President Erdogan of Turkey storms out of the World Economic Form (Davos) debate on Thursday after a long speech by the Zionist Israeli president who attacked Hamas and backed the last massacres in Gaza saying "we had to teach Hamas a lesson like we taught Hizbullah in 2006".
But the only lesson Perez learned is how sovereign dignified states react when a load of bullshit has been said, as Erdogan storms out of the debate when he wasn't allowed to reply to the comments made by Perez.
Poor Amr Mussa though, didn't know what to do "should I stay or should I go?! " until Ban Ki moon told him to sit down, poor thing.. :D
As it seems Erdogan is a hero now in Turkey after a lot of people went to greet him when he arrived at the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul early on Friday morning.
Friday 30 January 2009
Erdogan Storms out of WEF
Wednesday 28 January 2009
Syria: Reveal Inmates' Conditions
Human Rights Watch: Sednaya prison
Syrian authorities should make public the fate of prisoners at Sednaya against whom military police used lethal force during unrest in early July 2008, Human Rights Watch said today.
Prison authorities and military police used firearms to quell a riot on July 5 at Sednaya prison, about 30 kilometers north of Damascus. Human Rights Watch obtained the names of nine inmates believed killed in a stand-off that reportedly lasted for many days; Syrian human rights organizations have reported as many as 25 deaths of inmates. But the government has released no statement on the events, or provided families of inmates with any information.
"Syria's long blackout on the fate of at least 1,500 detainees is nothing less than scandalous," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The families of these detainees have an absolute right to know what happened to their loved ones."
Residents of the town of Sednaya reported that cell phone coverage around the prison has remained cut off since the July events. Syrian authorities have prohibited all contact with Sednaya inmates and imposed a complete information blackout about the prison. Residents of the town reported hearing gunshots and seeing smoke emerge from the prison again last month.
On October 10, 17 mothers of Sednaya detainees from the town of Qatana publicly appealed to President Bashar al-Asad to provide information about their sons and to allow the mothers to visit. They issued the appeal after several failed attempts to obtain information from the Ministry of Justice. In their appeal, they noted that they had "learned about the burial of bodies in Qatana at night," and that they were concerned that these may have been the bodies of their children.
One of the mothers told Human Rights Watch that she had received information that five bodies had been secretly buried in Qatana at the request of Syrian security services. Human Rights Watch was unable to confirm Sednaya detainees were buried there or even that there had been a burial.
"The lack of information about Sednaya has caused enormous anguish to the families and fuelled fears and rumors," Whitson said. "The Syrian authorities need to come clean and allow families and lawyers access to Sednaya."
In December, Human Rights Watch received worrying reports that deadly force had been used again in Sednaya prison. A resident of the town of Sednaya told Human Rights Watch that on December 6, he had heard gunshots from the prison for 30 minutes, and later saw considerable smoke coming from the middle section of the prison. He said that authorities closed the road from the town to the prison and he saw military trucks driving toward the prison. He said that the situation seemed to have returned to normal the next day.
On December 18, a Syrian human rights activist told Human Rights Watch that he had received information about violence in the prison that day, and that ambulances were sent there, but he did not have further details. A resident from Sednaya confirmed seeing ambulances and fire trucks heading to the prison on December 18.
Another person in Damascus who asked not to be identified told Human Rights Watch that he received new reports of incidents at Sednaya on December 27 and 31, and that a fire on December 31 had destroyed part of a wall of an interior building. Human Rights Watch was unable to independently confirm these reports.
Syrian activists told Human Rights Watch that they received information that many Sednaya prisoners were transferred to Section 2 of the `Adra prison near Damascus (Section 2 is usually reserved for individuals detained by Political Security or sentenced by the State Security Court), and to the detention facilities of other security services, where they were being held separately from other detainees. According to these sources, 400 to 500 detainees from Sednaya were in `Adra while another 1,000 remained in Sednaya but in a separate detention facility.
A relative of one of the Sednaya detainees told Human Rights Watch that a detainee who was released from Sednaya on January 18, 2009 had called to say that their relative in prison was doing well, as were other detainees also arrested for their blogging activity. However, the relative of the detainee and local human rights activists expressed skepticism about the accuracy of this information.
"I am not sure about the information we received," the relative told Human Rights Watch. "The former detainee is probably under a lot of pressure from the security services to say that everyone is fine. I won't believe that my relative is doing well until we are allowed to see him."
Human Rights Watch urged the Syrian government to allow families and lawyers immediate access to the detainees and to open an independent investigation into the events that have taken place in Sednaya prison since the beginning of July.
Syrian authorities should make public the fate of prisoners at Sednaya against whom military police used lethal force during unrest in early July 2008, Human Rights Watch said today.
Prison authorities and military police used firearms to quell a riot on July 5 at Sednaya prison, about 30 kilometers north of Damascus. Human Rights Watch obtained the names of nine inmates believed killed in a stand-off that reportedly lasted for many days; Syrian human rights organizations have reported as many as 25 deaths of inmates. But the government has released no statement on the events, or provided families of inmates with any information.
"Syria's long blackout on the fate of at least 1,500 detainees is nothing less than scandalous," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The families of these detainees have an absolute right to know what happened to their loved ones."
Residents of the town of Sednaya reported that cell phone coverage around the prison has remained cut off since the July events. Syrian authorities have prohibited all contact with Sednaya inmates and imposed a complete information blackout about the prison. Residents of the town reported hearing gunshots and seeing smoke emerge from the prison again last month.
On October 10, 17 mothers of Sednaya detainees from the town of Qatana publicly appealed to President Bashar al-Asad to provide information about their sons and to allow the mothers to visit. They issued the appeal after several failed attempts to obtain information from the Ministry of Justice. In their appeal, they noted that they had "learned about the burial of bodies in Qatana at night," and that they were concerned that these may have been the bodies of their children.
One of the mothers told Human Rights Watch that she had received information that five bodies had been secretly buried in Qatana at the request of Syrian security services. Human Rights Watch was unable to confirm Sednaya detainees were buried there or even that there had been a burial.
"The lack of information about Sednaya has caused enormous anguish to the families and fuelled fears and rumors," Whitson said. "The Syrian authorities need to come clean and allow families and lawyers access to Sednaya."
In December, Human Rights Watch received worrying reports that deadly force had been used again in Sednaya prison. A resident of the town of Sednaya told Human Rights Watch that on December 6, he had heard gunshots from the prison for 30 minutes, and later saw considerable smoke coming from the middle section of the prison. He said that authorities closed the road from the town to the prison and he saw military trucks driving toward the prison. He said that the situation seemed to have returned to normal the next day.
On December 18, a Syrian human rights activist told Human Rights Watch that he had received information about violence in the prison that day, and that ambulances were sent there, but he did not have further details. A resident from Sednaya confirmed seeing ambulances and fire trucks heading to the prison on December 18.
Another person in Damascus who asked not to be identified told Human Rights Watch that he received new reports of incidents at Sednaya on December 27 and 31, and that a fire on December 31 had destroyed part of a wall of an interior building. Human Rights Watch was unable to independently confirm these reports.
Syrian activists told Human Rights Watch that they received information that many Sednaya prisoners were transferred to Section 2 of the `Adra prison near Damascus (Section 2 is usually reserved for individuals detained by Political Security or sentenced by the State Security Court), and to the detention facilities of other security services, where they were being held separately from other detainees. According to these sources, 400 to 500 detainees from Sednaya were in `Adra while another 1,000 remained in Sednaya but in a separate detention facility.
A relative of one of the Sednaya detainees told Human Rights Watch that a detainee who was released from Sednaya on January 18, 2009 had called to say that their relative in prison was doing well, as were other detainees also arrested for their blogging activity. However, the relative of the detainee and local human rights activists expressed skepticism about the accuracy of this information.
"I am not sure about the information we received," the relative told Human Rights Watch. "The former detainee is probably under a lot of pressure from the security services to say that everyone is fine. I won't believe that my relative is doing well until we are allowed to see him."
Human Rights Watch urged the Syrian government to allow families and lawyers immediate access to the detainees and to open an independent investigation into the events that have taken place in Sednaya prison since the beginning of July.
Friday 23 January 2009
Vision 2015
The following are conclusions to events that have happened and the events that might take place by 2015 if current American-Israeli plans work out.
- The liquidation of the Palestinian cause, mainly by removing any sort of resistance or movement that would oppose a humiliating peace agreement and settlement based on the two-state solution and under Israeli rules and conditions to that solution.
- Removal of any regional entities that oppose the American-Israeli plans for a ‘New Middle East’, starting with Hizbullah, Hamas and Syria then Iran.
- The normalization of relations between the Arab states and Israel.
- The start of a new era of confrontations between states backed up by the USA against rising global powers such as China, India and Russia where the Middle East would be the front line to those confrontations whether economically or militarily.
- The creation of a regional alliance between Arab states and Israel, Turkey and Iran, aiming to create a ‘balance of power’ in the region to counter the influence and dominance of growing global powers such as China and Russia.
- The liquidation of the Palestinian cause, mainly by removing any sort of resistance or movement that would oppose a humiliating peace agreement and settlement based on the two-state solution and under Israeli rules and conditions to that solution.
- Removal of any regional entities that oppose the American-Israeli plans for a ‘New Middle East’, starting with Hizbullah, Hamas and Syria then Iran.
- The normalization of relations between the Arab states and Israel.
- The start of a new era of confrontations between states backed up by the USA against rising global powers such as China, India and Russia where the Middle East would be the front line to those confrontations whether economically or militarily.
- The creation of a regional alliance between Arab states and Israel, Turkey and Iran, aiming to create a ‘balance of power’ in the region to counter the influence and dominance of growing global powers such as China and Russia.
Thursday 22 January 2009
A Day to Remember
On the 27th of January the Holocaust Memorial Day takes place in the UK. It is always good to remind people what hatred and injustice looks like so that people can understand the pain of those who are being oppressed and persecuted throughout history and more importantly in the present day.
What I disagree on however is the ranking of suffering and giving a particular genocide more importance compared to other genocides as if the Jews of the Holocaust suffered more than the Native Americans, the Rwandans, the Bosnians or the Palestinians. If we are going to remember what oppression and persecution looks like than lets consider all those who were oppressed. Lets specifically consider the Palestinian case that has a direct relation to the Holocaust.
They say that the Jews deserve a state of their own, so that they can have the right of self determination because they were persecuted in Europe and under the Nazi's they were massacred and persecuted. However today, the grandchildren of those that survived and managed to make it to the so called "state of Israel" are today persecuting, and massacring and destroying the lives of millions of indigenous people of that Land, who are also known as Palestinian. Since a picture speaks a thousand words I leave you with the following pictures that compares the injustice towards the Jews in Europe and the injustice towards the Palestinians in Palestine.
What I disagree on however is the ranking of suffering and giving a particular genocide more importance compared to other genocides as if the Jews of the Holocaust suffered more than the Native Americans, the Rwandans, the Bosnians or the Palestinians. If we are going to remember what oppression and persecution looks like than lets consider all those who were oppressed. Lets specifically consider the Palestinian case that has a direct relation to the Holocaust.
They say that the Jews deserve a state of their own, so that they can have the right of self determination because they were persecuted in Europe and under the Nazi's they were massacred and persecuted. However today, the grandchildren of those that survived and managed to make it to the so called "state of Israel" are today persecuting, and massacring and destroying the lives of millions of indigenous people of that Land, who are also known as Palestinian. Since a picture speaks a thousand words I leave you with the following pictures that compares the injustice towards the Jews in Europe and the injustice towards the Palestinians in Palestine.
Wednesday 21 January 2009
Words and No Actions..
... and that was exactly it. So it turns out that the meeting held between the Leaders of Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Qatar was nothing more than talk. It is obvious now that the only reason this meeting took place was to absorb the anger of the Arab people that have been demonstrating since the first day of the Israeli aggression on Gaza.
How pathetic these so called leaders are, they really do think that the Arab people are that simple minded. After the meeting ended ended the leaders of those countries, excluding Syrian president Bashar Al Assad, went back to their respective countries in order to avoid the confrontation that might have happened the next day, given that the final statement of the Kuwait summit had no recommendations to the main points of disagreement between those countries regarding the situation in Gaza.
There is no reason why the Arab people should stop demonstrating even after the war has ended. This war has revealed many things especially when it comes to those countries that are backed up by the US. We have seen the positive effects of those demonstrations and how they have ended years of political calmness in the region. The revolution of the people has started, let it not end now.
How pathetic these so called leaders are, they really do think that the Arab people are that simple minded. After the meeting ended ended the leaders of those countries, excluding Syrian president Bashar Al Assad, went back to their respective countries in order to avoid the confrontation that might have happened the next day, given that the final statement of the Kuwait summit had no recommendations to the main points of disagreement between those countries regarding the situation in Gaza.
There is no reason why the Arab people should stop demonstrating even after the war has ended. This war has revealed many things especially when it comes to those countries that are backed up by the US. We have seen the positive effects of those demonstrations and how they have ended years of political calmness in the region. The revolution of the people has started, let it not end now.
Monday 19 January 2009
Arab Summit
The Arab summit today was truly surprising and from what has been 'said' so far it seems that finally the Arab leaders are saying what the people want to hear, and are actually doing what the people want them to do as explained later on.
The tone against the Israeli aggression on Gaza by Arab leaders has increased from the past where condemning Israel's actions was the most thing we as Arabs would have expected from our leaders, but from what we have heard so far it has been completely different. President Bashar Al Assad gave a speech a couple of days ago that reminded many Arabs of the old tough and unforgiving speeches that were made by our leaders during the period when Arab Nationalism dominated the political atmosphere of the Arab world. Maysaloon has already given a great analysis of President Bashar Al Assad's speech, to add to Al-Asad's speech would be King Abdullah's speech today during the Arab Summit in Kuwait, where for the first time the Saudi Arabian diplomacy was completely absent in King Abdullah's speech which had some extremely inflammatory comments about the Israeli aggression on Gaza, referring to the Israeli's as a 'mob', and to its actions on Gaza as collective massacres and said that "what the torah tells the Jews is an Eye for an Eye and not an Eye for an entire city of Eyes" referring to the massacres unlike what most analysts thought he said that it referred to the "Arab Unity" in some way. He also added that the Arab peace initiative will have to be 'pulled away from the table' in other words an end to the peace process that was proposed by the Arabs 7 years ago.
The question is, why the change in the Saudi Arabian speech from one that blamed the resistance in Gaza a couple of weeks ago for what is happening to one that had harsh words against the Zionist mob?
In my opinion, the answer is simply the Arab people. The anger and rage from the Arab people across the 'Arab world' that was reflected in the demonstrations had a significant effect. If we consider that even in Iraq a country that is occupied and is itself fighting off an occupation, people went on demonstrations against the Zionist aggression which shows that the true enemy in the eyes of the Arabs are Israel first and foremost, and that whatever happens to the Arabs from calamities is on one side and whatever Israel does is on a completely different side.
The Arab leaders have most definitely felt the rage of the Arab people and I am sure that this is what has pushed them to reading out such inciting speeches against Israel, especially when we are talking about a country with the political weight and presence in the region such as Saudi Arabia. Now whether those speeches are just 'words and no actions' is still to be seen, but it is very encouraging to see that the Leaders of Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Qatar, which have been in disagreement on the stance that the Arab world should be taking since 2006, have had lunch together which might signal the end of the mutual political boycott of the two camps. Lovely.
The tone against the Israeli aggression on Gaza by Arab leaders has increased from the past where condemning Israel's actions was the most thing we as Arabs would have expected from our leaders, but from what we have heard so far it has been completely different. President Bashar Al Assad gave a speech a couple of days ago that reminded many Arabs of the old tough and unforgiving speeches that were made by our leaders during the period when Arab Nationalism dominated the political atmosphere of the Arab world. Maysaloon has already given a great analysis of President Bashar Al Assad's speech, to add to Al-Asad's speech would be King Abdullah's speech today during the Arab Summit in Kuwait, where for the first time the Saudi Arabian diplomacy was completely absent in King Abdullah's speech which had some extremely inflammatory comments about the Israeli aggression on Gaza, referring to the Israeli's as a 'mob', and to its actions on Gaza as collective massacres and said that "what the torah tells the Jews is an Eye for an Eye and not an Eye for an entire city of Eyes" referring to the massacres unlike what most analysts thought he said that it referred to the "Arab Unity" in some way. He also added that the Arab peace initiative will have to be 'pulled away from the table' in other words an end to the peace process that was proposed by the Arabs 7 years ago.
The question is, why the change in the Saudi Arabian speech from one that blamed the resistance in Gaza a couple of weeks ago for what is happening to one that had harsh words against the Zionist mob?
In my opinion, the answer is simply the Arab people. The anger and rage from the Arab people across the 'Arab world' that was reflected in the demonstrations had a significant effect. If we consider that even in Iraq a country that is occupied and is itself fighting off an occupation, people went on demonstrations against the Zionist aggression which shows that the true enemy in the eyes of the Arabs are Israel first and foremost, and that whatever happens to the Arabs from calamities is on one side and whatever Israel does is on a completely different side.
The Arab leaders have most definitely felt the rage of the Arab people and I am sure that this is what has pushed them to reading out such inciting speeches against Israel, especially when we are talking about a country with the political weight and presence in the region such as Saudi Arabia. Now whether those speeches are just 'words and no actions' is still to be seen, but it is very encouraging to see that the Leaders of Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Qatar, which have been in disagreement on the stance that the Arab world should be taking since 2006, have had lunch together which might signal the end of the mutual political boycott of the two camps. Lovely.
Sunday 18 January 2009
Israel War Crimes
Under the fourth Geneva Convention Israel has committed war crimes as follows:
- The bombing of the Islamic University in Ghaza City, and other civilian infrastructure such as ambulances and mosques;
- The shelling of a U.N. school in the Jabalya refugee camp in Ghaza, killing over 40 people, including many children;
- The suffocation of the people of Ghaza, through an imposed 18 month siege, effectively cutting-off access to fuel, cooking gas, flour, and other basic necessities;
- The killing of over 1200 people, a significant portion who are civilians, during their offensive entitled “Operation Cast Lead” which began on December 27th, 2008.
Israeli leaders responsible for this are Ehud Olmert, Ehud Barack, Tsibi Livni and Shimon Perez.
If your a lawyer or know someone who is do urge them act on this.
- The bombing of the Islamic University in Ghaza City, and other civilian infrastructure such as ambulances and mosques;
- The shelling of a U.N. school in the Jabalya refugee camp in Ghaza, killing over 40 people, including many children;
- The suffocation of the people of Ghaza, through an imposed 18 month siege, effectively cutting-off access to fuel, cooking gas, flour, and other basic necessities;
- The killing of over 1200 people, a significant portion who are civilians, during their offensive entitled “Operation Cast Lead” which began on December 27th, 2008.
Israeli leaders responsible for this are Ehud Olmert, Ehud Barack, Tsibi Livni and Shimon Perez.
If your a lawyer or know someone who is do urge them act on this.
A Letter to Hosni
Dear Mr Hosni,
What the hell are you doing? Seriously whats up man? Why have you turned Egypt, the Great nation of Egypt, from a beacon of Arab resistance and unity, from being the country that all Arabs looked up to into a country Arabs stick a curse word after or before they mention Egypt, regretfully.
No one denies the sacrifice Egypt and the Egyptian people have given to the Arab/Palestinian cause over the past 60 years. And everyone would be proud to belong to a nation of with such a great civilization, a great country and semi-ok food. We understand that the blame is not fully on you, Hosni, that the reason why your on this track goes back to the time of camp David and the traitor Anwar Al Sadat. However you have been given the opportunity to correct that during both the 2006 aggression and the recent aggression on Ghaza, yet at both times you have decided to remain a 'moderate' state, in other words a slave for the Americans and the Zionist entity. And this is something no one understands, not me, not the Egyptian people, not the Arab people not even most political analysts in the Arab world who at most times when asked why Egypt decided to keep the border crossing shut, to keep the Zionist embassy open and to keep selling natural gas to Israel, they were lost and had no clue.
We are not going to interfere with Egypt's internal affairs, because we all know how angry you and your foreign minster get when someone does, just like when Egyptian people complain about high prices and when Nasrallah asked the Egyptian people to open up the border crossing of Rafah, but I and probably most Arabs need to know why you are doing what you are doing.
We need to know how the Zionists became your allies and the people whose cause you fought for all those years are suddenly your enemies and are a threat to your national security, here I refer to Hamas (not KHamas, its 'H'amas for you Hebrew speakers). We need to know how a muslim coutry like Iran became your enemy, and how its nuclear program is a threat to you when the Zionist state which Egypt fought 4 wars with already has atleast 200 nuclear bombs.
Dear Hosni, how did you feel when the Livni went to the US and signed an agreement with the Rice regarding the current crisis without including you in the agreement or even telling you about it? Knowing well that most of what came in the agreement has to be implemented by the Egyptians on their land and with your help. It seems that you have become a maltasha (ملطشة) or what ya basha? How did you feel when the Zionist air force injured 5 military personnel and flew over Egyptian airspace breaching the camp David agreement? And most importantly what really do you feel when you see dead Palestinian children, some burnt to death and some buried alive in the rubble and some in parts?
ya Hosni it is time for you to either give up and let some one more competent take over, or become a free man, and like free men make decisions that are beneficial to your people's interests before your own narrow interests. And this goes out to all leaders and dictators of the Arab world.
What the hell are you doing? Seriously whats up man? Why have you turned Egypt, the Great nation of Egypt, from a beacon of Arab resistance and unity, from being the country that all Arabs looked up to into a country Arabs stick a curse word after or before they mention Egypt, regretfully.
No one denies the sacrifice Egypt and the Egyptian people have given to the Arab/Palestinian cause over the past 60 years. And everyone would be proud to belong to a nation of with such a great civilization, a great country and semi-ok food. We understand that the blame is not fully on you, Hosni, that the reason why your on this track goes back to the time of camp David and the traitor Anwar Al Sadat. However you have been given the opportunity to correct that during both the 2006 aggression and the recent aggression on Ghaza, yet at both times you have decided to remain a 'moderate' state, in other words a slave for the Americans and the Zionist entity. And this is something no one understands, not me, not the Egyptian people, not the Arab people not even most political analysts in the Arab world who at most times when asked why Egypt decided to keep the border crossing shut, to keep the Zionist embassy open and to keep selling natural gas to Israel, they were lost and had no clue.
We are not going to interfere with Egypt's internal affairs, because we all know how angry you and your foreign minster get when someone does, just like when Egyptian people complain about high prices and when Nasrallah asked the Egyptian people to open up the border crossing of Rafah, but I and probably most Arabs need to know why you are doing what you are doing.
We need to know how the Zionists became your allies and the people whose cause you fought for all those years are suddenly your enemies and are a threat to your national security, here I refer to Hamas (not KHamas, its 'H'amas for you Hebrew speakers). We need to know how a muslim coutry like Iran became your enemy, and how its nuclear program is a threat to you when the Zionist state which Egypt fought 4 wars with already has atleast 200 nuclear bombs.
Dear Hosni, how did you feel when the Livni went to the US and signed an agreement with the Rice regarding the current crisis without including you in the agreement or even telling you about it? Knowing well that most of what came in the agreement has to be implemented by the Egyptians on their land and with your help. It seems that you have become a maltasha (ملطشة) or what ya basha? How did you feel when the Zionist air force injured 5 military personnel and flew over Egyptian airspace breaching the camp David agreement? And most importantly what really do you feel when you see dead Palestinian children, some burnt to death and some buried alive in the rubble and some in parts?
ya Hosni it is time for you to either give up and let some one more competent take over, or become a free man, and like free men make decisions that are beneficial to your people's interests before your own narrow interests. And this goes out to all leaders and dictators of the Arab world.
Saturday 17 January 2009
If the massacres of Ghaza has not yet convinced some people that Zionism is an ideology of racism and hate then consider the following.
- The Zionist government voted not to allow the Arab-Israeli political parties from running in the upcoming elections due to their stance towards the brutal Zionist massacres against the innocent Palestinian civilians.
- The Israeli foreign Minister, Tsibi Livni saying that the Israeli-Arabs need to be moved out of "Israel" once a Palestinian state is created (if ever) even though they are citizens.
- The eviction of 400 Arab families from the Israeli side of Jerusalem.
- Not to forget the Apartheid state and the separation wall.
These people are racist towards their own citizens, they discriminate against them and treat them as second class citizens. And then they tell us that 'Israel is fighting the Wests war against terror, and fighting for Western values', are those the values of the west, are those the values of the American people?
They say Israel is the only Democracy in the Middle East, so is this democracy? I thought that one of the main points about Democracy is that all citizens have the same rights, the rule of the people by the people for the people. How can Israel be a democracy when it only looks after the rights of the Zionist Jews? If Israel is only a state for the Zionist Jews then obviously it is not a democracy.
Why is Israel a state for the Jews? what gives the Zionists exclusivity to that land? Is it because they lived there 2000 years ago and then were forced to leave? 2000 years ago, was it a land for the Jews only? Very well if that is the case then we Arabs (of all beliefs) demand that Spain be returned to us because the Arabs lived on that land and were also forcefully expelled from it. Therefore The Arabian Camel demands the return of Spanish land to the Arabs. Do you see how silly Zionist arguments are?!
- The Zionist government voted not to allow the Arab-Israeli political parties from running in the upcoming elections due to their stance towards the brutal Zionist massacres against the innocent Palestinian civilians.
- The Israeli foreign Minister, Tsibi Livni saying that the Israeli-Arabs need to be moved out of "Israel" once a Palestinian state is created (if ever) even though they are citizens.
- The eviction of 400 Arab families from the Israeli side of Jerusalem.
- Not to forget the Apartheid state and the separation wall.
These people are racist towards their own citizens, they discriminate against them and treat them as second class citizens. And then they tell us that 'Israel is fighting the Wests war against terror, and fighting for Western values', are those the values of the west, are those the values of the American people?
They say Israel is the only Democracy in the Middle East, so is this democracy? I thought that one of the main points about Democracy is that all citizens have the same rights, the rule of the people by the people for the people. How can Israel be a democracy when it only looks after the rights of the Zionist Jews? If Israel is only a state for the Zionist Jews then obviously it is not a democracy.
Why is Israel a state for the Jews? what gives the Zionists exclusivity to that land? Is it because they lived there 2000 years ago and then were forced to leave? 2000 years ago, was it a land for the Jews only? Very well if that is the case then we Arabs (of all beliefs) demand that Spain be returned to us because the Arabs lived on that land and were also forcefully expelled from it. Therefore The Arabian Camel demands the return of Spanish land to the Arabs. Do you see how silly Zionist arguments are?!
انقسام العرب رحمة - عبد الباري عطوان
حروب القمم العربية التي اختتمت جولتها الثانية يوم امس بعقد' قمة غزة الطارئة' في الدوحة بحضور دول عربية نافذة مثل سورية والجزائر والسودان، واخرى اسلامية ذات ثقل مثل ايران وتركيا واندونيسيا، تعكس ظاهرة صحية في العمل السياسي العربي على عكس ما يتصور الكثيرون.
فالخلاف في وجهات النظر، بل وانقسام المنطقة العربية الى محاور متصارعة، هو حراك مطلوب لتحريك المياه العربية الراكدة المتعفنة، وضخ بعض اوجه الحياة في العروق المتصلبة، بعد سنوات من الجمود والوفاق العربي الكاذب المخادع الذي قاد الى حال الهوان الحالية والتي تنعكس في ابشع صورها في الصمت اكثر من ثلاثة اسابيع على المجازر الاسرائيلية في قطاع غزة.
ما حصل في قمة الدوحة على درجة كبيرة من الاهمية ليس بسبب القرارات المهمة التي صدرت عنها، مثل اقدام كل من موريتانيا وقطر على 'تجميد' العلاقات الدبلوماسية مع اسرائيل، وانشاء صندوق لاعادة اعمار القطاع، والمطالبة بلجنة تحقيق دولية في الانتهاكات الاسرائيلية لحقوق الانسان والجرائم ضد الانسانية المرتكبة، وانما ايضا لان هناك فئة من العرب قررت ان تكسر حاجز الصمت، وتخرج عن الطوق الامريكي ـ الاسرائيلي وتنتصر للاطفال الذين تطحن عظامهم الدبابات الاسرائيلية.
جميل ان تحدث حالة الفرز الراهنة في المواقف، وان تتكرس من خلال اتخاذ قرارات تستجيب لمطالب الشارع العربي ولو جزئيا، الامر الذي يؤكد ان المظاهرات الصاخبة التي عمت معظم العواصم العربية بدأت تعطي بعض الثمار، وتدفع بالنظام الرسمي العربي، او قطاع منه للتحرك وعمل شيء ما، بعد ان ظل هذا الحراك الشعبي 'جعجعة دون طحن' ولسنوات عديدة.
'ثقافة السلام' التي سادت المنطقة طوال السنوات الثلاثين الماضية بدأت بالتآكل، بعد ان ثبت عمليا عدم جدواها، ورفض الطرف الآخر التجاوب عمليا معها رغم كل المغريات الدسمة، من تطبيع سياسي ودبلوماسي، وحوار اديان، وتنازلات ضخمة عن الكثير من الثوابت العربية.
مبادرة السلام العربية التي جاءت العنوان الابرز لتلك الثقافة، فقدت الجزء الاكبر من شرعيتها في قمة الدوحة، عندما جرى سحب التأييد لها من قبل اكثر من نصف الدول العربية، ان لم يكن اكثر، وفصائل المقاومة الفلسطينية الاهم، وخاصة حركتي حماس والجهاد الاسلامي.
الرئيس السوري بشار الاسد اعلن وفاة هذه المبادرة، مثلما اعلن وقف كل المفاوضات غير المباشرة مع الدولة العبرية، بوساطة تركية، واستخدم في خطابه الذي القاه في القمة لهجة غير مسبوقة منذ وفاة الزعيم الراحل جمال عبد الناصر، بل ردد كلماته نفسها، مثل 'ما أخذ بالقوة لا يستعاد بغيرها' و'العين بالعين.. والسن بالسن.. والبادي اظلم'.
وربما يجادل البعض بأن هذا 'مجرد شعارات' وانفعال عاطفي املته حراجة الظرف الراهن، وربما يكون الحال كذلك، ولكنه يعكس ثقة بالنفس، واستعدادا لمرحلة جديدة من المواجهات الاقليمية والدولية، وادارة الظهر لاسلوب استجدائي مهين، اتبعه النظام العربي لسنوات طويلة، لم يجن من ورائه غير الهوان والمزيد من التهميش، وفوق كل ذلك العدوان الاسرائيلي الوحشي على قطاع غزة.
انها مؤشرات 'صحوة عربية'، ومقدمات لتغيير انتظرته المنطقة طويلا، يذكرنا بصحوة مماثلة فرضت نفسها بأشكال عديدة اثر هزيمة حزيران عام 1967، مثل حرب الاستنزاف البطولية، وانطلاق حركات المقاومة الفلسطينية بزعامة حركة 'فتح'، واعادة بناء الجيوش العربية على أسس حديثة اثمرت انتصارا مفاجئا في حرب اكتوبر عام 1973، والاستخدام الفاعل لسلاح النفط.
معركة الكرامة في آذار (مارس) عام 1968 غيرت معادلات سياسية واقليمية راسخة، ابرز معالمها: دعم عربي كبير لحركات المقاومة، وتغيير قيادة منظمة التحرير عنوان مرحلة الهزيمة، وتتويج الرئيس الراحل ياسر عرفات، قائد هذه المقاومة، زعيماً للمنظمة وللشعب الفلسطيني. وربما يؤدي هذا الصمود الكبير في مواجهة آلة القتل الاسرائيلية الوحشية من قبل رجال المقاومة في قطاع غزة الى تغيير جذري مماثل، في القيادات والنهج معاً.
اسرائيل ستخرج ضعيفة وخاسرة سياسياً، مثلما كان حالها بعد كل الحروب العسكرية التي خاضتها في المنطقة على مدى ربع القرن الماضي، ابتداء من حرب العاشر من رمضــان اكتوبر، ومروراً باجتياح لبنان عام 1982، وعام 2006، وانتهاء بحرب الابادة الحالية في قطاع غزة. واول مظاهر هذا الضعف خسارتها معظم اصدقائها العرب والمسلمين، مثل تركيا وقطر وموريتانيا وسلطنة عمان واضعاف ما تبقى منهم (مصر)، وانهيار مبادرة السلام العربية، وما تشكله كأول خطوة جدية نحو التطبيع الكامل معها، وانهيار مكانة السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية ورئيسها محمود عباس شريكها الاساسي في العملية السلمية.
الرئيس محمود عباس ارتكب خطأ كبيراً عندما رضخ لضغوط مصرية وسعودية وقاطع قمة الدوحة الأخيرة، وترك مقعد فلسطين خالياً فيها للمرة الأولى منذ تبلور هوية التمثيل الفلسطيني في اطار منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية، فقد حسب نفسه على احد المحاور العربية المتنافسة، وهو الذي طالما انتقد رئيسه الراحل ياسر عرفات لأنه ارتكب خطأ كبيراً بانحيازه الى معسكر دول 'الضد' في ازمة احتلال الكويت، وكان يردد دائماً في مجالسه الخاصة، واجتماعات القيادة الفلسطينية عن اهمية تحييد القضية الفلسطينية في اي انقسامات عربية.
فالفراغ يجد دائماً من يملأه وبسرعة في حال حدوثه، وهذا ما فعلته ايران بخروج مصر من المعادلة الاقليمية، وانهيار الدور العراقي بفعل الاحتلال الامريكي، وهذا ما تفعله حالياً، او تحاول فعله فصائل المقاومة المعارضة لسلطة رام الله، مثل حركتي 'حماس' والجهاد الاسلامي والجبهة الشعبية القيادة العامة.
الرئيس عباس ربما لا يكون المخطئ الوحيد، فالسيد عمرو موسى امين عام الجامعة العربية انهى حياته السياسية بالانحياز الى 'محور الاعتدال'، عندما قاطع بدوره قمة الدوحة، وادار ظهره لكل المواقف 'الثورية' التي جعلت منه اسطورة يتغنى بها البعض، وينال شهرة واسعة بسببها.
ولعل الانجاز الأكبر لحروب القمم العربية، وتبلور المحاور السياسية المتنافسة، هو رمي الكرة في ملعب القمة الثالثة التي ستعقد يوم الاثنين المقبل في الكويت. فالضغوط باتت متعاظمة على رعاتها لاتخاذ خطوات عملية، تجاري قمة الدوحة وقراراتها، مثل سحب المبادرة العربية للسلام وقطع العلاقات الدبلوماسية مع اسرائيل، وانهاء حوار الأديان والآمال المعلقة عليه، واستخدام الاقتصاد كسلاح لفرض الارادة العربية على الغرب الداعم لاسرائيل وعدوانها، وهو السلاح الأمضى في هذا الاطار.
اختلاف اساطين نظام العجز العربي 'رحمة'، وما كان له ان يتحقق الا بفضل شهداء قطاع غـــزة، والانتفاضات الاحتجاجية والتضامنية العارمة في الشوارع العربية والاسلامية بل والعالمية، فهذه هي المرة الأولى التي يفرض فيها الرأي العام العربي نفسه بقوة على حكامه او بعضهم، ويدفعهم لفعل شيء ما، فشكراً له.
فالخلاف في وجهات النظر، بل وانقسام المنطقة العربية الى محاور متصارعة، هو حراك مطلوب لتحريك المياه العربية الراكدة المتعفنة، وضخ بعض اوجه الحياة في العروق المتصلبة، بعد سنوات من الجمود والوفاق العربي الكاذب المخادع الذي قاد الى حال الهوان الحالية والتي تنعكس في ابشع صورها في الصمت اكثر من ثلاثة اسابيع على المجازر الاسرائيلية في قطاع غزة.
ما حصل في قمة الدوحة على درجة كبيرة من الاهمية ليس بسبب القرارات المهمة التي صدرت عنها، مثل اقدام كل من موريتانيا وقطر على 'تجميد' العلاقات الدبلوماسية مع اسرائيل، وانشاء صندوق لاعادة اعمار القطاع، والمطالبة بلجنة تحقيق دولية في الانتهاكات الاسرائيلية لحقوق الانسان والجرائم ضد الانسانية المرتكبة، وانما ايضا لان هناك فئة من العرب قررت ان تكسر حاجز الصمت، وتخرج عن الطوق الامريكي ـ الاسرائيلي وتنتصر للاطفال الذين تطحن عظامهم الدبابات الاسرائيلية.
جميل ان تحدث حالة الفرز الراهنة في المواقف، وان تتكرس من خلال اتخاذ قرارات تستجيب لمطالب الشارع العربي ولو جزئيا، الامر الذي يؤكد ان المظاهرات الصاخبة التي عمت معظم العواصم العربية بدأت تعطي بعض الثمار، وتدفع بالنظام الرسمي العربي، او قطاع منه للتحرك وعمل شيء ما، بعد ان ظل هذا الحراك الشعبي 'جعجعة دون طحن' ولسنوات عديدة.
'ثقافة السلام' التي سادت المنطقة طوال السنوات الثلاثين الماضية بدأت بالتآكل، بعد ان ثبت عمليا عدم جدواها، ورفض الطرف الآخر التجاوب عمليا معها رغم كل المغريات الدسمة، من تطبيع سياسي ودبلوماسي، وحوار اديان، وتنازلات ضخمة عن الكثير من الثوابت العربية.
مبادرة السلام العربية التي جاءت العنوان الابرز لتلك الثقافة، فقدت الجزء الاكبر من شرعيتها في قمة الدوحة، عندما جرى سحب التأييد لها من قبل اكثر من نصف الدول العربية، ان لم يكن اكثر، وفصائل المقاومة الفلسطينية الاهم، وخاصة حركتي حماس والجهاد الاسلامي.
الرئيس السوري بشار الاسد اعلن وفاة هذه المبادرة، مثلما اعلن وقف كل المفاوضات غير المباشرة مع الدولة العبرية، بوساطة تركية، واستخدم في خطابه الذي القاه في القمة لهجة غير مسبوقة منذ وفاة الزعيم الراحل جمال عبد الناصر، بل ردد كلماته نفسها، مثل 'ما أخذ بالقوة لا يستعاد بغيرها' و'العين بالعين.. والسن بالسن.. والبادي اظلم'.
وربما يجادل البعض بأن هذا 'مجرد شعارات' وانفعال عاطفي املته حراجة الظرف الراهن، وربما يكون الحال كذلك، ولكنه يعكس ثقة بالنفس، واستعدادا لمرحلة جديدة من المواجهات الاقليمية والدولية، وادارة الظهر لاسلوب استجدائي مهين، اتبعه النظام العربي لسنوات طويلة، لم يجن من ورائه غير الهوان والمزيد من التهميش، وفوق كل ذلك العدوان الاسرائيلي الوحشي على قطاع غزة.
انها مؤشرات 'صحوة عربية'، ومقدمات لتغيير انتظرته المنطقة طويلا، يذكرنا بصحوة مماثلة فرضت نفسها بأشكال عديدة اثر هزيمة حزيران عام 1967، مثل حرب الاستنزاف البطولية، وانطلاق حركات المقاومة الفلسطينية بزعامة حركة 'فتح'، واعادة بناء الجيوش العربية على أسس حديثة اثمرت انتصارا مفاجئا في حرب اكتوبر عام 1973، والاستخدام الفاعل لسلاح النفط.
معركة الكرامة في آذار (مارس) عام 1968 غيرت معادلات سياسية واقليمية راسخة، ابرز معالمها: دعم عربي كبير لحركات المقاومة، وتغيير قيادة منظمة التحرير عنوان مرحلة الهزيمة، وتتويج الرئيس الراحل ياسر عرفات، قائد هذه المقاومة، زعيماً للمنظمة وللشعب الفلسطيني. وربما يؤدي هذا الصمود الكبير في مواجهة آلة القتل الاسرائيلية الوحشية من قبل رجال المقاومة في قطاع غزة الى تغيير جذري مماثل، في القيادات والنهج معاً.
اسرائيل ستخرج ضعيفة وخاسرة سياسياً، مثلما كان حالها بعد كل الحروب العسكرية التي خاضتها في المنطقة على مدى ربع القرن الماضي، ابتداء من حرب العاشر من رمضــان اكتوبر، ومروراً باجتياح لبنان عام 1982، وعام 2006، وانتهاء بحرب الابادة الحالية في قطاع غزة. واول مظاهر هذا الضعف خسارتها معظم اصدقائها العرب والمسلمين، مثل تركيا وقطر وموريتانيا وسلطنة عمان واضعاف ما تبقى منهم (مصر)، وانهيار مبادرة السلام العربية، وما تشكله كأول خطوة جدية نحو التطبيع الكامل معها، وانهيار مكانة السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية ورئيسها محمود عباس شريكها الاساسي في العملية السلمية.
الرئيس محمود عباس ارتكب خطأ كبيراً عندما رضخ لضغوط مصرية وسعودية وقاطع قمة الدوحة الأخيرة، وترك مقعد فلسطين خالياً فيها للمرة الأولى منذ تبلور هوية التمثيل الفلسطيني في اطار منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية، فقد حسب نفسه على احد المحاور العربية المتنافسة، وهو الذي طالما انتقد رئيسه الراحل ياسر عرفات لأنه ارتكب خطأ كبيراً بانحيازه الى معسكر دول 'الضد' في ازمة احتلال الكويت، وكان يردد دائماً في مجالسه الخاصة، واجتماعات القيادة الفلسطينية عن اهمية تحييد القضية الفلسطينية في اي انقسامات عربية.
فالفراغ يجد دائماً من يملأه وبسرعة في حال حدوثه، وهذا ما فعلته ايران بخروج مصر من المعادلة الاقليمية، وانهيار الدور العراقي بفعل الاحتلال الامريكي، وهذا ما تفعله حالياً، او تحاول فعله فصائل المقاومة المعارضة لسلطة رام الله، مثل حركتي 'حماس' والجهاد الاسلامي والجبهة الشعبية القيادة العامة.
الرئيس عباس ربما لا يكون المخطئ الوحيد، فالسيد عمرو موسى امين عام الجامعة العربية انهى حياته السياسية بالانحياز الى 'محور الاعتدال'، عندما قاطع بدوره قمة الدوحة، وادار ظهره لكل المواقف 'الثورية' التي جعلت منه اسطورة يتغنى بها البعض، وينال شهرة واسعة بسببها.
ولعل الانجاز الأكبر لحروب القمم العربية، وتبلور المحاور السياسية المتنافسة، هو رمي الكرة في ملعب القمة الثالثة التي ستعقد يوم الاثنين المقبل في الكويت. فالضغوط باتت متعاظمة على رعاتها لاتخاذ خطوات عملية، تجاري قمة الدوحة وقراراتها، مثل سحب المبادرة العربية للسلام وقطع العلاقات الدبلوماسية مع اسرائيل، وانهاء حوار الأديان والآمال المعلقة عليه، واستخدام الاقتصاد كسلاح لفرض الارادة العربية على الغرب الداعم لاسرائيل وعدوانها، وهو السلاح الأمضى في هذا الاطار.
اختلاف اساطين نظام العجز العربي 'رحمة'، وما كان له ان يتحقق الا بفضل شهداء قطاع غـــزة، والانتفاضات الاحتجاجية والتضامنية العارمة في الشوارع العربية والاسلامية بل والعالمية، فهذه هي المرة الأولى التي يفرض فيها الرأي العام العربي نفسه بقوة على حكامه او بعضهم، ويدفعهم لفعل شيء ما، فشكراً له.
Israeli Army is Burning Children in Gaza
What Israel does best. Burn young children.
Where are the Arab leaders?
Where are the Egyptian leader who sealed the borders and didnt let refugees cross over and left them to suffer and die
Where is the Western Democracies that claim that they are fighting for humanity against terrorism and that they stand for human rights? or are the Palestinians not human? you hypocrites
تم حجب هذه المواقع في دولة الإمارات, و هذا جهد يشكرون عليه المواقع أيضا محجوبة بالسعودية فبرجاء تحذير كل الناس منها في كل بلادنا
Beware of the following websites:
انتبهوا من هذه المواقع على الأنترنت:
1. www.answering-islam.org
2. www.aboutislam.com
3. www.thequran.com
4. www.allahassurance.com
These sites have been developed by the Zionists
هذه المواقع تم تصميمها من قبل الصهاينة..
Who intentionally spread wrong information about the QURAN , the HADITH and Islam
وهم ينشرون معلومات خاطئة جدّاً عن القرآن والسنة والأحاديث النبويّة الشريفةوالإسلام
Please spread this information to all the Muslim brothers and sisters around the world.
أستحلفكم بالله أن تنشروا هذه الرسالة لكل المسلمين في العالم
Always check the source of any Islamic web site even if it is very convincing
تأكد دائماً من مصدر المواقع التي تتحدث عن الإسلام
A FAKE AMERICAN QURAAN
View on Amazon
هذا الموقع يباع فيه نسخة محرّفة كاملة عن القرآن الكريم تم تأليفه من قبل اليهود والأمريكان الحاقدين
The new AMERICAN Quran: a dangerous trick a new Quran is being distributed in Kuwait titled 'The True Furqan'
المشكلة العظمى أن هذا الكتاب بدأ انتشاره في الكويت بإسم (الفرقان الحق)
On their website they quote people saying:
"...a better Quran, written in beautiful and grammatically clear Arabic and forceful English..."
DR Michael Brown;
Professor of Semitic Languages
"The Gospel message is certainly present
in the text..."
Evangelical Mission Quarterly
Beware of the following websites:
انتبهوا من هذه المواقع على الأنترنت:
1. www.answering-islam.org
2. www.aboutislam.com
3. www.thequran.com
4. www.allahassurance.com
These sites have been developed by the Zionists
هذه المواقع تم تصميمها من قبل الصهاينة..
Who intentionally spread wrong information about the QURAN , the HADITH and Islam
وهم ينشرون معلومات خاطئة جدّاً عن القرآن والسنة والأحاديث النبويّة الشريفةوالإسلام
Please spread this information to all the Muslim brothers and sisters around the world.
أستحلفكم بالله أن تنشروا هذه الرسالة لكل المسلمين في العالم
Always check the source of any Islamic web site even if it is very convincing
تأكد دائماً من مصدر المواقع التي تتحدث عن الإسلام
A FAKE AMERICAN QURAAN
View on Amazon
هذا الموقع يباع فيه نسخة محرّفة كاملة عن القرآن الكريم تم تأليفه من قبل اليهود والأمريكان الحاقدين
The new AMERICAN Quran: a dangerous trick a new Quran is being distributed in Kuwait titled 'The True Furqan'
المشكلة العظمى أن هذا الكتاب بدأ انتشاره في الكويت بإسم (الفرقان الحق)
On their website they quote people saying:
"...a better Quran, written in beautiful and grammatically clear Arabic and forceful English..."
DR Michael Brown;
Professor of Semitic Languages
"The Gospel message is certainly present
in the text..."
Evangelical Mission Quarterly
Tuesday 13 January 2009
Saturday 10 January 2009
The Revolution!
"Revolution: a drastic and far-reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving"
"The violence of revolutions is generally proportioned to the degree of the maladministration which has produced them." --Macaulay
"The violence of revolutions is generally proportioned to the degree of the maladministration which has produced them." --Macaulay
Probably many people who have visited this blog will be wondering why the title Arabian Camel. The simple reason is because the camel is a fascinating animal, Arabian just because of the ethnicity that the writer of this blog is from. But the camel represents endurance, patience, strength and will.
It is time to change the title of this blog. The current title no longer reflects what I believe to be the current needs of the Arab people. The Arab people, who include all types of religions muslims, Christians, Jews and others have in the past couple of decades shown patience towards the incapability of the governments to meet the minimum aspirations of the Arab people, they have shown patience with the level of corruption within our governments’ activities and the corruption within the individuals of those regimes. We have only seen the strength within Arabs in the past couple of years. From the occupation of Iraq and the Israeli aggressions on Lebanon and Palestine have shown the strength and will of the Arabs, to live in liberty and freedom.
The Arab people have learnt a lot from the experiences that we have been put through and those that we have witnessed. The experience of oppression, aggression, and persecution, whether it was by a foreign power or a by our very own governments have taught us firsthand what it is like to be oppressed and persecuted for wanting to live a better life. Our fears of persecution and oppression have sent us into submission and silence towards the self-serving leaders of our nations in order to avoid the consequences of saying No. Those leaders have indoctrinated us with the worst possible thing and that is the over-pride of our Nations whose borders were drawn by Western colonizers. This false pride in the Nations that we belong to has turned us against each other and made us think that one Arab State has different interests compared to another Arab state, when in reality our interests and fates are all the same, yet we stand against each other defending failed states, most of which have accomplished nothing since their independence.
We know what carrying on being silent will lead to. We have to also realize that with the status quo we are not going to be moving forward, and that the only reason we are at this current distressing situation is because we have let the corrupt governments rule for a very long time that they forgot what the role of a government is, and that is to serve its people, all the people and not just a few. So the problem is within us, within the people. At this moment we are at a turning point, a point where we will decide to either carry on being silent or undergo a revolution.
What we need are revolutions in all aspects of our lives; a social revolution, economical revolution, intellectual revolution and a political revolution if necessary.
Friday 9 January 2009
10 Reasons why Israel is Bad for Children
Here are 10 reasons how Israel affects children in a bad way:
Israel teaches children:
1- how to take things by force that never belonged to them in the first place; greed,
2- how not to care for others, and be extremely self centered, and subject others to their will
3- how to differentiate between people based on their beliefs and nationality, and hate others because they are different
4- how to use other peoples pain to achieve their objectives, even though they might have never knew who those people were,
5- how to make full use of the arabic proverb 'he hit me and cried, and outran me and complained' - ضربني وبكى، سبأني واشتكى
6- how to suppress other peoples' opinions ('anti-semitism'), and hate/oppress/attack those that do not agree with what they are doing
7- how to be irresponsible,
8- how to blame others for their mistakes,
9- how to destroy hopes dreams and at the same time humiliate others,
10- And finally Israel is bad for children because it simply kills them.
Israel teaches children:
1- how to take things by force that never belonged to them in the first place; greed,
2- how not to care for others, and be extremely self centered, and subject others to their will
3- how to differentiate between people based on their beliefs and nationality, and hate others because they are different
4- how to use other peoples pain to achieve their objectives, even though they might have never knew who those people were,
5- how to make full use of the arabic proverb 'he hit me and cried, and outran me and complained' - ضربني وبكى، سبأني واشتكى
6- how to suppress other peoples' opinions ('anti-semitism'), and hate/oppress/attack those that do not agree with what they are doing
7- how to be irresponsible,
8- how to blame others for their mistakes,
9- how to destroy hopes dreams and at the same time humiliate others,
10- And finally Israel is bad for children because it simply kills them.
Gaza's Offshore Gas Fields
by Michel Chossudovsky
The military invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israeli Forces bears a direct relation to the control and ownership of strategic offshore gas reserves.
This is a war of conquest. Discovered in 2000, there are extensive gas reserves off the Gaza coastline.
British Gas (BG Group) and its partner, the Athens based Consolidated Contractors International Company (CCC) owned by Lebanon's Sabbagh and Koury families, were granted oil and gas exploration rights in a 25 year agreement signed in November 1999 with the Palestinian Authority.
The rights to the offshore gas field are respectively British Gas (60 percent); Consolidated Contractors (CCC) (30 percent); and the Investment Fund of the Palestinian Authority (10 percent). (Haaretz, October 21, 2007).
The PA-BG-CCC agreement includes field development and the construction of a gas pipeline.(Middle East Economic Digest, Jan 5, 2001).
The BG licence covers the entire Gazan offshore marine area, which is contiguous to several Israeli offshore gas facilities. (See Map below). It should be noted that 60 percent of the gas reserves along the Gaza-Israel coastline belong to Palestine.
The BG Group drilled two wells in 2000: Gaza Marine-1 and Gaza Marine-2. Reserves are estimated by British Gas to be of the order of 1.4 trillion cubic feet, valued at approximately 4 billion dollars. These are the figures made public by British Gas. The size of Palestine's gas reserves could be much larger.
Map 1
Map 2
Who Owns the Gas Fields
The issue of sovereignty over Gaza's gas fields is crucial. From a legal standpoint, the gas reserves belong to Palestine.
The death of Yasser Arafat, the election of the Hamas government and the ruin of the Palestinian Authority have enabled Israel to establish de facto control over Gaza's offshore gas reserves.
British Gas (BG Group) has been dealing with the Tel Aviv government. In turn, the Hamas government has been bypassed in regards to exploration and development rights over the gas fields.
The election of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2001 was a major turning point. Palestine's sovereignty over the offshore gas fields was challenged in the Israeli Supreme Court. Sharon stated unequivocally that "Israel would never buy gas from Palestine" intimating that Gaza's offshore gas reserves belong to Israel.
In 2003, Ariel Sharon, vetoed an initial deal, which would allow British Gas to supply Israel with natural gas from Gaza's offshore wells. (The Independent, August 19, 2003)
The election victory of Hamas in 2006 was conducive to the demise of the Palestinian Authority, which became confined to the West Bank, under the proxy regime of Mahmoud Abbas.
In 2006, British Gas "was close to signing a deal to pump the gas to Egypt." (Times, May, 23, 2007). According to reports, British Prime Minister Tony Blair intervened on behalf of Israel with a view to shunting the agreement with Egypt.
The following year, in May 2007, the Israeli Cabinet approved a proposal by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "to buy gas from the Palestinian Authority." The proposed contract was for $4 billion, with profits of the order of $2 billion of which one billion was to go the Palestinians.
Tel Aviv, however, had no intention on sharing the revenues with Palestine. An Israeli team of negotiators was set up by the Israeli Cabinet to thrash out a deal with the BG Group, bypassing both the Hamas government and the Palestinian Authority:
"Israeli defence authorities want the Palestinians to be paid in goods and services and insist that no money go to the Hamas-controlled Government." (Ibid, emphasis added)
The objective was essentially to nullify the contract signed in 1999 between the BG Group and the Palestinian Authority under Yasser Arafat.
Under the proposed 2007 agreement with BG, Palestinian gas from Gaza's offshore wells was to be channeled by an undersea pipeline to the Israeli seaport of Ashkelon, thereby transferring control over the sale of the natural gas to Israel.
The deal fell through. The negotiations were suspended:
"Mossad Chief Meir Dagan opposed the transaction on security grounds, that the proceeds would fund terror". (Member of Knesset Gilad Erdan, Address to the Knesset on "The Intention of Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to Purchase Gas from the Palestinians When Payment Will Serve Hamas," March 1, 2006, quoted in Lt. Gen. (ret.) Moshe Yaalon, Does the Prospective Purchase of British Gas from Gaza's Coastal Waters Threaten Israel's National Security? Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, October 2007)
Israel's intent was to foreclose the possibility that royalties be paid to the Palestinians. In December 2007, The BG Group withdrew from the negotiations with Israel and in January 2008 they closed their office in Israel.(BG website).
Invasion Plan on The Drawing Board
The invasion plan of the Gaza Strip under "Operation Cast Lead" was set in motion in June 2008, according to Israeli military sources:
"Sources in the defense establishment said Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare for the operation over six months ago [June or before June] , even as Israel was beginning to negotiate a ceasefire agreement with Hamas."(Barak Ravid, Operation "Cast Lead": Israeli Air Force strike followed months of planning, Haaretz, December 27, 2008)
That very same month, the Israeli authorities contacted British Gas, with a view to resuming crucial negotiations pertaining to the purchase of Gaza's natural gas:
"Both Ministry of Finance director general Yarom Ariav and Ministry of National Infrastructures director general Hezi Kugler agreed to inform BG of Israel's wish to renew the talks.
The sources added that BG has not yet officially responded to Israel's request, but that company executives would probably come to Israel in a few weeks to hold talks with government officials." (Globes online- Israel's Business Arena, June 23, 2008)
The decision to speed up negotiations with British Gas (BG Group) coincided, chronologically, with the planning of the invasion of Gaza initiated in June. It would appear that Israel was anxious to reach an agreement with the BG Group prior to the invasion, which was already in an advanced planning stage.
Moreover, these negotiations with British Gas were conducted by the Ehud Olmert government with the knowledge that a military invasion was on the drawing board. In all likelihood, a new "post war" political-territorial arrangement for the Gaza strip was also being contemplated by the Israeli government.
In fact, negotiations between British Gas and Israeli officials were ongoing in October 2008, 2-3 months prior to the commencement of the bombings on December 27th.
In November 2008, the Israeli Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of National Infrastructures instructed Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) to enter into negotiations with British Gas, on the purchase of natural gas from the BG's offshore concession in Gaza. (Globes, November 13, 2008)
"Ministry of Finance director general Yarom Ariav and Ministry of National Infrastructures director general Hezi Kugler wrote to IEC CEO Amos Lasker recently, informing him of the government's decision to allow negotiations to go forward, in line with the framework proposal it approved earlier this year.
The IEC board, headed by chairman Moti Friedman, approved the principles of the framework proposal a few weeks ago. The talks with BG Group will begin once the board approves the exemption from a tender." (Globes Nov. 13, 2008)
Gaza and Energy Geopolitics
The military occupation of Gaza is intent upon transferring the sovereignty of the gas fields to Israel in violation of international law.
What can we expect in the wake of the invasion?
What is the intent of Israel with regard to Palestine's Natural Gas reserves?
A new territorial arrangement, with the stationing of Israeli and/or "peacekeeping" troops?
The militarization of the entire Gaza coastline, which is strategic for Israel?
The outright confiscation of Palestinian gas fields and the unilateral declaration of Israeli sovereignty over Gaza's maritime areas?
If this were to occur, the Gaza gas fields would be integrated into Israel's offshore installations, which are contiguous to those of the Gaza Strip. (See Map 1 above).
These various offshore installations are also linked up to Israel's energy transport corridor, extending from the port of Eilat, which is an oil pipeline terminal, on the Red Sea to the seaport - pipeline terminal at Ashkelon, and northwards to Haifa, and eventually linking up through a proposed Israeli-Turkish pipeline with the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
Ceyhan is the terminal of the Baku, Tblisi Ceyhan Trans Caspian pipeline. "What is envisaged is to link the BTC pipeline to the Trans-Israel Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline, also known as Israel's Tipline." (See Michel Chossudovsky, The War on Lebanon and the Battle for Oil, Global Research, July 23, 2006)
Map 3
Thursday 8 January 2009
Mutiny in The Army
According to a weekly Egyptian Newspaper 'Sawt Al Umah' officers of the Egyptian armed forces participated in a mutiny where they refused to guard the Gaza-Egyptian border in order to stop any Palestinian refugees from coming into Egypt and to stop humanitarian aid sent by the outlawed Egyptian brotherhood from going into Gaza.
According to the paper, the incident occurred last Saturday at the Naser military camp where several officers refused to obey orders to guard the borders and said if they were going to go to Gaza then it would be for the purpose of fighting along side the Palestinians; against the Israelis and not against the Palestinians themselves.
The paper also adds that in response the ministry of interior sent security officers who arrested tens of officers that were involved, and added that the ministry was afraid that this incident would spread amongst the entire armed forces.
According to the paper, the incident occurred last Saturday at the Naser military camp where several officers refused to obey orders to guard the borders and said if they were going to go to Gaza then it would be for the purpose of fighting along side the Palestinians; against the Israelis and not against the Palestinians themselves.
The paper also adds that in response the ministry of interior sent security officers who arrested tens of officers that were involved, and added that the ministry was afraid that this incident would spread amongst the entire armed forces.
أوردت صحيفة العرب القطرية أن تمردا وقع قبل أيام في أحد معسكرات قوات الأمن المركزي المصري على خلفية العدوان الإسرائيلي على قطاع غزة.
ونقلت العرب في عددها الصادر الأربعاء عن أسبوعية "صوت الأمة" المصرية أن أفرادا من قوات الأمن المصري بمعسكر ناصر للأمن المركزي رفضوا التوجه للحراسة في معبر رفح على الحدود مع غزة.
وقالت الصحيفة إن المتمردين طالبوا بالذهاب إلى غزة للدفاع عنها وليس لمنع مواطنيها من دخول مصر، مؤكدة أن أجهزة بوزارة الداخلية اعتقلت ثلاثة ضباط وأحالت مجموعة أخرى إلى الاحتياط بدعوى تزعمهم التمرد.
وأضافت أن الضباط رفضوا تنفيذ أوامر عليا بالتوجه إلى معبر رفح يوم السبت الماضي لمنع دخول الفلسطينيين إلى مصر ومنع قوافل الإغاثة الإنسانية التابعة لمنظمات وجمعيات محسوبة على جماعة الإخوان المسلمين من العبور في اتجاه قطاع غزة.
ونقلت الصحيفة عن مجندين قولهم إن الكثير منهم انضموا إلى الضباط ورفضوا أوامر القيادة بالتوجه إلى المعبر، وإن بعضهم قالوا لقيادات المعسكر "لو حنروح يبقى نعبر الحدود ونحارب إسرائيل".
ونقلت العرب في عددها الصادر الأربعاء عن أسبوعية "صوت الأمة" المصرية أن أفرادا من قوات الأمن المصري بمعسكر ناصر للأمن المركزي رفضوا التوجه للحراسة في معبر رفح على الحدود مع غزة.
وقالت الصحيفة إن المتمردين طالبوا بالذهاب إلى غزة للدفاع عنها وليس لمنع مواطنيها من دخول مصر، مؤكدة أن أجهزة بوزارة الداخلية اعتقلت ثلاثة ضباط وأحالت مجموعة أخرى إلى الاحتياط بدعوى تزعمهم التمرد.
وأضافت أن الضباط رفضوا تنفيذ أوامر عليا بالتوجه إلى معبر رفح يوم السبت الماضي لمنع دخول الفلسطينيين إلى مصر ومنع قوافل الإغاثة الإنسانية التابعة لمنظمات وجمعيات محسوبة على جماعة الإخوان المسلمين من العبور في اتجاه قطاع غزة.
ونقلت الصحيفة عن مجندين قولهم إن الكثير منهم انضموا إلى الضباط ورفضوا أوامر القيادة بالتوجه إلى المعبر، وإن بعضهم قالوا لقيادات المعسكر "لو حنروح يبقى نعبر الحدود ونحارب إسرائيل".
وأفادت الصحيفة أن السلطات المصرية اعتقلت العشرات من هؤلاء المجندين بعد أن أرسلت وزارة الداخلية قوات للسيطرة على الوضع.
وقالت الصحيفة إن هناك تخوفا في وزارة الداخلية المصرية من أن تمتد عدوى التمرد إلى معسكرات أخرى، مشيرة إلى أن أحد مساعدي وزير الداخلية المصري نفى وقوع هذا التمرد.
وقالت الصحيفة إن هناك تخوفا في وزارة الداخلية المصرية من أن تمتد عدوى التمرد إلى معسكرات أخرى، مشيرة إلى أن أحد مساعدي وزير الداخلية المصري نفى وقوع هذا التمرد.
Tuesday 6 January 2009
Hollywood stars shun pro-Israeli diamond store
Hollywood stars shun pro-Israeli diamond store
Hollywood stars have called for their pictures to be removed from the website of a diamond company that is associated with settlement expansion in Israel and human rights violations in Africa.
The diamond stores owned by Jewish-American billionaire Lev Leviev had to remove pictures of several actresses after they complained of being linked to a company that funds settlements in the Palestinian occupied territories, a statement issued by the pro-Palestinian human rights group Adalah- New York said.
The actresses include Salma Hayek, Sharon Stone, Whitney Houston, Halle Berry, Drew Barrymore, Brooke Shields, Andie Macdowell, and Lucy Liu.
The celebrities were contacted by the rights group Adalah and the New York based 'Jews Against the Occupation' and asked them to distance themselves from a corporation that supports the Zionist project.
The organizations sent letters to the actresses and held negotiations with their representatives to inform them of the human rights violations Leviev is involved in in Palestine and South Africa. As a result the actresses demanded that pictures of them wearing his diamonds were removed from the company's website.
In October, the ambassador of Oxfam International aid agency Kristin Davis demanded that the Leviev's company remove her pictures from its website.
In June, UNICEF announced its refusal to receive any future donations from Leviev for his involvement in building settlements in the West Bank.
UNICEF justified its decision by stating that it does not receive donations from any parties in conflicts.
Hollywood stars have called for their pictures to be removed from the website of a diamond company that is associated with settlement expansion in Israel and human rights violations in Africa.
The diamond stores owned by Jewish-American billionaire Lev Leviev had to remove pictures of several actresses after they complained of being linked to a company that funds settlements in the Palestinian occupied territories, a statement issued by the pro-Palestinian human rights group Adalah- New York said.
The actresses include Salma Hayek, Sharon Stone, Whitney Houston, Halle Berry, Drew Barrymore, Brooke Shields, Andie Macdowell, and Lucy Liu.
The celebrities were contacted by the rights group Adalah and the New York based 'Jews Against the Occupation' and asked them to distance themselves from a corporation that supports the Zionist project.
The organizations sent letters to the actresses and held negotiations with their representatives to inform them of the human rights violations Leviev is involved in in Palestine and South Africa. As a result the actresses demanded that pictures of them wearing his diamonds were removed from the company's website.
In October, the ambassador of Oxfam International aid agency Kristin Davis demanded that the Leviev's company remove her pictures from its website.
In June, UNICEF announced its refusal to receive any future donations from Leviev for his involvement in building settlements in the West Bank.
UNICEF justified its decision by stating that it does not receive donations from any parties in conflicts.
Sunday 4 January 2009
Saturday 3 January 2009
Israel and International Law
Video by RepresentativePress
Israel Attacks Gaza, Silence from Mainstream Media about Israeli Violations of International Law
"It seemed that Israel wanted to teach me, and more significantly, the UN a lesson: there will be no cooperation with those who make strong criticisms of Israel's occupation policy. After being denied entry, I was put in a holding room with about 20 others experiencing entry problems. At this point, I was treated not as a UN representative, but as some sort of security threat, subjected to an inch-by-inch body search and the most meticulous luggage inspection I have ever witnessed. - UN Representative Richard Falk
My expulsion from Israel by Richard Falk
Friday 2 January 2009
Interview with Norman Finkelstien
Finkelstein: Israel seeking Arab obeisance
The following is full text interview with lecturer, author and renowned Palestine-Israel scholar Gary Norman Finkelstein in New York.
Press TV: Nearly a week of violence in Gaza. What do you make of the situation there?
Finkelstein: It is hard to make any definite judgments about the military situation. The goals of the Israeli government it seems to me are pretty clear. Number one Israel wants to reestablish what it calls its deterrence capacity. That is a technical term that the Israelis use. It basically means to restore the fear of Israel among the Arab states in the region.
After the defeat inflicted by Hezbollah and the inability of Israel to launch an attack on Iran it was almost inevitable that they would attack Hamas, because Hamas is defying the Israeli will. According to the Israeli papers, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak was planning the attack before the last ceasefire and they were just waiting for a provocation from the Palestinians.
On November 4, the Israelis broke the ceasefire with Hamas knowing full well--and if you review the Israeli papers, they say so knowing full well that when they killed six militants in Gaza the Palestinians would retaliate and then Israel would have the pretext to invade. Therefore, the first goal was to restore the fear of Israel among Arabs by inflicting a bloodbath in Gaza.
Press TV: Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said that Israel has affected almost what it called the infrastructure of terrorism presumably meaning Hamas. This while apparently heavy civilian casualties have been incurred inside Gaza. How do you see the imbalance in the loss of life in Gaza? How successful do you think that Israel has been in wiping out Hamas or the resistance if you will?
Finkelstein: Well the purpose was to inflict massive casualties immediately. The Israelis, after their attack on Lebanon in 2006, realized that their error was that they did not unleash the full might of their air force in the first few days. In in the first two days of Lebanon war, they killed about 55 Lebanese and then they targeted the Dahia suburb of Beirut. After the war, they began talking about the Dahia strategy which meant to obliterate anything which went against their rule. And what you saw in the first couple of days in Gaza was the application of the Dahia strategy to commit a bloodbath and slaughter of such huge dimensions that they thought it would deter the Arabs in the future from defying Israeli rule.
Press TV: Speaking of deterrence, Hamas said that it would retaliate. How great a response do you thinK Hamas can give Israel? Could one expect something like the one Israel received from Hezbollah in 2006?
Finkelstein: I think it is impossible to predict those things. But, it is clear that Israel is faced with a dilemma. In the case of Lebanon during the first few days they apparently destroyed (Hezbollah's) long-range and medium-range missiles, but they couldn't destroy the short-range rockets being used against the Israel unless they invaded. They tried to invade, but they couldn't and the rocket attacks continued. And now they have the same problem in Gaza.
In order to end the rocket attacks they have to invade and clear all the areas where the rocket launchers are located one by one. But, if they invade there is the possibility of them being caught in a guerrilla war which they plainly cannot win in Gaza. So they are not sure at this moment how to proceed.
Press TV: Israeli foreign minister (Tzipi LIvni) also says that Israel wants to negotiate peace with what she calls moderate Palestinians. On the other hand, we see Mahmoud Abbas saying that peace talks are meaningless under the current situation wherein Israel is targeting all Palestinians, so where does that leave Israel?
Finkelstein: Well we have to be clear what Israel means by moderate Palestinians. The Hamas leadership in recent years has signaled that it is willing to negotiate a two-state settlement according to the June 1967 border and also the resolution of the refugee question. That means that Hamas has signaled to do what the international community has wanted Israel to do over the past 30 years.
Israel rejects such a two-state settlement because it wants to continue its control of the West Bank. So for Israel a moderate Palestinian means the one who rejects all the terms proposed by the international community, a Palestinian who rejects the position of Hamas. For Israel a moderate Palestinian is a Palestinian who is willing to do whatever Israel wants: is a Palestinian who is willing follow Israeli orders.
Press TV: Observers say that avceasefire is the best Israel can achieve from this. How is the war affecting Israel?
Finkelstein: It is hard to say that whether Israel is in a position for a ceasefire. If Israel accepts the ceasefire I don't think Hamas would accept it if the Gaza blockage continues. It was due to the continuation of the Gaza blockade that Hamas rejected renewal of the truce with Israel. If the blockade is not lifted it is just a slow death for the Palestinians. If Israel agrees to lift this blockade along with a ceasefire then it will in effect have given in to the conditions that it refused last week. So it's really unclear that Israel would propose a ceasefire that Hamas would accept and vice versa.
Press TV: Israel says that its war is with Hamas, but it has prevented the flow of international aid into Gaza and prevented journalists from covering what is going on there. There is a saying Persian if you cannot help then don't prevent help from others.
Finkelstein: Well we have to be clear that Israel's war is not with Hamas but with the international community, including Iran. Israel is defying the international community, including Iran on the two-state settlement.
The following is full text interview with lecturer, author and renowned Palestine-Israel scholar Gary Norman Finkelstein in New York.
Press TV: Nearly a week of violence in Gaza. What do you make of the situation there?
Finkelstein: It is hard to make any definite judgments about the military situation. The goals of the Israeli government it seems to me are pretty clear. Number one Israel wants to reestablish what it calls its deterrence capacity. That is a technical term that the Israelis use. It basically means to restore the fear of Israel among the Arab states in the region.
After the defeat inflicted by Hezbollah and the inability of Israel to launch an attack on Iran it was almost inevitable that they would attack Hamas, because Hamas is defying the Israeli will. According to the Israeli papers, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak was planning the attack before the last ceasefire and they were just waiting for a provocation from the Palestinians.
On November 4, the Israelis broke the ceasefire with Hamas knowing full well--and if you review the Israeli papers, they say so knowing full well that when they killed six militants in Gaza the Palestinians would retaliate and then Israel would have the pretext to invade. Therefore, the first goal was to restore the fear of Israel among Arabs by inflicting a bloodbath in Gaza.
Press TV: Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said that Israel has affected almost what it called the infrastructure of terrorism presumably meaning Hamas. This while apparently heavy civilian casualties have been incurred inside Gaza. How do you see the imbalance in the loss of life in Gaza? How successful do you think that Israel has been in wiping out Hamas or the resistance if you will?
Finkelstein: Well the purpose was to inflict massive casualties immediately. The Israelis, after their attack on Lebanon in 2006, realized that their error was that they did not unleash the full might of their air force in the first few days. In in the first two days of Lebanon war, they killed about 55 Lebanese and then they targeted the Dahia suburb of Beirut. After the war, they began talking about the Dahia strategy which meant to obliterate anything which went against their rule. And what you saw in the first couple of days in Gaza was the application of the Dahia strategy to commit a bloodbath and slaughter of such huge dimensions that they thought it would deter the Arabs in the future from defying Israeli rule.
Press TV: Speaking of deterrence, Hamas said that it would retaliate. How great a response do you thinK Hamas can give Israel? Could one expect something like the one Israel received from Hezbollah in 2006?
Finkelstein: I think it is impossible to predict those things. But, it is clear that Israel is faced with a dilemma. In the case of Lebanon during the first few days they apparently destroyed (Hezbollah's) long-range and medium-range missiles, but they couldn't destroy the short-range rockets being used against the Israel unless they invaded. They tried to invade, but they couldn't and the rocket attacks continued. And now they have the same problem in Gaza.
In order to end the rocket attacks they have to invade and clear all the areas where the rocket launchers are located one by one. But, if they invade there is the possibility of them being caught in a guerrilla war which they plainly cannot win in Gaza. So they are not sure at this moment how to proceed.
Press TV: Israeli foreign minister (Tzipi LIvni) also says that Israel wants to negotiate peace with what she calls moderate Palestinians. On the other hand, we see Mahmoud Abbas saying that peace talks are meaningless under the current situation wherein Israel is targeting all Palestinians, so where does that leave Israel?
Finkelstein: Well we have to be clear what Israel means by moderate Palestinians. The Hamas leadership in recent years has signaled that it is willing to negotiate a two-state settlement according to the June 1967 border and also the resolution of the refugee question. That means that Hamas has signaled to do what the international community has wanted Israel to do over the past 30 years.
Israel rejects such a two-state settlement because it wants to continue its control of the West Bank. So for Israel a moderate Palestinian means the one who rejects all the terms proposed by the international community, a Palestinian who rejects the position of Hamas. For Israel a moderate Palestinian is a Palestinian who is willing to do whatever Israel wants: is a Palestinian who is willing follow Israeli orders.
Press TV: Observers say that avceasefire is the best Israel can achieve from this. How is the war affecting Israel?
Finkelstein: It is hard to say that whether Israel is in a position for a ceasefire. If Israel accepts the ceasefire I don't think Hamas would accept it if the Gaza blockage continues. It was due to the continuation of the Gaza blockade that Hamas rejected renewal of the truce with Israel. If the blockade is not lifted it is just a slow death for the Palestinians. If Israel agrees to lift this blockade along with a ceasefire then it will in effect have given in to the conditions that it refused last week. So it's really unclear that Israel would propose a ceasefire that Hamas would accept and vice versa.
Press TV: Israel says that its war is with Hamas, but it has prevented the flow of international aid into Gaza and prevented journalists from covering what is going on there. There is a saying Persian if you cannot help then don't prevent help from others.
Finkelstein: Well we have to be clear that Israel's war is not with Hamas but with the international community, including Iran. Israel is defying the international community, including Iran on the two-state settlement.
Robert Fisk on Egypt "rotteness"
Robert Fisk: The rotten state of Egypt is too powerless and corrupt to act
There was a day when we worried about the "Arab masses" – the millions of "ordinary" Arabs on the streets of Cairo, Kuwait, Amman, Beirut – and their reaction to the constant bloodbaths in the Middle East. Could Anwar Sadat restrain the anger of his people? And now – after three decades of Hosni Mubarak – can Mubarak (or "La Vache Qui Rit", as he is still called in Cairo) restrain the anger of his people? The answer, of course, is that Egyptians and Kuwaitis and Jordanians will be allowed to shout in the streets of their capitals – but then they will be shut down, with the help of the tens of thousands of secret policemen and government militiamen who serve the princes and kings and elderly rulers of the Arab world.
Egyptians demand that Mubarak open the Rafah crossing-point into Gaza, break off diplomatic relations with Israel, even send weapons to Hamas. And there is a kind of perverse beauty in listening to the response of the Egyptian government: why not complain about the three gates which the Israelis refuse to open? And anyway, the Rafah crossing-point is politically controlled by the four powers that produced the "road map" for peace, including Britain and the US. Why blame Mubarak?
To admit that Egypt can't even open its sovereign border without permission from Washington tells you all you need to know about the powerlessness of the satraps that run the Middle East for us.
Open the Rafah gate – or break off relations with Israel – and Egypt's economic foundations crumble. Any Arab leader who took that kind of step will find that the West's economic and military support is withdrawn. Without subventions, Egypt is bankrupt. Of course, it works both ways. Individual Arab leaders are no longer going to make emotional gestures for anyone. When Sadat flew to Jerusalem – "I am tired of the dwarves," he said of his fellow Arab leaders – he paid the price with his own blood at the Cairo reviewing-stand where one of his own soldiers called him a "Pharaoh" before shooting him dead.
The true disgrace of Egypt, however, is not in its response to the slaughter in Gaza. It is the corruption that has become embedded in an Egyptian society where the idea of service – health, education, genuine security for ordinary people – has simply ceased to exist. It's a land where the first duty of the police is to protect the regime, where protesters are beaten up by the security police, where young women objecting to Mubarak's endless regime – likely to be passed on caliph-like to his son Gamal, whatever we may be told – are sexually molested by plain-clothes agents, where prisoners in the Tora-Tora complex are forced to rape each other by their guards.
There has developed in Egypt a kind of religious facade in which the meaning of Islam has become effaced by its physical representation. Egyptian civil "servants" and government officials are often scrupulous in their religious observances – yet they tolerate and connive in rigged elections, violations of the law and prison torture. A young American doctor described to me recently how in a Cairo hospital busy doctors merely blocked doors with plastic chairs to prevent access to patients. In November, the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry al-Youm reported how doctors abandoned their patients to attend prayers during Ramadan.
And amid all this, Egyptians have to live amid daily slaughter by their own shabby infrastructure. Alaa al-Aswani wrote eloquently in the Cairo paper Al-Dastour that the regime's "martyrs" outnumber all the dead of Egypt's wars against Israel – victims of railway accidents, ferry sinkings, the collapse of city buildings, sickness, cancers and pesticide poisonings – all victims, as Aswani says, "of the corruption and abuse of power". Opening the Rafah border-crossing for wounded Palestinians – the Palestinian medical staff being pushed back into their Gaza prison once the bloodied survivors of air raids have been dumped on Egyptian territory – is not going to change the midden in which Egyptians themselves live.
Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, the Hizbollah secretary general in Lebanon, felt able to call on Egyptians to "rise in their millions" to open the border with Gaza, but they will not do so. Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the feeble Egyptian Foreign Minister, could only taunt the Hizbollah leaders by accusing them of trying to provoke "an anarchy similar to the one they created in their own country."
But he is well-protected. So is President Mubarak.
Egypt's malaise is in many ways as dark as that of the Palestinians. Its impotence in the face of Gaza's suffering is a symbol of its own political sickness.
other articles to read:
Profile of a professor who was prepared for martyrdom
In Dense Gaza, Civilians Suffer
Israel braced for Hamas response
Struggle for Gaza's injured
Israel's failure to learn
Israel's 'victories' in Gaza come at a steep price
There was a day when we worried about the "Arab masses" – the millions of "ordinary" Arabs on the streets of Cairo, Kuwait, Amman, Beirut – and their reaction to the constant bloodbaths in the Middle East. Could Anwar Sadat restrain the anger of his people? And now – after three decades of Hosni Mubarak – can Mubarak (or "La Vache Qui Rit", as he is still called in Cairo) restrain the anger of his people? The answer, of course, is that Egyptians and Kuwaitis and Jordanians will be allowed to shout in the streets of their capitals – but then they will be shut down, with the help of the tens of thousands of secret policemen and government militiamen who serve the princes and kings and elderly rulers of the Arab world.
Egyptians demand that Mubarak open the Rafah crossing-point into Gaza, break off diplomatic relations with Israel, even send weapons to Hamas. And there is a kind of perverse beauty in listening to the response of the Egyptian government: why not complain about the three gates which the Israelis refuse to open? And anyway, the Rafah crossing-point is politically controlled by the four powers that produced the "road map" for peace, including Britain and the US. Why blame Mubarak?
To admit that Egypt can't even open its sovereign border without permission from Washington tells you all you need to know about the powerlessness of the satraps that run the Middle East for us.
Open the Rafah gate – or break off relations with Israel – and Egypt's economic foundations crumble. Any Arab leader who took that kind of step will find that the West's economic and military support is withdrawn. Without subventions, Egypt is bankrupt. Of course, it works both ways. Individual Arab leaders are no longer going to make emotional gestures for anyone. When Sadat flew to Jerusalem – "I am tired of the dwarves," he said of his fellow Arab leaders – he paid the price with his own blood at the Cairo reviewing-stand where one of his own soldiers called him a "Pharaoh" before shooting him dead.
The true disgrace of Egypt, however, is not in its response to the slaughter in Gaza. It is the corruption that has become embedded in an Egyptian society where the idea of service – health, education, genuine security for ordinary people – has simply ceased to exist. It's a land where the first duty of the police is to protect the regime, where protesters are beaten up by the security police, where young women objecting to Mubarak's endless regime – likely to be passed on caliph-like to his son Gamal, whatever we may be told – are sexually molested by plain-clothes agents, where prisoners in the Tora-Tora complex are forced to rape each other by their guards.
There has developed in Egypt a kind of religious facade in which the meaning of Islam has become effaced by its physical representation. Egyptian civil "servants" and government officials are often scrupulous in their religious observances – yet they tolerate and connive in rigged elections, violations of the law and prison torture. A young American doctor described to me recently how in a Cairo hospital busy doctors merely blocked doors with plastic chairs to prevent access to patients. In November, the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry al-Youm reported how doctors abandoned their patients to attend prayers during Ramadan.
And amid all this, Egyptians have to live amid daily slaughter by their own shabby infrastructure. Alaa al-Aswani wrote eloquently in the Cairo paper Al-Dastour that the regime's "martyrs" outnumber all the dead of Egypt's wars against Israel – victims of railway accidents, ferry sinkings, the collapse of city buildings, sickness, cancers and pesticide poisonings – all victims, as Aswani says, "of the corruption and abuse of power". Opening the Rafah border-crossing for wounded Palestinians – the Palestinian medical staff being pushed back into their Gaza prison once the bloodied survivors of air raids have been dumped on Egyptian territory – is not going to change the midden in which Egyptians themselves live.
Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, the Hizbollah secretary general in Lebanon, felt able to call on Egyptians to "rise in their millions" to open the border with Gaza, but they will not do so. Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the feeble Egyptian Foreign Minister, could only taunt the Hizbollah leaders by accusing them of trying to provoke "an anarchy similar to the one they created in their own country."
But he is well-protected. So is President Mubarak.
Egypt's malaise is in many ways as dark as that of the Palestinians. Its impotence in the face of Gaza's suffering is a symbol of its own political sickness.
other articles to read:
Profile of a professor who was prepared for martyrdom
In Dense Gaza, Civilians Suffer
Israel braced for Hamas response
Struggle for Gaza's injured
Israel's failure to learn
Israel's 'victories' in Gaza come at a steep price
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