Petition: Palestinian Lives Matter!

Israeli troops just killed 60 unarmed protesters, and shot 1300 more. 1300. They do it *gleefully.
and shot 1300 more. Israel is now led by one of the most brutally racist regimes on the planet -- it's time for the world to declare that Palestinian lives matter, and rally behind sanctions on Israel: 

It's a massacre -- another installment in 50 years of brutal racist military repression of the Palestinian people.

Other states have faced sanctions for far less. Sanctions on South Africa helped free its black people, it’s time for the world to rally behind sanctions on Israel to free the Palestinians:

Sign the Petition: Palestinian Lives Matter! 

Israel has marched steadily away from reason and peace and towards the far right. A member of Parliament called for the beating of Ahed Tamimi, the young Palestinian girl who slapped a soldier after her cousin got shot in the face -- and the Defence Minister himself threatened punishing her entire family!

Israel’s military claims the protests were an invasion organized by Hamas, and that a few of the marchers were armed. These claims are disputed by Palestinian and international civil society and Israel has regularly lied to justify its actions. But even if they were true, why were 1300 people shot, hundreds of meters inside the fence? And why with live ammunition?!

And with Israel controlling the air and dug in behind fortifications, often with miles of empty desert behind them, what actual threat did the crowd possibly pose?! The Israeli regime’s hysterical fear and victimhood knows no bounds, and justifies any cruelty.

Gaza is actually the world’s largest open air prison, cut off and denied necessities for years by Israel. That’s the desperation that forced people to risk their lives in protest. But when the prisoners dared to approach their prison walls, their jailers shot them like fish in a barrel from safe perches hundreds of meters away.

Israel’s many enablers will knee-jerk accuse Avaaz and our many Jewish staff and leadership of hating Jews. But our team and our members love the Jewish people, as we love all people. The Holocaust was real, the Jewish community has long been horrifically oppressed and still faces anti-Semitism worldwide.

Many of those who founded Israel wanted it to be a beacon of a better way. But their vision has been betrayed, and Israel has come to be led by a brutally racist and repressive regime -- it deserves the world’s condemnation. Not just in words, but action:

Palestinian Lives Matter - Sanction Israel! 

Virtually every other tool has been tried, for decades, to encourage the Israeli regime to treat Palestinians better, and they just keep treating them worse. Targeted sanctions, covering things like Israeli blood diamonds, a boycott on arms sales (Israel sells weapons to some of the world's most brutal regimes) as well tech and cultural sanctions (like banning Israel from sporting events and the Eurovision song contest) may finally affect the calculus of the regime.

Two of the most dishonest and dangerous leaders in the world today are Donald Trump and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. Like extremists everywhere, they dream of a world where sensible people lose their judgment and are pulled into two warring camps, one of which is led by them. Let’s show them it won’t work -- that ordinary people won’t be sucked into their hate and propaganda, and that we can still see racism and brutality for what it is, and respond. That they can’t take our humanity from us, and we won’t let them succeed in taking freedom and dignity from the Palestinian people.  

Link to news video: The Independent

The Guardian view on Gaza shootings: stop killing unarmed civilians (The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/14/the-guardian-view-on-gaza-shootings-stop-killing-unarmed-civilians 

How are Palestinians reacting to the US embassy in jerusalem and violence in gaza (CBS)
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/how-are-palestinians-reacting-to-the-u-s-embassy-in-jerusalem-and-violence-in-gaza/ 

It's Not a 'Hamas March' in Gaza. It's Tens of Thousands Willing to Die (Haaretz)
https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/.premium-to-call-gaza-protests-hamas-march-understates-their-significance-1.6091833

Israel: Gaza Killings Unlawful, Calculated (Human Rights Watch)
https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/04/03/israel-gaza-killings-unlawful-calculated

Debate Panel on Israel: Norm Finkelstein & Wolf Blizer 2

Discussion on the Israeli/Palestine conflict video 2 - Notice the propaganda uttered by Wolf Blizer. Most people do not read the historical facts on this conflicts and take news leaders opinions as fact. In this video, Blizer encouraged free democratic elections in Gaza. America supported it, Baker etc...and when that happened and they did not like who was elected the conflict increased.

Palestinian Refugees Right to Return

Reposted from Causes.com 

 Letter from prisoner Samer al-Issawi as it came from the Ministry of Prisoners:

 I turn with admiration to the masses of our heroic Palestinian people, to our Palestinian leadership, to all forces, parties and national institutions. I salute them for standing by our fight to defend our right to freedom and dignity. I draw my strength from my people, from all the free people in the world, from friends and the families of the prisoners who continue day and night chanting for freedom and an end to the occupation. My health has deteriorated dramatically and I'm hanging between life and death.

My weak body is collapsing but still able to be patient and continue the confrontation. My message is that I will continue until the end, until the last drop of water in my body, until martyrdom. Martyrdom is an honor for me in this battle. My martyrdom is my remaining bomb in the confrontation with the tyrants and the jailers, in the face of the racist policy of the occupation that humiliates our people and exercises against us all means of oppression and repression.

 I say to my people: I'm stronger than the occupation army and its racist laws. I, Samer al-Issawi, son of Jerusalem, send you my last will that, in case I fell as a martyr, you will carry my soul as a cry for all the prisoners, man and women, cry for freedom, emancipation and salvation from the nightmare of prisons and their harsh darkness. My battle is not only for individual freedom. The battle waged by me and by my heroic colleagues, Tariq, Ayman and Ja'affar, is everyone's battle, the battle of the Palestinian people against the occupation and its prisons.

Our goal is to be free and sovereign in our liberated state and in our blessed Jerusalem. The weak and strained beats of my heart derive their steadfastness from you, the great people. My eyes, which started to lose their sight, draws light from your solidarity and your support of me. My weak voice takes its strength from your voice that is louder than the warden's voice and higher than the walls. I'm one of your sons, among thousands of your sons who are prisoners, still languishing steadfastly in the prisons, waiting for an end to be brought to their plight, their pains and the suffering of their families. The doctors told me I became exposed to stroke because of the disorder of my heartbeats, the shortage of sugar and the drop in blood pressure.

My body is full of cold and I can't sleep because of the continued pain. But despite the extreme fatigue and chronic headaches, as I move on my chair, I'm trying to summon all my resources to continue on the road till its end.

There is no going back, only in my victory, because I'm the owner of Right and my detention is invalid and illegal. Do not be afraid for my heart if it will stop, don't be afraid for my hands if they will be paralyzed. I am still alive now and tomorrow and after death, because Jerusalem is moving in my blood, in my devotion and my faith.

 Palestine 16/02/2013 The above letter (in Arabic) was published on 16 February on Shirin Issawi's Page in Facebook.

Translated to English and Hebrew by Free Haifa Please share it and act everywhere to save Samer Issawi and for all the people that were imprisoned for their struggle for freedom.

Obama Letter: Aid to Israel should comply with the Law

reposted:  Jewish Voice for Peace

“My family in Israel has bomb shelters. They are, actually, safe. In Gaza, there is no such thing as “safe.” Please, ask your friends to join me in asking President Obama to make aid to Israel contingent on not using it to target civilians.”


I wear many hats. I’m a dad, a videographer, a Jewish Israeli, a veteran. But I’m telling you my story, and asking you to forward this email and ask your friends to sign this letter to President Obama about US military aid to Israel, as a human being, as a citizen of the world, and as someone who deeply cares about the people in Israel and Gaza.
My wife, kids and I live just on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, where life during the past weeks for the most part carried on as normal. 
There were four sirens in the eight days of the Israeli operation, which means we had to move into a room in the house that has reinforced concrete walls. In our case, we went down to our apartment building’s bomb shelter for 10 minutes—as far as I know every apartment building in Israel has one. Fortunately, the kids took it well and were not scared.
In the south close to the border with Gaza where I’ve been working, life is much, much different.  People who could do so temporarily moved northward and stayed with family and friends out of rocket and mortar range.
Being outdoors when the siren goes off in the south is quite scary. Most rockets are relatively small, up to 12 pounds of explosives, and cannot bring down a building. But in the open space they splatter lots of metal fragments.
The bigger long distance rockets that were fired at lower intervals were the "Fajar" Rockets that carry 90 lbs of explosives. They cannot bring down a building but can destroy an apartment and killed 3 people in an apartment building. People in bomb shelters are considered to be safe.

And of course, the Iron Dome defense system reportedly destroyed 85% of rockets headed towards Israeli populated areas.
Still, in the south, the sirens went off many times a day and there was no school and no work because parents naturally wanted to be near their kids.
In contrast, in Gaza, the bombs dropped by the Israeli military ranged from 500 to 1,000 pounds, and in the past, also 2,000 pounds.  Ten or 20 times more powerful than those which they have sent our way.
When I’d go to our bomb shelter with my family, I would think of families like mine in Gaza. They had no sirens, no Iron Dome defense, no shelters, and because they are essentially trapped, nowhere to go.
But mostly, I thought about how terrified I'd be during the bombings.
There is no safe place to go in Gaza.
It wouldn’t matter if buildings had shelters since the Israeli bombs often flatten the building they hit. There's literally nothing left.  
I want you to ask your friends to sign this letter to President Obama asking him to make aid to Israel contingent on not using it to target civilians because there is no military solution. Not for Palestinians. Not for us Israelis.
To reach a true peace for all of us, Israeli and Palestinian, our governments must choose diplomacy over more bombing. The Israeli government must end its terrible siege of the Palestinians.
And the US must stop sending my government weapons they know will be used to violate the law and harm civilians.
I am happy we've reached a cease-fire and I hope this will lead to negotiations with the Hamas government. I remind myself that the British in pre-state Israel also considered the Israeli political groups terrorist entities.
With hopes for a fair and lasting peace for both of our peoples,

Dear President Obama,

We are Americans from small towns and big cities, and we are Palestinians and Israelis a world away. We are the women, men, and children who are suffering every single day in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, and we are the people from across the world who seek to end that suffering. We are mothers of soldiers and children of refuseniks. We are Jews and Muslims, Christians and atheists, and people of the many other traditions of the world.

And we are all united by our determination to see a truly just peace take root in Israel and Palestine. That goal became even more elusive during your first term, but the American voters have just given you a second chance to make history.

Our request is simple.

Fifteen church leaders have bravely spoken out in a letter to Congress--stating a principle that should be obvious: Israel, the biggest long-term recipient of US aid, should not be above the law. Mr. President, please condition US aid to Israel on compliance with US and international law. It must not be used to violate the rights of Palestinians.

Anything less is a danger to Palestinians, to Israelis, to Americans and to the entire world.

Pakistani view on Palestine

Editor: Sir Zafrulla Khan on Palestine

reposted

Now that Israeli slaughter is underway yet again, it is an appropriate moment for Pakistanis to show solidarity with Palestinians by recalling what Sir Zafrulla Khan – the author of thePakistan Resolution – had to say about the “partition” of Palestine in the year of the Nakbah. Lamentably, due to the predicament of our own country under the second amendment, Sir Zafrulla Khan (KCSI, 1893 – 1985, our first foreign minister, representative at the UN, judge at the ICJ and of course the Pakistan Resolution’s draftsman), an adherent of the reformist Ahmadi Muslim community, would be considered a “non-Muslim”.

Yet the perversion of the meaning of the word “Muslim” to appease the mullahstreet is incapable of denting Sir Zafrulla’s arguments in support of Palestinians. It remains very much the case that Sir Zafrulla wrote Palestine in the U.N.O. as aMusalman. Of that there is no doubt. Equally, he wrote to expose the truth about what happened in the UN.  But in the context of our own country, no doubt much to his torment, Sir Zafrulla also lived to see his (and Mr Jinnah’s) dream of asecular Pakistan being destroyed.

Our focus today, however, is not the vile state of the law in Pakistan. (But we nonetheless urge our politicians to repeal all non-secular enactments immediately.) Rather, we seek to show solidarity with the people of Palestine who are again being slaughtered by the Israelis: the latest attacks in Gaza have already claimed 67 lives (including pregnant women and more than a dozen children) and no doubt many more innocents will perish under Israel’s merciless and random attacks.

Sir Zafrulla’s seminal 1948 account of how things went in the UN in respect of the problem of Palestine is strikingly similar to later analyses by western journalists and Palestinian activists (see for example David Hirst, The Gun and the Olive Branch, 1977; Sari Nusseibeh, Once Upon A Country, 2003). Land grabbing was the issue at the heart of the problem. And it was facilitated by Jewish immigration. The Palestinians were not the “problem” and the Jews were the “terrorists”: Lord Moyne’s  assassination by Lehi in 1944, the bombing of the King David Hotel by Irgun in 1946 and Count Bernadotte’s murder by Lehi in 1948 (headed by none other than Yitzhak Shamir, who went on to become Israel’s prime minister) confirm this fact.  So not much has changed. And although the British, who bear the responsibility of creating the conflict, would no longer call the Israelis “terrorists”, had he still been alive Sir Zafrulla would continue to call them just that. What else can a professional army intentionally bombing a civilian population be called?

Clearly, the approach is not working and the people firing the rockets remain unaffected by “Operation Pillar of Defence.” We have heard so much from the White House about the atrocities committed by the Syrian regime. But why, even in the face of repeated slaughter of Palestinian civilians by the Israeli military, is the Palestine issue always on the backburner?

Perhaps we can find some answers by returning to Sir Zafrulla’s monograph. His point of departure was the British pledge regarding Arab independence after the First World War: in exchange, of course, for Arab support against OttomanTurkey. Observing the betrayal of this promise through the Balfour Declaration  – set out in a 2^nd November 1917 letter from Arthur Balfour, the then British foreign secretary, to Walter Rothschild – Sir Zafrulla remarked that “thereafter the Jewish immigration into Palestine started and the struggle between the Jews and the Arabs began.”

Equally, Sir Zafrulla also thought that His Majesty’s Government’s commitment to establishing in Palestine a national home for the Jewish people was a bad idea because the civil and religious rights of the Palestinian people (reduced by the stroke of Balfour’s pen to the “existing non-Jewish communities”!) would never be upheld. When the British finally promised to limit Jewish immigration to 75,000 people (between 1939 – 1949), president Roosevelt wrecked the settlement (achieved by Ernest Bevin) by demanding a mandatory entry of 100,000 Jews into Palestine.

So “an agreed settlement” to the problem was “prevented” by the Americans. “In the meantime”, explains Sir Zafrulla, “Great Britain was getting sick of the whole business.” Special sessions of the UN General Assembly followed and two reports were produced by 11 members of the UN which visited Palestine. The two reports – the “majority” and the “minority” report(s) – put forward solutions on the grounds of a partition of Palestine or a federal state with two units, one Arab and the other Jewish. While the Arabs refused to accept either report, “the Jews declared that they were prepared to accept the majority scheme.”

Subsequently, Sir Zafrulla observed two trends in the General Assembly. One in favour of the majority report which would mean that the Arabs would be in-charge because they outnumbered the Jews: in those days, the population of Palestine was 2,000,000; composed of 1,300,000 Arabs and 700,000 Jews. The two “solutions” were a unitary state with safeguards for minorities (minority report) or a partition with economic union (majority report).

The two proposals were committed to the two sub-committees of the Committee on Palestine. Sir Zafrulla, was elected as the chairman of sub-committee two and the Polish delegate headed sub-committee one. Sir Zafrulla’s sub-committee concluded that the UN “had no legal or juristic authority to partition Palestine.” Most delegates agreed that this was the true position in law and everyone agreeed that the problem could have been resolved “very easily” by Britain. But, as the mandatory member, she conveniently maintained:

Whatever solution the Assembly adopts, we ourselves will not support either partition or any other solution that may be suggested unless it is a solution which the Arabs and Jews are both willing to accept.

When the question “are you willing to help in what this scheme visualises?” was asked, Britain’s reply was “no; we won’t. Whatever you suggest will have to be done by the U.N.O.” Moreover, “the ultimate British attitude was”:

Upto the date on which we terminate the mandate – and we shall decide that date – we shall not share authority for the administration of Palestine with anybody else. We shall be the sole authority as the responsibility is ours and it is our troops that have to keep and maintain law and order. From the date of the termination of the mandate upto the date of the evacuation of our troops from Palestine, we shall be responsible for law and order only in our military camps to which we shall have withdrawn our troops. With regard to the rest of our country, we shall not be responsible and we shall withdraw our troops from Palestine at the latest by the 1^st of August 1948. (They have since announced that they will terminate the mandate in May 1948.)

The proposals of the special committee sent to Palestine by the General Assembly desperately tried to mitigate the humanitarian dilemmas posed by the hasty British departure. Despite some attempts to stay partition (to search for a better solution) by the French and the rejection of it altogether by the Columbians, Sir Zafarulla recorded that the Americans were able to coerce a majority in favour of partition. The Haitian delegate – “there were actually tears in his eyes and he said: I have announced that we shall vote against partition and I have now received instructions to vote for partition” – was made to change his country’s vote because “pressure was being put on some delegations to vote in favour of partition against their will.”

As a Musalman, Sir Zafrulla knew that partition – “a very sad decision” – was the worst option and that the Nakbah was its inevitable consequence. He ended his monograph by noting that “most delegations, even some those that had voted in favour of it, were very unhappy.”

With the above in mind it is obvious that in addition to the Israelis, the Americans and British have a lot of blood on their hands. Maybe, to make amends, they can wash some of it off now by restraining Israel from attacking civilian populations and killing innocent women, children and non-combatants/journalists. It is high time the west, which is responsible for creating an absolutely horrific predicament for the Palestinians, held Israel accountable for its crimes rather than hiding behind Hamas’s skirt and, following Sir Zafrulla, we urge America’s president Obama to stop supporting the wholesale slaughter of innocent Palestinians by backing Israel’s murderous ways.

Death in Gaza: Documentary Part 6/6

Here are smaller portions of the documentary film Death in Gaza by James Miller, who was killed in Rafah, Gaza while shooting (no pun intended) this film. For background on this film view this post (and/or the full documentary!) I included this for those who do not have fast internet, like myself!


Full Documentary and explanation
Death In Gaza Pt.1/6
Death In Gaza Pt. 2/6 
Death in Gaza Pt. 3/6
Death in Gaza Pt. 4/6  
Death in Gaza Pt. 5/6

Death in Gaza: Part 5/6 Documentary

Here are smaller portions of the documentary film Death in Gaza by James Miller, who was killed in Rafah, Gaza while shooting (no pun intended) this film. For background on this film view this post (and/or the full documentary!) I included this for those who do not have fast internet, like myself!



Death in Gaza Full Documentary and explanation
Death In Gaza Pt.1/6
Death In Gaza Pt. 2/6 
Death in Gaza Pt. 3/6
Death in Gaza Pt. 4/6  
Death in Gaza Pt. 5/6
Death in Gaza Pt. 6/6

Egypt Must take Measures to deter Israeli Agression on Gaza

17 November 2012

Reposted email:  By Khalid Amayreh in occupied Jerusalem

As expected, Israel resumed its Nazi-like atrocities in the Gaza Strip, striking homes, mosques and other civilian buildings. Until the time of writing this piece, as many as 12 Palestinians have been murdered, and more than 150 injured, many sustaining serious injuries and burns.

Israel, the main terrorist state of the Middle East, is using the most advanced technology of death in order to murder and maim Palestinian civilians, many of them refugees expelled from their homes and villages in what is now Israel. The Israeli death machine used in this unqualified war, includes, inter alia, F-16 and F-15 jet fighters as well as killer unmanned aircrafts such as Predators.

Needles to say, these state-of-the-art weapons were originally manufactured to fight powerful armies, not murder poor peasants and workers who can hardly feed their kids, which shows the cowardly nature of Israeli criminality and brutal ugliness of the Israeli mentality.

Indeed, for a regional super power, which also tightly controls the government of the only super power in the world, the United States, to gang up on thoroughly impoverished, thoroughly tormented, thoroughly besieged and thoroughly starved people is akin to attacking and murdering Jewish refugees in Nazi-occupied Europe at the hands of the SS, Gestapo and Wehrmacht.

Yes, the bulk of the world may not view Israel as the modern Nazi Germany. But Israel is the Nazi Germany of our times whether we like or not. Israel is Nazi Germany from every conceivable aspect, militarily, politically, ideologically and even economically. In the final analysis, there is more to Nazism than just the national socialist ideology. The brutal ugliness and murderous fascist nature of Zionism would have made the Nazis want to emulate Israel and learn more from it. Israel would have been the perfect model for the Nazis to follow and mimic.

Israel utterly mendaciously claims that it is only responding to rocket attacks launched by Palestinians demanding repatriation to their homes and villages from which they were uprooted at the hands of barbarian Jewish invaders coming from Eastern Europe, with the help of the imperialistic powers of the time.

Israeli hasbara agents would give inflated numbers of Palestinian projectiles landing in Palestinian territories occupied in 1948.

However, the Israeli propaganda is mainly based on lies and disinformation, especially in light of the extremely low number of casualties among Israelis.

Indeed, If Palestinians were truly aiming to kill Israeli civilians, they would have tried to kill many.

On the other hand, thousands of Palestinians, including hundreds of children, have been mercilessly killed by the Nazis of our time.

Israel claims it doesn't murder innocent civilians intentionally. But this claim is as valid and credible as claims by Bashar Assad's regime that it doesn't target Syrian civilians deliberately.

Added to this is the fact that Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic liberation organization which Israel calls a terrorist group, has repeatedly maintained a difficult truce despite Israel's continual murderous attacks on Palestinian farmers and fishermen.

In truth, Israel is in no position to accuse its victims of terror. Israel stole Palestine from its legitimate and lawful owners, destroyed their homes and towns, bulldozed their fields and orchards and then expelled them at gunpoint all over the globe. Hence, the Jewish state is effectively committing fornication with truth, history and language by accusing its victims, the Palestinians, of terror. 

Having been expelled from their ancestral homeland by violent and brutal force, the Palestinians have an inalienable moral and legal right to fight their tormentor and oppressors. Hence, there is no such a thing as Palestinian attacks against Israel. Israel is thief and murderer. Hence, the Palestinians are only exercising their legitimate right to resist their oppressors and grave-diggers.

The ongoing Israeli assassinations and other acts of murder against Gaza are also meant as a test of the new Egyptian leadership's will.

The recalling of the newly-appointed Egyptian ambassador to Israel is a positive step. However, the Nazi insolence of the terrorist state of the Middle East warrants a more stringent response from Egypt.

A few days ago, Egypt tried to arrange another truce between the forces of resistance and the terrorist Zionist Wehrmacht.

According to news reports, Egypt got the impression that Israel had agreed to a ceasefire. Hence, Egyptian diplomats and other officials were surprised by the Israeli aggression, including the murder of Ahmed Ja'abari, the leading security man in Gaza .

In light, Egypt must make Israel pay a price for this deception.

We know that the Israeli Egyptian relations are a delicate matter and connected with Egyptian-American relations.

But it is also true that the Nazi state of Israel is still and will remain Egypt 's number-one enemy.

Therefore, Egypt must introduce an entirely new pattern of dealing with Israel. A pattern that goes beyond the innocuous practice of recalling ambassadors. 

Yes, rash measures could always backfire. But Egypt, for its own national security interests, must show Israel that the post-Mubarak Egypt is different from defunct Mubarak's Egypt.

The current Islamic leadership in Cairo should go ahead with efforts to renegotiate and amend the unbalanced peace treaty with Israel. Egypt should also make it abundantly clear to Israel that Egypt would make its compliance by and commitment to the Camp David peace treaty contingent upon Israel's treatment of the Palestinians.

Egypt should also build a striking military force, including a nuclear deterrent, in preparation for any contingency.

Egypt is a poor nation financially and economically. But Pakistan is even poorer than Egypt, yet the former nation of 190 million successfully built a nuclear deterrent that made India think twice before devouring the second most populous Muslim nation.

Indeed, it is a strategic anomaly for Egypt to remain at the "mercy" of Israel nuclear arsenal for so long. Needless to say, had Egypt succeeded in developing a nuclear deterrence, the thuggish prime minister of Israel Avigdor Leiberman wouldn't have dared to talk about bombing the Aswan Dam.

Finally, it is nice to walk in the path of peace and invest one's efforts and energy to fight poverty and promote economic development. However, when you live in a jungle, one has to be either a wolf, or a fox or a venomous cunning snake in order to survive,

Unfortunately this is the only language that murderous Jewish cutthroats and supremacists such Netanyahu and Leiberman understand.

Yes, President Mursi is no Husni Mubarak. But, the Egyptian, Palestinian, Arab and Muslim peoples expect him to show real resolve vis-à-vis Israel, the terrorist state, par excellence, of the Middle East.

Or else, the very people who voted him in will ultimately vote him out.

Interview with Hamas Spokesperson 15 November 2012: Video

Operation Cloud Pillar: Israel attack Gaza 16 Nov 2012

16 November 2012 The name chosen for the new war in Gaza is "operation Cloud Pillar". A far more appropriate name would have been "Operation Short Memory" Said former Knesset member Uri Avnery, Gush Shalom activist. "Prime Minister Netanyahu is counting on the public's short memory. Netanyahu counts upon people forgetting that dozens and even hundreds of "liquidations" had been carried out and they did not solve any problem - always there was somebody replacing those who were killed, and more than once the new one was more capable and more radical. Netanyahu counts on people not remembering that four years ago Israel went to war in Gaza, killing 1300 civilians in three weeks – which otherwise did not make any significant change in the situation. Netanyahu counts on people failing to remember that just yesterday morning the media reported on people in the communities of the South heaving a sigh of relief at the complete cessation of missiles from Gaza. . "Binyamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak have taken the decision - for the second time in a row the State of Israel will conduct general elections under the shadow of war in the Gaza Strip. The cease-fire which already started to stabilize had been broken and shattered to pieces. The inhabitants of te communities of southern Israel, who just started to breathe freely, are sent right back to air raid alarms and the running to shelters. At the price of great suffering on both sides of the border, the government's aim had been accomplished: the social issues, which threatened to assume prominence in these elections, have been pushed aside and removed from the agenda of the elections campaign. Forgotten, too, is the brave attempt of Mahmud Abbas to address the Israeli public opinion. In the coming weeks, the headlines will be filled with constant war and death, destruction and bloodshed. When it ends at last, it will be revealed that no goal has been achieved and that the problems remain the same, or perhaps exacerbated. Adam Keller: Gush Shalom

Bombs Rain Down on Gazan Palestinians-Petition

16 November 2012

Amici and friends, Please sign the petitions listed here and below copy and paste the message to put into European Ministers Facebook Pages to help save lives and keep pushing the world to make Israel put a stop to their slaughter.  Please read and follow the steps

Si prega di firmare le petizioni elencate qui di seguito e di copiare e incollare il messaggio di mettere in Ministri europei pagine di Facebook per contribuire a salvare vite umane e continuare a spingere il mondo a fare di Israele di porre fine alla loro macellazione. Si prega di leggere e seguire le istruzioni

1)  Firma La Petizione: Avaaz 
      Sign This Petition:  Avaaz    (In Italian, but it is translated below in English for you!)

(Italiani sotto l'inglese)
While bombs rain down on Gaza Palestinians and Israelis are sul'orlo of another cycle of violence and revenge. But, right now, the Palestinian Authority is to seek recognition at the UN, and this could be an incredible opportunity for peace. Let us help you make it a reality.


While in the south of Israel's population lives in fear of rockets in Gaza Palestinians living under siege, trapped in a narrow strip of land. And in the West Bank people are dispossessed of the land occupied by illegal settlements, sufferers are stuck for hours on the way to hospitals by Israeli checkpoints and families separated by vast walls that cut in both their fields. But if the Palestinians win their bet at the UN for a state immediately, we could see the beginning of the end of 40 years of occupation and make way for two states, Palestine and Israel, that they can live side by side in peace and total security .

The U.S. and Israel are trying to blow up the UN vote and the attack on Gaza may be an attempt to shift the focus to appear unreliable and the Palestinians. But Europe has not yet made a decision and EU foreign ministers will meet in just 4 days. If we will hear now we can persuade Europe to vote "Yes" for peace and freedom. Click to flood those who try to sabotage this decision with our requests hopeful gathered in a huge petition and delivered through a five-story flag exposed out of the meeting of Ministers.


2)  Spain, France, Germany and the United Kingdom have yet to decide. Use the topics above to write a message on the facebook pages of their leaders. copy the message below and click on the link below to paste them on their Facebook pages. (You have to put them in a reply to posts...you cannot write on their wall)

Mariano- Rajoy-Brey 
William J Hague 
 Westerwelle 

3)  and copy and paste this: As a concerned citizen, I ask you urgently to put you on the right side of history despite pressure from Israel and the U.S., and to support the Palestinian resolution to the General Assembly of the United Nations. This is the best path to peace and freedom that the public wants. Now is the time for Palestine.


Mentre a Gaza piovono bombe Palestinesi e Israeliani sono sul'orlo di un'altra spirale di violenza e vendette. Ma, proprio ora, l'Autorità palestinese sta per chiedere il riconoscimento all'ONU e questa potrebbe essere un'opportunità incredibile per la pace. Aiutiamoli a farla diventare realtà.

Italiani
Mentre nel sud di Israele la popolazione vive nella paura dei razzi, a Gaza i palestinesi vivono sotto assedio, imprigionati in una striscia di terreno strettissima. E in Cisgiordania la gente viene espropriata della terra occupata da insediamenti illegali, i malati sono bloccati per ore nel percorso verso gli ospedali dai posti di blocco israeliani e le famiglie sono divise da enormi muri che tagliano in due i loro campi. Ma se i Palestinesi vinceranno la loro scommessa all'ONU per uno stato subito, potremmo assistere all'inizio della fine di 40 anni di occupazione e fare strada a due stati, Palestina e Israele, che possano vivere fianco a fianco in pace e totale sicurezza.

Gli USA e Israele stanno cercando di far saltare il voto all'ONU e l'attacco contro Gaza potrebbe essere un tentativo di spostare l'attenzione e di far apparire inaffidabili i palestinesi. Ma l'Europa non ha ancora preso una decisione e i ministri degli esteri europei si incontreranno tra soli 4 giorni. Se ci faremo sentire ora potremo convincere l'Europa a votare "Sì" per la pace e la libertà. Clicca per inondare chi cerca di sabotare questa decisione con le nostre richieste piene di speranza riunite in un'enorme petizione e consegnate attraverso una bandiera alta cinque piani esposta fuori dall'incontro dei ministri.


2)  Spagna, Francia, Germania e il Regno Unito devono ancora decidere. Usa gli argomenti qui sopra per scrivere un messaggio sulle pagine facebook dei loro leader. O copia il messaggio sotto e clicca sui link qui sotto per incollarli sulle loro pagine:
Mariano-Rajoy-Bray  
William J Hague 
 Westerwelle 

3)  In quanto cittadino preoccupato, vi chiedo urgentemente di mettervi dal lato giusto della storia nonostante la pressione di Israele e degli USA, e di sostenere la risoluzione palestinese all'Assemblea generale delle Nazioni Unite. Si tratta del miglior percorso verso la pace e la libertà che il pubblico vuole. Ora è il momento per la Palestina. 

Discovery: US Media Lies and the Palestinian Conflict

A must see documentary:  In line with my Crossing Borders Project and my work with the Palestinian Women, not to mention living there and working as a photojournalist/humanitarian journalist.  This video reflects the real truth in regards to the US media and propaganda, Country Public Relation tactics and its effect on the rest of the world.  The media today does not represent real and true news, and I am speaking from in field experience as a past photojournalist in the West Bank and Israel.

What this video reveals, is the base for the development of "The Crossing Borders Project" I tried to find a way to let the people speak, themselves about the truths and lives living under this oppression.  My voice is not strong enough, but theirs could be.  When I was there, there were many independent news outlets that were shut down through the internet and bombings.  This occupation must stop and the world should wake up and demand that peace resides and the abuse stops...even against the journalists working in the Middle East.

Palestine to seek UN Membership again...

The Wall and Israeli watch tower in Idyah Camp Bethlehem Photo by: Susan Brannon

Note by: Susan Brannon
article by: Khaled Amayreh from Occupied Jerusalem 

Note:  Palestine has no place to turn too outside of recognition from the UN as its own state.  Israel wants to keep Palestine under its thumbs and continue to confiscate Palestinian land within the 1967 borders and reap a profit by selling Israeli goods within the territories.  Israel wants to continue to show America the risk and continual treats that Palestine and its people have to offer in order to recieve continual funding for "security". Notwithstanding the constant building of settlements and roads that wind and divide the territories and its people.  An Israeli/America feels that Obama "has taken concrete steps to make Israel more secure —"..."As president, he responded by providing full financing and technical assistance for Israel’s Iron Dome short-range anti-rocket defense system, which is now protecting those villagers. In July, he provided an additional $70 million to extend the Iron Dome system across southern Israel. That’s in addition to the $3 billion in annual military assistance to Israel that the president requests and that Congress routinely approves, assistance for which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed deep personal appreciation."  

Not only does Palestine have to stand up against Israel the occupier and America the funder and maybe I am putting myself out on a limb here, but what about the Arab States?  This is another complicated issue for Palestine, on one hand the Islam Brotherhood holds the Palestinians in honor for their struggle but are they being used as a political tool?  The other Arab countries hold Palestine in their hearts, but want to remain in peace with the Western world and will not go out on a limb to help Palestine and their rights.  In truth, Palestine has a lot to stand up against in terms of country recognition.  

Palestine to Seek UN Membership

Trying desperately to salvage the Palestinian national dream of establishing a viable Palestinian state in the territories occupied by Israel in 1967, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is planning to formally ask the United Nations to recognise "Palestine" as a member-state of the international organisation.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), the highest political representative of the Palestinian people, has observer status at the UN.

A formal application will be submitted to the UN General Assembly on 27 September. The PA says as many as 133 states recognise Palestine, hence a decision at the UN in favour of the Palestinian bid is likely, save last-minute glitches.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas said the PA was serious about seeking UN membership despite Israeli threats and American objections.

During a lengthy speech in Ramallah Sunday, Abbas voiced mounting frustration at Israeli intransigence and dishonesty vis-?-vis the peace process. "There are many pressures and hurdles, but we will go the United Nations," he said.

Abbas said the ongoing political deadlock was leaving the Palestinians no other choice. "We are only asking the Israelis to honour their own commitments, but they refuse."

Abbas gave a pessimistic prognosis of the declared stands of the Binyamin Netanyahu government, saying Israel was viewing the occupied territories not as "occupied" but as "disputed land". He added that Israel was demanding a military presence along the Jordan Valley for at least 40 years. He said the Palestinians would never accept these demands.

"We have two choices, either we go, or we don't go. If we don't go, the entire Palestinian cause will fall into oblivion," Abbas said.

Last week, Israel warned the PA against applying for UN membership. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Israel would retaliate against the step. Lieberman previously accused the Abbas leadership of "indulging in political and diplomatic terrorism against Israel".

Abbas alluded that Israel might eliminate him, as it eliminated other Palestinian leaders, a possible allusion to the mysterious death of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

"But there is one thing I want you to be sure of: We are staying put here. We will not leave, and we will not make the mistake of 1948 once again.

Arab states, including Egypt, are backing the PA bid to obtain UN membership. In the past, the United States used the Mubarak regime to restrain and bully the PA against making moves without Israeli and US consent.

In September 2011, the PA made a high-profile effort to obtain full member status at the UN. However, the request was not put to a vote in the Security Council where the US pledged to veto it.

On Monday, 11 September, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the Obama administration still believed that the only "realistic path" for Palestinian statehood was through direct negotiations.

Nuland said the US was trying to dissuade PA President Abbas from seeking full member status at the UN. "We are working intensively through the Quartet and directly with Israelis and Palestinians to continue to encourage them to come back to the table. All we can do is push them. We cannot force them. They have got to make the decision for peace. They've got to make the decision to come back to the table," Nuland said.

Palestinians, who have been negotiating with Israel for nearly two decades but without making any real progress toward liberation from the entrenched Israeli occupation, are in no mood to listen to regurgitated remarks and platitudes repeated on the benefits of direct negotiations.

"How can we keep negotiating with Israel while Israel keeps stealing and carving out our land? It is unfair for the United States, Israel's guardian ally, to tell the criminal and the victim to sort it out amongst them. Yet, this is what the US is telling us in real terms," said Ghassan Khatib, former head of the government press office.

Khatib said the American stand of telling the Palestinians to negotiate with Israel without clearly determining the shape of a would-be settlement, including the exact borders of the prospective Palestinian state, was tantamount to pressuring the Palestinians to capitulate to Israeli demands.

"Remember, it is the US that provides Israel with the tools and wherewithal that enables Israel to adopt a rejectionist stand," he said.

The Obama administration has been trying to appease Israel as part of a public relations showdown with Republican candidate Mitt Romney ahead of November's US presidential elections.

Romney has been accusing the administration of not sufficiently backing Israel despite Obama's repeated pronouncements asserting absolute and almost unlimited support for Tel Aviv, including commitment to maintaining Israel's qualitative edge over actual and potential foes combined.

Israel, which has been squeezing and blackmailing the Obama administration for more concessions on Iran, has succeeded in getting Washington to demote the Palestinian issue to secondary status.

The PA had received vague promises from the Obama administration suggesting that President Obama would devote more time and energy to resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict if elected to a second term in the White House.

Most Palestinians dismiss such promises for two reasons: first, overwhelming Jewish influence in the US Congress, often described as "an Israeli occupied territory"; second, the conviction of many observers that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is unresolvable based on the two-state solution strategy, in light of the phenomenal expansion of Jewish colonies in the West Bank, especially East Jerusalem.

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