Students for Justice in Palestine-Penn State

Former AIPAC lobbyists invited to give Penn State journalist students advice

2011-05-30T01:21:00.000-07:00

(photo courtesy of Daily Collegian)

So Penn State's School of Communications had CNN's Wolf Blitzer give a commencement speech along with an honorary degree. Mr. Blitzer actually made a visit to Penn State before. He participated on panel in 1989 to discuss the Palestinian Intifada. He represented the pro-Israeli viewpoint on the panel. He was the Jerusalem bureau chief for the Jerusalem Post after working for the pro-Israeli lobby group AIPAC. Its interesting that a former lobbyist for a special interest group now has his journalism hat on. He's no precedent for Penn State journalist students to follow.

Among the panellists Blitzer debated was Norman Finkelstein. Dr. Finkelstein was subsequently invited by SJP and told us that Blitzer performance was so bad he refused to get on the same plane with Finkelstein back to New York. Part 1 of Q&A session of the debate can be found here. You can judge for yourselves.

Penn State students walk out on pinkwashing

2011-04-11T16:04:00.000-07:00

“Israeli pinkwashing,” in the words of Prof. Jasbir Puar, “is a potent method through which the terms of Israeli occupation of Palestine are reiterated – Israel is civilised, Palestinians are barbaric, homophobic, uncivilised, suicide-bombing fanatics.”

Last week, pinkwashing came to Penn State, with the campus Hillel chapter hosting two back-to-back talks by speakers from the Israeli Consulate General’s office in Philadelphia. First, the consulate’s Public Relations director (and former IDF Captain) Sharon Singer spoke on “Being Gay in the Israeli Army.” Much of her talk consisted of screening Youtube clips depicting gay intimacy in Israeli films and television shows.

Afterwards, Deputy Consul General Raslan Abu-Rukun spoke about Israeli foreign policy and emphasized the atmosphere of racial and religious harmony in the Jewish state. When he presented a vigorous justification of Israel’s killing of 1400 civilians during the 2009 Gaza war, the majority of the audience, wearing stickers saying “Free Palestine” and “End the Occupation” stood up and walked out.

Abu-Rukun spoke for only a few minutes after the walkout, addressing the remaining audience of 10-15, mostly comprised of Hillel members. A few pro-justice students also stayed behind. “How do you reconcile the rosy picture you paint with Human Rights Watch’s account of “systematic discrimination” against Palestinians,” asked one student. Visibly flustered, Abu Rukun complained that Israel was often unfairly targeted by human rights agencies. When asked if there were any human rights organizations he would recommend for objective coverage of Israel and Palestine, he was unable to name even one.

Abu-Rukun, an Israeli Druze, was on his second visit to Penn State. In his talk, he mentioned his private meeting with President Graham Spanier earlier that morning. Pres. Spanier, himself born in Apartheid South Africa, was one of the main organizers of the 2007 University Presidents’ petition against the decision by Britain’s University and College Union to pursue academic boycott of Israel (the petition appeared as an ad in the New York Times sponsored by the American Jewish Committee.) When asked afterwards about the subject of his meeting with Spanier, Abu Rukun’s response was unequivocal. “I am a diplomat,” he said. “My job is to advance Israel’s interests.”

The following day, the Consulate updated their Facebook page, describing the event as “fully packed.” The event certainly was packed, but only if you include the protestors.

"no record of the two follow-up e-mails"; Corruption at Penn State

2010-07-28T03:45:00.001-07:00

hypocrisy is the name of the game

Collegian's article's on President Spanier only to sign pro-Israeli petitions and ignores pro-plaestinian petitions.
Spanier Denies Petition

2010-07-28T03:43:00.000-07:00

Baltzer's visit last week

2010-04-13T17:31:00.000-07:00

Anna Baltzer's visit last week went great! We had a packed audience and was very much involved with her lecture. We ran out of copies of her books and DvDs, and if anybody would like to purchase more please email us.
The presentation was another sad reminder of the brutal occupation and apartheid practices by the Israelis against the Palestinians. More and more people are becoming aware of the facts on the ground and Israel and their supporters in the U.S. are finding it very difficult to hide it. Baltzer gave an example of one international News Weekly mentioning the "Plight of the Palestines," compared to a U.S version of the same issue that mentioned Michael Phelps making history in Athens.

Collegian article here

Anna Baltzer at Penn State Wednesday April 7, 2010 (7PM 102 Thomas Bldg.)

2010-03-26T12:16:00.000-07:00

Anna Baltzer is a Jewish-American Columbia graduate, former-Fulbright scholar, the granddaughter of Holocaust refugees, and an award-winning lecturer, author, and activist for Palestinian human rights. As a volunteer with the International Women's Peace Service in the West Bank, Baltzer documented human rights abuses and supported Palestinian-led nonviolent resistance to the Occupation.

Penn State Professor Donates antique map of Palestine to SJP

2010-02-18T13:44:00.000-08:00

A professor on campus donated an antique map of Palestine to us. He attached a card with the following message,

Dear Students for Justice in Palestine,

I found this map in an antique store in Lewisburg in 2005. Thought you all would like it.

My maternal grandmother’s family were murdered in Nazi camps – she barely escaped. Using their suffering in order to justify the oppression of the Palestinians is a crime.

Please use this map to help students and other at Penn State to REMEMBER – the history of Palestine, the suffering of Palestinians today, never to quit fighting until we win justice in Palestine for Jews and Arabs alike.

Best of Luck,
-signature

Never to Forget..Never to Forgive..GAZA one year on

2009-12-28T08:59:00.000-08:00

One year ago yesterday, Israel launched an invasion of the Gaza strip with the stated aim of targeting militant groups that had been firing rockets into Israel. The massacre that followed lasted 22 days, and resulted in 5,000 Palestinians wounded, almost 1400 Palestinians dead, including over 250 children under 16. The majority of the dead were civilians. Civilians were executed in cold blood, used as human shields, and shelled with white phosphorus. Hospitals, schools, universities and even UN schools were all targeted and bombed. Nothing near the required amount of aid was allowed in due to an illegal siege of the strip. No one has been held accountable for these war crimes, and Gaza remains under the same crippling, and illegal, siege today.

Finkelstein Event

2009-11-12T08:38:00.000-08:00

(this is the flag signed by the Penn State community that will travel with us at the Global Gaza March)

The Finkelstein event last week went very well. We had a good turn out and had a good discussion with Dr. Finkelstein. We've invited invited close to two dozen pro-Israeli individuals, organizations, institutions to counter Dr. Finkelstein however..all refused.... what are they afraid about? They seem to publicly defend Israel's actions but when asked to challenge their opinion in public..they cannot. The Zionists were there yet no one bothered to challenge Dr. Finkelstein during the Q&A session (maybe because there's nothing to be debated about?) the best they can do is show up with an individual wearing a t-shirt depreciating the controversial cartoon of the Prophet Muhammed, how pathetic and disrespectful.

Open Letter to the Collegian

2009-10-27T16:27:00.001-07:00

There has been considerable discussion and, I believe, confusion in the pro-Israel community about the purpose of the November 2 panel discussion that is being sponsored by the Students for Justice in Palestine at 7 p.m. in 117 HUB/Auditorium. Although my own position on issues regarding Palestine and Israel is well known, I do not plan to speak at this meeting, which is meant to educate and inform the Penn State community, not to indoctrinate the audience or to embarrass advocates of any party to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We have invited an outside speaker, Dr. Norman Finkelstein, who has written a number of books and articles supportive of the Palestinian position. To ensure balance, I have made a sincere effort to include one or more known supporters of Israel in the panel discussion. Many refused, but we still hope that someone will join us. Dr. Arthur Goldschmidt, a retired professor of Middle East history and author of A Concise History of the Middle East, now in its ninth edition, will serve as moderator.

My Shout-out to Sabra and Chatila

2009-09-30T13:42:00.002-07:00

This article in NOW Lebanon was written by a journalist friend concerning my stay in Chatila refugee camp during the end of my visit to Lebanon:

http://nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=117063

May it be revealed to all of us the injustices brought about towards the Lebanese, Palestinians, and all others who are victims of aggression and exploitation. And may we dedicate our lives to mitigating the evils of this world.

Thanks for your time.

-Isaac

Sabra & Shatilla commemoration

2009-09-26T16:38:00.001-07:00

Penn State's commemoration of the 27th anniversary of the Israeli massacre of the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps went very well. We had lots of support. When we were setting up an elderly fellow, possibly a university professor or faculty, acknowledged us and said "good demo". Lot's of students supported us and wanted to join the group. One girl passed by saying saying "you got balls", she told us she is Jewish and supports our cause but her family is ignorant of the Israeli treatment of the the Palestinians...another girl passed by and was not happy with us s saying "are you serious...".. I replied to her saying yes we are and if she wanted to sign our petition to boycott apartheid Israel, she said "no thank you". Other than that lots of people supported us and wanted to join the group..kudos to David for all his great and dedicated work on this (collegian photo above)

PSU student documents the humanitarian disaster during his visit to Gaza this summer

2009-08-29T11:14:00.000-07:00

Sean Healy is an undergraduate at Penn State University majoring in Political Science (sph5064@psu.edu). This past summer he studied abroad in Cairo, Egypt and was part of a student delegation that entered Gaza this summer.. Sean documents what he saw..

-1 Before I traveled to Egypt and then later Gaza, I admit that, when I saw people being persecuted on television, I often held the opinion that somehow these intangible victims brought this horror upon themselves. I assumed that there had to be something that they or their families did that made them blameworthy, and therefore, made the injustices committed against them somehow excusable. In the context of the Middle East, this opinion led me to believe that Muslims were inherently violent—that it must be in their genes or in their history, maybe an integral part of the religion itself. When I went to Egypt to study abroad, my perception of this “inherent Muslim violence” changed, and when I went to Gaza, my view of “inherent blame” changed as well.

I went to Egypt for my Study Abroad Experience, and what I got was certainly…an experience. I still can’t pinpoint exactly why I chose Egypt—probably half because I’m a Political Science major and half because I like to be a little different, and Egypt certainly is that. When I arrived in Egypt, I brought with me the baggage of my staunch personal views: protecting myself from the savage Muslims and their anti-American rage. Although I went to a Muslim country to experience another culture, to challenge these views, and although I would never vocalize those attitudes, these biases were hiding in the back of my mind, further buttressed by the opinions of my friends, my family, and American society. When students at my school asked me where I was studying abroad, I found myself a little embarrassed to respond: “Egypt”. I find this shame particularly ironic because now I am embarrassed of my past ignorance.

When I settled into the chaos that is Cairo, I found myself meeting mostly Muslims, most of whom had every quality that I admired in a person, taking me in as a brother immediately. After some reflection, I realized that I embodied the very person I feared most in Egypt: someone with an unfounded fear or hate of the unknown. Although I never considered myself a racist—I actually considered myself pretty open-minded—my views prior to my arrival were unfair and more simply, racist. As I began to meet other American students through orientation at the American University in Cairo, I met Anna, similarly a Political Science major, but also with fervent passion for injustices around the world, in particularly the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Later in the semester when I heard through the grapevine about a chance to go to Gaza, I couldn’t wait to tell her. For me, it seemed like another great adventure, a chance to see things I could never see again. So the plan was soon set in motion: we were going to end our semester at American University in Cairo with a bang—pun intended—in Gaza.

At Rafah, the Egyptian border-crossing into Gaza, we received the typical Egyptian bureaucratic run-around, but this time, with more urgency and militancy. I kept wondering: “why don’t they want us to go into this place?” and “what is there to see that is so important to keep hidden?”. I was also shocked that my “golden ticket”, my American passport, didn’t put the Egyptian secret police and soldiers under the same trance that it had for the first four months of my experience in Egypt. I’d been convinced you could get away with murder with that blue packet of patriotism, but at Rafah, for the first time these officials treated me like an Egyptian citizen—very poorly. With a few phone calls and the right pulled-strings, however, we entered Gaza the following day.

Most people don’t even know what to call Gaza—some say a country, state, one of the Occupied Territories—but for most Gazans to whom I spoke, they call it a prison. When we finally crossed to the other side of the border, when we finally entered the prison of Gaza, we were greeted with cameras, cold water, handshakes and many smiles—I went to sleep the night before in a hole-in-the-wall hostel in Egypt and woke up a celebrity in Gaza. After our Red Carpet run-in with the press, we hopped onto our tour bus, pressed our faces against the windows, and began to view the destruction that is the Gaza prison.

My eyes were immediately drawn to the bullet holes: how many could I see? Was there a fight in this very spot? How many people died here? I was so caught up in the moment that, finally the second that I had a chance to breathe, I noticed the beauty of the area. It was so much greener than Egypt: I’d forgotten what the smell of vegetation was like after months of inhaling the famous Cairo smog. Even the manure smelled refreshing to me. After our cross-country bus ride (literally across all of Gaza, from the south to the north in only 25 minutes—this is how small it is), our celebrity-delegation met at Marna House Hotel, where we were quickly introduced and dispersed to our host families.

My “brother” in my host family was Ahmed. Ahmed is the kind of guy that you can’t help but love—genuine, down to earth, with unwavering morals. When we arrived at his house, I was a little bit nervous for several reasons, but mostly because of my deplorable Arabic skills (I can only say the basic “hello”, “how are you?” and every curse word in the book), and the fact that I wasn’t extremely knowledgeable on the history or details of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But when I was greeted with food, laughs, and this family’s generous hospitality, I felt immediately at home. A traditional family, the men entertained the male guests, and I actually didn’t even meet the female side of the family until a couple days into our trip. Ahmed’s father and three brothers gave us plenty of good food, sheesha (flavored tobacco), and water as we sat in a circle and spoke for hours. We spoke about the war for maybe thirty minutes—it seemed like a side-track to our conversation about movies, Egypt, our interests, and our life goals. Ahmed’s father, a round and jolly man—he reminded me of an Arab Santa Claus—did ask us why the US military is not considered “terrorist” when they openly admit to killing innocent civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq, but when Hamas fires rockets into Israel, they are considered “terrorists”?

At first, I wanted to jump on the defensive, to explain why it’s impossible for the US to use terrorism or be considered terrorist, but then, the more I pondered the question, the more this impossibility became possible, maybe even correct. Then it occurred to me that I couldn’t really tell you what a terrorist is or what the qualifications are to become one. With such vagueness in my definition, I began wondering if I was a terrorist or supporting terror, is there a way to find out?

As our rock-star war tour continued, we heard lectures on Women in Gaza, Human Rights Law and Abuses, the Israeli Concept of National Security, among others. We visited refugee camps, the American School in Gaza (which had been completely destroyed by Israeli forces), and homes of victims of the December/January Israeli offensive. Everyone wanted to tell me his or her story, and I couldn’t write fast enough to do any justice. I felt helpless. I felt like a phony because these people saw me recording their testimonies like a journalist and rushed to tell me their narratives—little did they know that my power with their words was limited at best. It depresses me to think of the great hope that the Gazans had in me and our delegation and my inability to give them the justice they deserve or even make a dramatic difference in even a single person’s life.

There were many depressing sights and stories from Gaza. Bullet holes are seemingly part of the buildings’ and homes’ designs, hospitals have collapsed wings, even universities were targeted. You can ask anyone on the street about the Israeli offensive, and they can respond with a horror story that would put Stephen King in his chair—this is the reality of Gaza.

Many of these sights and stories were deeply disturbing for our delegation, but for me, what struck me the most were the students- my peers- that I met in Gaza. Many of these students received scholarships to outstanding schools all over the world—scholarships they received after years of studying and working under foreign sanctions and the siege—but they were unable to leave Gaza, even for these educational opportunities. The loss of hope that I witnessed in these students—a countless number of students—left me with a deep emptiness in my stomach and changed my perception on what is fair and just. I was dumbfounded when kids my age told me how they have never, and fear that they will never, leave this territory as I mentioned before, it took only 25 minutes to drive from the furthest southern point to the northern border. They saw their scholarships as their one opportunity to leave but, even after earning these honors, they will not escape Gaza. They said that they felt that their time for college education or experiencing the outside world has passed and that they will never be able to get that back. I felt that someone had hit me over the head with a bat as I heard their stories during my privileged semester abroad. What started as an exotic adventure quickly had now become a dramatic slap-in-the-face. I couldn’t believe that most of these kids my age have been stuck in this tiny area for their entire lives and that, even at such a young age, they have already lost hope that they will ever be able to leave. I was outraged and wanted them to call their lawyers, their Congressmen, their president—except there is no one that can help them—they have a complaint about their prison of Gaza? Get in line.

It completely disheartens me to think that even the brightest young minds can’t receive the education that he or she deserves. Furthermore, it sickens me to think of all the people that these bright young minds could be helping and the things they could be changing, in their territory or in the world at large, with the priceless knowledge and skills that they could gain from these institutions overseas, from the same kind of institution from which I have gained such an invaluable education.

The friends that I made in Gaza (who were many thanks to their hospitality and openness) keep in touch with me through facebook.com and in emails. They are constantly thanking me, telling me that I’m a hero—one of my friends ends all his emails with “our American heroes”. I want to pull my hair out and yell: “I’ve done nothing heroic! I’m just a kid who looked and listened!” I hardly moved a rock—hell, I didn’t even donate very much money! I’ve thought about this dilemma long and hard, and I realize that these friends and people that I met were really just thankful that someone was listening and making an attempt to help—to them, that was so refreshing in itself; it may even seem heroic.

So therein lies my ultimate point, plea, demand, or request in writing this essay. I want to challenge more people to just listen, to let my friends be heard. It’s not much to ask, and it’s not that difficult to do. I’m not debating whose land it is, who was there first—I believe that argument is a dead end in this debate. UNWRA Director John Ging said, “Everyone needs to be accountable to the law. That is the only place to start, not with political issues.” Fairness, justice, and equality must be restored to both sides because those ideals are the cornerstones of democratic self-governance, the kind of governments that we, as Americans, hope to see develop in both Israel and Palestine.

My request cannot be properly fulfilled through a simple google-search; I’m asking for a genuine pursuit of the truth—which sometimes isn’t as easy or painless as it would sound, but regardless, I think these questions are worth answering:

- Why does the US give the most aid to Israel, almost more than to all of the African countries combined, when it has nearly the same GDP as Spain?

- Do the flaws and shortcomings of Hamas leave all Gazans responsible or accountable to the terror and horror of war?

- Why haven’t most of my friends and family, most of whom are very intelligent, heard so little about the current siege and blatant international violations that Israel is imposing on Gaza with our tax dollars?

If these questions are answered or at least raised more often, then I think that my friends will finally get to enjoy the scholarships that they worked so hard to earn, finally receive access to the medical treatment that they deserve, and finally, most importantly, enjoy the every day freedoms and liberties that I take for granted as an American. The fact is, as Americans, the decisions that our government makes in Washington wields unimaginably profound influence and impact on the rest of the world. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said that “in a democratic world, as in a democratic nation, power must be linked with responsibility.” For every-day Americans, that responsibility demands that we at least question the decisions of our government, and I’m convinced that if enough of us make these simple inquisitions, the answers will be interesting enough, compelling enough, to dig further into the enigma of US foreign policy.

Penn State in GAZA

2009-08-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

Penn State will be present in the worldwide march onto Gaza Jan 1st, 2010.

USA Viva Convoy in Cairo! GAZA here we come

2009-07-08T16:36:00.001-07:00

Penn State SJP has raised funds to contribute to the USA Aid Convoy to Gaza (USA Viva Palestina - USA) lead by British MP George Galloway.. the convoy is currently in Cairo, Egypt and will be entering GAZA early next week..
You can view pictures of the convoy and participants here, http://verbage.wordpress.com/

Galloway's event @ PSU

2009-03-27T08:51:00.000-07:00

the event by George Galloway two nights ago was AMAZING! received lots of support from everyone.. will be blogging about it when I have more free time

probably the most effective method to boycott Israeli products

2009-03-17T09:18:00.000-07:00

This is one creative way to boycott apartheid Israeli products.. ummm..a feasible idea to carry out in downtown state college

George Galloway @ PSU

2009-03-07T16:35:00.000-08:00

British Member of Parliament George Galloway

March 25, 2009 7:00 PM

HUB Alumni Hall

An event definitely not to miss!

Facebook event HERE

student debate ANYONE?

2009-02-26T10:35:00.001-08:00

Anyone out there with the chutzpah willing to participate in a student debate with members of SJP? We've made several attempts to reach out to the pro-Israeli groups on campus but they're refusing to take up our offer. So we're putting up the challenge for ANYONE on this campus. This is no surprise by the way... any takers?

Professors discuss viewponts on Gaza

2009-02-22T23:51:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday (2-17-2009) two distinguished professors came in to speak about the recent 22 day assault on Gaza by Israel. We were hoping to have a pro-Israeli perspective on the panel, but the person who initially agreed to participate bailed out last minute. The event went very well and there was lots of insight. The most interesting part of the whole event was that there didn't even seem to be any opposition to what the speakers said during the Q&A session, even when the Israelis [government] were described as "barbarians". I guess everyone in that room agreed with what was said.
Lot's of effort was made to have a pro-Israeli speaker appear on the panel but to no avail. Israel's apologist are tired of defending its brutal and apartheid policies against defenseless Palestinians. People are sick of hearing talking points and want to hear the truth.

pro-Israeli ANYONE?

2009-02-12T10:03:00.001-08:00

anybody with a pro-Israeli or Zionist perspective is willing to debate our guest speaker for Tuesday (Feb. 17, 2009) , Dr. Lawrence Davidson, let me know ASAP. It's ironic that finding someone on campus who is pro-Israel is easy but to have them argue their position in public is difficult. can anyone prove me wrong on this? if so email me or write a comment.

This wasn't published in the Collegian, so I'll paste it here

2009-01-27T07:16:00.000-08:00

Devastation in Gaza and West Bank, NOT Israel
If you want to see real devastation concerning the Palestine-Israel conflict you need to visit Gaza, not Israel. The Taglit-Birthright Israel trip is nothing but a well orchestrated propaganda tour organized for young Jewish adults all over the world. According to the U.N., over the past couple of weeks alone Israel has killed over 1,330 Palestinians, 460 of whom were women and children, compared to 13 Israel deaths -10 of them being soldiers of the Israeli Occupation Forces. Furthermore, over 4,000 buildings, homes and shelters in Gaza have been demolished. I’m sure that the three soldiers, armed retired medic and tour guide who escorted the Penn State Jewish students didn’t tell them that Israel is illegally occupying the West Bank and Gaza Strip, restricts the Palestinian population’s freedom of movement, violates basic human rights and have imposed a blockade on Gaza for several years causing a humanitarian disaster. Don’t take my word for it just read the independent human rights organizations who periodically document the basic human rights violations taking place in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Israel’s own human rights group, Btselem, describes the regime in Israel as “reminiscent of distasteful regimes from the past, such as the Apartheid regime in South Africa” (lookup Btselem’s“Land Grab” report). Israel further practices its apartheid policies by banning Arab-Israeli parties from participating in the upcoming Israelis elections taking place next month. Based on the documentary record, young Israeli soldiers aren’t defending a Jewish homeland. They are just war criminals defending a racist state and committing war crimes against the defenseless Palestinians.

Collegian op-ed

2009-01-20T09:03:00.000-08:00

World should react to Israel through sanctions, boycott

Re: As sovereign nation, Israel has right to protect itself

I just read a report quoting Dov Weisglass, an adviser to the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, talking of putting Gazans "on a diet." This reminds of Governor General Hans Frank in Nazi-occupied Poland, who spoke of "death by hunger."

The hundreds of dead and bodies of children in Gaza, cutting off of water, electricity, medicine, fuel and food, is a reminder of the siege of the Warsaw Ghetto. Apartheid Israel is committing a holocaust to the Palestinian population in Gaza, or what Israeli deputy defense minister, Matan Vilnai, who once talked about the Palestinians experiencing "a bigger shoah" (holocaust).

According to UN Special Rapporteur for Human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Richard Falk, "The truce was maintained by Hamas despite the failure of Israel to fulfill its obligation under the agreement to improve the living conditions of the people of Gaza."

After more than 22 days of Israel's aggression on Gaza, over 1,300 Palestinians have been killed and less than a dozen Israelis.

The issue is that the Palestinians of Gaza do not come from Gaza. The Palestinians of Gaza come from that part of Palestine that became Israel. The places where the Hamas rockets are falling are the lands which were owned by the people who now live in Gaza.

As the world did with apartheid South Africa, rational Americans should embark on a program of boycott, divestment and sanctions of Israel until it adheres to International Law. I'd rather see my American tax dollars fund the shortage of funding here at Penn State rather than supply Israel with weapons to commit war crimes against the Palestinians.

Sammy Haddad

graduate-engineering

2009-01-15T18:21:00.000-08:00

PALESTINE : HUMAN RIGHTS:

ISRAEL BOMBS UN AGENCY HEADQUARTERS IN GAZA CITY
Interview, The Electronic Intifada, 15 January 2009

"The UNRWA headquarters are in the al-Rimal district in
the center of Gaza City. The location is well known to the
Israeli authorities as is the fact that they enjoy UN
immunity. The damage is great. Although we do not know the
exact extent yet, we have lost many trucks, cars and food
aid supplies." UNRWA spokesman Sami Mushasha explains the
damage to the UN headquarters in Gaza City following an
Israeli strike there.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10192.shtml

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PALESTINE : HUMAN RIGHTS:

ISRAEL FIRES ON UN AGENCY HEADQUARTERS, CIVILIANS FLEEING VIOLENCE
Press release, Al Mezan, 15 January 2009

The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) has seriously
escalated its attacks on the Gaza Strip since midnight
yesterday, as it advanced into Tel al-Hawa neighborhood
southern Gaza City, and heavily bombarded the
neighborhoods of al-Shejaiya and al-Tuffah in the east of
the City. Al Mezan Center's monitoring indicates that
about 70 percent of IOF's attacks casualties of these
attacks are from families who were hit inside their homes
or as they left their homes to flee these areas.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10191.shtml

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PALESTINE : DEVELOPMENT:

THOUSAND DEATHS DO NOT PUT OFF EU
By David Cronin, The Electronic Intifada, 15 January 2009

BRUSSELS (IPS) - Senior European Union figures have
signaled that they could push ahead with plans to
strengthen formal ties with Israel, even though more than
1,000 have now been killed by the bombardment of Gaza. Two
conflicting statements about EU-Israeli relations were
delivered 14 January, as the number of Palestinians, about
one-third of them children, killed in Gaza continued to
climb.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10190.shtml

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PALESTINE : DIARIES: LIVE FROM PALESTINE:

IT WAS LIKE "THE DAY AFTER"
By Dr. Asad Abu Sharekh, Live from Palestine, 15 January 2009

Since last night from about 8pm until a little while ago,
there have been heavy battles in Tel al-Hawa. They were
hitting from the sea, from the air. Tanks were shooting.
There were thick clouds of white phosphorus filling the
area and filling up houses. They bombed the Red Crescent
building and many cars in the street were destroyed. An
apartment near me was hit and burned and one on the other
side. A number of tall buildings were hit. All the windows
and doors are broken and shattered. There were maybe 10
bombs falling every minute.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10193.shtml

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PALESTINE : ISRAEL LOBBY WATCH:

OLMERT'S CLAIMS REVIVE SPECTER OF "ISRAEL LOBBY"
By Daniel Luban, The Electronic Intifada, 14 January 2009

WASHINGTON (IPS) - The US State Department fiercely denied
claims made by Ehud Olmert about his influence over
President Bush, in an incident that has stirred up old
debates about the role of the Israeli government and the
so-called "Israel lobby" in formulating Middle East policy
in Washington. On Monday, Olmert claimed that he demanded
and received an immediate conversation with President
Bush, during which he convinced the president to overrule
the wishes of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and
abstain from a United Nations resolution calling for an
immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10189.shtml

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PALESTINE : DEVELOPMENT:

ANGER BEGINS TO KNOCK AT ISRAEL'S BORDERS
By Mel Frykberg, The Electronic Intifada, 14 January 2009

RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - A number of armed
attacks have taken place on Israel's borders with
Palestinian territories in the last six days as Arab
public anger over the death and destruction wrought on
Gaza spills over from massive street demonstrations.
Israeli security officials have voiced concern that the
Gaza violence could affect Israel's borders and that
Israeli settlers and soldiers in the Palestinian West Bank
could be targeted by armed Palestinians.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10188.shtml

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Egypt's Gaza truce plan is mostly bad for Hamas
Daily News Article by Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff
Haaretz (Analysis) - January 15, 2009 - 12:00am

After 19 days of fighting and more than 1,000 Palestinian fatalities, the first significant signs that Hamas is breaking could be seen Wednesday night. Hamas representatives to talks with Egypt announced an agreement in principle on Wednesday to the Egyptian cease-fire proposal. They also demanded several clarifications, primarily from Israel.

The IDF has no mercy for the children in Gaza nursery schools
Daily News Article by Gideon Levy
Haaretz (Opinion) - January 15, 2009 - 12:00am

The fighting in Gaza is "war deluxe." Compared with previous wars, it is child's play - pilots bombing unimpeded as if on practice runs, tank and artillery soldiers shelling houses and civilians from their armored vehicles, combat engineering troops destroying entire streets in their ominous protected vehicles without facing serious opposition. A large, broad army is fighting against a helpless population and a weak, ragged organization that has fled the conflict zones and is barely putting up a fight. All this must be said openly, before we begin exulting in our heroism and victory.

Gaza Cries For Arab Attention
Daily News Article by
Khaleej Times (Editorial) - January 15, 2009 - 12:00am

This is the third consecutive week of Israel’s relentless offensive on Gaza. More than a thousand people have been killed, over 400 of them women and children. All efforts by the international community, including the United Nations, Europeans and others, have failed to break Israel’s resolve to destroy what remains of Gaza Strip. Individual efforts by Arab and Muslim countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have failed to bear fruit as well.

U.S. may cut $1b in loan guarantees to Israel over West Bank settlements
Daily News Article by Aluf Benn
Haaretz - January 15, 2009 - 12:00am

The United States administration plans to cut about $1 billion from the balance of its loan guarantees to Israel because of its investments in the settlements. The balance currently stands at $4.6 billion. Washington has not officially informed Jerusalem of the cut. The assumption is that the announcement, and the decision over the exact extent of the cut, will come only after Barack Obama is sworn in as president next Tuesday.

What will you do if you were born a Palestinian?

النسخة العربية تلي الإنجليزية

By Abu al-Sous (Salah Mansour)*

A view of al-Faluja (Gaza) soon after its occupation in March 1949, and in the background its school clearly can be seen. Currently, Palestinian refugees in Gaza are the ones who often rocket their usurped homes in southern Israel.

After doing lots of research on the internet, I was shocked to find that the most candid answer to this question comes from Israelis; most importantly from Israeli leaders who gained political notoriety as a result of crushing Palestinians. This question started to interest me several years ago when I read a eulogy written by Moshe Dayan (a former Israeli Defense Minister) to his Israeli friend who was killed by a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip in 1955:

". . . Let us not today fling accusation at the murderers. What cause have we to complain about their fierce hatred to us? For eight years now, they sit in their refugee camps in Gaza, and before their eyes we turn into our homestead the land and villages in which they and their forefathers have lived.

We should demand his blood not from the [Palestinian] Arabs of Gaza but from ourselves. . . . Let us make our reckoning today. We are a generation of settlers, and without the steel helmet and gun barrel, we shall not be able to plant a tree or build a house. . . . Let us not be afraid to see the hatred that accompanies and consumes the lives of hundreds of thousands of [Palestinian] Arabs who sit all around us and wait for the moment when their hands will be able to reach our blood." (Iron Wall, p. 101)

Similarly, Ehud Barak (the current Israeli Defense Minister) was asked this question, and his reply was:

"If I were a Palestinian of the right age, I'd eventually join one of the terrorist organizations." (interviewed by Ha'aretz's Gideon Levy in March 1998)

Here in America, we're a brought up to believe in our sacred right to bare arms because the right of self-defense is enshrined in our American constitution. As an American, I have the right to defend my home and family here in Chicago by all possible means, even if my defense results in the death or injury of the assailant. However, as a Palestinian defending my home and family in Palestine, that makes me automatically the "terrorist" in the eyes of many in the Western world. It should be noted that when Palestinians rocket Israeli towns, they are rocketing their own homes and farms which have been usurped by Jews who recently escaped European anti-Semitism and pogroms, here are the names of a few of the usurped Palestinian towns which are located in what is now southern Israel: al-Majdal Asqalan, Faluja, Yibna, Huj & Najd.

The more I research Israeli history, the more I discover that Israelis have a hidden empathy to what Palestinians have experienced for the past 60 years. In my opinion, this is a proof that this conflict isn't only a colonial conflict over lands, but most importantly it's a conflict about the national identity which is connected to the land. Deep at heart, every Israeli Jew suspects that the Zionist narrative to be farce. However, because Israel was created by usurping Palestinian rights, Israelis and most Jews find it necessary to deny Palestinians of their national rights and identity. This Israeli insecurity (or paranoia) increases whenever Palestinians assert their national identity (i.e. resistance to colonialism, demanding the right of return, ..etc) because it reaffirms that this is a conflict that will transcend generations.

Be free to share this email with your friends and loved ones.

Our DATE is 60 years LATE, God willing sooner or later we shall return.
* Salah Mansour is the founder and editor of PalestineRemembered.com, the largest Palestinian online community.

Related Articless

sincerely,

Abu al-Sous (Salah Mansour)
Chicago - USA
Click here if you wish to leave a comment for this article.
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ماذا ستفعل لو ولدت فلسطينياً وتم إغتصاب أرضك لأكثر من 60 عاماً؟

بقلم أبو السوس (صلاح منصور)

صور نادرة لقرية الفالوجة الفلسطينية المغتصبة (محافظة غزة) أوخذت بعد الإحتلال الصهيوني مباشرتاً في آذار-1949، وتظهر مدرسة القرية في خلفية الصورة.

بعد الكثير من البحث على شبكة الإنترنت، وجدت أن الإسرائيليين يقدمون أكثر الإجابات صراحةًً لهذا السؤال، خاصةً الزعماء الإسرائيليون الذين يتسابقون على قمع الفلسطينيين. قبل عدة سنوات قرأت ما كتبه موشي ديان (وزير دفاع إسرائيلي سابق) تأبيناً لصديق له قتله فلسطينياً في إحدى الكيبوتزات الموجودة في جنوب إسرائيل عام 1955:

"في هذ اليوم يجب علينا أن لا نوجه أصابع الإتهام للقتلة. أنا أقول: ما هي أعذارنا لمُسببات هذه الكراهية الشرسة ضدنا؟ لقد مضى ثماني سنين وهم في مخيمات غزة وأمام أعينهم نفلح أراضيهم التي سكنها أجدادهم.

علينا أن نطلب دم هذا الإسرائيلي ليس من العرب الذين قتلوه ولكن من أنفسنا ..... اليوم يجب أن يكون يوم الحساب: نحن جيل من المستوطنيين، ومن دون الخوذة الفولاذية والمدفع، لن نكون قادرين على زرع شجرة أو بناء منزل .... دعونا أن لا نخشى الكراهية التي تستهلك حياة مئات الآلاف من العرب الفلسطينيين الموجودين حولنا والذين ينتظرون لحظة الإنتقام." (الجدار الحديدي، صفحة 101)

وبطريقة مماثلة أجاب وزير الحرب الإسرائيلي إيهود باراك عندما سُئل سؤالاً مُشابهاً:

"لو كنت فلسطينياً في سن الرشد، لوجدت أنه من المنطقي في نهاية المطاف الإنضمام لإحدى المنظمات الإرهابية." (مقابلة مع جدعون لفي في آذار 1998)

يؤمن الأمريكيون أيماناً قاطعاً بحق الدفاع عن النفس وهذا بالنسبة لهم حق مقدس ونصه واضح في الدستور. فكأمريكي أعيش في شيكاغو يحق لي الدفاع عن بيتي وعائلتي حتى ولو أدى ذلك بجرح أو قتل المعتدي. لكن هذا الحق يسقط إذا دافعت عن بيتي المغتصب في فلسطين مما يجعلني "إرهابياً" بنظر الكثير في العالم الغربي. هنا يجب الإشارة بأنه عندما يقوم الفلسطينون في غزة الصمود بقصف جنوب إسرائيل بالصواريخ، فإنهم يقصفون قراهم ومدنهم التي إغتصبها يهود هاجروا حديثاً بسبب معاداة أوروبا للسامية أو بسبب المحرقة النازية التي حلت بيهود أوروبا.

بعد قرائتي السيرة الذاتية للكثير من الزعماء الإسرائيليين وجدت أن هنالك الكثير من التعاطف والتفهم المُستتر لتجربة الشعب الفلسطيني. هذا التفهم دليل بأن هذا الصراع ليس فقط صراع إستعماري على الأرض الفلسطينية، وانما هو أيضاً صراع على الهوية المرتبطة بالأرض. فمُعظم الأسرائيليون واليهود يعلمون في قرارة أنفسهم بأن الرواية الصهيونية هي رواية كاذبة، ولكن لأن وجود إسرائيل كان مشروطاً بإغتصاب الحقوق الوطنية والمدنية للشعب الفلسطيني، وجد الكثير من قادتهم أنه من الضروري الإستمرار بشكل ممنهج ومتواصل بحرمان الفلسطينيين من حقوقهم الوطنية. فشعور الإسرائيليين بإنعدام الأمان يتزايد كلما يتشبث الفلسطينيون بهويتهم خاصةً من خلال مقاومة الإحتلال الأسرائيلي وتمسكهم بحق العودة. فترسيخ الفلسطينيين لهويتهم المرتبطة بالأرض المغتصبة هو أكبر خطر على المخطط الصهيوني لأنه يقول للصهيوني بأن هذا الصراع صراع أجيال ولن يحسم بمعركة أو إثنتين.

الرجاء مشاركة هذا البريد مع كل صديق وقريب، ولكم منا جزيل الشكر، والله الموفق.

روابط ذات صلة

أنقر هنا إذا ترغب بإضافة تعليقك لهذا المقال

فرحتنا فقط بعودتنا إن شاء الله
صلاح منصور / أبو السوس
شيكاغو - الولايات المتحدة

2009-01-15T18:14:00.000-08:00

The Israeli Human Shield

النسخة العربية تلي الإنجليزية

A Palestine boy used as a human shield by Israeli Occupation Soldiers, click the image to enlarge it.

By Abu al-Sous (Salah Mansour)*

During the Israeli war on Gaza, Western media propagated Israeli propaganda that the Palestinian resistance have been using their family members as human shields. Sadly, Israeli propaganda is often presented in Western media as facts, and the Israeli version has been accepted with little verification. The goal is simple: dehumanise the Palestinian by showing that he does not care about his family members, and once that is done it becomes much easier to accept him as a legitimist target.

This dehumanizing campaign is as old as the Zionist movement; it was articulated by Golda Meir (a former Israeli Prime Minister) when she said: Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us. This racist and derogatory comment is often propagated in Western media without a second thought to its dehumanizing consequences. It paints the Arab as a sub-human creature, who has neither affection nor love towards his or her children. When I first heard this racist comment from an American, I felt as if he was telling me: "you are not much of a human as I"!

To this date, the Israel Occupation Army (IOF) still refuses to comply with orders from the Israeli Supreme Court to stop using Palestinian civilians as human shields (click here for a BBC article about this subject). If the IOF is a "professional army" as it claims and it treats Palestinians according to International Law, then:

I wonder why Israel's highest court would issue such an order?
I wonder why IOF refuses to stop using Palestinians as human shields?

It has been an Israeli strategy from the start to use civilian target as a strategic weapon. Israeli leaders assume this would cause the civilian population to pressure Arab leaders to submit to Israeli dictates. Sadly, this Israeli tactic has been historically effective with the corrupt and unpopular Arab leaders who are more interested in protecting their corrupt regimes than defending their countries. The reader should be reminded of the "Grape of Wrath" agreement between Hizbullah and Israel 1996 which restricted both sides from hitting civilian targets. This agreement signaled the end of the Israeli occupation in southern Lebanon, and as a result a new era in the Arab-Israeli conflict have begun where Israel's deterrence power suffered a major setback. It should be noted that Israel has been determined not to fall into this trap again; that would explain why Israel rejected signing similar agreements with Hamas.

A Palestinian killed by Israeli Occupation Soldiers used as a trophy.

The allegation that Palestinian resistance use their own family members as human shield has been concocted by Zionists to delegitimise any Palestinian resistance, and to deflect from the war crimes that are being perpetrated on the people of Gaza. Palestinians are no different than other colonized people; they're simply defending their homeland from foreign aggressions. The following list of pictures, articles, movies, and Israeli quotations will conclusively prove that the Israeli Occupation Army is the one who use civilians as human shields.

Video Clip: Kids Used as Human Shields in Balata Refugee Camp
Video Clip: Israeli Army continues to use Palestinian civilians as human shields
Video Clip: BBC: Palestinian boys used as a human shield during an Israeli operation in Nablus
Video Clip: Israeli shoots Palestinian with hands bound point blank
A Picture of a Palestine boy used as a human shield by Israeli Occupation Soldiers
Ha'aretz: 'Human shield' dies as Hamas man is killed by troops
Ha'aretz: Envoys say they saw IDF fire at children
Ha'aretz: 27 Israeli pilots to refuse missions in West Bank, Gaza
Israeli Quotes: Collection of quotations from Israeli leaders legitimising targeting civilians.

Be free to share this article with your friends and loved ones.

Our DATE is 60 years LATE, God willing sooner or later we shall return.
* Salah Mansour is the founder and editor of PalestineRemembered.com, the largest Palestinian online community.

Click here if you wish to leave a comment for this article.

Related Articles

sincerely,

Abu al-Sous (Salah Mansour)
Chicago - USA
PS: Al-Jazeera English can be seen online, click here for details.
PS: At most we send one email per month, however, if you wish to opt-out from our list, please click here.

الدروع البشرية الإسرائيلية
بقلم أبو السوس (صلاح منصور)

صورة لطفل فلسطيني مقيد لدورية إسرائيلية يُستخدم كدرع بشري لحماية الجنود الإسرائيليين من عناصر المقاومة.

تقوم وسائل الإعلام هنا في العالم الغربي بترويج الدعاية الإسرائيلية بأن عناصر المقاومة تستخدم أفراد أسرهم كدروع بشرية، وللأسف الشديد تروج هذه الدعاية العنصرية كأنها حقيقة وقلما يتم التحقق منها قبل نشرها. الهدف من تلك الدعاية العنصرية بسيط وهو تجريد الفلسطيني من إنسانيته، وبذلك يصبح الفلسطيني هدف مشروع ولا يتم التعامل معه كمظلوم أو كضحية.

الحملة لتجريد العربي من إنسانيته حملة قديمة بدأت منذ نشوء الحركة الصهيونية وعبرت عنها غولدا مائير(ورئيس وزراء إسرائيلية سابقة) بوضوح عندما قالت: السلام بيننا وبين العرب سيتحقق عندما يُحب العرب أطفالهم أكثر من كراهيتهم لنا. عادةً تردد هذه المقولة العنصرية في الإعلام الغربي تلقائياً بغض النظر عن العواقب العنصرية لها. فهذه المقولة ترسم في ذهن الغربي صورة غير إنسانية عن العربي لأنها تجرده من العطف والحنان تجاه أطفاله؛ فمن لا يملك مشاعر العطف والحنان لا يمكن أن يكون إنسان. في يوم من الأيام قام أمريكي بترديد هذه المقولة أمامي مما جعلني أشتاط غضباً، فشعرت بأنه يقول لي بأني لست إنسان مثله.

هنا تجدر الإشارة بأن قوات الإحتلال الإسرائيلية لا تزال ترفض الإمتثال لأوامر محكمة العدل العليا الإسرائيلية بالتوقف عن إستخدام المدنيين الفلسطينيين كدروع بشرية (أنقر هنا لمقال من ال ب ب سي عن الموضوع). فإذا كان جيش الإحتلال كما يدعي بأنه "جيش حضاري" يلتزم بالقوانين الدولية:

لماذا تصدر محكمة العدل العليا الإسرائيلية أوامر لقوات الإحتلال بالكف عن إستخدام المدنيين كدروع بشرية؟
لماذا لا تزال قوات الإحتلال ترفض الإنصياع لتلك الأوامر؟

منذ البداية قامت الحركة الصهيونية بإستهداف المرافق المدنية والمدنيين كسلاح إستراتيجي لتحقيق أهدافها السياسية والعسكرية، وللأسف الشديد سياسة إستهداف المرافق المدنية والمدنيين كانت فعّالة ضد الأنظمة العربية التي يهمها المحافظة على سُلطتها أكثر من حمايتها للوطن من العدوان الصهيوني. هنا يجب التنوية لإتفاقية عناقيد الغضب بين حزب الله وإسرائيل (إتفاقية مضمونه ومراقبة دولياً) التي وُقعت بعد العدوان الإسرائيلي على جنوب لبنان عام 1996. فهذه الإتفاقية نصت على عدم إستهداف المرافق المدنية من كلى الطرفين. فهذا كان الفخ الذي وقع فيه الإحتلال من قبل المقاومة، ومنذ توقيع المعاهدة في 27 نيسان 1996، بدأ العد التنازلي لللإحتلال الإسرائيلي في جنوب لبنان، وذلك يُفسر رفض قبول الإسرائيليون توقيع معاهدة مماثلة مع قوات المقاومة في غزة الصمود.

جنود الإحتلال يأخذون صورة جماعية بعد قتلهم فلسطينياً في خليل الرحمن.

لقد قمنا بجمع العديد من المقالات والصور والأفلام عسى أن يجدها القارئ مفيدة لدحض هذه الدعاية العنصرية:

الرجاء مشاركة هذا المقال مع كل صديق وقريب، ولكم منا جزيل الشكر، والله الموفق.

أنقر هنا إذا ترغب بإضافة تعليقك لهذا المقال

روابط ذات صلة

فرحتنا فقط بعودتنا إن شاء الله
صلاح منصور / أبو السوس
شيكاغو - الولايات المتحدة

Protest at Allen Gates tomrorow

2009-01-13T16:47:00.000-08:00

WHAT: "Rally for Gaza"
WHEN: Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009
WHERE: Allen Street Gates
TIME: 12:00 - 5:00 PM (peak time 3:00 - 5:00 PM)
Facebook Group HERE

Let there be change! Yes we Can! (Collegian op-ed)

2009-01-13T07:52:00.000-08:00

New Obama administration should shift foreign policy

The election of Barack Obama as president marks the end of a long nightmare. Eight years of civil rights abuses, the invasion of Muslim countries, and botched government responses to natural disasters. By electing Barack Obama, America has finally legitimized its African-American citizens after a repulsive history of slavery, discrimination and apartheid. I trust president-elect Obama will change America's foreign policy and restore much needed credibility to the United States. A good place to start would be the Middle East.

The Palestinians have been forcibly displaced, dispossessed and disenfranchised not because of anything they do, but because that is the only way to create a Jewish state in a land where there is a pre-existing indigenous majority population that happens to be overwhelmingly non-Jewish.

One important move that would gain worldwide favorability to the U.S. is if the Obama administration plays a fair role in the Palestine-Israel conflict. Over the past 60 years, U.S. stanch support of Israel's military occupation, apartheid and injustices towards the Palestinian people has caused discontent towards the U.S. throughout the world. Let there be change, and let it start with Israel.

Sammy Haddad

graduate-engineering

Days of Action to Support Gaza

2009-01-11T10:43:00.001-08:00

DAYS OF ACTION INCLUDE:

-NATIONAL “WEAR YOUR KUFFIYAH DAY”: MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2009

People across the country are being asked to wear your Kuffiyah on Monday. This symbolic gesture will bring awareness to the plight of the Palestinian people. Take a moment to explain to anyone who asks what is happening and has been happening to the Palestinians for the last 60 years and why you are wearing your Kuffiyah.

-NATIONAL DAY OF FASTING: TUESDAY JANUARY 13, 2009

On this upcoming Tuesday people are asked to fast the whole day, refraining from food and water. Further, as a sign of unity, it is asked that individuals donate the amount of money they would have spent on food this day to Gaza Relief. ADC recommends that the donations be made to the following organizations:

United Palestinian Appeal (UPA): http://helpupa.com/
American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA): http://www.anera.org/

ONGOING GAZA COVERAGE FROM THE ELECTRONIC INTIFADA

2009-01-11T10:29:00.000-08:00

Now with breaking news via Al Jazeera:
http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/687.shtml

PALESTINE : HUMAN RIGHTS:

THOUSANDS OF GAZA HOUSES DESTROYED AND DAMAGED BY ISRAELI STRIKES
Press release, Al Mezan, 11 January 2009

Today after midnight, IOF expanded its ground invasion in
the south of Gaza City. Troops and tanks penetrated the
southern Gaza-City neighborhood of Tel al-Hawa and stayed
there for hours before withdrawing to the suburbs of
al-Zahra town, south to Gaza City. The IOF had dropped
thousands of leaflets ordering the residents of Tel
al-Hawa to evacuate their homes.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10165.shtml

PALESTINE : DIARIES: LIVE FROM PALESTINE:

WITNESSING A WAR WAGED AGAINST YOUR PEOPLE
By Mohammed Abu Asaker, Live from Palestine, 11 January 2009

All of my family are Gaza are staying in one room.
Expecting that a missile could attack them any moment,
they prefer to die all together. My little brothers and
sisters are very scared and don't sleep well and the
bombing goes on day and night. Mohammed Abu Asaker writes
from Sudan.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10166.shtml

UN warns Israel over Gaza family 'herded' into shelled house
Daily News Article by Martin Fletcher, Azmi Keshawi
The Times - January 10, 2009 - 12:00am

More than 100 members of one extended Gazan family were allegedly herded by Israeli soldiers into a house that was subsequently shelled, killing up to 30 people and leaving others wounded and living with the corpses for three days.

Gaza: international plan hatched to bring back Fatah
Daily News Article by James Bone, Martin Fletcher
The Times - January 10, 2009 - 12:00am

A plan to create a new foothold in Gaza for the Palestinian Authority and to bring in international monitors was being drawn up by diplomats yesterday as a UN ceasefire call was dismissed by both sides.

'Viva la Gaza!'
Daily News Article by Aluf Benn
Haaretz - January 9, 2009 - 12:00am

The list of objectives for Operation Cast Lead that the political-security cabinet dictated to the Israel Defense Forces on the eve of the operation was characterized by restraint. It included halting the rocket fire and terror, reducing Hamas' capacity to rearm, continuing talks with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, striking a blow to Hamas' rule in Gaza, preventing a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, and improving the odds for the release of abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.

Peace Is No Longer in Sight
Daily News Article by Tom Segev
The Washington Post - January 10, 2009 - 12:00am

At the end of the 10th day of Israel's operation in the Gaza Strip, I was zapping between Israeli, Arab and international TV channels. The pictures grew more gruesome from moment to moment. Then a friend called to tell me that Mezzo, a French concert channel, had just started playing "Christ on the Mount of Olives," a rather obscure oratorio by Beethoven.

PALESTINE : HUMAN RIGHTS:

CIVILIANS DELIBERATELY TARGETED: 194 OF GAZA'S 830 KILLED ARE CHILDREN
Press release, Al Mezan, 10 January 2009

Israeli forces continued to systematically target
civilians and civilian objects. Air raids and artillery
attacks particularly targeted homes. Several families were
killed under the rubble of their homes across the Gaza
Strip.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10160.shtml

PALESTINE : ROLE OF THE MEDIA:

IN WASHINGTON, ALL ROADS LEAD TO TEHRAN
By Daniel Luban, The Electronic Intifada, 10 January 2009

WASHINGTON (IPS) - As the war in Gaza approaches its third
week, a chorus of influential voices in the United States
media has cast the conflict as a proxy war in which the
real enemy is not Hamas but Iran. The result has been a
growing tendency in the US to view Gaza as simply one
battleground in a larger war between Iran and the West,
and to dismiss the stated concerns of the Palestinians as
a mere smokescreen for Iranian influence.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10157.shtml

PALESTINE : HUMAN RIGHTS:

TESTIMONY: GAZA FAMILY MASSACRED, SURVIVORS DETAINED
Testimony, B'Tselem, 8 January 2009

When the missile stuck, I lay down with my daughter under
me. Everything filled up with smoke and dust, and I heard
screams and crying. After the smoke and dust cleared a
bit, I looked around and saw 20-30 people who were dead,
and about 20 who were wounded. Some were severely wounded
and some lightly.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10144.shtml

PALESTINE : DEVELOPMENT:

COALITION OF INT'L ORGS CALL ON EU TO SUSPEND "UPGRADE" WITH ISRAEL
Press release, various undersigned, 8 January 2009

A coalition of major humanitarian, human rights and
development organizations called on the European Union
today [7 January 2009] to immediately suspend any further
enhancement of its relations with Israel, known as an
"upgrade," until it agrees to a comprehensive ceasefire
and provides unimpeded humanitarian access.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10143.shtml

PALESTINE : DEVELOPMENT:

TENS OF THOUSANDS FLEE RAFAH
Report, The Electronic Intifada, 9 January 2009

TEL AVIV (IRIN) - Independent confirmation of the
situation in Gaza, particularly in Rafah on the border
with Egypt, is difficult as Israel's ban on journalists
entering the Strip remains in place. Telephone lines are
overloaded and affected by power cuts. Rafah residents
told IRIN by phone that tens of thousands had fled heavy
Israeli bombardments, with some seeking refuge at United
Nations institutions or at homes of friends and relatives
in areas further from the border but still in the south.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10149.shtml

PALESTINE : DEVELOPMENT:

THREAT OF EPIDEMICS IN GAZA
Report, The Electronic Intifada, 9 January 2009

RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IRIN) - The total halt to
vaccinations in Gaza since the Israeli offensive began on
27 December could result in epidemics, a risk increased by
Gaza's high population density and dire living conditions,
the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on 8 January.
Some 1.5 million Palestinians live in the 365-square
kilometer coastal Strip.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10150.shtml

Earlier this week ADC held a town hall meeting where various ideas and strategies were discussed and considered. In response to direct community input, ADC has extended its hours of operation and community members are encouraged to volunteer their time at the office, which now will be open Monday-Friday from 8am-8pm.

- To volunteer, contact: organizing@adc.org

CONTACTING CONGRESS AND THE MEDIA

ADC is also planning a number of events scheduled to take place the week of January 12-16. While these events take place, ADC cannot emphasize how important it is for you to contact your members of Congress and members of your local and national media to express your concerns. You can do this anytime and as frequently as you’d like, because Congress and the media need to hear from you.

To contact your member of Congress, see: http://capwiz.com/adc/dbq/officials/

To contact your local and national media, see: http://capwiz.com/adc/dbq/media/

UN: IDF officers admitted there was no gunfire from Gaza school which was shelled
Daily News Article by Akiva Eldar, Barak Ravid
Haaretz - January 9, 2009 - 12:00am

The United Nations is claiming Israeli military officers have admitted there was no Palestinian gunfire emanating from inside an UNRWA school in Gaza which was shelled by an IDF tank. Dozens of Palestinians were killed in the shelling. In addition, UNRWA Thursday announced it will cease activities in the Strip due to the death of an UNRWA staffer in an IDF shelling during Thursday morning's humanitarian hiatus. UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness told Haaretz yesterday that the army had conceded wrongdoing.

Birth Pangs of a New Palestine
Daily News Article by Mouin Rabbani
The Middle East Report (Opinion) - January 7, 2009 - 12:00am

Shortly after 11:30 am on December 27, 2008, at the height of the midday bustle on the first day of the Gazan week and with multitudes of schoolchildren returning home from the morning shift, close to 90 Israeli warplanes launched over 100 tons of explosives at some 100 targets throughout the 139 square miles of the Gaza Strip. Within minutes, the near simultaneous air raids killed more than 225 and wounded at least 700, more than 200 of them critically.

Is the Real Target Hamas Rule?

Ethan Bronner

The New York Times

January 4, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/world/middleeast/04assess.html?ref=world

EREZ CROSSING, on the Israel-Gaza border — As Israel’s tanks and troops poured into Gaza on Saturday, the next phase in its fierce attempt to end rocket attacks, a question hung over the operation: can the rockets really be stopped for any length of time while Hamas remains in power in Gaza?

And if the answer is determined to be no, then is the real aim of the operation to remove Hamas entirely, no matter the cost?

Solution to Gaza crisis requires pan-Arab effort

Zvi Barel

Haaretz

January 4, 2009

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1052340.html

The intensification of the military operation in Gaza has not yet led to a similar increase in the Arab states' diplomatic efforts. A lasting diplomatic solution to the Gaza situation demands more than an agreement between Hamas and Israel - it demands pan-Arab reconciliation.

Turkish Prime Recep Tayyip Erdogan's shuttle diplomacy took him to Saudi Arabia on Sunday, and it seems he is now coming to understand the tremendous weight of the mission he has taken upon himself.

Holy Land Foundation case puts burden on Muslim charities

Jason Trahan

The Dallas Morning News

January 3, 2009

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/010409dnmetmu...

American Muslims are finding it more difficult to donate money to help Palestinian refugees and other Middle Eastern causes because of court decisions showing that some charities were using the money for terrorism.

On Nov. 24, the formerly Richardson-based Holy Land Foundation and five of its organizers were found guilty in a Dallas federal court of sending millions of dollars to Palestinian charity committees controlled by banned group Hamas.

UN rejects IDF claim Gaza militants operated from bombed-out school

Akiva Eldar

Amos Harel

Amira Hass

Avi Issacharoff

Anshel Pfeffer

Haaretz

January 7, 2009

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1053455.html

The United Nations on Wednesday denied Israel Defense Forces claims that there were Palestinian militants in the Gaza school bombed by Israel on Tuesday.

Christopher Gunness of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said the organization is 99.9 percent certain there were no militants or military activity in its school.

That does not necessarily contradict Israel's claim that the militants were operating close by, Gunness said.

Israel Puts Media Clamp on Gaza

Ethan Bronner

The New York Times

January 6, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/world/middleeast/07media.html?_r=2&ref=world

Three times in recent days, a small group of foreign correspondents was told to appear at the border crossing to Gaza. The reporters were to be permitted in to cover firsthand the Israeli war on Hamas in keeping with a Supreme Court ruling against the two-month-old Israeli ban on foreign journalists entering Gaza.

Each time, they were turned back on security grounds, even as relief workers and other foreign citizens were permitted to cross the border. On Tuesday the reporters were told to not even bother going to the border.

Selective memory, conflict chronology

Daoud Kuttab

The Jordan Times

Opinion

January 7, 2009

http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=13302

A much repeated Arab saying dealing with conflicts states: the initiator [of a conflict] is the wrong one.

So if one is trying to figure out who is wrong in the current round of violence in Gaza, all one has to do is figure out who started it. But the moment one begins this search, one finds oneself in a more complicated, bind, namely figuring out what is the starting point, time-wise.

Transcript: Stephen Hadley

John D. McKinnon

The Wall Street Journal

Interview

January 7, 2009

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123128550565059013.html

The Journal's John McKinnon sat down with National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley at his office in the West Wing. They talked about the situation in Gaza, the U.S. relationship with Russia, Iraq and more in an interview previewing a valedictory speech Mr. Hadley plans to deliver Wednesday. Below is an edited transcript of the interview.

* * *

The Wall Street Journal: Talk a little about the challenges, as well as the opportunities, that the next administration is going to face.

CNN NEWSROOM TRANSCRIPT EXCERPT: Crisis between Gaza and Israel deepens

CNN

January 5, 2009

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0901/05/cnr.01.html

Aired January 5, 2009 - 09:00 ET

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Two huge stories and the world is watching this morning. Sirens well and explosions thunder in Gaza. The crisis with Israel deepens.
And in Washington, an incoming president and his new challenges. Barack Obama gets to work today on the nation's lousy economy. New details on his plans and what they could mean to you.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. Today is Monday, January 5th and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM….

Joining us now from Washington, Dr. Ziad Asali. He's with the American Task Force on Palestine.

Two Years Later: Two Wars and One Ideology

Elias Harfoush

Dar Al-Hayat

Opinion

January 5, 2009

http://english.daralhayat.com/opinion/OPED/01-2009/Article-20090105-a73e294b-c0a...

The confrontation between the Israeli army and the Hamas movement following the ground invasion of Gaza is similar in many aspects to the confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah in summer 2006.

2009-01-06T09:47:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends:

As Israel's appalling and unremitting attack on Gaza continues in its 11th day, the 111th session of Congress meets today in its first session. In the days to come, members will likely be urged to back a resolution supporting Israel's attack on Gaza. AAPER Foundation strongly encourages all of its supporters to contact your elected representatives today to: (a) express your dismay at Israel's disproportionate attack on the people of Gaza; (b) ask them to oppose any resolution supporting Israel's attack on Gaza; (c) ask them to support an investigation into Israel's misuse of U.S.-supplied weapons; and (d) urge them to make a public statement backing an immediate cease-fire in Gaza that will end the humanitarian crisis and blockade on Gaza that have targeted Gaza's entire civilian population. You can easily contact your representative in one of four ways:

1) Take 2 minutes to sign a petition to your member of Congress.

2) Take 5 minutes to email or fax your member of Congress. (The link includes a letter, but consider spending a few minutes personalizing it to make it more effective.)

3) Take 20 minutes (10 to prepare with AAPER Foundation's talking points / 10 to talk) to call your member of Congress.

4) Take a few hours to meet with your member of Congress. Give us a call at (202) 683-8438 and we'll assist you.

The long suffering people of Gaza -- and, indeed, of all Palestine -- need our voices now more than ever. Let your voice be heard by your representative throughout this session of Congress in every Congress to follow. We may not succeed in the 111th meeting of Congress, in the 112th meeting, or even in the 113th meeting of Congress, but, eventually, with patience and persistence, in the words of the anthem of America's great Civil Rights Movement, we shall overcome. Let us begin this new session of Congress with our voices raised.

The AAPER Foundation Team
www.americansforpalestine.org

ADC Demands Immediate Investigation into Israeli Massacre at UN School

2009-01-06T09:44:00.000-08:00

PRESS RELEASE

Washington, DC | January 6, 2009 | www.adc.org | The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) calls on the United Nations (UN), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the International Community to investigate Israel's bombing of a UN-operated school in Gaza, killing over 40 Palestinians. ADC also called on the Bush Administration and President-elect Obama to publicly address and repudiate today's tragedy and the ongoing violence and humanitarian crisis. The bombing of civilian populations is a violation of international humanitarian law and the laws of war including the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949.

According to reports, Israel bombed this UN-operated school, located in the Jabaliya refugee camp, killing many civilians who had sought shelter from Israel's continued bombardment and blockade of the Gaza Strip. The tactics of the Israeli Army, using heavy artillery, helicopter fire and massive bombs from fighter jets on the dense and overwhelmingly civilian Gaza Strip has caused more than 640 civilian deaths and 3,000 injuries, some people being maimed for life. The Israeli army said four of its soldiers had been killed in two separate friendly-fire incidents on Tuesday, when errant Israeli tank shells hit their positions and 60 Israelis have been injured by rocket attacks launched from Gaza into southern Israel.

The residents of Gaza, one of the most densely populated areas in the World, are surrounded by Israel's military occupation and they have no place to take refuge from the ongoing onslaught. More than 18 months ago, Israel began to blockade Gaza, leaving the residents of Gaza with limited to no access to water, electricity, food, and medicine. Even before Israel began its military assault ten days ago there was a growing humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, now the situation is even more dire and desperate.

Food is hard to come by because of Israel's ongoing blockade of Gaza and now it's even more expensive for those who can actually afford to buy food. Gaza's water authorities indicated wells in Gaza are not working due to lack of power and damage to the pipes, while others are operating only partially.

Hospitals are overwhelmed and lack basic necessities, if people can even get to the hospitals. Emergency aid workers have been unable to reach the wounded and supplies for hospitals are being held up and not reaching their destinations. Hospitals are relying on backup generators for electricity and rolling electricity cuts leave patients in jeopardy.

2009-01-05T18:39:00.001-08:00

The Friends of UNRWA Association Emergency Humanitarian Appeal

2009-01-05T15:14:00.000-08:00

The situation for Gaza residents is becoming increasingly desperate, nevertheless UNRWA continues its programs to provide emergency assistance to those affected by the conflict. The extent of damage and human suffering and the likelihood of a prolonged conflict require that UNRWA be prepared to meet the needs of a rising number of refugees and others in need in the coming period.

The Friends of UNRWA Association Emergency Humanitarian Appeal is therefore extended into the new year. We are focusing our efforts on supporting UNRWA’s work to alleviate human suffering in Gaza. With your assistance, we will help to assure the success of these efforts. To support UNRWA’s relief work in Gaza, please make a tax-deductible contribution online by clicking here.

Below you will find a summary of current living conditions in the Gaza Strip. It is largely based on information gathered from the frequently updated websites of UNRWA and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which can be accessed for additional information.

The Humanitarian Crisis in the Gaza Strip

Casualties: Since December 27, there have been over 530 deaths and over 2,500 injured in Gaza. Women and children account for about 25% of the casualties, and many of the adult male casualties are also non-combatants. The casualty total continues to rise inexorably.

Logistics: There are few land crossings still open, Gaza’s seaports and airport have been closed down, and even the makeshift tunnel network at Rafah has been destroyed. On days when the crossings are open at all, less than 80 truckloads enter the Gaza Strip, compared to about 750/day in more normal times. Food items account for most of this, but they are insufficient to re-stock shelves after months of “siege”. There is also a desperate shortage of many non-food items, such as construction materials and spare parts, both for immediate needs and for reconstruction or repair of vital infrastructure.

Nutrition: No wheat grain has been allowed into the Gaza Strip since the start of hostilities, resulting in the closure of all mills. Only 10 bakeries remain fully operational, due to lack of flour and cooking gas. Such limitations, plus the shortage of money to purchase bread and other staples, has greatly increased the reliance of 1.1 of Gaza’s 1.5 million people on UNRWA, the World Food Program, and various NGOs, all of which distribute their limited food stocks when not interrupted by restrictions on supply and movement. Such shortages can only worsen the nutritional deficiencies that have been accumulating for some time, resulting in widespread anemia, vitamin A deficiency and stunting.

Healthcare: Hospitals in the Gaza Strip are overwhelmed, due not just to recent casualties requiring urgent attention but also to the 18-month closure that has depleted most medicines, medical supplies, equipment, and spare parts, as well as cooking gas and basic food items. Lacking external supply, hospitals and clinics are reliant on generators that are not meant to be used continuously and thus are nearing collapse. It is difficult for staff to reach the hospitals, and for ambulances to reach patients, but most hospitals and clinics remain open, except where there are nearby hostilities.

Sanitation: The sewage and water systems have been disrupted, especially in the northern cities of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya. Both diesel fuel and chlorine, which are needed for the regional water and wastewater system, are both in perilously low supply.

Energy: The Gaza power plant has shut down for lack of fuel, and 15 electricity transformers were damaged or destroyed during the air strikes. Almost all of the Gaza Strip lacks electrical supply, except for small generators that have been purchased for individual homes and institutions, but even these are subject to shutdown when fuel supplies are lacking. Fuel for heating homes and cooking gas are no longer available on the market. Most of the 240 gasoline stations in Gaza City have closed.

Telecommunications networks are down in most of the Gaza Strip, which means that telephones, television and computers are at best intermittently available. Except for the relatively few areas where electricity is still available, remaining means of communication depend on back-up generators that are gradually shutting down due to dwindling fuel stocks. For Gazans, this is a painful loss under the current circumstances, as it deprives them of their last link to the outside world.

Housing: An undetermined number of homes have been damaged or destroyed. UNRWA has provided space in 5 emergency centers for hundreds of affected persons, but most people have nowhere to take refuge other than their own houses or shelters. Those whose homes are unsafe or destroyed must double up with neighbors/relatives or in the available UNRWA emergency centers.

Transportation: Nowhere in the Gaza Strip is safe, and only a small number of medical cases are permitted to leave the Gaza Strip into Egypt. Movement on the streets is difficult, even for the few who still have fuel in their vehicles, and it is too risky to venture out for any purposes other than seeking food or emergency medical care.

Economy: The most immediate problem is a dearth of the Israeli currency that is used in Gaza. Partly for this reason, UNRWA recently paid out only 50% of salaries to staff members and suspended cash payments to the 49,000 “special hardship” families as well as many suppliers/contractors. Of longer-term concern is that practically all businesses and farms have shut down due to shortage of supplies, lack of money, inability to move about, and absence of security. The unemployment rate remains at over 50% and the poverty rate at over 80%, creating an extraordinarily high rate of dependency.

With so many problems, what takes highest priority? Practically all Gazans join in the plea for an immediate ceasefire and free humanitarian access. They yearn simply for quiet, food security and a job, plus fundamental freedoms such as the right to travel and work outside the narrow confines of the Gaza Strip. A complete return to normal life after years of danger, deprivation and despair will take time and sustained commitment, but an important part of returning to a normal life for Gaza’s families would be a cessation of hostilities and the restoration of their freedom to trade and travel.

As for eventual reconstruction, there is no estimate yet of what it will cost to rebuild Gaza’s roads, bridges and housing even to the unacceptable levels that prevailed before the start of hostilities. Many public buildings, including police stations, government offices, and the national legislative building, have been destroyed, as have buildings serving schools and community associations that are needed for rebuilding Gaza’s shattered society.

Much more difficult to assess are factors such as lost weeks of schooling, disruption of health care, and the psychosocial trauma experienced by children who are forced to spend days on end huddled together in cramped, darkened households, without electricity or proper heating, anxious about food supplies, with nowhere to turn for safety, and with the sounds of aircraft and artillery ringing in their ears.

Thomas Neu, Executive Director, Friends of UNRWA Association

Reports - Israel Using Illegal Chemical Weapon in Gaza

2009-01-05T10:24:00.000-08:00

ADC Calls for Investigations Into Reported Israeli use of White Phosphorus on Gaza

Washington, DC | January 5, 2009 | www.adc.org | The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) today called on the United States Government; including members of Congress, and the international community; including the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), to investigate Israel's reported use of White Phosphorus in its ongoing attack on Gaza. According to the United Nations Israel's overwhelming attacks on Gaza, now in their tenth day, have thus far killed 540 people, 30% of whom are civilians, and injured over 2,750 people; including over 1,000 children. Among those killed today was a family of seven from Shati refugee camp, who were killed by Israeli navy shelling. Three siblings from one family, as well as a girl and her grandfather, also died in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza during Israeli artillery shelling. Emergency medical services have also come under Israeli attack with the al-Awda hospital in Jabaliya being hit by two Israeli shells today. The attacks have also destroyed 12 Mosques. Since the Israeli attacks began, rocket fire from militants in Gaza has thus far killed 5 Israelis including one soldier.

Credible media reports have indicated that the Israeli military is using White Phosphorus artillery shells in its bombing of Gaza. ADC National Executive Director Kareem Shora said, "White Phosphorus is categorized as a chemical weapon by most governments and its use in civilian areas is banned by the 1980 Geneva Convention. It is a violation of international humanitarian law and the laws of war to use White Phosphorus ammunition, an incendiary weapon, in civilian areas."

The UN has listed Gaza, with a population of 1.5-Million people, as the most densely populated area in the world with a population density that is higher than that of Manhattan in New York City. White Phosphorus causes painful burn injuries to exposed human flesh.

The Israeli military used White Phosphorus ammunition during the 2006 war on Lebanon as documented by ADC in its extensive 233-page report Eyewitness Lebanon: an International Law Inquiry. White phosphorus is an indiscriminate killer that ignites once it is exposed to oxygen, producing such heat that it bursts into a yellow flame and produces a dense white smoke.

Links of Interest...

2009-01-03T17:45:00.000-08:00

Photo Images of Demonstrations around the world - http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10101.shtml

ADC Op-Ed- http://www.startribune.com/opinion/37015829.html?elr=KArksc8P%3APc%3AUg8P%3APc%3AUiD3aPc%3A_Yyc%3AaULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

Live from Palestine Diary- http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10102.shtml

Israel Begins Ground Offensive- http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/200913165056951537.html

B'MORE FOR PALESTINE!

Tuesday, January 6 * 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. * 2640 St. Paul St.

Join us at Red Emma's 2640 space (http://www.redemmas.org/2640/

) for a night of solidarity through music to raise awareness about Israel's ongoing crimes against Gaza and the people of Palestine. The featured musical acts are:

Son of Nun
Sabreena Da Witch
Ryan Harvey
Koma Agir

Open mic for you to share your thoughts and words. The evening will be MC'd by Dave Zirin.

There is a requested $10 donation at the door...if you can, please donate more! We are collecting funds at this event to contribute to the emergency relief efforts in Gaza.

American Muslims for Palestine- Urgent Alert

2009-01-02T23:31:00.000-08:00

THE AMP HAS JUST RECIEVED THIS INFORMATION FROM JAMAL DEJANI, WITH LINK TV, WHO IS IN THE WEST BANK.

"Israeli planes just dropped thousands of leaflets on Southern and Center Gaza. The leaflets ask residents to vacate the area! I do not know if this is part of psycholigical warefare or a major offensive will happen shortly."

2009-01-02T18:16:00.000-08:00

Gaza invasion appears imminent

Mitchell Prothero

The National

January 2, 2009

http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090102/FOREIGN/688855191/1002

An Israeli ground invasion of Gaza looked increasingly likely last night as a hospital in Ashqelon, 10km from the Gaza Strip, was evacuated to make way possibly for mass casualties from a ground assault, Israeli television reported.

An Israeli military source reached by telephone said the move was indicative of preparations for a ground assault of the strip.

Israel destroys Hamas homes, flattens Gaza mosque

The Associated Press

January 2, 2009

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jan/02/israel-destroys-hamas-homes-flattens...

Israel destroyed the homes of more than a dozen Hamas operatives and bombed one of its mosques on Friday, the seventh day of a blistering offensive in Gaza and the day after a deadly strike killed a prominent Hamas figure.

In what appeared to be a new Israeli tactic, the military called at least some of the houses ahead of time to warn inhabitants of an impending attack. In some cases, it also fired a sound bomb to warn away civilians before flattening the homes with powerful missiles, Palestinians and Israeli defense officials said.

Fighting in dense Gaza brings child casualties

The Associated Press

January 2, 2009

http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=19041529

Samar Hamdan ran weeping through the street, trying to touch the body of her dead 11-year-old brother during a funeral procession in this northern Gaza town.

Just a day before, the 15-year-old girl's two sisters were also buried, victims of the same strike from an Israeli missile.

As Israel steps up its attacks on the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip, one of the most densely populated spots on Earth, children are paying the price.

"In this crowded strip, everything is beside everything else," said Karen Abu Zayd, a top U.N. official in Gaza.

Egypt FM: Hamas gave Israel the excuse to launch Gaza attacks

The Associated Press

January 2, 2009

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1051979.html

Egypt's foreign minister said Thursday that Hamas must ensure rocket fire stops in any truce deal to halt Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip, criticizing the Palestinian militants for giving Israel an excuse to launch the bombardment.

Ahmed Aboul Gheit's comments came as Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, part of a tour by the Turkish leader to work out an Egyptian-Turkish initiative to end the violence.

Clinton, Familiar With Pitfalls of Mideast Politics, May Face Early Test in Gaza

Mark Lander

The New York Times

Opinion

January 2, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/02/washington/02clinton.html?_r=1&ref=world&pagew...

When Hillary Rodham Clinton ran for a New York Senate seat nine years ago, she labored to persuade skeptical Jewish voters of her support for Israel, after an incident in which she stood by as the wife of Yasir Arafat delivered an inflammatory attack on Israeli policies.

DIARIES: LIVE FROM PALESTINE

2009-01-02T18:06:00.000-08:00

PALESTINE : DIARIES: LIVE FROM PALESTINE:

IN GAZA, TARGETING A NATION
By Rami Almeghari, Live from Palestine, 2 January 2009

At al-Shifa hospital, Gaza's largest, an unidentified
injured man is laying at the hospital's intensive care
unit. He was hit by shrapnel from an Israeli missile that
struck a target at the Samer crossroad in the Omar
al-Mukhtar street in Gaza City yesterday. "This wounded
patient has sustained critical injuries and his condition
is unstable, but we don't yet know his identity, he is
still unknown," Dr. Omar Manasra, the on-duty doctor of
the intensive care unit said. The Electronic Intifada
correspondent Rami Almeghari reports from the besieged
Gaza Strip.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10098.shtml

------------------------------

--------------------------

PALESTINE : DIARIES: LIVE FROM PALESTINE:

"CREATIVE ANARCHY" IN THE GAZA STRIP
By Dr. Akram Habeeb, Live from Palestine, 1 January 2009

Bombing governmental institutions in Gaza has nothing to
do with isolating Hamas or weakening the resistance. The
Israeli intent seems to be to create what US Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice called "creative anarchy." Indeed
Israel has always wanted to keep Palestinians living a
life of disorder. They want chaos to prevail in the Gaza
Strip. Dr. Akram Habeeb writes from the besieged Gaza
Strip.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10096.shtml

--------------------------------------------------------

PALESTINE : DIARIES: LIVE FROM PALESTINE:

"DO THESE TRAUMATIZED CHILDREN HAVE ROCKETS?"
By Fida Qishta, Live from Palestine, 1 January 2009

This morning I went with some friends to visit the Block O
neighborhood in the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza
Strip. While we were in one of the houses we planned to
visit, my phone rang. It was a friend from Gaza City. He
was asking about something. Suddenly I heard the sound of
an explosion on his end. At the same time I heard an
explosion in Rafah too. Fida Qishta writes from besieged
Gaza.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10095.shtml

--------------------------------------------------------

PALESTINE : DIARIES: LIVE FROM PALESTINE:

FOR THE SAKE OF GAZA'S 800,000 CHILDREN
By Miko Peled, Live from Palestine, 1 January 2009

As I sit and view the reports, photos and live videos
streaming in from Gaza I find it impossible to make sense
of it all. As a boy growing up in Israel and attending a
regular public school, I remember being taught the story
of Abraham, the patriarch arguing with God over the
decision to destroy the city of Sodom. Miko Peled writes
from the US.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10094.shtml

2009-01-01T13:41:00.000-08:00

The Apartheid Israeli military machine does a good job fighting wars from thousands of feet above ground..but do they have the chutzpah to launch a ground invasion? I don't think so.

American Muslims for Palestine ACTION ALERT

2008-12-29T19:09:00.000-08:00

National Day of Prayers and Action, Friday January 2nd, 2009

What: AMP calls all its supporters to a national day of prayers and action, Friday January 2nd, to bring a stop to Israel's criminal aggression against the Occupied Gaza Strip.
On Saturday, December 27, 2008 the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) began a furious terror campaign against the residents of Gaza. Using U.S. supplied F-16 jet fighters, Apache attack helicopters, and other U.S. supplied weapons, the Israeli occupation forces bombarded densely populated civilian centers in the Gaza Strip, killing more than 320 and injuring over 1450, many critically. The casualties include hundreds of women, children and other civilians. This massacre is nothing short of an act of genocide.
In addition to this shameless attack, for nearly three years, Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli siege that has collectively punished a civilian population of over 1.5 million by prohibiting food, fuel, electricity, medicine and medical supplies to enter Gaza. Even after more than 300 air strikes, Israel and Egypt have continued to keep the Rafah border closed, not allowing supplies in.
These actions of Israel have flagrantly ignored international law and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949. Article 33 of the convention specifically prohibits this type of collective punishment by stating that no person "be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed". In addition the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits the disproportionate use of force; however, this assault is not less than disproportionate.
Silence is consent. AMP is calling on all people of fairness, equity and justice who stand against occupation, collective punishment, and disproportionate use of force, to voice their outrage.

Action Items

1. Insist that every Mosque talk about the extreme situation in Gaza in this week's Friday prayer at your local mosque and this week's Saturday/Sunday sermon at your local synagogue/church.
2. Call government institutions such as the White House, the Egyptian Embassy, your local Senator, the UN Security Council and the Obama transition team and insist that they pressure Israel to stop its aggressive massacres against the citizens of Gaza and demand that the Rafah border be opened immediately and permanently.
3. Conduct rallies at central locations in your city, preferably in front of an Israeli Embassy.
4. Donate to Islamic Relief (IRW) who has already sent 2 airplanes filled with medicine to Gaza, the people of Gaza need your help.
5. Write to your local and/or national news outlet demanding a fair and unbiased coverage of what is happening in Gaza. Write an op ed piece or an editorial, and keep writing them until they are published.

Talking Points

1. Stop Israeli war crimes in Gaza, Palestine.
2. There is no justification whatsoever to these crimes.
3. End the occupation of Palestine and the siege on Gaza.
4. Hamas is not a whole country, Gaza is not Hamas.
5. This war is not between two countries, with armies, it is a war by the fourth strongest army in the world against 1.5 million unarmed civilians that live in Gaza.
6. Equate this terrorist act with that of the 9/11 terrorist attack on the U.S. The loss of 300 innocent lives of 1.5 million is equal to the loss of 60,000 lives of Americans.

Contact Information

Contact the State Department at: 202.647.5291

Contact the White House at: 202-456-1111

Contact the Egyptian Embassy: 202.895.5400

Email the Egyptian Embassy: embassy@egyptembassy.net

Contact the Obama Transition Team: 202-540-3000 then press 2 to speak with a staff member.

Contact IRW to donate: www.irw.org

Contact AMP: (773) 951.2020 or 877.404.4AMP (4267)

For more information, please contact us at info@ampalestine.com or visit our website at www.ampalestine.com

Read an article about the Islamic Relief (IRW) published by the BBC relating to the current situation in Gaza. Click Here.

DIARIES: LIVE FROM PALESTINE

2008-12-29T14:48:00.000-08:00

PALESTINE : DIARIES: LIVE FROM PALESTINE:

THE LONGEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE
By Safa Joudeh, Live from Palestine, 28 December 2008

Here's an update on what's happening here from where I am,
the second night of Israeli air (and sea) raids on Gaza.
It's 1:30am but it feels like the sun should be up
already. For the past few hours there's been simultaneous,
heavy aerial bombardment of Gaza City and the northern
Gaza Strip. It feels like the longest night of my life.
Safa Joudeh writes from the besieged Gaza Strip.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10065.shtml

PALESTINE : DIARIES: LIVE FROM PALESTINE:

GAZA: "THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING"
By Ewa Jasiewicz, Live from Palestine, 28 December 2008

Majid Salim, stood beside his comatose mother, Fatima.
Earlier today she had been sitting at her desk at work at
the Khadija Arafat Charity, located near the headquarters
of Hamas' security forces in Gaza City. Israel's attack
had left her with multiple internal and head injuries, a
tube down her throat and a ventilator keeping her alive.
Majid gestured to her, "We didn't attack Israel, my mother
didn't fire rockets at Israel. This is the biggest
terrorism, to have our mother bombarded at work." Ewa
Jasiewicz reports from the besieged Gaza Strip.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10061.shtml

Gaza Massacres

2008-12-27T11:55:00.000-08:00

Gaza massacres must spur us to action

By Ali Abunimah

The Electronic Intifada
27 December 2008

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10055.shtml

"I will play music and celebrate what the Israeli air
force is doing." Those were the words, spoken on Al
Jazeera today by Ofer Shmerling, an Israeli civil defense
official in the Sderot area adjacent to Gaza, as images of
Israel's latest massacres were broadcast around the world.

A short time earlier, US-supplied Israeli F-16 warplanes
and Apache helicopters dropped over 100 bombs on dozens of
locations in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip killing at
least 195 persons and injuring hundreds more. Many of
these locations were police stations located, like police
stations the world over, in the middle of civilian areas.
The US government was one of the first to offer its
support for Israel's attacks, and others will follow.

Reports said that many of the dead were Palestinian police
officers. Among those Israel labels "terrorists" were more
than a dozen traffic police officers undergoing training.
An as yet unknown number of civilians were killed and
injured; Al Jazeera showed images of several dead
children, and the Israeli attacks came at the time
thousands of Palestinian children were in the streets on
their way home from school.

Shmerling's joy has been echoed by Israelis and their
supporters around the world; their violence is righteous
violence. It is "self-defense" against "terrorists" and
therefore justified. Israeli bombing -- like American and
NATO bombing in Iraq and Afghanistan -- is bombing for
freedom, peace and democracy.

The rationalization for Israel's massacres, already being
faithfully transmitted by the English-language media, is
that Israel is acting in "retaliation" for Palestinian
rockets fired with increasing intensity ever since the
six-month truce expired on 19 December (until today, no
Israeli had been killed or injured by these recent rockets
attacks).

But today's horrific attacks mark only a change in
Israel's method of killing Palestinians recently. In
recent months they died mostly silent deaths, the elderly
and sick especially, deprived of food and necessary
medicine by the two year-old Israeli blockade calculated
and intended to cause suffering and deprivation to 1.5
million Palestinians, the vast majority refugees and
children, caged into the Gaza Strip. In Gaza, Palestinians
died silently, for want of basic medications: insulin,
cancer treatment, products for dialysis prohibited from
reaching them by Israel.

What the media never question is Israel's idea of a truce.
It is very simple. Under an Israeli-style truce,
Palestinians have the right to remain silent while Israel
starves them, kills them and continues to violently
colonize their land. Israel has not only banned food and
medicine to sustain Palestinian bodies in Gaza but it is
also intent on starving minds: due to the blockade, there
is not even ink, paper and glue to print textbooks for
schoolchildren.

As John Ging, the head of operations of the United Nations
agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), told The Electronic
Intifada in November: "there was five months of a
ceasefire in the last couple of months, where the people
of Gaza did not benefit; they did not have any restoration
of a dignified existence. We in fact at the UN, our
supplies were also restricted during the period of the
ceasefire, to the point where we were left in a very
vulnerable and precarious position and with a few days of
closure we ran out of food."

That is an Israeli truce. Any response to Israeli attacks
-- whether peaceful protests against the apartheid wall in
Bilin and Nilin in the West Bank is met with bullets and
bombs. There are no rockets launched at Israel from the
West Bank, and yet Israel's attacks, killings, land theft,
settler pogroms and kidnappings never ceased for one
single day during the truce. The Palestinian Authority in
Ramallah has acceded to all of Israel's demands, even
assembling "security forces" to fight the resistance on
Israel's behalf. None of that has spared a single
Palestinian or her property or livelihood from Israel's
relentless violent colonization. It did not save, for
instance, the al-Kurd family from seeing their home of 50
years in occupied East Jerusalem demolished on 9 November,
so the land it sits on could be taken by settlers.

Once again we are watching massacres in Gaza, as we did
last March when 110 Palestinians, including dozens of
children, were killed by Israel in just a few days. Once
again people everywhere feel rage, anger and despair that
this outlaw state carries out such crimes with impunity.

But all over the Arab media and internet today the rage
being expressed is not directed solely at Israel. Notably,
it is directed more sharply than ever at Arab states. The
images that stick are of Israel's foreign minister Tzipi
Livni in Cairo on Christmas day. There she sat smiling
with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Then there are the
pictures of Livni and Egypt's foreign minister smiling and
slapping their palms together.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported today that last
wednesday the Israeli "cabinet authorized the prime
minister, the defense minister, and the foreign minister
to determine the timing and the method" of Israel's
attacks on Gaza. Everywhere people ask, what did Livni
tell the Egyptians and more importantly what did they tell
her? Did Israel get a green light to turn Gaza's streets
red once again? Few are ready to give Egypt the benefit of
the doubt after it has helped Israel besiege Gaza by
keeping the Rafah border crossing closed for more than a
year.

On top of the intense anger and sadness so many people
feel at Israel's renewed mass killings in Gaza is a sense
of frustration that there seem to be so few ways to
channel it into a political response that can change the
course of events, end the suffering, and bring justice.

But there are ways, and this is a moment to focus on them.
Already I have received notices of demonstrations and
solidarity actions being planned in cities all over the
world. That is important. But what will happen after the
demonstrations disperse and the anger dies down? Will we
continue to let Palestinians in Gaza die in silence?

Palestinians everywhere are asking for solidarity, real
solidarity, in the form of sustained, determined political
action. The Gaza-based One Democratic State Group
reaffirmed this today as it "called upon all civil society
organizations and freedom loving people to act immediately
in any possible way to put pressure on their governments
to end diplomatic ties with Apartheid Israel and institute
sanctions against it."

The global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement for
Palestine (http://www.bdsmovement.net/) provides the
framework for this. Now is the time to channel our raw
emotions into a long-term commitment to make sure we do
not wake up to "another Gaza" ever again.

Co-founder of The Electronic Intifada, Ali Abunimah is
author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the
Israeli-Palestinian Impasse (Metropolitan Books, 2006).

Zionism injustices

2008-12-24T12:25:00.000-08:00

Another reason why Zionism=Terrorism=Racism.
This 22 year old was shot by an illegal Israeli Jewish settler (Ehud Gadot) and is now paralyzed while grazing his sheep, reported by B'tselem (Israel's main human rights group). An Israeli court sentenced the illegal Jewish Israeli settler to only sixteen months in jail.

This didn't get published in the Collegian, so I'll paste it here.

2008-12-14T14:38:00.000-08:00

Darwish lacks credentials and not qualified (12-11-2008)
Perhaps, Andrew Scheinberg needs reminding that the primary difference between Mr Finkelstein and Ms Darwish is that one is has a Ph. D in political studies while the other has a mere bachelors on Sociology/Anthropology with no specific training in Islam or Islamic law ("Darwish had qualifications to hold discussion at event", 12-09-08). It is lucid enough who is more qualified to speak on topics they have chosen.

It is ironic that he feels Dr. Finkelstein lacks credibility given that his parents were Holocaust survivors. Whats even more ironic is the fact that the only entity that gives Ms Darwish any credit is Fox News. Mr. Scheinberg accuses Islam of having laws that call for the death of Jews. Had he even done some rudimentary research, he would've unearthed that there is no such law! It would seem then that he, as does Ms Darwish, rely on mere rhetoric with no wish to ascertain the truth.

Instead, the problem indeed is that people are ignorant of Islam and as a consequence it has become the most misunderstood religion of our time. If Mr Scheinberg wishes to be part of that, then he should stick to psychology and refrain from indulging into theology!

2008-12-07T05:24:00.000-08:00

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) describes Israel as an apartheid state. "The discrimination in services, budgets and access to natural resources between the two groups (Israelis and Palestinians) living in the territory constitutes a gross violation of the principle of equality which is reminiscent, in many and increasing ways, of the apartheid regime in South Africa."

Penn State religious groups should promote tolerance

2008-12-05T04:42:00.000-08:00

This letter appeared in The Daily Collegian Op-ed today

I was very disappointed to see the Penn State Hillel, Chabad and Jewish Studies Program as co-sponsors hosting Nonie Darwish to discuss Islam and the Palestine-Israel crisis. Inviting Ms. Darwish to speak about Islam and the Palestine-Israel crisis is like inviting David Duke (a former KKK Klansman) to speak about the Holocaust. Ms. Darwish writes and talks about Islam without being knowledgeable about it. The selective condemnation of Islam and the Palestinians and the lack of scholarship in Ms. Darwish's arguments is something that is very appreciated on Fox News, which often relishes the opportunity to host her. Of course, if Ms. Darwish didn't talk about such things she wouldn't have been invited by these Penn State groups.

You don't support Israel by supporting the terrorist attacks on the Palestinians. You support Israel by listening to those that call for a just and lasting resolution, which includes the rights of Palestinians as well Israelis to self-determination and statehood. Hosting Ms. Darwish had nothing to do with those terms.

It was an event to blindly support criminal policies against Muslims, which ought to be deplored. For the outside world, it's events like this that are the main fomenters for anti-Semitism. What image does this project to Arab and Muslim students at our campus and the world when Penn State Jewish groups host such a person?

Sammy Haddad

graduate-engineering

if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, guess what?

2008-11-21T21:02:00.000-08:00

Another Israeli Academic describes Israel as an apartheid State. "Video / Prof. Avi Shlaim: Settlements turned Israel into apartheid state ".

2008-11-21T17:32:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday evening (11/18/2008) there was an interesting panel discussing the impact of an Obama Administration on Middle East Relations.. the speakers were very informed about the topic and were very interesting to listen to..there were several Zionist in the audience who were shaking their heads in disagreement most of time, unsurprisingly. Yet not one of them was able to articulate a question to the panelist challenging their arguments.

the panelist all agreed that Obama's policies toward the Middle East will depend on who he surrounds himself with.. well, I sure hope they're wrong about that because so far things aren't looking good.. Obama's chief of staff , Rahm Emanuel, (son of a Jewish terrorist) is a pro-Israeli hardliner and not expected to play a fair role in the Palestine/Israel peace process..other senior positions are expected to be given to pro-Zionist lobbyist Dennis Ross and Martin Indyk (who have been described as "Israel's lawyers")..

it seems change is going to require more than a Barak Obama....and as one in the panel recommended, we need to intensify the boycott, divestment of the Israeli apartheid regime.

Representing justice, human rights and Palestine all day everyday

2008-11-16T16:46:00.001-08:00

This was on the front page of The Daily Collegian last Thursday (11-13-2008)

Let there be change, and let it start with Israel

2008-11-06T06:54:00.001-08:00

The election of Barack Obama as president marks the end of a long nightmare –eight years of civil rights abuses, the invasion of Muslim countries, and botched government responses to natural disasters. By electing Barak Obama, America has finally legitimatized its African-American citizens after a repulsive history of slavery, discrimination and apartheid. I trust president-elect Obama will change America’s foreign policy and restore much needed credibility to the U.S. A good place to start would be the Middle East. One important move that would gain worldwide favorability to the U.S. is if an Obama Administration plays a fair role in the Palestine-Israel conflict. Over the past 60 years, U.S. stanch support of Israel’s military occupation, apartheid and injustices towards the Palestinian people has caused discontent towards the U.S. throughout the world. Let there be change, and let it start with Israel. Yes, we can!

SJP member interviewed about election

2008-11-06T06:53:00.000-08:00

, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education Magazine".....What upsets him the most is Obama's stance supporting Israel, despite all the human rights violations Israel commits against Palestinians. Of Obama, Haddad says, "I would definitely recommend him as the lesser of two evils...."

See Israeli Apartheid in its true form. Cuffed and blindfolded Palestinian shot at point blank by the Israeli Occupaiton Forces!

2008-07-23T21:18:00.000-07:00

can you imagine what goes on when a camera is now around?

2008-07-12T15:03:00.000-07:00

Racist Zionist working in the State Department. Patrick Syring who use to work in the State Department's Human Resources Division was sentenced to one year in jail for "..sending abusive and intimidating e-mails and voice mails to employees of the Arab American Insitute."
In my prediction he will have no problem finding a job in the Israeli Govenment upon his release. He's a criminial just like Ehud Olmert and is anti-Arab just like the Likud party. Don't you think?

2008-07-11T14:26:00.000-07:00

Zionism is Racism. Today a friend of mine currently in the West Bank emailed me and complained how she, as a Palestinian, is prevented from visiting the Dead Sea. I recalled reading an article about that a month ago..
"The petition says that the Israeli military is using the Beit Ha'arava checkpoint on Route 90 – the only open access route in the occupied West Bank for travel to the Dead Sea – to turn back Palestinians, mainly but not exclusively on weekends and Jewish holidays. Acri says that the ban is to appease Israeli settlers operating concessions along the Dead Sea's northern shore. They fear losing Jewish customers if there are large numbers of Arabs using the beaches in territory seized by Israel during the Six Day War in 1967"

2008-07-11T14:22:00.000-07:00

Wake Up America! "While almost all federally financed programs were denied any funding increase for the coming year, aid to Israel from the United States will increase thanks to a legislative loophole and some deft maneuvering by pro-Israel lobbyists."

Norman Finkelstein versus Ariel Sharon's Advisor on The Wall 1/2

2008-07-11T14:20:00.000-07:00

Norman Finkelstein Vs. Ariel Sharon's Advisor on the Wall 2/2

2008-07-11T14:15:00.000-07:00