worth dying for, and why I was thrown in jail, and why I can tell you that I haven’t paid income tax for twenty-one years, until I had to last year. I had no more excuses. I was a movie star. They knew I made money. But I have my own driver’s license.
You see, I agree with the white man. I agree with the Congress, I agree with the Executive Branch, and I agree with the Supreme Court – that they’re all liars. They’ve admitted that they’re nothing but liars, and I admit that, yes you are, and you lied about our treaty, and you lie about your Constitution. Therefore, I advocate that, under international law, constitutional law, our law, and anybody else’s law, we revert back to our legal status before we signed the treaty.
And guess what that legal status is? Free! We are free people. When one nation unilaterally admits they vio-lated an international covenant, then that covenant no longer has legal force in a court of law, and you become a free people. That’s your avenue, and you think that’s unusual? Lithuania did it. Lithuania is responsible for utilizing this very concept and beginning the demise of the Soviet Union. They walked away from the Soviet Union, because the Soviet Union admitted they violated their treaty. Half the people living in Lithuania were Russians. So there is international and legal precedent and knowledge of this. Freedom: freedom to be responsible, to never be in a hurry, and freedom from fear. Remember the freedom from fear, and return to the clan sys-tem. There isn’t a responsible mother from any society, any culture, anywhere in the world, in the history of the human race, that wants to see their son go to war. And if their son is forced to go to war, those mothers have empathy for the mothers of their son’s enemies. That’s profound.
Learn your wisdom – the missing link. In the Euro-centric, linear, mathematical way of thinking, they only teach limited knowledge, not wisdom. Vine DeLoria finally recognized this in his last book, after all these years, and he has a Ph.D., and a GGD, and a whole English alphabet behind his name. His nickname among the Lakota is alphabet soup. Doctor of Divinity degree, D.D.D.; doctor, lawyer, M.A., M.S., B.A., B.S. bullshit; M.S. is more shit; Ph.D. does not equal wisdom.
Wisdom, that’s what our culture and our heritage is all about.
Thank you.
Russell Means The True American Man
Following it is an excerpt from a documentary where Russell Means speaks about Matriarchy Societies
The last passengers arrived to the Estelle Freedom Boat on slow boats from the Greek Isle today October 16, 2012, with destination to Gaza, Palestine.
Today the list get completed and the crew of civilian activists block constituted the group that materialized the hope of that of thousands of activists that had contributed to the dream to brake the Gaza Naval blockade imposed illegal by Israel in 2007.
The activists are expected to arrive in Palestinian waters en few days and with days close a chapter of desperation in Gaza. The residents of Gaza are preparing the arrival of the Estelle with joy and expectation.
The last passengers arrived to the Estelle. Photo Credit Ricardo Sixto Congressmen from the Spaniard Parliament
The latest Palestinian activists are Parliament personnel from diverse countries:
– Ricardo Sixto, congresista en el parliament Spaniard
– Sven Britton, Parliament y físico Sweden
– Aksel Hagen, Parliament Norway
– Vangelis Diamandopoulos, Parliament Greek
– Dimistris Kodelas, Parlamentario Greek
– Jim Manly, ex congressman Canadian
From this passage, formed by citizens of Finland, Canada, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Italy, Greece and Israel, traveling a group of members of national parliaments to ask, not only in word, but in deed, to end the illegal and inhuman blockade subjected to inhumane conditions that almost two million Palestinian suffer, in what constitutes collective punishment with impunity in the eyes of the international community.
Having this representation is essential to give legal legitimacy and pressure on various governments and international bodies to support the passage of a vessel of civilians in a peaceful action demanding respect for human rights of the people of Gaza .
Until today October 17, 2012 time on the Mediterranean Sea, the Estelle is sailing freely, there is no speed boats or military boats close to the Estelle. We expect the governments of the activists pressure Israel to leave them arrive to Gaza. The group is comprise of official representatives of various Governments of Europe. They are un armed and have a humanitarian mission to fulfill. There is no intention to confront Israeli commandos, they are in strictly humanitarian mission.
The mission is missing one important passenger Ann Wright that was previously in the list of activists, but unfortunate recent events prevented her from being part of the crew.
For those who don’t know Ann Wright, she served in the U.S. Army for 29 years, retiring as a Colonel, then put in 16 years in the U.S. diplomatic corps, until she resigned in 2003 to protest the war on Iraq. Since then she has been an indefatigable campaigner for peace and justice around the world.
You can follow live the Estelle trajectory using the Live Ship Map, just refresh the page using CTRL F5 to update her position.
RAMALLAH, West Bank Palestine — Israeli authorities arrested a Palestinian journalist from Ramallah area in the village of Al Nabi Saleh on Thursday and was taken to unknown location, local sources said.
“Israel Occupier Soldiers raided the home of Mohammad Atallah Al Tamimi , 24 years old, and vandalized the house before arresting the journalist, who works for the Tamimi Press Agency,” local witnesses said.
Mohammad Atallah Al Tamimi is also active with the village’s popular committee media office.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said she had no record of the incident.
The local popular committee said in a statement that it held Israeli forces responsible for the journalist’s well-being, and it condemned a series of arrests and invasions of the village’s homes, in the last 3 years they have been more than 500 incidents, that have resulted in 64 arrests.
“All these policies aim to pressure the Palestinians and kill Palestinian resistance, but we will never stop. We will keep fighting and struggling against the occupation,” the statement said.According to a Palestinian media advocacy group, Israeli forces have committed 559 violations against media freedoms in the West Bank and Gaza in the last four years.
Look that beautiful Smile, we say; “Who does not own anything, should not fear anything” 🙂 Being arrested on January 23, 2011
“Since December 2009, when An Nabi Saleh began their non-violent protests against the continued stealing of their land by the illegal Israeli colony of Halamish, more than 13% of the village’s residents – 64 people – have been arrested and jailed as of 31 March 2011. All but three were tried for participating in the non-violent demonstrations. Of those imprisoned, 29 have been minors under the age of 18 years and 4 have been women” Read More on Nabi Saleh Solidarity and Resistance Committee in their Web Blogs,
“Tamimi Press have reported via Facebook: [translation via google translate]: Tamimi Press | – Urgent – injured citizen Omar al-Tamimi, 25, more than 8 bullets metal in the side, abdomen and hands during launch indiscriminate bullets carried out by the occupation forces against the village of Nabi Saleh shortly before when storming of the village and arrested a number of citizens. The Popular Resistance have said Occupation Forces carry full responsibility for Tamimi life especially as it is still being held and the ambulance which are moving at a checkpoint at the entrance of the village” September 22, 2012
Join them in their Facebook Page Tamimi Press and stay informed on the weekly Non Violent protests to raise awareness.
Intifada Media have reported: The IOF [Israeli Occupaption Forces] invaded the village of Nabi Saleh Monday night, broke into the home of the martyr Mustafa Tamimi and arrested his brotherZiad ‘Abd al-Rizaq (25) as well as Muhammad ‘Atiyah Tamimi (28). Soldiers broke into several homes and terrorized residents. Clashes with the village’s youth ensued, and the invading army used live ammunition. One resident, ‘Ummar Tamimi, was then seriously injured by a bullet but the army detained the ambulance carrying him to Ramallah hospital, and arrested the injured and another man accompanying him. September 11, 2012
Look that beautiful Smile, we say; “Who does not own anything, should not fear anything” 🙂 Being arrested on January 23, 2011
Syrian Rebel Army playing the wrong card, just think about their demands. They are demanding the Official Syrian Government to withdraw from areas of Damascus provinces. Damascus being the capital of Syria which make it of vital importance to control. The video shows a Rebel guy in army gear speaking with the suppose Iranian hostages behind him – See video under the article.
The Rebels insists that these are Iranian Soldier helping Bashar’s regime. The group of hostages look too old to be active soldiers, maybe one person in the group look younger than 50. Some sources that cited the article of the 48 Iranian hostages said that the Iranian Foreign Ministers had already said that some in between the 48 hostages are retired guards.
What type of Army is this Syrian Rebel Army? The seriousness of the issue involving nationals of a foreign country that has nothing to do with the internal conflict, it is a farce, undiplomatic, unreasonable, and irresponsible.
As a force that want to take the control of a country, using this low and cheap deal, talks of their character. More than an army they look like a bunch of bandits with tantrums unresolved.
The Rebel Group kidnapped 48 Iranian Nationals since last August, some Commander from the rebel group wants the Syrian Army out of Ghuta area, they gave 48 hours to comply with their demands or the hostages will be executed. So are they saying that Iranian civilians have to pay for their Rebel Army inability to fight the Government and win in a fair duel? and They have to resort to such cheap strategy. Are these rebels trying to bring Iran to the conflict, just like they tried with Turkey?…Not Wise
Most likely it is a move advice from “The Rebels Foreign Allies”, trying to test Iranian government, or better yet, they try to manipulate Syrian conflict to instigate Iran and its enemies to make Iran look weak and unable to resolve the hostage crisis.
“We are sure the Iranian men are helping the regime” of President Bashar al-Assad, Abul Wafa said.
I have been scrolling for hours Iranian Official News and can not find a suppose statement by Iranian Foreign Ministers, saying that some of the hostages are “Retired National Guard”, maybe he did say but no luck for me.
“Tehran has appealed for help to secure the release of the hostages who presumably are Iranian National retired guards, it says, they were visiting the Sayyida Zeinab shrine, a Shiite pilgrimage site on the southeastern outskirts of Damascus” according to the source -French News Agency in Beirut -cited in South China Monitor
Syrian opposition parties’ conference in Damascus commenced Sunday with presence of ambassadors of Iran, Russia and China. 15 opposition parties have arranged the meeting to hold talks and confer views over settlement of Syrian crisis.An informed source in Iran’s embassy in Damascus told ISNA these parties are against foreign interference, arming the insurgents and tribal warfare but demand reforms.
These opposition parties have held talks with Iran and their insistence on its participation in the conference show that they believe Iran plays an important role in ending the crisis, the informed source said. ISNA
Ahmadinejad then told delegates that Iran has a “global vision and welcomes any effort intended to provide and promote peace, stability and tranquility” in the world.
“Iran may still be years away from any nuclear armed missiles”, is Reuters headlines today from Vienna. Iran is the new kid in the block.
“I still think that we are talking about several years … before Iran could develop a nuclear weapon and certainly before they could have a deliverable nuclear weapon,” said Shannon Kile, head of the Nuclear Weapons Project of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a think-tank.” Huff Post
“Israel has already breached its own red line set by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by acquiring ‘dozens of nuclear warheads,’ Iranian Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi says.
‘If having the atomic bomb is passing the red line, the Zionist regime, that possesses dozens of nuclear warheads and weapons of mass destruction, has passed the red line years ago, and it has to be stopped,’ he said on Saturday, according to the ISNA news agency.” ISNA NEWS AGENCY
The Stream Media can report anything they want and the public avid for news will swallow it as if it is their red pill. But you do not have to believe everything you read, actually you shouldn’t believe anything you read. And what ever you read give it a deep thought, specially if your going to share the content.
The headlines run wild in every News Outlets that there is, but how much information is really truthful and informative. With the popularization of the blogs, the big News Outlets seen themselves competing with millions of blogs around the world, so they resort to “catchy” headlines and spicy pictures that can bring the attention of the readers back to their Editorials Headlines.
It is not easy any more for the “News Industry” to monopolize the events. Every citizen in the world equipped with a smart phone and youtube account can make the news any time and it cost absolutely nothing.
The mellow down of the headlines regarding Iran is worth an analysis, when for the past few months the rhetoric has been of an emergency to attack Iran to stop it from making nuclear weapons. Natayahu performance in the UN special session last week with his almost comic presentation of Iran nuclear weapons. Natayahu cartoonist graphics were as believable as Collin Powell Power Point presentation to the UN before the US decided to attack Iraq in 2003.
Really the major players don’t really care what we believe, they make their meetings at close doors and they decide what war to start today, or what conflict to fuel.
Back on 2003 Iraq was visited by the UN atomic agency Nuclear inspectors and they found nothing.
The Nuclear agency giving reports that the inspections found nothing, while Israel and US repeating in the Major News “Iraq has Nuclear Weapons”
January 24, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — U.N. nuclear experts praised Iraq for cooperating with an inspection completed Wednesday, but refused to say whether they had found any evidence Iraq was restarting banned weapons programs.
The visit came as Iraq prepared to sit down with the United Nations to determine whether broader monitoring of its nuclear and other weapons programs could resume, and as the new U.S. administration made clear it will take a hard line on Iraq
Who do we believe? – “Israel’s warning last week that Iran will be on the brink of developing a nuclear weapon by mid-2013 seemed to refer to when it could have a sufficient stock of higher-grade uranium to make a quick dash to produce a bomb’s worth of weapon-grade material.” Reuter
While the Media keep repeating “Iraq kick the inspectors on 1998, to start their nuclear program”. The facts were saying, the Inspectors left in 1998 before UK start bombing Iraqi Targets.
“Almost all of those inspections have been halted since 1998, when the U.N. inspection team pulled out of Iraq ahead of U.S.-British bombings” This was part of an article run on the New York Times under the headlines “Nuclear Inspectors Praise Iraq”, while the article was pulled down by the New York times it can still be found in this link Nuclear News
The wording on every statement was aimed to taint Iraq credibility, and all the Major News paper were being part of this conspiracy to sway the mood against Iraq, to prepare the world for Iraq invasion on the guise of destroying the Piles of Iraqui Nuclear Weapons. Well that did not went to well and they change the Headlines to Bring Democracy to Iraq. “God Bless America” was repeated millions of times by the main stream media, as if with this expression US and its collision will be expiated from the horrors they were committing in Iraq.
Remember the famous “Iraq No Fly Zone”, The US and UK divided Iraq as it was a cake with a lame excuse and “armed” with a “UN Resolution” (which did not authorize Fly Zone or anything similar of that matter) they keep Iraq cripple in his own country, unable to property govern their own provinces. While the UN sanctions pushed by the US and Israel were creating a terrible misery in Iraq the US and UK keept bombing targets in Iraq preparing the way for an invasion.
And the headlines keept filling the hungry and innocent mind of the readers that did not know any more who was the savior and who the aggressor.
Now Iran is the bad boy of the block, yesterday was Syria, last year was Libya, that is how Mainstream Media functions.
Who is next in this line of fire? The Media has picked the suspects and the headlines are rolling every day.
“Bashar al-Assad, a British-trained doctor who inherited Syria’s harsh dictatorship from his father, Hafez al-Assad, had at first wavered between force and hints of reform. But in April 2011, just days after lifting the country’s decades-old state of emergency, he set off the first of what became a series of withering crackdowns, sending tanks into restive cities as security forces opened fire on demonstrators. In retrospect, the attacks appeared calculated to turn peaceful protests violent, to justify an escalation of force.” New York Times
So let’s read again the above statement, which is an excerpt from the New York Times overview of Syria conflict.
How is that Syrian government forces turning peaceful protests violent is going to benefit Syria? It is true that Bashar Al Assad had announced reforms and the lifting of the state of emergency, aren’t these two events enough to quite down the protests inside Syria? Why will the government want to incite violence? makes no sense at all, right?, but if you see it printed on the News headlines you only see the overly coat of propaganda directed to your sub conscience and the machinations of the propaganda started to dent inside your mind. Next thing you will be looking for news that read “Violence in Syria”, “Crackdowns in Syria” at this point you have lost objectivity and you become part of the game of propaganda. The Main Stream Media makes money out of your readership, so it will keep feeding you the same stories to keep you hooked up to their “News/Game”. The last thing they care is for the truth, they are interested on selling, so they print what it sells.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has announced reform measures, including the creation of a committee to study the possibility of lifting the country’s emergency law.
Syria’s state-run news agency, SANA, said Thursday the committee will complete its study by April 25.
Lifting the emergency law has been a key demand of protesters carrying out anti-government rallies in recent weeks. Voice of America
So why will they occupy with giving you boring news if what the people is asking is blood, gossip, wars, “interesting stuff”, they go to the extent to create the news for you. Different that giving you the news!
Browsing the internet I found this interesting story from Syria, at first may be uninteresting stuff, but if you think about it, just little bit, you get to the conclusion that Syria is a dynamic country with roughly 26 million inhabitants and the News insist on portraying a Syria in flames. The situation is getting more chaotic by the minute, and the conflict is heading to be a regional conflict with the latest news of confrontations with Turkey, that is just on more ally of the US and active member of NATO with 26 NATO bases in its territory. That is the next headlines!. Let’s bring Turkey to the gossip to make it more interesting. After all Turkey won little bit of credibility when financed the Mavi Marmara that sail with destiny to Gaza. But that is another story.
So it seems as Syria run business as usual in its cities; read the next news from Syria News Outlets, dated just 2 months ago. You can not possibly find this news in Main Stream Media, why will they bother, has nothing to do with Blood, Chaos, Conflict or war, as as far as they concern, “This is not News material”
President al-Assad Issues Decree on Establishment of New Mechanical Engineering Faculty and Medicine Faculty
Jul 09, 2012
DAMASCUS, President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday issued the decree No. 241 for 2012 stipulating for the establishment of the 2nd Mechanical Engineering Faculty affiliated to Aleppo University based in the city of Idleb and Medicine Faculty affiliated to al-Baath University based in the city of Hama.
Minister of Higher Education, Dr. Mohammad Yehiya Moalla, said this decree came to stress the continuity of providing free higher education for students in light of the growing number of holders of high school diploma with its various branches.
He added that the establishment of the new faculties will contribute to solving the problem of distance which sometimes hinder students’ enrollment in the university specialization he/she wants to study particularly among female students, in addition to filling the shortage in the Mechanical Engineering and Medicine specializations in the two provinces.
Syria threaten to use Chemical Weapons if foreign force intervention. WOW! this is hug headlines. Imagine everybody running to buy Gas masks.
Why in hell they run this News as headlines, but who run this headlines News? The New York Times off course, with their own alarmist style.
Syrian officials warned Monday that they would deploy chemical weapons against any foreign intervention, a threat that appeared intended to ward off an attack by Western nations while also offering what officials in Washington called the most “direct confirmation” ever that Syria possesses a stockpile of unconventional armaments.
That meticulous thought statement; “direct confirmation” ever that Syria possesses a stockpile of unconventional armaments (chemical weapons). With this the News is sending antennas to the world, using the same tactics used when the “US and the collision of the willing” wanted to invade Iraq.
Turkey fires artillery at Syria after 5 civilians killed in Turkish border villagen!
Are you serious 5 civilian killed and the News want Turkey to declare war against Syria?
It is sickening the way the “NEWS” are giving you the events all wrap up in blood. Please people do not be victim of their News, their propaganda and made up conflicts.
Yes there is chaos in the world, but most of the chaos is structured directly from the offices on NATO, US, UK, UN and Israel.
There is no way back is they turn this in WWIII. This could be the end of the world
Turn the TV off and change your News Online Channel.
Update! AT 2:40 pm PCT
The Los Angeles City Council reversed course Today October 02, 2012 and repealed a ban on pot shops that it passed just two months ago to shutter hundreds of medical marijuana storefronts.
Council members voted 11-2 to negate its July decision to rid the nation’s second-largest city of pot dispensaries. The repeal came after opponents gathered enough signatures to place a referendum on the ballot seeking to undo the ban.
Many cities have struggled with medical marijuana ordinances, but none has had a bigger problem than Los Angeles, where pot shops have proliferated.
Los Angeles City Council today will be forced to vote on the Ban on Medical Marijuana. They have two options on the table: they repeal the ban today or they let the voters decide on it.
The Cannabis Union who attended the meeting to present the council with two proposals that they say could help regulate dispensaries in the city:
The first proposal is for the city to make sure all dispensaries strictly comply with state laws, which means they could only sell and grow enough marijuana for patients and are nonproft.
The second proposal is that the city regulates the location of all dispensaries, with new rules for signage and security. Union members say that by doing this, the city can focus on the quality of the dispensaries rather than the quantity.
The city council face strong opposition from constituents that every day are more aware of the benefits of this miraculous plant.
The Jails in Los Angeles County are full of petty traffic offenders and marijuana users, and second marijuana offenders that violated paroled putting the Sheriff department in extreme stretch of its capabilities to house Serious felons.
Nearly 50,000 signature were gathered to overturn the ban, the council have to consider a repeal or a referendum election, which probably will bring thousands to support the illegal measure. The benefits of Cannabis are scientifically proven. American Medical Association and big Pharmaceuticals are substantiating this campaigns with BS and who knows filling the packets of the council men and FDA.
CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE 2 VOTING, INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM, AND RECALL
SECTION 1. All political power is inherent in the people.
Government is instituted for their protection, security, and benefit,
and they have the right to alter or reform it when the public good
may require.
The cannabis industry is reaching new highs in California. Local 5 of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) is organizing pot workers at cannabis clubs in Oakland, Calif. The 26,000-member UFCW is said to be the first in the country to organize workers in marijuana-related business.
About 100 pot workers at three medical marijuana dispensaries in Oakland have joined the union, whose membership includes commercial grocery store workers, some agriculture workers and retail clerks.
The union is looking at possible new job classifications including “bud tender,” an expert who helps clients find the right type of marijuana for their ailments. UFCW News
Re-Blogged from Ken O’keefe Web Blog
By Ken O’keefe
When I came to Gaza in November 2011 I planned to stay for 2 months maximum, at least that was the deal I made with my pregnant wife. But as happens Palestine has a way of seducing you, and in my case the Egyptian authorities have a way of imprisoning you, so my stay lasted 6 months rather than 2. In turn I ended up missing the birth of our second child.
Although I planned to film 30 separate family profiles here in Gaza, to have these families tell their story directly to a western audience, I did not plan to meet the Samouni family as their story had been told many times before. Fate had other plans however and this meeting was arranged without my knowledge.
Back in Gaza with the Samouni kids
It is ironic how unplanned events often impact your life far more than those that are planned. Before you know it you are taken down a path of which the universe, God, some unknowable force is clearly in charge, we become but a passenger. Meeting the Samouni family has been like that, it has caused a chain reaction of events that has dominated my life for the last 18 months. In that time I have known the greatest of joy, the joy of receiving a child’s smile upon your return for instance. I cannot guess at the amount of smiles reciprocated with the Samouni kids and yet the joy it produces never diminishes.
What is a child’s smile worth?
In the last 18 months I have also known rage, primarily from the betrayal of those I trusted. To trust is to love, it is expose one’s underbelly in the interest of union. It is the cornerstone of partnership, it is essential for any significant progress in effecting a better world. Those that are afraid to trust, to love, will never know the joy of love, and my willingness to trust has been one of the greatest sources of the immense blessings I have known. I have no regrets, even with the betrayals.
Max Igan meets the Samouni kids
So the price one inevitably pays for misplaced trust is to be praised one day, and then slandered with the most filthy lies the next. This is the tactic of infiltration, get inside, develop trust, establish an apparently credible basis to defame the target, then attack. For me this extends not just about me, but of my wife, my mother and even my children who have been called “illegitimate”. I have even seen Palestinians create a Facebook page designed purely for the purpose of defaming me (a blatant violation of Facebook’s duplicitous, Israel slanted policies). I have been unlawfully arrested by the UK police, my family home has been violated and my property stolen by thieves in uniform. And yet I am grateful for it all because it is in these greatest of challenges, the injustices, that one finds the greatest opportunities to grow, to become wiser and stronger.
I am grateful because through the joy and through the hardship I have never lost sight of how blessed I am. When I look back at my life there is such richness in the stories I have accumulated and the friendships I have developed. I have thought with my heart more than with my head and in a world of collective insanity I realized long ago that popularity and approval is not what a content and honorable life generally provides, in fact it almost never does. The path of popularity is not for me, it is self-respect, service to life, commitment to truth and justice that I am committed to. The hardship, ridicule and slander is all part of the path and ultimately can only be overcome by steadfastness and love, love of truth, love of justice, and ultimately love of peace.
Indeed I have taken the path less traveled by and without doubt this has made all the difference. This path has lead me back to Gaza, and as potentially dangerous as this path is it doesn’t really matter, if my mortal life ends today I will leave behind an example of what blessings await those that “think” with their heart and more importantly, act in accord with their heart.
So I am back in Gaza, and I am back with the Samouni family. What we have shared is what we shared before, love. If the full truth be known about all that has been employed to tear or relationship apart it could be made into a movie. Even a prominent human rights organization has been advising the Samouni family to divorce themselves of me because I was all that I was accused of being by the slanderers. What makes this shocking is that this “human rights” organization indicted me based on one source and one source alone, Facebook!
This organization went even further to pressure the Samouni family to press charges against me. When the family asked for one simple thing, evidence, this organization refused. Indeed this has been the judge of me for many, Facebook. What does this say about some of the so-called “friends” of Palestine, that they are so incredibly stupid as to validate a known CIA/Zionist tool as a source to crucify one of Palestine’s most easily verified allies?
What I find myself saying more and more about the plight of the Palestinians is, “with friends like these, who needs enemies.”
Between the human rights organization and the corrupt UK police and court system and Zionist agents online and importantly, the idiots who give credence to all of the above, it is safe to say that the only thing that has truly protected me is integrity. And the only thing that will save the Samouni Project and the educational program it entails is steadfastness. And even if these poor, poor human beings who wish otherwise were to succeed, I will die with my integrity as it is not subject to the whims of a human society that is, literally, collectively insane to the point that we remain on the brink of the human caused end of the world as we know it.
But make no mistake at all, those who have instigated baseless slander against me, those that have stolen resources for the Samouni Project, Aloha Palestine, Trade Not Aid, those that have been stupid enough to propagate lies without any critical thought, have not attacked me primarily, they have attacked Palestine and in particular, the Samouni family. A massive amount of effort has been invested in destroying the trust between myself and the Samouni family, it has not worked. I remain a loved member of this family and I love this family as if they were my blood.
In the next few days prepare to feel the joy I am feeling with me, as something beautiful is about to happen here in Gaza.
A little perspective for my fellow Americans to consider regarding the impressions they are fed by the media, and the facts and realities which are constantly withheld in what I call “the lies of omission”:
Since this story about the anti-Islam film made the World headlines, I have been in Karachi, Pakistan all week for many meetings related to my Humanitarian mission in Pakistan. Karachi is a metropolis of over 20 million people, one of the largest cities on the planet.
There are perhaps a couple thousand or less who have engaged in any violence related to the film. I have been running around all over Karachi (even in the so-called “dangerous” areas) and literally thousands of people have seen me walking around in public areas, sitting in the car at traffic lights, going for a bite to eat with friends, walking into office buildings for meetings, going to gas stations or convenience stores, feeding stray cats, playing music for kids and buying small flocks of birds from street vendors and setting them free which creates a feeling of joy for everyone within the vicinity, even if they do look at me like I’m a bit nutty.
But NO ONE has been rude or angry towards me. I haven’t changed anything about my routine and have zero security. I even happened upon a couple of the peaceful demonstrations against the film yesterday.
Not a single person has come up to me and threatened me or even so much as given me a dirty look. People greet me, smile and wave back to me and treat me with the genuine kindness and respect that any Human Being would want to be treated with.
I love Karachi. It’s a great city with great people. New York has bad and misguided people, LA and Miami and Chicago have them too, and so does Karachi. But all of these cities share so much in common because they have mostly decent ordinary people who do their best to get through each day surviving and taking care of there families.
No doubt it’s a lot tougher for most Pakistanis to take care of their families than it is for your average American, but I can assure you that if you visited Karachi, you would also find this city to be a vibrant and fascinating place with beautiful gardens, shopping malls, bustling urban commerce, and amazing waterfront eateries and a major port and transit hub for Asia and the Middle East.
There are places here that are absolutely wonderful and Americans have no idea about them because the Western media doesn’t ever tell us about them- they would rather suck up your hard earned Dollars selling hate and peddling fear to exaggerate and exploit every situation that will continue justifying unnecessary wars and destruction they eagerly cover for the gluttonous financial gain of a few powerful individuals and corporations and those who make bullets and bombs) by portraying Pakistanis and Muslims with articles about subjects such as “Muslim Rage” than to show you the overwhelming majority of the 19,998,000 Human Beings in Karachi, Pakistan who are almost universally outraged by the film but are NOT protesting violently and tearing up their own city. And based on my experience, I’m convinced it’s pretty much the same situation everywhere else in the Muslim World, otherwise it would be a much worse situation than just a relative few incidents perpetrated by a small number of violent idiots when compared to the 1.5 billion Muslims living on Planet Earth.
So rest assured, Karachi is still here- it has its big city troubles but it’s not on fire, and it will still be here tomorrow and the day after and the day after and the day after that until the fateful day that we all collectively self destruct with some kind of advanced weaponry or God finally gets tired of watching too many of us using up our energies destroying our planet and hating each other and making millions of children suffer and letting thousands die of preventable disease, hunger and poverty every day and decides to pull the plug on us all, having failed the big test.
American Musician Todd Shea has developed a reputation for being the ‘go-to guy for relief’, an accolade that has come with his unique dedication for helping out with disasters around the world from places like Sri Lanka and India to Japan and Pakistan. His life and work make for a great narrative as he traipses all over Pakistan with medicines and music to bring not only physical relief, but emotional and psychological too.
Todd Shea, an American who came to volunteer in Pakistan after the 2005 earthquake, a disaster that killed 80,000 people. In 2000, Shea established a charity hospital in Kashmir called CDRS, or Comprehensive Disaster Relief Services, which provides quality healthcare services to the people in the remote and earthquake-affected areas in northwest Pakistan. And now, it has expanded to more areas of Pakistan.
Todd Shea is the Chief Operating Officer of SHINE Humanity, a US-registered nonprofit that specializes in disaster relief and long-term sustainable healthcare initiatives in developing countries. He began life as a vocalist, songwriter and guitarist. He was in
New York City on September 11th, 2001 to perform at a world famous live music establishment, CBGB’s Gallery. Instead, he ended up working at the site of the fallen World Trade Center for almost a week, assisting first responders by delivering anything
they needed to keep them going, from ice to contact lens wash and medications. Realizing that he had an ability for acquiring and coordinating needed items efficiently in a chaotic and disastrous situation, Todd put his music career on an indefinite hiatus to
work in Sri Lanka after the Tsunami, and in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. In October 2005, Todd was compelled to go to Pakistan immediately after the earthquake as a logistics coordinator for a Pakistan-American medical response team. After seeing the magnitude of the need and having fallen in love with Pakistan and its people during the emergency response phase, Todd founded Comprehensive Disaster Response Services (CDRS) in the Spring of 2006 and serves as its Executive Director. Todd currently works and resides in Islamabad, providing primary care and an Innovative Community- Based Healthcare Empowerment Project to different rural and disaster striken areas of Pakistan who would otherwise be without adequate healthcare services.
In April 2009, SHINE Humanity was registered in USA and Todd joined as the COO. Todd and SHINE Humanity deployed in Haiti in January 2010 and are working in Pakistan to provide relief aid to victims of the floods through mobile medical units, livelihood initiatives, and food and non-food assistance. The agency hopes to transition into longterm rehabilitation programs focussed on mother/child care in the areas served.
First publishes in opednews.com on September 11, 2012
Ben Franklin said, ” Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” How sadly prophetic those words were for our times.
Politicians and military and Security organization directors like Leon Panetta are telling us that things are better now. As the baby in the stock trading firm ad says, “What a pant load.”
Eleven years after the attack, the US has clearly become far worse because of the attack– far worse than was necessary, far worse than it could have been.
It has become a police state. Fear has taken hold of American voters, politicians, political parties, police and intelligence agencies. Billions of dollars have been wastefully, misguidedly thrown at the homeland security budget. Local cops now look like robocops or fully armed and armored soldiers. Mainstream media have generated many TV series that constantly fuel the fear.
Photo at 2009 G20, by Bill PerryThe police state, the surveillance state, the anti-terrorist state that the US has become is far more dangerous to democracy, to justice and freedom than terrorists ever were. Fusions centers that combine federal, state and local police resources, that are exempt from laws requiring court orders for surveillance or invasion of property, are multiplying, a pox across the nation. We no longer have Habeas corpus, – [Latin, You have the body.] A writ (court order) that commands an individual or a government official who has restrained another to produce the prisoner at a designated time and place so that the court can determine the legality of custody and decide whether to order the prisoner’s release. –or posse comitatus.
[Latin, Power of the county.] Referred atCommon Lawto all males over the age of fifteen on whom a sheriff could call for assistance in preventing any type of civil disorder.
The notion of a posse comitatus has its roots in ancient English Law, growing out of a citizen’s traditional duty to raise a “hue and cry” whenever a serious crime occurred in a village, thus rousing the fellow villagers to assist the sheriff in pursuing the culprit. By the seventeenth century, trained militia bands were expected to perform the duty of assisting the sheriff in such tasks, but all males age fifteen and older still had the duty to serve on the posse comitatus.
Already, drones are flying overhead and they will soon be like locusts, a blight upon the skies of America, as they already are in Pakistan and elsewhere.Two overt wars have cost the US over 6,000 acknowledged lives, but many many more troops who have died from injuries, from suicide. Those wars have or will cost well over a trillion dollars, probably trillions. And what did they accomplish? They created recruiting grounds for terrorists. They disrupted the balance of power that kept Iran at bay. They allowed corporatist members of congress, ie., most of them, to funnel hundreds of billions of dollars to corporations like Blackwater, Halliburton, and the big military industrial complex corporations. Those billions could have provided far more jobs in the US if they’d paid for repairing and upgrading infrastructure and more, better education.
I offer my sympathy to the families of the people killed by the 911 attackers. But I also offer my sympathy to the millions of family members hurt by the damage that cowardly and/or exploiting leaders in government, police and the military have inflicted through their wars, attacks on freedoms, wasting of funds.
Instead of memorializing the people killed at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the jet that crashed at Shanksville,, we should honor them by challenging the misguided or corrupt or cowardly actions and decisions that were taken using those deaths as an excuse. We should memorialize them by getting answers to questions that the original 911 Investigation commission failed to address or answer. And no, I am no 911 truther. But there are serious questions that were ignored.
Mediate ranks Rob Kall among the top 150 print/online columnists, often ahead of NY Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post columnists.
With his experience as architect and founder of a technorati top 100 blog, he is also a new media / social media consultant and trainer for corporations, non-profits, entrepreneurs and authors.
Rob is a frequent Speaker on the bottom up revolution, politics, The art, science and power of story, heroes and the hero’s journey and Positive Psychology. He is a campaign consultant specializing in tapping the power of stories for issue positioning, stump speeches and debates, and optimizing tapping the power of new media. Watch me speaking on Bottom up economics at the Occupy G8 Economic Summit, here.
See more Rob Kall articles here and, older ones, here.
To learn more about Rob and OpEdNews.com, check out
And Rob’s quotes are here.To watch me on youtube, having a lively conversation with John Conyers, former Chair of the House Judiciary committee, click here Now, wouldn’t you like to see me on the political news shows, representing progressives. If so, tell your favorite shows to bring me on and refer them to this youtube video.
Rob’s radio show, The Rob Kall Bottom Up Radio Show, runs 9-10 PM EST Wednesday evenings, on AM 1360, WNJC and is archived at www.opednews.com/podcasts Or listen to it streaming, live at www.wnjc1360.com
Rob also hosted a health/mind/body/heart/spirit radio show– the Rob Kall Futurehealth radio show. Check out podcasts from it at futurehealth.org/podcasts
At the annual meeting of the American Palestine Association Senator Taft announced it as the primary purpose of his bill “to find a place of refuge for the 4,000,000 surviving Jews of Europe”. To achieve this end extraordinary means are proposed. Our congress is asked to exert pressure on the British government to revise its White Paper of 1939. In my judgment, Senator Taft and American public need to weigh carefully to what extent the proposed means will serve the humanitarian end, and to what extent it will serve other ends.
On the humanitarian objective; places of refuge for Jews driven from Europe must be provided. This is an imperative international responsibility. It is easy to run from this axiom to the conclusion that Palestine ought to be thrown open at once to freer immigration, and without the terminus proposed in the white paper. This conclusion would follow if Palestine were the only place, or the best place, or even a possible place for more than a limited number; and if there were no substantial obstacles in the way.
Agricultural possibilities are limited.’ Only half of the total area of this New Hampshire-size country can be cultivated. The best parts are occupied.
The Industrial Possibilities
What of a program of intensive industrialization? Each must judge for himself the lasting promise of forced industrializing of a land so little favored by nature for this purpose. In any case there can be no industry without market outlets and lines of supply. And these cannot be developed on any but a local scale prior to a general world settlement. As a immediate resource for Jewish refuge this program has no extensive contribution to make.
It is not as a place of refuge, but as a “National Home” for the Jews, that Palestine is all-important. On one ground, Palestine is not only the best place but the only place for a National Home-the ground of religious association.
Not only are these two purposes distinct-the place of refuge and the national Home-they are to some extent at odds with each other. For the Jews who are in Palestine because of a burning and historical piety are not at easy with the recent influx of refugees from Europe, pregnant with nationalism and animated by visions of social futures rather than by devotion to the historic sacred law and the return to Mount Zion.
New, the Balfour Declaration was concerned with the National Home, not primarily with the place of refuge.
The declaration (issued November, 1917) held out no engagement for “the reconstitution of Palestine as the National Home of the Jews”, although it is now being frequently so represented.
It committed Great Britain to “view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish people. “it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine”. There is a world of difference between building a Home within Palestine and reconstituting Palestine as a Jewish commonwealth.
When, therefore, one of the groups now pressing for these bills announces that the Jews of Palestine “did not come to form a new minority”, they are in effect not appealing for enforcement of the Balfour Declaration but for its replacement.
In 1919 (to use the figures of the Palestine Partition Commission of 1938) there were in Palestine 58,000 Jews and 642,000 Arabs (Moslem and Christian): Jews were roughly 10 percent of the total. In 1937 there were about 402,000 Jews and 990.000 Arabs.
Today we may estimate about 600,000 Jews and 1,000,000 Arabs. Allow some weight to the concentration of Jews in towns and their superior skill and practice in political action, and it would seem that a Jewish-controlled Palestine is not far out of reach. It is this which the Arabs fear.
Putting these various items together, does it not appear that the animus of the present drive is not primarily humanitarian but political?
The Arab has certainly profited by the general improvements incident to the influx of new capital and the energy of the settlers. At the same time he feels his total economic position less secure. One item, relating to farm labor, must suffice. The Jewish National fund buys land in Palestine, to “be held as the inalienable property of the Jewish people,” and leases it to Jewish farmers.
But why should not the Arabs give up a small percentage of their immense domain” (chiefly desert, with a thin “green crescent” around the rim) and even accept an exchange of population, if it will make for the realization of the Jewish dream?
Those who are now urging this view do not explain what they propose to do with the detail that to the Moslems also Jerusalem is a sacred city; that the very site of the former Jewish Temple is now occupied by the great El Aksa Mosque (began in 690 AD);
And that to maintain these and other religious establishments in Palestine a considerable local Moslem population is required as well as a free flow of worshipers and pilgrims. The entire Moslem world is concerned in this.
But look at the matter from the national and economic point of view. The material advantages of Palestine come largely from its position on the Mediterranean coast.
Commercially it belongs to the European area. Though its natural harbors are few and poor, it stands in a strategic position between Europe and the building industrial development-not of Palestine so much as of the Arab lands behind Palestine, as far as Iraq and the Nedj, which will need the aid of outside finance. A direct face on the Mediterranean is as important for the Arabs as for the Zionist; and the important Northern harbors are in Lebanese or Turkish hands.
Cultural relations with Europe, too, will be increasingly important for the new Arab life. Surrender of Palestine to exclusive Zionist control would amount to the surrender of an eye toward Europe.
Arabian Cultural Status
The disconcerting thing about these proposals, to which the United States is asked to become a party, is not the rivalry of interest but the silence of political-Zionist spokesmen in regard to the existence of any such Arab interest. They tend to backwash the cultural status of the Arab peoples, to ignore their new university life, their new literature, their new economic prowess and their wonderful museums.
It is not the bad effendis, it is the entire Arab population of the Near East which protest. And we are asked to make a national commitment whose consequences would be not only a new tension in a situation already strained with the demands of war but a revulsion against everything Anglo-American on the part of the Moslem world.
I speak with all consideration when I say that I believe the political Zionists at this moment, as distinct from the cultural Zionists who have built the noble Hebrew university on Mount Scopus and who know what a National Home must be, these political Zionists are the chief enemies of the Jewish interest in the world of tomorrow. What can they hope to gain by extricating their brethren from the prejudices of Europe only to build a community in Palestine which has to be protected by Western force because it is cradled in an environment of sedulously cultivated distrust and fear?
First Published May 17, 1939
In the statement on Palestine, issued on 9 November, 1938, His Majesty‘s Government announced their intention to invite representatives of the Arabs of Palestine, of certain neighboring countries and of the Jewish Agency to confer with them in London regarding future policy. It was their sincere hope that, as a result of full, free and frank discussions, some understanding might be reached. Conferences recently took place with Arab and Jewish delegations, lasting for a period of several weeks, and served the purpose of a complete exchange of views between British Ministers and the Arab and Jewish representatives. In the light of the discussions as well as of the situation in Palestine and of the Reports of the Royal Commission and the Partition Commission, certain proposals were formulated by His Majesty‘s Government and were laid before the Arab and Jewish Delegations as the basis of an agreed settlement. Neither the Arab nor the Jewish delegation felt able to accept these proposals, and the conferences therefore did not result in an agreement. Accordingly His Majesty‘s Government are free to formulate their own policy, and after careful consideration they have decided to adhere generally to the proposals which were finally submitted to and discussed with the Arab and Jewish delegations.
The Mandate for Palestine, the terms of which were confirmed by the Council of the League of Nations in 1922, has governed the policy of successive British Governments for nearly 20 years. It embodies the Balfour Declaration and imposes on the Mandatory four main obligations. These obligations are set out in Article 2, 6 and 13 of the Mandate. There is no dispute regarding the interpretation of one of these obligations, that touching the protection of and access to the Holy Places and religious building or sites. The other three main obligations are generally as follows:
To place the country under such political, administrative and economic conditions as will secure the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish People. To facilitate Jewish immigration under suitable conditions, and to encourage, in cooperation with the Jewish Agency, close settlement by Jews on the Land.
To safeguard the civil and religious rights of all inhabitants of Palestine irrespective of race and religion, and, whilst facilitating Jewish immigration and settlement, to ensure that the rights and position of other sections of the population are not prejudiced.
To place the country under such political, administrative and economic conditions as will secure the development of self governing institutions.
The Royal Commission and previous commissions of Inquiry have drawn attention to the ambiguity of certain expressions in the Mandate, such as the expression “a national home for the Jewish people”, and they have found in this ambiguity and the resulting uncertainty as to the objectives of policy a fundamental cause of unrest and hostility between Arabs and Jews. His Majesty‘s Government are convinced that in the interests of the peace and well being of the whole people of Palestine a clear definition of policy and objectives is essential. The proposal of partition recommended by the Royal Commission would have afforded such clarity, but the establishment of self supporting independent Arab and Jewish States within Palestine has been found to be impracticable. It has therefore been necessary for His Majesty‘s Government to devise an alternative policy which will, consistent with their obligations to Arabs and Jews, meet the needs of the situation in Palestine. Their views and proposals are set forth below under three heads, Section I. “The Constitution”, Section II. Immigration and Section III. Land.
Section I. “The Constitution”
It has been urged that the expression “a national home for the Jewish people” offered a prospect that Palestine might in due course become a Jewish State or Commonwealth. His Majesty‘s Government do not wish to contest the view, which was expressed by the Royal Commission, that the Zionist leaders at the time of the issue of the Balfour Declaration recognized that an ultimate Jewish State was not precluded by the terms of the Declaration. But, with the Royal Commission, His Majesty‘s Government believe that the framers of the Mandate in which the Balfour Declaration was embodied could not have intended that Palestine should be converted into a Jewish State against the will of the Arab population of the country. That Palestine was not to be converted into a Jewish State might be held to be implied in the passage from the Command Paper of 1922 which reads as follows
“Unauthorized statements have been made to the effect that the purpose in view is to create a wholly Jewish Palestine. Phrases have been used such as that ‘Palestine is to become as Jewish as England is English.‘ His Majesty‘s Government regard any such expectation as impracticable and have no such aim in view. Nor have they at any time contemplated … the disappearance or the subordination of the Arabic population, language or culture in Palestine. They would draw attention to the fact that the terms of the (Balfour) Declaration referred to do not contemplate that Palestine as a whole should be converted into a Jewish National Home, but that such a Home should be founded IN PALESTINE.”
But this statement has not removed doubts, and His Majesty‘s Government therefore now declare unequivocally that it is not part of their policy that Palestine should become a Jewish State. They would indeed regard it as contrary to their obligations to the Arabs under the Mandate, as well as to the assurances which have been given to the Arab people in the past, that the Arab population of Palestine should be made the subjects of a Jewish State against their will.
The nature of the Jewish National Home in Palestine was further described in the Command Paper of 1922 as follows
“During the last two or three generations the Jews have recreated in Palestine a community now numbering 80,000, of whom about one fourth are farmers or workers upon the land. This community has its own political organs; an elected assembly for the direction of its domestic concerns; elected councils in the towns; and an organization for the control of its schools. It has its elected Chief Rabbinate and Rabbinical Council for the direction of its religious affairs. Its business is conducted in Hebrew as a vernacular language, and a Hebrew press serves its needs. It has its distinctive intellectual life and displays considerable economic activity. This community, then, with its town and country population, its political, religious and social organizations, its own language, its own customs, its own life, has in fact ‘national‘ characteristics. When it is asked what is meant by the development of the Jewish National Home in Palestine, it may be answered that it is not the imposition of a Jewish nationality upon the inhabitants of Palestine as a whole, but the further development of the existing Jewish community, with the assistance of Jews in other parts of the world, in order that it may become a center in which the Jewish people as a whole may take, on grounds of religion and race, an interest and pride. But in order that this community should have the best prospect of free development and provide a full opportunity for the Jewish people to display its capacities, it is essential that it should know that it is in Palestine as of right and not on sufferance. That is the reason why it is necessary that the existence of a Jewish National Home in Palestine should be internationally guaranteed, and that it should be formally recognized to rest upon ancient historic connection.”
His Majesty‘s Government adhere to this interpretation of the (Balfour) Declaration of 1917 and regard it as an authoritative and comprehensive description of the character of the Jewish National Home in Palestine. It envisaged the further development of the existing Jewish community with the assistance of Jews in other parts of the world. Evidence that His Majesty‘s Government have been carrying out their obligation in this respect is to be found in the facts that, since the statement of 1922 was published, more than 300,000 Jews have immigrated to Palestine, and that the population of the National Home has risen to some 450,000, or approaching a third of the entire population of the country. Nor has the Jewish community failed to take full advantage of the opportunities given to it. The growth of the Jewish National Home and its achievements in many fields are a remarkable constructive effort which must command the admiration of the world and must be, in particular, a source of pride to the Jewish people.
In the recent discussions the Arab delegations have repeated the contention that Palestine was included within the area in which Sir Henry McMahon, on behalf of the British Government, in October, 1915, undertook to recognize and support Arab independence. The validity of this claim, based on the terms of the correspondence which passed between Sir Henry McMahon and the Sharif of Mecca, was thoroughly and carefully investigated by the British and Arab representatives during the recent conferences in London. Their report, which has been published, states that both the Arab and the British representatives endeavored to understand the point of view of the other party but that they were unable to reach agreement upon an interpretation of the correspondence. There is no need to summarize here the arguments presented by each side. His Majesty‘s Government regret the misunderstandings which have arisen as regards some of the phrases used. For their part they can only adhere, for the reasons given by their representatives in the Report, to the view that the whole of Palestine west of Jordan was excluded from Sir Henry McMahon‘s pledge, and they therefore cannot agree that the McMahon correspondence forms a just basis for the claim that Palestine should be converted into an Arab State.
His Majesty‘s Government are charged as the Mandatory authority “to secure the development of self governing institutions” in Palestine. Apart from this specific obligation, they would regard it as contrary to the whole spirit of the Mandate system that the population of Palestine should remain forever under Mandatory tutelage. It is proper that the people of the country should as early as possible enjoy the rights of self-government which are exercised by the people of neighboring countries. His Majesty‘s Government are unable at present to foresee the exact constitutional forms which government in Palestine will eventually take, but their objective is self government, and they desire to see established ultimately an independent Palestine State. It should be a State in which the two peoples in Palestine, Arabs and Jews, share authority in government in such a way that the essential interests of each are shared.
The establishment of an independent State and the complete relinquishment of Mandatory control in Palestine would require such relations between the Arabs and the Jews as would make good government possible. Moreover, the growth of self governing institutions in Palestine, as in other countries, must be an evolutionary process. A transitional period will be required before independence is achieved, throughout which ultimate responsibility for the Government of the country will be retained by His Majesty‘s Government as the Mandatory authority, while the people of the country are taking an increasing share in the Government, and understanding and cooperation amongst them are growing. It will be the constant endeavor of His Majesty‘s Government to promote good relations between the Arabs and the Jews.
In the light of these considerations His Majesty‘s Government make the following declaration of their intentions regarding the future government of Palestine:
The objective of His Majesty‘s Government is the establishment within 10 years of an independent Palestine State in such treaty relations with the United Kingdom as will provide satisfactorily for the commercial and strategic requirements of both countries in the future. The proposal for the establishment of the independent State would involve consultation with the Council of the League of Nations with a view to the termination of the Mandate.
The independent State should be one in which Arabs and Jews share government in such a way as to ensure that the essential interests of each community are safeguarded.
The establishment of the independent State will be preceded by a transitional period throughout which His Majesty‘s Government will retain responsibility for the country. During the transitional period the people of Palestine will be given an increasing part in the government of their country. Both sections of the population will have an opportunity to participate in the machinery of government, and the process will be carried on whether or not they both avail themselves of it.
As soon as peace and order have been sufficiently restored in Palestine steps will be taken to carry out this policy of giving the people of Palestine an increasing part in the government of their country, the objective being to place Palestinians in charge of all the Departments of Government, with the assistance of British advisers and subject to the control of the High Commissioner. Arab and Jewish representatives will be invited to serve as heads of Departments approximately in proportion to their respective populations. The number of Palestinians in charge of Departments will be increased as circumstances permit until all heads of Departments are Palestinians, exercising the administrative and advisory functions which are presently performed by British officials. When that stage is reached consideration will be given to the question of converting the Executive Council into a Council of Ministers with a consequential change in the status and functions of the Palestinian heads of Departments.
His Majesty‘s Government make no proposals at this stage regarding the establishment of an elective legislature. Nevertheless they would regard this as an appropriate constitutional development, and, should public opinion in Palestine hereafter show itself in favor of such a development, they will be prepared, provided that local conditions permit, to establish the necessary machinery.
At the end of five years from the restoration of peace and order, an appropriate body representative of the people of Palestine and of His Majesty‘s Government will be set up to review the working of the constitutional arrangements during the transitional period and to consider and make recommendations regarding the constitution of the independent Palestine State.
His Majesty‘s Government will require to be satisfied that in the treaty contemplated by sub-paragraph (6) adequate provision has been made for:
the security of, and freedom of access to the Holy Places, and protection of the interests and property of the various religious bodies.
the protection of the different communities in Palestine in accordance with the obligations of His Majesty‘s Government to both Arabs and Jews and for the special position in Palestine of the Jewish National Home.
such requirements to meet the strategic situation as may be regarded as necessary by His Majesty‘s Government in the light of the circumstances then existing. His Majesty‘s Government will also require to be satisfied that the interests of certain foreign countries in Palestine, for the preservation of which they are at present responsible, are adequately safeguarded.
His Majesty‘s Government will do everything in their power to create conditions which will enable the independent Palestine State to come into being within 10 years. If, at the end of 10 years, it appears to His Majesty‘s Government that, contrary to their hope, circumstances require the postponement of the establishment of the independent State, they will consult with representatives of the people of Palestine, the Council of the League of Nations and the neighboring Arab States before deciding on such a postponement. If His Majesty‘s Government come to the conclusion that postponement is unavoidable, they will invite the co-operation of these parties in framing plans for the future with a view to achieving the desired objective at the earliest possible date.
During the transitional period steps will be taken to increase the powers and responsibilities of municipal corporations and local councils.
Section II. Immigration
Under Article 6 of the Mandate, the Administration of Palestine, “while ensuring that the rights and position of other sections of the population are not prejudiced,” is required to “facilitate Jewish immigration under suitable conditions.” Beyond this, the extent to which Jewish immigration into Palestine is to be permitted is nowhere defined in the Mandate. But in the Command Paper of 1922 it was laid down that for the fulfillment of the policy of establishing a Jewish National Home:
“it is necessary that the Jewish community in Palestine should be able to increase its numbers by immigration. This immigration cannot be so great in volume as to exceed whatever may be the economic capacity of the country at the time to absorb new arrivals. It is essential to ensure that the immigrants should not be a burden upon the people of Palestine as a whole, and that they should not deprive any section of the present population of their employment.”
In practice, from that date onwards until recent times, the economic absorptive capacity of the country has been treated as the sole limiting factor, and in the letter which Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, as Prime Minister, sent to Dr. Weizmann in February 1931 it was laid down as a matter of policy that economic absorptive capacity was the sole criterion. This interpretation has been supported by resolutions of the Permanent Mandates Commissioner. But His Majesty‘s Government do not read either the Statement of Policy of 1922 or the letter of 1931 as implying that the Mandate requires them, for all time and in all circumstances, to facilitate the immigration of Jews into Palestine subject only to consideration of the country‘s economic absorptive capacity. Nor do they find anything in the Mandate or in subsequent Statements of Policy to support the view that the establishment of a Jewish National Home in Palestine cannot be effected unless immigration is allowed to continue indefinitely. If immigration has an adverse effect on the economic position in the country, it should clearly be restricted; and equally, if it has a seriously damaging effect on the political position in the country, that is a factor that should not be ignored. Although it is not difficult to contend that the large number of Jewish immigrants who have been admitted so far have been absorbed economically, the fear of the Arabs that this influx will continue indefinitely until the Jewish population is in a position to dominate them has produced consequences which are extremely grave for Jews and Arabs alike and for the peace and prosperity of Palestine. The lamentable disturbances of the past three years are only the latest and most sustained manifestation of this intense Arab apprehension. The methods employed by Arab terrorists against fellow Arabs and Jews alike must receive unqualified condemnation. But it cannot be denied that fear of indefinite Jewish immigration is widespread amongst the Arab population and that this fear has made possible disturbances which have given a serious setback to economic progress, depleted the Palestine exchequer, rendered life and property insecure, and produced a bitterness between the Arab and Jewish populations which is deplorable between citizens of the same country. If in these circumstances immigration is continued up to the economic absorptive capacity of the country, regardless of all other considerations, a fatal enmity between the two peoples will be perpetuated, and the situation in Palestine may become a permanent source of friction amongst all peoples in the Near and Middle East. His Majesty‘s Government cannot take the view that either their obligations under the Mandate, or considerations of common sense and justice, require that they should ignore these circumstances in framing immigration policy.
In the view of the Royal Commission the association of the policy of the Balfour Declaration with the Mandate system implied the belief that Arab hostility to the former would sooner or later be overcome. It has been the hope of British Governments ever since the Balfour Declaration was issued that in time the Arab population, recognizing the advantages to be derived from Jewish settlement and development in Palestine, would become reconciled to the further growth of the Jewish National Home. This hope has not been fulfilled. The alternatives before His Majesty‘s Government are either (i) to seek to expand the Jewish National Home indefinitely by immigration, against the strongly expressed will of the Arab people of the country; or (ii) to permit further expansion of the Jewish National Home by immigration only if the Arabs are prepared to acquiesce in it. The former policy means rule by force. Apart from other considerations, such a policy seems to His Majesty‘s Government to be contrary to the whole spirit of Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, as well as to their specific obligations to the Arabs in the Palestine Mandate. Moreover, the relations between the Arabs and the Jews in Palestine must be based sooner or later on mutual tolerance and goodwill; the peace, security and progress of the Jewish National Home itself requires this. Therefore His Majesty‘s Government, after earnest consideration, and taking into account the extent to which the growth of the Jewish National Home has been facilitated over the last twenty years, have decided that the time has come to adopt in principle the second of the alternatives referred to above.
It has been urged that all further Jewish immigration into Palestine should be stopped forthwith. His Majesty‘s Government cannot accept such a proposal. It would damage the whole of the financial and economic system of Palestine and thus effect adversely the interests of Arabs and Jews alike. Moreover, in the view of His Majesty‘s Government, abruptly to stop further immigration would be unjust to the Jewish National Home. But, above all, His Majesty‘s Government are conscious of the present unhappy plight of large numbers of Jews who seek refuge from certain European countries, and they believe that Palestine can and should make a further contribution to the solution of this pressing world problem. In all these circumstances, they believe that they will be acting consistently with their Mandatory obligations to both Arabs and Jews, and in the manner best calculated to serve the interests of the whole people of Palestine, by adopting the following proposals regarding immigration:
Jewish immigration during the next five years will be at a rate which, if economic absorptive capacity permits, will bring the Jewish population up to approximately one third of the total population of the country. Taking into account the expected natural increase of the Arab and Jewish populations, and the number of illegal Jewish immigrants now in the country, this would allow of the admission, as from the beginning of April this year, of some 75,000 immigrants over the next five years. These immigrants would, subject to the criterion of economic absorptive capacity, be admitted as follows:
For each of the next five years a quota of 10,000 Jewish immigrants will be allowed on the understanding that a shortage one year may be added to the quotas for subsequent years, within the five year period, if economic absorptive capacity permits.
In addition, as a contribution towards the solution of the Jewish refugee problem, 25,000 refugees will be admitted as soon as the High Commissioner is satisfied that adequate provision for their maintenance is ensured, special consideration being given to refugee children and dependents.
The existing machinery for ascertaining economic absorptive capacity will be retained, and the High Commissioner will have the ultimate responsibility for deciding the limits of economic capacity. Before each periodic decision is taken, Jewish and Arab representatives will be consulted.
After the period of five years, no further Jewish immigration will be permitted unless the Arabs of Palestine are prepared to acquiesce in it.
His Majesty‘s Government are determined to check illegal immigration, and further preventive measures are being adopted. The numbers of any Jewish illegal immigrants who, despite these measures, may succeed in coming into the country and cannot be deported will be deducted from the yearly quotas.
His Majesty‘s Government are satisfied that, when the immigration over five years which is now contemplated has taken place, they will not be justified in facilitating, nor will they be under any obligation to facilitate, the further development of the Jewish National Home by immigration regardless of the wishes of the Arab population.
Section III. Land
The Administration of Palestine is required, under Article 6 of the Mandate, “while ensuring that the rights and position of other sections of the population are not prejudiced,” to encourage “close settlement by Jews on the land,” and no restriction has been imposed hitherto on the transfer of land from Arabs to Jews. The Reports of several expert Commissions have indicated that, owing to the natural growth of the Arab population and the steady sale in recent years of Arab land to Jews, there is now in certain areas no room for further transfers of Arab land, whilst in some other areas such transfers of land must be restricted if Arab cultivators are to maintain their existing standard of life and a considerable landless Arab population is not soon to be created. In these circumstances, the High Commissioner will be given general powers to prohibit and regulate transfers of land. These powers will date from the publication of this statement of policy and the High Commissioner will retain them throughout the transitional period.
The policy of the Government will be directed towards the development of the land and the improvement, where possible, of methods of cultivation. In the light of such development it will be open to the High Commissioner, should he be satisfied that the “rights and position” of the Arab population will be duly preserved, to review and modify any orders passed relating to the prohibition or restriction of the transfer of land.
In framing these proposals His Majesty‘s Government have sincerely endeavored to act in strict accordance with their obligations under the Mandate to both the Arabs and the Jews. The vagueness of the phrases employed in some instances to describe these obligations has led to controversy and has made the task of interpretation difficult. His Majesty‘s Government cannot hope to satisfy the partisans of one party or the other in such controversy as the Mandate has aroused. Their purpose is to be just as between the two people in Palestine whose destinies in that country have been affected by the great events of recent years, and who, since they live side by side, must learn to practice mutual tolerance, goodwill and co operation. In looking to the future, His Majesty‘s Government are not blind to the fact that some events of the past make the task of creating these relations difficult; but they are encouraged by the knowledge that as many times and in many places in Palestine during recent years the Arab and Jewish inhabitants have lived in friendship together. Each community has much to contribute to the welfare of their common land, and each must earnestly desire peace in which to assist in increasing the well being of the whole people of the country. The responsibility which falls on them, no less than upon His Majesty‘s Government, to co operate together to ensure peace is all the more solemn because their country is revered by many millions of Moslems, Jews and Christians throughout the world who pray for peace in Palestine and for the happiness of her people.
In the statement on Palestine, issued on 9 November, 1938, His Majesty‘s Government announced their intention to invite representatives of the Arabs of Palestine, of certain neighboring countries and of the Jewish Agency to confer with them in London regarding future policy. It was their sincere hope that, as a result of full, free and frank discussions, some understanding might be reached. Conferences recently took place with Arab and Jewish delegations, lasting for a period of several weeks, and served the purpose of a complete exchange of views between British Ministers and the Arab and Jewish representatives. In the light of the discussions as well as of the situation in Palestine and of the Reports of the Royal Commission and the Partition Commission, certain proposals were formulated by His Majesty‘s Government and were laid before the Arab and Jewish Delegations as the basis of an agreed settlement. Neither the Arab nor the Jewish delegation felt able to accept these proposals, and the conferences therefore did not result in an agreement. Accordingly His Majesty‘s Government are free to formulate their own policy, and after careful consideration they have decided to adhere generally to the proposals which were finally submitted to and discussed with the Arab and Jewish delegations.
The Mandate for Palestine, the terms of which were confirmed by the Council of the League of Nations in 1922, has governed the policy of successive British Governments for nearly 20 years. It embodies the Balfour Declaration and imposes on the Mandatory four main obligations. These obligations are set out in Article 2, 6 and 13 of the Mandate. There is no dispute regarding the interpretation of one of these obligations, that touching the protection of and access to the Holy Places and religious building or sites. The other three main obligations are generally as follows:
To place the country under such political, administrative and economic conditions as will secure the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish People. To facilitate Jewish immigration under suitable conditions, and to encourage, in cooperation with the Jewish Agency, close settlement by Jews on the Land.
To safeguard the civil and religious rights of all inhabitants of Palestine irrespective of race and religion, and, whilst facilitating Jewish immigration and settlement, to ensure that the rights and position of other sections of the population are not prejudiced.
To place the country under such political, administrative and economic conditions as will secure the development of self governing institutions.
The Royal Commission and previous commissions of Enquiry have drawn attention to the ambiguity of certain expressions in the Mandate, such as the expression “a national home for the Jewish people”, and they have found in this ambiguity and the resulting uncertainty as to the objectives of policy a fundamental cause of unrest and hostility between Arabs and Jews. His Majesty‘s Government are convinced that in the interests of the peace and well being of the whole people of Palestine a clear definition of policy and objectives is essential. The proposal of partition recommended by the Royal Commission would have afforded such clarity, but the establishment of self supporting independent Arab and Jewish States within Palestine has been found to be impracticable. It has therefore been necessary for His Majesty‘s Government to devise an alternative policy which will, consistent with their obligations to Arabs and Jews, meet the needs of the situation in Palestine. Their views and proposals are set forth below under three heads, Section I. “The Constitution”, Section II. Immigration and Section III. Land.
Section I. “The Constitution”
It has been urged that the expression “a national home for the Jewish people” offered a prospect that Palestine might in due course become a Jewish State or Commonwealth. His Majesty‘s Government do not wish to contest the view, which was expressed by the Royal Commission, that the Zionist leaders at the time of the issue of the Balfour Declaration recognized that an ultimate Jewish State was not precluded by the terms of the Declaration. But, with the Royal Commission, His Majesty‘s Government believe that the framers of the Mandate in which the Balfour Declaration was embodied could not have intended that Palestine should be converted into a Jewish State against the will of the Arab population of the country. That Palestine was not to be converted into a Jewish State might be held to be implied in the passage from the Command Paper of 1922 which reads as follows
“Unauthorized statements have been made to the effect that the purpose in view is to create a wholly Jewish Palestine. Phrases have been used such as that ‘Palestine is to become as Jewish as England is English.‘ His Majesty‘s Government regard any such expectation as impracticable and have no such aim in view. Nor have they at any time contemplated … the disappearance or the subordination of the Arabic population, language or culture in Palestine. They would draw attention to the fact that the terms of the (Balfour) Declaration referred to do not contemplate that Palestine as a whole should be converted into a Jewish National Home, but that such a Home should be founded IN PALESTINE.”
But this statement has not removed doubts, and His Majesty‘s Government therefore now declare unequivocally that it is not part of their policy that Palestine should become a Jewish State. They would indeed regard it as contrary to their obligations to the Arabs under the Mandate, as well as to the assurances which have been given to the Arab people in the past, that the Arab population of Palestine should be made the subjects of a Jewish State against their will.
The nature of the Jewish National Home in Palestine was further described in the Command Paper of 1922 as follows
“During the last two or three generations the Jews have recreated in Palestine a community now numbering 80,000, of whom about one fourth are farmers or workers upon the land. This community has its own political organs; an elected assembly for the direction of its domestic concerns; elected councils in the towns; and an organization for the control of its schools. It has its elected Chief Rabbinate and Rabbinical Council for the direction of its religious affairs. Its business is conducted in Hebrew as a vernacular language, and a Hebrew press serves its needs. It has its distinctive intellectual life and displays considerable economic activity. This community, then, with its town and country population, its political, religious and social organizations, its own language, its own customs, its own life, has in fact ‘national‘ characteristics. When it is asked what is meant by the development of the Jewish National Home in Palestine, it may be answered that it is not the imposition of a Jewish nationality upon the inhabitants of Palestine as a whole, but the further development of the existing Jewish community, with the assistance of Jews in other parts of the world, in order that it may become a center in which the Jewish people as a whole may take, on grounds of religion and race, an interest and pride. But in order that this community should have the best prospect of free development and provide a full opportunity for the Jewish people to display its capacities, it is essential that it should know that it is in Palestine as of right and not on sufferance. That is the reason why it is necessary that the existence of a Jewish National Home in Palestine should be internationally guaranteed, and that it should be formally recognized to rest upon ancient historic connection.”
His Majesty‘s Government adhere to this interpretation of the (Balfour) Declaration of 1917 and regard it as an authoritative and comprehensive description of the character of the Jewish National Home in Palestine. It envisaged the further development of the existing Jewish community with the assistance of Jews in other parts of the world. Evidence that His Majesty‘s Government have been carrying out their obligation in this respect is to be found in the facts that, since the statement of 1922 was published, more than 300,000 Jews have immigrated to Palestine, and that the population of the National Home has risen to some 450,000, or approaching a third of the entire population of the country. Nor has the Jewish community failed to take full advantage of the opportunities given to it. The growth of the Jewish National Home and its acheivements in many fields are a remarkable constructive effort which must command the admiration of the world and must be, in particular, a source of pride to the Jewish people.
In the recent discussions the Arab delegations have repeated the contention that Palestine was included within the area in which Sir Henry McMahon, on behalf of the British Government, in October, 1915, undertook to recognise and support Arab independence. The validity of this claim, based on the terms of the correspondence which passed between Sir Henry McMahon and the Sharif of Mecca, was thoroughly and carefully investigated by the British and Arab representatives during the recent conferences in London. Their report, which has been published, states that both the Arab and the British representatives endeavoured to understand the point of view of the other party but that they were unable to reach agreement upon an interpretation of the correspondence. There is no need to summarize here the arguments presented by each side. His Majesty‘s Government regret the misunderstandings which have arisen as regards some of the phrases used. For their part they can only adhere, for the reasons given by their representatives in the Report, to the view that the whole of Palestine west of Jordan was excluded from Sir Henry McMahon‘s pledge, and they therefore cannot agree that the McMahon correspondence forms a just basis for the claim that Palestine should be converted into an Arab State.
His Majesty‘s Government are charged as the Mandatory authority “to secure the development of self governing institutions” in Palestine. Apart from this specific obligation, they would regard it as contrary to the whole spirit of the Mandate system that the population of Palestine should remain forever under Mandatory tutelage. It is proper that the people of the country should as early as possible enjoy the rights of self-government which are exercised by the people of neighboring countries. His Majesty‘s Government are unable at present to foresee the exact constitutional forms which government in Palestine will eventually take, but their objective is self government, and they desire to see established ultimately an independent Palestine State. It should be a State in which the two peoples in Palestine, Arabs and Jews, share authority in government in such a way that the essential interests of each are shared.
The establishment of an independent State and the complete relinquishment of Mandatory control in Palestine would require such relations between the Arabs and the Jews as would make good government possible. Moreover, the growth of self governing institutions in Palestine, as in other countries, must be an evolutionary process. A transitional period will be required before independence is achieved, throughout which ultimate responsibility for the Government of the country will be retained by His Majesty‘s Government as the Mandatory authority, while the people of the country are taking an increasing share in the Government, and understanding and cooperation amongst them are growing. It will be the constant endeavor of His Majesty‘s Government to promote good relations between the Arabs and the Jews.
In the light of these considerations His Majesty‘s Government make the following declaration of their intentions regarding the future government of Palestine:
The objective of His Majesty‘s Government is the establishment within 10 years of an independent Palestine State in such treaty relations with the United Kingdom as will provide satisfactorily for the commercial and strategic requirements of both countries in the future. The proposal for the establishment of the independent State would involve consultation with the Council of the League of Nations with a view to the termination of the Mandate.
The independent State should be one in which Arabs and Jews share government in such a way as to ensure that the essential interests of each community are safeguarded.
The establishment of the independent State will be preceded by a transitional period throughout which His Majesty‘s Government will retain responsibility for the country. During the transitional period the people of Palestine will be given an increasing part in the government of their country. Both sections of the population will have an opportunity to participate in the machinery of government, and the process will be carried on whether or not they both avail themselves of it.
As soon as peace and order have been sufficiently restored in Palestine steps will be taken to carry out this policy of giving the people of Palestine an increasing part in the government of their country, the objective being to place Palestinians in charge of all the Departments of Government, with the assistance of British advisers and subject to the control of the High Commissioner. Arab and Jewish representatives will be invited to serve as heads of Departments approximately in proportion to their respective populations. The number of Palestinians in charge of Departments will be increased as circumstances permit until all heads of Departments are Palestinians, exercising the administrative and advisory functions which are presently performed by British officials. When that stage is reached consideration will be given to the question of converting the Executive Council into a Council of Ministers with a consequential change in the status and functions of the Palestinian heads of Departments.
His Majesty‘s Government make no proposals at this stage regarding the establishment of an elective legislature. Nevertheless they would regard this as an appropriate constitutional development, and, should public opinion in Palestine hereafter show itself in favor of such a development, they will be prepared, provided that local conditions permit, to establish the necessary machinery.
At the end of five years from the restoration of peace and order, an appropriate body representative of the people of Palestine and of His Majesty‘s Government will be set up to review the working of the constitutional arrangements during the transitional period and to consider and make recommendations regarding the constitution of the independent Palestine State.
His Majesty‘s Government will require to be satisfied that in the treaty contemplated by sub-paragraph (6) adequate provision has been made for:
the security of, and freedom of access to the Holy Places, and protection of the interests and property of the various religious bodies.
the protection of the different communities in Palestine in accordance with the obligations of His Majesty‘s Government to both Arabs and Jews and for the special position in Palestine of the Jewish National Home.
such requirements to meet the strategic situation as may be regarded as necessary by His Majesty‘s Government in the light of the circumstances then existing. His Majesty‘s Government will also require to be satisfied that the interests of certain foreign countries in Palestine, for the preservation of which they are at present responsible, are adequately safeguarded.
His Majesty‘s Government will do everything in their power to create conditions which will enable the independent Palestine State to come into being within 10 years. If, at the end of 10 years, it appears to His Majesty‘s Government that, contrary to their hope, circumstances require the postponement of the establishment of the independent State, they will consult with representatives of the people of Palestine, the Council of the League of Nations and the neighboring Arab States before deciding on such a postponement. If His Majesty‘s Government come to the conclusion that postponement is unavoidable, they will invite the co-operation of these parties in framing plans for the future with a view to achieving the desired objective at the earliest possible date.
During the transitional period steps will be taken to increase the powers and responsibilities of municipal corporations and local councils.
Section II. Immigration
Under Article 6 of the Mandate, the Administration of Palestine, “while ensuring that the rights and position of other sections of the population are not prejudiced,” is required to “facilitate Jewish immigration under suitable conditions.” Beyond this, the extent to which Jewish immigration into Palestine is to be permitted is nowhere defined in the Mandate. But in the Command Paper of 1922 it was laid down that for the fulfillment of the policy of establishing a Jewish National Home:
“it is necessary that the Jewish community in Palestine should be able to increase its numbers by immigration. This immigration cannot be so great in volume as to exceed whatever may be the economic capacity of the country at the time to absorb new arrivals. It is essential to ensure that the immigrants should not be a burden upon the people of Palestine as a whole, and that they should not deprive any section of the present population of their employment.”
In practice, from that date onwards until recent times, the economic absorptive capacity of the country has been treated as the sole limiting factor, and in the letter which Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, as Prime Minister, sent to Dr. Weizmann in February 1931 it was laid down as a matter of policy that economic absorptive capacity was the sole criterion. This interpretation has been supported by resolutions of the Permanent Mandates Commissioner. But His Majesty‘s Government do not read either the Statement of Policy of 1922 or the letter of 1931 as implying that the Mandate requires them, for all time and in all circumstances, to facilitate the immigration of Jews into Palestine subject only to consideration of the country‘s economic absorptive capacity. Nor do they find anything in the Mandate or in subsequent Statements of Policy to support the view that the establishment of a Jewish National Home in Palestine cannot be effected unless immigration is allowed to continue indefinitely. If immigration has an adverse effect on the economic position in the country, it should clearly be restricted; and equally, if it has a seriously damaging effect on the political position in the country, that is a factor that should not be ignored. Although it is not difficult to contend that the large number of Jewish immigrants who have been admitted so far have been absorbed economically, the fear of the Arabs that this influx will continue indefinitely until the Jewish population is in a position to dominate them has produced consequences which are extremely grave for Jews and Arabs alike and for the peace and prosperity of Palestine. The lamentable disturbances of the past three years are only the latest and most sustained manifestation of this intense Arab apprehension. The methods employed by Arab terrorists against fellow Arabs and Jews alike must receive unqualified condemnation. But it cannot be denied that fear of indefinite Jewish immigration is widespread amongst the Arab population and that this fear has made possible disturbances which have given a serious setback to economic progress, depleted the Palestine exchequer, rendered life and property insecure, and produced a bitterness between the Arab and Jewish populations which is deplorable between citizens of the same country. If in these circumstances immigration is continued up to the economic absorptive capacity of the country, regardless of all other considerations, a fatal enmity between the two peoples will be perpetuated, and the situation in Palestine may become a permanent source of friction amongst all peoples in the Near and Middle East. His Majesty‘s Government cannot take the view that either their obligations under the Mandate, or considerations of common sense and justice, require that they should ignore these circumstances in framing immigration policy.
In the view of the Royal Commission the association of the policy of the Balfour Declaration with the Mandate system implied the belief that Arab hostility to the former would sooner or later be overcome. It has been the hope of British Governments ever since the Balfour Declaration was issued that in time the Arab population, recognizing the advantages to be derived from Jewish settlement and development in Palestine, would become reconciled to the further growth of the Jewish National Home. This hope has not been fulfilled. The alternatives before His Majesty‘s Government are either (i) to seek to expand the Jewish National Home indefinitely by immigration, against the strongly expressed will of the Arab people of the country; or (ii) to permit further expansion of the Jewish National Home by immigration only if the Arabs are prepared to acquiesce in it. The former policy means rule by force. Apart from other considerations, such a policy seems to His Majesty‘s Government to be contrary to the whole spirit of Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, as well as to their specific obligations to the Arabs in the Palestine Mandate. Moreover, the relations between the Arabs and the Jews in Palestine must be based sooner or later on mutual tolerance and goodwill; the peace, security and progress of the Jewish National Home itself requires this. Therefore His Majesty‘s Government, after earnest consideration, and taking into account the extent to which the growth of the Jewish National Home has been facilitated over the last twenty years, have decided that the time has come to adopt in principle the second of the alternatives referred to above.
It has been urged that all further Jewish immigration into Palestine should be stopped forthwith. His Majesty‘s Government cannot accept such a proposal. It would damage the whole of the financial and economic system of Palestine and thus effect adversely the interests of Arabs and Jews alike. Moreover, in the view of His Majesty‘s Government, abruptly to stop further immigration would be unjust to the Jewish National Home. But, above all, His Majesty‘s Government are conscious of the present unhappy plight of large numbers of Jews who seek refuge from certain European countries, and they believe that Palestine can and should make a further contribution to the solution of this pressing world problem. In all these circumstances, they believe that they will be acting consistently with their Mandatory obligations to both Arabs and Jews, and in the manner best calculated to serve the interests of the whole people of Palestine, by adopting the following proposals regarding immigration:
Jewish immigration during the next five years will be at a rate which, if economic absorptive capacity permits, will bring the Jewish population up to approximately one third of the total population of the country. Taking into account the expected natural increase of the Arab and Jewish populations, and the number of illegal Jewish immigrants now in the country, this would allow of the admission, as from the beginning of April this year, of some 75,000 immigrants over the next five years. These immigrants would, subject to the criterion of economic absorptive capacity, be admitted as follows:
For each of the next five years a quota of 10,000 Jewish immigrants will be allowed on the understanding that a shortage one year may be added to the quotas for subsequent years, within the five year period, if economic absorptive capacity permits.
In addition, as a contribution towards the solution of the Jewish refugee problem, 25,000 refugees will be admitted as soon as the High Commissioner is satisfied that adequate provision for their maintenance is ensured, special consideration being given to refugee children and dependents.
The existing machinery for ascertaining economic absorptive capacity will be retained, and the High Commissioner will have the ultimate responsibility for deciding the limits of economic capacity. Before each periodic decision is taken, Jewish and Arab representatives will be consulted.
After the period of five years, no further Jewish immigration will be permitted unless the Arabs of Palestine are prepared to acquiesce in it.
His Majesty‘s Government are determined to check illegal immigration, and further preventive measures are being adopted. The numbers of any Jewish illegal immigrants who, despite these measures, may succeed in coming into the country and cannot be deported will be deducted from the yearly quotas.
His Majesty‘s Government are satisfied that, when the immigration over five years which is now contemplated has taken place, they will not be justified in facilitating, nor will they be under any obligation to facilitate, the further development of the Jewish National Home by immigration regardless of the wishes of the Arab population.
Section III. Land
The Administration of Palestine is required, under Article 6 of the Mandate, “while ensuring that the rights and position of other sections of the population are not prejudiced,” to encourage “close settlement by Jews on the land,” and no restriction has been imposed hitherto on the transfer of land from Arabs to Jews. The Reports of several expert Commissions have indicated that, owing to the natural growth of the Arab population and the steady sale in recent years of Arab land to Jews, there is now in certain areas no room for further transfers of Arab land, whilst in some other areas such transfers of land must be restricted if Arab cultivators are to maintain their existing standard of life and a considerable landless Arab population is not soon to be created. In these circumstances, the High Commissioner will be given general powers to prohibit and regulate transfers of land. These powers will date from the publication of this statement of policy and the High Commissioner will retain them throughout the transitional period.
The policy of the Government will be directed towards the development of the land and the improvement, where possible, of methods of cultivation. In the light of such development it will be open to the High Commissioner, should he be satisfied that the “rights and position” of the Arab population will be duly preserved, to review and modify any orders passed relating to the prohibition or restriction of the transfer of land.
In framing these proposals His Majesty‘s Government have sincerely endeavored to act in strict accordance with their obligations under the Mandate to both the Arabs and the Jews. The vagueness of the phrases employed in some instances to describe these obligations has led to controversy and has made the task of interpretation difficult. His Majesty‘s Government cannot hope to satisfy the partisans of one party or the other in such controversy as the Mandate has aroused. Their purpose is to be just as between the two people in Palestine whose destinies in that country have been affected by the great events of recent years, and who, since they live side by side, must learn to practice mutual tolerance, goodwill and co operation. In looking to the future, His Majesty‘s Government are not blind to the fact that some events of the past make the task of creating these relations difficult; but they are encouraged by the knowledge that as many times and in many places in Palestine during recent years the Arab and Jewish inhabitants have lived in friendship together. Each community has much to contribute to the welfare of their common land, and each must earnestly desire peace in which to assist in increasing the well being of the whole people of the country. The responsibility which falls on them, no less than upon His Majesty‘s Government, to co operate together to ensure peace is all the more solemn because their country is revered by many millions of Moslems, Jews and Christians throughout the world who pray for peace in Palestine and for the happiness of her people.
BDS The Non Violent Movement That Can Change The Odds
Whose Cause!.. Gilad Atzmon, Norman Finkelstein, Ali Abunimah, Omar Barghouti or Palestine? The BDS Controversy!
What Does it mean to be a Pro Palestinian Activist?
– To be pro-Palestinian does not necessarily mean you want the state of Israel to be wiped off the map; nor does it imply that you agree with either the two-state or one- state solution. The pro-Palestinian movement embraces many ideas and offers much diversity in way of critique and pro-active solutions. For instance, some activists take a stand, drawing upon the premise of Human Rights and International Law while others pursue different strategies outside of U.N. sanctions, precisely because the legal precepts have never been enforced. Similarly, it is with this context in mind, that we can view the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement where we witness much diversity in terms of strategy and goals. The international community of peace activists has been preoccupied with boycotting Israeli products, goods, and services; and also, has taken up the campaign for Cultural/Academic Boycott. However, some blocks of the solidarity movement participate only if the products were exported from the settlements inside the occupied territories, namely the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Essentially, BDS is not a uniform or homogenous movement with a strict set of standards which would end up being restrictive and narrow in focus. Some may view this as a weakness. And yet many others put another spin on it where the BDS is seen as holding out much promise due to its open, versatile, and dynamic appeal to a diverse range of groups. It is this versatility that allows for broad-based support that can only strengthen the movement all the more. As such, it would be a mistake to think that the BDS has to strike a consensus in order to work. We really cannot expect such a consensus since the movement has so many different branches, strategies, goals, and supporters. Nonetheless, one thing is clear in the minds of all supporters: inspired by the South African BDS campaign, most people simply want to put an abrupt halt to the apartheid practices of Israel! On this, I believe, there is a consensus and so it represents the rallying point that shall galvanize the movement into a potent force.
So it is we witness various scenarios where you have Israel citizens who support BDS because they want peace and know that for this to happen, there needs to be compliance with international law to the extent that rights of Palestinians within occupied territories are upheld. Therefore, they will not engage in talks or entertain the ideas of one or two-state solution. Their main concern is to maintain stability within Israel. Meanwhile, other activists take the stance that it is morally wrong to purchase any Israeli-made products; simultaneously, they will target any companies known to have ties with the apartheid state, especially those corporations associated with providing arsenal and weaponry which are used to kill Palestinians. This in turn will weaken the financial empire that continues to support Israel. Whatever the goal of the BDS participants, I personally think that it is a moral duty of every citizen in the world to support the BDS movement! This movement is not exclusive to any one leader or faction. Even Omar Barghouti, often credited as the founder, does not claim a monopoly on BDS; he does not own the movement but prefers to follow and act on the direction of the Palestinian BDS factions. This in no way diminishes the value of the BDS movement! On the contrary, BDS has become massive and global in it’s appeal and should inspire us all the more as active participants, realizing that each and everyone of us has an important integral role to play.
We are already observing the inroads made. Not only has BDS tarnished the false image of Israel as a progressive democratic state, but it has been successful in financially crippling certain sectors of the economy. Furthermore, every time a company comes public in its support of BDS and severes its economic ties with Israel, this captures the attention of the media and serves to act as counter-propaganda to that once-well oiled Zionist machine. Every time we hear of these BDS triumphs, awareness is stepped up a notch or two so that more is known about how Israel’s apartheid system really operates. Subsequently, we cannot discount the achievements nor diminish the value of this campaign based on the opinion of one group, organization, or a handful of high profile activists. While everyone is entitled to their opinion and deserves to be heard, we should take precautions not to restrict our own perspective to one particular position when it comes to BDS, or any issue for that matter. It would help to put the movement, itself, in proper context and consider the implications. For instance, recall that in South Africa it took more than 20 years for the BDS to gain some recognition around the world until finally it did take root as to have moral effect on the conscience of the people. Compare this to the contemporary situation where, with the assistance of technology, the Palestinian BDS campaign, since it’s inception, took only 5 or 6 years to be known at a global level. By this time, the BDS already has taken on a life of its own; the ideology of the founders and/or their political aspirations have nothing to do with BDS anymore. There is no office at this point that can control or organize what people around the world do to support Palestine, so the rhetorical question of the two -state solution that some want to use against the founders or against the movement, itself, cannot undermine the global support for Palestine that BDS is awakening in the people of conscience.
WHAT IS BDS
BDS stands for Boycott and Disinvestment Sanctions and it is aimed primarily at Israel. This movement is intended to pressure Israel economically, financially, and culturally. By no means was it created with the intention to undermine Israel’s legal status as an official recognized State. But as the movement has grown and thousands of organizations and universities across the globe are being more and more involved in the BDS movement, the perception of Israel is changing rapidly and many important academic figures that have been following the development of the conflict over the years are drawing the conclusion that Israel is losing its legal status in the world.
In 2005 the Civil Society of Palestine called the attention of the world when they founded a movement that is known globally simply as BDS and every sector of the population is participating, whether on a small or a grand scale.
“Boycott – basically is a tool of the weak, who individually are weak but collectively can have some strength against overweening power. The first use of the word [originated] with tenant farmers in Ireland against their land agent. Famous cases are the Montgomery Bus boycott and, more recently, the sporting boycott and other boycotts against South Africa. There are differences between all these boycotts, and I would stress that by taking the archetypal case of that of the tenant farmers who resisted the land agent Charles Boycott, who gave his name to the whole process, in the 1880s in Ireland. Boycott was the land agent for an absentee English noble. And what they did, when he became too domineering, is they denied him labour to save the harvest, they put him into isolation -refused to talk to him under any circumstances, the shops wouldn’t serve him, the workers wouldn’t go and look after his house for him, and the person wouldn’t deliver him letters. And in reasonably short order, by the end of the year Boycott had been forced out and returned to England. So very direct.” Professor Jonathan Rosenhead, Novemeber11, 2011
Professor Jonathan Rosenhead is chair of the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP) which is the main organization in the UK supporting the academic and cultural boycotts of Israel, it parallels PACBI in Palestine. Professor Rosenhead is also an activist, took part in the flotilla, sailing to Gaza to break the Israeli siege.
If we take this case as an archetype, or at least one standard by which to view the BDS movement in general, it reminds us to use our own critical thinking whenever high-profile people as intellectuals, writers, emeritus, professors, Nobel Prize laureates, politicians, scholars, and internationally-acclaimed activists speak on a issue. Many of us may be tempted to automatically think and feel that our support for an issue is validated merely because someone of high stature takes a stand in favor. On the other hand, if these same people speak against a campaign that we support, we may feel betrayed and angry. Some of us even go to the extreme of doubting our own convictions and moral standing and then we prematurely switch sides. It is, at that moment, we become followers and lose our ability to think independently for ourselves. This should be taken as a precautionary note, especially when we are addressing the issue of the BDS movement since the campaign is so immense and, therefore, cannot be accepted as a uniform doctrine expected to fit all necessities. Rather it is versatile, diverse, and dynamic in appeal. What we can say in terms of technicalities, it is not a movement that necessarily seeks the liberation of Palestine, because at its CORE, it was founded on 3 main premises: rights of return for refugees, equality for Arabs in Israel, and the end of occupation. These three points, if satisfied, will comply with international law! Even as we consider this official position, it is important to realize that the movement, itself, has evolved, the ideas have evolved as well, and by natural effect, the goals have changed, at least for some.
For pro-Palestinians that seek the liberation of Palestine, it is not enough to satisfy the 3 points, because such according to their interpretation would be akin to recognizing and legalizing Israel as a one-state solution. Palestinians and non- Palestinians alike, who take this line of reasoning, refer to the partition of
Palestine as illegal and thereby, will never accept Israel as legitimate state. While we may understand this position, the concern and grievances are misplaced: the original founders of BDS and the fulfillment of the three premises, does not entail debating the one or two-state solution; nor does it imply recognition of Israel as either legal/legitimate or illegitimate. One could argue to the contrary, that the original founders of the movement, whether they accept Israel as legitimate or not, nonetheless view the BDS goals as a beginning for a broader movement with effective outcomes that perhaps could eventually lead to dissipation of Israel. Consider the various variables at work here, such that the population growth of Palestinians is on the rise and could imply the best tool to defeat Israel.
Norm Finkelstein’s Position on BDS:
On his Interview with Frank Baratta, a well known Human Rights Activist, on February 9, 2012 attended the Imperial college London, and delivered astonishing statements that left us all surprised and wondering “what got into him????”.
Norm Finkelstein is now famous for repeating The Law is Clear, and he shields his views on BDS charging the founders of the movement as dishonest that Israel it is a State and that it is the law, but sadly he forgets easily how Israel had disregarded the law thousands of times when it comes to respect the life and property of Native Palestinians.
“When the law is criminal, you must break it to be human.” – FendLOTRO youtube user responded to Norman Finkelstein
Norman G. Finkelstein received his doctorate in 1988 from the Department of Politics at Princeton University.For many years he taught political theory and the Israel-Palestine conflict. He currently writes and lectures.
The controversy arose when Professor Finkelstein slammed the BDS movement as a cult! I heard his argument and he does not mean the literal definition of a cult; but rather is referring to the centralized idea that forcing Israel to comply with the 3 points of the BDS movement will destroy Israel. He goes on to say that he will support the BDS movement if the organizers will honestly speak on their goals, because he senses that they are not being genuine due to what he considers “vague” statements made by Barghouti. In this sense, Finkelstein’s interpretation imparts a misleading and inaccurate appraisal of the BDS movement. Meanwhile, Ali Abu Nimahk, from the electronic intifada who has been a harsh critic of Finkelstein, started a campaign against him by drawing the line on disinformation coming from Finkelstain side, accusing Finkelstain on supporting Israel on the two state solution. When every body knows that it is not possible, but this point does not discredit Finkelstain as a pro-Justice man, Subsequently, Ali Abu Nimahk supporters, fell for his arguments, without question, and failed to seriously consider the words of Finkelstein where he stated “I support the BDS, but I said that it will never reach a broad public, until and unless they’re explicit on their goal, and their goal has to include recognition of Israel, or it is no starter. It won’t reach the public, because the moment it goes out there, Israel will start to say, what about us? and they won’t recognize our right, and it fact that is correct, you can’t answer the Israelis on that, because they are making a statement that is factually correct. It is not an accident and unwitting omission that BDS does not mention Israel….you know that and I know that…is not that OH! we forgot to mention Israel!” Professor Norman Finkelstein.
I highly respect the point of view of these personalities and their approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict because each of them have worked tirelessly for the Palestinian cause! Nonetheless, all of them have their own goals, and because their goals differ in nature, their arguments also differ. It becomes problematic, however, where this turns into a “mud-slinging” fest and divides the various supporters affiliated with each of these high-profile personalities, as those aforementioned. We all can be peace activists and be pro-Palestinians and not have an opinion on the one or two-state solution – that has been the center point for Ali Abu Minah. Yet when he criticizes Finkelstein, he ignores the position regarding the legal question of Israeli actions against occupied territories. Furthermore, he fails to pursue the probable outcome of the BDS movement where we could envision the prospect of an eventual dissipation of Israel as a legitimate state according to international law.
Ali Hasan Abunimah is a Palestinian American journalist and co-founder of Electronic Intifada, a not-for-profit, independent online publication about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
I make mention of these disparate views above because they have played a role in disseminating rumors regarding the BDS. Furthermore, it would be unfair to give credit to or to discredit the words of any of these heavy-weights, without first analyzing their background, their profession, their nationality, and ultimately, the real motives behind the positions they promote in public forums. Take the case of Norman Finkelstein where many questions arise regarding his recent, often contradictory and confusing arguments. What goals does he have in mind? He has been a peace activist for years and out of moral duty has stood firmly behind the Palestinian cause to defend truth, justice, and law. He has in the past taken enormous professional risks to do this. But now he is in the process of selling his image as a writer, political scientist, scholar, and activist, as well as his books. This means his integrity is at stake and once again he is taking a risk and has to step cautiously into the Mid East arena regarding BDS. When he bashes Israel, we give him credit for his courage. And yet, we must be skeptical here since, of recent, he has taken the position that “the law, it is clear. We cannot be selective with the law”. Moreover, he slams the BDS for not staying within the bounds of the law because the movement doesn’t explicitly give recognition to the state of Israel.
Did Finkelstein forget the stipulations placed on Israel by the League of Nations during the time that Palestine was partitioned to create Israel? And it isn’t it true that Israel, in order to have legitimacy, would have to respect the rights of the inhabitants of the land with particular emphasis on all groups including Palestinians Muslims, and Palestinians Christians? Now it is obvious to human rights watch groups and it should be obvious to Finkelstein, himself, that since the moment of it’s inception, Israel has violated every international law in the books and was never held accountable! Due to this violations, it’s status as a legitimate/legal state should be considered dubious, at best. Ironic it is, then, that Finkelstein criticizes the BDS movement due to it’s failure to make an official statement in recognition of Israel. Why should the founder/s be pressured to do so, in the first place? especially when Finkelstein stresses the idea that “the law is clear and is not selective”? What he fails to address is the obvious – why when it comes to Palestine, is the law selective and why are those legally-binding resolutions (in favor of Palestinians rights) NOT enforced? Disturbing about this is the fact that he takes a legal stance against BDS, but in this case he appears to use it selectively in favor of Israel. Below I provide two screen shots of the original documents of the United Nations – Resolution 194-8 and 194-11 agreed and signed
All things being equal, the truth will prevail. When given a fair chance, the truth should survive, because it is more natural, more attractive, and less contrived than falsehood. In a democracy, certain rights are inalienable, so that all men are equal before the law. On that assumption we must pressure Israel to adhere to it’s own propagated idea that as “the only democracy in the Middle East”, it must abide by the law. Since this stands as a fundamental principle of democracy, defending the truth will reach a conclusion. The anti-BDS propaganda must be challenged at it’s source. The fact that such heavy-weights as Ali Abu Nimah, Omar Barghouti, Norm Finkelstein, and Gilad Atzman have all entered the fray and media frenzy, opinions have likely been taken out of context and the issues have been blown out of proportion.
Gilad Atzmon’s Position on the BDS:
“Gilad Atzmon: “For more than a while, myself and others are very suspicious of the BDS. For some peculiar reason the BDS in the West is dominated by Jewish activists. Though the BDS’ principle is valid and worth a fight, it has become clear to many of us that something went wrong along the way. Last month we have seen BDS calls to stop Norman Finkelstein; this month we see BDS calls to stop me. Great, isn’t it. The BDS is now used to stifle freedom within the solidarity discourse.”
I m not blaming Gilad Atzmon for the anti-BDS sentiment that is circulating! Rather, I am quoting those words that were picked up by media and likely contributed to the the controversy that arose following the interview of Norman Finkelstein, as well as, Ali Abu Nimah‘s heated debate on the issue. I think we can trace the roots here. In addition, the people pushing hard on the surface of the BDS movement, are hijacking the campaign where we observe attempts to silence the dissident Jews as Gilad Atzmon and NormanFinkelstein. Because they are taking center stage in the Palestine Justice Movement, many people followed the line being pushed by an anonymous group that seems to operate behind the scenes, implying that there may well be a few spy rings. (Where these spy rings arise, they can do damage because they plant “ideas” that are hurting the BDS). Many of the same dynamics mentioned above were also witnessed during the Jewish global boycott of Germany goods to weaken Hitler’s economic power during WWII, as well, to force the government to finance the Jewish Transfer to Palestine. Additionally, we saw similar factors at work in South Africa during the horrible apartheid era.
I agree with Gilad Atzmon where he criticizes certain groups that have infiltrated the BDS and have been used to silence Jewish dissidents as himself. Unfortunately, though, his defensive position has become offensive and imparts a false impression that the BDS campaign in general is not trustworthy. Sadly, I have seen good friends and pro-Palestinian activists write against BDS, without considering the consequences of doing so. We must put this in a broader perspective and push aside the infighting upon realizing that this is an immense movement in which millions of people are doing their level best to keep up the campaign against apartheid. Meanwhile, I can only hope that those people of high-profile who have great influence over public opinion reflect upon the damage that could be done to Palestine whenever they overgeneralize their personal opinions in attempt to defend themselves against rogue BDS elements/agents.
With this in mind, I cite Gilad’s own words to remind us to stay focused on the real issues:
“For more than ten years I have been writing about Israel, Zionism and Jewish identity. I am engaged in a process of deconstruction and critique of different Jewish texts, ideas, politics and practice. My intent is aiming towards some deeper realization of what Zionism is. In my opinion, Zionism is one of the most dangerous political movements. It is a global operation that threatens world peace on a daily basis.” Gilad Atzmon
When citing any position, it is important to keep in mind that the BDS movement is not the property of few persons. This is a global campaign of awareness, to pressure Israel to end her apartheid practices inside the occupied territories and to force Israel to respect the human rights of Palestinians that live in West Jerusalem, Gaza and West Bank.
“Boycott is a real complicated issue. For years we’ve been arguing in favour of divestment and boycott. At the time I supported any form of boycott in Israel, its products and its culture.There are some elements in the boycott that are obviously very welcome. For instance, the fact that UK unions are standing up against Zionist evil is a major shift in the very right direction. The Boycott is certainly bad news for Israel and this is wonderful news in itself. Yesterday, I went to a reading of a play, it was actually a theatrical adaptation my latest book. The producer is Jewish, and at a certain stage when we were discussing the meaning of the play he stood up and said. “You see, we had a Jewish State, it is now sixty years later, and it is a very horrible place, it is so horrible that it has now been boycotted. And this is there to make us think, where did it go wrong?” This is the most positive impact of the boycott. It makes people reflect.” Gilad Atzmon July 2007
Gilad Atzmon is an Israeli-born British jazz saxophonist, novelist, political activist, Pro Palestinian Peace Activist, and writer. Atzmon’s album Exile was BBC jazz album of the year in 2003.
When Gilad Atzmon refers to the Jewish, you have to understand his philosophy and point of view regarding the modern Jewish sentiment of ” the chosen ones”. This mentality is more intrinsic and is best exemplified by the Jewish Only political spectrum in Israel, as well as, powerful Jewish lobby groups around the world. But let us not confuse Israel Jewish Only Policies with Judaism. “Jewish” refers primarily to ethnicity while “Judaism” refers to religion. For instance, those who support “Jewish only” policies in line with apartheid, play upon the concept “the chosen few”, not as a matter of religious principles, but more so, a matter of political arrogance. Furthermore, it is notable that there are a number of Jewish groups of orthodox faith who take offense to Israeli Zionist practices of apartheid and occupation. Neturei Karta Orthodox Jews are but an example.
Recently a group of intellectuals, and pro-Palestinians endorsed Ali Abu Minah in a letter against Gilad Atzmon. I think that some people are using the spotlight of others to upstage their popularity within the Palestinian movement. Meanwhile, there are thousands of pro-Palestinians who have invested their time and sometimes their money without thinking twice. Additionally, there are those who have and continue to make a profession out of the Palestinian cause, dedicating much of their life to this. Such is to be respected where and when these people are clearly focused on the objectives to serve justice. Moreover, it is only fair that they be paid for their time and service since they, as anyone else, need money to live and support themselves and families. Sometimes the tasks do involve various campaigns for private donations, or setting up Non-Profit Organizations where the structure is similar to the official NGO’s that participate in charities (unlike many NGO’s, this participation in charities is not merely a means to deduct taxes). Then, too, there is a group of individuals who have thrown their support behind Palestine, not out of love for Palestine, but more so as a matter of fighting injustice due to violation of human rights. Chomsky and Finkelstein may very well fall into this camp since they do not want to see Israel wiped off the map; rather, they would prefer to see an Israel that behaves democratically by working inside the parameters of international law. Like Professor Horowitz, Finkelstein engages in discussions with pro-Israeli supporters. BUT UNLIKE Horowitz, Finkelstein cites factual information regarding atrocities against Palestinians and also clearly recognizes the need for Israel to put an end to human rights abuses. As mentioned earlier, the argument may initially sound appealing. However, delving further into Finkelstein’s various discussions and interviews, many contradictions arise and are worthy of further examination if we are to assess his position on BDS.
Assessing the Implications of the Key Players Involved in the Controversy:
On February 2012 a video clip was released on youtube entitled “Arguing the BDS Movement: Interview with Frank Barata and political Scientist, Writer, and Activist Norman Finkelstein“. According to Finkelstein, international law is unambiguous and could be used as a tool to compel Israel to adhere to human rights. Meanwhile, he sees little value in the so called Palestinian Authority’s efforts to conduct peace talks and negotiations that have led nowhere, and also implies that the P.A. is a collaborator of Israel since the leaders often strike bargains that actually come at the expense of the Palestinians, themselves. In a sense, he is right! This rather cozy relationship became more evident especially after Abbas’ presidency. For instance, corruption is observed in many instances, among all things, the criminalization of protests against the occupation. Given the P.A.’s collaboration with Israel, along with U.S. aid to the Zionist entity, it is hard to envision the possibility of a peaceful outcome. According to Finkelstein, Palestine will never win the conflict since it is inconceivable that Israel will give an inch. Not only is it equipped with one of the most technologically advanced military and powerful armies, Israel too has the moral and financial backing of the United Sates, as well as other nations. The fact that the U.S. provides more than 3 billion dollars a year in military aid and loan guarantees makes the prospects for Palestine look all the more bleak, especially considering this one-sided war, if it can even can be called a war. In reality this is unprecedented and unwarranted aggression against the virtually defenseless Palestinian population. As such, Israel would have to be extracted by force, either through the Palestinians use of militancy or through strict judicial procedures within the bounds of international law.
It is on the point of international law that Finkelstein makes his case for Palestine, but in the meantime, also applies the argument to undermine the legitimacy of the BDS campaign. What unravels in his position, is an argument replete with serious flaws, contradictions, assumptions, and confusion. It is no wonder then that many of his own supporters have been left bewildered. The major criticism regards the three strategies put forth by the BDS. To Finkelstein, while these may be “ideologically possible”, on pragmatic terms and according to international law, the three-pronged approach can’t work since it excludes Israel as a viable state. Even if these strategies did have effect, eventually this would culminate in the end of Israel. This is particularly problematic to Finkelstein because the scenario is feasible given that the return of 6 to 7 million Palestinian refugees will shift the balance of power due to disproportionate representation in terms of a diminished Israeli population. This prospect, accompanied by the BDS’ call for equal rights to Arabs within Israel will quite likely result in a panorama view where Palestinians as majority will be the major political players. On these grounds, Finkelstein accuses the BDS of being dishonest since it does not acknowledge this possibility nor officially claim it as a goal. Subsequently, he believes the campaign will never take root because the international community simply will not accept these terms, whether they are explicitly stated or not.
The bewilderment and confusion arising out of Finkelstein’s stance can be traced to the manner in which he takes comfort in citing the 1967 borders that are supposedly the legal borders of Israel! Disturbing about this argument is the failure on behalf of Finkelstein to acknowledge those disenfranchised Palestinians who were illegally driven and forced out of their homeland prior to 1967. Did he forget the history, the Nakba for instance, which violated international law prior to 1967? Did he forget how the so The State of Israel was created through war crimes when it was violently inserted into the heart of the Middle East? There is reason for concern insofar he draws scarce attention to and virtually ignores the atrocities and plight forced upon Palestinians who became refugees in neighboring countries where they are not accepted as citizens, and on the other hand Majority of Israelis enjoyed double Nationality. If it is so as Finkelstein reiterates over and over that “the law is clear”, why is it that he ignores the resolutions adopted by the General Assembly at it’s third session on November 27, 1948? (refer to illustration 1 and 2). Moreover, if he is going to use the stance that “the law is clear”, it is incumbent on him as a political scholar, to admit that Israel violated most of the U.N. resolutions and was never held accountable since the moment of it’s inception.
Yes, the law in this case is clear, but it is unfair and unjust, because it has not been enforced!!!! By all standards then, Israel’s legitimacy as a state, is dubious and up for question. So we are left to ponder why Finkelstein places the burden of proof upon the Palestinians rather than on Israel. And why does he uses such a flawed argument to slam the BDS campaign? If anything, one could turn the tables here and apply “the law is clear” premise to work in favor of the BDS. Finkelstein’s argument would be far more credible had he used it to acknowledge that, by all international standards/UN resolutions, Israel technically is not a legal nor legitimate state. In this sense, the BDS movement, could satisfy the three pillars, and could very well become a potent force enough to garner the attention of the international and global community. It could reach a climax of mass proportions in which the international players will no longer have the luxury of appeasing Israel. The world will soon become weary and tired of Israel arrogance and impunity. Sooner or later, Israel will be forced to follow the path of South Africa!
Upon revisiting controversy surrounding Gilad Atzmon’s position, it is important to note that he is very critical of the Zionist ideology, insisting with reason, that the state of Israel has instilled exclusivity of “the chosen few” in the minds of Jewish citizens to advance colonial rule in Palestine.
Meanwhile, Atzmon’s detractors are working hard to undo the work that he has done on behalf of Palestine. They are using the wrong arguments for the wrong reasons for the right cause, that is Palestine. Some of these people get entangled in the criticism, some are genuine pro-Palestinians, and some are misled by the well- oiled Zionist propaganda that is trying to destroy the career of Gilad Atzmon, that it is being cemented on the Palestine Conflict and Zionism. It is no secret, after all, that
has published in favor of the Palestinian cause and due to his fame and popularity, has much influence. Subsequently, Zionist groups have an obvious motive for bashing his work. But the move to do so may be premature, ill-conceived, and in fact, may backfire. As with any issues that come under the spotlight due to controversy, the media attention can serve both sides of the divide: on one hand it reinforces arguments by the detractors, and on the other, it inspires greater interest and curiosity in Atzmon’s work. The same could be said of Finkelstein as well. So the question comes to mind, whether or not this anti-BDS campaign is actually a stunt employed to sell books, or at the very least, an opportunistic ploy conveniently playing in the hands of the authors and publishers.
The claims articulated by both Finkelstein and Atzmon, strongly suggest both are pro-justice, pro-peace, and ultimately, pro-Palestine.
“For me to be Jewish is, above all, to be preoccupied with overcoming injustice and thirsting for justice in the world, and that means being respectful toward other peoples regardless of their nationality or religion, and empathetic in the face of human suffering whoever and wherever victimization is encountered” (Gilad Atzmon, “On Jewish Identity,” 1/15/2011).
In Atzmon’s words, we find credibility in his cause and struggle for justice. However, if this trumped up anti-BDS campaign has been used as a propaganda scheme to gain free advertizement for books recently published, then this is disturbing, to say the least. To attack the BDS campaign as a means of serving one’s own interests is beyond irresponsible and irreproachable since authors of high stature have great influence on the pro-Palestinians. I would hope that these are not the motives here. Whatever the case, there is no doubt that the controversy did have spin-off effects that have undermined BDS proponents and, meanwhile, divided the solidarity movement. For instance, I recently heard some statements against the BDS movement asserting that the strategies have not worked since Israel’s economy is more “economically solvent than ever”. Yet pursuing this at greater length, tells us that nothing can be farther from the truth – the economic meltdown is a global phenomenon and it’s to a point where even Israel is not immune. Taken in this context, we can quite confidently assume that certain sectors of the economy will inevitably be hurt, as some already have suffered losses. Add to this, the Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. Many high-profile personalities, as internationally-acclaimed author and activist Alice Walker, have already entered the fray, inspiring the BDS campaign once again with enthusiasm and optimism; meanwhile, striking fear into the heart of Zionist lobby groups. Indeed Zionist Israel has reason for concern; and it is high time that the key political players are shaken enough to take note! Economic collapse may be more imminent than they are willing to admit! And if this is what it takes to put an end to apartheid, occupation, and genocide; then we owe at least some credit to the BDS movement.
Consider too, how the average Israeli citizen is impacted by the government’s heavy investment into security and weaponry used against Palestinians. Simultaneously, the middle class is beginning to feel the crunch as elsewhere in the world. Growing inequality, in terms of both socioeconomic status and political policies, is the first sign spotted by the ordinary citizen. The Occupy movement has actually reached the Holy Land and has stirred up protests. Change is on the horizon. Even Israel can no longer afford it’s own arrogance. Moreover, there is no magical wand that can grant them immunity from global or economic evolution where society is evermore awakening to mass consciousness. The conditions exist and the time is ripe for the BDS to make inroads and impact enough to dismantle apartheid Israel. On this optimistic note, it is relevant to examine the ideas of Omar Barghouti.
Revisiting the Controversy Surrounding Omar Barghouti’s Position on BDS:
It would be remiss not to assess the credibility of Omar Barghouti also, since he too has become central to this BDS debate and as mentioned earlier, he did emerge on the scene to espouse the values and the 3 main objectives of the campaign against apartheid Israel: right of return for refugees, equal rights for Arabs within Israel, and termination of the occupation. Barghouti, also emphasizes that the direction of this movement is to be in the hands of the Palestinians themselves. While other affiliated groups and participants across the globe are recognized as major players, the movement must not be monopolized by any set of elites. It belongs to the grassroots people, particularly guided by the Palestinians. While statements have been embraced by most in the BDS movement, he too has come under attack by both Finkelstein and Atzmon. According to Finkelstein, the goals are too vague and cannot work. Atzmon makes similar claims but stepped it up a notch when he unfairly referred to Barghouti as a racist against whites . Such an accusation, however, should not be taken seriously since Atzmon took Barghouti’s words out of context without giving accurate representation to the postmodern argument from which Barghouti implied that those of Euro centric ethnicity/background have no right to dictate the terms or set the agenda for the Palestinians. Here, Barghouti was making reference to the colonial mentality where white supremacy is still very much a denominator in international relations between the imperialistic “colonizers/occupiers” and the “colonized/occupied”.
In yet another instance, March 7/2011, the London Review Bookshop was host to Barghouti’s launch of the work entitled “BDS: Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions – The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights”. Here Barghouti again came under attack, accused of taking a “hypocritical position on academic boycott” simply because he had attended an “Israeli University” to obtain his Ph.D.. Even so, Barghouti’s rebuttal was swift, to the point, and “very rational” which according to staff of Inminds.com suggests “that unless someone is being dishonest with themselves, they will have no choice but to accept the arguments”. The integrity with which Barghouti replied is nicely captured in the following excerpt:
Audience Question: Omar, you are living in Israel, you are doing a PhD, you are
studying in an Israeli university. How does that equate with your boycott campaign, isn’t that hypocritical to live in Israel and consume everything Israeli, then call for a boycott of Israel? And secondly, if God forbid, you ever needed a life saving medicine, or a member of your family in Israel, would you accept that medicine or would you reject that life saving medicine?
Omar Barghouti: I think Mandela went to an apartheid university, when you are living under apartheid you have no choice. You pay taxes to the apartheid regime, you accept services from the apartheid regime, how else can you survive? You go to hospitals, you go to universities, you go to the post office, you go to government offices in the apartheid regime. You are a ‘subject’ of that colonial system, there is no other way. Gandhi studied at a British university as well. The point is that when you are under occupation, when you are under apartheid, you have no moral choice. There is no choice. We ask people from outside to boycott because they have a moral choice. Responsibility comes with choice. Germans under Nazi rule who couldn’t open their mouths were cowards; but we can perhaps forgive them for not opening their mouths when you think you would be shot by the Nazi genocidal regime if they opened their mouths. Israelis that stay silent are far more cowardly because they do have a choice and they wont get shot if they stand up against the occupation. So we measure this with how much choice you have. When you have no choice what do you do? So there is absolutely no double standard for people under oppression to call on people who are not under oppression, standing in solidarity with them, to oppose and boycott a completely the oppressive regime. What we cannot do, you can do in the UK. The second part of your question.. of course we do not boycott Israeli medicines in Israel. What else can we buy? We are not irrational. I don’t know your view of the Arabs.. but you know we are not suicidal..
A Q. [interrupts]: Why do you live there if you don’t like it there?
Omar Barghouti: Its my country, I’m a Palestinian.
A Q: You were brought up in Egypt
Omar Barghouti: I’m a refugee. Refugee’s have a right to go home. I’m a Palestinian. The two-state solution, besides having passed its expiry date, it was never a moral solution to start with. In the best-case scenario, if UN resolution 242 were meticulously implemented, it would have addressed most of the legitimate rights of less than a third of the Palestinian people over less than a fifth of their ancestral land. More than two thirds of the Palestinians, refugees plus the Palestinian citizens of Israel, have been dubiously and shortsightedly expunged out of the definition of the Palestinians. Such exclusion can only guarantee the perpetuation of conflict.”
If Israel doesn’t want to obey international law then why should Israel be recognized as a legitimate state? Israel can’t have it both ways! The Case for BDS:
Reflecting upon the controversies, debates, and the infighting, we are left to assess and evaluate the merits of the BDS campaign. Essentially, we need to do some of our own soul-searching, put aside petty disputes, and ask the key question: What variables should we consider in using our discretion either in favor or against the BDS? Because Omar Barghouti says we should? because Ali Abu Minah says it is the right thing to do? because Gilad Atzmon has been unfairly accused of anti-Semitic by some rogue boycott members? or because Gilad Atzmon has unfairly accused Barghouti of racism? or because the highly respected Norman Finkelstein suggests that the boycott has no clear goals and is unworkable? Do these questions make your head spin, and confuse the issue rather than clarify it? If so, then we need to get beyond the ambiguity and propaganda that the infighting and divisiveness has created. If we really are focused on the goal of serving the interests of Palestine, then it is necessary to put an end to the “mudslinging” and dirty politicking. After all, this is playing into the hands of Zionist tactics of divide and conquer. Wouldn’t we fair much better if we refused to be followers, used our own critical thinking, and put an abrupt stop to the ungrounded attacks that deflect from the goal to end injustice? The BDS campaign, in a sense, has become a battleground, a war zone. And now is the time when we can refuse to enlist in that war and instead, become conscientious objectors as we collaborate under the banner of BDS to restore justice to Palestinians. By doing so, we shall partake in the movement, doing so for Palestine only for Palestine! To restore their rights, to help them to be heard by a world that for years has turned its back and failed to listen.
Letter from Palestinians To the World
“The goal of the Palestinian people has always been clear: self determination. And we can only exercise that inalienable right through liberation, the return of our refugees (the absolute majority of our people) and achieving equal rights to all through decolonization. As such, we stand with all and any movements that call for justice, human dignity, equality, and social, economic, cultural and political rights. We will never compromise the principles and spirit of our liberation struggle. We will not allow a false sense of expediency to drive us into alliance with those who attack, malign, or otherwise attempt to target our political fraternity with all liberation struggles and movements for justice.
As Palestinians, it is our collective responsibility, whether we are in Palestine or in exile, to assert our guidance of our grassroots liberation struggle. We must protect the integrity of our movement, and to do so we must continue to remain vigilant that those for whom we provide platforms actually speak to its principles.
When the Palestinian people call for self-determination and decolonization of our homeland, we do so in the promise and hope of a community founded on justice, where all are free, all are equal and all are welcome”.
Until Liberation and Return
Signed:
Ali Abunimah, Naseer Aruri, Professor Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, Omar Barghouti, human rights activist
Hatem Bazian, Chair, American Muslims for Palestine, Andrew Dalack, National Coordinating Committee, US Palestinian Community Network, Haidar Eid, Gaza. Nada Elia, US Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. Toufic Haddad, Kathryn Hamoudah
Adam Hanieh, Lecturer, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London, Mostafa Henaway, Tadamon! Canada
Monadel Herzallah, National Coordinating Committee, US Palestinian Community Network, Nadia Hijab, author and human rights advocate. Andrew Kadi, Hanna Kawas, Chair person, Canada Palestine Association and Co-Host Voice of Palestine
Abir Kobty, Palestinian blogger and activist, Joseph Massad, Professor, Columbia University, NY, Danya Mustafa, Israeli Apartheid Week US National Co-Coordinator & Students for Justice in Palestine- University of New Mexico
Dina Omar, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, Haitham Salawdeh, National Coordinating Committee, US Palestinian Community Network, Sobhi Samour, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London
Khaled Ziada, SOAS Palestine Society, London, Rafeef Ziadah, poet and human rights advocate
Other Voices
It is my hope that the non-violent BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement, of which I am part, will have enough of an impact on Israeli civilian society to change the situation. In that regard, I offer an earlier example of THE COLOR PURPLE’s engagement in the world-wide effort to rid humanity of its self-destructive habit of dehumanizing whole populations. When the film of The Color Purple was finished, and all of us who made it decided we loved it, Steven Spielberg, the director, was faced with the decision of whether it should be permitted to travel to and be offered to the South African public. I lobbied against this idea because, as with Israel today, there was a civil society movement of BDS aimed at changing South Africa’s apartheid policies and, in fact, transforming the government. Alice Walker
Israelis have many other ways to show their dissatisfaction with the status quo: They can boycott institutions that profit or take part in the occupation, avoid the draft, take part in Palestinian-led protests or lead their own demonstrations. Ultimately, this debate will also lead to dealing with the question of BDS, though it’s clear that actual support for BDS will remain very marginal in Israeli society. Still, as long as no real alternative for the occupation is brought from the Israeli side, I think it’s very important not to oppose any form of Palestinian non-violent resistance, even if one is not taking part in it personally. Noam Sheizaf
In the frenzy to discredit BDS, it’s perversely easy for critics to forget these facts, to get lost in the abstraction (and sometimes distraction) of arguments about the uplifting effects of transnational corporations, the benevolence of 1948 Israel and the lurking anti-Semitism of the BDS agenda. These arguments are not just misleading but often downright dangerous and offensive; the anti-Semitism charge in particular is probably the most often cited and potent. So let’s be clear: vile and frightening anti-Semitism certainly exists, but BDS is not an example of it. As a nonviolent movement dedicated to human rights and nondiscrimination it is, in many ways, its opposite: the lesson of “Never Again” interpreted universally, a reminder that in the face of extreme horror, it is incumbent upon people of conscience to rally around the inalienable rights of the abused. Lizzy Ratner
The largest Presbyterian group in the US is considering divesting from three major global companies over the Israeli military’s use of their products in the Palestinian territories.Pension funds in Norway and Sweden have divested themselves of holdings in some firms involved in building settlements or helping to erect Israel’s contentious West Bank separation barrier. European activists have stepped up pressure on companies by exposing their West Bank ties and picketing stores that sell goods produced in Israeli settlements.
Last week, the US investment firm MSCI Inc. announced it had removed Caterpillar from three of its popular indexes that track socially responsible investments, leading mutual fund giant TIAA-CREF to divest $72 million in Caterpillar stock.
Israel cited in Caterpillar’s delisting from influential investment index – The sale of Caterpillar tractors to Israel was a factor, but not the determining one, in the delisting of the company from an influential index that prioritizes good governance and human rights.The move, however, is poised to further complicate the difficult ongoing conversation about Israel taking place between American Jewish gruops and the Presbyterian Church (USA).
BDS it is the Only Hope For Palestine to Become Independent
Palestine Treasure Land; Holy Land Economic Independence
Do you know that Palestine will be self sufficient if Israel stopped stealing the natural resources?
Palestine will be rich if allowed access and control over the minerals in the Dead Sea or the Natural Gas recently discovered in Gaza Shores?
If Israel would stop uprooting The Olive Trees that have been one of the sources of income for Palestinians – they have commercialized the olive oil and olives for hundreds of years.
If Israel would would remove the physical barrier that separated Palestinians from their farms and business, this alone will save them thousands of hours that are wasted on walking great distances to cross the check points illegally installed by Israel in Palestine.
Just the time saved in removing barriers and checkpoints, itself means money. Ultimately, efforts and resources to be fighting a worthless occupation will be employed to restore people’s properties and revive the Palestinian economy. Just Imagine the possibilities!!!! These are just some of the issues that the BDS is trying to resolve for Palestinians. Of course, there are more pressing issues yet that need to be acknowledged by the international community; but we should not underestimate the capacity of BDS to play a pivotal role in these very factors.
Right now under apartheid Israel, Palestine loses close to 7 billion dollars every year:
“The economy of the Palestinian suffers annual losses of seven billion dollars because of the occupation, which has turned these territories into one of the most aid-dependent economies in the world. In this respect, the ambassador of PNA in the UN, Riyad Mansour, said in an interview with Prensa Latina that the cost of domination is easily quantifiable, so that if this policyends, “we will be able to be self-sufficient and not need external help.”The seven billion dollars lost to the Palestinian economy in 2010 amounts to almost the entire Gross Domestic Product (GDP) annually, and this damage was produced by depriving the residents in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza from using their natural resources.” Correspondent for Prensa Latina in Egypt.Palestinian numbers, a despicable occupation – Translated from the Portuguese version by: Lisa
Follow your conscience. Follow what you feel is right. Propaganda is cheap and costs great division. Use your own mind, heart, judgement on this matter and try not pin your hopes and faith exclusively on one source or person of influence. What ever works to create awareness counts; any efforts aimed to let the world know that Palestine has been suffering under apartheid for 60 plus years. We know BDS is working. We know that boycotting Israel is one means of reigning in this rogue state! It is a human duty and obligation to rally together against any state that continually uses brutality and violates human rights and international law, in the manner that Israel has done, to the point of genocide. The BDS is beyond reproach, and trying to stop us from exercising a rightful humanitarian cause is a treason against our own human nature.
“The end of the Cold War, moreover, changed the West’s attitudes towards Africa. Western governments no longer had strategic interests in propping up repressive regimes merely because they were friendly to the west. Along with the World Bank, they concluded that one party regimes lacking popular participation constituted a serious hindrance to economic development and placed new emphasis on the need for democratic reform” The Struggles for Democracy- Martin Meredith -The Fate of Africa
At The End The US and Britain were forced to Boycott South Africa Apartheid: Library of Congress 1987
References
The Fate of AFRICA – Martin Meredith -Public Affairs Series – 2005
How Israel was won – – June 17, 1999
Palestinians Civil Society Calls for BDS- BDS National Committee- July 9, 2005 –
BDSmovement.net
Gilad Atzmon Interviewed: Each Village is a Reminder by Brian Lenzo- July 13. 2010 –
Palestine Chronicle
Why Is BDS a Moral Duty Today? A Response to Bernard-Henri Levy – Omar Barghouti
– January 11, 2011- Huffington Post The Blog
Boycott Divides Jews In Britain, The New York Times, March 26, 1983 -0 Pasadena Library
Opening Chris Hedges-Norman Finkelstein, Talk, 6 December 2011 – Video-Cultural
Freedom,Nonfiction,Video-Recorded at the James A. Little Theater in Santa Fe, New
Mexico on December 6, 2011.
Alice Walker Stand on BDS: She has visited many places that have suffered injustices like Post Apartheid South Africa and knows of the terrible life the Afrikaans had it, and because she knows thru her own experiences the real story, she adds her voice to the people of Palestine, which sufferings are very similar to the blacks of the south where she grew up, or the South Africans of the Apartheid Era.
On Gilad Atzmon-Disavowal: “…a mental act that consists in rejecting the reality of
On February 9, 1944, in the small farming community of Eatonton, GA, Willie Lee and Minnie Grant gave birth to their eighth and final child, a girl, they named Alice. Little did her parents know that their youngest daughter would become one of the most prolific, controversial and respected African-American novelists of the later-half of the 20th Century. But the potential in Willie Lee and Minnie Grant’s baby may not have been recognized early on by others living in their farming community. Alice would have to overcome a number of difficulties in her lifetime that would profoundly influence the way she pictured herself and the world around her and would later help shape her views as a writer.
Poet, Writer and Activist Alice Walker makes her position clear on BDS and Cultural Boycott Against Israel Apartheid State. She does not give her permission to Israeli Publisher House to publish “The Color Purple” , even thought that it was published in Hebrew Language before , Now She adds her voice to the BDS Campaign, her Moral Standing it is stronger than her Ego as an Author
“The Color Purple,” which won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, was adapted into a movie in 1985 directed by the American filmmaker Steven Spielberg.
She born in the State of Georgia, one of the more racist states of the US, that fact could have contributed to her formation as a writer, “The Color Purple” Book explore the situation of the blacks in the South, the exploitation of the black woman by the black males and the white society.
Alice Walker has lived the injustice of being black in a white ruled society, she grew up with the sores of racism and even being lived the Racist American Period and survived it, she does not show any signs of hate against this White Society, on the contrary if you read her books, and you hear her experiences that she kindly shares on her interviews, you notice her beautiful soul, how she thanks God for the transformation of our society and sees some of the changes, she reveals herself as a revolutionary mind offering to us with her writing the thought process that keeps evolving, and we can say now, that some blocks of our society are civilized in their ideas and their behavior
She has visited many places that have suffered injustices like Post Apartheid South Africa and knows of the terrible life the Afrikaans had it, and because she knows thru her own experiences the real story, she adds her voice to the people of Palestine, which sufferings are very similar to the blacks of the south where she grew up, or the South Africans of the Apartheid Era.
She has the courage to stand tall against Israel Bully of the Middle East, she was part of the Gaza Flotilla last year, unfortunately Israel Political pressure made the voyage impossible to reach Palestinians Waters, but the awareness keeps sparking out, and sees Hope for a Non Violent transition to peace.
I bow to this amazing lady that puts her name to use for a good cause without minding the professional risk.
“Alice Walker! She has absolutely nothing to gain in terms of ego, popularity, power, or Money. Her stance comes from her heart, conscience, compassion, and genuine concern for justice.” Professor Gail Baker
“Walker’s use of Celie’s own voice, however underdeveloped, allows Walker to tell the history of black women in the rural South in a sympathetic and realistic way. Unlike a historian’s perspective, which can be antiseptic and overly analytical, Celie’s letters offer a powerful first-person account of the institutions of racism and sexism. Celie’s simple narrative brings us into her isolated world with language that reveals both pain and detached numbness: “My momma dead. She die screaming and cussing. She scream at me. She cuss at me.”
Like her voice, Celie’s faith is prominent but underdeveloped. Celie relies heavily on God as her listener and source of strength, but she sometimes blurs the distinction between God’s authority and that of Alphonso. She confesses that God, rather than Alphonso, killed her baby, and she never makes any association between the injustice she experiences in her life and the ability of God to overturn or prevent this injustice.”
Thank you so much for wishing to publish my novel THE COLOR PURPLE. It isn’t possible for me to permit this at this time for the following reason: As you may know, last Fall in South Africa The Russell Tribunal on Palestine met and determined that Israel is guilty of apartheid and persecution of the Palestinian people, both inside Israel and also in the Occupied Territories. The testimony we heard, both from Israelis and Palestinians (I was a jurist) was devastating. I grew up under American apartheid and this was far worse. Indeed, many South Africans who attended, including Desmond Tutu, felt the Israeli version of these crimes is worse even than what they suffered under the white supremacist regimes that dominated South Africa for so long.
It is my hope that the non-violent BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement, of which I am part, will have enough of an impact on Israeli civilian society to change the situation.
In that regard, I offer an earlier example of THE COLOR PURPLE’s engagement in the world-wide effort to rid humanity of its self-destructive habit of dehumanizing whole populations. When the film of The Color Purple was finished, and all of us who made it decided we loved it, Steven Spielberg, the director, was faced with the decision of whether it should be permitted to travel to and be offered to the South African public. I lobbied against this idea because, as with Israel today, there was a civil society movement of BDS aimed at changing South Africa’s apartheid policies and, in fact, transforming the government.
It was not a particularly difficult position to hold on my part: I believe deeply in non-violent methods of social change though they sometimes seem to take forever, but I did regret not being able to share our movie, immediately, with (for instance) Winnie and Nelson Mandela and their children, and also with the widow and children of the brutally murdered, while in police custody, Steven Biko, the visionary journalist and defender of African integrity and freedom.
We decided to wait. How happy we all were when the apartheid regime was dismantled and Nelson Mandela became the first president of color of South Africa.
Only then did we send our beautiful movie! And to this day, when I am in South Africa, I can hold my head high and nothing obstructs the love that flows between me and the people of that country.
Which is to say, I would so like knowing my books are read by the people of your country, especially by the young, and by the brave Israeli activists (Jewish and Palestinian) for justice and peace I have had the joy of working beside. I am hopeful that one day, maybe soon, this may happen. But now is not the time.
We must continue to work on the issue, and to wait.
In faith that a just future can be fashioned from small acts,
Alice Walker
“Whereas international institutions and governments fail to take action in support of justice and equality for the Palestinian people, the Russell Tribunal will raise awareness about the urgency of holding Israel accountable for its violations of international law,”
“This tribunal will serve as an effective tool with which to educate a wider public about the nature of Israel’s system of oppression of Palestinians and will help to mobilise support for popular resistance and the BDS movement,” Juma Juma – Representative of the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC)
Alice Walker
Alice Walker in Berkeley, California, April 1983. Walker uses a variety of narrative forms and levels of diction to create vivid, memorable, and larger-than-life characters.
Set in Georgia between 1920 and 1960, Alice Walker‘s first novel The Third Life of Grange Copeland describes the economic oppression African-Americans suffered under the share-cropping system and its tragic effects on black families and the black community. Walker asks to what degree blacks themselves have been accomplishes in their victimization by the white power structure, which destroys their dignity and dreams. She also explores the intersection of racism and sexism in the oppression of African American families, depicting black men who vent their anger and frustration, not on the whites who exploit them, but on their wives and children. The two main male characters, Grange and Brownfield Copeland, both try to prove their manliness through methods endorsed by white patriarchy: through assertions of power over women in the form of sexual conquests and wife abuse.
Meridian is energized by a younger generation coming into its full power and raising its voice in dissent against the institutional racism that prevailed through the 1960s. Through occasionally violent protests and demonstrations, Meridian and other activists attempt to institute change and alter perceptions. Idealistic as they are, they ultimately find various degrees of satisfaction with the goals and ideals of the civil rights movement. Meridian feels that she will always stand on the fringes of the movement since she is unprepared to take her dissent to a radical, if not murderous, level. Lynne struggles with adapting and applying her own idealism to meaningful change in the lives of southern blacks. Truman eventually sours to the movement, having lost sight of its intentions in his self-absorption. In the end, Meridian realizes the fatuousness of dying or killing for the movement, concluding that the battle is won in small ways, such as getting blacks registered to vote and improving the lives of people victimized by the unchecked expression of racism.
THE TEMPLE OF MY FAMILIAR (1989),
POSSESSING THE SECRET OF JOY (1992),
BY THE LIGHT OF MY FATHER’S SMILE (1998),
NOW IS THE TIME TO OPEN YOUR HEART (2004),
OVERCOMING SPEECHLESSNESS (2012).
Her poetry is collected in ONCE: POEMS (1968),
REVOLUTIONARY PETUNIAS & OTHER POEMS (1973),
ABSOLUTE TRUST IN THE GOODNESS OF THE EARTH:
NEW POEMS (2003).
Some of her short fiction has been published in:
IN LOVE & TROUBLE: STORIES OF BLACK WOMEN (1973).
She became a major figure in feminism — which she called “womanism” — through such writings as IN SEARCH OF OUR MOTHERS’ GARDENS: WOMANIST PROSE (1983) and LIVING BY THE WORD (1988). These collections of essays, speeches, and letters focus on Walker’s experiences as a black woman in America, and on racial and class inequality.
How Alice Walker become Palestinian Activist: In her interview with Amy Goodman in Democracy Now she explains how the lost of her sister and the story of a woman in Palestine that lost everything and everyone in her family made her be more out spoken about the Palestinian Issue.
ALICE WALKER: Well, I was actually mourning the death of my own sister, and I thought that, oh, she was, you know, much older, and she was sick, and she died, and we’d had a horrible five or six years before she died. And so I thought, you know, when she dies, I won’t be devastated. And I was completely devastated. It was so painful.
And I was out trying to deal with my own devastation, when I learned about a woman in Palestine, during the bombing, who had been — who had lost five of her daughters, and she herself was unconscious. And it just instantly connected me to her. I felt, what will this be like? Who will tell her? Who will tell this woman when she wakes up that “your five daughters are dead”?
And so I felt that I had to go and present myself to this situation and to be attentive to it in a way that I had started being many years before, except that at the time I was married to and then related to, in many ways, to a Jewish person who always said, well, if you see the Palestinian side, almost anything, you know, positive about the Palestinian side, then it means that you are anti-Semitic. And so, this was so shocking to me that it silenced me for a while. I mean, I said a few things, I wrote a few things. But I felt that I had left something undone. And I realize at this point in my life, and years earlier, actually, that there are things in life that call to us, and they’re ours to do. And this was one of the things that was mine to finish.
And so I went to Gaza, and I met with women who had lost everything, and their children, their houses. You know, I sat on the rubble, even though there was the phosphorus powder, because it was just overwhelming to see the injury and the damage that had been done to these people by the Israeli government. And I knew that it was my responsibility as a writer and as a human being to witness this and to write about it. I mean, why else was I — why else am I a writer? You know, why else do I have a conscience? I think that all people who feel that there is injustice in the world anywhere should learn as much of it as they can bear. That is our duty.
“I speak a little about this American history, but it isn’t history that these women know.” These are the women, the Palestinian women, I’m with. “They’re too young. They’ve never been taught it. It feels irrelevant. Following their example of speaking of their families, I talk about my Southern parents’ teachings during our experience of America’s apartheid years, when white people owned and controlled all the resources and the land, in addition to the political, legal, and military apparatus, and used their power to intimidate black people in the most barbaric and merciless ways. These whites who tormented us daily were like Israelis who have cut down millions of trees planted by Arab Palestinians, stolen Palestinian water, even topsoil. Forcing Palestinians to use separate roads from those they use themselves, they have bulldozed innumerable villages, houses, mosques, and in their place built settlements for strangers who have no connection whatsoever with Palestine: settlers who have been the most rabidly anti-Palestinian of all, attacking the children, the women, everyone, old and young alike, viciously.”
AMY GOODMAN: Alice, I wanted to go back to March 2009 -—
ALICE WALKER: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: — when you were in Gaza, to a video of you there.
ALICE WALKER: It’s shocking beyond anything I have ever experienced. And it’s actually so horrible that it’s basically unbelievable, even though I’m standing here and I’ve been walking here and I’ve been looking at things here. It still feels like, you know, you could never convince anyone that this is actually what is happening and what has happened to these people and what the Israeli government has done. It will be a very difficult thing for anyone to actually believe in, so it’s totally important that people come to visit and to see for themselves, because the world community, that cares about peace and cares about truth and cares about justice, will have to find a way to deal with this. We cannot let this go as if it’s just OK, especially those of us in the United States who pay for this. You know, I have come here, in part, to see what I’m buying with my tax money.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Alice Walker in 2009, interviewed by my colleague here at Democracy Now!, Anjali Kamat. When you look back at you walking through the rubble of Gaza, your thoughts?
ALICE WALKER: My thought is that I am so glad I was there. I am so glad that I managed to gather myself and present myself to this situation, because it is my responsibility, you know, as a person, as an elder, as someone who cares about the planet, who really wants us all to thrive, you know, or just survive. This is a very thorny issue, and it takes all of us looking at it as carefully as we can to help solve it. It’s not that it’s impossible to solve. But what will help a lot is the insistence by all of us on fairness and on people actually understanding what they’re looking at.
AMY GOODMAN: You say that the Middle East solution is beyond the two-state solution, and you also talk about restorative justice.
ALICE WALKER: Yes, I do, because I believe in restorative justice. I think we could use that here. I mean, I don’t feel great about the past leaders here not being brought to trial, actually, you know. But if we can’t have trial, we could at least have council. I mean, but to let people, any people, just go, after they’ve murdered lots of people and destroyed a lot, is not right. It destroys trust. So — what was the rest of the question?
AMY GOODMAN: And you believe in a one-state solution.
ALICE WALKER: Oh, the one-state solution. Yes, I do. I mean, when I think about my tax money, and I think about, well, you know, given that I’ve already given, and we as a country have given over a trillion dollars to Israel in the last — since, I don’t know, ‘48 or something, but a lot of money that we could have used here, where would I be happiest to see, you know, my money spent? Well, I would be happy seeing my money spent for all the people who live in Palestine. And that means that, you know, the Palestinians who are forced out of their houses, forced off of their land, should come back and share the land, all of it, including the settlements. You know, if I am going to be asked to help pay for settlements, I would like to be, you know, permitted to say who gets to live in them. And I would like the women and children, the Palestinian women and children that I saw, I would like to say — take them by hand and say, “You know what? Look at this. We built this for you. You’re home now.”
The following link contain Alice Walker entire interview with Amy Goodman from Democracy now
Drones should be ruled illegal war gadgets.
They are not conventional weapons, and violate the rules of war set on the Geneva Convention treaties and the rules of engagement of war.
The loss of innocent civilian lives specially woman, children and elderly people should not be considered collateral damage.
They are war crimes.
Teaching tolerance through “Holocaust education” in the public schools is now the law in cities, counties, and states acrossAmerica. As revisionists are well aware, the standard account of the Jewish Holocaust taught in such courses is more than dubious. So too are the controversial methods, including “role playing” and similar types of psychological manipulation. But does Holocaust education really promote tolerance?
I recently had the opportunity to answer that question for myself when I visited the Simon Wiesenthal Center’sMuseum of ToleranceinLos Angeles. And, since it is our children who are now the chief targets of “Holocaust education,” I took my own two sons with me to gauge the museum’s impact, and their reactions.
Prior to our visit, I interviewed my sons on things the Museum of Tolerance regards as key issues for elementary school pupils. Their innocence was evident. They had no concept of Jewishness, were aware of no people or nation that was inherently evil, and knew of Hitler and the Nazis only what they had seen inHollywoodmovies. They are both fifth-graders who attend a Catholic school inMexico, and their outlook is entirely appropriate for their ages and life experience.
On a dreary Sunday morning in early March, we joined the long line for the Museum of Tolerance. Germar Rudolf, visiting town to discuss his role as an expert witness in David Irving’s upcoming appeal, accompanied us. We waited, along with dozens of school groups, as each visitor was subjected to a security procedure more searching than any airport or border check I’ve ever experienced.
After a short explanation of how the tour would proceed, we were pointed toward two large doors. Above them, bright red neon signs designated one door “Not-Prejudiced,” the other, “Prejudiced.” On a nearby video, a rather sarcastic actor challenged the visitors to consider whether or not they were prejudiced.
Then each of us was instructed to choose the door that matched our attitudes. As the already humbled mass ambled herd-like toward the “Prejudiced” portal, I opted to try the “Not-Prejudiced” door. It couldn’t be opened — it was fake. So began the brainwashing of yet another group of young Americans.
The first part of the tour is an emotional barrage of film clips and still photos showing racial strife, riots, and sufferingThird Worldchildren. There may have been a European-American pictured without a Ku Klux Klan robe, but if there was I missed it. It hurt to see my sons viewing such violence and carnage, so I tried to rush them through as quickly as possible.
Then came the feature presentation, the Holocaust exhibit. The tour is self-guided, so there is no one to ask questions of, no one to challenge. The visitors simply go from one grayish display of mannequins and recorded “conversations” to another. All of them “explain” the political environment of 1930s Germany, without the least attempt at balance or accuracy. As Germar dryly commented after the causes of the Second World War had been neatly packed into a three-minute explanation, “They forgot to mention the Russian Revolution.”
The third part of the tour is an emotional assault on the psyche. I watched my two sons gulp, their eyes wide, as they viewed the usual photographs of heaps of corpses and listened to recorded descriptions of diesel gassings, viewed photographs “ordinary” Germans said to have helped the Nazis shoot Jewish civilians, black and white films of people carrying all of their worldly belongings, and more. All of these images flash across multiple screens in a darkened room, and the students absorb them like sponges.
Then came the grand finale, a forty-five minute lecture from Elizabeth Mann, a self-professed Holocaust survivor, to a now traumatized roomful of students and teachers. At the end of her monologue I asked Mrs. Mann why she had told so many impressionable young people that the Germans made soap out of Jewish corpses during the Second World War, when even the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum says that wasn’t so. She responded that she disagreed with the USHMM. How’s that? Differences of opinion are one thing, but arguing for a heinous accusation that has never been substantiated, and is dismissed by virtually all historians as false, is quite another. But this was lost on the students.
I next asked Mrs. Mann why she had told her audience that the “gas chamber” at Auschwitz was a dual-purpose shower room, which could be converted into a homicidal gas chamber with the flip of a switch. The lethal gas, she had told us, came out of the showerheads. When I pointed out that all the “orthodox” Holocaust literature on Auschwitz describes only rooms into which the poison was dropped — in granules — through windows or holes in the roof, the room erupted into hisses and boos. Mrs. Mann, saved by the booing, made no response.
Once outside the lecture hall, the students called me over to ask me how I could possibly question such a sweet, elderly woman who had suffered so much. They accused me of calling her a liar. I was happy to explain to them, as a mother to her children, that I hadn’t accused Mrs. Mann of lying. I had simply questioned some of the things that she had said. I looked out into the group and could see fear in some of the faces, as if they were being confronted by a lunatic with a gun, and I beseeched them to visit the USHMM’s Internet Web site and read for themselves what that museum’s authorities say about the soap libel, and about gassing atAuschwitz. When one of the teenagers asked me how I knew that soap wasn’t made at Auschwitz, Germar, identifying himself as a chemist, told them calmly that it would have been physically impossible to make soap out of human fat in the buildings atAuschwitz. There had been no facilities for such an undertaking.
With each of our responses the group became more unruly, sarcastic, and intolerant. Rather than ask responsible questions or make clear arguments, at last they resorted to taunting us, calling Germar a Nazi and telling us to “f___ off.” They frightened my sons, so we left, but not before they ended their outburst by chasing our van out of the underground parking lot. Their teacher was helpless to stop them, although she tried.
My sons and I learned a lesson at theMuseumofTolerance, a lesson about intolerance — taxpayer-funded, state-sanctioned intolerance — not merely of Germans and Christians and European-Americans, but also of intellectual curiosity and reasoned dissent. While I was able to “de-program” my sons with some healthy discussion and simple logic, I’m one of the fortunate few who have heard the revisionist side. If that angry mob of teenagers is indicative of the effect Holocaust studies have on our children,Americarisks schooling a generation in bigotry.
About the author
MacKenzie Paine battles intolerance disguised as tolerance from a dusty hilltop in Mexico.
My two sons were working outside the other day, helping a neighbor in his yard. It was cold and blustery so one of my sons had tied a scarf around his face and had his parka hood up, so all one could see were his eyes. Another neighbor passed by and jokingly told him that he looked like a terrorist. The neighbor meant Arab, of course, but for most Americans the two terms have now become melded into one — thanks to Zionist propaganda. The same Zionist media pressure has caused the same distortion of the realities of historical revisionist works. Mention historical revisionists and Americans think of Nazis. Terrorists and Nazis — labels that strike fear and loathing in the hearts of millions.
You have posted to this list a message which discredits and maligns historical revisionists without providing a single verifiable detail or pointing out any error of fact published by a revisionist scholar, thereby unwittingly promoting the same Zionist propaganda. Once and for all, dear sir, historical revisionists in general and the Institute for Historical Review in particular, are not “Nazi-nutsies.” After all, neo-Nazis are the ones who espouse censorship and it’s the revisionists who are being censored. Revisionists are specialists in their respective scientific and scholarly fields and their works HAVE been reviewed by their peers, much to the dismay of Zionists around the world. Just as the only political defense for genocide against the Palestinians must be supported by terrorist propaganda, the only defense of the holocaust story must be supported by censoring, libeling, maligning, persecuting, prosecuting and even assassinating historical revisionists. If their works do not, as you say, rise above the level of “whale sh_t,” why are the Zionists so busy trying to keep world opinion from exploring the ocean floor? Surely the King of Jordan, the Prime Minister of Lebanon, the United States Congress, international ambassadors and sovereign governments need not be pressured into preventing the world’s intellectuals from mucking around in “whale sh_t.” These same intellectuals wouldn’t be defying their own governments for such a worthless enterprise.
As the Jordanian Writers Association pointed out in their statement On the Cancellation of the Conference on Zionism and Historical Revisionism, forty-five million people died during WWII. You accuse the revisionists of attempting to “hijack” the Palestinian revolution, when in fact the Zionists have hijacked an entire world war, have put Jewish suffering at front and center and have done so without physical evidence, historical proof or allowance of discussion of either or both. They have shaped a world war into the finest Zionist weapon of mass brainwashing, resulting in the collective guilt of hundreds of millions of Americans and Europeans who feel the need to support Israel at all cost. In today’s world the holocaust serves only the Zionists. Making it into a Sacred Cow with no room for discussion or debate can serve only Zionist interests.
You mention the need for some to develop “fantasy solutions to real problems.” Here I couldn’t agree with you more. While the Allies needed to be able to justify the mass destruction and wholesale slaughter of German and Japanese civilians to their citizens, it became necessary to promote the fantasy that the Nazis had been even more despicable than the British, US and Soviet military forces. Allow me to quote the first eyewitness account of Auschwitz after its liberation by the Red Army. The article “The Factory of Death at Auschwitz” was written by Boris Polevoi and published in Pravda on February 2, 1945. It contains the following quote:
“Last year, when the Red Army revealed to the world the terrible and abominable secrets of Majdanek, the Germans in Auschwitz began to wipe out the traces of their crimes. They leveled the mounds of the so-called “old” graves in the Eastern part of the camp, tore up and destroyed the traces of the electric conveyor belt, on which hundreds of people were simultaneously electrocuted, their bodies falling onto the slow moving conveyor belt which carried them to the top of the blast furnace where they fell in, were completely burned, their bones converted to meal in the rolling mills, and then sent to the surrounding fields. In retreat were taken the special transportable apparatuses for killing children. The stationary gas chambers in the eastern part of the camp were restructured, even little turrets and other architectural embellishments were added so that they would look like innocent garages.”
This little bit of fantasy suggests quite clearly that upon first inspection of Auschwitz there was no homicidal weapon, there was no evidence that anyone was gassed and there were no mass graves. Neither the “weapon” nor the “scene of the crime” were thoroughly and knowledgeably investigated until historical revisionists visited the site — and found nothing to support Zionist claims of mass murder with any weapon. There was, and still remains, only wild rumor and vicious wartime propaganda. It has only been through the due diligence and sacrifice of historical revisionists that most of these fantasies have been brought to light. At the Nuremberg Trials German officers and German civilians were tortured, assassinated, falsely imprisoned, denied defense witnesses or cross examination of prosecution witnesses, and some were executed based on accusations of the following: Killing Jews with portable brain-bashing machines, by electrocution, steaming, roasting, burning and gassing, by having them climb trees and then having the tree cut down, gassing children in “gas vans,” etc., etc., etc. As for the Nazi gassings, according to affidavits produced in court, this was carried out in gas chambers and shower rooms with both diesel exhaust and Zyklon-B. If you are curious enough to read the other fanciful undocumented, unsupported claims they are all in the Court records of the Nuremberg Trials.
Please, dear sir, do not dissuade anyone who abhors Zionism and racism from researching for themselves the works of historical revisionists. They do not deny the holocaust — they define it — using scientific evidence, proven facts, demographic data, the latest technology and sound reason. Historical revisionists could free the Palestinians. By providing the proof that Jewish suffering was real, but not unique, during WWII they might induce the Western world to rise up and denounce Zionism in all its horrific glory. Mr. Brenner, you need to cast your nets much closer to the surface, where the light still penetrates, and you will find the truth about historical revisionists.
I look forward to your reply, should you be so inclined.
The Inside Out Truth.
If you have been long time Peace Activist you know that the Truth it is impossible to prove because that truth “It is”. On the other hand lies are continuously being “Proven” in the News, Radio, Movies, Magazines, Books, and Social Networks and the people is easily mislead to believe what it is in “Vogue” – the Propaganda Machine it is a tool of war but also, it works the other way around if we know how to attack it, how to debunk it, how to untangle every lie that surface.
It is not an easy task, but remember humanity has been fighting the “evil doers”. More than 2300 years ago wise men and their followers were already in this task.
In the Trial and Death of Socrates, in his dialogue with Euthyphro you can elucidate how the Elite it is always trying to protect themselves from wise people, that can make the others understand their reality and perhaps revolt against the arbitrary rules and the Rulers.
“Euthyphro: I understand Socrates. It is because you say that you always have a divine guide. So he (Meletious) is prosecuting you for introducing religious reforms; and he is going into court to arouse prejudice against you, knowing that the multitude are easily prejudiced about such matters. Why, they laugh even at me, as if I were out of my mind, when I talk about divine things in the assembly and tell them what is going to happen; and yet I have never foretold anything which has not come true. But they are resentful of all people like us. We must not worry about them; we must meet them Boldly
Socrates: My Dear Euthyphro, their ridicule is not very serious matter. The Athenians, it seems to me, may think a man to be clever without paying him much attention, so long as they do not think that he teaches his wisdom to others. But as soon as they think that he makes other people clever, they get angry, whether it be from resentment, as you say, or for some other reason.”
As you can see religious card was already being used to people subjugate people’ ideas and their ability to perform freely in society. And using ridicule and dishonest arguments was the way that the Elite have been controlling society.
“In most moral disputes it’s impossible to declare a line between those who willfully deceive and those who chronically fail to understand. It’s hard to say who is an intentional Zionist mole and who simply remains confused- but such moral distinctions and judgments are not our business. Those who don’t operate by ordinary logic and courtesy are, no offense to them, simply out of place in political discussions, just as they would be in a corporate boardroom. My first belief is in the spirit of truth itself; less rational, less courteous approaches are not ok on behalf of a good cause; they can only harm it. The only Good Cause is kind reason itself. If Zionism is the main current political problem, it’s only because it incorporates and orchestrates the largest accumulation of deceptions and dodges, bringing them to bear on Palestine and banking. That mass of evil includes, at one pole of the spectrum, the internal moral deceptions and dodges required to pull triggers and fire rockets at innocent people. At the other end of the spectrum are those who repetitiously – almost innocently – fail to understand the need to stop Zionism. I have watched for long time. I have seen that most discussion dissipate into endless finicky nonsense. We know that the Zionist are spending quite a few millions of dollars to train internet Zionist. It’s safe to say that very small percentage of that training is the old kind – teaching the standard lies – all of which are easily debunked nowadays and (more important) overruled by an elementary rejection of racism. Surely, the bulk of the training is toward posting as anti-Zionists or newly-interested people, yet endlessly failing to be satisfied with crystal-clear and repeated explanations- creating a false impression of complexity, wasting our time, and exploiting and dishonoring the sincerity found in genuine activists for peace and human equality”. Dave Kersting
When Qamar Ahmed embarks on a trip to Israel and Jordan as part of an Edwards School of Business course, he will also be on a personal journey of discovery.
“My great-grandfather has a mosque named after him in (Haifa) Israel and I just got confirmation we will be visiting that mosque,” said Ahmed, who is originally from Pakistan.
“That will be really meaningful for me because no one from my close or extended family has ever visited the mosque, so I’ll be the first.”
Ahmed is one of 16 students accepted for the Mining & Entrepreneurship in Israel and Jordan course — a 10-day tour (May 2-12) where students will cover an array of topics, including conducting international business, opportunities and entrepreneurship in the Middle East and Saskatchewan’s role in global-food security.
They will be visiting educational, industrial, environmental and cultural sites across Israel and Jordan.
“The goal of the trip is to look at the business side of Israel and see the success they have in terms of the culture they have created … how such a small country has made itself such a big player within international technology market as well as natural resources, which is potash,” Ahmed said.
Edwards Dean Daphne Taras said the three-credit course helps give a more global focus to the undergraduate curriculum.
“We should be going to a country or countries in which there is a substantial synergy between the trip and our own interests,” Taras said.
Potashcorp. has come on board as a major sponsor of the trip, and the students will visit two companies they have a stake in — Israel Chemicals Ltd. (14 per cent) and Arab Potash Company (28 per cent).
Taras said a unique part of the trip is having business leaders accompany the group.
Potashcorp’s CFO Wayne Brownlee will be with the group for the first week of the tour as will Lionel Labelle, president and CEO of Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership (STEP), along with other business leaders.
Kate Simpson, a third-year marketing student, said seeing how different cultures address entrepreneurship will be educational. “I come from a family of entrepreneurs. It’s in my blood so I’m really excited to explore the entrepreneurship in the Middle East,” Simpson said. “Im looking forward to visiting the startup companies as well as experiencing the culture and visiting the historical landmarks and sites.”
Ahmed agreed looking at issues from another viewpoint will be invaluable. “To get that first-hand perspective from someone else will be pretty interesting.”
Other highlights of the tour include visiting Better Place, a leading global provider of electric-car networks, business around the Dead Sea and students and professors at the University of Jordan and business school in Israel.
“Every minute on the trip will be a teachable moment,” said Taras.
Once they return home the students will write a paper. They will also give a presentation on a topic they have chosen while on the trip.
In small countries or third world countries the corruption is rampant, disproportionate and selective.
You find corruption in every level of society, but the more damaging is the Government Corruption.
The bribes are every day offered and accepted for the more minimal services and the big bribes are common in the upper levels of Government, being to acquire a good position in a bureaucratic job, tor get government juicy contracts, off course on that the Western rich countries champion the the little poor countries (Halliburton and Black water come to mind)
These can be considered small crimes, but the BIG Crimes are being committed between Countries, on the top executive levels of power.
These Criminal Enterprises are committing unspeakable terrorists acts to inflict fear, these shadow entities are deep nested inside the government apparatus, financed by powerful lobbyists firms that serve various branches of the International Cartel of Banksters and War Complex Machine, all under the umbrella of the government they serve.
Every one is using the term “terrorist” very loose, since Bush and Company started their “War in Terror”, the whole world have jumped into the terror wagon rhetoric speech, without realizing that every body have caught these infectious social diseases called “passive syndrome response and passive aggressive behavior”, where fear is used to generate a response to a premeditated event. The word TERROR, AND TERRORIST are the target words that generate the behavior expected by the planners of the program.
A criminal person is not precisely a terrorist, and a terrorist is not precisely a criminal person.
There is a significant distance between a person committing a simple crime and a terrorist committing a crime, even thought booth acts involving some amount of violence, not the two are the same.
A terror act is intended to inflict a psychological traumatic experience to the target individuals or group of individuals.
A criminal act is intended to terminate life, or to gain some personal or financial benefit from the act.
Now days the Governments are using this confusion to advance in the agendas set up by the entities that work under the secrecy and protected by the money they control.
Whole countries are being victims of their own government programs of control. In the US congress is in the dark of many operations carry out by the Department of Defense and its millitary private contractors which are mercenaries in every sense of the word.
The whole criminal code in many countries have been updated to fit their new mechanism of a global stage and to get rid of unwanted individuals, or to cripple their abilities to perform in society.
The cooperation between countries to “Fight Terrorism” is just a tool that have severed the sovereignty of many Nations.
The Globalists and its Agenda is moving to control the whole world, already divided like a pie in four regions; European Union, North American Union, African Union and Arab League of Nations.
There are always 2 sides to the story, On September 6, 1972 in the quarters of the Israeli Olympic Team another story was being played out. In an attempt to pressure Israel to release 200 Palestinians prisoners held in Israel jails, Palestinian Resistance Movement known as Black September have planned to exchange the Olympic hostages for their Nationals in Israeli Jails.
The German Government felt that was their duty to resolve the kidnapping issue, there were two points that needs to be noted:
First -For years Germany was being made feel guilty after a long “Guilty PR campaign”, the actions of Adolph Hitler have followed every German until now to feel guilty of what is known as the Nazi Holocaust during the Second World War, where millions of European Civilians died, in one of the worse massacres that humanity know of.
Second– Germany was the host country of the Munich Olympic Games 72.
After two days of negotiations, where the Palestinian Group have refused the offers of money or security for their persons, their only goal was the liberation of 200 Palestinians Resistance Fighters, and nothing else, finally on September 6 and after arduous negotiations, The German Government agreed to provide an airplane to take them to a friendly country and 3 helicopters to transport them to the air field of Furstenfeldbruck military airbase, and the Promise form the Israel Government to release the prisoners.
Now that the world knows, the way Israel operates, its deceitful practices, it’s lack of seriousness on negotiations, with unfulfilled promises and it’s complete neglect of Palestinians rights, we can get to the conclusion that Israel in Munich 72, never intended to liberate the prisoners, the fact that the German police start shooting at the Palestinians and hostages on Israel Orders tell us that the operation and negotiations to liberate the hostages, was a false flag operation of PR campaign from part of Israel to demonize more the Palestinian Resistance Movement in an attempt to steal more land with impunity and to kill Palestinians with the complete assurance that the world will hate the “Palestinians as terrorists”…
Witnesses at the airport said the shooting began when police snipers opened fire on the militants. You have to recreate in your mind the situation in the airport, the militants and hostages were in the same cabin of the helicopters, meaning that the police was not ensuring the lives of the hostages.
According to witnesses, the police started shooting at the helicopters as soon as they touch ground, and “the news were already circulating in the Press that the Terrorists have blown up the Helicopter with the hostages inside, which was dismissed later on.
News of the deaths was confirmed at 0310 pm German Time, contradicting an earlier announcement by a Munich police officer that all the hostages had been released and four of the kidnappers captured. All the Israeli PR machine was working full time, disseminating debunking information on the events.
German authorities agreed to demands by the Palestinians to supply them with an airplane, and provided three helicopters to take them to the airport.
The gun battle started almost immediately after the helicopters landed at the airport.
Bavarian Minister of the Interior Bruno Merk confirmed Munich’s police chief had given the order to open fire. BBC, September 6, Munich 72
After the events of September 1972, Golda Meir authorized the formation of Mossad directed covert action teams to find and assassinate those individuals responsible for the attack on the Israeli athletes in Munich.
Israel for more than 20 years used the events of Munich 72 as excuse, to assassinate Palestinians Political Adversaries, Potential Palestinians leaders, and/or Important Palestinians supporters around the world.
Since Israel creation, the use of terrorism against Palestinians to justify Israel forced existence in stolen lands, have became the worse nightmare for Palestinians in the occupied territories living in West Bank, Gaza, Jerusalem and Palestinians scattered around the world that live as refugees without any rights.
The the world also feels the insecurity with a Psychopath Pariah State that have used Apartheid System to segregate the native Palestinian Population to humiliate and maintain a position of subjugation and fear, and that with the support of other terrorists powerful allies from the West have financed Israel Nuclear programs and have stayed mouth shout on this issue pretending that Nuclear Israel does not exist. The middle east have become a tickling bomb.
Israel making use of its eternal victim hood and trying to perpetuate that image, recently requested to the International Olympic Committee in London to hold a minute of silence for the victims of the assault on Munich 72, trying to initiate an Olympic Tribute for Israel victims only, as if there are not other victims on violence on every spot on Earth and Israeli deaths are the only ones that matter. They themselves are the Number 1 suspects and perpetrators in numerous campaigns of terror in Occupy Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and in many places in the world, where they are known to create false flags operations, do not forget the King David Hotel Bombing, that for many years was blamed on Palestinian.
the International Olympic Committee will not hold a moment of silence to honor the victims, despite a request from Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon. The decision, handed down Thursday, left Israeli officials fuming.
Some Radical Jews groups in London have called for boycott on the the London Olympic Games 2012, while the conscience world has been asking to boycott Israel and ban it from participating in the Olympics.
The author seen with children at Shatila Refugee Camps, unaware that some of their relatives and families’ friends were among the hundreds butchered against 11 such “walls of death” 28 years ago, on September 16-18, 1982. Photo: Courtesy of the author, Dr. Franklin Lamb.
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.
Some testimonies will be shared this month by massacre survivors at Shatila camp. They will sit with the ever growing numbers of international visitors who annually come to commemorate one of the most horrific crimes of the 20th century.
There are no average massacre testimonies.
Zeina, a handsome bronzed-faced middle-aged woman, an acquaintance of Munir Mohammad’s family, asked a foreigner the other day: “How can it be 28 years? I think it was just last fall that my husband Hussam and our two daughters, Maya, 8 years old, and Sirham, 9 years old, left our two room home to search for food because the Israeli army had sealed Shatila camp nearly two days before and few inside Shatila Camp had any. I still pray and wait for them to return.”
In Shatila Palestinian refugee camp and outside Abu Yassir’s shelter, the bullet marks still cover the lower half of the 11 “walls of death” where some of the dried blood is mixed and feathered in with the thin mortar. An elderly gentleman named Abu Samer still has some souvenirs of the event: three American automatic pistols fitted with silencers, a couple of knives and axes that were strapped to some of the killers belts as they quickly and silently shot, carved and chopped whoever they came upon starting at around 6 pm on Thursday September 16, 1982. Plus a couple of whisky bottles. These weapons were gifted to Israel by the US Congress and subsequently issued along with drugs and alcohol and other “policing equipment” to the killers in his “most moral army” by Ariel Sharon.
Earlier this year, one of the murderers from the Numour al-Ahrar (Tigers of the Liberals) militia, the armed wing of Lebanon’s right-wing National Liberal Party founded by former Lebanese President Camille Chamoun, nonchalantly confessed, “we sometimes used these implements in order to advance silently through the alleys of Shatila so as not to cause unnecessary panic during our work.” The Tigers militia, one of five Christian killer units, was assisted inside Shatila by more than two dozen Israeli Mossad agents, and led in this blitz by none other than Dani Chamoun, son of the former President.
No plaque or sign notes what happened here.
The world learned of the slaughter at Sabra-Shatila on the morning of Sunday September 19, 1982. Photos, many now available on the Internet, taken by witnesses such as Ralph Shoneman, Mya Shone, Ryuichi Hirokawa, Ali Hasan Salman, Ramzi Hardar, Gunther Altenburg, and Gaza and Akka Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) Hospital staff, preserve the gruesome images deeply etched in the survivors memory. The Israeli Kahan Commission, five months later in its February 7, 1983 Report, substantially whitewashed Israeli responsibility referring more than once to the massacre as “a war.”
Zeina ushered me down a narrow alley from her house arriving at the 3 by 8 meter wall outside her sister’s home, spraying here and there with an aerosol can as we walked. She apologized for the spray but insisted that she and her neighbors could even now smell the slaughter that happened there three decades earlier.
For readers unfamiliar with the location of Shatila Palestinian Refugee Camp in Beirut, this particular “wall of death” is located across from the PRCS Akka Hospital, such as it is, after years without adequate financial or NGO support. Locating the 11 “walls of death” requires help from the few older Palestinians who still live in this quarter. They are among those still living at the scene and who still vividly recall the details of the massacre. Some provide personal history of some of the butchered, seemingly urging the dead to return by making them seem so alive, often describing a personality trait and the name of their family village in Palestine.
“A sweet boy who adored his older brothers Mutid and Bilal.”
Zeina recalls that Munir Mohammad was 12 years old on September 16, 1982, a pupil at the Shatila camp school, named Jalil (Galilee). Virtually all of the 75 remaining UNRWA schools in Lebanon, like other Palestinian institutions, are named after villages, towns or cities in occupied Palestine. Often they are named after villages that no longer actually exist, being among the 531 villages the Zionists colonizers obliterated during and after the 1947-48 Nakba (Catastrophe).
Zeina recalls that it was late on a Thursday afternoon, September 16, that the Israeli shelling had grown intense. Designed to drive the camp residents into the shelters, almost all of which Israeli intelligence, arriving the previous day in three white vehicles and posing as “concerned NGO staff” had identified and noted the coordinates on their maps. Some residents, thinking aid workers had come to help the refugees, actually revealed their secret sanctuaries. Other refugees, based on their experience in the crowded shelters during the preceding 75 days of indiscriminate, “Peace for Galilee” Israeli bombing of Shatila, suggested to the “aid workers” that the shelters needed better ventilation and perhaps the visitors would help provide it.
According to Zeina the Israeli agents quickly sketched the shelter locations, marked them with a red circle and returned to their HQ which was located less than 70 meters on the raised terrain at the SE corner of Shatila camp still known as Turf Club Yards. Today, this sandy area still contains three death pits which according to the late American journalist Janet Stevens is where some of the hundreds of still missing bodies of the more than 3,000 slaughtered are likely buried. Janet had theorized that there was a second Sabra-Shatila Massacre that occurred on Sunday morning, September 19th, which piggybacked the first and was conducted on the west side of Shatila inside the second Israeli-Phalange HQ, known as the Cite Sportiff athletic complex. As the Israeli soldiers took custody from the Phalange militia of the surviving refugees, trucks entered Cite Sportiff loaded with hundreds of camp residents on the back to be taken to “holding centers”. Family members forced to wait outside heard volleys of gunfire and screams from inside the complex. Hours later the same flat beds drove away to unknown locations, tarps covering the unseen mounded cargo.
Camp resident, Mrs. Sana Mahmoud Sersawi, one of the 23 complainants in the Belgium case filed against Ariel Sharon on June 16, 2001, (currently but not fatally sidetracked) explained:
“The Israelis who were posted in front of the Kuwaiti embassy and at the Rihab benzene station at the entrance to Shatila demanded through loudspeakers that we come to them. That’s how we found ourselves in their hands. They took us to the Cite Sportiff, and the men were marched behind us. But they took the men’s shirts off and started blindfolding them. The Israelis interrogated the young people and the Phalange delivered about 200 more people to the Israelis. And that’s how neither my husband nor my sister’s husband ever came back.”
Journalist Robert Fisk and others who studied these events, concur that more slaughter was done during the 24 hour period after 8 a.m. Saturday, the hour the Israeli Kahan Commission, which declined to interview any Palestinians, ruled that the Israelis had stopped all the killing.
Eyewitness testimony also established that the “aid workers” described by Zeina passed the shelter descriptions and locations to Lebanese Forces operatives Elie Hobeika and Fadi Frem, and their ally, Major Saad Haddad of the Israeli-allied South Lebanese Army. Thursday evening, Hobeika, de facto commander since the assassination the week previously of Phalange leader and President-elect Bachir Gemayel, led one of the death squads inside the killing field of the Horst Tabet area near Abu Yassir’s shelter.
It was in 8 of the 11 Israeli-located and marked shelters that the first of the massacre victims were quickly and methodically slaughtered. There being few perfect crimes, even in massacres, the killers failed to find 3 of the shelters. One of the overlooked shelters was just 25 meters from Abu Yassir’s shelter. Apart from these three undiscovered hiding places there were practically no Shatila shelter survivors.
American journalist David Lamb wrote about this first night of butchery and the “walls of death”:
“Entire families were slain. Groups consisting of 10-20 people were lined up against walls and sprayed with bullets. Mothers died while clutching their babies. All men appeared to be shot in the back. Five youths of fighting age were tied to a pickup truck and dragged through the streets before being shot.”
At around about 8 p.m. on September 18 Munir Mohammad entered the crowded Abu Yassir shelter with his mother Aida and his sisters and brothers Iman, Fadya, Mufid and Mu’in. Keeping the relatively few camp shelters for the woman and children while the men took their chances outside was a common practice as the massacre unfolded. But a few men did enter to help calm their young children.
“If any of you are injured, we’ll take you to the hospital.”
Munir later recalled events that night: “The killers arrived at the door of the shelter and yelled for everyone to come out. Men who they found were lined up against the wall outside. They were immediately machine gunned.” As Munir watched, the killers left to kill other groups and then suddenly returned and opened fire on everyone, and all fell to the ground. Munir lay quietly not knowing if his mother and sisters were dead. Then he heard the killers yelling: “If any of you are injured, we’ll take you to the hospital. Don’t worry. Get up and you’ll see.” A few did try to get up or moaned and they were instantly shot in the head.
Munir remembered: “Even though it was light out due to the Israeli flares over Shatila, the killers used bright flash lights to search the darkened corners. The killers were looking in the shadows”. Suddenly Munir’s mother’s body seemed to shift in the mound of corpses next to him. Munir thought she might be going to get up since the killers promised to take anyone still alive to the hospital. Munir whispered to her: “Don’t get up mother, they’re lying”. And Munir stayed motionless all night barely daring to breath, pretending to be dead.
Munir could not block out the killers words. Years later he would repeat to this interviewer as we passed the Shatila Burial ground known as Martyrs Square:
“After they shot us, we were all down on the ground, and they were going back and forth, and they were saying: ‘If any of you are still alive, we’ll have mercy and pity and take them to the hospital. Come on, you can tell us.’ If anyone moaned, or believed them and said they needed an ambulance, they would be rescued with shots and finished off there and then…What really disturbed me wasn’t just the death all around me. I…didn’t know whether my mother and sisters and brother had died. I knew most of the people around me had died. And it’s true I was afraid of dying myself. But what disturbed me so very much was that they were laughing, getting drunk and enjoying themselves all night long. They threw blankets on us and left us there till morning. All night long [Thursday the 16th) I could hear the voices of the girls crying and screaming, ‘For god’s sake, leave us alone.’ I mean…I can’t remember how many girls they raped. The girl’ voice, with their fear and pain, I can’t ever forget them.”
The same kind of dégagé is displayed by the half dozen confessed militia murderers featured in German director Monika Borgmann’s 2005 film Massaker, one of whom opined: “With hanging or shooting you just die, but this is double,” explaining how he took an old Palestinian man and held him back against a wall, slicing him open in the shape of a cross. “You die twice since you also die from the fear,” he said nonchalantly describing white flesh and bone as if in a charcuterie waiting to be served.
The killers also explained how they began a frantic rush to dispose of as many bodies as possible before the media entered Shatila. One testified how the Israeli army gave them large plastic trash bags to dispose of bodies. Another confessed that they forced people into army trucks to ferry them to Cite Sportiff where they were killed. And that they used chemicals to destroy many of the corpses. Several mentioned that Israeli army officers conferred with the militia’s leaders in Beirut on the eve of the massacres.
The venomous hatred persists to this day.
To this day, the Hurras al-Arz (Guardians of the Cedars) boasts of its role in the carnage. Less than two weeks before the massacre the party issued a call for the confiscation of all Palestinian property in Lebanon, the outlawing of home ownership and the destruction of all refugee camps.
The party statement of September 1, 1982 declared: “Action must be taken to reduce the numbers of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, until the day comes when no single Palestinian remains on our soil.”
In 1982 certain political parties referred to Palestinians as “a bacillus which must be exterminated” and graffiti on walls read: “The duty of every Lebanese is to kill a Palestinian”–the same hatred commonly expressed today in occupied Palestine among colonists, extremist Rabbis and politicians.
The ‘Guardians’ call for outlawing Palestinian refugee property ownership was indeed achieved in 2001 by a law drafted by current Minister of Labor, who pledged on September 1, 2010 that “Parliament will never allow Palestinian refugees the right to own property.”
The mentality that allowed the Massacre at Sabra-Shatila 1982 is largely unchanged in 2010, as Lebanon still resists the call of the international community to grant the survivors of the Sabra-Shatila massacre basic civil rights. Some who have studied the Arabic websites and observed gatherings of the political parties represented at the 1982 massacre, claim the hate language is actually worse today and is being used to stir up Parliamentary opposition Palestinian civil rights.
During the month following the 1982 Massacre, British Dr. Paul Morris treated Munir at Gaza Hospital approximately one kilometer north of Abu Yassir’s shelter, and kept the youngster under observation. Dr. Morris reported to researcher Bayan Nuwayhed al Hout (Sabra and Shatila: September 1982, Pluto Press, London, 2004) that Munir “Will smile once in a while, but he doesn’t react spontaneously like others of this age, except just occasionally.” Then the doctor banged on the table, and said: ‘The lad has to be saved. He has to leave the camp, if only for a while, to recover himself.”
When Munir was asked by al Hout if one day when he grew up and would be able to carry a weapon would he consider revenge. The pre-teen replied, replied: “No, No. I’d never think of revenge by killing children. The way they killed us. What did the children do wrong?”
Munir’s 15 year old brother Mufid was among the first to enter Abu Yassir’s shelter, but he left and later appeared at Akka Hoppital with a gunshot wound. After being bandaged he left the hospital to seek safety and his family. No one has seen him since and for a long time Munir could not even mention him.
According to camp residents, Munir’s older brother, Nabil, then 19 years old, being of fighting age would have been shot on sight by the killers. Aware of this, Nabil’s cousin and his cousin’s wife fled with him as the Israeli shelling increased and camp residents reported indiscriminate killing. The trio dodged sniper bullets to seek refuge in a nursing home where his aunt worked. Like Munir, Nabil soon learned that his mother and siblings were all dead.
Now in America, both Munir and Nabil are leading relatively ‘normal lives’ considering the horror and lost family they experienced while escaping death at Sabra-Shatila. Munir and Nabil have become a credit to Shatila camp, to Palestine and to their adopted country. Residing in the Washington DC area, Munir is married and busy with his career. Nabil is devoting his life to advocacy for peace and justice in the Middle East, working with an NGO. Both brothers return to Shatila camp regularly.
Also apparently living ‘normal lives’ are the six “Christian” militia killers featured in Borgmann’s film Massaker. “They are all living ordinary lives. One of them is a taxi driver,” Borgmann explains.
As is well known, the massacres at Sabra-Shatila were undeniable war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Each killing was a violation of international laws enshrined in the Fourth Geneva Convention, International Customary Law and jus cogens. Similar massive crimes have seen charges brought against Rwandan officials, Chile’s ex-president, General Augusto Pinochet, Chad’s former president, Hissein Habre, former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, Liberia’s Taylor and Sudan’s Bachir.
No one has been punished or even investigated for the Sabra-Shatila massacre. On March 28, 1991 Lebanon’s Parliament retroactively exempted the killers from criminal responsibility. However, this law has no standing in international law and the international community remains legally obligated to punish those responsible. The victims and their families of the Sabra-Shatila massacre as well as virtually all human rights organizations including but not limited to Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Humanitarian Law Project, strenuously oppose blanket amnesty for the killers. They argue that the 1991 violates Lebanon’s constitution, as well as international law and promotes impunity for heinous crimes.
It was precisely to achieve justice for the victims of crimes such as Sabra-Shatila that the International Criminal Court was established. The ICC must begin its work without further delay and all people of goodwill must encourage Lebanon to grant the survivors of the Sabra-Shatila Massacre basic civil rights.
The Out of Context Line That Can Sacrifice A whole Nation and Discredit A Legitimate Movement of Resistance.
“Abu Marzouk: Hamas won’t be bound by PA-Israel treaty”
DIME weapons were first used against Gaza by Israeli drones in the summer of 2006, when Palestinian medical personnel reported that it significantly increased the fatality rate among victims. Shortly after the DIME weapons were also trialled during the first week of the war in Lebanon in July 2006.
Fighting against misinformation it have been one of the biggest Fights For Palestine.
The first excerpts of an Interview published on Thursday 19 of April have sparked a whole new controversy on the position of Hamas regarding Israel and PA previous agreements.
To the informed readers comes to no surprise Hamas Position on Israel Illegal Existence on Palestine Lands, and vilifying the words of Abu Marzook taken out of context is irresponsible by writers, journalists and bloggers that add their “Side” of the story when their twisted, misinterpreted and purposely published Shreds of the Truth, that by the end of the day have become a whole new “Truth” and a story moving by the armies of bloggers and News Big and small around the world.
Hamas is an acronym of Harakat al Mawqawama al Islamiyya meaning “Islamic Resistance Movement.” The word Hamas also means “zeal.”
Since the article of Abu Marzook interview was first published more than 4000 News and bloggers published their version of the interview and more than 2 millions web sites have talk about it, and they have made their own interpretation of the interview and across the Headlines of the Editorials you can read with Bold Letters:
This remind me of the experiment done to a group of students that are given a “story” and they are suppose to pass the verbal story to a new student entering the room, by the time the last student is given the “Raw Story”, there is not a Shred of Truth on the story but only the idea of the original story, and the interpretation that every student have given to the story given to them, I mention you this little story/experiment because most probably you were part of this experiment sometimes in your life while in school. The same distortion of the truth is being passed over and over regarding Palestine, its leaders and its people.
The sole mention on an article of the world “Islamic” brings up bad taste of mouth and negative reaction from the well trained audience of the world that have developed a new social disease:
Islamophobia:
Phobia Intentional created, nurtured and spoiled as brat child. Once this brat is release in our society that has been already weakened with pain, wars and propaganda, is able to create the worse of the chaos, and the worst of the crimes, which is the acceptance of the crimes because the subconscious mind have already condoned it.
Phobia: A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder. It is a strong, irrational fear of something that poses little or no actual danger.
If you follow the stories that were generated after the interview that was first published on the 19 of April, you can not help but get outraged by the malicious intent and effort to discredit and to twist the words of Moussa AbuMarzouk, this type of lies and dirty games play by the Major News Organizations is what have help create this social disease that have been so handy for the War Complex Machine, that have helped to desensitized the people hearts. It has come to the point in the physique of the people that if dozens, hundreds or even thousands get killed don’t matter because their lives are not important because they are Muslim, and what they have done to deserve this?.
In Palestine they can not accept the theft of their lands, they can not sit idle when the residents of Gaza are sprayed. with white phosphorus, they react with anger when their children are bombed in the schools or sonar bombed when they sleep.
In other parts of the world where Muslims are being vilified after Bush invaded Iraq, and thereafter the situation got worse for Muslims around the world.
Notice when the News bothers to mention Israel crimes in Occupied Palestine, they make sure that they use the words “Militant Islamist Wings of Hamas”, or “radical Islamic Palestinian terrorist group”, with this denominations the victims are already being vilified and their murder are con·done by the public opinion.
Why will Hamas as an political organization and as an Official Government in Place in Gaza, will accept anything less than the rights for its people?. Why will Hamas be blame and branded a terrorist organization, when they only defend the population from the attacks of Israel?
Does it make sense to you? …The robbers came in the middle of the night and killed your parents, and in the morning you are force to accept a paper that says that those robbers not only will not be punish for the murder of your parents but they will take your home also, and you will go to live in a tent under the auspice of the UNRWA charity? ..how many times the story have to be repeated before someone feel in its heart, that it is inhuman, unfair and illegal under all international standards laws?
This simple story happened in thousands of Palestinians homes, entire villages were razed after their residents were murdered, some other were forced into exile, thru intimidation and terrorist practices. Now they asking Palestinians to accept their destiny without fighting, without feeling the pain. They are asking to give up the fight, they are being ask to lower their gaze and do not complain.
Well some people have already accepted that the plight of the Palestinians is irremediable and unchangeable fact. The PA did when their leaders signed peace treaty with Israel, when they decided to settle the deaths of hundred of thousands of Palestinians deaths in exchange for a Chair in Ramalah, but Hamas and other groups were never agreed with those deals, because they were rotten deals for Palestinians and until now they have not change their mind. They still defend the population and express their outrage on the Press.
Every conflict in history that is ever being written has always been only one side of the story, but that has changed, now we have thousands sides of the story, but with every story there is a twist of the truth, and that have been used against legitimate resistance movements. Hamas is just one example, its leaders have been labeled as Islamist Radicals , the organization itself has been officially labeled terrorist organization in many western countries thanks to AIPAC long tentacles and other Radical Jews groups around the world.
The common notion is that Palestinians living in Gaza are Islamist terrorists, why is this? Israel acquire thousands of weapons “legally”, they signed Weapons Deals with US its major arms supplier.
U.S. press coverage of Israeli attacks on the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian towns on the West Bank often treat the U.S. government as either an innocent bystander or an honest broker in the current conflict, often without giving a full sense of the importance of the United States role as a supplier of arms, aid, and military technology to Israel. In its role as Israel’s primary arms supplier, the United States could exert significant potential leverage over Israeli behavior in the conflict, if it chooses to do so.
Military and Economic Aid
Since 1976, Israel had been the largest annual recipient of U.S. foreign assistance. According to a November 2001 Congressional Research Service report, Israel: U.S. Foreign Assistance, U.S. aid to Israel in the last half century has totaled a whopping $81.3 billion.
In recent years, Israel remains the top recipient of U.S. military and economic assistance. The most commonly cited figure is $3 billion a year, with about $1.8 billion a year in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) grants from the Department of Defense and an additional $1.2 billion a year in Economic Support Funds (ESF) from the Department of State. In the last decade FMF grants to Israel have totaled $18.2 billion. In fact, 17% of all U.S. foreign aid is earmarked for Israel. World Policy Institute
The weapons that Israel buys “legally” from the US arm dealers are killer machines, they kill and destroy people and property, and they are more terrorizing devices than Palestinians Home Made Rockets, rockets that have to be bought “Illegally”, smuggle thru the tunnels, because Israel have sweet deals with the West and the west have taken the right for Palestine to defend their population.
What does it make a person a terrorist?
If you are Palestinian and kill a settler, without jury or trial you are branded terrorist, but when you are Israeli, and you kill 1400 innocents civilians, you simply are defending Israel. That it is the Mantra repeated, That is the difference now days in hundreds of News Outlets that are legitimating this distinction, when they irresponsibly publish News and articles simply branding Palestinians as Islamist Terrorists.
Most of the weapons that Israel uses comes from US weapons factories, the profits are astronomical, so the conflict needs to be kept alive. What will it be of the US Weapon Manufactures if there is a Peace Agreement in Palestine? Peace is the enemy # 1 of Profits .
We are talking of billions of dollars a year in Profits, pure profits because the money that goes to Israel for “Defense”
is free, and some of it comes back as Profit for the US Corporations that live out of Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Sure. Almost all of the weapons used by Israel are from the United States. There might be a couple French fighter planes that they’re using, but its F-16s made in Fort Worth, Texas; its Apache helicopters; its Sparrow and Sidewinder missiles; it’s all from the United States. So you have this real disconnect between an overemphasis on the supply by Iran and Syria of Hezbollah’s weapons and no discussion of the fact that all of the Israeli arsenal is from the United States, and that that is in contravention to U.S. law. to the Arms Export Control Act, which says that U.S.-origin weapons are only to be used for self-defense and for internal security. Frida Barrigan from World Policy Institute
Published April 19, 2012 originally
Hamas Wouldn’t Honor a Treaty, Top Leader Says
Abu Marzook Says He’s Open to a New Israel Relationship
Photo Credit Ahmed Esmaill
In an exclusive interview, Abu Marzook discussed his own political future, relations with Israel, the Hamas Charter and the impact of the Arab Spring on his organization.
Any agreement reached between Israel and the Palestinian Authority will be subject to far-reaching changes if Hamas comes to power in a democratic Palestinian state, a top Hamas leader told the Forward in an exclusive and wide-ranging interview.Mousa Abu Marzook, considered Hamas’s second-highest-ranking official, said that his group would view an agreement between Israel and the P.A. — even one ratified by a referendum of all Palestinians — as a hudna, or cease-fire, rather than as a peace treaty. In power, he said, Hamas would feel free to shift away from those provisions of the agreement that define it as a peace treaty and move instead toward a relationship of armed truce.
“We will not recognize Israel as a state,” he said emphatically. “It will be like the relationship between Lebanon and Israel or Syria and Israel.”
The exchange was but one part of an unprecedented five-and-a-half-hour discussion conducted over two days between Abu Marzook and the Forward, the first-ever in-depth exchange between a senior Hamas leader and a Jewish publication.Larry Cohler-Esses from Forward
Hamas official says party not bound by PA-Israel agreements.
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Hamas will not be bound by any agreement reached between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, senior party leader Moussa Abu Marzouk says.
In an interview in Cairo with US newspaper The Forward, Abu Marzouk pointed out that when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to power, he chose not to abide by the Oslo Accords signed by his predecessor Yitzhak Rabin.
In the same way, a future Hamas government will not be bound by any peace treaty agreed by President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas, he said.Abu Marzouk, deputy chief of the Hamas politburo, proposed a “hudna” or truce between Israel and Palestine, similar to Israel’s arrangement with Lebanon and Syria.
“It’s better than war and better than the continuous resistance against the occupation. And better than Israel occupying the West Bank and Gaza, making all these difficulties and problems on both sides.”
Hamas objects to talks with Israel but allows the Fatah-led PA to negotiate under a previous understanding, Abu Marzouq said.But any agreement reached between the PA and Israel must be subject to a referendum and approved by all Palestinians, including refugees in the diaspora, Abu Marzouk added.
“All of the Palestinians should vote about this,” he said.
The agreement must include the right of all Palestinian refugees to return to their land, he added.Regarding Hamas’ pledge in November to join in Fatah’s civil resistance during a reconciliation meeting in Cairo, Abu Marzouq said the strategy did not mean the group renounced armed resistance.Abu Marzouk noted that Israeli forces had killed thousands of Palestinian civilians, many more than the number of Israeli civilians killed by Palestinian militants.
“You cannot compare between the civilians killed by Israel and the civilians killed by the resistance.”
While Israel usually apologizes for civilian deaths, and Hamas doesn’t, “the killing is killing,” Abu Marzouq said.Hamas’ policy is “against targeting any civilian,” he added.Abu Marzouq said Hamas differentiates between the Israeli occupation and the Jewish people.
“We don’t have originally something against the Jew as a religion or against the Jew as a human being,” he said.
“The problem is that the Israelis kicked out my family. They have occupied my land and injured thousands of Palestinians.”
Regarding American support for Israel, Abu Marzouq said it stemmed from sympathy for the historical suffering of the Jewish people.
“Those people who have sympathy for the Jews in Israel, it’s because of their history with the Jews. If you look carefully at what happened to the Jews in Moscow or Madrid, in Spain or in Germany or Poland, that’s very bad … Anyone who historically his father or grandfather did something like that to the Jews, he should be ashamed.”
Moussa Abu Marzouq is widely considered as a potential successor to Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal, who in January announced his intention to retire.The politburo of Hamas is appointed by the Shura council, which has yet to publicly accept Mashaal’s resignation.If the council reappoints Mashaal as head of the politburo, for what would be his third term, he must accept the decision or provide acceptable reasons to refuse.
Read the Original Article Read more: Forward.com “In many instances, the security and political Palestinian Officials went so far as to criminalize the purchase of arms by the resistance in the West Bank.
The Situation in Gaza is different, here we talk about resistance as a strategic option, about the right of all the resistance factions to obtain all the means needed to conduct resistance, about the legitimacy of the weapons of the resistance, and about the national consensus on managing the resistance in a way that does not harm the principle. We Talk about operating in accordance with the conditions we talked about: Taking people’s circumstances into consideration, and even the conditions in Gaza, which has become..Today.” Ismail Haniya during an interview on Al-Quds TV in Lebanon March 5, 2012
The Next clip aired in Lebanon on March 5, 2012 where Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, Stresses Differences between positions of Fatah and Hamas Leadership, MEMRI the organization that translated the interview is known for Shredding the Truth, their multiples publications and translations since 1997 when they were founded have given the impression of a Horrible Radical Middle East. Their Job is to portray a Islamist terrorist Middle Eastern Men, they will take excerpts from videos and translate only what they deemed necessary to the aims of this institute, that it is known by now to be an Israel Propagandist Institution, better known as Hasbara. The The Middle East Media Research Institute or MEMRI is another example of Shredding the Truth, VILIFYING the Real Truth.
By Henryk M. Broder, Original Article published on April 04, 2012 by Welt Online
Günter Grass has always had a problem with Jews, but as clearly as in a new “poem” entitled “What must be said” about Israel and Iran, he has never said it.
Günter Grass has written a poem. That apparently It will appear next Wednesday in two major daily newspapers at the same time. The “La Repubblica” and the “Sueddeutsche Zeitung”.
The poem reads: “What must be said,” and begins with these words:
“Why I am silent, conceal too long …”
The impartial reader might get the idea that Grass would finally explain why he has concealed his stint with the Waffen-SS as long. But this is not the case. Over this period of his life, the poetic moralist is also long. This time, he is concerned more about the very survival:
“Why I am silent, silent about too long, what is obvious and practiced in simulation games, was at the end as survivors, we are footnotes at best.”
Grass will no longer remain silent. What is the cause of the explosion logorrhoeischen? The “alleged in the first strike,” an unnamed country that is threatening Iran, which in turn is governed by a “bullies”.
“But why do I say to myself to call that other country by name, in the years since – though secret – a growing nuclear capabilities available but is out of control and access to any scrutiny”
Grass has prescribed silence, because he does not want to risk being called “anti-Semite” branded.
“This general concealment of facts, which my silence subordinate, I find incriminating lie, as well as coercion, punishment is promised if he is flouted, the verdict, anti-Semitism is” familiar. “
Verbal foreplay to a taboo
So it is the usual prelude to a verbal taboo, which is justified by the responsibility of the poet, to prevent a catastrophe. For Grass, sounds like this:
“But now, because in my country of innate crimes that are without comparison, time caught up to time and will be asked to explain, again and purely commercial basis, if declared with nimble lip as reparation, another U-boat to Israel to be delivered, whose specialty is to destructive warheads can control everything there, where the existence of a single atomic bomb is unproven, but wants to be a legend of evidence, I say what needs to be said. “
Grass has always been prone to delusions of grandeur, but now he is nuts completely. Quite activities composing verses fragile busy, he has not noticed many of the speeches of the Iranian president in which he speaks of the need for the “cancer” that has occupied Palestine, to remove from the region. Because that is just “Maulheldentum” which one is “unproven” must not be taken seriously, as the existence of a single bomb until it is used. In the case of Grass would mourn for the victims and donate to the survivors consolation, because he feels the land of Israel “connected”.
Has always been a problem with Jews
“But why I kept quiet until now? As I said, my background, which is never subject to stigma tilgendem forbid, that fact will marked as truth the land of Israel, whom I am connected and remain unreasonable.”
Grass breaks his silence, because he would not again be guilty because he was “tired of the hypocrisy of the West” and hopes that one should free themselves from the enforced silence, the cause of danger to renounce violence, encourage and insist that a unhindered and permanent control of the Israeli nuclear potential and the Iranian nuclear facilities by an international authority of the governments of both countries will be allowed.
While Israel a “nuclear potential” function, the Iranians have only “nuclear facilities” which are probably the generation of electricity. The cause of the “obvious danger” is Israel that is outside the control, while Iran is doing nothing better, than to open its “nuclear facilities” international supervision.
Grass has always had a problem with Jews, but as clear as in this “poem” he has never articulated it. In an interview with “Spiegel Online” in October 2001, he said, as he imagines the solution of the Palestine question. “Israel must acknowledge not only occupied areas also the seizure of Palestinian land and its Israeli occupation is a crime, the need. not only stop, but be undone. versa Otherwise there is no one peace. “
Tel Aviv and Haifa are giving up
This was neither more nor less than an invitation to Israel, not only Nablus and Hebron, Tel Aviv and Haifa as well give up. Just as Hamas and Hezbollah makes no distinction between the Grass in 1948 and the 1967 “occupied territories”, for it is “the occupation of Palestinian land and its Israeli settlement of a criminal act.” This is also the Iranian president.
Ten years later, in summer 2011, received the Grass Israeli journalist Tom Segev for an interview. Segev is fluent in German, so we chatted light-hearted and without a translator and a half hours about everything, even the reactions to his novel “Peeling the Onion”. The debate was for him “very painful” was that they had placed under his command, he had volunteered for the Waffen-SS. “The truth is that I was drafted, as thousands of young people my age.”
Wanted as a knowledge-Segev, why the Holocaust is found in the “onion” only in passing, said Grass: “The madness and crime expressed not only in the Holocaust and did not stop with the end of the war of eight million German soldiers of the Russians have been arrested, have survived two million. The remainder was liquidated. “
Haunted by guilt and shame
You had no qualified mathematician to count on Grass’ numbers game to end: Six million German soldiers were liquidated by the Russians. That actually came about three million German soldiers in Soviet captivity, many of whom about 1.1 million survived, does not matter. Because grass is not about numbers, but a number six million. That’s the number to which it always. The Lucky Number German. Six million dead Jews on the one hand, six million dead German prisoners on the other hand, the bottom line is a clean zero.
Grass is the prototype of the resulting anti-Semite who is kind to the Jews. Of guilt and shame and pursued simultaneously driven by the desire to charge history, he now takes to disarm the “cause of the apparent risk.”
The Germans will never forgive the Jews, what they have done to them. Thus in the Middle East peace comes at last, and even Grass is his peace of mind, Israel is “history”. So says the Iranian president, and which the poet dreams of onion skinning.
Welt’s Editor’s note: An earlier version of the article it had said that the “New York Times” would print the poem. This was not the case.
Akashma News Editor: The article expresses the solely opinion of the Author. This article was first published in Welt Online in German Language. Was translated using google translate.
Henryk M. Broder is the classic Israeli propagandist and protector of Israel crimes. Gunter Grass a writer that have exposed without reserve Israel impunity have risked his career. Anybody that dare to write against Israel it is branded as Anti Semitic, the term used trying to silence anybody that speaks against Israel Crimes.
In Europe it is illegal to speaks against the Holocaust, so for a writer to come into the open with a poem of this nature it is willing to risk his liberty or his life.
There is nothing more honorable than speak the Truth. For long the Editorials of the Main Media Outlets have been complicit with Israel, not because there was no Truth to tell, but because the money paid to the Big Newspapers have been always more important than the Truth, but lately many writers have come clean in their opinions on Israel daring to tell the truth, risking their jobs and their reputation. The money it has been always an obstacle for the truth.
If you can contribute to a better translation please email akashmanews@iifreepress.org
Tarek Mehanna is seen in this image from video footage taken in Boston in 2009. (Credit: Reuters/WHDH-TV)
By Glenn Greenwald
In one of the most egregious violations of the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech seen in quite some time, Tarek Mehanna, an American Muslim, was convicted this week in a federal court in Boston and then sentenced yesterday to 17 years in prison. He was found guilty of supporting Al Qaeda (by virtue of translating Terrorists’ documents into English and expressing “sympathetic views” to the group) as well as conspiring to “murder” U.S. soldiers in Iraq (i.e., to wage war against an invading army perpetrating an aggressive attack on a Muslim nation). I’m still traveling and don’t have much time today to write about the case itself — Adam Serwer several months ago wrote an excellent summary of why the prosecution of Mehanna is such an odious threat to free speech and more background on the case is here, and I’ve written before about the growing criminalization of free speech under the Bush and Obama DOJs, whereby Muslims are prosecuted for their plainly protected political views — but I urge everyone to read something quite amazing: Mehanna’s incredibly eloquent, thoughtful statement at his sentencing hearing, before being given a 17-year prison term.
At some point in the future, I believe history will be quite clear about who the actual criminals are in this case: not Mehanna, but rather the architects of the policies he felt compelled to battle and the entities that have conspired to consign him to a cage for two decades:
________________________
TAREK’S SENTENCING STATEMENT
APRIL 12, 2012
Read to Judge O’Toole during his sentencing, April 12th 2012.
In the name of God the most gracious the most merciful Exactly four years ago this month I was finishing my work shift at a
local hospital. As I was walking to my car I was approached by two federal agents. They said that I had a choice to make: I could do things the easy way, or I could do them the hard way. The “easy ” way, as they explained, was that I would become an informant for the government, and if I did so I would never see the inside of a courtroom or a prison cell. As for the hard way, this is it. Here I
am, having spent the majority of the four years since then in a solitary cell the size of a small closet, in which I am locked down
for 23 hours each day. The FBI and these prosecutors worked very hard-and the government spent millions of tax dollars – to put me in that cell, keep me there, put me on trial, and finally to have me stand here before you today to be sentenced to even more time in a cell.
In the weeks leading up to this moment, many people have offered suggestions as to what I should say to you. Some said I should plead for mercy in hopes of a light sentence, while others suggested I would be hit hard either way. But what I want to do is just talk about myself for a few minutes.
When I refused to become an informant, the government responded by charging me with the “crime” of supporting the mujahideen fighting the occupation of Muslim countries around the world. Or as they like to call them, “terrorists.” I wasn’t born in a Muslim country, though. I was born and raised right here in America and this angers many people: how is it that I can be an American and believe the things I believe, take the positions I take? Everything a man is exposed to in his environment becomes an ingredient that shapes his outlook, and I’m no different. So, in more ways than one, it’s because of America that I am who I am.
When I was six, I began putting together a massive collection of comic books. Batman implanted a concept in my mind, introduced me to a paradigm as to how the world is set up: that there are oppressors, there are the oppressed, and there are those who step up to defend the oppressed. This resonated with me so much that throughout the rest of my childhood, I gravitated towards any book that reflected that paradigm – Uncle Tom’s Cabin, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, and I even saw an ehical dimension to The Catcher in the Rye.
By the time I began high school and took a real history class, I was learning just how real that paradigm is in the world. I learned about the Native Americans and what befell them at the hands of European settlers. I learned about how the descendents of those European settlers were in turn oppressed under the tyranny of King George III.
I read about Paul Revere, Tom Paine, and how Americans began an armed insurgency against British forces – an insurgency we now celebrate as the American revolutionary war. As a kid I even went on school field trips just blocks away from where we sit now. I learned about Harriet Tubman, Nat Turner, John Brown, and the fight against slavery in this country. I learned about Emma Goldman, Eugene Debs, and the struggles of the labor unions, working class, and poor. I learned about Anne Frank, the Nazis, and how they persecuted minorities and imprisoned dissidents. I learned about Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King,
and the civil rights struggle.
I learned about Ho Chi Minh, and how the Vietnamese fought for decades to liberate themselves from one invader after another. I learned about Nelson Mandela and the fight against apartheid in South Africa. Everything I learned in those years confirmed what I was beginning to learn when I was six: that throughout history, there has been a constant struggle between the oppressed and their oppressors. With each struggle I learned about, I found myself consistently siding with the oppressed, and consistently respecting those who stepped up to defend them -regardless of nationality, regardless of religion. And I never threw my class notes away. As I stand here speaking, they are in a neat pile in my bedroom closet at home.
From all the historical figures I learned about, one stood out above the rest. I was impressed be many things about Malcolm X, but above all, I was fascinated by the idea of transformation, his transformation. I don’t know if you’ve seen the movie “X” by Spike Lee, it’s over three and a half hours long, and the Malcolm at the beginning is different from the Malcolm at the end. He starts off as an illiterate criminal, but ends up a husband, a father, a protective and eloquent leader for his people, a disciplined Muslim performing the Hajj in Makkah, and finally, a martyr. Malcolm’s life taught me that Islam is not something inherited; it’s not a culture or ethnicity. It’s a way of life, a state of mind anyone can choose no matter where they come from or how they were raised.
This led me to look deeper into Islam, and I was hooked. I was just a teenager, but Islam answered the question that the greatest scientific minds were clueless about, the question that drives the rich & famous to depression and suicide from being unable to answer: what is the purpose of life? Why do we exist in this Universe? But it also answered the question of how we’re supposed to exist. And since there’s no hierarchy or priesthood, I could directly and immediately begin digging into the texts of the Qur’an and the teachings of Prophet Muhammad, to begin the journey of understanding what this was all about, the implications of Islam for me as a human being, as an individual, for the people around me, for the world; and the more I learned, the more I valued Islam like a piece of gold. This was when I was a teen, but even today, despite the pressures of the last few years, I stand here before you, and everyone else in this courtroom, as a very proud Muslim.
With that, my attention turned to what was happening to other Muslims in different parts of the world. And everywhere I looked, I saw the powers that be trying to destroy what I loved. I learned what the Soviets had done to the Muslims of Afghanistan. I learned what the Serbs had done to the Muslims of Bosnia. I learned what the Russians were doing to the Muslims of Chechnya. I learned what Israel had done in Lebanon – and what it continues to do in Palestine – with the full backing of the United States. And I learned what America itself was doing to Muslims. I learned about the Gulf War, and the depleted uranium bombs that killed thousands and caused cancer rates to skyrocket across Iraq.
I learned about the American-led sanctions that prevented food, medicine, and medical equipment from entering Iraq, and how – according to the United Nations – over half a million children perished as a result. I remember a clip from a ’60 Minutes‘ interview of Madeline Albright where she expressed her view that these dead children were “worth it.” I watched on September 11th as a group of people felt driven to hijack airplanes and fly them into buildings from their outrage at the deaths of these children. I watched as America then attacked and invaded Iraq directly. I saw the effects of ’Shock & Awe’ in the opening day of the invasion – the children in hospital wards with shrapnel from American missiles sticking but of their foreheads (of course, none of this was shown on CNN).
I learned about the town of Haditha, where 24 Muslims – including a 76-year old man in a wheelchair, women, and even toddlers – were shot up and blown up in their bedclothes as the slept by US Marines. I learned about Abeer al-Janabi, a fourteen-year old Iraqi girl gang-raped by five American soldiers, who then shot her and her family in the head, then set fire to their corpses. I just want to point out, as you can see, Muslim women don’t even show their hair to unrelated men. So try to imagine this young girl from a conservative village with her dress torn off, being sexually assaulted by not one, not two, not three, not four, but five soldiers. Even today, as I sit in my jail cell, I read about the drone strikes which continue to kill Muslims daily in places like Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen. Just last month, we all heard about the seventeen Afghan Muslims – mostly mothers and their kids – shot to death by an American soldier, who also set fire to their corpses.
These are just the stories that make it to the headlines, but one of the first concepts I learned in Islam is that of loyalty, of
brotherhood – that each Muslim woman is my sister, each man is my brother, and together, we are one large body who must protect each other. In other words, I couldn’t see these things beings done to my brothers & sisters – including by America – and remain neutral. My sympathy for the oppressed continued, but was now more personal, as was my respect for those defending them.
I mentioned Paul Revere – when he went on his midnight ride, it was for the purpose of warning the people that the British were marching to Lexington to arrest Sam Adams and John Hancock, then on to Concord to confiscate the weapons stored there by the Minuteman. By the time they got to Concord, they found the Minuteman waiting for them, weapons in hand. They fired at the British, fought them, and beat them. From that battle came the American Revolution. There’s an Arabic word to describe what those Minutemen did that day. That word is: JIHAD, and this is what my trial was about.
All those videos and translations and childish bickering over ‘Oh, he translated this paragraph’ and ‘Oh, he edited that sentence,’ and all those exhibits revolved around a single issue: Muslims who were defending themselves against American soldiers doing to them exactly what the British did to America. It was made crystal clear at trial that I never, ever plotted to “kill Americans” at shopping malls or whatever the story was. The government’s own witnesses contradicted this claim, and we put expert after expert up on that stand, who spent hours dissecting my every written word, who explained my beliefs. Further, when I was free, the government sent an undercover agent to prod me into one of their little “terror plots,” but I refused to participate. Mysteriously, however, the jury never heard this.
So, this trial was not about my position on Muslims killing American civilians. It was about my position on Americans killing Muslim civilians, which is that Muslims should defend their lands from foreign invaders – Soviets, Americans, or Martians. This is what I believe. It’s what I’ve always believed, and what I will always believe. This is not terrorism, and it’s not extremism. It’s what the arrows on that seal above your head represent: defense of the homeland. So, I disagree with my lawyers when they say that you don’t have to agree with my beliefs – no. Anyone with commonsense and humanity has no choice but to agree with me. If someone breaks into your home to rob you and harm your family, logic dictates that you do whatever it takes to expel that invader from your home.
But when that home is a Muslim land, and that invader is the US military, for some reason the standards suddenly change. Common sense is renamed ”terrorism” and the people defending themselves against those who come to kill them from across the ocean become “the terrorists” who are ”killing Americans.” The mentality that America was victimized with when British soldiers walked these streets 2 ½ centuries ago is the same mentality Muslims are victimized by as American soldiers walk their streets today. It’s the mentality of colonialism.
When Sgt. Bales shot those Afghans to death last month, all of the focus in the media was on him-his life, his stress, his PTSD, the mortgage on his home-as if he was the victim. Very little sympathy was expressed for the people he actually killed, as if they’re not real, they’re not humans. Unfortunately, this mentality trickles down to everyone in society, whether or not they realize it. Even with my lawyers, it took nearly two years of discussing, explaining, and clarifying before they were finally able to think outside the box and at least ostensibly accept the logic in what I was saying. Two years! If it took that long for people so intelligent, whose job it is to defend me, to de-program themselves, then to throw me in front of a randomly selected jury under the premise that they’re my “impartial peers,” I mean, come on. I wasn’t tried before a jury of my peers because with the mentality gripping America today, I have no peers. Counting on this fact, the government prosecuted me – not because they needed to, but simply because they could.
I learned one more thing in history class: America has historically supported the most unjust policies against its minorities – practices that were even protected by the law – only to look back later and ask: ’what were we thinking?’ Slavery, Jim Crow, the internment of the Japanese during World War II – each was widely accepted by American society, each was defended by the Supreme Court. But as time passed and America changed, both people and courts looked back and asked ’What were we thinking?’ Nelson Mandela was considered a terrorist by the South African government, and given a life sentence. But time passed, the world changed, they realized how oppressive their policies were, that it was not he who was the terrorist, and they released him from prison. He even became president. So, everything is subjective – even this whole business of “terrorism” and who is a “terrorist.” It all depends on the time and place and who the superpower happens to be at the moment.
In your eyes, I’m a terrorist, and it’s perfectly reasonable that I be standing here in an orange jumpsuit. But one day, America will change and people will recognize this day for what it is. They will look at how hundreds of thousands of Muslims were killed and maimed by the US military in foreign countries, yet somehow I’m the one going to prison for “conspiring to kill and maim” in those countries – because I support the Mujahidin defending those people. They will look back on how the government spent millions of dollars to imprison me as a ”terrorist,” yet if we were to somehow bring Abeer al-Janabi back to life in the moment she was being gang-raped by your soldiers, to put her on that witness stand and ask her who the “terrorists” are, she sure wouldn’t be pointing at me.
The government says that I was obsessed with violence, obsessed with ”killing Americans.” But, as a Muslim living in these times, I can think of a lie no more ironic.
-Tarek Mehanna
Glenn Greenwald (email: GGreenwald@salon.com) is a former Constitutional and civil rights litigator and is the author of two New York Times Bestselling books on the Bush administration’s executive power and foreign policy abuses. His just-released book, With Liberty and Justice for Some, is an indictment of America’s two-tiered system of justice, which vests political and financial elites with immunity even for egregious crimes while subjecting ordinary Americans to the world’s largest and most merciless penal state. Greenwald was named by The Atlantic as one of the 25 most influential political commentators in the nation. He is the recipient of the first annual I.F. Stone Award for Independent Journalism, and is the winner of the 2010 Online Journalism Association Award for his investigative work on the arrest and oppressive detention of Bradley Manning.
4/12/12
More on Tarek Mehanna …………
“Mehanna‘s case is a classic example of the so-called anti-terrorism paradigm at work, which is prevent the terrorist act from occurring,” said professor Boston College Law School professor George Brown, who teaches national security law. AP
Juror says Mehanna deserved mercy, She had hoped for chance to appeal to judge.
She and her fellow jurors in the terrorism trial of Tarek Mehanna had no choice but to find him guilty. And she cannot fault the government for charging the Sudbury man in the first place, she said.
If she had the opportunity, Beverly A. Richards said she would have asked US District Court Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. to show mercy before sentencing 29-year-old Mehanna to 17 1/2 years in prison Thursday, because she saw too many things wrong with the case. The Boston Globe
The Silence of a Hunger Striker Can Be Heard Around the World With Your Help
Hani Shalabi, at Gaza hospital bed after being deported from Israel after she engaged in the longest woman huger strike in an Israeli prison. Photo/Omar Karem
The silence protest staged by Palestinians Conscience Objectors is the best Non Resistance Weapon and only resource Palestinians have inside Israel Prisons, Often denied the rights of an attorney, which is the case in most of the detainees, they leave them with few option to exercise their rights.
A silence hunger strike staged by an individual could be the lousiest of the protest can any one perform, the role of the press and the mouth to mouth news it is the key element to make it to succeed.
On March 23 the ethics committee of Israel Bureau of Prisons announced that Hana Shalabi was going to be forced to eat artificially using gastrointestinal tubes, a practice that it’s considered inhumane treatment by Amnesty International, because even though is propagated as a human practice to save the life of a prisoners it curtail their freedom of expression and rights to protest in a Non Violent Way.
The rights group condemned any attempts to force Hana Shalabi, who had been on hunger strike for 37 days (at the time of this report) in protest of her continued detention without trial, to eat as “cruel” and called on Israel to either charge or release her.
Government guards waiting Hani Shalabi arrival to Gaza, after a long hunger strike in an Israeli prison she was deported to Gaza as a deal bargain to release her. Photo/Omar Karem
Amnesty International condemned any attempts to force Hana Shalabi, who was on hunger strike for 37 days in protest of her continued detention without trial, to eat as “cruel” and called on Israel to either charge or release her.
The World Medical Association (WMA) has longstanding clear guidelines for the ethical behavior of physicians in treating hunger strikers. The Israeli Medical Association is an active member in the WMA. It should be emphasized that doctors should not only refrain from such action, but they should object to it even if they are not involved directly in the process as stated clearly in the first principle of the declaration:
“Duty to act ethically. All physicians are bound by medical ethics in their professional contact with vulnerable people, even when not providing therapy. Whatever their role, physicians must try to prevent coercion or maltreatment of detainees and must protest if it occurs.”
Her father Yehia Shalabi expressed the family’s concern. “My daughter is on hunger strike since they arrested her,” he said. “Her health is in danger, because her stomach is empty. She cannot stand, she does not speak.” Hana Shalabi’s mother and father have joined her hunger strike.
Hana Shalabi case took global dimensions and sparked hundred of solidarity movements around the world, in the US many Universities students groups joined Hana Shalabi in her hunger strike, some students staged 24 hours hunger strikes and others went to 3 days in public displays of solidarity.
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The Palestinian and Irish struggles are similar in dimension and they share the same pains and suffer the same struggles, Martin Hurson (RIP) became the first Irish prisoner to die behind bars when his hunger strike entered its 44th day. Many of the surviving Irish hunger strikers had serious damage to their health and never fully recovered.
In the US, 2 American Citizens have started their own hunger strike to protest the treatment of Palestinians Prisoners and to send a message to President Obama on the conditions of the citizens of Occupied Palestine.
Their Hunger Strike Non Violent protest have continued even after Hana Shalabi was forced to chose between life and her rights. She did not got charged with any crime, as it was the previous arrest where she spent 2 years in Administrative Detention, finally on April 2, she was deported to Gaza in a deal to save her life she accepted the exile, even thought Gaza it is Palestine, her family lives in West Bank known as the Occupied Territories, but Israel have placed an illegal blockade on Gaza Strip separating the Palestinians from their families. Erez crossing point, commonly known as “Non Men Land” divide Gaza from West Bank, no Palestinian is allowed to cross to either side, only International Workers and products that are allowed from Israel use that crossing.
Second American Citizen to Join The Hunger Strike for Justice for the Palestinians Prisoners in Administrative Detention in Israel Jails
Nancy Williams an American Peace Activist has added her voice to Hunger Striker Non Violent Resistance Movement against injustice in Palestine, she is today on her 7th day, she followed the lead of Sandra Rose Twang the first American Citizen to join the Hunger Striker Non Violent Movement in an act of Political Protest against our government for supporting Israel.
“Hello everyone, this is Nancy Williams. I began a hunger strike for Palestinians, on March 30, 2012, 12am. So now, I am in my 43rd hour of my hunger strike. Originally I was going to do this hunger strike for, when I heard about Hana Shalabi, who was also on a hunger strike. She was arrested by the Israeli government, illegally, and she stopped her hunger strike the other day. So, I decided to still go through with this because there are still many Palestinians that are arrested illegally. Women, children, older people, and something really needs to be done about it. I’m really hoping that my hunger strike helps. Not only that, but the Israeli government is violating International Human Rights laws. Nancy Williams
Sandra Twang the First American Activist that started the International Campaign of Non Violent Protest of Resistance joining Palestinians Prisoners in hunger strike crossed the 15 days in hunger strike today.
The arrival of Hana Shalabi to Gaza coincided with the International Seminar on Palestinian Political Prisoners and Detainees, which has as special guess the journalist and peace activist Lauren Booth from UK. Lauren Booth drew world attention in 2008-2009 Israel assault to Gaza Strip when she got caught up inside the Gaza Strip and was witness of the massacre that Israel perpetrated on the innocent population of Gaza.
Over the years Hunger Striking have become more and more powerful tool of Political protest, and seems to be taking the stage in the global Non Violent Resistance Movement against Injustice and Inequality.
From Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association ADDAMEER, the development on Hana Shalabi ordeal. Please kindly Share
Date of birth: 7 February 1982
Place of residence: Burqin, Jenin
Date of arrest: 16 February 2012
Place of detention: Meir Hospital
Number of administrative detention orders: 1
Expected end of current detention order: 23 June 2012
Hana Shalabi was released from over two years in administrative detention on 18 October 2011, as part of the prisoner exchange deal concluded by the Israeli government and Hamas, whereby 1,027 Palestinian political prisoners were released in exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Hana was re-arrested less than four months later on 16 February 2012, and immediately began a hunger strike in protest of her detention.
ARREST
Hana Shalabi was arrested from her family home on 16 February 2012, when approximately 50 Israeli soldiers raided her house in Burqin village, near Jenin, in the early morning. The soldiers were accompanied by an intelligence officer and a large number of dogs and first raided her brother’s home before coming to her house. The IOF moved through his house with the pack of dogs, causing the children of the household to panic. When the soldiers entered Hana and her parents’ house, the intelligence officer commented that it would just be a “five minute visit.” The Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) then ordered Hana and some of her family members to leave the house, while holding her father and older brother in a room by themselves.
After the soldiers searched the house, the intelligence officer announced that they had an order to arrest Hana, without showing any arrest warrant or providing any reason for her arrest. Hana was not permitted to change her clothes. The IOF then proceeded to brutally threaten and abuse Hana and her family. First, Hana’s brother heard the intelligence officer say, “Hana must die.” Next, one of the soldiers grabbed her hand and pulled her. Hana objected and told him that if they needed to hold her, they should bring a female soldier to do it. He completely disregarded her and when she tried to remove his hand, he began to beat her upper body and slap her in the face. Hana’s brother, Omar, attempted to jump in front of her to protect her, but the soldiers attacked him and beat him with their guns.
A female soldier was then summoned to detain her. Hana requested to be able to say goodbye to her family and change her clothes, including putting on her veil, as she was only wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a pair of pants. The officer refused and told her that her mother could bring her clothes to her later. Hana said that she would not leave without wearing her veil and traditional Muslim dress. After a long argument, the soldier agreed to let her change in her brother’s house. The female soldier went with her and the rest of the soldiers waited outside while she changed. Hana was blindfolded and put in a military jeep, where she was made to sit on the ground on her knees. Each time she tried to move, the soldiers ordered her to stay still and shut up.
HUNGER STRIKE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION
Hana was taken to Salem Detention Center and left blindfolded for two hours in a tiny room. She was then subjected to beatings and a humiliating strip search by a male, which caused her severe trauma. Hana described the forced strip search and subsequent assault at the hands of the IOF as “utterly degrading” and that what they did to her was “not acceptable in all customs of the world”. Hana began an open hunger strike on the first day of her arrest in protest of the ill-treatment she was subjected to during and following her arrest. She was kept in solitary confinement for the first three days of her detention in HaSharon Prison, in a section of the prison far from where the other Palestinian women are held.
On the fourth day following her arrest, Hana was transferred to a different section of the prison near the other Palestinian detainees, but was again placed in a room alone. The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) administration attempted continuously to convince her to end her hunger strike, employing such methods of pressure as threatening to place her in solitary confinement for an extended period. Two days later, on 21 February, Hana was transferred back to Salem for interrogation.
After being brought back to HaSharon Prison, she was taken to Salem Military Court on 23 February, where one of her lawyers informed her that she might be placed in administrative detention. She was brought back to HaSharon and was not shown a written administrative detention order. Her lawyers received a copy of the order, which stated that she would be held in administrative detention for six months, until 16 August. As with all other administrative detainees, Hana’s administrative detention order is based on secret information collected by the Israeli Security Agency and available to the military judge but not to the detainee or her lawyer.
On the same day, 23 February, Hana was also sentenced to seven days of solitary confinement as punishment for her hunger strike. The IPS continued to threaten her with prolonged isolation or placing other female prisoners in isolation. After four days, on 27 February, Hana was transferred out of solitary confinement and into the same section as the other Palestinian female prisoners. Hana viewed this as a further attempt to pressure her to break her hunger strike, as the other women were eating in their cells.
After an initial medical examination by the IPS, Hana refused any more medical treatment from the IPS from 27 February. On 4 March, the IPS denied the request made my Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel) to visit Hana. However, PHR-Israel filed a petition to an Israeli District Court, which decided on 7 March to permit visitation to Hana.
The hearing to consider the confirmation of her administrative detention order was supposed to occur on 27 February at Ofer Military Court, but was postponed until 29 February. During the hearing, the military judge announced that he would not be making a decision and would instead be meeting with an Israeli Intelligence officer on 4 March. In the meeting, neither Hana nor her lawyers were permitted to be present. On 4 March, during the Military Court of First Instance session to review her administrative detention order, military judge Dalya Kaufman dismissed the request by Hana’s lawyers to call on witnesses to testify to the assault and abuse inflicted upon Hana. The judge stated that the request was denied based on the fact that “the prosecution requested the military police to conduct an investigation”. The judge then confirmed her administrative detention order for a period of four months, shortened from the original six-month order.
Her appeal was heard on 7 March, but no decision was made on that date. During the hearing, the military judge only allowed four of Hana’s lawyers to be present in the room and asked all others to leave. After hearing the legal arguments of her defense team and the military prosecution, the judge requested that the prosecution consider revising its position before he made a decision.
Despite Hana’s deteriorating health condition, Addameer lawyer Mahmoud Hassan noted in her appeals hearing that she was handled very roughly by soldiers at Ofer military court. Prior to the hearing, members of the Nahshon escort and intervention unit of the IPS arrived to transfer her to Ofer from HaSharon. A female soldier informed Hana that she would be conducting a strip search in front of the other female prisoners in the corridor, where there are cameras. After arguing, the female soldier agreed to conduct the strip search in the bathroom. Hana was then told that she would be punished upon her return to HaSharon and her arms and legs were shackled in a very strict manner.
A PHR-Israel doctor was able to visit Hana for the first time on 8 March, and subsequently on 12 March and 19 March in prison. During a visit by Addameer lawyer Muna Neddaf on 16 March, Hana stated that the IPS’ attempts to get her to end her hunger strike have included continuing to deny her family visits for the next month from 13 March; pressure from a Muslim cleric who is a member of the IPS “Ethics Committee”; and attempts to undermine her confidence and trust in her PHR-Israel doctor, including providing her with misinformation and telling her the doctor does not care about her. The IPS continues to consider force-feeding in disregard to the principles of medical ethics and the guidelines of the World Medical Association and the Israeli Medical Association.
A PHR-Israel doctor concluded on 19 March that Hana was in immediate mortal danger and should be immediately transferred to a hospital for close observation. Hana was transferred to the civilian Meir Hospital that night. However, for unknown reasons, she was not admitted to the hospital and the IPS transferred her back to the IPS medical center in Ramleh Prison Hospital later on the same night. Her doctor was not informed until the following day. Hana reported being handled violently during the various transfers, including being “dragged across the floor.” The IPS subsequently told her doctor that they would not consider her transfer back to the hospital until the doctor issued another medical opinion. Hana was finally transferred back to Meir Hospital on the night of 20 March.
On the 39th day of her hunger strike on 25 March, the Israeli Military Appeals Court rejected the appeal against Hana’s administrative detention order yesterday. The court decision ordered Hana to remain detained for the full duration of her four month administrative detention order, to be expired 23 June. In his decision, the military judge disregarded Hana’s critical medical condition; rather, he stated that she is responsible for her own recovery. The military judge also did not consider Hana’s complaints of torture and ill-treatment during and following her arrest as reason for her release, instead noting that her complaint was still under investigation. Hana’s lawyers have submitted a petition to the Israeli High Court for her release.
On 26 March, a PHR-Israel doctor visited Hana in Meir Hospital. Following the visit, the doctor reported that on 24 March, because of drastic deterioration in her blood test results, Hana agreed to receive calcium and Vitamin K, which protected her from immediate heart attack. Her doctor also stated that Hana’s muscle atrophy and wasting increased, which includes her heart muscle. Hana still refuses nutrition aside from vitamins and salts in her water and is in danger of death. The hospital Ethics Committee may consider the possibility of force-feeding, in disregard to the principles of medical ethics and the guidelines of the World Medical Association and the Israeli Medical Association.
HANA’S FAMILY AND PERSONAL INFORMATION
Hana’s mother, 65 years old, and father, 67 years old, were on hunger strike in solidarity with their daughter following the issuance of her administrative detention order. They later began to undergo a daily fast, along with other members of her family. None of Hana’s family members have been permitted to visit her since her arrest, as punishment for her hunger strike. On the day of her appeal on 7 March, Hana’s father arrived at Ofer military base at 8:00 am in order to see her, but the military judge and Israeli soldiers made every effort to ensure that he would not be able to see her even from a distance. Furthermore, the door of the courtroom in which the hearing took place was locked so that no one would be able to open the door for him to look through from outside. The military judge repeatedly rejected all of Hana’s lawyers’ inquiries related to this matter.
Hana is one of nine children in a family of farmers in Burqin village, next to Jenin. On 29 September 2005, Hana’s brother Samer was killed by Israeli forces during an incursion in the village. He had been released from prison for only three months after spending nine months in prison when a group of soldiers came to their farm to re-arrest him and instead shot and killed him and his close friend.
After being released from prison on 18 October, Hana planned to study nursing at Al-Rawda College in Nablus. As she was re-arrested less than four months later, she did not have time to enroll.
Prior to her first arrest by the Israeli authorities, Hana was arrested and held by the Palestinian intelligence forces for a week in 2009 for the purpose of interrogation. During this period, Hana was permitted to sleep at home and was kept in detention from 9:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. each day.
PREVIOUS ARREST AND DETENTION
Hana was first arrested by Israeli authorities from her family home on 14 September 2009. At approximately 1:30 a.m. that morning, Israeli soldiers in 12 military jeeps surrounded her house in Burqin village. The soldiers ordered Hana’s entire family outside of the house and demanded Hana give them her identity card. They then proceeded to conduct a thorough search of the family’s home. During the search, one of the soldiers forcibly removed framed pictures of Hana’s brother Samer, who was killed by the Israeli army in 2005, tore them apart and walked over the pieces in front of the entire family. The soldiers then started shouting and cursing at Hana and her family members. When Hana’s father attempted to intervene and protect his daughter from continued verbal abuse, one Israeli soldier pushed him in the chest with the butt of a rifle. Clearly distressed, Hana’s mother fainted at this scene. The soldiers then handcuffed Hana in painfully tight shackles around her wrists and placed her under arrest.
Hana was then transferred by military jeep to Salem Detention Center. During the transfer, Hana’s abaya, a traditional Muslim religious dress covering the entire body worn by women over home clothes, came open, uncovering her clothes and parts of her body. Some of the male soldiers accompanying her in the jeep took pictures of her at this point, consciously exploiting her situation, knowing she would feel offended and humiliated by such photos. Upon arrival to Salem Detention Center, a doctor gave Hana a quick physical examination. Immediately after the examination, Hana was transferred to Kishon Detention Center inside Israel where her interrogation formally began.
Solitary confinement and abuse
Hana was held in solitary confinement at Kishon Detention Center for eight consecutive days, in a cell measuring six square meters that contained no windows or natural sunlight. The cell contained only a mattress and a bathroom, and was reportedly very dirty. Hana was subjected to exhausting interrogation sessions every day, which lasted from 10:00 a.m. until the late evening hours. The lack of natural sunlight during this period caused her to lose all sense of time and she was often unable to determine whether it was night or day. As this period of isolation and disorientation coincided with the holy month of Ramadan, Hana was unable to monitor time in order to respect her fast. As a result, she decided not to eat at all, refusing meals and drinking water only during the entire eight day period.
Hana was also subjected to sexual harassment and physical violence during her interrogation. Hana told Addameer attorney Safa Abdo of an incident that occurred at end of an interrogation session, in which she did not confess to committing a crime, as her interrogators had expected. In a move that Addameer contends was an effort to provoke Hana, one of the Israeli interrogators called Hana “habibti” (Arabic for “darling”) in a provocative manner. Feeling humiliated and angry at the interrogator’s offensive use of an intimate term, Hana started shouting at him. The interrogators responded by slapping her on her face and beating her on her arms and hands. The guards then took her back to her cell where they tied her to the bed frame and continued humiliating her by taking pictures of her laying in that position.
Addameer filed a complaint regarding these violations and only received a reply two years later from the district prosecution in Haifa that they were closing the file for “lack of evidence,” without informing her lawyers what process had taken place to investigate the complaint. Most complaints of this kind are similarly closed due to the unclear claim of “lack of evidence,” showing a consistent policy that they are not taken seriously by the Israeli courts. Addameer is greatly concerned by the deliberate verbal abuse Israeli detaining authorities display towards Palestinian female prisoners by directing sexual threats towards them and using inappropriate, vulgar language.
Administrative detention
After Hana’s interrogation period concluded, she remained in Kishon Detention Center for nine additional days, which Israeli authorities claimed were necessary for the purpose of investigation.
On 29 September 2009, Israeli Military Commander Ilan Malka issued a six-month administrative detention order against Hana on the premise that she posed a threat to the “security of the area”. The order was set to expire on 28 March 2010. At the judicial review of the order, which took place on 5 October 2009 at the Court of Administrative Detainees in Ofer Military Base, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, military judge Ilan Nun confirmed the order for the entire six month period, but agreed to count the two weeks Hana had already been detained towards her detention period. In his decision, Nun alleged that, based on the “secret information” made available to him by the military prosecution, Hana was intending to carry out a “terrorist attack”. The judge further claimed that Hana had already undertaken initial steps in preparation for the attack, though he provided no proof to support this allegation.
Addameer contends that the judge’s decision raised serious questions and fair trial issues. Seventeen days of investigation by the Israeli Security Agency, including eight days of consecutive interrogation did not prove the suspicions against Hana and no evidence of the alleged “intention” was brought before the court. Moreover, at no point did the court establish Hana’s affiliation with a Palestinian political party or armed group, nor did it establish whether Hana planned to carry out the alleged attack by herself or in partnership with anyone else. Additionally, the nature of a possible partnership was never investigated. Importantly, all suspicions directed towards Hana remained vague and general, leaving her without any legitimate means to defend herself. Although administrative detention orders issued by the Israeli military commander are the subject of review and further appeal by a military court, neither lawyers nor detainees are permitted to see the “secret information” used as a basis for the detention orders, rendering any possible legal defense meaningless.
Hana’s attorneys filed an appeal against her administrative detention order, but the appeal was refused and Hana’s order remained set until 13 March 2010. This was subsequently extended for six months. On 12 September 2010, Hana’s administrative detention order was extended for an additional six month period. In March 2011, her order was again renewed, and in July 2011 it was renewed for a fourth time, due to expire on 9 November 2011.
Hana was released from prison on 18 October 2011, as part of the prisoner exchange deal concluded by the Israeli government and Hamas, whereby 1,027 Palestinian political prisoners were released in exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Though her administrative detention order at the time was set to expire less than a month later, it remains unclear whether or not her order would have been renewed an additional time.
Detention conditions
Prior to her transfer to HaSharon Prison, Hana spent a total of 17 days in Kishon Detention Center, where she was not once given a change of clean clothes. Hana continued to be detained in interrogation-like conditions for three days after her administrative detention order was issued. On 1 October 2009, she was eventually transferred to Section 2 of HaSharon Prison, where, allegedly due to overcrowding in the section where Palestinian female prisoners are detained, she was placed in the same section as Israeli females detained for criminal offenses. This placement was a direct violation of Israeli Prison Service Regulations, which stipulate that administrative detainees are to be held separately from all other detainees and prisoners, including those who have been convicted of a crime. Moreover, while detained in the same sections as Israeli criminal offenders, Palestinian female prisoners are almost always discriminated against, enjoy fewer recreation hours and are often subjected to humiliation and abusive language from Israeli prisoners, who threaten them of physical attack. As a result, Palestinian women live in constant fear and often experience insomnia, and other psychological problems for the entire time they are detained in the same sections with Israeli women.
Addameer attorney Safa Abdo filed a complaint with the HaSharon Prison administration regarding Hana’s detention conditions. On 25 October 2009, after being held for 25 days among Israeli criminal offenders, Hana was finally moved to Section 12 of HaSharon Prison with the other Palestinian female prisoners and detainees.
Hana remained held in Section 12 of HaSharon Prison, one of Israel’s largest facilities, together with approximately 18 other Palestinian female prisoners before being released. The building which now constitutes the prison complex served as the headquarters of the British Mounted Police during the British Mandate in Palestine and, as such, was never designed for the incarceration of women. As a result, Hana suffered from the harsh detention conditions and complained of overcrowding, humidity, lack of natural sunlight and adequate ventilation, as well as poor hygiene standards.
***
Administrative detention is a procedure that allows the Israeli military to hold detainees indefinitely on secret evidence without charging them or allowing them to stand trial. In the occupied Palestinian West Bank, the Israeli army is authorized to issue administrative detention orders against Palestinian civilians on the basis of Military Order 1651. This order empowers military commanders to detain an individual for up to six month renewable periods if they have “reasonable grounds to presume that the security of the area or public security require the detention.” On or just before the expiry date, the detention order is frequently renewed. This process can be continued indefinitely.
For more information about administrative detention and Addameer’s Campaign to Stop Administrative Detention please visit our website: www.addameer.org.
The Arab Association for Human Rights denounces the current practice of administrative detention under which 309 Palestinians are detained. The Association de mands that the international community, particularly the United Nations and European Union, act quickly to protect Prisoner Hana Shalbi’s life and urge the Israeli authorities to release her immediately or bring her before the court respecting the internationally recognized due process of law. Alterative News
Read Addameer’s report on administrative detention:
*Write to the Israeli government, military and legal authorities and demand that All Prisoners in Administrative Detention be released immediately.
Brigadier General Danny Efroni
Military Judge Advocate General
6 David Elazar Street
Harkiya, Tel Aviv
Israel
Fax: +972 3 608 0366; +972 3 569 4526
Email: arbel@mail.idf.il; avimn@idf.gov.il
Maj. Gen. Avi Mizrahi
OC Central Command Nehemia Base, Central Command
Neveh Yaacov, Jerusalam
Fax: +972 2 530 5741
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak
Ministry of Defense
37 Kaplan Street, Hakirya
Tel Aviv 61909, Israel
Fax: +972 3 691 6940 / 696 2757
Col. Eli Bar On
Legal Advisor of Judea and Samaria PO Box 5
Beth El 90631
Fax: +972 2 9977326
*Write to your own elected representatives urging them to pressure Israel to release Conscience Objector Palestinians Prisoners and to put an end to such an unjust, arbitrary and cruel system of incarceration without trial. It is Illegal and it is Unfair, and Inhuman.
Lauren Booth Journalist was on the first Free Gaza voyage and stayed to work in Gaza after the boats left. Her heartfelt letter to the people of Israel should be read by everyone who hopes for peace in the Middle East. This stunning video tribute to her words was designed and produced by the Free Gaza movement.
Before all, she is human and she witnessed the atrocities that Israel committed in Gaza during the assault, she shared the pains of the mothers losing their sons, and the children left without parents murdered in from of their eyes, could be the most devastating event any human can suffer without losing the faith in God, but for Palestinians that Faith is what have kept them alive and resisting this 65 long occupation.
Some say Barrack Obama Illegally Sits in the United States Presidency
“No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen Years a resident within the United States”. US Constitution
A person that has illegal access to secret information that can be used against the United States of America, should be charge with treason, altogether with the persons that help this person to climb to the Presidential Chair.
The President of the United States is Commander in Chief of the Arm Forces of the United States, this makes Barrack Obama to be employee of the Department of Defense, for such; he should have been cleared by The Defense Security Service. commonly known as DSS
If it is determined that you need a security clearance, you have to complete a Security Clearance Background Investigation Questionnaire. Since May 2001, the U.S. Department of Defense has required that this form be completed via a software program called EPSQ (Electronic Personnel Security Questionnaire). When completing the questionnaire for confidential and secret clearances, you have to provide information for the previous five years. For top-secret clearances, you must provide information for the previous ten years. It is important to make sure that you tell the truth because if it is proved that you gave false information, you could go to prison for five years. If you are in the military, false testimony can result in not only five years in the brig (military prison) but also a dishonorable discharge and forfeit of all benefits.
“If you work for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Defense Security Service is the office that is most likely to conduct your security clearance investigation. The Office of Personnel Management conducts security clearance investigations for most other branches of the federal government.”
The US Department of Defense, The Democratic Party, The Congress of The United States, The Judges that Sworn Barrack Obama as President of the United States, The Ethic Committee more specially and any person that knew that Obama was not American Born Citizen, any person that was part of the Fraud and Conspiracy to Mislead the American Citizens need to be charge with treason and sentence accordingly to the Crime.
There are certain rules that needs to be meet for a person to Run for President of the United States of America, if this person lied under oath once he was investigated should be charged with fraud, and afterward that he was illegally sworn as President of the United States this person and his stuff should be charged with conspiracy to commit a crime.
The persons that covered up the scam once they were interviewed by the media, or by special investigators all should be charged with fraud and conspiracy to commit a crime.
No person is above the law, No person should use his/her power to access power of position or help other persons to access a power of position.
“There have been numerous requests for Sen. Barack Hussein Obama’s official birth certificate. State law (Hawai‘i Revised Statutes §338-18) prohibits the release of a certified birth certificate to persons who do not have a tangible interest in the vital record. Therefore, I as Director of Health for the State of Hawai‘i, along with the Registrar of Vital Statistics who has statutory authority to oversee and maintain these type of vital records, have personally seen and verified that the Hawai‘i State Department of Health has Sen. Obama’s original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures.” Dr. Chiyome Fukino, the Director of the Hawaii Department of Health released on October 31, 2008
In December ’08 a retired CIA officer commissioned an investigator to look into the Barack Obama birth certificate and eligibility issue. On July 21, 2009 westernjournalism.com obtained a copy of the investigator’s report. Here is an unedited version of the report.
June 10, 2009 Report, updated July 18, 2009
The Territorial Public Health Statistics Act in the 1955 Revised Laws of Hawaii
I think that I now understand the legal background to the question of where Obama was born.
Let’s begin with the statement that Dr. Chiyome Fukino, the Director of the Hawaii Department of Health released on October 31, 2008. The television and print media used this statement as a reason to prevent and treat with contempt any investigation into whether Barack Obama was not born in Hawaii. But the language of the statement was so carefully hedged and guarded that it should have had the opposite effect.
“There have been numerous requests for Sen. Barack Hussein Obama’s official birth certificate. State law (Hawai‘i Revised Statutes §338-18) prohibits the release of a certified birth certificate to persons who do not have a tangible interest in the vital record. Therefore, I as Director of Health for the State of Hawai‘i, along with the Registrar of Vital Statistics who has statutory authority to oversee and maintain these type of vital records, have personally seen and verified that the Hawai‘i State Department of Health has Sen. Obama’s original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures.”
It is understandable that after such an apparently definitive statement most news outlets, whether conservative or liberal, would accept this as sufficient grounds to relegate the controversy to the status of a fringe phenomenon. Unless they happened to take the trouble to look into the “state policies and procedures” as laid down by the relevant statutes. If they had done so, they would have seen that Dr. Fukino’s press release was carefully hedged and “lawyered” and practically worthless. But the media in general should not be faulted. The statement seems to roll out with such bureaucratic certainty and final authority. I believed it to be significant until a Honolulu attorney mailed me the relevant statutes. I was so surprised that I laughed out loud.
Here is a summary of Hawaii’s “state policies and procedures” in 1961.
In the State of Hawaii, back in 1961, there were four different ways to get an “original birth certificate” on record. They varied greatly in their reliability as evidence. For convenience, I’ll call them BC1, BC2, BC3, and BC4.
BC1. If the birth was attended by a physician or mid wife, the attending medical professional was required to certify to the Department of Health the facts of the birth date, location, parents’ identities and other information. (See Section 57-8 & 9 of the Territorial Public Health Statistics Act in the 1955 Revised Laws of Hawaii which was in effect in 1961).
Actual long form Certificate of Live Birth similar to one Obama refuses to release
BC2. In 1961, if a person was born in Hawaii but not attended by a physician or midwife, then all that was required was that one of the parents send in a birth certificate to be filed. The birth certificate could be filed by mail. There appears to have been no requirement for the parent to actually physically appear before “the local registrar of the district.” It would have been very easy for a relative to forge an absent parent’s signature to a form and mail it in. In addition, if a claim was made that “neither parent of the newborn child whose birth is unattended as above provided is able to prepare a birth certificate, the local registrar shall secure the necessary information from any person having knowledge of the birth and prepare and file the certificate.” (Section 57-8&9) I asked the Dept of Health what they currently ask for (in 2008) to back up a parent’s claim that a child was born in Hawaii. I was told that all they required was a proof of residence in Hawaii (e.g. a driver’s license [We know from interviews with her friends on Mercer Island in Washington State that Ann Dunham had acquired a driver’s license by the summer of 1961 at the age of 17] or telephone bill) and pre-natal (statement or report that a woman was pregnant) and post-natal (statement or report that a new-born baby has been examined) certification by a physician. On further enquiry, the employee that I spoke to informed me that the pre-natal and post-natal certifications had probably not been in force in the ‘60s. Even if they had been, there is and was no requirement for a physician or midwife to witness, state or report that the baby was born in Hawaii.
BC3. In 1961, if a person was born in Hawaii but not attended by a physician or midwife, then, up to the first birthday of the child, a “Delayed Certificate” could be filed, which required that “a summary statement of the evidence submitted in support of the acceptance for delayed filing or the alteration [of a file] shall be endorsed on the certificates”, which “evidence shall be kept in a special permanent file.” The statute provided that “the probative value of a ‘delayed’ or ‘altered’ certificate shall be determined by the judicial or administrative body or official before whom the certificate is offered as evidence.” (See Section 57- 9, 18, 19 & 20 of the Territorial Public Health Statistics Act in the 1955 Revised Laws of Hawaii which was in effect in 1961).”
[In other words, this form of vault birth certificate, the Delayed Certificate, required no more than a statement before a government bureaucrat by one of the parents or (the law does not seem to me clear on this) one of Barack Obama’s grandparents. If the latter is true, Ann Dunham did not have to be present for this statement or even in the country.]
BC4. If a child is born in Hawaii, for whom no physician or mid wife filed a certificate of live birth, and for whom no Delayed Certificate was filed before the first birthday, then a Certificate of Hawaiian Birth could be issued upon testimony of an adult (including the subject person [i.e. the birth child as an adult]) if the Office of the Lieutenant Governor was satisfied that a person was born in Hawaii, provided that the person had attained the age of one year. (See Section 57-40 of the Territorial Public Health Statistics Act in the 1955 Revised Laws of Hawaii which was in effect in 1961.) In 1955 the “secretary of the Territory” was in charge of this procedure. In 1960 it was transferred to the Office of the Lieutenant Governor (“the lieutenant governor, or his secretary, or such other person as he may designate or appoint from his office” §338-41 [in 1961]).
Certification of Live Birth, released by Obama
In 1982, the vital records law was amended to create a fifth kind of “original birth certificate”. Under Act 182 H.B. NO. 3016-82, “Upon application of an adult or the legal parents of a minor child, the director of health shall issue a birth certificate for such adult or minor, provided that the proof has been submitted to the director of health that the legal parents of such individual while living without the Territory or State of Hawaii had declared the Territory or State of Hawaii as their legal residence for at least one year immediately preceding the birth or adoption of such child.” In this way “state policies and procedures” accommodate even “children born out of State” (this is the actual language of Act 182) with an “original birth certificate on record.” So it is even possible that the birth certificate referred to by Dr Fukino is of the kind specified in Act 182. This possibility cannot be dismissed because such a certificate certainly satisfies Dr Fukino’s statement that “I as Director of Health for the State of Hawai‘i, along with the Registrar of Vital Statistics who has statutory authority to oversee and maintain these type of vital records, have personally seen and verified that the Hawai‘i State Department of Health has Sen. Obama’s original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures.” If this is the case, Dr Fukino would have perpetrated so unusually disgusting a deception that I find it practically incredible (and I greatly doubt that anyone could be that shameless). On the other hand, if the original birth certificate is of types 2, 3, or 4, Dr Fukino’s statement would be only somewhat less deceptive and verbally tricky. I only bring up this possibility to show how cleverly hedged and “lawyered” and basically worthless Dr Fukino’s statement is.
Sections 57-8, 9, 18, 19, 20 & 40 of the Territorial Public Health Statistics Act explain why Barack Obama has refused to release the original vault birth certificate. If the original certificate were the standard BC1 type of birth certificate, he would have allowed its release and brought the controversy to a quick end. But if the original certificate is of the other kinds, then Obama would have a very good reason not to release the vault birth certificate. For if he did, then the tape recording of Obama’s Kenyan grandmother asserting that she was present at his birth in Kenya becomes far more important. As does the Kenyan ambassador’s assertion that Barack Obama was born in Kenya, as well as the sealing of all government and hospital records relevant to Obama by the Kenyan government. And the fact that though there are many witnesses to Ann Dunham’s presence on Oahu from Sept 1960 to Feb 1961, there are no witnesses to her being on Oahu from March 1961 to August 1962 when she returned from Seattle and the University of Washington. No Hawaiian physicians, nurses, or midwives have come forward with any recollection of Barack Obama’s birth.
The fact that Obama refuses to release the vault birth certificate that would instantly clear up this matter almost certainly indicates that the vault birth certificate is probably a BC2 or possibly a BC3.
It is almost certainly a BC 3 or even a BC 4 if the “Certification of Live Birth” posted on the Daily Kos blog and the fightthesmears.com website by the Obama campaign is a forgery. Ron Polarik has made what several experts claim to be a cogent case that it is a forgery. There have been a couple of attempts to refute his argument and Polarik has replied to the most extensive of them. I do not claim expertise in this area, but I think it would be best for journalists and politicians to familiarize themselves with the arguments on both sides before they casually dismiss Polarik’s position without taking the trouble to understand it.
Because the disputants know far more about this subject than I do, I am an agnostic about Polarik’s argument. However, the likelihood that this computer-generated “Certification of Live Birth” was forged, is, I believe, increased by the fact that it has been pretty clearly established that Obama “either didn’t register for the draft or did so belatedly and fraudulently. The documents indicate that it’s one or the other.” http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/004431print.html The forgery of Obama’s selective service registration was necessary, because according to Federal law, “A man must be registered to be eligible for jobs in the Executive Branch of the Federal government and the U.S. Postal Service. This applies only to men born after December 31, 1959.” http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/wars/a/draft2.htm)
It is also very strange that Dr Fukino’s statement in no way attested to (or even addressed the issue of) the authenticity of the “Certification of Live Birth” (and the information that appears on it) that the Daily Kos blog and the Obama campaign posted on line. Dr Fukino merely stated that “I as Director of Health for the State of Hawai‘i, along with the Registrar of Vital Statistics who has statutory authority to oversee and maintain these type of vital records, have personally seen and verified that the Hawai‘i State Department of Health has Sen. Obama’s original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures.”
If there is no hospital or physician record in the vault birth certificate, then he wasn’t born in a hospital in Hawaii. And a home birth or non-hospital birth can then be ruled out for the following reason.
When someone has a home birth or is not born in a hospital, this becomes a part of his family’s lore and is now and again spoken of by his parents. He and his siblings grow up knowing that he was born at home or his uncle’s house, etc. The fact that someone in the campaign told a Washington Post reporter that he was born in Kapioliani hospital and his sister said he was born at Queens hospital indicates that there was not and is not any Obama/Dunham family memory of a home birth or non-hospital birth in Hawaii.
And if there is no hospital record in the original vault birth certificate, then he was not born in a hospital in Hawaii.
Instead of the birth certificate on file at the Hawaii Dept of Health, the Obama campaign posted on the Daily Kos blog and the Fightthesmears website a “Certification of Live Birth”. The Certification of Live Birth is not a copy of the original birth certificate. It is a computer-generated document that the state of Hawaii issues on request to indicate that a birth certificate of some type is “on record in accordance with state policies and procedures”. And there is the problem. Given the statutes in force in 1961, the Certification of Live Birth proves nothing unless we know what is on the original birth certificate. There are several legal areas (involving ethnic quotas and subsidy) for which the state of Hawaii up until June 2009 did not accept its computer-generated Certification of Live Birth as sufficient proof of birth in Hawaii or parentage. Why should the citizens of the United States be content with lower standards for ascertaining the qualifications of their President?
If you combine an awareness of what the Certification of Live Birth posted on the internet really is with 1) a knowledge of the relevant statutes in 1961 and 2) Obama’s stubborn refusal to permit the release of the real birth certificate and his determination to fight any legal actions that would compel him to do so, it becomes clear that there is no logical explanation for Obama’s refusal without taking into consideration the relevant statutes. Then his behavior becomes clear. The Territorial Public Health Statistics Act in the 1955 Revised Laws of Hawaii is the missing piece of the puzzle.
Most people think of a birth certificate as a statement by a hospital or midwife with a footprint, etc. (That may be why some main-stream journalists have straight out lied about this. Jonathan Alter, senior editor at Newsweek magazine, for example, told Keith Olbermann on MSNBC on Feb 20, 2009 that “They [the Republicans] are a party that is out of ideas so they have to resort to these lies about the fact that he’s not a citizen. This came up during the campaign, Keith. The Obama campaign actually posted his birth certificate from a Hawaii hospital online.” But it is Alter who resorted to lying to the American people on television. “The Obama campaign” never “actually posted his birth certificate from a Hawaii hospital online.” On July 17, 2009 CNN’s Kitty Pilgrim lied when she stated that the Obama campaign had produced “the original birth certificate” on the internet and that FactCheck.org had examined the original birth certificate; whether it was forged or not, the Certification of Live Birth that was posted by the campaign and FactCheck.org is not, and by definition, cannot be the original birth certificate or a copy of the original birth certificate. There were no computer generated Certifications of Live Birth in 1961, the year Obama was born. Obama’s original birth certificate (whether it was filed in 1961 or later) was a very different document from the Certification of Live Birth on FactCheck.org. On the FactCheck.org web site, the claim is made that “FactCheck.org staffers have now seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate.” So FactCheck.org is lying about this as well.
FactCheck.org gets its prestige from a reputation for objectivity. Why would those who run this site choose to tell so obvious a lie and so endanger the site’s reputation? The answer is in the date of the posting, August 21, 2008. It was in mid-August that questions about the Certification of Live Birth began to reach a critical mass and threaten to enter the public discourse. The mostly pro-Obama television and newspaper/magazine media had to be given an excuse and cover for their collective decision to dismiss or ignore the substantial questions about whether Obama met the qualifications for the office set forth in Article II section I of the Constitution. And those reporters and editors who were not in the tank for Obama had to be deceived. After Labor Day the swing voters would begin to pay attention to the Presidential campaign. The truth had to be killed. And with its lie about “how it examined and photographed the original birth certificate“, FactCheck.org killed it.)
Most people would not consider a mailed-in form by one of his parents (who could have been out of the country or whose signature could have been forged by a grandparent) or a sworn statement by one of his grandparents or by his mother or even a sworn statement by himself many years later to be sufficient evidence (when set next to the statements by his maternal grandmother and the Kenyan ambassador that he was born in another country). Unless the American people are shown the original birth certificate, all of these are possibilities. And if Obama refuses to allow the state of Hawaii to release the original birth certificate, it begins to look like he was not born in a Hawaii hospital or at home with the assistance of a doctor or midwife. A reasonable person would acknowledge that there are serious reasons to doubt that Barack Obama was born in the United States. This is especially true because, if Obama was born in a foreign country, his family had a compelling reason to lie about it.
In 1961 if a 17 year old American girl gave birth in a foreign country to a child whose father was not an American citizen, that child had no right to any American citizenship, let alone the “natural born” citizenship that qualifies someone for the Presidency under Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution.
In 1961, the year that Barack Obama was born, under Sec. 301 (a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, Ann Dunham could not transmit citizenship of any kind to Barack Obama.
“ 7 FAM 1133.2-2 Original Provisions and Amendments to Section 301
(CT:CON-204; 11-01-2007)
“a. Section 301 as Effective on December 24, 1952: When enacted in 1952, section 301 required a U.S. citizen married to an alien to have been physically present in the United States for ten years, including five after reaching the age of fourteen, to transmit citizenship to foreign-born children. The ten-year transmission requirement remained in effect from 12:01 a.m. EDT December 24, 1952, through midnight November 13, 1986, and still is applicable to persons born during that period.
“As originally enacted, section 301(a)(7) stated: Section 301. (a) The following shall be nationals and citizens of the United States at birth: (7) a person born outside the geographical limits of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is an alien, and the other a citizen of the United States who, prior to the birth of such person, was physically present in the United States or its outlying possessions for a period or periods totaling not less than ten years, at least five of which were after attaining the age of fourteen years: Provided, That any periods of honorable service in the Armed Forces of the United States by such citizen parent may be included in computing the physical presence requirements of this paragraph.”
The Immigration and Nationality Corrections Act (Public Law 103-416) on October 25, 1994 revised this law to accommodate “a person born outside the geographical limits of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is an alien, and the other a citizen of the United States who, prior to the birth of such person, was physically present in the United States or its outlying possessions for a period or periods totaling not less than five years, at least two of which were after attaining the age of fourteen years”.
But in 1961, if Barack Obama had been born outside of the country, the Dunham family had no way of knowing that in 1994 Congress would pass a law that would retroactively make him a citizen. At that time, the only way to get citizenship for him would be to take advantage of one of the loopholes in the Territorial Public Health Statistics Act.
People can debate the meaning of the term “natural-born citizen” as long as they like but this is clear: If, in 1961, 17 year old Ann Dunham gave birth to a child on foreign soil whose father was not an American citizen, then the Immigration and Nationality Act at that time denied Barack Obama any right to American citizenship of any kind. Therefore if at the time of his birth Obama was ineligible for American citizenship of any kind, then he cannot be a “natural-born citizen”. This is true even if the Immigration and Nationality Act was changed 33 years after he was born. Even if the law was retroactively changed to grant citizenship (but not “natural-born” citizenship) to some of those who had at birth been denied it. If a person is not at the time of his birth an American citizen, he cannot be a natural-born citizen. Therefore, that person is ineligible under Article II, Section1 for the Office of President of the United States.
It is only by examining the 18th century usage and definition of a term that we can ascertain its meaning in the Constitution. In the 18th century, and at the time of the framing and ratification of the Constitution by the states, the term “natural-born” subject or citizen was always used or defined in such a way as to exclude the child of a British or American girl or woman when that child was born in a foreign country and that child’s father was a foreign citizen. No 18th century jurist would have thought the term “natural-born” citizen or subject could have been extended to the child of a British or American girl or woman when that child was born in a foreign country and that child’s father was a foreign citizen.
Here is Blackstone’s classic exposition in 1765 of the legal meaning of the term from the Commentaries on the Laws of England.
William Blackstone, Commentaries 1:354, 357–58, 361–62
1765
“Natural-born subjects are such as are born within the dominions of the crown of England, that is, within the ligeance, or as it is generally called, the allegiance of the king; and aliens, such as are born out of it.. . .
“When I say, that an alien is one who is born out of the king’s dominions, or allegiance, this also must be understood with some restrictions. The common law indeed stood absolutely so; with only a very few exceptions: so that a particular act of parliament became necessary after the restoration, for the naturalization of children of his majesty’s English subjects, born in foreign countries during the late troubles. And this maxim of the law proceeded upon a general principle, that every man owes natural allegiance where he is born, and cannot owe two such allegiances, or serve two masters, at once. Yet the children of the king’s embassadors born abroad were always held to be natural subjects: for as the father, though in a foreign country, owes not even a local allegiance to the prince to whom he is sent; so, with regard to the son also, he was held (by a kind of postliminium) to be born under the king of England’s allegiance, represented by his father, the embassador. To encourage also foreign commerce, it was enacted by statute 25 Edw. III. st. 2. that all children born abroad, provided both their parents were at the time of the birth in allegiance to the king,…might inherit as if born in England: and accordingly it hath been so adjudged in behalf of merchants. But by several more modern statutes these restrictions are still farther taken off: so that all children, born out of the king’s ligeance, whose fathers were natural-born subjects, are now natural-born subjects themselves, to all intents and purposes, without any exception; unless their said fathers were attainted, or banished beyond sea, for high treason; or were then in the service of a prince at enmity with Great Britain.” [The italics are Blackstone’s]
The irresponsible confirmation in the Senate of the irresponsible tallying of votes in the Electoral College does not supersede the clear meaning of Article II, Section 1. If it is allowed to stand, disregard of the Constitution by all branches of the government would be openly established. To all who believe that the Constitution is the government’s basic law, that the Constitution is the only instrument that gives the enactments of Congress and the commands of the Executive validity, it will be clear that the rule of law in the United States is a fiction.
Journalists and politicians complain that we must avoid a Constitutional crisis, but there already is a Constitutional crisis. It has been caused by Obama’s refusal to take the simple step to clear the matter up. The power of the Executive branch has been compromised. Its right to collect taxes and sign Congressional enactments into law, in fact all of its powers, have become problematic. Since their validity under Section I is now doubtful, they depend on the illegal exercise of force. Since officers of the American military take their oath on commissioning to the Constitution and not the President, their obedience to the Commander-in-Chief has lapsed and, if they challenge or resist his authority, any courts-martial will also be an illegal exercise of force. The only way out of the present Constitutional crisis is for Obama to do as McCain did when he was confronted by far less pressing doubts about the circumstances of his birth. He must disclose his vault birth certificate. Since the document has been so suspiciously withheld for so long, it should be subjected to rigorous forensic tests. Then whatever is on it should be judicially assessed together with the claims that have been made that Barack Obama was born on foreign soil.
It should be added that “Obama’s top terrorism and intelligence adviser, John O. Brennan, heads a firm that was cited in March for breaching sensitive files in the State Department’s passport office, according to a State Department Inspector General’s report released this past July.
“The security breach, first reported by the Washington Times and later confirmed by State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, involved a contract employee of Brennan’s firm, The Analysis Corp., which has earned millions of dollars providing intelligence-related consulting services to federal agencies and private companies.
“During a State Department briefing on March 21, 2008, McCormack confirmed that the contractor had accessed the passport files of presidential candidates Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and John McCain, and that the inspector general had launched an investigation.
“Sources who tracked the investigation tell Newsmax that the main target of the breach was the Obama passport file, and that the contractor accessed the file in order to ‘cauterize’ the records of potentially embarrassing information.
“ ‘They looked at the McCain and Clinton files as well to create confusion,’ one knowledgeable source told Newsmax. ‘But this was basically an attempt to cauterize the Obama file.’
“At the time of the breach, Brennan was working as an unpaid adviser to the Obama campaign.
” ‘This individual’s actions were taken without the knowledge or direction of anyone at The Analysis Corp. and are wholly inconsistent with our professional and ethical standards,’ Brennan’s company said in a statement sent to reporters after the passport breach was made public.
“The passport files include ‘personally identifiable information such as the applicant’s name, gender, social security number, date and place of birth, and passport number,’ according to the inspector general report.
“The files may contain additional information including ‘original copies of the associated documents,’ the report added. Such documents include birth certificates, naturalization certificates, or oaths of allegiance for U.S.-born persons who adopted the citizenship of a foreign country as minors.”
“The State Department Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a 104-page report on the breach last July. Although it is stamped ‘Sensitive but Unclassified,’ the report was heavily redacted in the version released to the public, with page after page blacked out entirely.”
“A key witness in a federal probe into passport information stolen from the State Department was fatally shot in front of a District church, the Metropolitan Police Department said yesterday.
“Lt. Quarles Harris Jr., 24, who had been cooperating with a federal investigators, was found late Thursday night slumped dead inside a car, in front of the Judah House Praise Baptist Church in Northeast, said Cmdr. Michael Anzallo, head of the department’s Criminal Investigations Division.
“Cmdr. Anzallo said a police officer was patrolling the neighborhood when gunshots were heard, then Lt. Harris was found dead inside the vehicle, which investigators would describe only as a blue car.
“Emergency medics pronounced him dead at the scene.
“City police said they do not know whether his death was a direct result of his cooperation with federal investigators.
“We don’t have any information right now that connects his murder to that case,” Cmdr. Anzallo said.
“Police say a “shot spotter” device helped an officer locate Lt. Harris.
“A State Department spokeswoman yesterday declined to comment, saying the investigation into the passport fraud is ongoing.
“The Washington Times reported April 5 that contractors for the State Department had improperly accessed passport information for presidential candidates Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain, which resulted in a series of firings that reached into the agency’s top ranks.
“One agency employee, who was not identified in documents filed in U.S. District Court, was implicated in a credit-card fraud scheme after Lt. Harris told federal authorities he obtained “passport information from a co-conspirator who works for the U.S. Department of State.” “
There is a possibility that the breaches of the passport files associated with the “credit-card fraud scheme” were a cover for or associated with the breaches of the passport files by the employee of Brennan’s Analysis Corp. This certainly at least should be looked into.
July 11th Addendum to Report
1. Until June 2009, the reasonable doubts about where Obama was born could have quickly and finally been resolved if he had authorized the release by the Hawaiian Dept of Health of his original birth certificate or else applied for it himself and released it to the media. But as these doubts have increased and reached the point where they are no longer a “fringe” phenomenon, the Hawaiian state govt has recently taken certain steps that would create procedural and possibly legal barriers to a resolution of the controversy. Given the slipperiness that characterized the statements of Chiyome Fukino, the Dept’s Director, and Janice Okubo, the Dept’s spokesperson, to the media on this issue, it is, I think, also reasonable to regard these steps with suspicion.
A family that I am acquainted with has a child who was born in Hawaii 6 months ago. They filled out and mailed in a form to the Dept of Health, as did their doctor. In return the Dept sent them in the first week of June, 2009, the same abbreviated computer-generated form that last year on the Daily Kos and subsequently on the Obama campaign web site was called a “Certification of Live Birth”. The form that this family received this year is identical in format to the Certification of Live Birth on the Daily Kos web site with one exception: the title at the top of the form.
On June 12, 2008 the title for this abbreviated form was Certification of Live Birth. The title for the form that this family received in the first week of June 2009 is Certificate of Live Birth. I called The Dept of Health and confirmed that the title of the form had been changed. The bureaucrat that I spoke to said the change had been made “recently”, but could not or would not tell me when. Sometime between June 12, 2008 and the first week of June 2009 the Hawaiian Dept of Health changed the title of this abbreviated form from “Certification of Live Birth” to “Certificate of Live Birth“. Why?
The use of the word “Certificate” rather than “Certification” makes the form feel somewhat more like a traditional birth certificate than the “Certification of Live Birth” that the Daily Kos website and subsequently the Obama campaign posted on the Internet even though, like the “Certification“, it also lacks any information about the hospital, doctor, or midwife. There is no footprint etc. This renaming of the document will be very convenient for the Hawaiian Dept of Health in future stonewalling should any legal pressure be brought against them to produce Obama’s “Certificate of Live Birth”. Instead of producing the original “Certificate of Live Birth”, they will produce the abbreviated “Certification of Live Birth” form that the Dept of Health has now renamed a “Certificate of Live Birth” and claim that they are doing so “in accordance with state policies and procedures” in the words of the Dept’s Director, Dr. Chiyome Fukino.
But whether it is called (as it was last year) a Certification or (as it is now) a Certificate of Live Birth this abbreviated document provides none of the probative information that was or wasn’t on Barack Obama’s original Certificate of Live Birth. Unlike the Certificate of Live Birth of the time when Barack Obama was born, this new Certificate of Live Birth provides no real evidence of where a child was born or indication of where such evidence might be found. It provides no information that would demonstrate to the people of the United States whether there is convincing evidence that he was actually born here or whether a relative or two (or possibly even Barack Obama himself) just made a statement to that effect to a low level bureaucrat. (As is permitted under Section 57-40 of the Territorial Public Health Statistics Act in the 1955 Revised Laws of Hawaii.)
2. On June 7, 2009, a spokeswoman for the Hawaii Department of Health told a rather obvious lie (or engaged in a pretty transparent verbal deception) in another attempt to discourage further investigation into the issue of whether Barack Obama was born on Oahu. “The state Department of Health no longer issues copies of paper birth certificates as was done in the past”, said spokeswoman Janice Okubo. “The department only issues ‘certifications’ of live births, and that is the ‘official birth certificate’ issued by the state of Hawaii, she said. ” [Honolulu Star Bulletin] http://www.starbulletin.com/columnists/kokualine/20090606_kokua_line.html
This statement was false or deliberately very misleading. Here, from a Hawaii state document that was posted on June 10, 2009, is a description of how to apply for “the original Certificate of Live Birth” (the original birth certificate) as opposed to the Certification of Live Birth:
“In order to process your application [to prove native Hawaiian ancestry], DHHL [Department of Hawaiian Homelands] utilizes information that is found only on the original Certificate of Live Birth, which is either black or green. This is a more complete record of your birth than the Certification of Live Birth (a computer-generated printout). Submitting the original Certificate of Live Birth will save you time and money since the computer-generated Certification requires additional verification by DHHL.
“Please note that DOH [Department of Health] no longer offers same day service. If you plan on picking up your certified DOH document(s), you should allow at least 10 working days for DOH to process your request(s), OR four to six weeks if you want your certified certificate(s) mailed to you.”
Ms. Okubo’s statement gave the false impression that Obama could not gain access to or release “the original Certificate of Live Birth”, and that it was the DOH’s policy rather than his own reluctance that was responsible for the holding back of this Certificate. This was an obvious deception. The document at the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands website indicates that at the time she made this statement it was false, and that a procedure was in place for application for “the original Certificate of Live Birth.”
Only the information on the original birth certificate, “the original Certificate of Live Birth”, can demonstrate to the people of the United States whether there is convincing evidence that he was actually born here or whether a relative or two (or possibly even Barack Obama himself) just made a statement to that effect to a low level bureaucrat.
3. On July 8, 2009 the web site World Net Daily reported that “The state, which had excluded the controversial document [the Certification of Live Birth] as proof of native Hawaiian status, has changed its policy and now makes a point of including it.”
Here is the new statement on the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands web site [July 8, 2009]. “The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands accepts both Certificates of Live Birth [original birth certificates and the recently renamed abbreviated computer printouts] and Certifications of Live Birth [as the abbreviated computer printouts were up till recently called] because they are official government records documenting an individual’s birth… Although original birth certificates (Certificates of Live Birth) are preferred for their greater detail, the State Department of Health (DOH) no longer issues Certificates of Live Birth. When a request is made for a copy of a birth certificate, the DOH issues a Certification of Live Birth.”
Sometime between June 10, 2009 and June 18, 2009 the State of Hawaii changed its rule on what documents and data were necessary to prove Hawaiian ancestry, thereby upgrading the apparent status of the abbreviated Certification of Live Birth which it had formerly regarded as insufficiently probative. Why?
4. On June 6, Janice Okubo, the Dept of Health spokeswoman, also told the Star Bulletin that “The electronic record of the birth is what (the Health Department) now keeps on file in order to provide same-day certified copies at our help window for most requests.” There is a troubling ambiguity in this statement. A sophisticated forensic investigation would probably be able to determine whether the original paper Certificate of Live Birth was forged, altered, or authentic. But if the data from the original paper Certificates of Live Birth has been transferred to an electronic record and then the original documents were discarded, part of the data could easily have been changed in the transfer or subsequently altered.
Why did the Hawaiian Dept of Health wait until June 6, 2009 to announce to the world that the original paper Certificates of Live Birth had been destroyed (presumably in 2001)? Shouldn’t this have been part of Dr Fukino’s statement on October 31, 2008 (right before the November election), a statement which deceptively implied the contrary:
“Therefore, I as Director of Health for the State of Hawai‘i, along with the Registrar of Vital Statistics who has statutory authority to oversee and maintain these type of vital records, have personally seen and verified that the Hawai‘i State Department of Health has Sen. Obama’s original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures.”
We know from a document posted on June 10, 2009 on the Department of Hawaiian Homelands website that, up until very recently, either the original paper Certificates of Live Birth or (as is now implied) scanned images of those paper certificates were maintained by the Dept of Health, and copies of them were provided to confirm claims of Hawaiian ancestry. But if in June 2009 the Department of Hawaiian Homelands has decided that it will no longer require the original Certificate of Live Birth as proof for special privileges and the Department of Health spokesman says firmly that they will no longer provide copies of these original certificates, is it possible that, in the midst of the controversy over where Barack Obama was born, the Hawaiian state govt has destroyed the original paper certificate of live birth? This seems almost incredible to me, but the authorities have been so deceptive and evasive on this issue, that it cannot be dismissed as impossible.
4. On June 6, Janice Okubo, the Dept of Health spokeswoman, also told the Star Bulletin that “The electronic record of the birth is what (the Health Department) now keeps on file in order to provide same-day certified copies at our help window for most requests.” There is a troubling ambiguity in this statement. A sophisticated forensic investigation would probably be able to determine whether the original paper Certificate of Live Birth was forged, altered, or authentic. But if the data from the original paper Certificates of Live Birth has been transferred to an electronic record and then the original documents were discarded, part of the data could easily have been changed in the transfer or subsequently altered.
Why did the Hawaiian Dept of Health wait until June 6, 2009 to announce to the world that the original paper Certificates of Live Birth had been destroyed (presumably in 2001)? Shouldn’t this have been part of Dr Fukino’s statement on October 31, 2008 (right before the November election), a statement which deceptively implied the contrary:
“Therefore, I as Director of Health for the State of Hawai‘i, along with the Registrar of Vital Statistics who has statutory authority to oversee and maintain these type of vital records, have personally seen and verified that the Hawai‘i State Department of Health has Sen. Obama’s original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures.”
We know from a document posted on June 10, 2009 on the Department of Hawaiian Homelands website that, up until very recently, either the original paper Certificates of Live Birth or (as is now implied) scanned images of those paper certificates were maintained by the Dept of Health, and copies of them were provided to confirm claims of Hawaiian ancestry. But if in June 2009 the Department of Hawaiian Homelands has decided that it will no longer require the original Certificate of Live Birth as proof for special privileges and the Department of Health spokesman says firmly that they will no longer provide copies of these original certificates, is it possible that, in the midst of the controversy over where Barack Obama was born, the Hawaiian state govt has destroyed the original paper certificate of live birth? This seems almost incredible to me, but the authorities have been so deceptive and evasive on this issue, that it cannot be dismissed as impossible.
The story is similar to thousands other stories about young people in Palestine. Every one with a minor variations. “I heard this before,” somebody told me when I was inquiring about Omar Karem, the Palestinian journalist from Gaza.
It’s not that he heard Omar Karem’s name before, but he heard the same story before.
The harassment of journalists in Gaza is known by the activist community. No one want to be named, or be in the story because a lot of my activists friends are dreaming with going to Gaza, and no one wants to have trouble with Hamas before they even try to get inside Gaza.
It is not easy to enter Gaza, you might say why? if they need the exposure of the situation, why do Hamas makes it difficult for peace activists to enter Gaza?
There are many stories, really not official stories, but people that live in Gaza and know the procedures and the politics of Gaza, know that you have to know somebody in the Government, be part of a convoy, or have terrific credentials. If you do not meet the requirements then you need an invitation from an organization from Gaza, specifying your purpose to visit Gaza, then you need to summit that invitation to the Egyptian embassy who at the end is the ultimate and sole authority for your transfer thru Egyptian Land to transit to Gaza, then even after you might have attained authorization or transit visa from the Egyptian Government, you still have to convince Hamas that you are not spy of US or Israel.
Recently I read an article published by a journalist who try to enter to Gaza and was denied because he did not have a “fixer” authorized by Hamas.
I have a dear friend in Gaza, his name Omar Karem by now you know this name, because we have published few articles on him, related to his multiple arrest by Hamas, his crime taking pictures to share with the world, his photography experience, and his journalistic and photographic work.
He keeps repeating the same answer to the security forces, “my word is my weapon to help Palestine, my camera is my only tool to snap photos, to share to the world, to tell the world the atrocities that Israel commit in Gaza”.
Omar has been detained in numerous occasions by the security forces of Hamas, the first time when he was deported from Egypt on May 2009, after spending 7 months in an Egyptian prison, his crime!, being Palestinian. At his arrival in Gaza in May 2009 , he was kept in jail for one week, after numerous calls to family members, and government official he was finally released.
He is tired of the situation in Gaza, his future is uncertain, Gaza future is uncertain, Omar tried everything to stay sane in a a country, where everyday is surviving day. he has done what many young Palestinians have tried, going to school is a good way to stay sane, to keep the faith in the future, to learn new skills, to be prepare for..’when the Occupation ends’., and working to survive.
It is not easy to get hired in Gaza, there are no jobs in Gaza, the well paid jobs are by UN or other International Organizations but they do not hire Palestinians, and the other jobs that he can take are filled very fast, the opportunities are almost non existent. He become peace activist, journalist and photographer, but Hamas has kept a continual eye on him, why? he does not understand.
He was almost integral part of the Italian Convoy last year, he spend 9 days with them, serving as a guide, translator and companion, seems that this brought some attention from Hamas, he was harassed many times by the security forces, detained, interrogated, his laptop and phone confiscated few times, beat, threaten and there is no reason, he is being investigated in numerous occasions and nothing is found against him, and even after he was released, he still being harassed.
Last year after the last detention, he tried to leave Gaza, he got the authorization from Hamas and he got all his belongings and say good bye to family and friend, only to be returned from Egypt side with the explanation, after two arduous days, that he can not enter Egypt, “For Security Reasons”.
Every time that he has an encounter with Hamas, he has come out clean, well Omar said; “I do not belong to any political Party, I m peace activist, I write for blogs spreading Israel crimes, I want to liberate Palestine, I use my camera, I m not criminal, I m not spy, why do Hamas always attack me”.. Did Hamas become too Extreme?
There are other activists in Gaza that have been under the scrutinizer eye of Hamas security forces, like Mohamed Mazzer author of GBO Manifesto, who has been arrested more than 20 times, his crime telling the truth.
We wonder what are the arguments to detain journalists and photographers whose only purpose is to give us to the world the events in Gaza, for Omar be treated as enemy is hurtful, he, that knows the treatment from Israelis, while living in West Bank, and being detained for more than a year in Israel Prison for being Palestinian, for not carrying a permit, a piece of paper that should say that he is Palestinian, what ironic for Palestinians being punish for not having identification card, as if being born in Palestine is not enough.
After the March 15 March on 2011, the situation turned more gray for him, he was arrested 3 more times, and again his camera, his phone taken away, last December while photographing the tunnels in Rafah he was arrested reason, No reason, Hamas will say “non of your business”
“Please come with no banners, no flags, no colors, security forces please do not give bad image to the world. Do not copy the practices of Israel, we are tired of repression and oppression. Support us, in the new Palestine Nation that we all try to build. Tomorrow is a new day, to rectify the errors, to take lessons of the past. Inshallah” Omar Karem, Gaza, March 15 2011 Palestine One Nation
“I’m Omar Karem, I’m Palestinian. I live in Gaza, Palestine, I want to denounce to the Minster of Interior office of Gaza, the actions of some of their security officers, abusing their power, they are harassing the citizens of Gaza with out authorization from the Minister office .
On March18, 2011,They stopped me and took my laptop, phone, passport and personal that I was carrying with me that day, they took me to some rooms around the Unknown Soldier Plaza- and they hit, kick me, and threat me…and say bad words and called me Zionist, they said that I work for American agenda.
Unknown Soldier square, in the room of the jendi mahur. I was going in my way to to sign for the internet, some security officers stopped me.they kick me, 10 or 15 men asking me questions, before calling to the police station. They took, my passport, id card, my laptop,. They took the file for my cv, my cell phone, all his certificates from journalism.”
He is one of the organizers of the Rachel Corrie memorial, and active member of touristic department in Gaza, helping restaurants and hotels to organize events, but none of that matters, he is treated as if he is enemy of Gaza, to the point that he feels unwanted and unwelcome in his own Land.
Last March 2, 2012, again security forces went to his home, forcefully enter his home, destroyed most of his family pictures, important documents, they took his lap top, his passport, and went to invade his personal files, he was blind folded and taken to a police station for investigation and release next day, without his passport or ID card, he was advice to report every week with them, they told him if they don’t find anything on him, they will return his passport, well they did not find anything and his passport was returned.
After few weeks of relative calm, he return to his “normal” life, going back to his journalist hobby and photography passion, on March 10, under Israel assault, suffering the fear of being the last day under the bombs, he decided to visit the cemetery to have a moment of quite and could not resist the temptation to shoot few pictures, Gaza Cemetery is a beautiful and peaceful place, and as a bad movie again Hamas security show out of nowhere telling him, that he can not be there, that it was security area, as if the cemetery is less safe than any other place in Gaza, they demanded the ID, to what Omar told them, that he has the right to be there, that he was Palestinian, that he was just relaxing, they got mad and took his camera and phone and ask him to go next day to the police station to retrieve his items.
How sad, Gaza is being besieged by Israel, for the last two years they have been suffering the worse crisis in the last decade, for the last two months they barely have few hours of electricity, and to top all that Israel has been shelling Gaza for the last two weeks, and Hamas adding more sorrow to their lives, how cruel and insensitive of them.
I can understand that the Government want to be careful with persons, that they do not trust anybody, could be that Palestinians that have contact con internationals give the idea to Hamas to be working for a ‘foreign country’.
“I came to this site to take photos of the trees and flowers, two security guards with out any reason came to me and took my camera and my phone, and told me that I shouldn’t be here, that this is security area, and that I put my self in danger and people of Gaza. They know the area of war, Gaza cemetery its very nice, with orange and lemon trees, grapefruit and flowers, This is the Gaza Strip’s eastern cemetery.
They told me you have to go at 10 clock, we will be waiting for you, to come to the station of special forces of (alamn aldakhly ) Why Hamas do this to me?, do they want to kill my will to fight against Israeli?, why they always always say, you cant be here, you cant take pics, some others have told me, that I may not stand to good because I live here, because I try to protect the people, I want the world to watch how Israel kills the civilian population.
It’s not fair Hamas, You are wrong.”
After many times going to the station, they finally returned my phone, they call many of my friends and family, they did not gave me my camera, I have to go to talk to Interior Minister Ahmed Bahar, why I put me thru all these struggles, they are pushing me out of my land. They are making my life impossible to live.
I prepared myself to leave Gaza, and planing to go to Egypt, yesterday I was granted permission from Hamas to go to Egypt, and new surprise
Egyptian authorities tell me that I m in the black list and barred to visit Egypt, because I fought the Mubarack Regine, because I participated in many protests to open the Rafah border, now I feel more trapped than ever, the other place that I could go, has denied my right to dream, they have told me that I can not ever go to Egypt, what I suppose to do now?.
How to fight?, If my weapons are my words, How to fly? if my wings are clipped, How to leave?, when all the doors are closed,
Where to go?, when I don’t have a place to call home. I m Palestinian, This is my home, My Land. I born Palestinian, let me BE.
International Solidarity Movement got to a hold in March 16,2003 when Rachel Corrie a beautiful young American, only 23 years old was crashed to death by a D9 American made Bulldozer.
“I should at least mention that I am also discovering a degree of strength and of basic ability for humans to remain human in the direst of circumstances – which I also haven’t seen before. I think the word is dignity. I wish you could meet these people. Maybe, hopefully, someday you will.”
– Rachel Corrie, in an email to her mother, February 28 2003
The United Nations (UN) and human rights groups such as Amnesty International and the International Committee of the Red Cross who oppose the house demolitions reject the IDF’s claims, and document numerous instances where they argue the IDF’s claims do not apply.[1] They accuse the Israeli government and IDF of other motives:
Collective punishment, the punishment of an innocent Palestinian “for an offense he or she has not personally committed.
Theft of Palestinian land by annexation to build the Israeli West Bank barrier or to create, expand or otherwise benefit Israeli settlements.
According to the United Nations, about 1,500 homes were demolished by the IDF just in the Rafah area in the period 2000-2004.
In 2004, Human Rights Watch published the report ‘Razing Rafah: Mass Home Demolitions in the Gaza Strip’.The report documented what it described as a “pattern of illegal demolitions” by the IDF in Rafah, a refugee camp and city at the southern end of the Gaza Strip on the border with Egypt where sixteen thousand people lost their homes after the Israeli government approved a plan to expand the de facto “buffer zone” in May 2004. The IDF’s main stated rationales for the demolitions were; responding to and preventing attacks on its forces and the suppression of weapons smuggling through tunnels from Egypt.
Rachel Corrie since their daughter death have started a campaign of Solidarity for Palestine and a fight against the Israel government to find justice for Rachel.
“One of the things we were told in Gaza by very respected Palestinians Psychologists that just concluded a study in thousand Palestinians children, is that they have discovered that many of these Palestinians children no longer have a will to live, that they were so dehumanized, they were so affected by seeing particularly their fathers being beaten by IDF soldiers, that their psychological condition is one of the dimensions of the conflict, that is not widely understood”. Richard A. Falk
Thousands of respect scholars from dozens of universities around the globe have add their voice to the BDS- Boycott and Disinvestment Sanctions intended to press Israel to stop her inhumane treatment of Palestinians in the territories.
Many of those scholars find themselves in the disjunctive to choose between Israel and Israel, some only engage in the aspect to fight for Palestine’s Human Rights inside the “Occupied Territories”, that part of Land that after 1948 partition of Palestine has been stolen inch by inch, others go furthers in lending their support to the core of the conflict, which is the illegal partition of Palestine, they completely deny the legality of the Partition of 1948.
The Palestine-Israel conflict gets more and more complex, and more intrinsic as we go deeper and deeper into the conflict.
The International Solidarity Movement and other organizations around the world have been facing critics from the government and pressure because the illegal place of laws naming Palestinians NGO’s as terrorists organization, move pushed by the Israel Lobby around the world, in their effort to weaken the Palestinian Resistance.
Rachel Corrie was a compassionate being than since early age showed her inner desire to help the weak and helpless.
“I feel like I’m witnessing the systematic destruction of a people’s ability to survive … Sometimes I sit down to dinner with people and I realize there is a massive military machine surrounding us, trying to kill the people I’m having dinner with.”
When Israel commits her acts of terror, she is expecting to inflict fear on Palestinians and on the peace activist community but it has worked the other way around, every time, she kills an activist, thousands of them sign to go to Palestine to work as human shields.
When Israel murdered the 9 peace activists in the Mavi Marmara, more than a million people signed in the different Gaza Convoys, showing with this that the world is not deter by Israel terror practices.
A group of children cross the frozen Vistula River between Poniatowski and Lazienkowski Bridge in the centre of Warsaw February 5, 2012
by Stephanie van den Berg
BELGRADE — Authorities used explosives, icebreakers and tractors Tuesday in the battle to overcome Europe’s big freeze, as dozens more died of hypothermia and tens of thousands remained cut off by snow.
Around 400 people have now died from the cold weather in Europe since the cold snap began 11 days ago.
While there was some respite for people in Ukraine — where more than 130 deaths have been recorded — the mercury plunged overnight to minus 39.4 degrees Celsius in the Kvilda region of the Czech Republic.
More bodies were found either on the streets, in their cars or in their homes in Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Hungary and across the Balkans.
Sheets of ice cover the river Oder in Frankfurt an der Oder, eastern Germany, on February 7, 2012
Authorities in Serbia said that 70,000 people were trapped in snow-bound villages in the south as officials declared an “emergency situation.”
In a dramatic effort to prevent two of the country’s main waterways from becoming completely blocked, officials called up army explosive experts.
As ice layers threatened to cause widespread floods on the Ibar, Alexander Prodanovic, the country’s top water official, said dynamite would be detonated to break up the huge blocks which had formed.
Authorities also hired icebreaking ships from Hungary to ease the flow on the Danube, the main waterway for all commercial shipping in Serbia. The port authority said the Danube was navigable around Belgrade but with difficulty.
There was similar chaos elsewhere in the Balkans with train linking Croatia’s central coastal town of Split and the capital Zagreb derailing as a result of a snow drift. There were no reports of injuries.
The army, firefighters and rescue services were trying to get food and medicine to the population in several hundred villages in southern Croatia where snow up to 1.4 metres high was piled up.
“This is a disaster, we have been cut off from the rest of the world … Snowploughs cannot reach us, so we have to walk to get some bread and basic things,” Marko Ancic told the Slobodna Dalmacija daily after trekking some 17 kilometres from his village to reach the nearest town.
Large parts of eastern and southern Bosnia were also cut off by the snow and avalanches. There has been no contact since Friday with the hamlet of Zijemlje, some 30 kilometres from the town of Mostar.
“We don’t know what is going on there. They have not had electricity since Friday and phone lines are cut, they have no running water,” Radovan Palavestra, the mayor of Mostar, told AFP.
“There are elderly people who are very fragile and children including a baby of two months.”
A helicopter which should have flown in aid to Zijemlje was unable to take off Tuesday morning because of heavy snowfall.
Daniel Mihailescu / AFP / Getty Images
A car is pictured on a secondary road near Romania’s A2 motorway, connecting Bucharest to Constanta, after the road was closed due to severe weather conditions on February 7, 2012
In Romania, two heavily pregnant women had to be flown out by helicopter in the eastern area of Iasi after their villages were completely cut off. Another pregnant woman had to be ferried to hospital by tractor in the eastern Paltinis area after her ambulance became stuck in the snow.
Schools were shut in large parts of the country, including Bucharest, while many train services were cancelled. Around 40% of roads were also closed, although flights did resume from Bucharest airport.
AFP Photo / Nikolay Doychinov
Yanka Atanasova, 70, cries as she sits in a tent in the flooded village of Biser, Bulgaria on February 7, 2012
Snowstorms lashed Bulgaria, a day after eight people drowned in raging rivers and the icy waters from a broken dam that submerged a whole village to the southeast.
Officials on Tuesday warned of flooding when temperatures go up and snow melts.
European Commissioner for Crisis Response Kristalina Georgieva said “the worst is yet to come” after she visited Biser, which was worst hit by the flooding from the broken dam.
“The next two weeks may be really hard. The warmer weather will cause melting of the snow and the situation will most probably worsen,” private broadcaster bTV quoted her as saying.
A Briton living on the Greek island of Symi drowned in a river which had been swollen by heavy rains as he tried to move his moped to safety.
Eleven people have died so far from the cold and snow in Serbia, with the latest victim a 62-year-old man found dead a kilometre from his home near Arilje in western Serbia and a woman killed by falling ice in the capital Belgrade.
In the central city of Kragujevac, authorities took inmates from a local jail to help clear snow, local media said.
To the south in Albania, the Kukes lake on the border with Kosovo – supplying a hydropower plant at Fierze – was frozen over for the first time in more than a decade, putting more pressure on already strained power supplies.
The numbers killed by hypothermia in Poland rose to 68 after the authorities there recorded another six deaths in the last 24 hours. The majority of those who have died were homeless, many of whom had been drinking heavily.
The cold snap has also seen a sharp rise in the number of people being killed by carbon monoxide poisoning from faulty gas heaters.
According to the state weather forecaster in Ukraine, temperatures there could rise to a relatively modest minus six degrees. But the respite will be short-lived with temperatures expected to plunge to minus 30 by the weekend.
The UN weather service said temperatures would remain low until March.
“We might expect the change in the current cold wave to to start easing from the start of next week up to the end of the month,” Omar Baddour, a scientist at the World Meteorological Organization, told reporters.
It was a similar message from Britain where forecasters said the cold spell could last for two more weeks and heavy snow at the weekend.
And in France, authorities appealed to households to save power where possible as they predicted electricity use could hit a record high.
The cold weather has increased demand for gas in many European countries.
Italy took emergency measures on Monday to deal with what it called critical shortages of Russian gas following the icy weather, while supplies to other members of the European Union mostly improved at the weekend but remained below normal.
Russia, which supplies about a quarter of Europe’s natural gas, reduced westward flows through pipelines across Ukraine last week citing greater domestic demand because of the extreme weather.
With files from Reuters
Mario Laporta / AFP / Getty Images
A policeman gives information to a truck driver during a snowfall, at a highway exit near Candela, on Februery 7, 2012
Posted on March 10m 2012 By Marivel Guzman in collaboration with Omar Karem from Gaza, Palestine
Updating!
Israeli Airstrikes Terrorizes Gaza
GAZA — Israeli airstrikes killed 15 Palestinians, most of them civilians, in the Gaza Strip on Friday and early Saturday, and the armed militants retaliated in response to the attacks, sending home made rockets at southern Israel.
Web sites affiliated with Hamas, the Government of Gaza, reported early Saturday that the death toll in the Palestinian enclave had risen to 13, and the the injures 26 so far, 5 in critical conditions. This come when Gaza is deep in the darkness, where the only electrical plant stopped working completely after the fuel stopped entering Gaza. Israel and Egypt has played a great role on this situation. Israel has maintained an illegal siege of the strip for more than 4 years, and Egypt have not been cooperative to help in the enter of oil, and diesel to operate the plant.
The first airstrike, part of the illegal target assassinations of Israel killed Zuhair Al-Qissi and his son and law, Mahmoud Hanani, Zuhair Al-Qissi was the leader of PCR-Popular Resistance committee one of the political parties in Gaza.
Around 100 rockets have hit southern Israel as Israeli warplanes bombard the Gaza Strip, wounding 26 Palestinians and four Israelis. Five Palestinians and one Israeli are seriously injured.
In statements to the media on Saturday, the PRC armed wing said it had fired 29 rockets into Israel, while the PFLP’s brigades said it fired two rockets towards Israeli cities
After the first strike, and in retaliation for the assassination Zuhair Al-Quassi at least 20 rockets were fired at Israeli territory. Three civilians were wounded, one seriously, according to the police and emergency services. Israel Radio reported that they were foreign workers. Two rockets were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome anti rocket missile defense system, one crashed into a village near the Israeli port city of Ashdod, shaking the grounds near a house, while others landed in open areas or the sea, causing no injures.
We wonder if the celebrated Israel’s Iron dome anti rocket missile defense system is just waste of money, if they have not been able to stop the “barrage of Rockets” coming from Gaza. According to their own sources they stopped few rockets out of more than 100
As a result of the sudden escalation, the Israeli authorities called for the cancellation of all outdoor public activities in southern Israel that were scheduled for Saturday.
On another attack of Israel past March 22, 4 innocents lost their lives in a similar manner.
“Israel Defense Forces said that Palestinian militants had fired at them. In returning fire, they accidentally hit four members of the same family in the Gaza neighborhood of Sagaya.”, it is common occurrence that Israel target civilians, remember the deadly Attack on 2008-2009 “Cast Lead”, where Israel killed 1500 Palestinians including 600 children, between 3 months and 16 years old.
A Palestinian carries an injured boy into Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, after Israeli tank fire struck a home on March 22, 2011
Photo Credit
Reuters
Palestinian medics said those killed in the attack were aged 12, 16 and 17 and 58.
The leader who was killed, Zuhair Al-Qissi, was the secretary general of the Popular Resistance Committees, the group that Israel says was responsible for the attack last August, from across the border with Egypt in which eight Israelis were reported killed, those claims were dismissed by independent sources and PRC have denied their involvement.
The Palestinians factions are known for acknowledge their attacks, when they are responsible. The Egyptian border attack could just been another of Israel flag operations to excuse the militarization of the border with Egypt, after the fall of Mubarack, and planting the attack to create the “facts” on the ground.
The P.R.C. came into being after the start of the second uprising, or intifada. It was founded by a group of that split out from the older factions like Hamas, Fatah and the Islamic Jihad. The group maintains good relations with Hamas and joined it to seize an Israeli soldier, in a cross-border raid in 2006. The Israeli soldier was released last year in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, an historical deal negotiated by Hamas and Egyptian authorities.
Hours after the first airstrike, Israeli aircraft struck in eastern Gaza City, killing three other civilians. Witnesses said they were on a hilly area near the “buffer zone” land seized by Israel along the illegal fence, between Gaza and Israel and according to Israel were planing to fire rockets to Israel.
This area is part of cultivation lands, and the villagers need to approach their lands to harvest their crops, International Solidarity Movement activists a group of International stationed in Gaza often are seen accompanying the villagers to get to their lands, waving white flags in an attempt to stop the targeting of civilians.
Vittorio Arrigoni RIP was part of ISM, and he was often going to the fields and to the sea to serve as a shield for the villagers and the fishermen.
Friday’s strikes came after months of Israel incursions in the Gaza Strip, the Israel drones are seen invading Gaza airspace very often, and the activity of IOF personal on the border is a common thread for the besiege population that lives close to the border with Israel.
Israel has been airing videos regarding their tunnel practice in “case of another war” scenario intended to keep the population in fear.
Mr. Qissi was appointed as leader of the P.R.C. after Israel killed his predecessor, Awad al-Nirab, and five other civilians with an airstrike on a house in southern Gaza.
In January, Mr. Qissi had been reported killed, but another militant died in that episode.
Mr. Qissi’s son and law was Mahmoud Hnani, who was deported from the West Bank and settled in Gaza more than four years ago, the PRC. said in a statement.
The two men were traveling in a car when they were hit. Yasmeen Nabeeh, a resident of the southern Gaza City neighborhood of Tal al-Hawa, said she heard a powerful blast and, from her window, saw a blue Volkswagen car burning on the street. A spokesman for an ambulance service said that a bystander was seriously wounded in the bombing.
Israel often targets Gaza “militants” it says are preparing attacks. Al-Qaissi, who is also known as Abu Ibrahim, is the highest profile casualty in Gaza since his predecessor, Kamal Nairab, was killed seven months ago in similar fashion.
Mr. Hnani spent six years in an Israeli prison .
After the first Israeli strike on Friday, a spokesman for the P.R.C. known as Abu Mujahed said that his group was no longer committed to the shaky cease-fire with Israel that has been largely observed by Hamas.
“The response to this crime is open,” Abu Mujahed told reporters.
The funeral for the victims of Israel strikes will be done according to Islam tradition, the third day . Mr Zuhair Al-Qissi will be bury in Rafaf, Palestine on Sunday March 11, 2012.
Timeline:Of Friday Attacks
The Latest Attacked raise the victims to 17 in Gaza Palestine, Israel have not stopped the shelling since Friday..Gaza TV News
NUMBER OF MARTYRS TILL THIS MOMENT SINCE FRIDAY REACH TO 16 AND HERE IS THE NAMES :
1. martyr Fayeq Saad 2-martyr Mutasim Hajjaj 3. martyr Obeid Mohammad Al-garably 4-5 hararh-martyr Hazem karika 6. martyr Shadi Al-seiqali 7-martyr Commander Zuhair Al-Qaysi 8. martyr Mahmoud Hanani 9-martyr Mohammed Maghazi 10. martyr Mahmoud Najem 11. Martyr Ahmed Haggag 12. martyr Mohammed Mansour BORO 13. martyr Kamal Abu champions 14. martyr Hussein Barham Hammad 15. martyr Mahdi Abu Shawish 16. Ahmed Salem Ali
4:20 am; ISRAELI ARTILLERY SHELLING THE EASTERN AREA OF GAZA CITY WITH 2 MISSILES AT LEAST , ONE MARTYR AT LEAST HIS BODY COMPLETELY BURNED , AMBULANCES RUSHING TO THE AREA Hani Siliman Gaza Palestine
Just in 4 am: Beach Camp Police Station has been attacked by by three missiles from Israeli F16! At least, three people have been injured! Glass chattered and havoc spread! Prof. Said Adbelwahed Gaza Palestine
2:00 am: ISRAELI GUN BOATS OPENING FIRE ON THE WESTERN COAST MIDDLE OF GAZA STRIP WHILE THE DRONES FLYING AT LOW LEVELS Hani Siliman Gaza Palestine
MORE NEWS:
An Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip killed five Palestinians belonging to the Islamic Jihad militant group, Gaza emergency medical services spokesman Adham Abu Selmeya told reporters. 20 other people were also reported to have been injured in the attack. The escalation started on Saturday morning when Israel attacked Gaza Khan Younis Camp. Gaza Is being Attacked Again
Convicted Lockerbie Bomber Probably Not Guilty—So Who Is the Real Criminal?
US and UK pushed the courts to release Megrahi on humanitarian grounds, rather that allow him to present his evidence in his appeal. At the Lockerbie trial so-called “key witness” Abdulmajid Gauci would identify Megrahi as the purchaser of certain items of clothing found at the crash site that Gauci claimed were purchased at his shop in Valetta, Malta. But on the witness stand Gauci proved to be a flop at identification. An FBI officer, Harold Hendershot, called to the witness stand to bolster Gauci’s testimony, also appeared to lack credibility.
Megrahi was released and received hero welcome in Libya by Col Muamar Gadhafee.
Gadhafee denied that he was pressure to give up his claim that Libya did not have anything to do with the Pam 103. The economical sanctions were lifted right after Gadhafee allowed the extradition of the two suspects. One of them was found innocent, only Megrahi was found guilty.
Lockerbie bombing: Forensic evidence ‘casts fresh doubt on Megrahi guilt’
The wreckage of Pan Am 103. Picture: AP
By TIM CORNWELL
Published on Monday 27 February 2012 00:00
NEW forensic evidence claiming to destroy key pillars of the case against the Libyan convicted of the Lockerbie bombing will be revealed today.
Forensic examination of a small fragment of circuit board, cited as critical evidence linking Libya to the atrocity that claimed 270 lives on 21 December, 1988, does not originate from the source identified by prosecutors, it is claimed.
The new evidence is detailed in two documentaries on the case against Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, 59, screened today on BBC Scotland and the Al Jazeera network. They coincide with the launch of a book telling the story of Megrahi and featuring extensive interviews with him, released by the Scottish company Birlinn.
The book, too, is said to probe deeply into the forensic evidence in the case.
In the BBC Scotland documentary, Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence officer, says he “forgives” Maltese shopkeeper Tony Gauci, who identified him as purchasing clothes which were found packed around the bomb, on a day Megrahi admitted he was in Malta.
“Forgiving him, I am facing my God very soon,” Megrahi says. “I swear I have never been in his shop or buy any clothing from his shop. I swear with my God, which is my God and his God as well, I swear I have never been in his shop or buy any clothing from his shop.
“He has to believe this, because when we meet together before the God, I want him to know that before I die. This is the truth.”
The circuit board, found at the crash site, was linked to the bombing because the fragment, labelled PT35b by investigators, was identified as coming from an MST-13 timer made by the Swiss firm Mebo. Megrahi had regular dealings with the firm. The Crown also claimed the timers had only ever been supplied to Libya. Megrahi was described at his trial as a member of the Libyan intelligence services who worked in Malta at the Libyan Arab Airlines office. He was accused of helping to place the bomb on an Air Malta flight, from which it was transferred to the doomed Pan Am 103.
Megrahi’s defence team was not able to secure access to the fragment to conduct its own expert analysis before the trial, or his first unsuccessful appeal, the documentary is said to claim.
But in preparation for the second appeal, which Megrahi abandoned when he was released on compassionate grounds after a cancer diagnosis, his defence team was able to examine the fragment and other key pieces of evidence.
Their experts claimed it contained no trace of explosive residue. But, more importantly, defence experts also claimed it was made of a different combination of materials to the MST-13s, meaning it did not originate with the Mebo device.
The BBC confirmed yesterday that their documentary explored forensic evidence.
The two programmes feature an interview Megrahi gave in December to his friend George Thomson, a former police officer and criminal defence specialist who was part of his legal team for four years.
Today also sees the publication of John Ashton’s book, Megrahi: You Are My Jury – The Lockerbie Evidence, published by Birlinn. Mr Ashton, an investigative journalist, was also in Megrahi’s defence team and worked closely with him to produce the book.
BBC Scotland insisted last night that, while the interview in the documentary was conducted by Thomson, the programme itself “was produced in accordance with our guidelines on impartiality”.
The Rev John Mosey, a British parent who lost his daughter in the bombing, said he expected both the book and the documentaries to launch a major re-examination of the Lockerbie case.
For those sceptical of the trial and conviction, it “promises evidence of things that we have been saying for many years”, he added.
He had closely followed the circuit-board evidence at Megrahi’s lengthy trial, he said. “It was extremely, extremely dodgy. It was very, very suspicious.
“The way it suddenly appeared, embedded in a shirt collar, with the information on the page overwritten and changed, all police procedures were thrown out of the window.”
But Susan Cohen, an American whose daughter also died in the bombing, said: “None of this sounds any different from what I’ve heard before. With these documentaries, is there going to be a panel afterwards, someone who is representing someone who is not the voice for Megrahi propaganda?
“This is simply allowing this conspiracy theory to flourish. In all these years nothing has ever, ever come out that really shows any significance.”
Megrahi, the only man convicted in the Lockerbie bombing, was said to be three months from death when he was released from a Scottish prison in August 2009 following a decision by justice secretary Kenny MacAskill. He remains alive in Libya, but in the December interview clearly considers himself close to death.
The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC), which investigated Megrahi’s 2001 conviction, found six reasons why it may have been a miscarriage of justice and sent the case back to the Appeal Court. The appeal ended when he was released.
Among the SCCRC’s reasons were inconsistencies in Mr Gauci’s statements and controversy surrounding an identification parade in Kamp van Zeist at which he identified Megrahi. It is understood the documentary makers gained access to the SCCRC’s investigations into the case.
Megrahi was interviewed in his bed in his home in Tripoli. Looking frail and straining to make his words audible, Megrahi laments that he will die while still branded “the Lockerbie bomber”.
Asked by Mr Thomson what he would say to Mr Gauci if he were in the room, he says: “I’d say he dealt with me very wrongly. I have never seen him in my life before he came to the court. But I do forgive him.”
• Many believe convicted killer Mohammed Abu Talb is the real Lockerbie bomber.
Talb was freed from prison in Sweden in 2010. He was serving a life sentence for terrorist attacks in Copenhagen and Amsterdam using explosive devices.
He was the original suspect for the attack on Pan Am Flight 103 until 1990, when attention switched to Libya.
At the time of the Lockerbie trial, Talb admitted he and members of his family were involved in the fight to liberate Palestine. But he denied he was “a murderer and a liar”, and claimed he had given up the military struggle before the Lockerbie bombing.
The trial in Kamp van Zeist heard Talb had used many aliases as a member of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front, including one that translated as “he who takes revenge”.
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Scottish publisher Birlinn launches into the Lockerbie controversy today with the publication of a book that promises the fullest account yet of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi’s story in his own words.
Nothing seems to change in Gaza. Politicians come and go, Israel attacking again. The leaders of the world silence. The United Nations busy with PR and budgets. While Gaza still in the dark. The visit of two royals delegations in the past might had put Gaza in the news for few hours, but nothing really change.
Gaza, Palestine
Gaza, Palestine/-Gaza in its darkest hour after the fuel stopped getting to the only electrical plant of Gaza after Israel bombed the other plants in the assault of 2008-2009.
When we talk about Tunnels in Gaza we have to talk about the Bedouins Tribes that control the Rafah border.
Before the Egyptian Revolution I have the opportunity to talk to my Egyptian friends about all themes, but one of my favorites was to talk about Palestine.
Some of my friends have this idea that most of their economical problems, and security situation is due to Palestinians crossing illegally the border.
And that the security problem is according to them to the terrorists that are financed by Iran and Hezbollah, that was the propaganda feed thru all the regimen of Mubakark that was in bed with Israel, and kept the country deprived, oppressed, with more than 2,000,000 people incarcerated for their political views, specially the then illegal Muslim brotherhood that they said was financed from Iran to destabilize the country.
Off course this idea is not shared for the majority of Egyptians, they know their own problems were created along the way, since British Empire decided to colonize these great lands of the Nile.
With this notion I have to mention also, that they do not see themselves as an Arab people but proudly they refer themselves as the Pharaoh people, some how superior race, or more intellectually advanced.
I m not sure that the tribes of Bedouins share the same idea, but for sure they are merchants that travel the deserts selling goods, and having a semi sedentary life only to raise their live stock of sheep.
These same tribes now controlling the border with Gaza, where the tunnels are dug.
They control completely the entrances of the tunnels, and according to reports from CNN, after the revolution, No police dare to get closer to the Tribes and their controlled lands of the Sinai.
They control the smuggling weapons, and the official sell of weapons that enter Gaza for the official government as well, they gauge the food, medicines and fuel, And Fuel being of of the commodities that can bring more profits. One of the most disturbing news coming directly from Tel Avid is that they also controlled the human traffic coming to Israel, women to be sold as prostitutes and migrant workers to be exploit by Israeli farmers.
“For centuries their identity was nomadic. They roamed the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula with little care for national borders or sovereign rule. Modern life has persuaded many Bedouin to opt for a more sedentary existence in the various countries they inhabit, but they haven’t shaken their reputation as professional outlaws.
Nowhere is that reputation more pronounced than in North Sinai, where they control much of the smuggling into Gaza. Their motivation is profit, not any particular affinity with the Palestinian people.
And it’s big business.” CNN
Ibrahim, from the Sawarka tribe around El Arish, the North Sinai governate’s capital, says he “chipped in” with some partners to build five tunnels into Gaza costing about $100,000 each. The tunnels are used to transport big-ticket items such as cars, most of them these days with Libyan number plates. Ibrahim shows off his array of battered old Mercedes, Kias, even a Range Rover. Usually, he sends about 10 cars through the tunnels at a time, once or twice a week.
Salem is a friend of Ibrahim’s from the neighboring Tarabin tribe. Neither wanted to use his full name for fear of police reprisal. Salem smuggles weapons, olives, tomatoes and canned food through the tunnels into Gaza. Olives cost about $100 per carton. Animals, such as a tiger or small elephant for the Gaza zoo, cost as much as $20,000, Salem said.
“But there’s a red line,” he said. “We refuse to allow suicide bombers through the tunnels to bomb Israeli targets from the Egyptian side. And we won’t smuggle hostages,either. I was once offered $500,000 to smuggle an Israeli hostage to Islamist groups in Gaza. I refused.”
Truth is that most of the problems facing Gaza; from water, food, construction material, medical equipment and most important Fuel Supplies are due to Israel Unfair and illegal blockade of the Mediterranean Port of Gaza, and Now added to the latest punitive measures implemented for Israel, punishing the innocent population of Gaza for the Unity deal reach by the two main factions, the Price Gouging in the Egyptian fuel prices had put Gaza in its darkest moments.
Hamas and Fatah have decided to work as a team and elect their leaders in the next elections, decision that was not welcome by Israel.
A Palestine United will be a invincible force against the tactics of divide and conquer used by Israel.
The Unity will boots the mood of Palestinians and will give them a respite in this internal conflict.
The constant harassment from both of the parties in Gaza and West Bank have been a tremendous drain of energy in the fight against the occupation.
Egypt wants to stop the passage of fuel through tunnels under the border between the countries, the official Rafah terminal is not equipped for goods transfers and its development is restricted to people only by an agreement between Egypt, Israel and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority. We wonder whose interest serve this close door agreement that undermine the well being of almost 2 million people in Gaza…
The agreement still in force since 2006, after Hamas won the election in 2007, Israel and PA have tried to castigate Hamas for wining the elections; for the PA a political pressure exercised to their political enemy, and for Israel to push the PA to take back Gaza.
There is no secret that PA has been a playmate to implement most of the policies dictated by Israel, and Hamas has not.
But the internal agreements convened in Cairo and Doha has not bring benefits for Gaza, even thought the fuel is a bare necessity for Gaza to run the hospitals, schools, Official business and households is not meet yet.
As Monday the 20 of February Fuel from Egypt was yet to be transferred to Gaza despite assurances it would arrive on Sunday to alleviate an energy crisis, a power authority official said Sunday afternoon.
“The current crisis is a political problem that started six years ago. The Israeli occupation, the Palestinian Authority’s refusal to provide the Gaza Strip with funds, and the policy of Egypt which is dealing with Gaza out of security calculations, have all contributed to the current situation,” said Hamas government spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.
The constant battle for public support have pushed Hamas to put the PR campaign first, instead of the welfare of Gaza. The refusal t0 buy the Israel fuel has been the pivotal point in this electricity shortage. I m that sounds to said but, we know that Israel is the occupying power, and control what enters and don’t. Most of the deals are done behind doors, and what transpire is obvious.
If Israel control the money that enters Gaza, and Israel collect the taxes of the Palestinians society, and the money donated by the International community is obvious to assume that Israel and the Government of Gaza have their mechanism to transfer the money, the goods, and the embargo as well.
Israel ‘approved’ companies provide much of the fuel necessities of Gaza, the rest is bought, and smuggle thru the tunnels.
Last year when the European Union stop the funneling of funds to Gaza, the first blackest days started to feel in Gaza, and the deterioration of the electrical Plant due to the impossibility to import parts, and the lack of fuel to run it, put Gaza in the Dark.The only plant was providing electricity on schedule. Where only the people working for the government knew exactly when will the light will come.
-Wasfi Al Nider sits motionless on a couch with his legs stretched looking at a small screen. Whenever it goes blank, it is the sign of yet another power cut hitting Gaza. But unlike the frustrations of thousands of others working on computers or watching TV, the screen the 63-year-old is looking at is connected to his blood and a kidney dialysis machine.
“Whenever there is a blackout, I’m in Allah’s hands,” Wasfi says. “The machine just stops, blood stops circulating, I just cry. Then we have to wait until the generator starts.”- A journalist Jorney
Thousands of electrical devices were ruined because the electrical unannounced cuts, if you did not have Outrage Plug Protector, you were out of luck, and your computer most probably was blown out.
The entrance of fuel thru the tunnels not never stopped completely, and the smuggling of petrol that serve the private residents also never stopped. The dark side of Gaza can be see in the belt of the refugee camps, and in the impoverished neighborhoods that can not effort generators and/or fuel.
Gaza like any other society in the world, regardless of its state of war, and blockade to the outside of the world, has it blocks of ‘Rich’ families that never have felt the blockade, at least not with full force as the rest of the population.
Gaza is comprised mostly of refugee camps, where thousands of Palestinians linger waiting for freedom, not every one enjoy the benefit of being connected to the ‘Grid’, still now thousands of families live in tents, and in half destroy homes that lit their nights with candles and if they are lucky enough to have a working person they will have little money to share electricity provided by a better accommodated neighbor that have the luxury to have a generator.
Most of the petrol that enters under the line ‘Tunnels’ comes with a stiffly tag price, not all the fuel that enters Gaza is controlled by the Government.
Gaza like any other region of the world, have their hustlers, ‘this active group’ of Palestinians that are not deterred by the occupation, or the blockade and they find the ways to make ‘little money’ even if it means doubling the prices of the already expensive fuel prices.
This business goes both ways, in the Egyptian side and the Palestinians side in Rafah where all the tunnels are situated.
Sad as it sounds it is a reality, and Money it is the wheel that moves Gaza Society.
As I m finishing this article some developments are moving along in Gaza on the order of fuel, they received some Diesel from Egypt under a contract but not enough to satisfy the whole Gaza. They were talking of 5000 littler of diesel a day will cross to Gaza, but Gaza needs 100,000 littler of Gas at least to serve a population of almost 2,000,000.
I m Omar Karem, I m Palestinian, Live in Gaza. I m amateur photographer, writer and blogger, I m not spy of Israel Or CIA, I do not belong to any political parties, I belong to Palestine and fight to Liberate her. I m being continuously harassed, detained, interrogated for no apparent reason other than being Photographers and having many friends inside and outside Palestine.
The situation in Gaza is devastating for all its residents, the Israeli Illegal Siege has taken the industry to almost a complete halt, the farmers unable to export their products have two options, to feed them to the animals or to stop cultivating. The fishing industry after all the assaults in the fishermen and the 3 mile limit has paralyzed the fishing industry in Gaza. The Hospitals are running on generators which are not sufficient to satisfy the energy needs of the medical equipment, the whole Gaza Strip is immersed in desperation and need for food and products. And in top of all the necessity that the people live due to the blockade and the Occupation itself, Hamas has not stopped it harassment against the citizens.
There are many accounts of abuses from the security forces of Hamas against journalists and regular citizens that dare to hold a camera, illegal detentions, incarceration, and confiscation of laptops and cameras, and cell phones are common complain.
Since last January that the Gaza Youth Broke the Silence and they published the Gaza Broke the Youth Manifest, Hamas has stepped the assault in journalist, students and ordinary citizens that all they ask is to end the Israel Occupation and the Internal Divisions
Gaza, Palestine(Akashma Web Blogs) Gaza is under attack, Israel have stepped up her attacks in the Besieged Gaza Strip and even under such circumstances the Youth of Gaza leading “The Initiative Call Home” staged a protest in the Square of the Unknown Soldier in Gaza City before they were ordered to evacuated the Plaza. The protest led by Young Palestinians to end the internal divisions is a sign that the Revolution that started in Tunisia and Egypt has sparked the light in Palestine. There is not to say that they did not want to brake the old rule, but with the air of Revolution and the global support is a good moment to engage the world in their calls for Freedom.
The protest was broken up by security agencies of the Government by force, today they organized a sit-in group where Young People peacefully gathered to demand an end to the internal divisions, in the Square of the unknown soldier in Gaza City, Palestine. Their demands have been growing stronger since last December when the Youth of Gaza Broke Out, a movement started growing support around the world, when they declare in their Famous “Gaza Youth’s Manifesto For Change” made public by blogger, Opinion Maker Online Newspaper and many others News Outlets around the world.
Such Manifesto was not welcome for factions inside Palestine and for many activists around the world, they saw in this Youth Manifesto more divisions, but in reality was a desperate call for a change. Free Gaza Today
Omar Karem a photojournalist in Gaza and co-founder of Akashma Web Blogs have seen the rage of the security forces of Hamas in many occasions while covering the events in Gaza, the public sit ins demonstrating against the division, in the protests to support Egypt, in the March 15 but in On March 18, 2011 he was violently assaulted on the street in Center of Gaza, and forced to accompanied some security men for ‘questioning!’, but he was not take to the police department office, but to some rooms around the Unknown Soldier Square, ” before the incident occurred he witnessed how some other security officers also approached two foreign women and took their cameras. When he was in those small rooms, he saw how two other women were there probably arrested. He made a public denounce to Mr Hammad head of Security in the Interior Minister of Gaza, he was being treated as criminal and not as a Palestinians that is fighting against the same aggressor Israel. And again on February 01, 2012 after the demonstrations on Beit Hanoun he was arrested, his laptop, camera, and phone confiscated, his home searched and given an order to appear again for interrogation at Hamas Security Headquarters of Monday February 6 2012.
The internal division and the paranoia is taking its toll, Hamas sees enemies in every person that walks in Gaza, not realizing that elections sooner of later will take place and they can not stage a victory, they need to win Palestinians to their side, unifying the people that has been divided for so many years of internal conflict.
Israeli occupation forces broke up the peaceful March on Tuesday with live bullets. Israeli occupation forces opened fire towards a peaceful march was headed for the buffer zone north of Beit Hanoun, accompanied International Peace Activists . March gained access to about 50 meters near the Beit Hanoun “Erez”, adding that “the fire heavily towards the march led us to turn it off and return for fear of casualties, and, fearing for the lives of the people. Palestine News
Please come with no banners, no flags, no colors, security forces please do not give bad image to the world. Do not copy the practices of Israel, we are tired of repression and oppression. Support us, in the new Palestine Nation that we all try to build. Tomorrow is a new day, to rectify the errors, to take lessons of the past. Inshallah Omar Karem, Gaza, March 15 2011 Palestine One Nation
He is being accused by the Security Forces of Hamas of being Israel collaborator, CIA operative, FATAH member, Egypt Spy all absurd and nonsense charges that he denies categorically, for Hamas the idea of a Gazawan to externalize his opinions as a Citizens of the besieged Gaza or as a journalist telling the world the crimes that Israel commits everyday is censored as if this was a crime against the state.
The way I see Hamas now throwing punches to the wind in its effort to curtail the opposition ideas to a system that is not working. Hamas has lose sight of what it is important. Israel was and still the enemy of the people, the people of Gaza are not enemies of the state, they all fighting for a common enemy, and all the Gaza society has to be united to be able to defeat so strong enemy, and Hamas as the government elected by the people of Gaza has to show restrain in its security extremes or lose the sympathy of the citizens that put them in the chair.
Many Arab/Muslim activists reject our movement & consider us as some Zionist machinery because in the manifesto, we’ve been denouncing Hamas – among others. It’s always amazing to see the shortcuts people’s minds can take and how good they are at condemning without even trying to understand. We’d like to remind all our goal: yes we are frustrated and tired of being oppressed, killed, humiliated and kept from even leaving to study in other countries, yes we denounce political parties governing us because they didn’t help in anything, but we denounce ALL of them, not ONLY Hamas. Abu Yasan Gybo
No crime go unpunished, no deeds go unrewarded, if Hamas saw its victory in Gaza was because its support for its people, they need to stop the the harassment and see that the times are changing and they need to be the leaders to their people and not their oppressors.
It turned out that our crime is that we’ve been very active in the March 15 protests that called for unity between Fatah and Hamas. We were interrogated separately, but had the same reaction when we felt that they deal with this movement as a crime and actually going after its members now. We tried to explain that we didn’t go against anyone and what we called for was in our cause’s interest which is the only thing that matters to us! What we did understand from their questions is that we’ve “as in March 15 members” been meeting with politicians (both Palestinian and foreign), implementing their agendas as getting funded by them and asking them for visas. Also sitting with Israelis “which means we’re spies” and they’re holding all kinds of evidences against us! Gazanism
The youth of Gaza are in their twenties, they dress sporty, they are University Students, they are the facebook activist, the twitters, youtubers, this generation that want to change the old ideas, they want a new Palestine without the rigor of religion, without the stamp of millitary flavor, their envision a new Palestine United by their flag, their Land, culture and her people, they want to forget about the political parties that have damage so much the reputation of Palestine.
It takes courage to speak the truth in a place such Gaza, that even with close to two million souls crumble down in a tiny strip of land, the news goes faster that Israel Bullets and the arrests of activists are to the order of the day. But with all the oppression and repression and Israel Occupation Gazawans don’t give up their hopes for a better Gaza, a New Gaza Palestine where diversity will be found only in the cultures and the International Peace Activists that have shared their struggles and not in the party lines that seems to divide the people.
Now all the lies are exposed, the internal fights need to settled, the youth of Gaza is forcing the old leaders to rethink their role, to lead Palestine as a Nation and come as one voice. They created a big platform where all the dissidents voices can be heard and the obsolete policies and old practices be clean away.
The following speech was given by Russell Means in July 1980, before several thousand people who had assembled from all over the world for the Black Hills International Survival Gathering, in the Black Hills of South Dakota. It is Russell Means’ most famous speech.
You notice I use the term American Indian rather than Native American or Native indigenous people or Amerindian when referring to my people. There has been some controversy about such terms, and frankly, at this point. I find it absurd. Primarily it seems that American Indian is being rejected as European in origin-which is true. But all the above terms are European in origin; the only non-European way is to speak of Lakota-or, more precisely, of Oglala, Brule, etc.-and of the Dineh, the Miccousukee, and all the rest of the several hundred correct tribal names.
This is what has come to be termed “efficiency” in the European mind. Whatever is mechanical is perfect; whatever seems to work at the moment- that is, proves the mechanical model to be the right one- is considered correct, even when it is clearly untrue. This is why “truth” changes so fast in the European mind; the answers which result from such a process are only stopgaps, only temporary, and must be continuously discarded in favor of new stopgaps which support the mechanical models and keep them (the models) alive.
The European materialist tradition of despiritualizing the universe is very similar to the mental process which goes into dehumanizing another person. And who seems most expert at dehumanizing other people? And why? Soldiers who have seen a lot of combat learn to do this to the enemy before going back into combat. Murderers do it before going out to commit murder. Nazi SS guards did it to concentration camp inmates. Cops do it. Corporation leaders do it to the workers they send into uranium mines and steel mills. Politicians do it to everyone in sight. And what the process has in common for each group doing the dehumanizing is that it makes it all right to kill and otherwise destroy other people. One of the Christian commandments says, “Thou shalt not kill,” at least not humans, so the trick is to mentally convert the victims into nonhumans. Then you can proclaim violation of your own commandment as a virtue.
Syrian Rebel Army playing the wrong card, just think about their demands. They are demanding the Official Syrian Government to withdraw from areas of Damascus provinces. Damascus being the capital of Syria which make it of vital importance to control. The video shows a Rebel guy in army gear speaking with the suppose Iranian hostages behind him – See video under the article.
A little perspective for my fellow Americans to consider regarding the impressions they are fed by the media, and the facts and realities which are constantly withheld in what I call “the lies of omission”:
There are places here that are absolutely wonderful and Americans have no idea about them because the Western media doesn’t ever tell us about them- they would rather suck up your hard earned Dollars selling hate and peddling fear to exaggerate and exploit every situation that will continue justifying unnecessary wars and destruction they eagerly cover for the gluttonous financial gain of a few powerful individuals and corporations and those who make bullets and bombs) by portraying Pakistanis and Muslims with articles about subjects such as “Muslim Rage” than to show you the overwhelming majority of the 19,998,000 Human Beings in Karachi, Pakistan who are almost universally outraged by the film but are NOT protesting violently and tearing up their own city. And based on my experience, I’m convinced it’s pretty much the same situation everywhere else in the Muslim World, otherwise it would be a much worse situation than just a relative few incidents perpetrated by a small number of violent idiots when compared to the 1.5 billion Muslims living on Planet Earth.
– To be pro-Palestinian does not necessarily mean you want the state of Israel to be wiped off the map; nor does it imply that you agree with either the two-state or one- state solution. The pro-Palestinian movement embraces many ideas and offers much diversity in way of critique and pro-active solutions. For instance, some activists take a stand, drawing upon the premise of Human Rights and International Law while others pursue different strategies outside of U.N. sanctions, precisely because the legal precepts have never been enforced. Similarly, it is with this context in mind, that we can view the 
Professor Jonathan Rosenhead is chair of the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP) which is the main organization in the UK supporting the academic and cultural boycotts of Israel, it parallels PACBI in Palestine. Professor Rosenhead is also an activist, took part in the flotilla, sailing to Gaza to break the Israeli siege.
It would be remiss not to assess the credibility of Omar Barghouti also, since he too has become central to this BDS debate and as mentioned earlier, he did emerge on the scene to espouse the values and the 3 main objectives of the campaign against apartheid Israel: right of return for refugees, equal rights for Arabs within Israel, and termination of the occupation. Barghouti, also emphasizes that the direction of this movement is to be in the hands of the Palestinians themselves. While other affiliated groups and participants across the globe are recognized as major players, the movement must not be monopolized by any set of elites. It belongs to the grassroots people, particularly guided by the Palestinians. While statements have been embraced by most in the BDS movement, he too has come under attack by both Finkelstein and Atzmon. According to Finkelstein, the goals are too vague and cannot work. Atzmon makes similar claims but stepped it up a notch when he unfairly referred to Barghouti as a racist against whites . Such an accusation, however, should not be taken seriously since Atzmon took Barghouti’s words out of context without giving accurate representation to the postmodern argument from which Barghouti implied that those of Euro centric ethnicity/background have no right to dictate the terms or set the agenda for the Palestinians. Here, Barghouti was making reference to the colonial mentality where white supremacy is still very much a denominator in international relations between the imperialistic “colonizers/occupiers” and the “colonized/occupied”.
The wreckage of Pan Am 103. Picture: AP
Akashma Online News 