FREE AHED TAMIMI. Israeli occupation authorities have arrested 16-yr-old Ahed and her mother, for posting a video of Ahed slapping an IDF soldier deployed outside the Tamimi home in the Occupied Territories. That act of defiance was apparently too much.
OH BOY. It’s Trump’s most politically insensitive move yet, recognizing Jerusalem to be the capitol of Israel, as no other nation in the world will do because it means colluding with an illegal territorial claim. Moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv means giving official sanction to what the United Nations has declared to be against international law. Criminal insanity. But Trump wants to move the “Peace Process” forward and let’s be fair, that sham has been a cover to keep shrinking the prospects for Palestinians, to the point that few dispute the eroded viability of a two state solution. So let’s move this invasive “process” along. The sooner Israel crowns its land grab with a undivided Jerusalem, the sooner Israelis can be made to confront, and renounce racist Apartheid. When Israel’s democracy is forced to grant equal rights to non-Jews, the theocracy of Israel will become PALESTINE. And America won’t have to move its embassy.
The two state solution is dead. Good riddance to that lie. Neither side wanted or believed it.
Zionists have always intended a one state solution. Their ethnic cleansing of the Occupied Territories and their warmongering against Syria are designed to thin the Islamic population of Greater Israel such that it will always remain the minority, especially when Israel is forced to release its Palestinian citizens from their segregated Favelas. Israel is not finished with its “peace process” of killing or driving off the legitimate occupants of the Holy Land. Declaring the invasion a victory sooner than later will mean more Palestinians could survive to see the day they’ll be given the right to vote. That’s when a democratic process will decide whose Holy Lands these are, and lead their people to a post-colonial era.
Happening upon a Middle Eastern restaurant advertising itself to be Israeli-owned, I wondered, as a BDS-adherant promoting boycott, divestment and sanctions to pressure the state of Israel to abandon apartheid and illegal occupation, if this business fell under the BDS dragnet. BDS targets Israel and not just products from the Occupied Territories as moderates might prefer. At times BDS also focuses on prominent Zionist enterprises whether they be Israeli or American. Very likely these proprietors evangelize for Israel, but I thought a broader principle suggested itself: LET’S DO SUPPORT ISRAELIS WHO DON’T LIVE IN ISRAEL! Wouldn’t that be precisely the goal?! But a word about other Israelis for whom BDS is asked to make an exception, the oft-celebrated Israeli Left. Are we supposed to be reassured that many Israelis do not support the ethnic cleansing perpetuated by their right wing government? What of the purported majority of Americans who oppose our continued wars and our drone extrajudicial executions? If populations cannot prevent the crimes perpetrated in their name, indeed the responsibility falls to who other but them, does their objection earn any points until they act?
On the heels of making A TWIT of himself in London, self-caricaturized Romneyshambles, GOP presidential foil-candidate Mitt Romney traipsed over to Israel and depth-charged their bellicose policy of menacing Iran with continuous threats of preemptive attack by proclaiming his “respect” for it! Then he mistook the capitol of Israel for Jerusalem in the Palestinian occupied territories!
American billionaires aren’t underwriting Mitt Romney’s campaign because they think he can be president. They don’t need him. Pro- corporate Barack Obama is already their internationally-populist figurehead. The money the oligarchs are pouring into Election 2012 is to convince a post-hope public that voting still matters. To ease voter buy-in the electoral decision is being made easy: choose smart versus stupid. Barnum dictates you can’t underestimate the American public, but Romney’s lack of political sense may out-dumb common wisdom.
UPDATE: What did Romney do next? He praised the Israelis for being more economically successful than the Palestinian neighbors they’d dispossessed, crediting the stereotypical Jewish culture! He closed his standup tour by deliberately soliciting foreign campaign contributions.
If the Qurans recently burned at NATO bases in Afghanistan were disposed of accidentally in the incineration pits, aren’t American Fundamentalist Talibans concerned about where the excess bibles go? By now we all know the M.O. at US camps in our occupied territories is to incinerate any and all unused inventory. They’re even ordered to burn leftover bottled water. Can there be any doubt if the US forces found themselves with too many Qurans to go around, that they had fewer takers for Christian bibles? When you raise the subject in these parts, even yokels profess their indignation at the prospect of burning a bible, so wouldn’t they want to scrutinize what’s being burned at our military bases? Or is it the same with American flags? When hippies do it, it’s a national sacrilege, when the Army does it, it’s ordained cremation.
This season’s War-On-Christmas email is pushing a holiday ditty whose refrain goes “If you don’t see Merry Christmas in the window, then you don’t go in that store.” Seems like it might be easier to mark those stores with a Star of David on the window, or would that be too obviously Nazi?
On the other hand, it is refreshing to see even Dumbfox recognize the imperative of targeting commerce to make your point heard. So, boycotts do work?
You can see the Christmas-lovers’ point of course. They’d prefer that merchants exploiting the Christmas purchasing season at least be paying lip service to Christmas and not the ever-looming Godless “Holiday” eclipse, supposed.
This song reminds us “it’s all about the little baby Jesus” and goes on to list all the things Christmas wouldn’t be without him. Of course, half the list traces back to pagan tradition, but what to Christian Holiday-goers know of that?
And the latter half goes back as far as they remember, as their grandmother and her grandmother before might remember, but no more. The commercial Christmas charts its provenance to the industrial revolution, the birth of consumer goods and marketing. Santa Claus as we recognize him stepped right off Coca-cola calendars of the last mid-century.
Christmas was the religious Trojan Horse to pitch the shopping holiday to reluctant hedonists. Now the same parishioners who don’t have an needle’s-eye chance to get to Heaven, feel like the can pay their tithes in Christmas presents.
Yes, I do think it’s funny that people who abhor the prospect of disruptive economic boycotts are willing to consider it at the drop of Santa’s cap. Unless of course they’re satisfied that making this video viral is a shot across the bow enough. I doubt their Christmas Spirit has any room for Lenten restraint.
Oddly enough, one of their potential boycott targets, and mine, has hung banners in its outlets to announce they will be open for Christmas, introducing a delectable dilemma. Starbucks says Merry Christmas in the window, so it’s exempt from this singing email picket, yet it disrespects Christmas by working through it. What do you do?
I answer that one unequivocally. Yes, boycott Starbucks. They fund Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories. That may be somewhat directly related to their celebrating Hanukkah not Christmas, but that’s NO KIND OF REASON to boycott a business. If you want to boycott a store because it’s not Christian, take it up with the Anti-Defamation League. Leave bigotry to the Zionists.
Following their no hamfisted holds barred blocking of the Gaza aid flotilla, Israel yesterday declared illegal the rising domestic support for the BDS movement. The free speech ban extends even to non-Israelis in the occupied territories. Suggesting it’s not going to be BDS activistists who ultimately delegitimize Israel.
Need a map of PALESTINE? As Palestinians push for a recognition of statehood, and Israelis pretend there’s no such thing as historic “Palestine” and won’t agree on any borders, you might be excused from wondering what a Palestinian nation would look like. Have you seen the proposed 1947 partition? It cut Palestinian leftovers in half, with the non-Jewish pieces (A) intended to be annexed by Arab neighbors or (B) leaving refugee routes for the further attrition of indigenous populations, with no intention of leaving a viable second state. Now Israel wants to settle the whole thing, and won’t even let Google Earth map the region or the “Occupied Territories” for fear a bird’s eye view of the Israeli settler encroachments would be too damning. But it’s all Zionist occupied territory isn’t it? If Israel can claim a right to exist on another’s land, why shouldn’t Palestine? Let Israel exist as an Apartheid enclave in Palestine, until their consciences get the better of them. Meanwhile, a true democracy in a one state solution.
What this Freedom Flotilla has over previous relief efforts like the Viva Palestina caravans is a momentum building in the international press. It’s the big ship effect that works for gunship diplomacy, brought to bear this time to enforce social justice, too big to ignore.
(Update 5/24: Australia’s Sidney Morning Herald has three articles: 1. the Turkish sendoff 2. Elvis Costello honoring the BDS cultural boycott, and 3. an in-depth story featuring the trademarked media logo BUSTING THE BLOCKADE!)
Admittedly America’s is a Zionist media. That’s where I suppose the social media campaign must wag the Zionist dog, to mix pun with metaphor. It’s going to help no doubt that the Israeli press is already awash with anticipation.
Where the last Viva Palestina humanitarian convoy crossed continents before the BBC begrudged it coverage, the 2010 Freedom Flotilla, including ShiptoGaza and the Free Gaza Movement have already hit BBC radar. The IHH efforts are being joined by a cargo ship which just left Algiers.
Here are the latest photos from Turkey, a Convoy to Gaza blog being updated by UK activist Lorbital, and Tox’s notes about DAY ONE of relief convoy, day 1075 of Gaza Siege.
With Israel vowing to stop them, and the Freedom Flotilla determined to push through, the showdown will have Western media outlets unable to maintain their news blackout. This will be no USS Liberty pummeled by sneak attack with no witnesses permitted to break the story. The Gaza relief convoy numbers nine ships, with more adventurers joining the escort no doubt, a measure of supporters’ anticipation of an inevitable catharsis for the siege.
The inertia looks good to me. Press releases are flying announcing who’s joining the convoy (now a USS Liberty survivor), and European diplomats are issuing statements that they expect Israel to give the convoy safe passage. Wait until the ships are making the final crossing from Cyprus for heavyweight supporters such as George Galloway or Hugo Chavez to weigh in.
The Israeli press is already running circles. A fleet of Israeli sailboats from the Herziliya Marina is preparing to greet the relief convoy with banners that say HAMAS SUCKS to counter whatever humanitarian message they worry the “peace activists” might score. There’s some speculation that Israel would fare better PR by letting the aid through.
A fortuitous coincidence places White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in Israel when the blockade-runners are due to arrive. By Israel, I actually mean the Occupied Territories. Emanuel was trying to book the Western Wall for his son’s barmitzvah. Plans were changed due either to threats from the ultra-right because of US criticisms of continuing settlement building, or because US officials are prohibited from conducting personal business outside of Israel’s Green Line.
The cargo ship which sailed from Algeria today is the al-Jazair. More info on this ship as we find it.
ShiptoGaza Sweden has uploaded more pictures of the loading of the charming Sofia in Athens.
Turkey’s third convoy vessel has been identified as the massive cargo ship Defne Y (IMO: 7725518), loading in Istanbul and due to join the Gazze and Mavi Marmara in Cyprus.
Though both Israel and Hamas are accused of war crimes during last year’s Operation Cast Lead, Human Rights Watch confirms its role as US policy whip by admonishing Hamas to account for its killing of civilians, yielding the AP headline: Human rights group: Hamas targeted civilians. February 5th is the deadline imposed by the UN for both parties to respond to charges made in the Goldstone Report. Fair enough, Hamas rockets killed three residents of Sderot while the IDF killed 1,400 in Gaza. But confusion always resurfaces about Sderot, formerly the Arab town of Najd. Can settlers deliberately mobilized to occupy Sderot, be excluded as legitimate targets of their dispossessed victims? Is Israel hiding behind civilian settlers which it moves illegally to advance its hold on conquered land?
The question of Sderot’s legitimacy provokes nothing but confusion. Some Israelis claim Sderot was part of the territory which the UN set aside for a Jewish State in 1947. Maps reveal rather that Sderot was seized in the warfare which erupted when the UN decision was announced. Sderot was overrun when Israel made its unilateral declaration of statehood, when Zionist forces expanded on the initial UN proposal, and fell back to the Green Line of 1949. Thus other Israelis defend Sderot as a “post-withdrawal” and “‘Green Line’ city.” A telling concession.
Both Israeli claims on Sderot profit by the confusion that the term “occupied territories” implies lands seized by Israel since 1967. Palestinians are constantly blamed for Arafat refusing to accept a compromise that would restore the 1967 boundaries. Ignoring the Palestinians’ right of return to properties taken well before.
Palestinians can be fully in the right to reject the UN’s reapportionment of their lands. But even if everyone was forced to adhere to the UN demarcations, Sderot would not be Israel’s. The dispossessed Palestinians have a right to reject the occupation of lands stolen in the wake of refugees fleeing the onslaught, now called the Nakba.
Think you know the saga of the deleted scenes from Monty Python’s LIFE OF BRIAN? Not if you trust Wikipedia. The 1979 comedy didn’t just take the mickey out of Jesus and the feuding Palestinian Liberation fronts, it poked fun at Zionists, as goose-stepping racists led by Eric Idle’s OTTO the NAZIRENE determined to promote Jewish racial purity, carve a Lebensraum from the “traditional Jewish areas of Samaria,” displace the Samaritans into internment camps, and plan an Anschluss of Jordan to “create a great Jewish state that will last a thousand years.” My, my, my. But the defamed parties had the last laugh. They acquired the studio with the rights to the film, obliterated the offending celluloid, reedited the video release, and have rewritten cinematic history.
Maybe you don’t care what Israel has been doing to the Palestinians. Did you know someone is messing with the oeuvre of Monty Python? We had the comedy sketches memorized in college. Who could have imagined the originals would be vulnerable to tampering?
I’m not sure this is an overreaction. Monty Python is not Shakespeare, what is? But it’s not Nicholas Sparks either. For a populist phenom I say Python rivals Swift. This is book burning, is what it is — a sinister effacing of creative work. In a recent British poll, Life of Brian was in contention for England’s greatest film comedy. But for your consideration, instead of a director’s cut, we’ve got a censor’s cut.
Here’s the lowdown in brief: three integral scenes of the theatrical release were removed from the video version. The third scene was recut to make up for the absence of the first two. And a key character was stricken from the credits.
When Criterion later released a collector’s edition, the missing sequences were included in the extras as “deleted scenes.” But these scenes were represented by mangled outtakes of the originals, from which key lines remain excised. Then an official narrative was fabricated to recount how the sequences had been removed from the original version to improve the flow, the crude outtakes testifying to why they didn’t make the cut.
But that’s all bullocks –and the niggling weak spot to this digital book burning is, ironically enough, that BOOKS were published in 1979 to accompany the film’s release: a mass-market paperback of the screenplay, and an oversized Monty Python Scrapbook.
The rewrite runs afoul too of anyone who remembers seeing the film in its first release.
Not My Tribe has suffered its own internal dissension over comparing Israel to the Nazis. Apparently it’s SO not done, not even Monty Python can get away with it.
You may have revisited the video many times, now the DVD, maybe you read about the scandals about the film’s release, maybe you memorized some of the Biggus Dickus dialog; are you curious that you missed the bits about Samaria, Jordan and purified Jewish blood?
When the Catholic church objects to a movie, it declares a boycott. Zionists take a more effective strategy. When pulling funding from the project doesn’t work, they buy the rights and delete the scenes. You’d think a film as celebrated as Life of Brian would be inviolate to culture vandals. And so far the desecration has escaped the legions of Monty Python fans. Wikipedia recounts how Otto’s scenes were deleted from the film, and thankfully resurfaced to be included as outtakes on the 2007 Criterion edition. But the account is untrue.
From restored out-takes we might surmise that Jewish objection were limited to the Star of David embellished as a swastika, but from the un-restored material it seems that the modern censors objected to Zionists depicted as determined to carve their own Lebensraum in Samariaby by means of Anschluss and concentration camps, for the sake of a third Jewish reich. And what have we now happening in the Occupied Territories which Israeli settlers insist on calling their Sumaria and Judea of biblical history, and what of the open air internment of the Palestinians in Gaza. Oh My Goodness.
The Criterion edition of Monty Python’s Life of Brian has some famously restored scenes, alleged to have been cut from the original version. They’re available again, and you can see them on Youtube. But it’s Poppycock. The scenes in question were actually removed from the video release, and “lost” by the studio which took over handmade films. The deleted scenes were actually out-takes of the originals. Fortunately, the screenplay published to accompany the 1979 release has the original lines, which vary quite curiously from what’s being peddled as the restored original. Yes, the deleted scenes have deleted scenes.
If you saw the 1979 film in the theater, you might remember Otto, the Hitleresque Zionist with the curiously non-German accent. Here is the original script made from the final take. The out-take restored as “deleted scenes” stray considerably from these lines. The lines in bold have simply been simply clipped.
BRIAN slips out through the back door and descends some steps into MANDY’S garden where he sits, head in hands.
Suddenly a voice assails him.
OTTO: Hail, Leader!
BRIAN: What?
OTTO: Oh, I– I’m so sorry. Have you seen the new Leader?
BRIAN: The what?
OTTO: The new Leader. Where is the new leader? I wish to hail him. Hail, Leader. See.
BRIAN: Oh. Who are you?
OTTO: My name. Is. Otto.
BRIAN: Oh.
OTTO: Yes. Otto. It’s time, you know. . .
BRIAN: What?
OTTO: . . . Time that we Jews racially purified ourselves.
BRIAN: Oh.
OTTO: He’s right you know. The new leader. We need more living room. We must move into the traditionally Jewish areas of Samaria.
BRIAN: What about the Samaritans?
OTTO: Well, we can put them in little camps. And after Samaria we must move into Jordan and create a great Jewish state that will last a thousand years.
BRIAN: Yes, I’m not sure, but I . . .
OTTO: Oh, I grow so impatient, you know. To see the Leader that has been promised our people for centuries. The Leader who will save Israel by ridding it of the scum of non-Jewish people, making it pure, no foreigners, no gypsies, no riff-raff.
BRIAN: Shh! Otto!
OTTO: What? The Leader? Hail Leader!
BRIAN: No, no. It’s dangerous.
OTTO: Oh, danger: There’s no danger. (flicks his fingers) Men!
A phalanx of armed, rather sinister, men appear from the shadows and fall in.
OTTO: Impressive, eh?
BRIAN: Yes.
OTTO: Yes, we are a thoroughly trained suicide squad.
BRIAN: Ah-hah.
OTTO: Oh yes, we can commit suicide within twenty seconds.
BRIAN: Twenty seconds?
OTTO: You don’t believe me?
BRIAN: Well . . .Yes . . .
OTTO: I think you question me.
BRIAN: No. No.
OTTO: I can see you do not believe me.
BRIAN: No, no. I do.
OTTO: Enough. I prove it to you. Squad.
SQUAD: Hail Leader.
OTTO: Co-mmit Suicide.
They all pull out their swords with military precision and plunge them into themselves in time, falling in a big heap on the ground. Dead.
OTTO: (with pride) See.
BRIAN: Yes.
OTTO: I think now you believe me. Yes?
BRIAN: Yes.
OTTO: I think now I prove it to you, huh?
BRIAN: Yes, you certainly did.
OTTO: All dead.
BRIAN: Yes.
OTTO: Not one living.
BRIAN: No.
OTTO: You see, they are all of them quite dead. See I kick this one. He’s dead. And this one’s dead, I tread on his head. And he’s dead. And he’s dead. All good Jewish boys, no foreigners. But they died a hero’s death and their names will live forever. Helmut . . . Johnny . . . the little guy . . . er . . . the other fat one . . . their names will be remembered . . . eventually . . . forever. So now I go. Hail Leader.
BRIAN: Wait Otto. You can’t just leave them all here.
OTTO: Why not–they’re all dead.
One oh the ‘corpses’ farts. There is a giggle.
OTTO: Wait a minute. There is somebody here who is not dead. There’s somebody here who is only pretending to be dead. Stand up, you.
One of the bodies stands up sheepishly. As he does so, he stands on someone else who quite clearly says ‘Ow.’
OTTO: Who said ‘ow’? You’re not dead either. Neither are you. Stand up, stand up, all of you. Oh, my heck, is there not even one dead?!
They have all stood up averting their eyes in shame.
HELMUT: No, sir. Not one.
ADOLF: We thought it was a practice, sir.
OTTO: Oh my cock! Tomorrow, as a punishment, you will all eat–pork sausages!
There is a horrified muttering at this suggestion. OTTO turns sharply to BRIAN.
OTTO: OK. Tell the Leader that we are ready to die for him the moment he gives the sign.
BRIAN: What sign?
OTTO: The sign that is the sign, that shall be the sign. Men, forward!
OTTO’S MEN march away singing their exciting song.
OTTO’S MEN’S SONG:
There’s a man we call our Leader.
He’s fine and strong and brave,
And we’ll follow him unquestioning
Towards an early grave. He-e gives us hope of sacrifice
And a chance to die in vain,
And if we’re one of the lucky ones,
We’ll live to die again.BRIAN: Silly bugger.
A second scene involves Otto and his Nazirenes receiving the sign, as the crucifixion party departs the city gates.
JUDITH now is running through the crowded streets. She reaches some steps and climbs up onto a roof. Quickly, she opens a basket and releases a flock of pigeons.
A very STRANGE MAN is lying on a lonely hilltop. Suddenly he rouses himself, sits up and peers into the distance towards Jerusalem.
A flock of pigeons flies up against the sun.
Seeing this, the STRANGE MAN rouses himself and does an extremely odd but elaborate dance.
Further away, on an even lonelier hilltop, a pile of straw moves to reveal that it is in fact a MAN dressed in straw. He watches the STRANGE MAN’S dance closely.
STRAW LOOK-OUT: It is the sign!
Instantly OTTO appears, with all his men.
OTTO: The sign that is the sign?
LOOK-OUT: Yes!
OTTO: Men! Our time has come! Our leader calls! Men forward!
The MEN march into the wall and each other.
OTTO: Oh my cock.
Of course the omission of Otto’s gang created a problem for the film’s final scene, where his men repeat their self-sacrifice beneath the crosses. Here was the original sequence:
Suddenly PARVUS looks up. He has heard something.
OTTO and his MEN appear over the skyline.
BRIAN: Otto! (a new flicker of hope in his eyes)
OTTO: Men, charge!
They charge.
The ROMANS, seeing this formidable army bearing down on them, finger their swords rather nervously and then break and run away back towards the city gate.
BRIAN’S face lights up with renewed hope as he sees OTTO’S army advancing at the double. The army arrives under the cross, swords held aloft. The ROMANS have all run away.
OTTO: (to Brian) Leader! We salute you. Men! Die for your cause!
With immaculate precision they all run themselves through, including OTTO.
OTTO: You see. Every man a hero. They died for their country.
BRIAN: You silly sods.
For the re-edited video and subsequent DVD versions, audio voice-overs were added to explain Otto’s final charge. None of this was in the original.
–[A group of faux oriental-looking warriors come over a hill, led by their leader, King Otto. Care to venture a guess as to who they are? Yes, it’s…]
WORKER
The Judean People’s Front!PARVUS
The Judean People’s Front!OTTO
Forward all!WORKERS
Look out! The Judean People’s Front!–[The JPF stop in front of Brian’s cross.]
OTTO
Ve are the Judean People’s Front! Crack suicide squad. Suicide Squad! Attack!!!
–[drumroll]
–[They all ceremonially whip out their weapons, open a hatch in their armor, and proceed to kill themselves.]OTTO
Ungggghhh… that showed ’em, huh?BRIAN
You silly sods.
11/16
ADDENDUM:
Scan from Monty Python Scrapbook of Brian of Nazareth, (NY: Grosset & Dunlap, 1979) page 5: “Dramatis Personae, in order of appearance” lower ninth tenth of list.
Note Eric Idle as Otto, the Nazirene, evidently scrubbed from the revised credits too.
The Israel Today event changed the speakers on us, instead of the Israeli Consul General to Los Angeles, it’s the Deputy Consul Gil Artzyeli. But the act’s still on. Get to Gaylord hall sometime before noon, it’s the conference room at the Southeast corner of the Worner Center building. We’ll stand outside with our repudiation of Mr. Artzyeli’s message, then go inside to assure the discussion steers toward being honest. I found this quote by Artzyeli, addressing the Denver Jewish community earlier this year about the Gaza incursion:
“This is not a war for territory … The first war is to protect the citizens of Israel, the second war is against Iran and the third war is against lies and disinformation.”
Any takers? My first question, if I’m given the chance: Mr. Artzyeli, are you here only to speak, or will you listen?
Cyndy Kulp put together a handout for the occasion:
Human Rights Issues in “Israel Today”
Israel is a pariah nation condemned by the UN and much of the international community for its multiple violations of international human rights law, including:
• Continuing the occupation of the Palestinian people
• Building housing settlements on confiscated land
• Seizing additional land and property from Palestinians to build “The Wall”, highways for the exclusive use of Israelis, and military areas, etc.
• Using extremely disproportionate and indiscriminate force in the invasion of the Gaza Strip during “Operation Cast Lead” in Dec. 2008
• Inflicting heavy casualties on Palestinians, many civilians and children with no way to escape the bombing
• Refusing to compensate the 5.8 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants who were displaced from their homes and properties during 1948
Israeli Diplomats, like our speaker today, should not be given a public platform from which to promote their views as long as they refuse to recognize and cooperate with international laws.
HERE ARE FURTHER DETAILS:
? In June 1967, the Israeli military invaded the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. These areas of historic Palestine under military control are the “Occupied Territories,” comprising some 3.5 million Palestinians, and they are systematically being incorporated into the state of Israel in violation of international law.
? Life under occupation is very harsh. The Palestinians have virtually no human or civil rights. Unemployment is rampant. In order to go about their daily lives, the people in the Occupied Territories must line up and go through multiple checkpoints manned by the Israeli army. Proper paperwork, including Palestinian ID’s, and permits are required to pass through, and many people are denied entry, even into East Jerusalem which is Palestinian territory and home to many hospitals, schools, and employers.
? Israel has built 200+ settlements in the West Bank, and over 400,000 Israelis have moved onto Palestinian land. Many of the settlers are armed and aggressive extremists, and their actions are regularly protected by Israeli Defense Forces.
? Israel has seized a majority of the West Bank land as military bases, settlements, security areas, “land reserves,” by-pass roads linking settlements with Israel, and other areas forbidden to Palestinians. Palestinians are confined to small fragmented areas resembling Bantustans in an Israeli version of Apartheid.
?? Israel’s sovereignty in Jerusalem is questioned by the international community, and contrary to what the Israelis would like you to believe, Jerusalem does not belong to Israel. This is why other nations have their embassies in Tel Aviv instead.
? East Jerusalem was declared as an occupied territory in UN Security Council Resolution 242 which specifically emphasized the “inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war.” Yet Israel continues to seize homes and land and allow Israeli settlers to move into East Jerusalem.
? Over 10,000 Palestinian homes have been destroyed, leaving 30,000 people homeless. Housing demolitions and displacement are common for Palestinian families, and they are powerless to protect their properties or get legal permission to build homes.
? The Gaza strip remains under siege today. Despite the withdrawal of Israeli settlers in 2005, Israel still controls entry into Gaza. People cannot leave and cannot get the goods and services they need. They are literally locked into a ghetto.
? In Dec. 2008, Israel invaded the Gaza strip, causing massive destruction and Palestinian causalities. The vast majority of the Palestinians killed in Israel’s operation were innocent civilians rather than combatants, according to a new report by B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization. Of the 1,387 deaths, 773 were non combatants. 320 of these were under the age of 18, and 109 were women.
? Nine Israelis were killed during the Gaza war — four by rocket fire on southern Israel, including three civilians and one soldier, while the other five were soldiers killed in combat, primarily from “friendly fire” incidents.
? The Goldstone Report which investigated the Gaza Invasion for the UN concluded that both Israel and the Palestinians had committed violations of International Law, but that Israel because of it’s huge army and sophisticated weaponry was more culpable and guilty of Crimes Against Humanity in it’s 2008/09 Gaza onslaught.
? U.S. aid has made Israel’s army one of the most powerful military forces in the world. Israel is using U.S. F-16 fighters and Apache helicopters in attacks against Palestinian civilians. This violates the U.S. Foreign Arms Export Act. Over $3 billion in US foreign aid is given to Israel, and most of it is used for military operations.
There Will Be No Security For ISRAEL Until There Is Justice For PALESTINE.
Resources For more information:
• Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
• B’tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
• Bethlehem University
• Mazin Qumsiyeh
• Machsom Watch
• Breaking the Silence
• Women in Black
• Sabeel• US Campaign to End the Occupation
–END THE OCCUPATION
–COMPLY WITH INTERNATIONAL LAWS
–FREEZE SETTLEMENTS
–NEGOTIATE AN EQUITABLE SOLUTION ON LAND AND WATERThe US claims to be an “honest broker” –fair to both sides– in the so-called peace process. At the same time, the U.S. proclaimed itself the unswerving ally of Israel. These roles are contradictory. Massive U.S. aid funds the occupation. Since 1949, the U.S. has given Israel well over $100 billion in grants, loans and other assistance. This amounts to over $15,000 per Israeli citizen. ?
A genuine peace with a minimum of justice requires an independent and viable Palestinian state on the territories occupied by Israel in 1967 (West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem). Jerusalem should be shared as the capital of both Israel and Palestine. Palestine should be an equal neighbor alongside Israel with peace and security for both peoples. ?
DENVER- Israeli PR envoy Uzi Landau addressed CU Denver students today, the majority of whom were antagonistic to his message. Denver policemen lined the walls, altar and choir loft, as Landau went on about the mortal threat which “extremist” Islam poses to Judeo-Christian civilization. Landau likened Iran to Nazi Germany and Ahmadinejad to Hitler, but had no comparison for the nefarious and subversive terror plots which Iran has been foisting on the free world. I’m thinking perhaps, like the CIA or Mossad?
Landau entered the room strangely like a Mafia don, flanked by an entourage of black coats and security. A well dressed man and a woman who an hour earlier had been loitering behind me as I protested outside, and whom I took to be Russian when I heard them speak to each other, now appeared as part of Landau’s party.
Due to the sudden snowfall, the campus closed for the afternoon. As a result, the turnout for Landau’s speech was sparse. The security detail of Denver and campus police officers which subjected attendees to metal detectors and bag searches, and kept vigil from the sidelines, would have been disproportionate even if all the seats had been filled. One got the impression that law enforcement were there to assure the audience stayed awake and respectful. Policemen could be seen conspicuously conferring about the seating area occupied by activist Glenn Spagnuolo and his colleagues. When Glenn rose and walked forward to queue for the microphone, a handful of the officers adjusted their positions accordingly.
Glenn was responsible for pulling together voices to oppose Uzi Landau’s appearance. Glenn had a personal connection to Landau, having worked in the occupied territories like Rachel Corrie, and knew the activist who was ultimately killed by a bulldozer working under orders of Uzi Landau. Subsequent to that event, Glenn was deported to Jordan.
When Glenn announced the protest against Landau’s visit, the CU organizers were faced with additional security costs, for which they had no budget. Attempts were made to negotiate calling off the protest. Ultimately the Israeli embassy fronted the funds for the added police.
You might ask, against whom were the officers protecting Uzi Landau? Considering audience members had already been search for weapons, were the police trying to prevent a citizen’s arrest?
The good news, Israeli PR envoy Uzi Landau is not a very good speaker. His heavy accent and habit of letting his voice trail off confident the audience is hanging on his words, makes Landau a fortuitous emissary for those cheering against a military attack upon Iran. The bad news is that landau is as far right as they come, and if he’s reaching sympathetic ears, there are too many racist Americans without any understanding of international law.
I was surprised to discover that this Israeli minister’s talking points were no more nuanced than the flack we receive at this website from IDF Internet Megaphone trolls. Landau reflected the same disrespect for the people from whom lands were taken, and are still being taken. He argued that soldiers must be permitted to target insurgents regardless the civilian casualties.
Landau spoke confidently without batting an eye about the plight of Palestinians. He justified increased Israeli settlements based on Israel’s better record of land stewardship, and of course, he argued that anti-Semitism nugget: why should there be any lands forbidden to Jews? Specifically, to paraphrase: “If Israel can be 20% Palestinian, why cannot the Occupied Territories be 20% Jewish?”
Because Israel then builds walls around settlements and claims more land.
To his credit, Uzi Landau was entertainingly pugilistic in his response to audience questions. Instead of ignoring comments being made out of turn, he took them on, so confident and self-righteous he was about Israel’s actions. Even in Gaza, even in the context of over 60 years of occupation. But to Landau, the Palestinian Problem is dismissed easily. Palestinians don’t exist. They didn’t exist, they didn’t accept the offers of statehood when given the chance, their opportunity past, they never were.
Landau accused his detractors of offering no facts. He, on the other hand, came equipped with facts. One fact of his, from history: Even before it was declared a Jewish nation by the UN, the land of Israel had been in continuous possession of the Jews. So called “Palestinians” only came to the area for the jobs the Israelis offered them.
One of the best questions posed had to do with borders. If G-d promised the holy land to the Jews, which land was that precisely, as defined by what borders? For example, the UN granted land to inaugurate the nation of Israel. It didn’t include Jerusalem, nor much of to what Israel is laying claim. Does the “promised land” encompass more than Israel has even now? What can be the expected boundaries of Israel’s assumed birthright?
Dr. Landau didn’t dwell long on this polemic, except to say with a smile: “that will depend on our neighbors.”
The current leadership of the Czech Republic has been defeated by opposition parties, but corporate US and UK news outlets aren’t reporting the whole of why it happened. Global Network activist and hunger striker, Jan Tamas writes from Prague:
Dear friends,
I am very happy to announce that the Czech government has fallen. The Parliament voted the no-confidence. For us it is a great victory: we knew that the only way to stop the installation of the US radar base was the fall of the government and we worked for more than 2 years in this direction with permanence and coherence.A government that represented the interests of the US military industry has fallen.
Our work has been fundamental in encouraging the members of the Parliament who already were against the radar and to spread doubts in the ones who were in favor. And it was just the change of mind of some deputies that made the fall of the government possible.
On the other hand, pressed by the hunger strike, the Social-Democratic Party had to take a clear position supporting us and this will make it more difficult for them in the future to change their opinion about the radar. The collaboration with the Communist Party, that has always supported our initiatives, has been decisive as well.
Thanks to all of you for the support you gave us in many activities, support that was critical.
Thanks to all the pacifist organizations, thanks to the members of the European Parliament who believed in our fight, thanks to the mayors of different countries, thanks to the Humanist Movement, that allowed this protest to expand to many European countries and to reach other continents.
A great space should be given to this news. Now the US must rearrange their plans because of the protest of a people who don’t want foreign troops on this territory.
And the invading armies should withdraw from all the occupied territories of the world.
Now it is necessary to develop a strong opposition to the “Star Wars” and in favor of the nuclear disarmament also in other countries.
Now in the Czech Republic a new chapter of our struggle begins.
A strong hug
Jan Tamas
Prague, Czech Republic
On March 2, 2009, the Israeli advocacy group Peace Now issued a report saying that the Israeli housing ministry plans to build 73,000 housing units in the West Bank. Peace Now said 15,000 of these units had already been approved, with another 58,000 awaiting approval. This article continues at The Settler Question- What Israeli Peace Process?
They talk two state solution even as they dismantle Arab neighborhoods. They talk Peace, even as they insure that there will be more war. Always they build racism instead of coexistence. That simply is Israel at work today, as it slowly builds toward more future conflict in the Middle East. The Jewish State doesn’t want Peace, since it simply wants still more Palestinian land.
Here in this cartoon above, is how the Jewish State Zionist flock see themselves as victims who are prevented from finding a ‘peaceful solution’ to the Jewish State-Palestinian conflict. So just what is their proposed ‘solution’ then?
There are 3 ‘solutions’ to the finding ‘peace’ for the Israeli-Palestinians conflict. The 2 most openly discussed ‘solutions’ are usually termed the ‘One State Solution’ where Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews would live in one state where both would have equal rights together. And the other well-known proposal is called the ‘Two State Solution’, and is supported by those who posit that neither group could get along with the other in a single territory or state, so that two separate states must be created to then live side by side with each other. But there is yet another ‘solution’ for the conflict that the actual Israeli government has been covertly supporting for decades now.
This third ‘solution’ should be called the ‘Final Solution’ in my opinion, because it is seen as just that by the Israeli government itself. That ‘Final Solution’ advocated by the Israeli government, is that all Palestinians must be forced out of the Occupied Territories and other areas that Jewish people covet, and forced to live in the surrounding Arab countries. Obviously ethnic cleansing must occur for the ‘Final Solution’ to ever be fully implemented, just as ethnic cleansing was needed in the first place for the original establishment of the Jewish State over Palestine to have occurred.
See just who inside Israel advocates this ‘Final Solution’ to be implemented against the Palestinians… Israel’s Likud resists “two-state” commitment or the ‘One State Solution’ for that matter. That leaves only the ‘Final Solution’ that will satisfy the Jewish State crowd. It is pretty straight forward what they actually want.
Obama won the presidency based on the fact that most Americans found him to be credible on his promise to get US troops out of Iraq, whereas they didn’t think John McCain had any commitment to do so. They got tricked and it appears that Obama today will merely restate the Bush promise to the Iraqi puppet government to get US troops out of Iraq by January 1, 2012. Look for numerous press reports to misstate that Obama is actually going to do nothing new in a manner similar to this one… Obama to Announce U.S. Troop Withdrawal in Iraq …Read the details and you can see that it is basically the Bush plan gift re-wrapped for more liberal Democratic Party voters acceptance of it!
What can be seen by this continued glue to the Bush program in regards to Iraq, is that the Democrats have no confidence that Iraq will not fall into a fight for power the minute US troops leave. The puppet government is that unstable, and in fact there are real and credible fears that civil war might now break out even with US troops still inside the country. Simply put, Barack Obama is fearful of changing Bush’s game plans for Iraq, so he’s sticking to the basic Republican program and sugar coating for his unmotivated Democratic Party constituency.
Yes, the Democratic Party ‘Peace’crats have kept the lid on all protest coming from their groups nationwide. The national coalition of these votes, the UFPJ (United for Peace and Justice) are refusing to unite with ANSWER in calling for Spring demonstrations. They simply really don”t want them with Abraham Obama in office…. he’s going to free the White Middle Class liberals from their slavery under Rush Limbaugh and Fox News!
Not only is Obama sticking with the Bush program directly promising to keep US troops in Iraq until 2012, he continues to carry out the Bush-Cheney game plan by expanding occupation in Afghanistan, and aggressively threatening Iran and Syria with war. Add to that the Democratic Party in no way has changed from giving Israel green light to continue their ethnic cleansing program against the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and elsewhere (inside Israel itself). Meanwhile the ‘Peace’crats stand around with their thumbs up their asses and mumbling CHANGE… SPARE CHANGE, PLEASE. It’s very sad to see people debase themselves in this manner.
One can only feel sorry for the Iraqi population, too. They have no guarantee that the US under Barack Obama as CIC will actually stick to the promises to get out by 2012. All sorts of excuses to justify the idea that that cannot be actually done when the time comes can be made up under the usual fire of events, and Barack Obama is just the man in the US Presidency to do just exactly that. Three years from now? Well the US under this plan most likely will still be inside Iraq like glue. The US government and military simply didn’t build all their forts and Embassy Closed Gates without a desire to stick around. Barack is their guy, and when stability begins to crumble with his limited pull out, you can pretty much guess that the ‘plans’ will get changed once again. It’s simply stupid to trust the Democratic Party with much of anything other than their own going plans to collaborate with the Republican Party in running the World on behalf of American corporate power.
Also see… Orwell in Babylon- Obama’s Non-Withdrawal Withdrawal Plan ….By CHRIS FLOYD at antiwar.com
Obama is covering up for George Bush’s Administration use of torture as policy. He wants to have it both ways, first claiming that he is changing policy, then in engaging in the old policies of ‘rendition’ and coverup of torture of POWs held by the US military. But there is yet another coverup underway, and that is how Obama is covering up for George Bush’s illegal support for the illegal actions of Israel in Gaza and elsewhere (remember Lebanon?). He may want to repeat the same under his own Administration? From MSNBC:
Obama administration defending Bush secrets.
You see, Obama’s Administration is all about coverups and trying to put a new face on the same old policies of the Republican Party, whether it be with his domestic or his foreign policies. Pretending to leave Iraq yet staying there. Pretending to stop US government made torture, yet continuing to engage in all the activities that use it (occupations of Afghanistan, attacks on Pakistan, continued worship of the military-industrial complex’s God GWOT). Obama is clearly one of the most duplicitous presidents the US has ever had. He is continuing the Federal Government give away’s to the corporate world, too.
And Number One on Obama’s coverup foreign agenda is continued coverup of what the Israeli game plan is all about, simply because it is the US government game plan also. Obama is continuing Cheney’s and the neocon’s program of trying to restructure the entire Middle East into a more compliant region for continued US domination and control of the peoples and the natural resources of the region. Oil is still the name of the game and Israel is still the US bulldog enforcer.
Obama needs to cover for Israel’s crimes since he plans to use their crimes to help further the US government’s own crimes. The US under Barack Obama is firmly on the side of Israel’s ethnic cleansing program in both Israel proper and in the Occupied Territories, and these are Obama’s coverups of the Bush Administration as much as how he is trying to coverup for Bush by keeping torture records secret, keeping executive privilege intact, and so on. There is no change beyond the superficial change of faces and parties in the White House.
Military-industrial war games shall continue and Barack will now direct them. Just don’t buy these Obama coverups if you want real change to ever occur? Don’t let him coverup for the use of torture nor the use of Israel’s military machine.
I’d like to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27, with this photograph of modern day Israelis, who came to a hilltop overlooking Gaza to watch the IDF soldiers do their work.
I’ve yet to encounter a WWII photograph of German citizens cheerleading as their soldiers rampaged through their neighbors’ homes.
Of course, this situation is different. These Israelis are hoping to settle, or resume their illegal settlements, the occupied territories, as soon as enough of the Palestinians are driven out or exterminated.
Jewish survivors of the Holocaust vow “never again,” but it only applies to them.
Jewish leaders object to Nazi imagery at rallies. Avner Shalev, chairman of the Yad Vashem museum and memorial, called for the Holocaust to be left out of contemporary political discourse.
Is that rich?! There’s not a day goes by that Holocaust Remembrance isn’t in the news, propagated by Israel’s constant PR campaign. Google “Holocaust” for news items. There are remembrance press releases every news day.
“It is legitimate to constructively criticize the policies of any nation, including Israel. However, the baseless use of Holocaust imagery and terminology as a weapon against Israel has incited a tangible surge of anti-Semitism,” he said. “That is the danger inherent when people cynically use the Holocaust to distort a present political conflict.”
Is it really anti-Semitic to condemn the inhumanity of the Zionists? Does Judaism condone ethnic cleansing? If Israel doesn’t want to be compared to the Nazis, it should stop exterminating the Palestinians. What fucking gall.
The Nazis had a word for their anti-Fascist critics. They called them Communists. That’s why they had the support of industrialists, even Jewish industrialists, and the ruling classes. But sympathy for the barbaric Third Reich quickly wore thin.
Recent events only suggest to me that the Nazis lagged behind today’s Zionists. They lacked the technology. Do you think they would have dicked around with train schedules and relocation ruses if they’d had white phosphorous, free access to the entire US arsenal, and an international community indifferent to the fate of their victims?
Thousands of Israelis protest against the war in Gaza seen here on youtube. Great video of this demonstration! Great demonstration by heroic people in Tel Aviv! Contrast these decent people with the Democratic Party here at home, who are acting in the Senate and House to rubber stamp Israel’s death and destruction against the mainly civilian Palestinians living in Gaza.
This Saturday Democratic Governor of Colorado will be appearing at the Colorado Springs downtown library with the new Colorado State Democratic Party Senator he just appointed. Be there to tell them about how you feel about their party promoting violence and terror against innocent people in the Occupied Territories, and that you want the Democratic Party to stop all these horrible wars they are responsible for along with their Republican buddies.
Get there about 11 AM with signs, and raise your voices to let them hear that Americans are sick of their bloody wars! If Israeli Jews can speak out against the thug supporters of their own government, then so can you do the same in the US!
These Reuters photos show the suffering on both sides.
“The Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip represent severe and massive violations of international humanitarian law as defined in the Geneva Convention, both in regard to the obligations of an occupying power and in the requirements of the laws of war.” Written by Professor Richard Falk, United Nations Special Investigator for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.
The entire commentary by the UN Special Investigator for Human Rights can be read at ‘Israeli air strikes represent massive violations of international law’
Unfortunately the United Nations is well known for giving lip service to international law while helping super powers violate it. Such is the case now with Gaza, too.
It is a sad state for the world Jewish community to now be about the leading group of racists in the world these days.
Quite simply, Jewish Israel refuses to give equal rights to its Arab population, continues an occupation of Arab Lands with the goal of annexing them, puts Arabs in the occupied territories into ghettos, and runs continual racist pogroms targeting for murder and injury the Arabs under Jewish domination. See Haaretz.com for the latest.. Palestinians: IDF troops wound 9 at boy’s funeral in West Bank They had already murdered the 11 year old boy, but that was not enough for the racist troops of Israel.
What is this Zionism then? The word is RACISM. Racist terrorism like that practiced by Israel and the US breeds a countering terrorism. The Japanese and Germans learned that the hard way in WW2 when the US and its allies responded to racist fascist terrorism by in turn terrorizing German and Japanese civilians.
“The more Qassam fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, they will bring upon themselves a bigger shoah because we will use all our might to defend ourselves.”
-Matan Vilnai, Israeli Deputy Defense Minister, Feb 29, 2008
Normally the term Shoah, Hebrew for Holocaust, is reserved by Zionists to designate the Nazi extermination of the Jews, there being no genocide ne plus ultra. Could Vilnai’s threat have been more than a Freudian Slip?
Jewish spokesmen still spin Ahmadinejad’s “wipe Israel from the map” mistranslation, but cry foul that their boy was not just misinterpreted but that Israel was libeled. They insist if Vilnai had meant Holocaust, he would have said HaShoah. Shoah versus HaShoah? You be the judge.
(Yom HaShoah means Holocaust Remembrance Day. Shoah is capitalized everywhere online, except in recent newspaper reports, including Reuters, which is perhaps an effort to re-assert the old Hebrew meaning of “calamity.”)
What has Israel been perpetrating against the Occupied Territories, but wiping the Palestinian Question from the map?