Archive
Europe is Freezing
Posted on March 14, 202 by Marivel Guzman
Africa is Warm
original published in News National Post
Death toll from Europe’s cold snap hits 400 as explosive experts called in to break up Serbian ice
Agence France-Presse Feb 7, 2012 – 10:40 AM ET
Peter Andrews / Reuters
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.
Related
AFP Photo / Patrick Pleul
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
Israeli Airstrikes Kill Civilians in Gaza
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
Hani Siliman Gaza, Palestine4:20 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
New Forensic Evidence Reveals that Megrahi Not Guilty After All
Posted on February 27, 2012 by Marivel Guzman
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”.
Related Articles
Gadhafi defiant after 20 years of not bending to US-UK-Israel rule. The man that stood alone against the giants with the dreams of creating a Unifying Greater Africa. The African Puppets made kings exchanged their dignity for crowns, and a bad society…..Read More…Qadhafi Defiance after 20 years of UN and US Sanctions: Who Benefits from it?
Lockerbie bombing: New book claims Megrahi was ‘innocent victim of dirty politics and judicial folly’
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.
Gaza in its Darkest Hour
Posted on February 18, 2012 by Akashma Online News
UPDATED
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 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.
Heart of darkness
Karl Schembri Photo
-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.
Is Hamas Being Too Extreme?
Posted on February 05, 2012 by Marivel Guzman in Collaboration with Omar Karem
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.
Ahmedabad’s Imran went to Pakistan, became ISI agent, returned with a woman spy, arrested
New Delhi, 12 December 2011 Delhi police has arrested two ISI agents including one who is originally from Ahmedabad. Both were arrested from New Delhi railway station by Delhi police’s special branch. According to primary details arriving, one Imran Chhipa(40) of Ahmedabad went to Pakistan in 1988 and settled in commercial capital Karachi. Chhipa started textile business there in 2007-08 but incurred huge financial loses .Chhipa was then approached by Pakistan’s infamous intelligence agency ISI. Chhipa was offered training and money in exchange with a deal that he would escort Pakistan’s trained spy Karachi based 38-year-old Sofia Kanwal to India and would ensure that Sofia is settled well in India to perform tasks assigned to her by the ISI. Imran too was trained for some time by ISI and accordingly Imran and a trained ISI agent Soofia entered into India through Sanouli border of Nepal/Uttar PRadesh. They boarded Gorakhdham express to reach Delhi, but halted briefly in Agra to meet other Pakistani agent working there. However police in India was keeping watch on Imran and Soofia on the basis of inputs, and ultimately they were held by Delhi police at New Delhi railway station. Police has recovered Indian Election Commission card from Chhipa. Police has also recovered pan card and old Indian passport that was issued in Ahmedabad in year 1986. On the passport Imran’s name is mentioned as Imran Yusuf Lafangjiwala. Police has also recovered a driving license issued by RTO in Gujarat from Chhipa’s possession. From Sofia Kanwal, police recovered Pakistani citizenship card and Pakistani passport without India’s visa or stamp. Delhi Police claimed to have foiled an ISI plan to ensure smooth operations by a woman spy in the country. Further investigation is on in this matter.
Those Who Make Peaceful Revolution Impossible, Make Violent Revolution Inevitable
These men do not make the mistakes, as they themselves are part of the same programs, they are disposable, usable and trash-able when they finish their mission.
We need to be vigilant of any actions that will come in the next few months, as the global awareness movement is taken new levels and so the Globalist Agenda. But as always We The People have the upper hand if we stay united.
There is nothing stronger than a United Family and in these volatile days we the “Human Family” needs to stay more united than ever to win the battle of the classes that has been waged against us.
And I m not talking in any socialist agenda or political agenda of any kind I m talking of the awareness that it is taking place in every block of society.
The main event during the period in which Murdoch asserted that the Arabs were trying to “overrun” Israel was the 1967 war. Zionism’s story of it, which the mainstream media still peddles to this day, is that Israel went to war either because the Arabs attacked first or were intending to attack. Both, the either and the or, are Zionist propaganda nonsense. It was a war of Israeli aggression. Opinion-Maker
“Muslims converts ” fueling the Muslim rage against the Jews. Cartoons enraging the Muslim religious faith.
The “Self Hater Jews” new term and its promoters working wonders in the social networks with their cheap hasbaras that can be smell miles away.
The invented wars that terrorized, murdered and put the last nail in the coffin of the middle east hard worked stability that devastated the region and inserted military opps all over the middle east.
All the Middle East Conflict Israel/Palestine used as convenience to keep the rage, the energies exhausted, to keep the people taking sides, while they are waging more wars, destroying our Earth, starving the world, wasting our natural resources. They are making us angry, they are steering our last fiber of patience, they are brewing the revolution that will put end to the American empire, they are making impossible the peaceful revolution, where we change the old world order for a new world order, where we all have fair share of our world, where we all enjoy Peace.
Report on Palestine Bid Accepted
Today in the News and Media of the UN Press
SC President H.E. José Filipe Moraes Cabral (Portugal) on the membership of Palestine at the UN – Security Council Media Stakeout
Q; Is there a date about when it will come out?
JFM; I m not sure, I can not discuss, because is confidential report
Q; When will you
<object width=”480″ height=”270″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/swfs/player.swf” /><param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true” /><param name=”bgcolor” value=”000000″ /><param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”></param><param name=”flashvars” value=”file=stakeout/2011/so111111am1.flv&image=http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/2011/11/full/so111111am1.jpg&autostart=false&controlbar=over&start=0&duration=172&dock=true&stretching=uniform&streamer=rtmp://webcast-flash.un.org/ondemand/” /><embed src=”http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/swfs/player.swf?file=stakeout/2011/so111111am1.flv&image=http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/2011/11/full/so111111am1.jpg&autostart=false&controlbar=over&start=0&duration=172&dock=true&stretching=uniform&streamer=rtmp://webcast-flash.un.org/ondemand/” width=”480″ height=”270″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowfullscreen=”true” allowscriptaccess=”always”/></object>
Israel Concerned About New Offices For Hamas In Jordan and Egypt
Posted on November 7, 2011 Akashma Online News
Deconstructed Article taken from International Middle East Media Center
By Omar Karem
Monday October 24, 2011 14:23 by Saed Bannoura

Khaled Mashal head of the Political Bureau of Hamas – Arabs48
Senior Israeli security sources said that Tel Aviv is concerned about Egyptian and Jordanian intentions to allow Hamas to open offices in Amman and Cairo, and considered the move as “granting legitimacy to terror”.
Israel is in the hot seat, can not control the PR any more, the lies, rumors, propaganda is now seen so clearly that we can smell it miles away, right before it gets published. Sometimes I wonder if they really believe their own lies, its amazing that after so much slap in the face they still continue with their Paid Rumors aka Propaganda
The sources said that both Washington and Tel Aviv are concerned that the Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab world is gaining more power, and claimed that the Brotherhood challenges the Arab regimes and presents itself as an alternative.
United States, and Israel will always will try to use the Religious Card, sometimes it seems that the US and Israel are really pushing the Muslim Brotherhood to take the lead, that in equal societies, if the people’s will chooses to be represented by a Muslim Organization shouldn’t be our concern, the Iranphobia that they propagate and that seems they are infected with, is more like a disease than a reality.
The Arabs48 news website reported that Israel considers the move to be a negative factor “especially since Cairo and Amman admit to the rising power of Islamist groups in the region, amidst American talks with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
I m not endorsing, a religious faction party, or secular one, but isn’t Egypt and Jordan Muslim countries?, and why Us and Israel do not worry for Saudi Arabia, after all Saudi Arabia is the most Muslim country that there is, why not call it Islamist Society, do we chose the denomination and the name to be used according to our convenience?
Israeli security and political leaders also stated that, by hosting Hamas, Cairo will be jeopardizing the close relations between the two countries.
Now why the Leaders of any country, will auto-nominate themselves the representatives of All the People?, the last time we check, the Egyptian Society did not want Israel Embassy in their soil, and they showed to Israel, destroying her embassy, to the the world by posting the videos of how much they despise their aggressive neighbors in their soil, they took the Israeli Flag and was burn in front to the whole world. So what close relations Israel is talking about?
The leaders added that Egypt played an important, and undeniable role in the release of corporal Gilad Shalit, “but its decision to host a terrorist group cannot be taken lightly”, and added that Israel will be holding talks about the issue with a number of concerned countries, mainly referring to its strongest ally, the United States.
The role of Egypt was of paramount importance because, Israel is escorting Egypt to open up the doors again post Mubarak era, and help her with the blockade of Gaza, without Egypt Israel can not humiliate Palestinians any longer, without Egypt control and support on the Rafah border, Palestinians will be half free, so, the importance of Gilad Shalit compromise with Egypt was a winning point for Israel not for Egypt. Egypt does not get anything from Israel, beside the enemies that Egypt gets if continue its diplomatic relations with Israel. Now days, the Egyptian Military Government is transitional and does not have much of support from the people, The Millions of Egyptians that took to the streets to take down the dictatorship of Mubarak do not like Israel very much.
Information Published in the New York Times on May and Debunked by Hamas Leadership, not once but twice.
Remember The New York Times is Zionist Own Corporation, so most of their News are Paid News in other words, propaganda. Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr. charman and Editor of the New Yourk time with an outstanding Salary of 1.08 millions dollars and a $6,002,468 2010 compensation, Zionist Corporation that control, his family control The New York Time Co. The Boston Globe,” and 21 other newspapers in six states. It also has a one-half interest in the “International Herald Tribune” ,the Washington Post. The firm owns three magazines (including “Golf Digest”), eight television stations, and two radio stations, and publishes online. Plus serves and license 650 Newspapers around the world. Amazing power his prints have.
Also, a security source in Tel Aviv said that the fact the Turkey hosting a number of former Hamas detainees, who were released under the Shalit swap-deal, “is also a negative indicator showing that Turkey is interested in freezing its relations with Israel and maintaining strong ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Arab regimes”, according to the source.
Another Note to debunk, Turkey was clear when it recalled their ambassador from Israel, Turkey is another country that will be better braking for ever diplomatic relations with Israel. Israel has won the position that she find herself in, has not done anything positive for Palestine, Egypt, Turkey, or any other country in the region, now she is paying for her mistakes.
The leadership of Hamas in exile is hosted by Syria, but after the Syrian revolution started, the movement started talking about the possibility of moving its offices to another country.
Al Hayat, the London-based pan-Arab newspaper, reported Saturday that Hamas’s political wing was decamping to Doha, the capital of Qatar, but Hamas officials in Syria and beyond it denied it. Similar reports circulated on Monday and denials were again issued
Syria also hosts several Palestinians factions, mainly those who split from the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). Hamas was never a PLO member but expressed willingness to join it “should serious reforms be conducted”.
Israel is forgetting that historic reconciliation between the Palestinians factions took place, and if they are not one political party at least they are in the right road to converge with their ideologies, their priorities and the well being of Palestinians in mind, they do not represent themselves but the millions of Palestinians inside Gaza, West Bank and the Exile, and any talks that they conduct are for Palestine.
some of the information was taken and deconstructed from – IMEMC & Agencies
Gaza Global Affairs – Israel abused the leverage she had on the world, and played with the intellect of the people for long time, and she created her own destruction. Israel is dying and swimming in her own mud of deception and lies. She can not control the PR Propaganda any longer, is too late to savage her theater of powerful bully. What it took Israel 63 years to built with Lies and Deceit. The Gaza Strip Illegal and Inhumane siege has to be remember by the Zionist as the spot in the mirror that blur the fake glory of Israel, the 4 years of widely propagandize siege imposed in Gaza Population showed to the world what a sadistic minds were behind Israel creation and imposition to the world.
Palestinian Killed, Three Wounded, As Army Air Strikes Khan Younis
Sunday November 06, 2011 01:56Palestinian medical sources reported that the Israeli Air Force fired, on Saturday evening, missiles into Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, killing one Palestinian and injuring at least three others.

The Body Of Abdullah Mhanna – Image Palestine-Info
Local sources reported that the army fired at least two missiles at a group of fighters on the Al Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, in Al Qarara town, east of Khan Younis. The army then fired rounds of live ammunition into the area.
The slain resident was identified as Abdullah Eid Mhanna, 22, member of the Al Quds briagdes; three residents suffered moderate injuries.
The Al Quds brigades stated that, contrary to Israeli army claims, its fighters did not fire shells into Israel, and did not intend to.
On Saturday morning, one resident was moderately wounded when Israeli soldiers opened fire at farmers in an area near the Nahal Oz crossing, east of Gaza.
The resident was identified as Mohammad Hamad, 23; he was shot in his right thigh; several residents suffered panic attacks.
Eyewitnesses reported that the army was not provoked in any way, and that the farmers were taken by surprise when the soldiers opened fire at them while working in their lands. Fearing for their lives, the farmers left their farmlands and went back home.
Israeli sources claimed that, on Friday at night, a shell was fired from Gaza into Asqalan (Ashkelon) causing no damages or injuries.
by Saed Bannoura – IMEMC & Agencies
Related Post…
Youth Injured by Israel Fire in Gaza – Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli forces randomly opened fire at Palestinian citizens and farmers near “Nahal Oz” zone, wounding one resident identified as Mohammed Ibrahim Hamad, 23 years old; his injury was described as moderate.
“The army was not provoked, soldiers just opened fire at the farmers east of the Gaza Strip, they fled the scene fearing further attacks by the army”, an eyewitness said.
Late Friday, Israeli security sources claimed that a Palestinian home-made projectile was launched into the beach of city of Asqalan.
Hamas called on the Arab League – to break the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip in response to Israeli piracy against international solidarity activists who were trying to break the siege by sailing to Gaza.
The movement said in a statement, on Friday following the Israeli navy’s action against the two aid boats, We strongly condemn the Zionist piracy against the international activists acting in solidarity with our besieged people. We consider this Zionist act a crime and a violation of international laws and conventions.”The movement added that the continued siege against the Gaza Strip and the targeting of aid convoys are crimes added to Israel’s long list of crimes against the Palestinian peopleThe movement called on the Arab League to end the siege and called on the UN to shoulder its responsibilities towards the Zionist crimes against the Palestinian people and to immediately end the siege.
NATO’s War on Libya was an Attack on African Development
Posted On October 28, 2011 Akashma Online News
To prevent this ‘threat of African development’, the Europeans and the USA have responded in the only way they know how – militarily. Four years ago, the US set up a new “command and control centre” for the military subjugation of the Africa, called AFRICOM. The problem for the US was that no African country wanted to host them; indeed, until very recently, Africa was unique in being the only continent in the world without a US military base. And this fact is in no small part, thanks to the efforts of the Libyan government.
Before Gaddafi’s revolution deposed the British-backed King Idris in 1969, Libya had hosted one of the world’s biggest US airbases, the Wheelus Air Base; but within a year of the revolution, it had been closed down and all foreign military personnel expelled.
More recently, Gaddafi had been actively working to scupper AFRICOM. African governments that were offered money by the US to host a base were typically offered double by Gaddafi to refuse it, and in 2008 this ad-hoc opposition crystallised into a formal rejection of AFRICOM by the African Union.
Massive Greek Protest Stops A Yearly Military Parade
by yalmpanis on 28/10/2011
October 28 is the National Day of Greece. On October 28, 1940 Mussolini asked Greek government to surrender. When the Greeks replied “NO”, Italians invaded the country. Surprisingly, Greek army won the war over the wanna-be Roman Empire of Mussolini. Only after a second German invasion, Greek army collapsed. Every year after the Liberation, on October 28 Greeks celebrate the historic “No” with a huge military parade in Thessaloniki and school parades in all municipalities.
But this year’s October 28 was different. All over the country, parades turned to anti-government and anti-austerity demonstrations. People who lost their jobs, students and pupils, “indignados”, professors and teachers, everyday working people with no political background, expressed their anger for the IMF-EU-Greek government austerity plans. They demanded government officials to leave the parades and in many cases politicians were forced to leave.
In Thessaloniki there was the most massive protest (photo). Thousands of demonstrators were shouting “Bread, Education Freedom. Dictatorship was not over in 1973” and “Government are traitors”. Finally, Carolos Papoulias, the President of the Republic, had to leave for security reasons. For the first time since Liberation, the Armed Forces didn’t parade on October 28. A very angry Papoulias said “I was an antifascist partisan when I was 15. I don’t allow anybody to call me traitor”. People accuse Papoulias for signing all the austerity bills voted by the Parliament.
Today’s events are a considerable blow to Papandreou government. Yesterday Papandreou tried to present as a national triumph EU’s decision for cutting 50% of Greek debt. Nevertheless, it seems that people don’t share Papandreou propaganda. First of all, the agreement dictates that for the next 10 years austerity will be very strict. It is certain there will by thousands of new lay-offs in public sector, a complete sell-off of public property, and new salary cuts. In addition to that, European “surveillance” over Greek government is considered as loss of national sovereignty. There is a wide spread feeling of national humiliation and many say that this “the second German occupation of the country”.
It is highly possible that on November 10 there will be a new general strike. Keep an eye on us; this is a real hot country.
October 20: second day of 48h general strike – Violent protesters attacked peaceful ones with petrol bombs and stones Thursday in Athens, as tens of thousands rallied outside parliament ahead of a vote on despised new austerity measures demanded by creditors to keep the country afloat.
Greece Paralyzed in its second day of Massive Strike– As the second day of a general strike paralyzed the country, more than 50,000 peaceful demonstrators flooded downtown Syntagma Square, the scene of violent protests on Wednesday, the first day of the nationwide strike.
Creditors have demanded the extra austerity measures before they give Greece more funds from a C110 billion ($152 billion) bailout loan from other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund. Greece says it will run out of money in mid-November without the next C8 billion ($11 billion) installment.
The austerity bill won initial approval from the Greek parliament, and deputies on Thursday were voting on the details, which include putting 30,000 public servants on reduced pay and suspending collective labour contracts.
Thousands in the Streets of Athens – The Arab Revolutions that shook the world is given ammunition to millions around the world to protest against their own governments, in Greece the streets are filled with angry protesters, claiming justice. They have been since 3 years ago suffering the consequences of the lavish life style of their Politicians and Banking moguls. Now they are asked to respond for a debt they did not incurred.
Vittorio Arrigoni, the Italian Gazawi. The interview with the mother Egidia
Posted On October 26, 2011 on Akashma Online News
Originally Posted on 10/04/2011 in News in Infopal

By Angela Lano
The trial of the killers of activist ‘International Solidarity Movement and journalist, freelancer, Vittorio Arrigoni, in Gaza killed on 14 April by a group of “Salafi”, has been postponed until October 20 .
It ‘a process is not easy, because the murder and alleged murderers are still dense fogs. Investigation and trial phases is researching military court in Gaza, as some of the defendants were members of the military training “al-Qassam Brigades.” The September hearing was postponed to October 3 because the defense lawyer had claimed that the confessions were “extracted”, and therefore were not valid.
Investigations and process environments and are used by some Italian media to direct rather serious accusations against the government of Gaza, in some blogs more or less clearly close to Zionism, however, the crime and the trial stage are used to create further confusion and false leads on the identity the instigators and perpetrators.
In recent months, Vittorio Arrigoni and the process of our mainstream newspapers and TV no longer speak. And ‘fell silent. The many friends of Vik-Utopia, his name of “battle”, always non-violent means, but do not forget him. His name and his slogan, which became famous around the world – “We are human” – read it anywhere, websites, facebook, blogs. The Freedom Flotilla 2, this summer, he was entitled: “Stay Human”, in fact.
In recent days, we interviewed the mother of Victor, to take stock of the situation and to tell us his son, a hero-villain of the day.
Mrs. Giles, q hat are your expectations and those of his family to the process being the murderers of his son?
“We expect to know why Victor was killed. Because at that very moment. It seemed that they knew that Victor was about to leave Gaza.
“The day of his abduction, we learned that the group that held him prisoner wanted to do an exchange with one of their leaders in prison, but usually the exchange can afford negotiating reality with a certain power. These, however, seemed unprepared for.
“In any case, I’m interested in who was to kill my son and why. I hope that this truth comes out. I’m not complaining for postponements of the trial, because here in Italy we can not give lessons to anyone: our processes are very long. I did not hurry, do the time it takes, what matters is that justice is done. If those brought to court in recent weeks are innocent, look for other culprits.
Network of newspapers and read many hypotheses about the murder of Victor. What do you think?
“I do not make assumptions, I stick to what I say from Gaza. Why the ‘Jordan’ through the tunnels to go specifically to kill my son?
“I ask myself many questions, since then, but I have no solutions. I really hope that those who led the investigation has gone to the bottom and has not found a culprit in the case.
“Victor has never attended the ‘palaces of power’, he was with the people.”
She never mentioned that he feared for his life? He had the impression that bother anyone?
“I do not know if it bothered anyone. I do not ever talked. Lately I felt tired, but he had health problems.
“I did not think it was scared of Israel: I had not mentioned. After those threats , and after running the risks in its activities to support the Palestinians (boating and fishing alongside Palestinian farmers in the BufferZone Strip Gaza, ed), I seemed to have particular fears of attacks against him. On the other hand, of course, Israel would have killed him when he wanted, in one of these actions when Victor was on the side of the Palestinians. ”
Someone raised the hypothesis that Victor may have been murdered for his efforts with Gybo . The result?
“I do not think it was part of Victor. He will certainly have seen with joy the formation of that new reality, because he shared the anxiety of freedom of those guys who were protesting in the wake of the Arab revolution in progress. But from here to say that this was the reason he moved the hands of his murderers, there goes … Anyway, he had never spoken to me.
“There is a total fog about her murder. I have confidence in the court that is conducting the investigation.
“I do not point the finger at anyone. Of course if true the news that one of the assassins approached Victor, he attended the gymnasium where he was going to kill him, it would be really terrible. This is a hypothesis that has saddened me a lot: knowing how Victor kept the friendship, thinking that someone has betrayed him makes me very badly. ”
Ms. Beretta, tell us as it was Vik …
“It’s hard for me to tell my son. … I could tell you many things Victor was Victor. We had a relationship of empathy and intense. We shared the same ideas and ideals. I said so often, I still have a text message sent on June 8 2009, for my re-election as mayor of Bulciago: ‘Mom, I am here and you there, but we share the same things away. We are following the same path.’ He told me that he was proud of me, and I had him.
“From a young age, Victor was involved in labor camps and solidarity had begun with Peru, to 20 years. He was in Africa, Eastern Europe, Lebanon, West Bank and Jerusalem, then in Gaza. I in Palestine said that he had met the ‘sum of all the injustices’.
“They sailed to the Gaza Strip in late July of 2008, the small fleet of boats Free Gaza and Liberty. I still remember – it was a Saturday – the explosion of joy, on the phone when he saw the coast of Gaza. From that moment began its life gazawi. But it was Lebanon, in 2007, and the story of an old Palestinian refugee, to convince him that his place was alongside the Palestinians. ”
He feared for his life?
“They asked me if I regret the choices that Victor had done, if I go back in time and avoid everything … Victor is nourished by what he heard in the family, of what we did, and then chose, of his putting.
“No, I do not regret anything. I suffer a lot, sure, but I can only say well done to Vittorio follow your road.
“My son has helped to positively influence many people to wake up. His life was extraordinary. I do not know if he’d like to know who is considered a model, a hero, he was humble. It certainly has shaken the conscience.
“I do not know what to call my son, if not as a man who understood that he could not help but do what he did.”
And ‘Today the news reported by Victor’s sister, Alexandra Arrigoni: “The Premio Paolo Borsellino for the social and civil engagement will be for the future from this year and named in memory of Vittorio Arrigoni, for his constant commitment to of justice, and delivered Saturday, October 29 Pineto (TE) to Egidio Beretta, Vittorio’s mother. ”
Source: Infopal Agenzia Stampa Informaziones
News
Palestinians Coming Home Received As Heroes
Posted on October 18, 2011 by Marivel Guzman
Since early in the morning on this day October 18, 2011 thousands of people started gathering in different parts of Palestine to welcome The Heroes coming home.
The Red Cross was preparing the buses that have to be used to transport hundreds of Palestinians to 3 different spots in Palestine, Rafah Gaza Border to be officialy received by Haniyeh, Twenty-two female and 96 male prisoners are to pass through Beituniya on their way to Ramallah, where they will meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Rafah Egypt, Khaled Meshaal the leader of Hamas in Damascus will be arriving in Cairo where 40 Palestinians will be welcome by him, as the first step to find their next home, there are 3 countries already confirmed to take some of them into exile; Turkey was confirmed yesterday, Qatar and Syria the other two countries.
The names still non known, as there still diplomatic conversations deciding the luck of these Palestinians.
The World Eyes are in Gaza Rafah Border, where a historic Deal is being taking place, hundreds of Palestinians were pardoned on an exchange Deal. I m so anxious to see families reuniting with their Loves ones. God help the other families to cope with their pain now, but I m sure that all Palestinians as resistant fighters that they are they all are happy because 477 brothers are being release today
Historic deal taking place in these moments, thousands of Palestinians families await for their love ones to come home.
The high court of Israel stayed out of the Deal. Israel President pardoned officially 477 Palestinians Resistant fighters, and Political prisoners.“I’m so excited I have tears in my eyes, I just can’t wait to hug him,” said Halia Bazain, brother of Ala Adin Bazain, a resident of the Old City, who was in jail for 25 years.
“I feel so happy. It’s really good but I think that straight away there will be two or three more Schalits,” said Muhammed Isawiyeh, a distant relative of Ahaled Ahmed Muahatsi, from Issawiya. “There are still 5,000 Palestinian prisoners in jail.”
Expectation, and anxiety around the world, as we all were ready to receive the first Photos and videos that would make history, Palestinians that have spent their whole lives in Israel Jails are coming home to find a completely different landscape and politics, like Ala Adin Bazain, 25 years, Ahmad Abd-Al-Rahman Husein Abu-Hasira, 35 years, Mustafa Ayyad Ahmad Abu Hasana 30 years, Tayir Mahmud Jamil Kared 30 years, Jamal Amar Muhammad Arqiq 30 years with 3 months, as you can see this Deal is considered historic because have save the lives of 1027 Palestinians from the hands of Israel, before few weeks ago their life were being waste, languished in Israel prisons know for their inhumane treatment to Palestinians prisoners.
“This deal will bring relief to Gilad Shalit and his family after an ordeal that has lasted more than five years. Many Palestinian families will feel a similar sense of relief today when they are reunited with their relatives, many of whom have spent decades under harsh conditions in Israeli detention,” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Director.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, IDF Soldier Gilad Shalit and his father, Noam Shalit, after landing at Tel Nof Air Base,
In a surprise interview Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who was has been released as part of a swap deal with Hamas, has said he would be “very happy” if all Palestinian prisoners still held by Israel could be freed and return home.
Speaking to Egypt’s Nile TV, Shalit, who had been held in captivity for five years, said “I hope this deal will help the conclusion of a peace deal between the Israelis and Palestinians.”
Thousands of Activists around the world were joining in the celebration, and sharing the first photos taken from the Hamas run channel Al-Aqsa TV live, Al jazeera and Elahmad.com that have been intermittently transmitting the events from Jerusalem, West Bank, Rafah Gaza, Egypt and Israel.
Today is Celebration day for Palestine and around the world, it is a victory for Hamas, for the Prisoners that have been released, for the families, for we do not forget the other more than 6,000 still in Israel Jails, we don’t forget Marwa Barghouti, Ahnmad Asa’aad and other key political leaders still waiting to be release.
Ammesty Internal and other Human Rights Groups around the world still working to guarantee release of the other Palestinians Prisoners that are considered conscience prisoners and not criminals, as they were only exercising their right and duty to defend their land, their person, belongings and families.
Not All Heroes Fly; Some Sit in Jail For long Time Part 1
Posted On October 15, 2011 by Marivel Guzman

AHMAD SA’ADAT BIOGRAPHICAL TIMELINE:
1953 – Born in al-Bira, to 1948 refugees from the destroyed village of Dayr Tarif (nr al-Ramleh).
1967 – Became a student activist following the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in the PFLP-led Palestine Student Union.
1969 – Formally joined the PFLP, attracted by its combination of Marxism-Leninism (which he felt most suitable for the son of a refugee peasant family) with traditional pan-Arab nationalism.
Feb 1969 – First arrested by Israel for PFLP activities; 3 months detention. Arrested again in 1970 (28 months), 1973 (10 months), 1975 (45 days). Credits his early years in prison with giving him the opportunity to advance his understanding of Marxist theory and consolidating his commitment to the PFLP.
1975 – Graduated from the UNRWA Teachers Training College in Ramallah, specializing in Mathematics.
1976 – Rearrested by the Israelis (detained for four years).
Apr 1981 – Elected to the Central Committee of the PFLP.
1989 – Arrested and held in administrative detention for 9 months.
1992 – Arrested and held in administrative detention for 13 months.
Mar 1993 – Elected to the Politburo of the PFLP while still in administrative detention, reportedly in recogition of his education and organizing activities with other detainees.
1993 – Released from administrative detention, but declared a “wanted person” liable to re-arrest, shortly after release.
1994 – Elected leader of the PFLP in the West Bank.
1995 – Arrested by the PA and briefly detained in a sweep of PFLP members, under Israeli pressure.
Mar 1996 – Briefly detained without charge again by the PA in a sweep of known activists.
Dec 1996 – Arrested by the PA in a roundup of PFLP members on the West Bank, following a PFLP attack on Israeli settlers in Beit-El/Surda on 11 December. Released without charge on 27 February 1997 after conducting a hunger strike, the PA fearing the consequences if he should die in jail. (Collapsed hours after release, and spent several days comatose and on a respirator in Ramallah Hospital).
2000 – George Habash steps down as General Secretary of the PFLP, at the party’s Sixth National Conference. Replaced by Mustafa Zibri (Abu Ali Mustafa), a member of the ‘old guard’ of exiled leaders based in Damascus, and regarded as a pragmatist in relations with Arafat and with Israel.
27 Aug 2001 – Abu Ali Mustafa assassinated when an Israeli helicopter fired rockets at his office in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Two rockets fired from a helicopter yesterday morning blew apart the Palestinian leader, Abu Ali Mustafa, as he sat at his desk in Ramallah, just feet away from Yasser Arafat’s own offices. At a stroke, Israel had eliminated one of its most dogged foes. Abu Ali Mustafa (nom du guerre of Mustafa Zibri), who was 63, was head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). He was the most senior PLO casualty of the 11-month old Al Aqsa intifada.
3 Oct 2001 – Ahmad Sa’adat elected Secretary-General of the PFLP, regarded as a shift away from the pragmatism of Abu Ali Mustafa and in line with the more hardline principles of George Habash. Sa’adat declares at his inaugural press conference that the goals of the Palestinian people are “our right of return, and our independence, with Jerusalem as the capital” He also vows to avenge the assassination of Abu Ali Mustafa.
17 Oct 2001 – Four members of the PFLP assassinate the far-right Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi. (Zeevi is known as a supporter of the forced expulsion of the Palestinians from the Occupied Territories, and as a proponent of “targetted assassinations”. His assassination is a popular move among militants, and reinvigorates support for the PFLP in the Occupied Territories). Israel accuses Sa’adat of having ordered the assassination.
22 Oct 2001 – The PA condemns the killing of Zeevi as contrary to wider Palestinian interests as it gives Israel an excuse to take military action in the Occupied Territories. Jibril Rajoub, head of the West Bank Preventative Security Service, outlaws the military wing of the PFLP – the Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades – and issues an ultimatum to Ahmad Sa’adat to turn himself in or face arrest.
24 Oct 2001 – IDF attacks the West Bank village of Beit Rima, apparently in an unsuccessful attempt to capture Sa’adat, shooting dead nine Palestinians including 5 local policemen sleeping in an olive grove.
15 Jan 2002 – Sa’adat is arrested by Palestinian special forces after being lured to a meeting in a Ramallah hotel with PA Intelligence chief Tawfiq Tirawi. The PFLP condemns the PA for caving to U.S. and Israeli pressure, and putting its own survival ahead of the national consensus by arresting the head of a PLO faction. Its military wing warns that it will kill Arafat aides if Sa’adat is not released. PFLP supporters protest the arrest in the streets of Ramallah, Gaza City and Bethlehem.
2 Feb 2002 – The PFLP’s politburo announces that the movement will suspend its participation in the PLO Executive Committee until Sa’adat is released.
21 Feb 2002 – The PA’s General Intelligence Services capture in Nablus the cell of the Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades believed responsible for the assassination of Zeevi. They are held with Sa’adat at Arafat’s Ramallah compound.
Mar-Apr 2002 – Sa’adat besieged with Arafat in the Muqata by the IDF, beginning 29 Mar.
29 Apr 2002 – Under heavy U.S. pressure, Arafat accepts a deal to end the siege of his compound. The terms of the deal are not made public but it is apparent that Israel has agreed to lift the siege on Arafat in return for the PA agreeing to imprison under international supervision Ahmad Sa’adat, the four PFLP members accused of killing Zeevi (Basel al-Asmar, ‘Ahed Abu Ghalma, Majdi al-Rimawi and Hamdi Qar’an), and Fuad Shubaki – the PA official accused of organising the Karine A weapons shipment. The four PFLP members are cursorily tried by a military tribunal inside the Muqata, and sentenced to terms up to 18 years’ imprisonment for killing Zeevi. Arafat rules that Sa’adat is a political leader, not a military leader, and so his case must be decided by the Palestinian judiciary.
1 May 2002 – All six are transferred to Jericho Prison on the evening of 1 May, where they are nominally under the control of the P.A. but actually guarded by U.S. and British monitors. Arafat is widely criticised in the Occupied Territories for winning his own freedom at the expense of Sa’adat’s.
2 May 2002 – IDF withdraws from the Muqata.
3 Jun 2002 – The Palestinian High Court of Justice in Gaza rules that there is no evidence linking Sa’adat to the assassination of Zeevi, and no legal grounds for his continuing detention. It orders his immediate release from jail. Ra’anan Gissin, an Israeli government spokesperson, implies that if the PA releases Sa’adat, he will be assassinated (“if he is not brought to justice, we will bring justice to him”…)
4 Jun 2002 – The Palestinian Cabinet declines to implement the High Court ruling, ostensibly because it fears that Sa’adat will be assassinated if released. (More realistically, it is probably because releasing Sa’adat will contravene the terms of the 29 Apr agreement that removed the Israelis from the Muqata).
13 Jun 2002 – Amnesty International calls for the PA to respect the finding of the High Court and release Sa’adat immediately, and for Israel to guarantee it will not take extrajudicial measures against him. Palestinian NGO’s call upon Arafat to uphold the rule of law. Sa’adat remains in jail.
20 Aug 2002 – Israeli Special Forces troops assassinate Sa’adat’s younger brother, Mohammed, a low-ranking member of the PFLP, at his home near Ramallah.
Muhammed Sa’adat (22) was assassinated in his house
in Al-Bireh by an Israeli special unit yesterday….
(al-Quds al-Arabi, 21 August 2002).
26 Aug 2002 – Sa’adat begins a 72-hour hunger strike to protest his continued detention.
14 Jan 2003 – In a letter from prison, Sa’adat expresses his opposition to the Road Map, on the grounds that it is designed solely to provide security for Israel’s occupation and criminalize opposition to it as terrorism.
23 Jan 2003 – Sa’adat’s wife, Abla, is arrested by Israeli troops at the Allenby Bridge border crossing, and prevented from addressing the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, where she was a scheduled speaker.
15 Mar 2005 – PA President Mahmoud Abbas suggests that Sa’adat will be released when the PA resumes security control of Jericho later that month. Other PA officials deny they have any such intention, and Sa’adat himself doubts whether the PA even has the power to release him.
23 Nov 2005 – The PFLP announces that Sa’adat will run in the PLC elections of Jan 2006, in the hope that this will raise awareness of his imprisonment and bring pressure to bear for his release.
14 Mar 2006 – Ahmad Sa’adat was arressted by the Israeli Occupation Forces from the Jericho Prison with hundreds of other political prisoners after the prison was attacked by the IOF.
25 Dec 2008 – Ahmad Sa’adat was sentenced to thirty years in prison by the illegitimate Zionist military court.
Ahmad Sa’adat was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment by the illegitimate occupation military court on December 25, 2008 at Ofer Military Base in Ramallah, Palestine. Throughout the court’s meetings, which Sa’adat refused to recognize, the trial was delayed on multiple occasions, despite Sa’adat’s having been held in custody, of the Palestinian Authority under U.S. and British Guard, and then by the Israeli military after their attack on Jericho Prison on March 14, 2006. He was never tried during his four years in PA detention.
He was charged with a laundry list of “security offenses,” political in nature: for example, membership in a forbidden organization, holding a post in a forbidden organization, and “incitement,” for a speech condemning the Israeli military’s murder of the man who held his post before him, Abu Ali Mustafa. Sa’adat refused to cooperate with the court, pointing out that it is an illegitimate court enforcing an illegal military occupation, and acting as a weapon of the occupation, to persecute Palestinian leaders and political activists and to undermine the Palestinian people’s political activity. The thirty-year sentence imposed upon Sa’adat is the longest in the history of the occupation for such political charges.
June 2009 – Ahmad Sa’adat goes on nine day hunger strike in protest of isolation and solitary confinement.
October 22, 2009 – Ahmad Sa’adat sentenced to an additional six months of isolation by Zionist military
courts, after over 206 days of isolation.
October 16, 2011 – Palestinian Minister of Detainees, Issa Qaraqe’, stated that detained secretary-general of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Ahmad Saadat, was moved to the Al Ramla Prison hospital due to health complications following 20 days of hunger strike.
Barghouti, Sa’adat Not to be Released in Exchange Deal, says Israel -The Israeli government Tuesday night said the imprisoned Fatah leader, Marwan Barghouti, and the Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Ahmad Sa’adat, are not included in the prisoners exchange deal that would free more than 1000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. “Marwan Barghouti and Ahmad Sa’adat will not be released,” said head of the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet), Yoram Cohen. Israel and Hamas had reached a prisoner exchange deal last night that will release the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, held by Hamas since 2006, in exchange for releasing 1027 Palestinian prisoners.
Third Week of Hunger Strike – Action Grows as Sa’adat’s Health in Jeopardy– Palestinian prisoners have entered their third week of hunger strike. After two weeks of hunger strike, physical symptoms become increasingly severe and prisoners’ lives and health are increasingly at risk. As prisoners have put their lives and bodies on the line to defend the rights of themselves and their people, international support and solidarity is continually escalating and much-needed. The health of Ahmad Sa’adat, General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Palestinian national leader who has been in isolation for two and one-half years and the center of the demand for an end to isolation, is increasingly at risk. Two lawyers visited Sa’adat on October 7 and October 9, and reported that he was fainting and vomiting – a direct consequence of the Israeli Prison Service’s confiscation of salt from prisoners. He has already lost over 7 kilos on the hunger strike. Nevertheless, no independent doctors or medical professionals have been permitted to examine Sa’adat.
Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat-Your support is critical for this campaign. In order to place meaningful pressure on the Israeli state to cease its persecution of Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners, it is crucial that this issue take on a high level of international mobilization and support.
Heroes Coming Home
Posted On October 14, 2011 by Marivel Guzman
It is more valuable one ONE FREE Men than A THOUSANDS SLAVES
Ahlam Ahmed Ared Tamimi, a Palestinian Fighter, arrested in 2001, according to Israel Judges she should spend 1584 years in Israeli Jail. A Zionist soldier was provoking her every day day that she is going to to die in prison, but she was keeping the hope alive, knowing that one day she will be free because there were heroes behind her.
She is now one of the prisoners included in the deal between Hamas and Israel, she will be free Next Tuesday October 18, 2011, but she is one of the person that will be exiled to other countries.
From the list of 27 Female, Ahlam Ahmed Ared Tamimi, she will be the only one to be sent to the exile. We wonder what are her feelings at this moments, the Odds have changed in so short time since a harsh sentence of 1584 years was handed to her, she never lost the hope to be released. A dreamer is a winner Vik used to say and now for Ahlam she is a winner, let’s hope that in the next few weeks and months that the UN sort the legal issues with the Palestine UN Bid for Statehood more good things keep coming for Palestine.
This is a triumph for many in Palestine because the crimes of these Palestinians was to fight for their home land, for the protection of their families, their livelihood, their honor, their respect as a human beings. In this unequal “war’ that Palestinians have been fighting, “freedom” from Jail is a prize they can not refuse, if that give them the hopes to fight for a bigger prize that is to Liberate Palestine and Gaza from the bigger Jail that have been placed.
Both Israelis and Palestinians have been celebrating a deal between Israel and Hamas that will see 1,000 Palestinian prisoners set free in return for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been held for five years.
In Jerusalem, young people took to the streets to sing and dance, and in Gaza City, crowds attended a Hamas rally.
Is more valuable ONE Free Man than a Thousands Slaved – 1027 Palestinians will be release from Israel Jails, but from the first 450 that will be freed next October 18, 2011 more than half will be exiled, or deported. There is celebration in the streets of West Bank and Gaza, but also there is anger that these resistant fighters will not be allowed to return to their families and lands, some are calling part of the ethnic cleansing Israel has been doing since its creation.
Gaza Families Wait for the Release of their Love ones -Electronic Intifada-Mothers and wives of Palestinian prisoners rapidly gathered outside the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) this week, after they heard news about a swap deal between Israel and Hamas. These women have not seen their loved ones for five years.
For the past five years, the families of 950 Palestinian prisoners from Gaza have been protesting weekly outside the ICRC’s headquarters, demanding their right to visit their sons, husbands and relatives inside the Israeli jails, a right denied to them by Israel.
Palestinians Prisoners Since Before Oslo – Male family members of Palestinian prisoners who were between 16 and 40 years of age and any family members with security records generally were barred from visiting relatives in facilities in Israel. Following the outbreak of violence in 2000, the Government banned all family visits for Palestinian prisoners in jails.
United Nation General Assembly- October 2007 – Identical letters dated 23 October 2007 from the Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council
More than 11,000 Palestinian civilians, including more than 400 children and more than 100 women, are being held in the prisons and detention centres of Israel, the occupying Power. The majority of Palestinians being illegally imprisoned or arbitrarily detained by Israel are subject to extremely harsh living conditions and constant physical and mental ill-treatment, including coercive interrogations and humiliation, and many of them are subject to torture. The inhumane treatment of Palestinian prisoners at the hands of the occupying Power has been the cause of widespread suffering and trauma among the prisoners and has led to the death of at least 190 Palestinian prisoners over the many years of this prolonged and bitter foreign occupation of the Palestinian land and people.
More than 750,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel since 1967 – The Bureau of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People expresses its grave concern at the situation of thousands of Palestinian political prisoners held by Israel, who have joined an open-ended hunger strike since 27 September 2011 in protest against the latest deterioration of their conditions of detention and the systematic violation of their fundamental human rights by the occupying Power, including the imposition of solitary confinements and restrictions on family visits. The Israeli prison authorities have regrettably responded with additional punitive measures against the hunger strikers.
The Bureau recalls that, since the beginning of the Israeli occupation in 1967, at least 750,000 Palestinian civilians have been arrested, detained and imprisoned by Israel. Currently, thousands of Palestinians are held in political detention by Israel, including children, women and elected officials. The Bureau is alarmed by credible well-documented reports of the systematic abuse; mistreatment; medical neglect; denial of due process, legal assistance and visits; arbitrary detention; humiliation; and torture to which Palestinian prisoners are subjected on a daily basis at the hands of the Israeli occupying forces, in blatant contravention of international humanitarian and human rights instruments, including the Geneva Conventions.
Support of European Parliament proposal
Posted on October 4, 2011 by Marivel Guzman
This letter is to be send to the email address below the letter
To the United Nations
The European Parliament
The Iraqi Government
From the Residents of the Refugee Camp of Ashraf
Ashraf Refugee Camp Residents Plight to Stop the Massacres from the Iraqi Forces
To The World That is Awakening Now
To the US Government and Its Allies that Invaded Iraq
Support of European Parliament proposal
Peaceful and permanent solution for political refugees in Camp Ashraf Pursuant to a long and inhuman siege on Camp Ashraf and in an effort fully coordinated with the terrorist Quds Force, on the 8 April 2011 the Iraqi government embarked on a vicious attack against Ashraf with 2500 armed forces and various types of armored vehicles and lethal weapons. This attack resulted in the death of 35 residents along with 350 others severely wounded
This killing spree is not the first of its kind. Despite the fact the Iraqi government had made commitments to the US government regarding the protection and respect of the residents as political refugees under the full framework of the Fourth Geneva Conventions, another massacre had taken place back in 2009.
The current situation remains critical, with prospects of an even bloodier attack looming on the horizon. In hope of preventing yet another massacre and protecting the lives of Ashraf residents and their material and spiritual rights, we welcome the solution proposed by the European Parliament, and especially the proposal of a peaceful and long-term solution for Camp Ashraf residents in Iraq under the supervision of the EU, US and UN for relocation of all Ashraf residents to EU countries. We also back the stance taken by EU Foreign Policy Chief Lady Catherine Ashton who is providing positive and supporting efforts in this regard.
We also emphasize on the need for the siege imposed on Ashraf residents to be lifted, their protection be guaranteed, Ashraf’s patients and wounded residents to be transferred to special hospitals and the rights of the residents be respected as outlined by the 4th Geneva convention. While stressing on the implementation of this proposal, we demand the evacuation of all Iraqi forces stationed in and around the camp. We also urge all judicial restrictions imposed on the residents be annulled, and their confiscated property be returned to its rightful owners. In addition, reporters and human rights activists must be allowed to visit the camp, and a comprehensive investigation on the events of April 8th must be carried out.
Finally, we urge the US, EU, UN, the Iraqi government and parliament., and the Arab League to support this logical solution
Parties Involved
General Secretary of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon…………
sg@un.org
ecu@un.org gillet@un.org
Mr James Jeffrey Ambassador of the US in Iraq.. Baghdadpressoffice@state.gov
His Excellency Dr Nabil General Secretary of the League of Arab States… cofs@las.int
Department of the People of Ashraf…….ag.satar@idoa-sw.com
CC for the People of Ashraf Iraq
CC to all The Social Networks
CC To All Humanity
|
Row |
Name |
Job |
Country |
| 1 | |||
| 2 | |||
| 3 | |||
| 4 | |||
| 5 | |||
| 6 | |||
| 7 | |||
| 8 | |||
| 9 | |||
| 10 | |||
| 11 | |||
| 12 | |||
| 13 | |||
| 14 | |||
| 15 | |||
| 16 | |||
| 17 | |||
| 18 | |||
| 19 | |||
| 20 | |||
| 21 | |||
| 22 | |||
| 23 | |||
| 24 | |||
| 25 | |||
| 26 | |||
| 27 | |||
| 28 | |||
| 29 | |||
| 30 | |||
| 31 | |||
| 32 | |||
| 33 | |||
| 34 | |||
| 35 | |||
| 36 | |||
| 37 | |||
| 38 | |||
| 39 | |||
| 40 | |||
| 41 | |||
| 42 | |||
| 43 | |||
| 44 | |||
| 45 | |||
| 46 | |||
| 47 | |||
| 48 | |||
| 49 | |||
| 50 |
Events Occurred on April 8, 2011 Considered Crimes Against Humanity
Camp Ashraf or Ashraf City is situated northeast of the Iraqi town of Khalis, about 120 kilometers west of the Iranian border and 60 kilometers north of Baghdad, and is the seat of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran in Iraq. The city of Ashraf was named in commemoration of Ashraf Rajavi, a famous political prisoner at the time of the Shah. Camp Ashraf is currently an Iranian refugee camp in Iraq. On January 1, 2009 its control was formally transferred from the U.S. military to the Iraqi government. The Camp has been attacked several times the last being on April 8, 2011 when Iraqi security forces stormed the camp and killed as many as 31 and wounded 320 residents and also on 17 October 2010 on the eve of Maliki’s visit to Tehran.
UN Secretary General in his quarterly report to the Security Council of 14 May 2010 pursuant to Resolution 1883, Ban Ki-moon, stressed the rights of residents of Camp Ashraf, Iraq, for protection against arbitrary displacement in Iraq or forced extradition to Iran. On April 8, 2011, Iraqi security forces in bulldozers and Humvees stormed Camp Ashraf. 34 residents were killed and scores wounded in what RFERL called “circumstances that are not clear. MKO says camp residents were killed by Iraqi forces. The Iraqi government, however, says it believes about 30 people were shot dead by guards at the camp.” However according to Amnesty International video clips of the April 8 clashes uploaded to YouTube by the MKO “appear to show Iraqi soldiers indiscriminately firing into the crowds and using vehicles to try and run others down.
The Iraqi Forces attacks in the Ashraf Refugee Camp in Iraq, events occurred on April 8, this is considered crimes against humanity. A general call to stop the massacres, the suppression, restriction of movements on the residents of Ashraf Refugee Camp, and the return of the stolen property.
A call to international community, specially the US and the Allies that helped to Invaded and Ransacked Iraq, to return all the money stolen from Iraqi Society, Retributions on the loss of the infrastructure, the monetary compensation from homes and livelihood destroyed during and after Iraqi Invasion direct result of Military Occupation from US and its Allies.
Ashraf is just one tiny example of the suffering in Iraq, the whole country is under the wraps of destruction.
Iraq was a wealthy nation, her Vast Oils Fields been dried Up by the greed of the invasion forces.
Democracy is only a word in the Stages of Propaganda, Death and destruction is the Reality in Iraq.
It is a Moral Obligation of the US, EU, Arab League and any Other African County that lend their military support, air space, ground bases, and territorial waters to the Invading Forces to help now to alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi Population. The same way that they support the invasion to make their responsibility to help on the reconstruction of the Infrastructure of Iraq, her Educational Buildings, The Reconstructions of her Antique Monuments, and the recoup of all the stolen antiques from Iraqi Museum. All the Foreign Oil Companies that helped to extract Oil from the Iraqi Soil, they have the same responsibility to help in the reconstruction of Iraq. All the revenues that were generated from the oil fields is money that belongs to every Iraqi Civilian.
We can not just, pick our bags and leave the country in disarray. We have the Moral Obligation to help them to bring their Country Back from the Ashes that we left. The Iraqi Society is one of the most antique civilizations human history can account off, Iraqi Society was an advance society Educationally and Technologically, and economically self sufficient.
The US is a new Nation with less than 300 years of history, new to this world to try to teach lessons to a well established political, social and economically structured Nation such Iraq. Now we have destroyed her society, her buildings, her wells, we usurped their culture trying to give values that were not well received, values than are only good for us in the west, being a new society this values don’t even have roots to be strong enough, we have borrowed tehm from Europe, from Africa, From the American and with all the mix, we don’t make a good strong society to try to bridge gaps or to export them to another Nation that has a long history, thousands of years old culture, antique civilization that we can not even imagine, we can try and pretend to know because we have read about it, we have PH’s doctors studying Iraq history but all that we learn from books is only a fraction of what really is the Great Nation of Iraq.
The Iraqi People Needs our help, the help of the the International community to speak up for them. THANKS TO ALL . STAY HUMAN
Please Watch this video, it is grotesque yes, but it is happening to our brothers in Iraq, they are humans, fathers, mothers, sister, brothers they are not crazy people running, they are people running for their life, the Iraqi soldiers are using live ammunition, this is happening in Iraq in every town of Iraq, we the US and the Allies brought the civil unrest, but not because they have a Religious Differences or because they do not want the army, they did in a desperate attempt to safeguard their integrity as a society, as a human nucleus in Iraq. They were and are trying to defend themselves, what it left of their towns, of their homes, of their families.
Ashraf Petition to Support Ashraf Refugee Status and protection from the UN, and ultimately the US and its allies
Where is the World? When we are killed, harassed. Where is the International Community to protect our rights?….Here we have a lots of people talking, giving their opinions, pretending some of them that they care, they are speaking in this international forums, Well! Do something you have the stage, you have the word. Where is Bush and Company? Where is Obama that inherited this inhumane and illegal war. Where is the Club of 5 that have the power with a NO or Veto Voice to Stop this carnage. Show your faces and show your humanity.
More Posts on Iraq…
Support Ashraf – Ashraf residents are protected persons who signed an agreement with the US government according to which the US assumed their protection.
However, the agreement was violated by transferring this responsibility to the Iraqi government. This initiated a humanitarian catastrophe against the residents.
What media does’t inform you– Ashraf Refugee Camp – In late July 2009 conflict erupted when Iraqi forces attempted to enter the camp to establish a police station without the consent of the MEK. Accounts of the conflict differed. Residents claimed that Iraqi forces used violence, including gunfire, water cannons and batons, killing eleven people and injuring about 400. Videos taken by Ashraf residents show these scenes. Iraqi authorities denied using violent methods, but said unarmed residents used stones, knives and sharp tools to protect themselves and to fight security forces that tried to enter the camp. Journalists were excluded from the area.
Dale Farms
Dale Farm battle highlights funding black hole for new Traveller sites
Equality and Human Rights Commission says because Gypsy sites grant is not ring-fenced, money has been channelled away
Alexandra Topping and Hugh Muir · 28/09/2011 · guardian.co.uk
The Dale Farm attempted eviction has drawn attention to millions of pounds being channelled away from future site funding. Photograph: Andrew Winning/REUTERS
Millions of pounds intended for new Gypsy and Traveller sites have been diverted to other projects, a move described as shocking by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
The Gypsy and Traveller Sites Grant, launched in 2008, had £97m available to “reduce the number of unauthorised sites” and “reduce the need for costly enforcement action”. But only £16.9m has been spent. A lack of ring-fencing has meant millions being channelled into affordable homes not intended for Gypsies.
The diversion of the public money emerged as an eviction at the Dale Farm Travellers’ site in Essex, estimated to cost Basildon council up to £18m, became stuck in a legal quagmire with a further high-court hearing on its fate due on Thursday.
“Given that the lack of Traveller sites is central to the Dale Farm problem, it is shocking that millions have been taken away that should have been used for site provision and other projects,” said Simon Woolley, a commissioner with responsibility for Travellers, at the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
The Homes and Communities Agency told the Guardian that £15m from the grant was allotted to “unfunded commitments in other programmes” within the National Affordable Homes Programme.
Lord Eric Avebury, chair of the all-party parliamentary group for Gypsy, Roma and Travellers, said the effect of grandiose promises made to Travellers had been “pretty measly”. He added: “The government’s policy on Gypsies and Travellers is a shambles – if you are going to put a four-year programme in place then local authorities have to be aware of it and ready to use it. It is indicative of the total lack of willingness of successive governments to address the needs of Gypsies and Travellers.”
The grant programme, which had a stated aim of creating new, permanent, sites, to “tackle the inequalities experienced by Travellers … one of the most disadvantaged [groups] in the country” has led to building of just four new sites, with a total of 37 pitches; 62 new pitches were created on existing sites and 178 pitches were refurbished.
A lack of political will is responsible for the failure to provide the required 3,000 sites, according to the government’s annual caravan count, said the MP Andrew Slaughter, a member of the Gypsy, Roma and Travellers parliamentary group.
Slaughter said: “Local authorities are unwilling to take the grant often because of pressure from electors who say they do not want a site near them even it will solve local problems and cost nothing.”
The situation will be worsened by the localism bill, which scraps the requirement for local authorities to use a common method for assessing the needs of Gypsies and Travellers, and removes councils’ obligation to allocate sites, he added.
The coalition scrapped the Gypsy and Traveller sites grant in 2010-11, but reinstated a sum of £60m for 2011-15. That amount is about half of the yearly total previously available.
The Department for Communities and Local Government said the cut was made as part of its “contribution to reducing the national deficit”, and that targets had been abolished because “they did not work, alienated communities and did not always accurately reflect the need on the ground”.
Councils were being given more powers to address local housing and planning issues with “incentives” to provide appropriate sites, including a “duty to cooperate”, ensuring
local authorities worked together. There was also the new homes bonus, whereby the government matches additional council tax raised by new homes.
But that bonus was rated by Slaughter as “a perverse incentive” since councils would draw significantly more council tax from luxury developments than Traveller sites.
The situation was likely to create more Dale Farms, the MP said: “The government has given in to pressure from backbenchers to give local authorities a device to veto construction of new sites. That will mean few if any new sites built even if money’s available, more expensive evictions, more conflict and the continuation of appalling life-indicators for Gypsies and Travellers.”
Candy Sheridan, who is a member of the Gypsy Council and a campaigner at Dale Farm, told the Guardian’s Focus podcast that the Gypsy community was being let down and ignored. “It’s appalling. We have not been catered for and we continue to be vilified,” she said. “There are councils everywhere who don’t want to deliver for us – they say we have enough Gypsy sites. Where do we fit in?”
Additional reporting by Peter Sale
“It was an honour to be with the residents and activists who repelled the eviction of over 80 families from Dale Farm. The planned eviction of the Dale Farm residents is a human rights issue that everyone who cares about justice should be aware of.
Come to Dale Farm and increase the power of the people to compel justice.” Ken O’keefe
Read More in Dale Farms…..
Truth & Lies – Why Dale Farm Matters – The Irish traveler community of Dale Farm in England are facing a forced eviction, they are also facing a racist system that falsely claims that the residents of Dale Farm are flouting the law
Dale Farm Solidarity -Dale Farm resident, Mary McCarthy, said “I can’t believe that Basildon Council are placing the rights of newts over the rights of our community to a home. The council is finding any excuse to drive us out of Basildon.”
Dale Farm supporter, Ali Saunders, added “Tony Ball’s leadership is becoming untenable. It has been shown in court that there are alternatives to a confrontational eviction strategy at huge human and financial cost. Tony Ball needs to resign or return to the negotiating table.”
The Role of the General Assembly of the United Nations Vs Security Council Arbitrary Practices
Posted on September 22, 2011 by Marivel Guzman
The Security Council Role in the world it is not of maker of war as stands since its creation, there are 5 Permanent Members with “Right” to Veto any Resolution, but we should analyze in deep why they would “Veto” any measure that will avert war, or bring stability to a region on Earth, because their Job is to Guarantee Peace and Security, not to create conflicts and wars.
If the permanent members of the Security Council will be doing their job, we would not have a single war or conflict on Earth. There is no reason to wage a war on a neighbor is the Human Rights Status are implemented for every human being, if we respect the land of others, and respect the natural resources of Earth as a vast resource to feed us and not to accumulate riches in few hands.
This is my take on all the information thrown to roll in the internet, overall it is very pessimist on the UN Bid..and I think is misleading on the roles, of the General Assembly and Security Council…Because the case for Palestine Member status fall under the direction of the General Assembly even thought that the Security Council will want to make a recommendation on the issue, does not fall in their capacity.
Security Council role is in security and peace issues, like War and Peace, or Military Interventions or Economical Sanctions, and this Issue of Palestine Seat it is a Diplomatic move and has nothing to do with resolution of a conflict in itself but granting the membership to an entity that comply with the requirement to achieve this goal, as it is Palestine full capable of self determination.
Even thought the US and the 5 permanent members want to tell the world their twisting version, they are wrong in their own roles..
If the charters are respected as were intended, this issue should go directly to the General Assembly and not at all to the Security Council, And to make the things better; any member with voting status can make a recommendation on a issue to be discussed and vote by the 193 member of the General Assembly and Today Bahrain and Kuwait made the recommendation to the General assembly to recognize Palestine as an independent state.. so, we going to keep fighting and pressing our own, legislators to get the rule straight and stop playing political games, and do their job which it is make Peace Not War, Resolve Conflict to perpetrate them, and in no way they should favor an Entity that should not be a Member because does not comply with the requirement of delimited borders Israel move the borders at will and that it is in contravention of the Rule of the own UN…
At General Assembly, Kuwait and Bahrain demand creation of Palestinian State
The leaders of Kuwait and Bahrain today at the General Assembly called for an end to Israeli occupation of Arab territories and the creation of a Palestinian State, a move they said would resolve conflict in the Middle East.
22 September 2011 – The leaders of Kuwait and Bahrain today at the General Assembly called for an end to Israeli occupation of Arab territories and the creation of a Palestinian State, a move they said would resolve conflict in the Middle East
Security Council
The Security Council has primary responsibility, under the UN Charter, for the maintenance of international peace and security. A reform of the Security Council, including its membership is under consideration.
Security Council Subsidiary Bodies
Trusteeship Council
The Trusteeship Council was established in 1945 by the UN Charter to provide international supervision for 11 Trust Territories placed under the administration of 7 Member States, and ensure that adequate steps were taken to prepare the Territories for self-government and independence. By 1994, all Trust Territories had attained self-government or independence. Its work completed, the Council has amended its rules of procedure to meet as and where occasion may require.
Secretariat
The Secretariat carries out the day-to-day work of the Organization. It services the other principal organs and carries out tasks as varied as the issues dealt with by the UN: administering peacekeeping operations, surveying economic and social trends, preparing studies on human rights, among others.
Repertory of Practice of United Nations Organs
The Repertory of Practice of United Nations Organs is a legal publication containing analytical studies of the decisions of the principal organs of the United Nations. It is a comprehensive summary of the decisions of United Nations Organs and serves to throw light on questions of application and interpretation of the UN Charter in practice.
General Assembly
The General Assembly is the main deliberative organ of the UN and is composed of representatives of all Member States. The work of the United Nations year-round derives largely from the mandates given by the General Assembly. A revitalization of the Assembly is under way to enhance its role, authority, effectiveness and efficiency.
General Assembly Subsidiary Bodies
Economic and Social Council
The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), established by the UN Charter, is the principal organ to coordinate the economic, social and related work of the United Nations and the specialized agencies and institutions. Voting in the Council is by simple majority; each member has one vote.
International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice, located at the Hague in the Netherlands, is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It settles legal disputes between states and gives advisory opinions to the UN and its specialized agencies. Its Statute is an integral part of the United Nations Charter.
At General Assembly, Kuwait and Bahrain demand creation of Palestinian State
22 September 2011 – The leaders of Kuwait and Bahrain today at the General Assembly called for an end to Israeli occupation of Arab territories and the creation of a Palestinian State, a move they said would resolve conflict in the Middle East.“Six decades have passed, and the United Nations still stands incapable of finding a solution to the Palestinian Question and putting an end to the Israeli occupation of Arab territories,” said Sheikh Nasser Al Mohammad Al Ahmad Al Sabah, the Prime Minister of Kuwait, in his speech to the Assembly’s general debate in New York.
“What really evokes concern is that the international community stands as a spectator of all those Israeli practices and policies, without opposing or deterring them, despite their clear contravention and violation of the most simple rules of international law and the resolution of international legitimacy,” he said.
The Kuwaiti leader urged the international community to put pressure on Israel to withdrawal from Palestinian and other Arab territories so that Palestinians can achieve their right to self-determination and establish a State with Jerusalem as its capital.
“We wish to renew our full commitment and support to the bid of the Palestinian Authority and its endeavours to obtain membership of the United Nations as an independent and full Member State.”
The King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa, for his part told the Assembly that the creation of a Palestinian State would “end an era of bitter Arab-Israeli conflict, subject to Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Arab territories.”
The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, in his address to the general debate yesterday, hailed calls for political reform in the Middle East and North Africa, saying the regions “abounded in great expectations.”
He said that Qatar has always had a clear policy on the rules governing Arab, regional and international relations, which he said was based on reconciliation and harmony among peoples and nations.
“On the other hand, we, as well as others, have been unable to turn a deaf ear or blind eye to the calls of the wounded seeking help from near and far, against an entrenched oppression,” he said.
The Sheikh also had a tête-à-tête with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, during which they exchanged views on a number of regional issues, including Libya, Iraq, the Middle East and Darfur peace processes.
Mr. Ban paid tribute to the role played by Qatar in supporting the UN’s work, stressing the country’s role in the Darfur peace process and its efforts to settle other regional issues.
Follow this link to listen to the speech of Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al Mohammad Al Ahmad Al Sabah of Kuwait
The Importance to being Anti-Israel – The feeling of aversion to the Israeli regime and sympathy for Palestine has even reached the United States. On September 16, hundreds of Americans and Palestinians rallied in New York City in front of the United Nation Building in Manhattan and voiced their support for Palestine’s statehood bid. Among the protesters were students and even pro-Palestinian Israelis who held Palestinian flags and chanted pro-Palestinian songs.
The Arrogant voice of Imperialism – President Obama delivered an empty and arrogant sermon to the United Nations Wednesday, laced with platitudes about “peace” that were designed to mask Washington’s predatory policies. The American president received a tepid response from the assembled heads of state, foreign ministers and UN delegates. Not a single line in his speech evoked applause.
We the People Stand for Justice and Peace; Palestine UN State 2011
Posted on September 20, 2011 by Marivel Guzman
It is up to All of us in the free world, to speak, to protest, to boycott, to question against the US or any other country that do not agree with the Independence of Palestine.
There is no more time for mockery “Peace Talks”, they were never intended to solve the conflict but to continue the occupation which some how in the road of 65 years has become “Legal”, go figure how the “Elite” understand democracy and freedom for others. All we know is that UN (Club of 5) were never partners for peace, not for the Palestinians or for no one. Now the best they can do is to stay on the sidelines and let the people to choose their destiny.
The Arabs Spring, this is how the Media have baptized the will of the people, the people revolutions have shown to the world, to the leaders that we still have the power to move, and those revolutions will keep growing even if the Elite thinks they can stop them.
Now is the time for us to yell loud and clear that we are not spectators no more, we want peace for Palestinians, we want their rights, their seat in the UN. We the People Choose not to let few leaders to Choose for all of us.
Remember; The leaders are few, WE THE PEOPLE are Many, we are billions of people that can rise to the occasion. Injustice is one of the reasons the revolutions started not only in these past few months, but throughout history. We are to the brink of starvation, because injustice is to the order of the day. The Leaders can not afford a global boycott, a global march, a global Protest, a global REVOLUTION, because WWIII will be imminent, and why will they want to use nuclear weapons. Why for the benefit of few. NO, Nonsense.
Palestine has been an ongoing conflict that needs to be solved now, and this is a great opportunity for Israel to move forward and stop their aggressive tactics and finally get it,
that enough is enough.
The disinformation going around is a real knock out of Israel against Palestine, there is no Indefinite Veto Power, the Security Council will make a recommendation on the Request from Palestine Authority to Be accepted as a Full Member of the UN being the 194 state. But the real power is in the General Assembly of the UN, that needs 3/4 of of the countries to pass a resolution. And nothing is written in stone, any compromise reach on this historic resolution should be implemented and could be change for the good of the parties involved. Especially for Palestinians that have always get the worse part in any accords in the past. And by the way, those accords should be obsolete, they were never implemented from Israel part, but were forced on the Palestinians.
In the past, all the veto resolutions done by US or any other country never seek the General Assembly because they were weak requests in the eyes of the General Assembly, but this time is different, the world is tired of Israel mockery of International Law, tired of Israel violating every convention and International Human Rights Statutes . The world is tired to see the full support that Israel gets from the Club of 5 (UN Security Council/illegal in my view)on every crime she commits. I think now we finally are seeing ourselves as awaken from a long dream.
Before we will hear Obama, or Bush or Blair or any Leaders excusing Israel for killing Palestinians with the well known statement; “Israel has the right to defend itself”, com’on defend itself from who, from patients in hospitals being bombed from F16, or drones, defend itself from 10 years old being killed and called collateral damaged, when Israel bomb their homes. Defend from the Olive trees, being uprooted for the buffer zone or to plant settlement inside Palestine?
We seen it all with Israel the latest slap to all of us, was the massacre of the Mavi Marmara where the Palmer Report got to the conclusion that the Block of Gaza is Legal, and the murder of 9 unarmed peace activists were in an act of self defense. Really! it is ludicrous, ridiculous how, time and time again we see Israel being exonerated with a pad in the back for her crimes. The way we seen lately the disproportionate use of force against International Peace Activists and the Non Violent movement, is how the world attention has finally paid attention to the Palestinian Cause. It’s like we went back time, and found ourselves inside South Africa Apartheid, but in Palestine, in the Occupied Territories, and we using this term Occupied Territories as we were in the medieval times, when the law of the jungle ruled. We are in the 21 century and we still have some Military States oppressing entire populations and our leaders and news treat the phenomenon as it is normal.
Israel is not the only Military Dictatorship that it is committing crimes against humanity, India also is in flagrant abuse of power in the region of Kashmir, but the eyes of the world are now in Palestine and it is time to start cutting heads, Israel is a new beginning because it is from this spot on earth that the globalist agenda is planned.
Our history is full of Mass Murderers not only the revered Kings of the history books have killed thousands of people and usurped the rights of those same people, but Popes and revered religious figures in our past have ordered the mass murdered of thousands of people, even The God of the Old Testament had ordered the killings of thousands of people and we were ok with those stories. Now in this modern era we see the savagery that took place in the past, and we start realizing that we never really stand together as a race, in no other time in history we did were together, we always been divided by Religion, Cultural Values, Political ideas and other divisive tools. In the last 40 years I can say, since the hippie movement is that the world started their awakening, and now we are more and more standing with my brother, speaking for his rights, and suffering his pains. Palestine is the great example, but does not stop there, we are moving to a new era, this is it..Natayahu is only one of many which heads will fall. With your help, my help and that of 6.7 billions more people that are awakening…
The Beginning of new era for Palestine start in that theater, that was the same that created Israel. With the difference that Israel is losing support, and Palestine support is growing day by day. And I know that it seems that if we accept the idea of two states solutions we will be given legitimacy to Israel, I see it from the positive side and the realistic fact, that the population of Palestine is growing exponentially, and Israel population is diminishing, in two ways; lots of Israelis are abandoning the boat and leaving the Land, and also, they do not reproduce as fast as Palestinians do, so I see it, as the power of the people will take over, and with the help of the International Community of Peace and Social activists and conscience objectors, Israel will eventually disappear from the Map with the same pen that was created. The UN.
And it is exactly in this spot on earth, the Holy Land where history said conflicts started, when so it is a good place to start with the cleaning of our Planet. Welcome to Humanity 1.01, the program is fresh upgrade yours it is free. ……….STAY HUMAN
My favorite Radio Host Michael Rivero and his very own and truthful views of our world
The instant the US government Vetos the Palestinian measure in the security council the whole world is going to know that the US government is full of crap. When it comes to middle east peace when it comes to a Palestinian state, everybody is going to see the US government grovel for Israel before the eyes of the entire world. The US governments credibility is going to be destroyed, not that there is very much left anyways. So everybody in Washington DC might as well get your tee-shirts that say “proud to be Israels bitch” and you might as well put them on right now… because after Friday that is what everyone on planet earth is going to be thinking about you. Everybody who’s in congress and washington DC if you want to support Israel GO THERE! But as long as you stand on the soverign territory of the USA and as long as your salary is paid by the American tax payer and you work in the buildings that belong to the people of the USA you better darn well be taking care of this country, because we have HAD IT.
More Posts………..
Palestinians will go to the UN on September 23...Do not believe in rumors
A Strategy for Israel in the 1980′s…Read this article in entirely and see how the agenda is been followed to the last step. So do not get discourage, we keep fighting, we moving to a new era
People we do not know.…….We interact few times in the walls, in the channels, the spaces and we call ourselves, friends, brothers, comrades. We go to extreme lengths to fight for your rights, to fight for your country, to fight for your causes. We stand strong for a reason we do not completely understand, other than doing social justice to peace and friendship. What really Happen to all of us?, that suddenly we raise our voices for your flag, for the protection of your individual liberties, your civil rights
Would UN General Assembly Vote for an Independent Palestine?…..Since the Fall of the Berlin Wall ,there are enough existential and serious problems for regimes and states in the Arab and Muslim world ,from Morocco to Saudi Arabia, and beyond , greedy , ruthless White Christian Crusaders pursuing mostly illegal policy of destruction and loot of sovereign states like Libya ,Iraq etc .There is relentless pressure on Assad regime in Syria, but the next hot item on the Middle East agenda is going to be the vote on Palestine Independence in United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September, 2011.
Palestinians Will Go to UN on September 23
Posted on September 14, 2011 by Marivel Guzman
Do not Believe Rumors circulating around. The PA is not backing up, those rumors are spread by Israel, US and the Israel Lobby around the world, they want you to believe that Abbas is going to down grade his request at the UN for that of observer, that position is not of the interest of Palestine and will not be of use. Ashton the EU representative is trying to convince Abbas not to bid for State Hood, the same with US and Israel. They are running around like a fox following by dog-hounds, trying to instill fear to Abbas using all kind of threads, but the PA is resolute to seek full recognition.
Fatah official: Palestinians will go to UN by September 23
Comments were made by Dr. Mohammad Shtayyeh, a senior member of Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party and a member of the special PLO committee that prepared the UN bid.
By Amira Hass
The Palestinians plan to submit a formal request for full United Nations membership to the Security Council by September 23, despite the United States’ opposition and Europe’s reservations, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will refer to this request in his speech to the General Assembly on that date, Dr. Mohammad Shtayyeh said yesterday.
Shtayyeh, a senior member of Abbas’ Fatah party, was a member of the special PLO committee that prepared the UN bid.
Speaking at a press conference in Ramallah, he sought to dispel rumors that the PA has decided against applying to the Security Council and will instead apply only to the General Assembly. The latter cannot grant full UN membership, but can recognize an applicant as a nonmember state with observer status.
“We are going to the United Nations, we are going to the Security Council,” he said. “We are going to seek full membership based on [the] 1967 borders.”
Meetings with European and American officials have not yielded any written proposal for resuming Israeli-Palestinian negotiations that the Palestinians view as serious, he said. But even if the West did draft such a proposal, he added, it would be meaningless without Israeli consent, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will never accept the Palestinians’ two key demands: the 1967 borders and a cessation of settlement construction.
He said that Hamas leader Khaled Meshal had expressed support for the UN bid.
Going to the UN is part of a strategy for transferring the Palestinian struggle for independence from the bilateral to the multinational arena, since the bilateral arena has proven a failure, Shtayyeh said. But he insisted this in no way contradicts a resumption of negotiations. The UN bid is aimed not at delegitimizing Israel, but at delegitimizing the occupation and legitimizing the State of Palestine, he said.
Palestinians, he added, have no intention of accompanying their UN bid with violence, and will not “fall into the trap set” by what he referred to as daily attacks by settlers against Palestinians.
He also said Palestinians understand that the reality of life in the West Bank will be no different the day after the UN vote than it was before – unless settlers escalate their assaults, in which case the situation will deteriorate, he warned.
Once their membership application is submitted, he noted, Palestinians have no control over the timetable of subsequent events, such as when a special Security Council panel starts discussing the application or when it submit its recommendations to the full council. But based on past experience, he said, the process could take days, weeks or even months. Nor is a rejection necessarily final, Shtayyeh added: Jordan’s application was rejected three times before being accepted.
Israel, he predicted, won’t carry out its threat to freeze tax transfers to the PA if it goes through with the UN bid, because it’s not in Israel’s interest for the PA to collapse. But if Israel does freeze the transfers, Abbas has already asked Arab states to compensate for “every penny,” he said.
![]() |
United Nations General Assembly Hall on Oct. 12, 2010. |
| Photo by: AP |
More Posts Related
Saudi Arabia Warns the US not to Veto Palestine UN Bid for State Hood – former Saudi Intelligence Agency chief, Turki Al Faisal, warned the United States that its strategic relations with its Arab allies, mainly Riyadh, will be significantly harmed, should Washington opt to veto the establishment of a Palestinian State.
Arabs States Reitared -Arab states reiterate support for Palestinian statehood-Sep 13, 2011, 17:06 GMT
Cairo – Arab states fully support a planned Palestinian bid before the United Nations for recognition as an independent state, the head of the Arab League said on Tuesday.
‘We are waiting for the Palestinian leadership’s decision whether they will address the General Assembly or the (UN) Security Council,’ Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi said, following a ministerial meeting of the 22-member organization.
Shtayyeh Decries Israeli Unilateralism as West Bank Raided
Posted on September 14, 2011 by Marivel Guzman
| 14.09.11 | |
| Palestine News NetworkAfter a night of Israeli raids and settler attacks in the West Bank, senior Palestinian official Mohammed Shtayyeh released a statement condemning Israeli unilateralism on the 18th anniversary of the Oslo Accords.
(PNN Archive)
“Today we commemorate 18 years since the launch of a process that was supposed to lead us to freedom and independence,” he said. “It was meant to last only for a transitional period of five years. Unfortunately, almost two decades later, the Israeli occupation of Palestine is entrenched and Israel’s occupation has turned into de facto annexation.” Early on Wednesday morning, Israeli forces raided the village of Masliya, south of Jenin in the northern West Bank. Secure local sources told official Palestinian news wire Wafa that the troops used flash grenades as they invaded the home of Abdurraziq Abu al-Rab. No one was arrested in the raid, but al-Rab told Wafa his three children were terrified. Other villages in the Jenin area, such as al-Arq, al-Hashimiya, and Kafr Qadum, were also raided. In the central West Bank, the village of Deir Istiya reported a nighttime Israeli raid and the mayor, Nazmi Salman, said that troops blocked off access to the village from the West. “Together with the colonization of Palestinian land, other unilateral Israeli policies, including home demolitions, evictions, ID revocations, killings, the illegal exploitation of natural resources, and closure of Palestinian institutions in occupied East Jerusalem have threatened the prospect of a two-state solution,” Shtayyeh continued. Settlers from Itamar burned a car near the northern West Bank city of Nablu and injured three Palestinians on Wednesday morning. The car was transporting 50-year-old Jihad Thuwabiteh, 30-year-old Mu’atiz Yusef Dayriya, and 21-year-old Mohammed Khaled Taqataqeh from Nablus to their village of Beit Fajjar, near Bethlehem in the southern West Bank. All three ended up with bruises and other injuries and their car was burned, though it was unclear how. The three Palestinians were taken to a Nablus hospital. After noting Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s self-proclaimed desire to “kill the Oslo Accords,” Shtayyeh reiterated his support for the Palestinian statehood bid to be presented to the UN in one week. “We are approaching the moment of truth. After years of Israeli unilateralism and illegal policies aimed at sabotaging a bilateral peace agreement, Palestinians will take their struggle back to where it all began—to the assembly hall of the United Nations.” |
More Related Posts
Abbas Rejects Critics in Cairo, Says PLO Will Not Be Replaced – Countering speculation among Palestinian intellectuals and rights groups that his move for Palestinian statehood at the UN would come at the cost of the PLO, President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday evening in Cairo that his critics were “incorrect” and that the PLO would not be replaced.
Fatah official: Palestinians will go to UN by September 23– Shtayyeh, a senior member of Abbas’ Fatah party, was a member of the special PLO committee that prepared the UN bid. Speaking at a press conference in Ramallah, he sought to dispel rumors that the PA has decided against applying to the Security Council and will instead apply only to the General Assembly. The latter cannot grant full UN membership, but can recognize an applicant as a nonmember state with observer status. The Palestinians plan to submit a formal request for full United Nations membership to the Security Council by September 23, despite the United States’ opposition and Europe’s reservations, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will refer to this request in his speech to the General Assembly on that date, Dr. Mohammad Shtayyeh said yesterday.
Saudi Arabia Warns US not to Veto Palestine StateHood
Posted on September 14, 2011 by Marivel Guzman
Former Saudi Intelligence Chief Warns U.S. Of Veto Consequences
Saudi Prince, former Saudi Intelligence Agency chief, Turki Al Faisal, warned the United States that its strategic relations with its Arab allies, mainly Riyadh, will be significantly harmed, should Washington opt to veto the establishment of a Palestinian State.
The New York Times reported that Al Faisal warned that a U.S. veto against full Palestinian membership at the United Nations “will destroy the special relations between Riyadh and Washington, and will harm the U.S. in the Arab world”.
Al Faisal further stated that the United States must support the Palestinian decision to establish an independent state, and must vote for the decision this month, otherwise, “Washington will lose its already declining credibility in the Arab world”.
The Saudi Prince said that Washington must realize that losing its credibility directly impacts the security of Israel, and will lead to a stronger Iranian domination in the region, an issue that increases the possibilities of a new war.
Al Faisal said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia “will not be willing to continue its current cooperation with Washington”, especially amidst the revolutions in the Arab world, as these revolutions demand democracy, and demand justice to the Palestinian people.
He also stated that, due to the changes in the region, the leadership in Saudi Arabia will be obliged to adopt more independent foreign policies, and will be forced to adopt policies that are not coherent with the United States.
“The Palestinians want their right to statehood, all nations will support them”, Al Faisal added, “Israel should not regard the Palestinian demand as a threat; it should look at t as an opportunity for peace, security and equality”.
More Related Posts
Palestinians Right of Return is not Debatable: UN Resolution 194 In Force and Enforceable – the UN passed General Assembly Resolution (UNGA) 194, which mandated compensation for the Palestinian refugees and assured their right to return home. The UN made Israel’s own membership in the world body contingent on Israeli acceptance of 194 and the rights it granted to the Palestinians.
Would UN General Assembly Vote for an Independent Palestine? – According to Israel’s Haaretz the UNGA is expected to okay an independent Palestinian state by a huge majority. “The wording of the draft, crafted in recent days by the Fatah leadership, is designed to enable even “problematic” countries such as Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic to climb on board, or at least abstain. This version will make it difficult for the United States and the Marshall Islands, and even for Israel, to explain their votes against the proposal.
Turkey’s Upright Stance! Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul said Turkey would reject the report, regarding it as “null and void”… “The time has come for Israel to pay a price for its illegal actions… first of all, (Israel) is being deprived of Turkey’s friendship.”
Turkey’s PM rallies Arab world in Cairo with call for UN to recognize Palestine – Analysts believe Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Egypt visit is designed to strengthen Turkey’s influence in the region and isolate Israel
Would UN General Assembly Vote for an Independent Palestine?
Posted on September 06, 2011 by Marivel Guzman
Article by K.Gajendra Singh
The Life and Times of Arafat- Mission Incomplete 
Since the Fall of the Berlin Wall ,there are enough existential and serious problems for regimes and states in the Arab and Muslim world ,from Morocco to Saudi Arabia, and beyond , greedy , ruthless White Christian Crusaders pursuing mostly illegal policy of destruction and loot of sovereign states like Libya ,Iraq etc .There is relentless pressure on Assad regime in Syria, but the next hot item on the Middle East agenda is going to be the vote on Palestine Independence in United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September, 2011.
According to Israel’s Haaretz the UNGA is expected to okay an independent Palestinian state by a huge majority. “The wording of the draft, crafted in recent days by the Fatah leadership, is designed to enable even “problematic” countries such as Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic to climb on board, or at least abstain. This version will make it difficult for the United States and the Marshall Islands, and even for Israel, to explain their votes against the proposal. Instead of recognizing Palestine within the 1967 borders, it will state that the permanent borders will be determined in negotiations with Israel based on the borders of June 4, 1967. This approach made it possible to enlist the support of leading moderates in Hamas, who claim that recognition of the 1967 borders before the signing of a final-status deal means waiving the claim to the right of return.”
Given the Israeli government’s intransigence, the Palestinian leadership and its advisers feel that the option of settling the conflict via bilateral negotiations − the path pursued by the Palestinian leadership for 20 years − is no longer viable. Most of them “ support the option of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital and a fair arrangement that will fulfill the right of return and the compensation of the Palestinian refugees. -It rejects the possibility of continuing the status quo, maintaining that the endless negotiations provide cover for expanding the settlements and consolidating the occupation. It will also erase from the agenda the option of a Palestinian state with temporary borders and limited sovereignty, under effective Israeli control.”
The Palestinian Authority leadership also examined other options like nonviolent resistance as in Egypt and Tunisia – or dismantling itself and restoring responsibility for the West Bank’s inhabitants to Israel or towards a model of a bi-national state or democratic state without distinction between Israel and Palestinian citizens. Even the possibility is a confederation between Jordan and the Palestinian state was examined. The last attempt was made by late Yasser Arafat after the failure of the Camp David talks in 2000. Arafat travelled to many capitals, to seek support for such a declaration. But most countries advised Arafat to continue with the peace negotiations rather than pursue a unilateral path.
This time the situation is different. There is little hope for real negotiations. The Arab revolts against pro-US leaders have created a favorable environment. Cairo , which was under US influence followed a pro-Israel policy .Now the transition government in Egypt has already called upon the United States to support Palestinian independence. Popular uprisings elsewhere will influence the governments in the Arab world to be more sensitive on the Palestinian issue. There is little doubt of deep the support in the Arab and Muslim Street for the Palestinians .
As regards Turkey, Ankara’s relations with Israel have plummeted to very low depth with nine Turks killed by Israeli commandos on Mavi Marmara carrying aid for embattled Gaza citizens . Ankara recently withdrew its ambassador from Tel Aviv and asked Israel to apologies .Since many years Ankara has regularly criticized Israel and its policies .When Israel was reported to be interfering in north Iraq with the aim of creating problems in Turkey’s Kurdish South East , Turkish PM Tayep Erdogan had accused Israel of state terrorism in Gaza. Many other countries have made declarations of support but the critical issue is what the EU countries and the U.S. will do. Catherine Ashton, EU’s senior official told the media that the Palestinian Authority had made significant progress . Its institutions now compared favorably with those in the West. There have been several other positive reports by international institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the U.N. that have studied the police force, municipal services and schools that indicate that the Palestinians are almost ready to run their own state.
But do not rule out Israel’s obduracy and its deep influence in US policy making apparatus and corridors of power.
Before proceeding further let us first have a look at the tortured history of region in general and Palestine in particular.
Almost all the states in the region were once part of the Ottoman Empire and ruled by Caliph Sultan in Istanbul, which apart from Muslim countries in the regions also included Eastern Europe and Balkans right up to the gates of Vienna. As the West European powers from the end of 17 century rolled back the Ottoman arms from the Gates of Vienna ,they annexed and began exploiting the former Ottoman territories beginning with Arab Muslim peoples of north Africa .The French, the English and the Italians being the primary beneficiaries .But colonial settlements and genocide of natives took place by Europeans in Americas, rest of Africa and far off Australia , New Zealand too, along with Portuguese ,Belgian ,Dutch, Spanish and Germans also joining in .The whole of Africa was divided along arbitrary borders , for brutal exploitation, specially by the Belgians and the Dutch.
Most of West Asia fell into European lap after the defeat of the Ottomans which had sided with Germans in WWI .
Background and seeds of Arab-Israeli disputes
Strategically and religiously speaking the Arab-Israeli disputes with its core problem of Palestine is as old as time, beginning from the days of the Trojan wars, the first struggle between the West and the East. Or the expulsion and dispersal of Jews from Palestine ( if true) ,or from the differences between Prophet Mohammed and the Jews in Medina following the Hijra. Or the Christian Crusades to recover the religious sites in the Holy Land, except that the Crusaders had treated Jews then as brutally as the Muslims. And even the Orthodox Christians at Constantinople. And now, to control the strategic space and exploit energy reserves under Arab lands.
The Tigris and Euphrates region has a turbulent history. Following the exhaustion of the Persian and Roman/Byzantine empires the armies of Islam emerging from the arid sands of the Arabia carved an empire from the Atlantic to China in the 7th Century. But after the Ottoman Sultan annexed the caliphate and guardianship of Mecca and Medina in 16 century, the peninsula became peaceful back water .
In the wake of the rollback of Ottoman Turks from the gates of Vienna, European powers started moving into Islamic lands in North Africa and from 18th century onward progressively colonized them. The British took over Cyprus and Egypt but World War I provided an opportunity for further colonial acquisitions when Turkey sided with Germany. To protect its Indian colonial possession and its lifeline, the Suez Canal, the British encouraged Arabs under Hashemite ruler Sharif Hussein of Hijaj to revolt against the Ottoman sultan caliph in Istanbul and deputed spy T E Lawrence to help out with promises of independence.
But the war’s end did not bring freedom as promised; because by secret Sykes-Picot agreement, London and Paris arbitrarily divided the sultan’s Arab domains and their warring populations of Shias, Sunnis, Alawite Muslims, Druses, and Christians. The French took most of greater Syria, dividing it into Syria and Christian-dominated Lebanon. The British kept Palestine, Iraq and the rest of Arabia.
When Sharif Hussein’s son Emir Feisel arrived in Damascus to claim Syria as promised , the French chased him out. So the British installed him on the Iraqi throne. Feisel’s brother Emir Abdullah was granted a new Emirate of Trans-Jordan, east of the River Jordan, created out of wastelands vaguely claimed by Syrians, Saudis and Iraqis.
By the 1917 Balfour Declaration, Britain had also promised a homeland for Jews in Palestine. Under the Versailles conference in 1920, Britain was made the mandatory power for Palestine, which appointed Samuel Butler, a liberal Jew, as the first high commissioner to facilitate Jewish immigration and their settlement. So the European Jews began migrating to Palestine, and the trickle became a flood with the rise of anti-Semitic policies in Nazi Germany and elsewhere in Europe. From then on started fights, pogroms and battles between Palestinian Arabs and Jewish immigrants. After World War II, the State of Israel was carved out of British Palestine by the United Nations in 1948, but it was not recognized by the Arabs. The United States recognized Israel but not Palestine. In the ensuing first 1948 Arab-Israeli war, which the Arabs lost, Israel expanded its area, while Jordan in collusion with Israel annexed the West Bank and Egypt took over Gaza.
As if the Palestinians were then just another Arab people up for grabs.
After the rise of Arab nationalism in the early 1950s led by Colonel Gamal Nasser of Egypt, socialists and nationalists, mostly military officers, took over the decaying medieval kingdoms of Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Libya , much to the consternation of Western oil companies. The Anglo-French attempt in collusion with Israel to cut Nasser down to size in the 1956 Suez war, opposed by the US and USSR, was an abject failure. Also a sign that the time of London and Paris was passed .
But in the six-day preemptive war of 1967, Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan and Gaza from Egypt and occupied Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Syria’s Golan Heights. Thus were laid the foundations for Arab-Israeli problems of the region. The core UN Resolution 242 requires that Israel vacate lands it occupied after the June 1967 war.
From its very inception, almost all its neighbors coveted Jordan. But astute King Hussein (who ruled from 1953-99) not only survived a dozen assassination attempts, he also fended off conspiracies against his land. When Hussein died in 1999 of cancer, the kingdom had become a keystone of equilibrium in the region and a modern flourishing state, despite lacking oil or other resources.
Palestinians make up 60 percent of Jordan’s population (some Israeli leaders say that in Jordan Palestinians already have their own state). Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) militants and Palestinian army officers conspired against King Hussein (King Abdullah, his grandfather, was assassinated by a Palestinian in 1951), so, he expelled Arafat-led PLO to Beirut in early 1971. The Hashemite Kings rely on tribal Jordanians for security and armed forces and have Chechens as their praetorian guards.
Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir, who became prime ministers of Israel later had fought savage guerrilla battles against the British and the Arab Palestinians to create the State of Israel, were no different from leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and others. The British were unable to handle the turbulent situation and handed over the hot potato to the (UNO), which in 1947 put forward a plan to partition Palestine into Arab and Jewish states.
Since then there have been three regional wars between Israel and the Arabs (1948, 1967 and 1973) and two Palestinian uprisings (intifadas) against Israeli occupation. It was either an Arab wish to control if not destroys the State of Israel or an Israeli attempt to extend its boundaries ( to biblical frontiers ) further into Arab lands. But after every war and uprising more Palestinians came under Israeli control or left their homeland and the refugees now number into millions. After each war Israel gained more territory. In 1948 it extended the Jewish areas under the partition plan to its present internationally recognized borders (but the Arabs of Israel do not have full and equal rights as citizens).
From these areas a large number of Palestinian refugees fled or were forced to flee the Jewish state in 1948. After the wars in 1948 and 1967, Israel began an illegal program of building new settlements in the Occupied Territories, which has continued all along and never really ceased.
The 1973 Yom Kippur war initiated by Egypt made Israel feel vulnerable and not that invincible ( For the first time Israel threatened to nuke Cairo unless– .Since then Israel’s nukes run into many hundreds ,the only nuclear armed power in the region.) Only a US military hardware air bridge and other help turned the tide for the Israelis. But Egypt gained little while oil-rich Gulf States became obscenely wealthy with fourfold increase in crude prices, with neo-rich Gulfis lording over in Cairo .
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat made a peace deal with Israel in 1978 at Camp David after his startling 1977 visit and address to the Israeli Knesset (Parliament ). Sadat was later assassinated for this act of treason by his own Islamist group of soldiers. But Egypt got its territory back from Israel, including oil wells in Sinai.
In 1982, when Sharon was defense minister, Israel invaded Lebanon and expelled Arafat and his guerrillas from there. It was then that massacres took place at the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Chatilla, for which Sharon was blamed after an inquiry. Arafat and his PLO headquarters were shifted to Tunis.
Jordan made peace with Israel after the Oslo Accords. In 1988 it gave up all its claims on the West Bank. But the Israeli conflict with other Arab states such as Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and others persists.
It is said that there can be no war against Israel without Egypt and no peace without Syria (with its armed forces in Lebanon till a few years ago and its support to Hezbollah). With Egypt neutralized, fears of a regional or wider conflagration receded but it stirred up Islamist terrorism, and hatred towards Israel’s Western backers, primarily the United States and its poodle UK .France joins up when Syria and Lebanon come up .The hate in the Muslim and Arab world reached very high levels after the illegal US-UK-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and its brutal occupation since then. However all agree that great injustice has been done to the Palestinians, now under Israel control or as refugees spread elsewhere, with millions still living in refugee camps. When former US president Jimmy Carter compared the situation of the Palestinians to apartheid South Africa , he faced the wrath of Jewish community and neo-cons in US and elsewhere.
First Intifada
After its agreement with Egypt , Israel felt that it had resolved the problem of Palestinians under its occupation, which also provided cheap labor. It was then that Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, refusing to be enslaved, revolted. This erupted as Intifada in 1987 in the Gaza Strip and then spread to the West Bank. Later other organizations took over and claimed credit for this spontaneous outburst of anger against repression and thirst for freedom. Except for stone-throwing by children, it was generally free from violence from the side of the Palestinians. These pictures on TV screens around the world brought home the injustice being perpetrated on the Palestinians in their own land and angered the Muslim world in particular.
The 1987 Intifada was somewhat like Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent movement against the British but in a Middle East setting. The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan used to screen on its TV channel Richard Attenborough’s film Gandhi on the anniversary of Intifada in November, which was easily received in the Occupied Territories, Israel, Syria and the neighborhood. Its implicit message was to keep the revolution (Intifada) non-violent and not let Israel divide the Palestinian people in their struggle. The horrendous results of use of violence with killings of Israelis by suicide bombers countered by carnage and destruction by Israeli military planes, helicopter gunships and missiles in the second Intifada from September 2000 was there for all to see.
Palestine and Gulf war, 1990-91
The US maneuvered Saddam Hussein into the 1991 war but without any strategic pre-planning. The West had supported Iraq’s long war against Khomeini’s Iran. US had granted loans to Baghdad worth billions of dollars. Amid high tension between Kuwait and Baghdad over common oil wells, two islands, and the return of a $10 billion loan, Iraq threatened Kuwait with war. A few days before the Iraqi invasion on August 2, 1990, US Ambassador April Glaspie told Saddam Hussein that his dispute with Kuwait was a bilateral Arab affair. This was never clearly refuted by the US and Ambassador Glaspie disappeared from view. Meanwhile, all attempts to find a peaceful solution to the Iraq-Kuwait row by Arab nations, led by King Hussein of Jordan and later joined by King Hassan of Morocco, were rebuffed by the US, as was Kuwait’s offer of indirect negotiations. Feelers for negotiations by the Saudis were drowned in Western cacophony. Saddam’s reported offer to the UN secretary general to withdraw from Kuwait, made just before the US led war, was brushed aside. Efforts by Mikhail Gorbachev, who had just unraveled the USSR, were treated with disdain.
Bush had attacked Iraq in 1991 without informing the UN secretary general, undermining the world body (the 2003 invasion was against UN will and its Charter.) For the countries of the region, the war resolved nothing. Instead, the US made Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other allies pay through the nose, an estimated $100-$150 billion. Iraq was bombed into the Middle Ages. US and Iraq’s enemy Iran, was the major gainer. Before the war ,to guard his back, Saddam agreed to the old boundary with Iran in the Shatt-al Arab waterway, disagreement over which had led to the Iran-Iraq War.
US promises turned sour in the aftermath of the Gulf War. George Bush Sr., also encouraged Iraqis, especially Kurds in the north and Shias in the south, to revolt. Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, most of which had large Shia populations, were horrified, as a Shia state in south Iraq would strengthen Iran. The prospect of independence for Iraqi Kurds worried Turkey, whose own Kurds were fighting for freedom. The hapless Iraqi Kurds, and the Shi’as paid a terrible price.
Turkish President Turgut Ozal, seduced by US hints of winning “lost” Kurdish areas of north Iraq, became an energetic supporter of the Bush coalition and almost opened another front in the war against Iraq, but was prevented by stiff opposition from his powerful military. But instead of getting oil-rich Mosul and Kirkuk, the economic sanctions against Iraq and closure of the Iraqi pipeline via Turkey cost Ankara $50 billion in lost trade. Unemployment rose as the sanctions halted the 5,000 trucks that used to roar to and from Iraq daily, aggravating the economic and social problems in Turkey’s Kurdish heartland of rebellion.
A Turkish deputy prime minister once ruefully told this writer, “Mr. Ambassador, you cannot trust the Americans, not even their written promises.” A sobering thought for those who support the US blindly.
Saudi Arabia was misled in 1991 by doctored evidence of Saddam’s intentions. The stationing of US troops on sacred Arabian soil after the war was resented by Arabs and Muslims all over the world. They also oppose oppressive pro-US Arab regimes and their siphoning off of oil wealth. After September 11, most Muslims saw the Arab-Israel conflict and US illegal invasion of Iraq as part of Crusade versus Jihad (In fact this is the word George Bush used after 11/9.)
But Palestinians and their cause suffered the most both after 1991 war on Iraq and the 2003 invasion .Saddam Hussein was a staunch supporter of PLO . Even when financially squeezed he sent money to families of Palestinian suicide bombers. After the liberation of Kuwait in 1991 ,many Palestinians lost jobs in Kuwait and other Gulf states. But their education , language and ethnic similarity almost makes them indispensable in the Gulf region.
Israel and Palestine
It is amazing that those who suffered so much in the Holocaust, an acme of western material civilization i.e. use of the last Jewish bone and for centuries earlier because of blind prejudice in Europe and elsewhere are so capable of inflicting the same unspeakable horrors on the lives of others. What the Israelis are doing is indeed the action of “terrorists” who accuse Palestinians of “terror”. When a person has to turn himself or herself into a human bomb in order to fight for a cause, when children throw stones at tanks, these are acts of desperation from an oppressed people.
Israel is a powerful country, backed by the mighty power of the United States, both in money and in arms. Jews in US and neo-cons support Israel with Jewish AIPAC blackmailing US leaders and lawmakers by threatening to defeat them at polls by their financial and media clout .The world recognizes the plight of the Palestinians, and understands it, but is unable do much about such incredibly inhumane deeds and events.
Israeli solutions!
Since the occupation of Palestinian territories after the 1967 war, the major policy debate in Israeli military and political elites has been about how to keep maximum land (and water and other resources) with minimum Palestinian population. Annexation of heavily populated Palestinian land, with high birthrates, would create a “demographic problem” and reduced Jewish majority. So two solutions were considered. Massive emigration from Russia was encouraged and organized in the early 1990s. The Labor Party’s Alon plan consisted of annexation of 35-40 percent of the Occupied Territories, and either Jordanian rule or some form of autonomy for the remaining land to which the Palestinian population would be consigned.
It was a compromise since it was inconceivable to repeat the “solution” of the 1948 independence war, when much of the land was obtained “Arab-free”, after mass expulsion of the Palestinians (nearly 700,000 were forced to flee). But in keeping with late Sharon’s character, the second solution became the mission i.e. how to get more land by finding a more acceptable and sophisticated “1948-style” solution, i.e. squeeze out as many Palestinians as possible. “Jordan is Palestine” was the phrase Sharon and other leaders had repeated in the 1980s.
The 1993 Oslo Accords were along the lines of the Alon plan to which Arafat had agreed. In the past, the Palestinians had always opposed such plans, which would take away too much of their land. Arafat had agreed only because he was getting old and losing his grip on the Palestinian society. There was opposition to his dictatorial one-man rule and open corruption in his organization. Funds meant for the PLO were distributed among close associates (some of them look too well fed and content) , which was talked about openly. This is a problem with all revolutionary organizations when they acquire levers of power.
Only an apparent “smashing victory” could have kept Arafat in power. So behind the back of the Palestinian negotiating team headed by Haider Abd al-Shafi, Arafat accepted an agreement that left all Israeli settlements intact, even in the Gaza Strip, where Israeli settlers occupied one-third of the land, while a million Palestinians are crowded in the rest. But as time went by, Israel extended the “Arab-free” areas by new settlements and connecting roads etc in the Occupied Territories to about 50 percent of their land. Labor circles began to talk about the “Alon Plus” plan, namely even more land to Israel. That would have still allowed some kind of self-rule in the remaining 50 percent of land under Palestinians, but like Bantustans in South Africa. Palestinians would be left with less than 20 percent of 1945 Palestine under the British mandate. This is what Sharon dreamt to break the unity of Palestine nationalism.
At the time of Oslo Accords, the majority of Israelis were tired of war. They thought fights over land and water resources were over. Haunted by the memory of the Holocaust, most Israelis believed that the 1948 War of Independence, with its horrible consequences for the Palestinians, was necessary to establish a state for the Jews. But now both sides with their states could live normally and peace-fully. Most people on both the sides believed that what they were witnessing were just “interim agreements” and that eventually the occupation would somehow end, and the settlements would be dismantled. Two-thirds of Jewish Israelis supported the Oslo agreements in the polls. It was obvious there was no stomach for any new wars over land and water.
But the ideology of war over land never died out in the army, or in the circles of politically influential generals, whose careers moved from the military to the government. From the start of the Oslo process, the maximalists objected to giving even that much land and rights to the Palestinians. This was most visible in military circles, whose most vocal spokesman was then chief of staff Ehud Barak, who objected to the Oslo agreements from the start. Another beacon of opposition was, of course, late Ariel Sharon. In 1999, the army got back to power through the politicized generals – first Barak, and then Sharon.
So the maximalist generals-turned-rulers decided to correct what they view as the grave mistakes of Oslo. In their eyes, Sharon’s alternative of fighting the Palestinians to the bitter end and imposing new regional order may have failed in Lebanon in 1982 because of the weakness of the soft Israeli society, but given the new war philosophy established through US military operations in Iraq, Kosovo, and, later, Afghanistan, the political generals believed that with Israel’s massive air superiority, it might still be possible to execute that vision. However, in order to get there, it was first necessary to convince the Israeli society that, in fact, the Palestinians were not willing to live in peace, and was still threatening Israel’s very existence. Sharon alone could not have possibly achieved that, but Barak did succeed with his generous offer- fraud. There was no real offer on the table. It was a media-assisted creation like the belief created in the US population that Iraqis were responsible for September 11.
”The Israeli press is as obedient as elsewhere, and it recycles faithfully the military and governmental messages. But part of the reason it is more revealing is its lack of inhibition. Things that would look outrageous in the world are considered natural daily routine.” Tanya Reinhart
Earlier the world was made to believe that Israel was willing to withdraw even from the occupied Syrian Golan Heights. In the polls, 60 percent of the Israelis, hoping for peace, had enthusiastically supported dismantling all settlements in the Golan Heights. But the end of this round of peace negotiations ended in the same way as with Palestinians. It was made out that Syrian leader Hafiz al-Assad did not comprehend and had let the opportunity slip. Israelis then became convinced that it was the rejectionist Assad who was unwilling to get his territories back and make peace with Israel. Assad was a cool and wise statesman and was not fooled. Those close to the military now say that Hezbollah, Syria and Iran tried to trap Israel in a “strategic ambush” and that Israel had to evade that ambush by setting one of its own, i.e. another war like the 1967 preemptive war. And they are encouraging hawks in the US administration in that direction. The US and UK have shown the way in Iraq by their war on Iraqis to disarm Saddam Hussein of weapons of mass destruction.
Why did Barak permit Sharon a provocative visit to Temple Mount/Haram to ignite the boiling frustrations accumulated in the Palestinian society? The massive security forces used rubber bullets against unarmed demonstrators. When the visit triggered more demonstrations the next day, Barak escalated the shootings and ordered Israeli forces and tanks into densely populated Palestinian areas. By all indications, the escalation of Palestinian protest into armed clashes could have been prevented had the Israeli response been more restrained. Even in the face of armed resistance, Israel’s reaction had been grossly out of proportion, as stated by the General Assembly of the UN, which condemned Israel’s “excessive use of force” on October 26, 2000.
The first Palestinian terrorist attack on Israeli civilians inside Israel took place on November 2, 2000, a month after Israel used its full military machine against Palestinians including helicopters, tanks and missiles. So it was not defense against terrorism as claimed by Israel. It would appear that another plan to destroy the Palestinian infrastructure and to discredit Arafat, i.e. that he had never given up the “option of violence”, was ready in October 2000 and are contained in a manuscript known as the “White Book”.
Late Professor Tanya Reinhart suggests in her book Israel/Palestine that despite the horrors of the past two years, there was still another alternative. “Israel should withdraw immediately from the territories occupied in 1967. The bulk of Israeli settlers (150,000 of them) are concentrated in the big settlement blocks in the center of the West Bank. These areas cannot be evacuated overnight. But the rest of the land (about 90-96 percent of the West Bank and the whole of the Gaza Strip) can be evacuated immediately. Many of the residents of the isolated Israeli settlements that are scattered in these areas are speaking openly in the Israeli media about their wish to leave. It is only necessary to offer them reasonable compensation for their property. The rest … are a negligible minority that will have to accept the will of the majority.”
That would leave only six to 10 percent of territories under occupation with large settlement blocks. This, along with the issues of Jerusalem and the right of return, could be left for negotiations, after the Palestinian society begins to recover, settle on the land that the Israelis evacuate, construct political institutions and develop its economy. According to a Dahaf poll of May 6 solicited by Peace Now, 59 percent supported a unilateral withdrawal of the Israeli army from most of the Occupied Territories, and dismantling most of the settlements. Only this can renew the peace process.
Unfortunately, in the evolutionary ladder of governance, societies have moved up from the tribal model when the warrior chief, sometimes the head priest too, was the ruler. Security of the tribe and wars was their major preoccupation. Israel is the first Jewish state in history after two millennia. It is barely 50 years old. Based on its history of persecution leading to the Holocaust, inputs of messianic religious fervor, labor (kibbutz) ideals and other ideas brought by its ruling elite, mostly from the European states, the warrior-king construct dominates Israel’s state philosophy and the political system, situated as it is among almost implacably hostile Arabs (tribes). “The hundreds of ex-generals who man most of the key posts in [the Israeli] government and society are not only a group of veterans sharing common memories. The partnership goes much deeper. Dozens of years of service in the regular army form a certain outlook on life, a political world view, ways of thinking and even language.”
Unfortunately, policies and plans of Israel’s political generals have now become intertwined into the views of US neo-conservatives. In the name of the fight against terrorism, more terror is being rained by Israel, where stability, security and peace remain elusive.
Gaza Strip: A Veritable Concentration Camp
The Gaza Strip or Gaza is one of the territorial units of Occupied territories .It is 41 km long and 6 to 12 Km wide , with a total area of 360 sq kms , borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. Its population of about 1.6 million , mostly Sunni Muslims are descendants of or refugees form exodus to Gaza in 1948 following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War .Its boundaries were confirmed by the Israel-Egypt Armistice Agreement of 24 February 1949. The Gaza Strip remained under Egypt and administered through the Palestine Government and then directly from 1959 until 1967, when Israel occupied it following the Six day war .Following the Oslo Accords between Israel and the PLO in 1993, the Palestine Authority was set up as an interim administrative body but with Israel maintaining control of Gaza ‘s airspace .In 2005 Israel unilaterally disengaged from Gaza. Since July 2007, following the first ever freest elections ( which US led West had insisted on and won by Hamas and a after a battle with PA , Hamas is the effective government in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli occupation (1967–2005)After the June 1967 Six day war, Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and created in all 21 settlements covering 20% of area .Gaza also served its security concerns. The March 1979 Israel -Egypt Peace Treaty provided for the withdrawal by Israel of its armed forces and civilians from the Sinai Peninsula with the Egyptians agreeing to keep the Sinai Peninsula demilitarized. Cairo renounced all territorial claims on it . Until 1994 the Israeli military was responsible for the maintenance of civil facilities and services. After the Oslo Accords in May 1994, a phased transfer of governmental authority to the Palestinians took place except for the settlements blocs and military areas. The Palestinian Authority, led by Arafat chose Gaza City as its first provincial headquarters. After the second peace agreement in September 1995, the Palestinian Authority took over most of West Bank towns .It also established an elected 88-member Palestinian National Council (PNC) . .
The Palestinian Authority rule under Arafat suffered from serious mismanagement and corruption scandals.
The 2nd Intifada of September 2000 provoked by Israeli over reaction and provocation led to waves of protests, civil unrest and bombings against Israeli military and civilians, many by suicide bombers, and the beginning of rockets and bombings of Israeli border areas by Palestinian guerrillas from Gaza Strip, especially from Hamas and Islamic Jihad volunteers. Tel Aviv began a unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip from 15 August 2005, which was completed on 12 September 2005. Under the plan, all Israeli Settlements in the Gaza Strip (and four in the West Bank) and the joint Industrial Zone were dismantled .In all 9,000 Israeli settlers left Gaza and military bases and Philadelphi route separating Gaza with Egypt were evacuated . On 12 September 2005 Israel formally declared an end to Israeli military occupation of the Gaza Strip.
While Egypt patrolled its side of the border, Israel maintained its control over the crossings in and out of Gaza. The Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza was monitored by the Israeli army through special surveillance cameras. Official documents such as passports, I.D. cards, export and import papers etc had to be approved by the Israeli army.
The UN, Human Rights Watch and many other international bodies and NGOs consider Israel to be the occupying power of the Gaza Strip since Tel Aviv still controls Gaza’s airspace and territorial waters, and does not allow the movement of goods in or out of Gaza by air or sea (only by land). Egypt has alternately restricted or allowed goods and people to cross that terrestrial border. Israel lies that Gaza is no longer occupied
After Israel withdrawal in 2005, PA Chairman Mahmud Abbas stated, “the legal status of the areas slated for evacuation has not changed.” Its attorney Gregory Khalil said “Israel still controls every person, every good, and literally every drop of water to enter or leave the Gaza Strip. Its troops may not be there… but it still restricts the ability for the Palestinian authority to exercise control.” Richard Falk, UN Special Rapporteur said that the international humanitarian law applied to Israel “in regard to the obligations of an Occupying Power and in the requirements of the laws of war.” In 2009 Christopher Gunness, spokesperson for the UNRWA described Israel an occupying power.
Palestinian Authority control (1994–2007) In accordance with the Oslo Accords PA took over the administrative authority of the Gaza Strip (other than the settlement blocs and military areas) in 1994. After the Israeli withdrawal of settlers and military from the Gaza Strip on 12 September 2005, the Palestinian Authority had complete administrative authority in the Gaza Strip.
In the Palestinian parliamentary elections held on January 25, 2006, Hamas won 42.9 % of the total vote and 74 out of 132 total seats (56%). When Hamas assumed power the next month, the Israeli government and its supporters and the EU refused to recognize its right to govern as PA. Direct aid to the Palestinian government there was cut off, the resulting political disorder and economic stagnation led to many Palestinians emigrating from the Gaza Strip.
In January 2007, fighting erupted between Hamas and Fatah. By end of January 2007, a truce was negotiated between Fatah and Hamas. But clashes continued with both factions attacking vehicles and facilities of the other side. In response to constant attacks by rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, Israel launched an air strike which destroyed a building used by Hamas. In the 2006-2007 fighting more than 600 Palestinians were killed in factional fighting between Hamas and Fatah. In the aftermath of the fighting violent acts killed 54 Palestinians, while hundreds were tortured.
K Gajendra Singh, Indian ambassador (retired), served as ambassador to Turkey and Azerbaijan from August 1992 to April 1996. Prior to that, he served terms as ambassador to Jordan, Romania and Senegal. He is currently chairman of the Foundation for Indo-Turkic Studies.
Read More Posts…..
Take Action: Tell U.S. Not to Veto Palestine’s Membership in UN Security Council
Hamas: They Are Not Bad, They’re Just Drawn That Way
Palestinians Right of Return is not Debatable: UN Resolution 194 In Force and Enforceable
Palestine: Arduous odyssey of statehood
Education and Behavior In Israel and Palestine
Last-minute push to avert PA UN bid
Posted on September 06, 2011 by Marivel Guzman
US envoys arrive in Israel for meetings with Israeli prime minister, while Tony Blair travels to Ramallah to meet Abbas.

Gaza City — With one week to go before the United Nations General Assembly convenes, there is a flurry of diplomatic activity in Jerusalem and Ramallah, much of it aimed at the Palestinian Authority’s plan to seek enhanced membership at the UN.
A delegation from the United States, led by White House advisers Dennis Ross and David Hale, arrived in Jerusalem on Tuesday to meet with Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Hale is scheduled to meet on Wednesday with Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas. In Ramallah, meanwhile, Abbas met with former British prime minister Tony Blair, the envoy from the so-called “Quartet,” composed of the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia.
The US meetings, according to the State Department, were aimed at “finding a formula” to restart long-stalled negotiations between Israel and the PA. Talks broke down last September over Israel’s refusal to halt construction in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. Abbas has said he will only return to the table if Israel freezes new construction, and agrees to use 1967 borders as a basis for negotiation.
A spokesperson for the US embassy in Tel Aviv would not comment about Ross and Hale’s trip, and the embassy has not released any statement on the meeting with Netanyahu.
The meeting comes at a slightly awkward time for US-Israel relations: Journalist Jeffrey Goldberg reported on Tuesday that Robert Gates, the recently-departed US secretary of defence, described Netanyahu as an “ungrateful” ally. ‘There will not be a retreat’ Blair said this week that he was “optimistic” about bringing both sides back to negotiations.
Abbas’ office has not released any details of their meeting in Ramallah. Saeb Erekat, the PA’s chief negotiator, said in Amman on Tuesday that the UN bid will go forward regardless of Israel’s actions. “The Palestinian decision is to head to the UN Security Council,” Erekat said. “And there will not be a retreat even if Israel proposed any initiatives.”
Erekat also complained about American threats, saying that the US has pushed the PA to drop its bid without offering any concessions in return. US officials and members of Congress have repeatedly threatened to slash aid to the PA if it goes to the United Nations. Meanwhile, the diplomatic frenzy does not register much here in Gaza, where few people have expressed much interest in the bid. “It’s just politics,” said Abu Omar, gesturing around his small shop, which was temporarily darkened by one of Gaza’s regular power cuts. “I need electricity.” Hamas has said little about the planned vote, which is purely a Fatah initiative.
A Hamas official told Al Jazeera that the movement has not decided whether or not to call for demonstrations in Gaza. “There’s still plenty of time before we decide what we will do,” Ahmed Yousef, the Hamas deputy foreign minister, said in an interview. “Somebody from Fatah approached me recently about what we might do… we could decide in the near future.”
Abbas plans to submit the PA’s bid for statehood around September 20. But Palestine cannot be admitted as a state without the Security Council’s approval, and the Obama administration has already said it would veto such a move. The US veto leaves Palestinian officials with the option to pursue “non-member observer status,” a step below full recognition which requires only a two-thirds vote in the General Assembly. Only one other state, the Vatican, currently holds such a status at the UN Source: Al Jazeera
More on Palestine UN Bid for State Hood…..
Palestinians Right of Return is not Debatable: UN Resolution 194 In Force and Enforceable
Palestine Bid for State Hood Does Not Affect Israel Economy, Peace Talks, or Refugee Return Rights
Palestinian Bid for UN Statehood Recognition should not be questioned, Israel existence should be
European Union Supports Palestestine Bid for State Hood, slight division not a problem
Posted on September 01, 2011 by Marivel Guzman
Original Post Published by the Huffington Post
BRUSSELS — The European Union remains undecided whether to support the Palestinian push for recognition at the United Nations later this month, a top official said Thursday. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the question hasn’t been discussed by EU member states, because no such resolution has been tabled yet for the upcoming U.N. General Assembly.
The Palestinian statehood bid comes amid stalled peace negotiations with Israel. Israel and the United States oppose it, saying a state must be established through negotiations.
Ashton said the EU’s 28 members were united “over the most critical issue, which is to try to get the talks moving,” and reiterated the bloc’s position that Israeli settlement-building in the occupied territories is illegal under international law. “We need to find a way to create a two-state solution, a secure, stable Israel living side by side with a secure, stable Palestinian state,” she said after meeting Filippo Grandi, head of the U.N. agency aiding 4.7 million Palestinian refugees.
The changes brought about by the Arab Spring make the need to reach agreement more important than ever, she said.
Israel has been lobbying European capitals not to endorse the Palestinian move.
Diplomats expect a split among EU members akin to that over Kosovo’s independence, which five members of the 28-nation bloc refused to recognize. The rift has prevented the EU from officially recognizing Kosovo’s government, although the bloc has deployed a massive police and justice mission to assist Europe’s newest nation. A diplomat said Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden are likely to back the resolution. Other nations may join if there is no progress in restarting peace talks over the next 2-3 weeks, said the official who was not authorized to speak publicly to the media.
Although the Palestinian bid may gain approval in the General Assembly, U.N. recognition would require approval by the powerful Security Council, where the U.S. has indicated it would veto any Palestinian move in the absence of a negotiated peace deal.
In the past, the United States has used its veto power to block membership in the world body. Throughout the 1950s and 60s, Washington regularly vetoed General Assembly resolutions calling for China to take over the U.N. seat which Taiwan held under the name Republic of China.
Israel faces tougher line from EU after former heads call for Palestinian state – Twenty-six European grandees, have urged the EU to adopt a tougher stance towards Israel including taking “concrete measures” and exacting “consequences” over continued settlement building on occupied land, which they say is illegal under international law.
September 15 Real Democracy, No Hypocrisy
Posted on September 05, 2011 by Marivel Guzman
Article by Feriha
The United Nations, which declared September 15 the International Day of Democracy, defines democracy as “A universal value based on the freely expressed will of people to determine their own political, economic, social, and cultural systems and their full participation in all aspects of their lives.”
We can’t think of a better day to ask: why doesn’t the United States support democracy for everyone in the Middle East? Why does the US use tax dollars to support a military occupation that threatens democracy?
While it is commonly reported that Israel receives $3 billion in annual U.S. foreign aid, and according to ifamericansknew.org , the U.S. taxpayer has provided Israel funds far beyond this number. For example in 1997 the complete total of U.S. grants and loan to Israel was $5,525,800,000.
Unquestionably, Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. aid since World War II.
The september15 community is convinced that this money can not, under any circumstances, continue to be invested into an illegal occupation, the occupation of Palestine.
Israel is an obstacle to Palestinian self-determination and human rights. We call for an end to this destructive financial aid and an end to the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.
Israel has to understand, that it is not above international law, and we ask for Americans to support the struggle for social justice in Palestine the way that so many Americans stood against South African apartheid not so long ago.
It is time to take action. Join us on September15 to make a stand!
September15 community is a grassroots project a group of young adults, and students from around the world.
To find out more please visit our website. Peace!
Camp David Meeting on the Middle East

The future of Palestine was being decided secretly by Israel, Egypt and the United States of North America and now, Israel claiming that Palestine is seeking “unilaterally ” the UN Bid for State hood. What a ludicrous claim
Palestine Bid for State Hood Does Not Affect Israel Economy, Peace Talks, or Refugee Return Rights
Posted on August 31, 2011 by Marivel Guzman
I have been reading lose stories here and there that have been spreading the notion that Palestine Bin for State Hood will cause Israel to lose foot in the International economy. Take as an example this “Analisys” posted yesterday by Attila Somfalvi on ynetnews.com. This is how they are misleading the world on the issue.
Palestinian UN bid – a blow to Israeli economy?
While economists warn of widespread boycott of Israel in wake of Palestinian declaration of state, senior ministers more concerned about allocating billions for defense against third intifada
Economists, pundits and politicians warn that a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state could put Israel in a corner by isolating the Jewish state both politically and financially.
The concern is that an increasing number of international companies and western nations will choose to boycott Israel – just like they did with South Africa under Apartheid – due to its continued control of the West Bank and its unwillingness to stop settlement construction. President Shimon Peres has warned of such developments, especially after a number of port authorities in Europe announced that they would not unload Israeli cargo.
Lets not forget that the wave of the BDS (Boycott Desinvestment and Sanctions) around the world against Israel Products and Companies has nothing to do with Palestine Bid for statehood. The international communities of Peace activists, conscience writers and other socially engaged people around the world, has been following Israel trail of murders, injustices against the native Palestinians, home demolitions, tree uprooting, illegal construction of settlement inside West Bank and East Jerusalem I mean countless issues that have become the back bone of the Palestine-Israel conflict. And by no means the boycotting started because of Palestine seeking state hood, NO! not at all, the campaign started as a result of Israel unwillingness to abide by UN resolutions, and the abuse of Palestinians in all the spectrum of their life; physically, mentally, and the destruction of their live hood, and habitat. Do not even buy into this propaganda.
The ruthless state of Israel that called Itself the Only Democracy in the Middle East is being deceiving people and using her Lobby around the world to get money and political support using the lies that propagate in the News to get away with almost everything.
Another story being spread that it is taking force because it is even repeated by Israel supporters and Palestinians supporters alike is the Refugee Issue. There is nothing written on stone and the gossip sometimes is the best weapon Israel use for her advantage. They are old rumor that spread like dynamite and they are still being used now to discredit Palestine. “The Rapes and killings rumor spread in the Palestinians Villages” to rid them out of their Homes and Lands” and later was said that the land was without an owner.
The rumor spread all around Palestine. “leave now with Nothing, the Arab armies will come to help you”, so Palestinians left to refugees camps and Israel army came and claim the land was empty.
Acceptance of PA’s UN bid will push back talks for years’
By HERB KEINON
09/01/2011 00:46Senior official warns that General Assembly resolution recognizing PA as a member state would create “unbridgeable gaps.”
That is BS in the best way understandable, the only problem the world has, is the aggression of Israel against Palestinians inside the 1967 borders and outside of it. The illegal expansion of Israel on the excuse of buffer zone, the construction of illegal settlements inside West Bank and West Jerusalem and the racists policies that Israel is implementing inside Israel which making Palestinians every day life inside Israel unbearable, The Illegal Wall even to Israel Court Ruling, the Check Points, the Nighty raids inside Palestinians homes; just to mention few of the issues that matter to solve the conflict. The Talks can be push back a century and won’t make a difference for Palestinians.
The talks don’t help, the Action is what makes the difference. So, Please do not even give ears to this non sense.
A UN General Assembly resolution recognizing the Palestinian Authority as a member, state would create “unbridgeable gaps” and push back negotiations for years, a senior Israeli official warned Wednesday.The official said that once such a resolution was passed, the Palestinians would never be willing to negotiate on the basis of anything less, and no Israeli leader would ever be able to agree to what the Palestinians would likely get from the UN.
Every time that there were any “Peace Talks”, for one reason or another Israel would cry wolf and they will stop, sometimes even right before they would start, so now to complain that the Bid for state hood will throw the Talks years back, it is really a lame excuse.
The future of Palestine was being decided secretly by Israel, Egypt and the United States of North America and now, Israel claiming that Palestine is seeking “unilaterally ” the UN Bid for State hood. What a ludicrous claim
U.S.: We will stop aid to Palestinians if UN bid proceeds
Monday, August 29, 2011
From time to time, the Palestine Center distributes articles it believes will enhance understanding of the Palestinian political reality. The following article was published by Haaretz on 26 August 2011. “U.S.: We will stop aid to Palestinians if UN bid proceeds”The United States will stop all financial aid to the Palestinian Authority if they proceed with plans to ask the United Nations for recognition of an independent state in September, a U.S. official warned Friday.U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem, Daniel Rubinstein, told chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat in the name of the Obama administration, that the U.S. would veto a UN Security Council resolution calling for recognition of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip within the June 4, 1967 borders and for UN membership. U.S.: We will stop aid to Palestinians if UN bid proceeds
No to worry for Palestine, the Aid that the US is been giving Palestine is minimum and that is not going to be miss, actually has been crumbs what the US is being giving Palestine compare to what is given to Israel.
“Over the last 20 years, the U.S. has been slowly phasing out economic aid to Israel and gradually replacing it with increased military aid. Beginning in 2007, the U.S. has increased military aid by $150 million each year. By FY2012, we will be sending Israel $3.09 billion a year (or an average of $8.5 million a day) and will continue to provide military aid at that level through 2018. U.S. tax dollars are subsidizing one of the most powerful foreign militaries. According to the CRS report, “[current U.S. military aid] grants to Israel represent 18.2% of the overall Israeli defense budget.” Read More…
That the declaration of the state will result in dropping the right of return for Palestinian refugees. Many scholars have made assertions on this issue.
“the UN passed General Assembly Resolution (UNGA) 194, which mandated compensation for the Palestinian refugees and assured their right to return home. The UN made Israel’s own membership in the world body contingent on Israeli acceptance of 194 and the rights it granted to the Palestinians. UN Resolution 273 of 11 May 1949, welcoming Israel into the UN, established that the new state’s entry was based on Israel’s representations regarding its ability and willingness to implement 194.”. The implementation of their rights is by no means severed by the acceptance of Palestine as a State.
Please Watch this Video in its entirely, we as American Citizens needs to take our country back, and I m sure other countries also give financial and military aid to Israel.
This fall, will Palestine become the newest member of the United Nations? As the opening of the UN General Assembly draws near, this question looms above the rest.
The answer may depend on the position of The US. If the United States uses its veto in the Security Council as promised, then Palestine’s full membership in the UN will be difficult, to achieve. In that case, the General Assembly may admit Palestine as a “non-member state,” a status held by the Vatican.
Palestine’s bid for UN membership has engendered many opposing reactions, with some believing that it could advance the cause of Palestinian human rights, while others think it could set it back. Get a variety of political perspectives from our website.
Whether you support or oppose this initiative, or are neutral toward it (the US Campaign takes no position–read more in our FAQ), there are a few things that we can all agree to:
Palestinians are entitled to all of their individual and national rights, including self-determination, freedom, justice and equality.
The biggest obstacle to Palestinians attaining these rights is U.S. diplomatic and military support for Israeli occupation and apartheid policies toward Palestinians (whether living under military occupation, as Israeli citizens, or as refugees denied their right of return to their homes).
The United States should not use its veto at the UN to shield Israel from accountability for its illegal policies and actions, nor should the United States sanction Palestinians for pursuing their long-denied rights.
Last month US Campaign to End the Israel Occupation, delivered to the State Department an open letter signed by more than 125 groups, including 30 national organizations, and petitions signed by more than 25,000 people urging the Obama Administration not to veto Palestine UN membership if the issue arises in the Security Council. National organizations CODEPINK, Grassroots International, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Just Foreign Policy contributed petition signatures to the overall count. You can still sign the petition here.
Yet the State Department refused to discuss its position with us, ignoring our concerns. (Learn more about the Obama Administration’s position in this essay by our National Advocacy Director Josh Ruebner.) That’s why we must organize to exert more pressure and to make our voices heard more loudly.
Take to the street this month like many of our member organizations and individual activists are doing to protest U.S. diplomatic and military support of Israel.
On September 10, the North Texas Boycott, Divest, and Sanction of Israel Campaign will rally in Fort Worth to protest the potential U.S. veto in the Security Council.
On September 15, a coalition of dozens of New York-based organizations, many of which are members of the US Campaign, will hold a rally and march at the UN in support of Palestinian self-determination.
Also on that day, which coincides with the International Day of Democracy, activists around the country are planning demonstrations opposing U.S military aid to Israel and U.S. interference with the UN membership bid. So far, events are planned for Phoenix, AZ, San Francisco, CA, Washington, DC, Urbana, IL, Omaha, NE, Pittsburgh, PA, and Austin, TX.
On September 16, several organizations are planning a demonstration at the federal building in Los Angeles to protest the threatened U.S. veto.
The point of no return, a collection of information that needs to be disseminated wide, the following videos explain why we need to stop Israel, the bankers, the Zionist Movement, the elitist, the globalist, the Illuminati, the NWO.
5.9 Earthwake Shakes Obama Golf Game; while Gaza Bombs Has Not Shaken his Support for Israel
Posted by Marivel Guzman
UPDATED May 29, 2012
The world seems busy doing something else, while the bombs fall in Gaza; for 10 straight days Israel have been pounding the Mediterranean coast of Palestine but the news are silence. 15 people death, more than 50 injured including children, women and elderly and what you see in the News? Nothing but as long as Israel create her little theater, the News are ready to spread the lies
I just heard the Flash Braking News that a 5.9 Magnitude earthquake rocked Washington DC, and Martha Vineyard the resort where all American Presidents spend their summer vacations, playing golf. “The ground shakes President Obama feet when he was about to start his round of Golf”, what a tragedy he probably have to stop his golf game.
In North America we feel ashamed that our President is vacationing, while the world is in endless war, that have killed more than 1 millions people, and while he plays golf there is hundred of injured in the various parts of the world where the US has Troops.
But also he should be ashamed to be playing golf, while the US is drowning in debt. The workers are striking with their unions, trying to grab crumbs out of the dead economy, the banks are still pillaging the Homes of the American that that took sweet years to save and “Buy” a HOUSE.
The Occupy Movement is not an isolated phenomenon of US, the Occupy Movement have evolved from the Wall Street Protest to a Global Protest against the Status Quo. The Elite “Managing” the lives of the billions of people have become a cold sore that grew from a spot of few hundreds aware/awake people to millions in every country, by now the Occupy Movement is in every spot of the world, but is not a cold sore anymore but the medicine that it curing the disease caused by the Selfish Elite of the Corporate World.
The welfare office lines get longer every day around the country, the unemployment grow as a cancer in the US, the “stronger country of the world”, “the richest country of the world”, REALLY! says WHO? ….
The only strong is the War Complex Machine, the only Rich is the Bankerst and Co, and OIL Crooks CEOs.
Last year I had a conversation with friend, and I was arguing that we are in Depression, and my friend will argue that we are in recession. It’s funny the way she was defining resession and it was painful the way I was feeling the economic depression. We lost our business, we were fighting with Bank of America to keep the house that we almost paid off. I was unemployed as some other millions around the country. But the numbers don’t match the reality.
There are more homeless in my city that never ever seen before, they line up to sleep in front of the City building, which by the way become a crime last year. It happen to be that in front of Santa Ana Civil Center, there is a nice park with a big gazebo, which it was used by the homeless to shelter themselves from the night, but the Servants of Crimes can not bear to see dirty people in front of their offices, so they made a city mandate illegal to sleep in the city property, which by official understanding belongs to those homeless, because if you live in CA for 12 months you are official resident, well I guess you are resident when they need your vote because believe or not, those officials come in election day to ask the homeless for their support.
There are several considerations one must have when
selecting a bridge to live under.
One that has
a large level
area under it
is very appealing.
Having a laundry area to hang your clothes is convenient. Piping is a nice place to make a bed.
Putting some boards across the joists can be a nice place to put a mattress.
If you are a
restless sleeper,
you may not
want to pick one
with a steep
slope.
Next I give you a web page to check in case you become homeless, it is very useful. The most tragic is that great majority of the homeless of America are Veterans of War.
The Homeless Page and don’t laugh, don’t think that it can not happen to you, every citizen of America at least the majority is 2 checks away from being homeless.
In CA we are waiting the big earthquake every day, the one is told will submerge California, but until that day, we surprise with the earthquake in other places of the globe, this time was The Capital of the Empire that have the taste of the fear of the rumble of Earth.
5.9 magnitude earthquake that is something to worry about, not the homeless off course if they will die under the bridge of the 5 freeway where they were push to sleep, God will do them a favor, but for the residents of Washington, New York, Massachusetts and other spots was a day to be afraid, specially the residents on the areas of the Nuclear Plant. The images of Japan Tsunami still fresh int heir mind.
And Gaza Palestine still lives under Israel Bombs.
Omar Karem report from Gaza on the latest news.
Gaza is Under Attack Again; UN Vote has Israel in the Hot Seat
Posted on August 19, 2011 by Marivel Guzman in collaboration with Omar Karem
Once again Gaza Strip, that enclave in the Mediterranean Sea is being Shell by Israel Air Artillery, the excuses are lame as always, but the eyes of the world are in Israel impunity to kill without being call terrorist, without being stopped by the outcry of world leaders when she engage in murderous activities, where is the International Community and the UN publicly denouncing Israel for her killing of civilians and destruction of homes, and public structures? Where is the outcry of world, where is the Main Stream Media reporting the crimes? Fox, CNN, BBC, where are your photojournalists? why you are not in Gaza? Innocent population is once again being victim of aerial raids, home destruction, panic in the streets, fears in the children hearts, impotency from the parents which can not protect their children, the shelters are not available to help them. UNRWA was instructed by Israel not to use their vehicles at night; at night when most of the bombs are dropped. The ambulances will not be able to move at night to seek for injured as Israel will shoot to any moving “Target”.
The latest excuse for the attacks came from the south of the border of Israel with Egypt, more than 188 kilometer far from Gaza. According to first reports from a spokesman from Israel said that the attacks came from the Egyptian Side of the Sinai region, which is under Israel control but it is demilitarize after the Camp Davis agreement. But there are many conflicting versions that contradict the firsts reports, after Israeli soldier killed 3 Egyptian soldiers inside Egypt, making with this invalid the Camp David accords. The situation is very tense in Israel as her biggest border which is Egypt will be lost very soon out of her total control. As soon as Palestine be Official all the accords of the past are history for the books, even if Israel never respect them, they won’t be the excuse for her crimes, and the Leaders won’t have face to say any more; “Israel has the right to defend herself”.
“Israel and any other (country) must understand that the day our sons get killed without a strong and an appropriate response, is gone and will not come back,” wrote Amr Moussa, former Arab League chief and now a presidential hopeful. He tweeted his statement along with, “the blood of our martyrs which was spilled while carrying out their duties, will not be shed in vain.”
All the factions inside Palestine and the Government of Gaza deny any involvement in the attacks that killed 8 Israelis. The world know well that when any attack is carry out by any Palestinian factions they will immediately will claim responsibility, the latest “attacks” are seen as a excuses for Israel to bring conflict to the zone of Sinai that is loosing Egyptian control after the fall of Mubarak, and also to created diversion on the world for the September UN acceptance of Palestine as a State and become the 193 Member of the UN.
The Independent Media, social forums and bloggers have been reporting in the social circles of facebook, youtube, twiter and other services to the world, but as usual the great majority of the leaders refused to condemn Israel, giving her the green light with their silence and excusing her last attacks in the innocent population of Gaza, Israel officials had reported to the press that the attacks came from the Egypt side of Sinai, the attacks to the buses going to The resort of Eilat, really too far of the reach of any Gaza groups.
Palestinian Mercenaries trained by EU with the blessing of Israel: “The new Palestinian unit will be tasked with securing European Union facilities in the eastern part of the capital and maintaining order in the area. The 80 Palestinians to be selected for the highly coveted job will be trained and guided by British company Saladin Security.”
If Israel gets away with shaking the Oslo accord only to her convenience and with security forces paid by the EU, who say that these security forces has not expanded and were “trained” to work against her own people, which is probably some how the case, even thought I really believe they never intended to be “Palestinians”.
When I first heard of the highly secretive security force working in Jerusalem acting as Palestinians,(Mukhabrat) taking part in protests against Israel, and leading the Palestinians to more violent type of protest, then turning around and taking their guns out and arresting the protesters, then we know that Israel have not change a bit since Biblical times, stories circulating of the deceitful behavior of Israelis since more than 2,000 years ago. Any way then was and now is the same tactics, terrorizing the neighbors and then blaming the other neighbors for her crimes.

I cropped these three faces from a video widely published during the Jerusalem Protests in 2010, these look like Palestinians were mixed with the crowd, some others right after they will try to make the arrest they will put on a mask on their faces before they will turn against the Palestinians and make the arrest, I tried to make as clear as possible these faces so they not be confused again with a Palestinian brother. (Mukhabrat)
This people not to be confused with the Ameel, which are real Palestinians that take money from Israel to serve as spies inside the territories.
These Look Like Palestinians are highly trained personal:
A security firm that employs the veterans of elite British units will provide instruction to 80 Palestinian security guards to be deployed in east Jerusalem.
The new Palestinian unit will be tasked with securing European Union facilities in the eastern part of the capital and maintaining order in the area. The 80 Palestinians to be selected for the highly coveted job will be trained and guided by British company Saladin Security.The project has been arranged by the EU, which intends to train the Palestinians to serve as a highly skilled police force to maintain the order in Arab areas in Jerusalem, and later on across the Palestinian Authority.
Saladin Security, which was established in 1978, provides training and security services in dozens of countries and was set up by veterans of the elite SAS unit.Saladin, or in its previous name, KMS, has already been entrusted with some controversial operations in the past. Among other things, its members trained the Islamic rebels fighting the Soviet occupation in Afghanistan. The Muslim fighters trained by the company eventually managed to take over the country.
They suppose to be Palestinians, but we well know that Israel will never grant permission to carry arms to a Palestinian inside Jerusalem, these look like Palestinians are kind of secret service elite, that behave like Palestinians, dress like Palestinians, live among Palestinians, they even get as far to marry Palestinians, but when the day come they turn their backs to Palestine and come to the counter bank for their check pay.
Not to be confused with Ameel, which are Palestinians that for financial reasons or others sometimes are forced by Israel using their families as bate, the ones incarcerated under threats to keep them in jail longer, or to torture them, they take money from Israel wanted or not, usually if these Palestinians are found, they are called collaborators and without a trial or without finding the real motive they are killed by Palestinians.
“Another Israeli False Flag? – by Stephen Lendman
Mossad and Shin Bet (Israel’s Security Agency) have long, odious histories of committing them.
At issue now is whether the August 18 bus and other attacks inside Israel were committed by external elements or Israel, and if so, why?
Also at issue always is cui bono? In fact, Hamas and various Palestinian resistance groups have nothing to gain. Clearly Israel benefits greatly at least two ways:
(1) The upcoming September UN General Assembly vote on Palestinian self-determination Israel very much wants to derail.
(2) Weeks of nationwide internal social justice protests Netanyahu also wants to diffuse and end.
Both are compelling reasons for employing tried and true tactics – change the subject by diverting public attention.
This article enlighten the minds regarding Israel long history of flag operations. There is no News that before Israel creation a series of event came to shape the panorama in the then Mandate of Palestine. The Zionist elite crafted every event that lead to the creation of Palestine…..MORE ON THIS ARTICLE …

Trainees take part in a shooting drill of the International Security Academy-Israel in a combat training center at Nir Am kibbutz near the Gaza strip, on May 26, 2011. (Xinhua/Yin Dongxun)
On May 26, 2011 an article was in the News.cn a News Outlet from China, with photos on a group of International “Trainees” in the Negev Desert very close to Gaza. These “Students” come from 17 countries and they are trained to deal in Arabs Affairs. The garments to wear logically are part of the training, they must be dress to blend in. The following pictures show a group of them dressing as Arabs, some of them using the Palestinians Scarf and others the traditional beduine head cover. You can see that these students are being trained to deceit.
There is no news that Israel during her 65 years of existence has been known for her Self Perpetrated Attacks; “False Flag Operations” to divert the attention and to win support thru the media where these operations are Propagated.
The versions on the August 18, attack lead many experts to believe that the death of the 8 tourists in the bus in South Israel is just another operation to escalate the attacks in Gaza and with this, send the message to Abbas the Palestinians President to withdraw his bid for Statehood, and at the same time to create chaos and confusion on the goals of Palestinians, portraying them as “terrorists”.
We must not fall in her campaign by now we know her tactics. Israel is in the Hot Seat.






Professor Ben-Ami Shillony (Shingetsu Member No. 74) of Hebrew University in Jerusalem has submitted to the Shingetsu Newsletter an opinion article recently published in the Asahi Shinbun. The following is a slightly revised version of that article.







Like · · 

















by Saed Bannoura – 






