Desertpeace

Damn, she’s purdy…
Earlier in the week it was reported here that Lieberman’s fascist party named one of its faithful, Esterina Tartman, Israel’s new Minister of Tourism.
Unlike most political scandals here that surface years after the fact, she has already been disgraced even before being sworn in. She’s a liar, a cheat, and God knows what else….. question is why did Lieberman chose her in the first place? But, what more would you expect from a party like his?
This report from HaAretz brings the situation up to date….
UPDATE…. ANOTHER FASCIST APPOINTED IN HER PLACE…. READ ABOUT IT HERE

Deflated Tartarina By Yossi Verter
Esterina Tartman grew quiet yesterday. The arrogant, racist MK, with the bullying voice who so loved to strike at ministers and her Knesset colleagues, remained “sealed” at home and refused to answer the telephone.

Her curriculum vitae shrank before our astonished eyes. The chances that she will now be appointed minister of tourism also shrank; she will either give up on her own, or Avigdor Lieberman will make her an offer that she will not be able to refuse. Or Ehud Olmert will say: Enough! A government is not a circus! Or, the Knesset will not authorize her appointment.

Tartman’s silence is an encouraging sign. It seems she has run out of excuses.
Following the report of Amnon Abramovich on Channel 2 regarding her limited stamina to work, she offered some dubious explanation. As for the “no graduate degree” story published in Yedioth Aharonoth, she argued it was all a mistake.

Yesterday, when it became clear that she also lacks a bachelor’s degree, there were those who suggested she bring up that traffic accident again and argue that the blow she suffered, affecting “her ability to concentrate and remember,” explains her confusion and lack of orientation on her academic degrees.

It may sound funny, but in this strange world, Tartman may adopt this idea and sue for further compensation. Perhaps she will seek damages for emotional anguish. If the idea that Tartman would become a minister seemed embarrassing to bizarre at the start of the week, today it is simply shameful.

In a rational country, such an appointment would have long since become ancient history, if suggested at all.

In Yisrael Beiteinu, there are two experienced MKs: Israel Hasson, former deputy head of the Shin Bet, and retired Israel Police Major General Yitzhak Aharonovich, formerly the deputy chief of police. Each of them is a 100 times more worthy of serving as a minister, or even as chairman of the Knesset Finance Committee, but they are not part of Lieberman’s clique. He used them to decorate his party slate with two impressive individuals. Perhaps this latest farce will lead to something better, and one of them will be appointed minister of tourism.

Every Knesset has its oddities, and this one has “Tartarina” as Likud MK Michael Eitan has called Tartman. If there is any lesson in this affair, it is that the primaries – the elections within a large electorate – is still a healthy method.

If Tartman had to be elected by a voting group of tens of thousands, most of them probably immigrants from the former Soviet Union, they would have uncovered the bluff and would have left her outside the Knesset. Why did Avigdor Lieberman position her in the fifth slot on the party’s list? Why did he choose her to serve as minister? Only he knows the answer to that.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/831423.html

The following was just sent to me by Sam Bahour…. an interesting read about a much talked about subject….

This new report, a third from Israeli Palestinians INSIDE Israel who are citizens of the State of Israel, is a major development. These Palestinians are not living under Israeli military occupation in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and E. Jerusalem. They are part and parcel of Israel, Palestinians who never fled in 1948 and 1967.

The news report is below, but the actual text of “The Democratic Constitution” may be found at:

ENGLISH COPY: http://www.adalah.org/eng/democratic_constitution-e.pdf

ARABIC COPY: http://www.adalah.org/ara/democratic_constitution-a.pdf

HEBREW COPY: http://www.adalah.org/heb/democratic_constitution-h.pdf

Source: http://www.adalah.org/eng/index.php

And the following from today’s HaAretz…

Israeli Arab group proposes new ‘multi-cultural’ constitution

By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent

A proposed constitution written by the Israeli Arab advocacy center, Adalah, states that Arab Knesset members will be able to bring about the disqualification of bills that impinge on the rights of Arabs, and classifies the State of Israel as a “bilingual and multicultural” country rather than a Jewish state.

The proposal, entitled “The Democratic Constitution,” also calls for majority and minority groups to split control of the government in such a way that will strengthen the Arab minority on issues relating to the character of the state.

Adalah’s version of the constitution essentially abolishes the Jewish elements of Israel, but allows the Jewish majority to maintain its character through educational and cultural institutions. The proposal invalidates the Law of Return, which grants automatic citizenship to people with at least one Jewish grandparent, and states that citizenship will be granted to those who come to Israel for humanitarian reasons, regardless of their religion.

The document states that the “internal refugees” _ Arab residents and their descendants expelled in 1948 and whose number is estimated at about a quarter of today’s Israeli Arab citizens _ will return to the area where they used to live and receive compensation. The introduction to the proposed constitution demands that Israel recognize its responsibility for the “historical injustices that it caused the Palestinian nation in its entirety,” withdraw from the territories and recognize the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination. The proposal sets the state’s borders along the 1967 cease-fire lines.

The proposed constitution grants citizenship to all descendants of Israeli citizens, whether they were born here or abroad, as well as to all spouses of Israeli citizens thereby undermining Israeli efforts to limit marriages between Israeli Arabs and Palestinians living in the territories.

Instead of dealing with the issue of who is a Jew, says Adalah, the proposal deals with the issue of who is a citizen.

Adalah’s constitution is the first one proposed by an Arab institution, though there have been many proposed by various Jewish ones. Adalah chairman Prof. Marwan Dwairy said the other proposals are not based on democratic values.

“They relate to Arab citizens like foreigners in this homeland, in which history, memory and collective rights are the legacy of Jews alone,” he wrote.

Adalah hopes that its proposal will spur public discourse on the legal and cultural standing of Israeli Arabs.

“If this ‘Democratic Constitution’ succeeds in highlighting the large gaps that exist between it and the other proposals, and generates dialogue and topical public discussion on the nature of the freedoms and rights in the this country, we will see it as an important step,” wrote Dwairy.

According to the proposed constitution, all assets of the Waqf (the Muslim religious trust) that were expropriated after 1948 and all assets seized by the state from Arabs will be returned to their original owners, who will also receive compensation for the period of expropriation. The state must also immediately recognize all unrecognized Arab villages, the proposal states.

The document does not state what the symbols of the country should be, but says that they will be determined either by a Knesset committee, half of whose members will be Arab, or by agreement of 75 percent of Arab MKs.

All official publications, court rulings and media reports will be in both Hebrew and Arabic, according to Adalah. The proposal states that every cultural group, whether religious or ethnic, will be able to run their own institutions, and that national minorities can choose their own representative body, at the state’s expense.

The proposed constitution grants the judicial system the authority to overturn any laws that contradict the constitution.

Adalah says that many of its sections are based on international declarations of human rights, and has consulted with legal experts from around the world, including some who were involved in South Africa’s changeover from an apartheid state to a democratic one.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/831400.html

Israel has only two seasons, summer and winter. Summers are long, winters are short…. but in between Israel has wars. Most times they refer to them as ‘Offensive Operations’… Just in the past year we saw (and are seeing) the following…

“Operation Summer Rains”

“Operation Autumn Clouds”

“Operation First Rain”

“Operation Hot Winter”

Summer is just around the corner…. perhaps there can be a ‘turn around’ and we will see OPERATION SUMMER PEACE….
As the following song says…. “I swear its not too late”.

Turn,Turn, Turn

Words-adapted from the bible, book of ecclesiastes
Music-pete seeger

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose, under heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose, under heaven

A time to build up,a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose, under heaven

A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose, under heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time to love, a time to hate
A time for peace, I swear its not too late

Listen to the Byrds singing it by clicking HERE….

The ‘Tomb’ of Jesus?
As expected, the opening of the exhibit in New York of caskets found in Jerusalem, sparked much debate and anger throughout the Christian world. The caskets were reported to hold the remains of Jesus and His immediate family. This, according to the producers of a documentary film soon to be aired on television. Statements from prominent archeologists declared that this was nothing but a cheap publicity stunt and a scam.
This type of scam should not go unpunished, it is an insult to the belief of millions of people, some way should be found to bring these liars to justice.
The following is a report from today’s New York Times on this situation, be sure to click on the links as well…..

Raising the Titanic, Sinking Christianity?
By Tom Zeller Jr.

With no film in the running this year, director James Cameron seems set on muffling the post-Oscar rhapsodizing by loosing the publicity hounds on his latest project, which strikes at the foundations of Christianity and already has Church authorities upset.

It looks like things really got rolling, buzz-wise, with a TIME magazine blog whisper on Friday, which outlined details on 90-minute documentary in which Mr. Cameron, along with journalist Simcha Jacobovici, say they have uncovered the burial cave of Jesus and his family — along with enough DNA evidence to establish, they say, that Jesus wasn’t resurrected and that Jesus sired a son with Mary Magdelene.
The story was picked up over the weekend, and although the documentary will not air for another month (on the Discovery Channel), and an accompanying book co-authored by Mr. Jacobovici, “The Jesus Family Tomb,” is not quite shipping from Amazon.com yet, the condemnations have already started to fly.
“Every Christian knows that Jesus the son of God and man died and rose again on Easter Sunday,” a New York Archdiocese spokesman, Joseph Zwilling, told The New York Post on Sunday. “No alleged DNA test or Hollywood film is going to change that.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Cameron is scheduled to hold a press conference at 11:00 a.m. in New York, at which he will reportedly unveil the burial boxes that he and his colleague say once contained the bones of Jesus.

In a statement issued this morning, the president of the National Clergy Council, the Reverend Bob Schenk, discredited Mr. Cameron’s bona fides:

“Over the years, Hollywood has attacked and mocked Christianity, providing only negative portrayals of people of faith. It has produced films that undermine moral culture. Hollywood’s production of ‘The Da Vinci Code’ sensationalized a conspiracy theory that the Catholic Church engaged in a cover up of the real story of Jesus operating in the manner of a crime syndicate.

“According to Cameron, his film is no mere speculation, but historical fact. By claiming the remains of Jesus returned to dust along with other members of his family, the Hollywood filmmaker is denying the divinity of the Son of God and his victory over death. Cameron clearly intended to drive a stake into the heart of Christianity, since without the Resurrection, Jesus was only a mortal man.

“Media outlets should exercise restraint in reporting Cameron’s Hollywood fiction masquerading as scientific fact. All of Jesus’ contemporaries recorded Christ rose after being dead for three days and ascended into Heaven. For 2,000 years people of faith along and countless scholars have pored over the Scriptures, confirming their veracity. A Hollywood director is the least qualified to render any determination of Biblical truth.”

Clearly, the press conference — and the next month or so — should be interesting.

Early reports indicate that while the evidence the filmmaker and the journalist have brought to the table are by no means definitive, it is compelling.

The ossuaries — or burial boxes that purportedly contain the bones of Jesus and his family — were discovered in a 2,000-year-old cave in 1980, during excavation for a housing project south of Jerusalem. They are now in the stewardship of the Israel Antiquities Authority in Bet Shemesh, outside Jerusalem.

Here’s some of the intriguing stuff, from Canada’s Globe and Mail:
The boxes bear the names: Yeshua [Jesus] bar Yosef [son of Joseph]; Maria [the Latin version of Miriam, which is the English Mary]; Matia [the Hebrew equivalent of Matthew, a name common in the lineage of both Mary and Joseph]; Yose [the Gospel of Mark refers to Yose as a brother of Jesus]; Yehuda bar Yeshua, or Judah, son of Jesus; and in Greek, Mariamne e mara, meaning ‘Mariamne, known as the master.’ According to Harvard professor François Bovon, interviewed in the film, Mariamne was Mary Magdalene’s real name.

The bones contained in the boxes have long since been reburied, according to Jewish custom, in unmarked graves in Israel.

If the evidence adduced is correct, the bone boxes, and microscopic remains of DNA still contained inside, would constitute the first archaeological evidence of the existence of the Christian savior and his family.

Tests on mitochondrial DNA obtained from the Jesus and Mariamne boxes and conducted at Lakehead University’s Paleo-DNA laboratory in Thunder Bay, show conclusively that the two individuals were not maternally related. According to Carney Matheson, head of the lab, this likely means they were related by marriage.

The Globe and Mail also notes that “nothing in the film or book directly challenges traditional Christian dogma regarding the resurrection,” but the concept of the ascension, which holds that Jesus ascended to heaven in both body and spirit 40 days after the resurrection, could be challenged. If DNA research were to link Jesus and “his brother” Yose with Mary, the newspaper noted, it would undermine he concept of the virgin birth, which sits at the bedrock of Christianity.

Scholarly analysis of the documentary and the book are still forthcoming, of course — and skeptics have already turned up on CNN noting that the names on the boxes were rather common at the time, and are therefore thin evidence of anything.

But wherever the academics ultimately come down, there’s no mistaking where at least some members of the clergy already stand: “This is nothing more than a modern day circus sideshow,” said The Rev. Schenk. “At best it is pure presumption. At worst, it is pure chicanery.”

Thirteen years ago a madman from Brooklyn burst into the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron and slaughtered 29 Muslims at prayer, wounding over a hundred others. He was ‘told by God’ to carry out this execution…. God seems to ‘speak’ to many madmen.
The link provided above gives a pretty accurate description of the events that morning…
The following is ‘borrowed’ from a post on Sabbah’s Blog…

Now that was history, a bloody history that marked Feb 25 of every year with memorials of the Palestinian Martyrs massacred that day for nothing but being Palestinians. So, what are the lessons that we learned from this?
First we will look at the ideology behind this massacre (and all the Zionist massacres), then how it is treated among Zionists. And last but not least, how does the media look at Zionist (terrorists) and how do they handle such massacres compared to other terrorist acts and massacres.

Prof. Israel Shahak wrote – The Ideology Behind Hebron Massacre:

The sympathy which Baruch Goldstein enjoys among the Gush Emunim, whose influence is more pervasive than that of the Kahanists, can only be explained by a shared ideology. However, Gush Emunim leaders enjoy Rabin’s friendship and strong influence in wide circles of the Israeli and diaspora Jewish communities. Therefore it is their version of this ideology which is more important. Gush Emunim’s thinking assumes the imminence of the coming of the Messiah, when the Jews, aided by God, will triumph over the Gentiles. Consequently, all current political developments call be interpreted by those in the know as destined either to bring this end nearer or postpone it. Jewish sins, the worst of them being lack of faith in Gush Emunim ideology, can postpone but not alter the predestined course of Redemption. The two world wars, the Holocaust and other calamitous events of modern history serve as stock examples of such a curative punishment for Jewish sins. Such explanations can go into a lot of specific detail. The rabbi of Kiryat Arba, Dov Lior (who attended Goldstein’s funeral and praised him), blamed Israel’s relative failure in its 1982 invasion of Lebanon on the lack of faith manifested through signing a peace treaty with Egypt and “returning the inheritance of our ancestors [i.e Sinai] to strangers”. […]

The fundamental tenet of Gush Emunim’s thinking is the assumption that the Jewish people are “peculiar”. Lustick discusses this tenet in terms of their denial of the classical Zionist claim that only by undergoing “a process of normalisation”, by emigrating to Palestine and forming a Jewish state there, can the Jews become like any other nation. But for them this “is the original delusion of the secular Zionists”, because they measured that “normality” by applying non-Jewish standards. According to Gush Emunim, “Jews are not and cannot be a normal people”, because “their eternal uniqueness” is “the result of the covenant God made with them at Mount Sinai”. Therefore, according to Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, one of their leaders, “while God requires other normal nations to abide by abstract codes of ‘justice and righteousness’, such laws do not apply to Jews”.

Harkabi quotes Rabbi Israel Ariel, who says that “a Jew who kills a non-Jew is exempt from human judgement, and has not violated the prohibition of murder”. The Gush Emunim rabbis have indeed reiterated that Jews who kill Arabs should be free from all punishment. Harkabi also quotes Rabbi Aviner, Rabbi Zvi Yehudah Kook and Rabbi Ariel, all three of whom say Arabs living in Palestine are thieves because since the land was once Jewish, all property to be found on that land “really” belongs to the Jews. In the original Hebrew version of his book Harkabi expresses his shock at finding this out. “I never imagined that Israelis would so interpret the concept of the historical right.”

Gush Emunim’s plans for governing non-Jews in Israel are also based on “theological” principles. According to Rabbi Aviner; “Is there a difference between punishing an Arab child and an Arab adult for disturbance of our peace? Punishments can be inflicted on Jewish boys below the age of 13 and Jewish girls below the age of 12…But this rule applies to Jews alone, not to Gentiles. Thus any Gentile, no matter how little, should be punished for any crime he commits.” From this dictum, it is only a short step to slaughtering Arab children.

Even Israel’s Supreme Court compared Kahane to the German Nazis. The prominent Orthodox dissident, Professor Yeshayahu Leibovitz, said that the mass murder in Hebron was a consequence of “Judeo-Nazism”. But Gush Emunim’s ideology is no less like that of the Nazis than Kahane’s.


And now, thirteen years later to the day the following…. have we forgotten the past? Have we become completely insensitive to life itself? One more dead whose only crime was that she dared to protect a shrine holy to her people, the Palestinian people… obviously a crime punishable by death…..

Palestinian woman dies of wounds inflicted by Israeli forces during protests against excavations near Al Aqsa Mosque

Jerusalem – Ma’an – A Palestinian woman has succumbed to wounds she sustained during confrontations with the Israeli forces in the Al Aqsa Mosque two weeks ago. 60 year old Yosra Rajabi died at Al Maqasid hospital in Jerusalem, where she spent the past two weeks. She was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers during the confrontations.

Rajabi was one of many injured during the confrontations, which erupted in reaction to the Israeli excavations near the holy Al Aqsa Mosque.

It turns out that yesterday’s ‘big’ story about the ‘discovery’ of Christ’s grave was nothing more than a public relations scam. In my opinion, it was a pretty sick one, devoid of any sensitivity to the millions of people that adhere to Christianity.
It would be appropriate to boycott the film in question and show these people that their sort of immorality is totally unacceptable in today’s world.
Following is a report from Ynet which is in total contradiction to the one they posted yesterday.

‘Jesus’ burial site discovery is just PR spin’

Israeli archeologist responsible for original discovery of burial site in Jerusalem cave dismisses claims by filmmakers that cave contains remains of Jesus, other members of Holy family

Roi Mandel Published: 02.25.07

Excitement over the discovery of Jesus’ burial site is premature, Israeli archeologist Professor Amos Kloner said.

Kloner was referring to the hype surrounding a new documentary film, which has made the claim that coffins found in a Jerusalem cave nearly 30 years ago contain the remains of Jesus, Mary, Mary Magdalene, and other family members.

The internationally renowned archeologist, who revealed the findings of the dig 10 years ago, criticized the filmmakers’ marketing strategy and warned against being over enthusiastic about the alleged discovery.

“The claim that the burial site has been found is not based on any proof, and is only an attempt to sell,” Kloner said.

‘Filmmakers not archeologists’

He mentioned that a similar film was released 11 years ago, and said that this current film was merely a renewed effort to create controversy in the Christian world in order to make a bigger profit.

“I refute all their claims and efforts to waken a renewed interest in the findings. With all due respect, they are not archeologists,” Kloner said, referring to the filmmakers.

According to him, the names inscribed on the coffins were very common in the Second Temple era, and as such were not sufficient proof that the cave was the burial site of Jesus’ family.

“A burial chamber of Jesus’ family would be a discovery that would shake up the world, and that’s what the filmmakers want to do,” Kloner said.

Sinai Abet, manager of Israel’s Channel 8 and a partner in the film, said that he would not discuss the conflicting claims until after a press conference in New York on Monday, in which the film will be shown.

“As of this moment, no one other that the production crew and experts has seen the film in its entirety, not even Professor Amos Kloner. The film will present different and interesting findings, and claims can be made after it is aired,” Abet said.

The film, which documents the stages of the discovery, is the result of three years of labor and research. It will be broadcast on the international Discovery Channel, Britain’s Channel 4, Canada’s Vision and Israel’s Channel 8, which also took part in the film’s production.

Scroll down to see why Condi’s ‘Peace Efforts’ are nothing but a waste of good taxpayer dollars and time…..

Image by David Baldinger

There has been meeting after meeting, conference after conference, summit after summit…. yet there still isn’t peace. One starts to wonder after all this time what the reasons for that might be….

I found a brilliant analysis of why this might be… written by a young Palestinian/in exile named Remi Kanazi. His website, linked at the end, is a delight to visit… you must…

Also read THIS article by Jonathan Cook from CounterPunch, explaining the daily horrors at the checkpoints…. it will help you understand the reasons we still don’t have a solution to the crisis….

All Roads Lead to Checkpoints in Palestine

By Remi Kanazi

Al-Jazeerah, February 24, 2007

There may have been a period when all roads led to Rome, but for the Palestinian people, all roads lead to checkpoints. The latest checkpoint Palestinians find themselves at is not manned by Israel but rather the ostensible mediator of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the Quartet (which is comprised of the US, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations).

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas came to this latest checkpoint on behalf of the Palestinian people in hopes of passing through and finding an extension of the peace process on the other side. The reason Abbas wasn’t permitted through: for the first time since the passing of Yasser Arafat, he refused to leave the interests of the Palestinian people behind.

Abbas has yet to fully learn a fundamental lesson: the more willing the circus animal jumps through the ringleader’s hoops, the more hoops the ringleader will demand the animal jump through. Sidelining the needs of Palestinians is not the equivalent of flexibility. Acquiescing to the Quartet’s demands may make good headlines in the West, but it will not make life easier for the 3.8 Palestinians living in the occupied territories. The 86 million dollars the US planned to transfer to Abbas was nothing more than a bribe to sell out his people. The formation of a unity government comprised of Hamas and Fatah, known as the Mecca agreement, was the right step for the Palestinian people, and the right decision for Abbas.

The first goal of the unity government was to end the factional strife between Hamas and Fatah. The second goal was to end the policy of starvation, which was emplaced upon the Palestinian people by the West and Israel subsequent to the overwhelming election of Hamas in last year’s parliamentary elections. The Palestinian government cannot properly function if it lacks the funds to satisfy the salaries of the Palestinian population and their malnutritioned families. Given the US’ rhetoric and its initial rejection of the unity government, there is no reason to believe that there will be significant economic improvement in the occupied territories. Therefore, unrest will continue to be the status quo and, unity or not, the occupied territories will continue to fall apart at the seams.

While Abbas has been viewed as a moderate alternative to Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has found little use for him. Olmert views Abbas as someone to turn to only when the US needs it. Unfortunately, the only time the Bush administration deems it necessary for a rejuvenation of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is when a fresh debacle sparks increased debate on the Iraq war (i.e. Bush’s stunning failure to sell the troop “surge” to the American people). The other players in the Quarter have done little to exert their influence on the US or Israel. Independently, British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, asserted that there are “sensible” players in Hamas with whom the West can talk with. Convincing the US that moderate forces exist within Hamas is not simply an arduous task; it is a mission Blair is unwillingly to take on. This lack of backbone is a problem that plagues the European Union, the United Nations as well as European and Arab states in general.

The latest rekindling of the peace process was nothing more than a few photo-ops for Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice and an official reaffirmation that the Palestinians “won’t shed their terrorist ways.” What remained missing from the speeches made by Rice and Olmert as well as the news outlets that covered this week’s events were Israel’s responsibilities under the first phase of the roadmap. Phase one of the Roadmap does call upon the Palestinian people to recognize Israel and renounce violence. But it also calls upon Israel to freeze all settlement activity, including activity “needed” for natural growth. Israel, however, has done quite the opposite; it has accelerated settlement activity and has refused to tear down its illegal outposts. Furthermore, even after a dramatic decrease in Palestinian violence—and a marked increase in Israeli violence—Israel has done nothing to improve movement conditions throughout the West Bank and continues to use collective punishment against the people of the occupied territories.

Under international law and multiple UN resolutions, the conditions of phase one of the roadmap is not a lawful prerequisite to ending the Israeli occupation. The occupation is not a structure Israel has any right to. Ending the occupation is not dependent upon whether the Palestinians officially recognize Israel and its right to exist, nor is it dependent upon the Palestinian people verbally renouncing violence.

Even if one were to look at the terms of the Quartet’s demands, in principle Hamas has met the three conditions set forth. Since 2005, the group has abided by a self-imposed cease-fire and has indicated the possibilities of a long-term hudna (truce) on several occasions. While Hamas does not verbally “recognize Israel,” it has admitted that Israel exists and has not sought its destruction, a point which is reinforced by their calls for a long-term hudna. Thirdly, Hamas has repeatedly said it is willingly to negotiate with Israel through an interlocutor such as President Abbas. Both parties, Hamas and Fatah, base their political platform on the two-state solution—the internationally recognized route to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hamas is not the same organization it was in 1988 and treating it like is only serves the agendas of those who are disinterested in peace and prefer domination and the continuation of the status quo.

The besiegement of a people can only erode moderation, foment hatred, and bring Palestinians and Israelis back to darker times. This may be the plan for many in the Israeli administration and it surely bodes well for many in the US administration, but it does nothing for peace, and only dims the prospects of a future that must be met with an end to occupation, an end to economic sanctions, and a beginning of reconciliation based on justice for both peoples.

Remi Kanazi is the co-founder of this political website. He is the editor of the forthcoming book of poetry, Poets for Palestine, for more information visit Poetic Injustice. He can reached via email at remroum@gmail.com.

Carlos Latuff
Better get your earplugs out…. the screams of anti-Semitism should be deafening as soon as this report is made public. Israel’s defense has been to scream such things at the accusers rather than rectify the situation. This was the case when Carter published his book, this has always been the case when it comes to the question of apartheid.
To avoid the facts from coming out, people like Desmond Tutu were denied entry to Gaza to prevent him from seeing the truth with his own eyes, eyes that saw the horrors of apatheid first hand in his native South Africa.
Despite Israel’s attempts to hide the facts, they will come out…. and the screams will sound nothing more than those of a cat in heat, annoying to say the least.
Below is an Associated Press report just published on Ynet…

Israel occupation resembles apartheid, expert says

Independent report commissioned by UN compares Israel’s actions in West Bank, Gaza to apartheid South Africa. Charges draw angry rebukes from Israel

Associated Press Published: 02.22.07, 21:57 / Israel News

An independent report commissioned by the United Nations compares Israel’s actions in the West Bank and Gaza to apartheid South Africa – charges that drew angry rebukes from Israel and were sure to revive charges that the UN Human Rights Council is biased against the Jewish state.

The report by John Dugard, independent investigator on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the council, is to be presented next month, but it has been posted on the body’s Web site. In it, Dugard, a South African lawyer who campaigned against apartheid in the 1980s, says “Israel’s laws and practices in the ( Palestinian territories) certainly resemble aspects of apartheid.”

The 24-page report catalogues a number of accusations against the Jewish state ranging from restrictions on Palestinian movement, house demolitions and preferential treatment given to Jewish settlers in the West Bank.

“Can it seriously be denied that the purpose of such action is to establish and maintain domination by one racial group – Jews – over another racial group – Palestinians – and systematically oppress them?” he asks.

Israel says it aims mainly to prevent Palestinian suicide bombings and other attacks that have killed more than 1,000 Israelis in the past six years, and officials note that violence broke out in 2000 after Israel’s proposal to pull out of the vast majority of the West Bank and Gaza in exchange for peace was rejected.

Its ambassador in Geneva criticized Dugard for directing attacks only at the Jewish state. “Any conclusions he may draw are therefore fundamentally flawed and purposely biased,” said Yitzhak Levanon.

‘Residents live in fear of settler terror’

The report will be presented next month at the 47-nation rights council’s first session of the year. The new body has been widely criticized – even by its founder, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan – for only censuring one government in the world, Israel’s, over alleged abuses.

Dugard’s report accuses Israel of “terror” by F16 fighter jets setting off sonic booms above residential areas. In the West Bank “residents live in fear of settler terror.”

He says it is “grossly inaccurate” to say Israel’s 2005 removal of settlers and soldiers from Gaza constituted an end to its occupation of that territory, captured from Egypt in the 1967 war. “Israel retained control of Gaza’s air space, sea space and external borders, and the border crossings,” he writes. ” Gaza became a sealed off, imprisoned and occupied territory.”

War crimes have been committed by both sides, he says: “This applies to Palestinians who fire Qassam rockets into Israel; and more so to members of the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) who have committed such crimes on a much greater scale.”

Dugard was appointed in 2001 as an unpaid expert by the now-defunct UN Human Rights Commission to investigate only violations by the Israeli side, prompting Israel and the United States to dismiss his reports as one-sided. Israel refused to allow him to conduct a fact-finding mission on its Gaza offensive last summer.

The United States likes to think of itself as a ‘beacon of democracy’, a Saviour to the world’s ‘huddled masses yearning to be free’.
If only that was true…..

The New Colossus By Emma Lazarus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she

With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

The following editorial will appear in tomorrow’s Jewish Daily Forward… it truly is, as the headline states, a shameful record…

Frankly, a Shameful Record

Fri. Feb 23, 2007
The recent discovery that the family of Anne Frank had unsuccessfully attempted to obtain an American visa before being captured by the Nazis shines light on the failure of the United States to do enough to save Jews from the Holocaust. In reaction to the news, Rep. Steve Israel has reintroduced a bill to make the child martyr an honorary American citizen.

“The best way we can honor Anne Frank in death is to give her what her father sought for her in life,” said Israel, a New York Democrat, in a statement last week. “The news that Anne Frank’s family sought to flee to the United States makes it clearer than ever that we should bestow honorary citizenship upon Anne Frank.”

We respectfully disagree: The best way to honor Anne Frank’s memory — and to demonstrate that America has learned a lesson from its past mistakes — would be for the Bush administration to take comprehensive steps to address the needs of the mounting numbers of Iraqi refugees. It has been estimated that since the American invasion, 1.8 million people in Iraq have been driven from their homes and another 2 million have fled to neighboring states.

What has the administration done to address the crisis? From 2003 until last month, the United States admitted 466 Iraqi refugees (this is not a misprint — there are no zeros missing from the end of that figure). America currently spends about $8 billion a month on the war, but the administration reportedly entered 2007 planning to spend just $60 million this fiscal year to provide shelter and protection for displaced Iraqis, and $20 million to help resettle refugees here and in other countries.

The administration has taken a few key steps in recent weeks, which suggests that it is finally ready to set a new, morally responsible course on the issue. Earlier this month, the State Department announced the creation of a task force to coordinate American efforts to resettle and assist Iraqi refugees. Then, last week, administration officials unveiled a plan to admit about 7,000 of the refugees into this country by the end of the year.

Compared with the White House’s shameful record on the issue until now, such steps constitute progress. But given our country’s role in creating the humanitarian debacle — and the fact that thousands of Iraqis are now displaced and have no future back in their native country because of their support for America’s reconstruction effort — more must be done.

As Senator Arlen Specter recently pointed out during a hearing on Capitol Hill, last year 20,000 of the immigration slots reserved for refugees went unused. The issue, according the State Department official on the other end of Specter’s grilling, was a matter of dollars and cents: Financing for the slots was not available.

Before Congress and the White House think about symbolic ways to honor Anne Frank, they should figure out how to pay for the basic steps needed to alleviate a refugee crisis that America played a large role in creating.

Carlos Latuff

The following is a letter of explanation and an appeal for funds from a BlogGroup called Zio-Pedia.
Since their inception they have done a marvelous job of exposing the wrongdoings of the zionist state… they must be allowed to continue. Please read the following….

The Silence of the Lambs and the Imminent Closure of ZioPedia.org

By Andrew Winkler

Due to obscene political pressure by the Zionist Mafia, both PayPal and StormPay were forced to suspend our donations accounts. Your generous financial support is needed for ZioPedia.org to survive and remain the fastest growing anti-Zionist voice on the web.

One of the most disappointing aspects of the obscene attempt of the Kosher Nostra to destroy ZioPedia.org by bullying online payment services PayPal and StormPay into suspending their donations accounts, is the silence of fellow dissident sites on the matter. Is is because they are afraid of receiving the same treatment? Or do they see ZioPedia.org as a competitor rather than an ally in the war against a common enemy?

The number of pledges is an even bigger disappointment. Instead of the expected surge in solidarity, ZioPedia.org is now facing the real prospect of having to shut down.

Unless we are able to raise at least $5,000 before the end of February, ZioPedia.org will be forced to close its doors .

Please send the details of your pledge to donations@ziopedia.org and we will get back to you with payment options.

Andrew Winkler

Editor/Publisher ZioPedia – All There Is To Know About Zionism

Carlos Latuff

Hurry or you will miss out….You only have a few days to ‘catch’ this …
Open House in Teaneck, NJ (USA) to convince American Jews to buy homes in Palestine.
Special tax deals available for those who do not wish to live there… but hurry…..
Help Strengthen the zionist Dream…. Buy A Home In Palestine!
Click HERE for details.

THIS article from the Jerusalem Post gives the background.

War is definitely not a laughing matter….. but THIS video definitely is. I ‘borrowed’ it from a dear Blogging Brother , RadiantGuy….
‘LET’S BOMB IRAN’… enjoy

Dearest Brother….
One month and two days have passed since the tragic death of your beautiful daughter Abir. It is said that time heals all wounds, but I know that this cannot apply to one of such magnitude.
We are practically neighbours Bassam, your home is not more than ten minutes from mine, but a giant wall of apartheid and hate separates us from each other. It is people like yourself that will eventually give cause for that wall to crumble to the ground, as did most other walls of oppression throughout the world.
Your determination to continue in the struggle for peace is an inspiration to all who struugle with you. You have every reason to feel hatred and resort to violence, but your convictions have not allowed that to happen. This alone is a trait that only a true man of peace can have. It is people like you that will be responsible for the Israelis to see the wrongdoings of their government. Your continued efforts for peace are much more powerful than the artificial luncheon meetings held by government officials under the guise of ‘peace talks’.
Peace will come about because of people like yourself, a real peace and a just one. The Blessed Memory of Abir will always be with all that struggle with you . Her murder will be avenged not with blood, but with a continued desire for peace.
The outpour of support for you and your family continues to arrive via THIS petition. Always know that you do not stand alone in your pain and sorrow.
Be Blessed dear Brother, may you and your family never again know the personal pain and sorrow that you are feeling now. May your surviving children grow up to see a Free Palestine, a Palestine not separated by walls and hatred. Abir would be proud of you Bassam, we all are.
Warmest Brotherly Greetings,
Steve Amsel (DesertPeace)

This child was denied Freedom of Speech
The concept of Free Speech is one that has been debated for decades. Is there a limit? Is there a time when the ‘freedom’ is overstepped and the removal of it from a group or individual is justified?
I personally say yes to both of those questions. In the case of the German holocaust denier recently imprisoned, the author of the article below claims that ‘Progressives have mainly remained silent on this assault against free speech.’
Here is one ‘Progressive’ that does not intend to remain silent on the issue. As any of my regular readers know, I moderate comments on my posts. This is not to deny dissent or discourage discussions on the issues I write about. Rather, this is to prevent certain people, zionists and other racists in particular, from using my Blog as a platform for their hatred. I am not obligated in any way to guarantee the right of freedom of speech to anyone that is prepared to deny that right to millions of people. That is where I draw the line, that is where I remove that right from a person or a group.
In the case of Zundel, the man is an admitted supporter of the madness spouted by hitler. For this reason he was deported from Canada back to his native Germany where he stood trial for denying the holocaust took place. To deny the holocaust happened is to deny some six million people the right not only to speak, but the right to life itself. No one should be allowed that right. No one has the right to deny the torture and death of so many people, to do so is to support what happened.
Zundel is guilty of a crime, the crime of denial…. denial of those people’s right to live…. for that, his punishment is justified.
This is the opinion of one ‘Progessive’.
Below is the piece I am directing this towards, from Dissident Voice…

The Martyring of a Nazi Sympathizer
In Defense of Free Speech
by Kim Petersen
http://www.dissidentvoice.org
February 18, 2007

Ernst Zündel is not a man that I want to defend. I certainly do not share his strident anti-communist views, attitude on race, or sympathy for Adolf Hitler.

Where I do share a view with Zündel is on everyone’s right to free speech. Zündel exercised this right and has been persecuted for it. Progressives have mainly remained silent on this assault against free speech.

The German media calls Zündel a World War II Holocaust liar. If Zündel is lying, then his lies have killed no one; nonetheless, he is sentenced to five years imprisonment on 14 counts of sedition. On the other hand, George W. Bush and Tony Blair, who clearly lied to carry out genocide (what else would one term 655,000 plus excess killings?) in Iraq, escape punishment and carry the blessings of sizeable segments of their country’s electorate. Is this justice?

What particularly inflamed the anti-free speech crowd is that during the heavy media coverage of the early Zündel Trials in Canada, Zündel’s lawyer Doug Christie threw much of the imposed WWII Holocaust history into serious doubt.

The trial generated serious skepticism for claims of an order from Hitler for the extermination of Jews, for the six million fatalities usually cited, and for the use of gas chambers. This was embarrassing for people who seek to maintain an unchallengeable view of the WWII Holocaust that conforms to the Holocaust Industry’s extortion racket.

Presiding judge Ulrich Meinerzhagen declared Zündel had “endangered the public peace.” In other words, the German “justice” system determined that free speech is a danger to public peace.

Zündel’s demonized lawyer , Ludwig Bock, was astounded: “What is notable is the iron-hard refusal of the court to allow consideration of new scientific findings or expert opinions.”

Indeed. In his closing statement, Zündel challenged the district court to initiate an investigate of the WWII Holocaust by an independent, international committee of experts. He offered to publicly apologize in a press conference to Jews, Israelis and the world if the committee disproved his claims.

Imprisonment for speaking controversially is a travesty for justice and human rights. A public apology seems a much fairer punishment for speaking falsely.

Yet, a burning question remains: why will the authorities not accept a forensic challenge that should silence WWII Holocaust skeptics? Refusal to do so only deepens suspicion of the imposed verisimilitude.

Meanwhile, the injustice is turning Zündel into a free speech martyr.

Kim Petersen, Co-Editor of Dissident Voice, lives in southern Korea. He can be reached at: kim@dissidentvoice.org.

She’s baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!! …. In full splendor and raring to sit with the Israeli leadership and select members of the Palestinian Authority…
So far, these are the developements (italics are from THIS Ynet article)….

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice emphasized the importance of recognizing international agreements regarding a two-state solution, at a Jerusalem press conference following her meeting with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, and expressed optimism about her upcoming meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

There would be more reason for optimism if representatives of Hamas were present at the scheduled meeting.

“The (unity government) understandings do not meet the requirements of the international community,” Livni said with Rice at her side. “It is crucial to understand that Israel, with the international community, expects any Palestinian government to meet these requirements fully and completely.”

The international community meaning the USA, Britain and France basically….

An official in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office said that US President George Bush had agreed, in a Friday telephone call between the two leaders, to shun a Palestinian unity government unless it met these preconditions. The statement was not confirmed by US officials.

And Israel has no preconditions to meet?

Rice did not make any similar statement about a White House decision, although she did emphasize the importance of US and Quartet demands that a Palestinian government to recognize Israel and former treaties with it.

But Israel does not have to recognise the Unity Government of the Palestinian Authority?

“It only makes sense that you have to renounce violence, it only makes sense that you have to recognize the right of your partner to exist and to respect international agreements.

No argument here… but let’s look back at events over the past few months… who has been invading Palestinian villages and killing innocent civilians? Who has been storming into shopping malls in the Occupied Territories and killing innocent civilians? Who has been attacking and killing innocent children while at play in their schoolyards? Who has been demolishing homes LEGALLY owned by Palestinians? Who has prevented Muslims from attending prayer services at one of their most sacred shrines? Yes…. I agree, “it only makes sense that you have to recognize the right of your partner to exist and to respect international agreements.”

Nonetheless, Rice said she is reserving judgment on the new Palestinian government. “There’s a difference between the announcement of the intention to form a government and the actual formation of that government,” she said.

There is also a difference of being elected President of the United States and rigging the results so it appears you won….. ooooops… did I say that??

Abraham Lincoln said the following…. he must of had visions of what the future administrations would be like… “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.” I can’t think of a more fitting quote at the moment.

So yes, the US supports a two state solution… obviously the two states being the USA and Israel.

You heard me right….. Israel is denying holocaust survivors the means to survive. The meagre pensions they receive both from Israel and from German reparations is not nearly enough to pay their expenses, needless to say for food itself. Many of these people are literally on the verge of starvation. The very people that went through hell and returned are now once again in a private hell of sorts.
The very state that owes its existance to the holocaust, the very state that constantly reminds the world of this and condemns anyone that dares deny it happened is treating those that suffered personally as if they are guilty of a crime.
SHAME ON YOU ISRAEL!!!
Perhaps a budget cut from the military can help the people involved.
THIS article from the Magazine Section of the Jerusalem Post talks about the situation.

Has this Israeli policeman taken the place of God Himself?

You would think that a people that has been discriminated against for centuries would be more sensitive when it comes to discriminating against others.
This is apparently not the case when it comes to Israel and its lack of sensitivity towards its Muslim citizens. This has been demonstrated most recently by excavational digs in the vicinity of Islam’s third holiest site, also the holiest site of Judaism. Despite objections from Jordan, which has a formal role in the maintenance of Jerusalem’s Muslim holy sites, the work continues.
This also despite the outcry of the entire Muslim populaion of Israel and Palestine.
For the past few Fridays, most of the faithful were barred from entering the compound by Israeli forces… including the Arab Israeli chief of Israel’s Islamic movement, Sheikh Raed Salah, who was arrested with six other activists after a dispute with officers.Thousands of these worshippers were forced to pray outside of the compound under the eye of the Israeli army and police.
The very people that SCREAM anti Semitsm when they are merely looked at crosseyed are denying a people the right to pray. These very people who for decades had to hide their identities in various parts of Europe so they could pray in secret. These very people who proclaim to the world ” NEVER AGAIN” …. are doing it again themselves.
And yet they will sit on Monday with representatives of the United States and Palestine to discuss peace….
One can already see what the outcome of those talks will be with the attitudes that Israel already has.
THIS article from the Palestine News Network speaks of latest developements.

When one thinks of a democracy, one thinks of freedom. When one thinks of freedom, one thinks of the Bill of Rights which guarantees the Freedom of the press…. unfortunately that has been misinterpreted in recent years to mean that the press has the freedom to report what is in their interests… not necessarily what is the truth.
But, as the world shrinks, as access to reality is no longer as difficult as it once was, the truth is getting out, and part of that truth is the fact that the press has been holding back when it comes to it.
The following piece from AlJazeera talks about this…..

A GOY-Less MEDIA and Kosher Wars: He who Controls the News, Controls the Views

By Mohamed Khodr

Al-Jazeerah, February 17, 2007

For years, but especially after 9/11 our “free media” has excluded to a large extent the voices of peace rather than war, the voices of the informed who cry out for justice in our foreign policy, especially as it applies to the oppressed Palestinians by our “democratic” ally, Israel; the patriotic voices who believe dialogue and diplomacy, not guns, are more effective for lasting peace; the voices who speak for the voiceless suffering, oppressed, sick, and dying have-nots; the voices who toil in cyberspace to bring unwelcome truth to our citizens; the voices of sacredness who seek divine justice for all. What remains for America is to blindly digest and regurgitate “manufactured consent, hate, and lies” that serve the rich, the powerful, and the few at the expense of the many.

Napoleon understood the power of the Media’s influence:

“I fear three newspapers more than a hundred thousand bayonets.”

Do you think he was prophetically referring to America’s three most powerful Jewish owned newspapers? Papers that lyingly and deliberately drummed up the Iraq debacle?

–The New York Times, Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal

Our “free” media’s motto: “All the news that supports Israel’s wars and defames Islam is fit to print”

In pure Orwellian fashion; Cheney’s White House Puppet himself said:

“I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we’re really talking about peace.”

–President George W. Bush

Why does America stand alone against the world and its own national interests in supporting the rogue Apartheid regime of Israel that is Judaizing God’s Holy Land, a blessing to all Jews, Christians, and Muslims? Israel is forcibly Judaizing Jerusalem through house demolitions, expulsions of Palestinian Christians and Muslims, denying building permits and social services, forbidding Palestinian Christians and Muslims entry to pray in Jerusalem’s holy sites; hence the inhumane horrific picture of Palestinian Muslims prostrating at the feet of Israeli soldiers, not to God in their mosques. No other nation can act with such arrogance, impunity, and defiance of American supported U.N. Resolutions that call Israel’s annexation of Jerusalem “null and void.” Israel is a “Jewish” State”, an Apartheid State, whereby the Holy Land will be purified from the impure Christians and Muslims. To dare speak truth to this ethnic cleansing is to risk the media’s rabid attack that instills fear into any citizen of this “superpower” nation. The latest victim of such a nationally widespread Zionist dressing down and insolent disrespectful attack is former President Jimmy Carter, a moral man who risked his Presidency to secure Israel’s peace with Egypt. Not even Carter’s Christian brethren dared defend him.

Why are Americans so uninformed about Israel and its control of our foreign policy?

It’s the Media.

During Israel’s widespread devastation of Lebanon last summer with America’s latest weapons, use of illegal cluster and phosphorous bombs, depleted uranium missiles, bombing of civilian convoys trapped behind blown bridges including U.N. compounds and International Red Cross vehicles carrying life saving medicines to already bombed hospitals; even repeating the 1996 bombing of Qana murdering entire families; what did the decider, freedom and democracy spreader, the man who believes all men are born free and created equal, the man opposed to occupations and tyranny, the religious follower of the Prince of Peace do?

He criminally supported Israel’s murderous shredding of Lebanon, sending more tax funded American weapons, money, Arab “oil” to Israel to “complete the job”, and vetoes a United Nation Security Council Resolution that simply “condemned” Israel’s atrocities.

Bush, the obedient Congress, and our kosher friendly media sold the usual lies to allow Israel’s death and destructive campaign against an entire nation, Lebanon; turning its murderous offensive war into Israel’s “right to defend itself.” After each civilian massacre, America and Israel finally admit it was an “accident.”

To the surviving Muslim and Christian Lebanese and Palestinians of Israel’s civilian massacres; there can only be one conclusion:

Jewish Blood is more worthy, vital, and important than any Goy Blood anywhere, including the blood of America’s youthful courageous soldiers dying abroad fighting Israel’s wars.

This war was not for oil but for a small Jewish only State, Israel, with the power to unleash “Anti-Semitism” and “Holocaust” guilt against the Christian West. Since World War II America has enjoyed dominance, good relations, and easy access to cheap oil in the Arab Middle East; but Cheney and his Neocons (mostly Jewish according to Israel’s Ha’aretz newspaper) wanted a pretext to kill for Israel (Hallelujah 9/11).

Jewish blood, the Chosen Blood, from the Torah to the Babylonian Talmud, to modern Rabbinic edicts, is a blood superior to the world’s Goyish blood.

“One million Arabs are not worth a Jewish fingernail.”

–Rabbi Yaacov Perrin, Feb. 27, 1994 [N.Y. Times, Feb. 28, 1994, p. 1]

“It is forbidden to be merciful to them (Palestinians). You must send missiles to them and annihilate them. They are evil and damnable,…The Lord shall return the Arabs’ deeds on their own heads, waste their seed and exterminate them, devastate them and vanish them from this world.”

–Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Founder and Spiritual Leader of Israel’s Political Party (BBC; April 10, 2001), —–Odd that the “media” and western governments did not see this in a similar vain to the Iranian President’s misinterpreted threat against Israel.

Even Elie Wiesel, the secular Jewish intellectual, the Noble Peace Prize winner, the poster child for peace, humanity and freedom for all, the man who single handedly convened the entire United Nations Security Council to listen to his pained rhetoric on Darfur’s suffering (which is legitimate) but who has totally ignored and dismissed Palestinian suffering at the hand of his own people.

This hypocritical Wiesel according to Professor Norman Finkelstein’s ground breaking book: “The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering” (By the way, read Israel’s own media on how Israel is starving and mistreating its Holocaust Survivors despite billions of aid) Verso, New York 2000, page 49; said:

“Everything about us is different.” Jews are “ontologically” exceptional”

Elie Wiesel’s pain (that costs $25,000 a speech according to Norman Finkelstein) does not apply to the Palestinians, Iraqi’s, Afghani’s, Chechens, Kashmiri’s, Iranians, Aborigines, Gypsies, or to any other Muslim-Christian human being: Some of Wiesel’s quotes are:

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

EXCEPTION: PALESTINE

”There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”

Compare Wiesel’s Zionism for Israel to a courageous Israeli journalist who patriotically criticizes his own country’s colonial brutality against the Palestinian population:

“The war against the Palestinians is therefore unequivocally a territorial war, a war for the settlements. In other words, in the West Bank and Gaza, people were killed and are getting killed because of our greed for land. From Golda Meir to Ehud Olmert, the lie has held that the war with the Palestinians is an existential one for survival imposed on Israel when it is actually a war for real estate, one dunam after another, that does not belong to us….While we are ready to jump on any war bandwagon, as in this time, we endlessly procrastinate when it comes to peace negotiations”

–Gideon Levi, “THE REAL ESTATE WAR”, Ha’aretz, August 6, 2006

Five American Corporate Medias control the greatest majority of the media that formulates our opinions, our daily agendas, conversations, voting patterns, our commercialism, and tragically. who lives and dies domestically and abroad. The American poor, hungry, uninsured, and homeless are not worthy media subjects but Israel’s psychological stress and insecurity despite being the fourth most powerful nuclearized nation on earth, is frontpage news.

Who else but the powerful media can intimidate, indoctrinate and sell war and death to a nation whose government is cowardly when it comes to Israel and its Lobby.

“Phony pretexts repeated often enough become real reasons. Things that…are not true become true in the public mind simply through endless repetition. –Lenny Bloom

President Bush does read after all:

“See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.” –

–President Bush, Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005

Call of the Wild for Endless Wars for Israel:

Enemy du Jour: Cheney, Neocons, Israel, Israel Lobby, Media, Bush: “Next Stop…Iran”

What Chutzpah, what outrageous confidence, what power and influence, what shamelessness, what callousness to human life and economic burden upon America’s youth, what arrogance, that Cheney and his mainly Jewish Cabal are pushing this nation to a new war, a war with Iran, while American coffins are still arriving from Iraq and Afghanistan.

From Zionist David Frum’s phrase “Axis of Evil” for Bush’s Speech: Iraq, Iran, North Korea

To: “Next Stop…Baghdad”; “Next Stop…Iran”; “Next Stop…Syria”,

“Next Stop…Saudia Arabia”

Finally—“Next Stop….Islam”: The Root of All Evil.

From Saddam Hussein to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Cheney has orchestrated a campaign that these homicidal maniacs are capable of attacking America and “Israel”; thus we must fight them there before we fight them here.

“Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac.” –George Orwell

Our “free” media, dependent upon our dollars and its advertisers can either push for or stop the insane clamoring to attack Iran. It all depends on you and me. Our silence will ensure that Cheney’s Bush will attack Iran prior to his political end and will once again follow those who put him in office, pull his strrings, and fulfill his simpleton dream of removing the “wimp factor” staining the Bush family.

“Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.”

–Voltaire

Bush abandoned America’s foundational principles, idealism, values, sense of justice, and moral credibility for Israel and Oil hegemony. He has subverted our Constitution and needlessly and lyingly risked American lives, both civilian and military, here and abroad. He has extinguished the light of this nation as a beacon of hope, opportunity, and respectability in the eyes of the world. His legacy will forever be one of insane fear, insecurity, death and destruction for Israel and Corporate America. It’s Exxon’s oil and America’s youthful blood that will decorate his Presidential Library.

Sadly, when it comes to wealth and Israel the Democrats are just as cowardly and unpatriotic. Pay attention how the GOP and Democratic Presidential candidates will stain their character and this nation’s future to appease Israel and Jewish money. For self interests they Pledge Allegiance to the Star of David, not to the Stars and Stripes.

NO POLITICIAN in this nation can ever hope to be elected if he/she dare speaks against Israel.

The worldwide American-Israeli Alliance of Injustice will not endure long. It will end sooner rather than later, for in due time the world will awaken to their oppressive military and economic injustice upon the weak; but most importantly God is just, and His wrath will be unleashed for the sake of the unjust to reclaim their right for life, liberty, human dignity, freedom, and pursuit of happiness from the empires of injustice. May God give us the patience and perseverance to endure until such time when peace, justice, freedom, and wealth belongs to all, not just the few.

“I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.” –Thomas Jefferson

Does America have one more Revolution in its soul to reclaim our nation from Israel’s webs in all our institutions? Are there any more Thomas Paine’s, Washington’s, Jefferson’s, Adam’s, Madison’s, Franklin’s, Paul Revere’s, or Patrick Henry’s to proclaim loudly and proudly “give me liberty from foreign influence or give me death”? Yes, America, they live in each of us. They simply need our courage to resurrect them. America is ready for another Emancipation Proclamation—this time, from Israel and its Lobby.

“Our Patriotic Shouts Bursting in Air, Gives Proof through the Night that our Flag, America’s flag, is still there”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1270038.stm (Rabbi Ovadia Yosef’s Quote)

Cruising through links on the Palestine Blogs I came across THIS one that I never noticed before… it’s a link worth a visit.
They had a video posted concerning a recent episode of the Simpsons… and showed the before and after segment after censorship. This is sad… go see for yourself by clicking HERE.
On a brighter note, also related to the entertainment industry, kudos to Ricky Martin for ‘sticking it’ to George Dubya… you can read about it HERE.