Life in the Bubble: At Home in the Israeli Settler State

Life in the Bubble: At Home in the Israeli Settler State

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Viva Palestina Ireland to Gaza - a report

Viva Palestina Ireland to Gaza - a report
Well folks, the great news to report to you all is that the “Viva
Palestina” Humanitarian Aid Convoy safely reached Gaza and delivered
all their aid. On January 6 th , 517 humanitarians from 20 countries,
in close to 200 vehicles, crossed through the Rafah Border into Gaza .
The scenes greeting us as we made our way to Gaza city were
unbelievable. Over 100,000 lined the roads and streets as we took 3
hours to drive 20 kilometres. They had waited patiently on us for us
for weeks, and their outpouring of excitement and gratitude was the
most humbling experience in my life. They are the real heroes, not us.
[...]
Everyone was shocked, and totally dismayed by
Egypt 's new rules.

1. We were to hand over all our vehicles and aid to the United Nations
Relief Agency.

2. Drive back up to Syria , put all our vehicles on a boat and sail it
to El Arish Port. We were to take a ferry or fly.

3. We were to ask Israel for permission to cross from Egypt into Gaza .

[...]
Plus, 30 of us joined is a hunger strike along with many others in
Cairo who were part of a Gaza Freedom March that was banned from
entering Gaza . Over 1,300 people from all over the world had arrived
in Cairo only to be told they would not be allowed in. Among the
hunger strikers in Cairo , was Hedy Epstein, a 85 year old Holocaust
survivor.
[...]
Together we fasted for 40 hours until word came through that a deal
had been struck. Egypt was going to allow the whole convoy a safe
passage into Gaza if we travelled from Syria .
We would not have to hand it over to the UN, and we would not to ask
Israel for permission to cross. (Like we were going to…)
[...]

Having arrived at El Arish airport, a full scale commotion was going
on as the airport officials “lost” 5 passports. As our noise got
louder, 1 by 1 the passports mysteriously re appeared…… After 8 hours
in the airport, we were bussed to the compound at the port where all
our vehicles and all the convoy members were gathered.

Little did we all know what was in store for us later on that night.
During discussions with the head of the I.H.H. charity, a Turkish M.P.
representing the Government, and George Galloway, Egyptian officials
reneged on their previous deal, and where now denying entry to 59
vehicles. Then, they stood up and walked out to make a phone call. 15
minutes later they looked out the window and the compound was
surrounded by 2,000 riot police and soldiers. This was developing into
a very tense situation.

Hundreds of convoy members went to the main gates and staged a
peaceful protest. We all linked arms at the front, and at various
times, sat down for long spells. The Muslim men gathered in deep
prayer, and the atmosphere was very calm.
However, things changed for the worse after a few hours whenever we
were attacked by stone throwers from behind police lines. They fired
tear gas on us, water cannoned us, threw sand in our faces, and then
baton charged us. It was a very scary moment, and I was lucky enough
to escape any blows. As everyone was getting pushed back into the
compound, stones and bricks followed after them from the police lines.
A full scale riot raged for the next 10 minutes as stones and bricks
rained from both sides of the wall.
[...]
People were very frightened, and with just cause. The sight of people
injured was not a pretty one, believe me.
[...]

That evening, I went to the Gaza Sporting Club. This is the club I
presented jerseys to before, and this evening I was back with more!
This also marked the occasion where I formally established a Gaza GAA
club within their structures. I presented them with a set of jerseys
that had been donated by Peter Canavan's school, The Holy Trinity in
Cookstown.

It was a very proud moment, and one for the history books.
They presented me with a plaque, and 3 club jerseys. It was a fairly
emotional meeting for sure. Very soon, children in Gaza will be
playing Gaelic football, and will be kicking points like Peter!!

During our meeting, a loud explosion was heard in the distant.

The curtains in our room blew in and then out with the blast. At this
point, our evening was cut short and we returned to the safety of our
hotel. It was a very tense feeling, and word came through that it was
a F16 attack and that 1 man had been killed. In another attack near
the border, 2 more were killed in F16 attacks. This was a cold
reminder to all about the daily fear everyone lives with in Gaza .
These attacks are designed to keep on letting everyone in Gaza know
that they can be hit at anytime, for no reason at all. Just living in
Gaza makes you a target.

The following morning, we were all advised to head straight to the
border. Everyone packed up, and after many tearful farewells, 517
people made their way to the Rafah Border.
[...]
We were made to wait for 8 hours, and then when we had passed through
immigration, we were all loaded onto buses and taken directly to Cairo
Airport . Here, each and every one of us was “Deported” from Egypt .
This was our final thanks for having brought humanitarian aid to the
suffering people in Gaza . For all of us, it is a badge of honour.
Where else in the world would you be deported for having completed an
act of charity? The mind boggles……..
Egypt can hold their heads in shame for what they did to us. Making us
endure a 13 day detour, attacking us, and then deporting us, was some
reception from a supposed friend of the west. Then, they announce that
they will never allow another convoy of aid to pass through their land
for Gaza . They have a big heart, and their generosity knows no
bounds.
The British Embassy in Cairo did nothing for their citizens,
and the US did even less.
The Irish Embassy did more than every other Embassy put together. From the moment we landed in ElArish, they were making up to 5 calls a day to us to make sure we were all ok. They also made several calls for our safety to the Egyptian Government.

Michael Martin also called to offer his support. Once again, Ireland
stood up for its citizens and for the Palestinians. We were truly
grateful for this support and constant contact.

[...]
Together, we all made it happen, and the people in Gaza love and
respect everyone for having shown the courage to speak up for them.
They will never forget this convoy, that's for sure……

Tyrone To Gaza

John Hurson

Five NATO members want US nukes out of Europe

Five NATO members want US nukes out of Europe

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 01:36:55 GMT

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Former NATO chief Willy Claes also calls for new adaption of nuclear policy in Europe

Five NATO member states want the United States to remove all its nuclear weapons, mostly deployed during the Cold War, from Europe.

NATO members Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Norway are expected to make the request "in the coming weeks."

The five argue that the "nuclear arms on European soil belonging to other NATO member states are removed," said a spokesman for Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme.

Former NATO secretary general, Willy Claes, has also called for the withdrawal of US nukes from Europe. However, current NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen has cautioned European nations against rushing to clear themselves of US weapons, AFP reported.

Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands are believed to hold some of the roughly 200 US nuclear weapons that remain in Europe. However, most of the nukes are estimated to be in Italy and Turkey.

At the height of tension with the then-Soviet Union, the United States reportedly fielded thousands of such armaments throughout the continent.

Kuwaiti envoy: Persian Gulf name, irreversible

Kuwaiti envoy: Persian Gulf name, irreversible

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 07:37:02 GMT

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The false use of "Arabian Gulf" instead of "Persian Gulf" has developed the sensitivity of all Iranians across the world.

The Kuwaiti envoy to Tehran says the historical and geographical name of the Persian Gulf is irreversible and no body reserves the right to deny Iranians their right.

"History is clear and the name of this sea has been Persian Gulf since the old days. The name of Persian Gulf has been written down on various geographical maps and no body can change it," Kuwaiti Ambassador to Tehran, Majdi Ahmad Ebrahim al-Zafiri told reporters in Bushehr, according to Mehr.

"The distortion of Persian Gulf's name was conducted by a particular Egyptian tribe with political intentions; therefore such a historical issue does not require sensitivity and the Persian Gulf remains Persian Gulf for good," the Kuwaiti official asserted.

UK official: We knew about Mossad assassination plot

"There was no British involvement and they didn't know the name of the target. But they were told these people were traveling on UK passports," the Daily Mail quoted the British security source as saying.

U.S. Lawmakers Blast Boycott of J Street Delegation in Israel

by Barak Ravid and Natasha Mozgovaya

Five U.S. Congressmen on a visit here, which the left-wing American advocacy group J Street initiated, yesterday held a news conference in Tel Aviv to demand an official explanation for an apparent snub by Danny Ayalon, deputy foreign minister.

Congressman Bill Delahunt (D-MA), left, delivers a speech as Donald Payne (D-NJ), Bob Filner (D-CA), Lois Capps(D-CA), Mary Jo Kilroy(D-OH), Executive Director of J Street Jeremy Ben Ami, and Warren Clark of Churches for Middle East Peace listen during a press conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010. Delahunt is touring the region with a congressional delegation hosted by J Street, a liberal Jewish lobbying group that describes itself as pro-Israel and pro-peace. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Tension between the Foreign Ministry and J Street was believed to be behind the unprecedented diplomatic rift between Israel and the U.S. Congress.

"It was with real surprise and disappointment that we read a headline in this morning's newspaper saying 'Foreign Ministry boycotts members of Congress,'" said Rep. William Delahunt (D-Massachusetts), who heads the delegation.

Britain, Ireland presses Israel over Hamas murder row

LONDON (AFP) – Britain and Ireland called in Israel's envoys on Thursday amid a growing diplomatic furore over the use of fake passports by the killers of a Hamas chief.

Israel's ambassador to London, Ron Prosor, was asked to meet with a senior official at the Foreign Office, the day after Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for a "full investigation" into the passports row.

Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin called in Israel's envoy for talks, saying he regarded the use of false Irish passports as "an extremely serious incident".

"We are putting pretty direct questions and seeking assistance and clarification. We want to get answers as quickly as we possibly can," added Martin.

Diplomatic tensions have mounted over the killing of Mahmud al-Mabhuh last month in a luxury Dubai hotel, ever since the emirate's police chief revealed that 11 European passport holders were allegedly involved. Austria is now investigating whether Austrian telephones were used to plan the killing

Britons had passport details stolen by ‘Mossad death squad’

British authorities are investigating how six British nationals apparently had their identities stolen by suspected Mossad agents on a mission to assassinate a Hamas leader in Dubai.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirmed that the identities used by six members of the 11-strong hit squad were those of real British passport holders living in Israel. “We believe the passports used were fraudulent, and have begun our own investigation,” a spokesman said.

Weaping for Palestine ; Why is israel called "The only democracy of mideast"

[...]

He told DCI: " .. I feel scared whenever I remember what happened to me ... it might happen to me again ... they threatened to kill me or lock me up."

Welcome to "the only democratic country in the Middle East."

"The holocaust promised by Vilnai was released on 27th December 2008 ... Military and some other Rabbis encouraged attacks on the civilian population", notes Halpin. Further, the assault began during Hannukkah, the eight day Jewish religious Feast of Dedication, or Festival of Lights. Named "Operation Cast Lead", this alluded to " a dreidel, a four sided spinning top, with a Hebrew letter on each side (a) game of chance played by families during the festival."

"Over two hundred people were killed in the first fifteen minutes of the bombardment." They included schoolchildren "as packed schools" were changing shifts; in the same time frame, all of the Civil Defence centres were destroyed, rendering ambulance co-ordination beyond challenging. Ambulances and medical personnel were challenged, breaching the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Nuremberg Principles, as a war of choice and aggression, the supreme war crime"from which all other crimes flow." Halpin includes here reports from journalist Eva Jasiewicz. ( www.tiny.cc/hauGI)

"Most of the five hundred pages of the Goldstone Report to the UN Human Rights Commission focus on Israeli actions." These "actions" include the fate of the Samouni family. Fleeing the bombardment: "They were ... herded in to a basement in their dozens. The building was then shelled. Ambulances were prevented from going to the dead and wounded for two days. A live child lay alongside a dead parent."

"Goldstone (states) in no uncertain terms that Gaza was not an aberration in Israel's treatment of the Palestinians", writes Halpin, adding that the former Judge Richard Goldstone's Report concludes that a "collective penalty" was inflicted upon Gaza's people, amounting to "intimidation and terror."

This from a man described by his daughter as: " A Zionist who loves Israel."

"Israel could and would not, have engaged in the level of wholesale destruction ... without the support of the outgoing Bush Administration and acquiescence of the incoming Obama" one, comments Halpin, adding "and not without full UK and EU support." (see www.tiny.cc/IHzUG)

[...]

VIVA Palestyna updates

News Update - 5 February 2010

Friends,

Events have been moving fast since the convoy's return from Gaza. In addition to the good news that the two convoy members who stayed behind in Gaza are now safely back following intensive efforts to secure their return, here are a couple of further updates.

Viva Palestina US held two very successful meetings in New York and in Boston last weekend, raising around $60,000. In addition, the American Friends of Palestine held a fundraising in New Jersey which raised over $100,000. It is particularly signficant that despite attempts in the US to whip up hostility against solidarity with the Palestinians and against Viva Palestina, on account of its high profile, that these events were packed out. There was great enthusiasm for two upcoming initiatives.

Dubai to issue arrest warrant for Netanyahu if Mossad behind Hamas killing

Dubai to issue arrest warrant for Netanyahu if Mossad behind Hamas killing

Dubai is to issue an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, if investigators conclude that the Mossad intelligence service was behind the killing of a senior Hamas official in the emirate last month.

Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Dubai's police chief, claimed that the dead man was killed using methods known to be employed by Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence agency. He added that Mr Netanyahu would be held personally responsible if Mossad was identified as the culprit.

CODEPINK invites to march

JOIN US IN DC IN MARCH 2010!

March is an exciting time to take action for peace in Washington DC and we hope you will join us for all or part of the month!

We’ll kick off the month with a national training and lobby day for justice in Palestine and Israel and a celebration of International Women’s Day, and then add a powerful PINK presence at events occurring around the 7th Anniversary of the War in Iraq later in the month. We hope to have a great PINK showing across DC in March! Sign up below to join us in DC!

Bellow is a list of dates and actions/events. We encourage you to come to DC and stay for as many of these as possible. A red star denotes a required field.

Housing info: If you are from out of town, you are responsible for finding lodging while in DC. You can post your housing needs, look for available housing, or offer housing, by visiting our Housing Board (check back soon - will be updated by February 7). The Pink House will be closed on March 1, 2010. The Grassroots Advocacy Training will have a block of hotel rooms reserved, which you can find out more about once you register through Interfaith Peace Builders.

In order to plan ahead, please fill out the following form:

Poll of Republicans Met With Shock, Skepticism

(Feb. 3) -- Most Republicans think Barack Obama is a socialist and Sarah Palin is more qualified than him to be president. Most either think Obama wasn't born in the U.S. or aren't sure. Nearly 40 percent want him impeached. Those are a few of the results in a Daily Kos poll that's shaking up the blogosphere.

A few more nuggets from the poll:

• 21 percent believe the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) stole the 2008 election and 55 percent aren't sure.
• 31 percent believe Obama is a racist who hates white people and 33 percent aren't sure.
• 23 percent want their state to secede from the U.S. and 19 percent aren't sure.
• Only 26 percent favor letting openly gay Americans serve in the military.
• 67 percent believe the only way to get to heaven is through Jesus Christ.

israel's dreamed borders , israel is an illusion it is an empty dream

GEORGE MITCHELL looks like a kangaroo hopping around with an empty pouch.

Decades of experience indicate that negotiations are useless if one of the parties is not interested in an agreement. Worse: negotiations can actually cause damage when one of the parties uses them to waste time while creating a false impression of progress towards peace.

In our conflict, peace negotiations have become a substitute for peace, a means to obstruct peace. They are an instrument used by successive Israeli governments to gain time – time to enlarge the settlements and entrench the occupation

Israel Moves Closer to Hook-up With NATO

Rabbinic Text or Call to Terror?

Rabbinic Text or Call to Terror?

By Daniel Estrin

January 22, 2010 "The Forward" - -January 20, 2010 - Jerusalem — The marble-patterned, hardcover book embossed with gold Hebrew letters looks like any other religious commentary you’d find in an Orthodox Judaica bookstore — but reads like a rabbinic instruction manual outlining acceptable scenarios for killing non-Jewish babies, children and adults.

“The prohibition ‘Thou Shalt Not Murder’” applies only “to a Jew who kills a Jew,” write Rabbis Yitzhak Shapira and Yosef Elitzur of the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar. Non-Jews are “uncompassionate by nature” and attacks on them “curb their evil inclination,” while babies and children of Israel’s enemies may be killed since “it is clear that they will grow to harm us.”

“The King’s Torah (Torat Hamelech), Part One: Laws of Life and Death between Israel and the Nations,” a 230-page compendium of Halacha, or Jewish religious law, published by the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva in Yitzhar, garnered a front-page exposé in the Israeli tabloid Ma’ariv, which called it the stuff of “Jewish terror.”

Now, the yeshiva is in the news again, with a January 18 raid on Yitzhar by more than 100 Israeli security officials who forcibly entered Od Yosef Chai and arrested 10 Jewish settlers. The Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security agency, suspects five of those arrested were involved in the torching and vandalizing of a Palestinian mosque last month in the neighboring Palestinian village of Yasuf. The arson provoked an international outcry and condemnation by Israeli religious figures, including Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, who visited the village to personally voice his regret.

Yet, both Metzger and his Sephardic counterpart, Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, have declined to comment on the book, which debuted in November, while other prominent rabbis have endorsed it — among them, the son of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Sephardic Jewry’s preeminent leader. Also, despite the precedent set by previous Israeli attorneys general in the last decade and a half to file criminal charges against settler rabbis who publish commentaries supporting violence against non-Jews, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has so far remained mum about “The King’s Torah.”

“Sometimes the public arena deals with the phenomenon and things become settled by themselves,” Justice Ministry spokesman Moshe Cohen told the Forward.

A coalition of religious Zionist groups, the “Twelfth of Heshvan,”—– named after the Hebrew date of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination, has asked Israel’s Supreme Court to order Mazuz to confiscate the books and arrest its authors.

“You open the book, and you feel that you read a halachic book. And it’s a trap,” said Gadi Gvaryahu, a religious Jewish educator who heads the coalition. It was, in fact, “a guidebook [on] how to kill,” he charged.

Family members who answered phone calls placed to the homes of both authors said they did not wish to comment.

In 2008, author Shapira was suspected of involvement in a crude rocket attack directed at a Palestinian village. Israeli police investigated but made no arrests.

Co-author Elitzur wrote an article in a religious bulletin a month after the book’s release saying that “the Jews will win with violence against the Arabs.”

In 2003, the head of the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva, Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, was charged by then-Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein with incitement to racism for authoring a book calling Arabs a “cancer.”

In 2006-2007, the Israeli Ministry of Education gave about a quarter of a million dollars to the yeshiva, and in 2007-2008 the yeshiva received about $28,000 from the American nonprofit Central Fund of Israel.

“The King’s Torah” reflects a fringe viewpoint held by a minority of rabbis in the West Bank, said Avinoam Rosenak, a Hebrew University professor specializing in settler theology. Asher Cohen, a Bar Ilan University political science professor, thought its influence would be “zero” because it appeals only to extreme ideologues.

But the book’s wide dissemination and the enthusiastic endorsements of prominent rabbis have spotlighted what might have otherwise remained an isolated commentary.

At the entrance to Moriah, a large Jewish bookstore steps from the Western Wall, copies of “The King’s Torah” were displayed with children’s books and other halachic commentaries. The store manager, who identified himself only as Motti, said the tome has sold “excellently.”

Other stores carrying the book include Robinson Books, a well-known, mostly secular bookshop in a hip Tel Aviv shopping district; Pomeranz Bookseller, a major Jewish book emporium near the Ben Yehuda mall in downtown Jerusalem; and Felhendler, a Judaica store on the main artery of secular Rehovot, home of the Weizmann Institute.

The yeshiva declined to comment on publication statistics. But Itzik, a Tel Aviv-area book distributor hired by the yeshiva who declined to give his last name because of the book’s nature, said the yeshiva had sold 1,000 copies to individuals and bookstores countrywide. He said an additional 1,000 copies were now being printed.

Mendy Feldheim, owner of Feldheim Publishers, Israel’s largest Judaica publishing house, said he considered this a “nice” sales figure for a tome of rabbinic Halacha in Israel. He said his own company, which distributes to 200 bookstores nationwide, is not distributing “The King’s Torah” because the book’s publishers did not approach the company.

Prominent religious figures wrote letters of endorsement that preface the book. Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, son of former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, blessed the authors and wrote that many “disciples of Torah are unfamiliar with these laws.” The elder Yosef has not commented on his son’s statement.

Dov Lior, chief rabbi of Kiryat Arba and a respected figure among many mainstream religious Zionists, noted that the book is “very relevant especially in this time.”

Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg, one of the country’s most respected rabbinic commentators, initially endorsed the book, but rescinded his approval a month after its release, saying that the book includes statements that “have no place in human intelligence.”

A handful of settler rabbis echoed Goldberg’s censure, including Shlomo Aviner, chief rabbi of Beit El and head of Yeshivat Ateret Yerushalayim, who said he had “no patience” to read the book, and spoke out against it to his students.

Previously, Israel has arrested settler rabbis who publish commentaries supporting the killing of non-Jews. In addition to Ginsburgh, the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva head, in 1994, the government jailed Rabbi Ido Elba of Hebron for writing a 26-page article proclaiming it a “mitzva to kill every non-Jew from the nation that is fighting the Jew, even women and children.”

“The atmosphere has changed,” said Yair Sheleg, senior researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute, who specializes in issues of religion and state. Previous governments took a tougher stance against such publications, he said, but “paradoxically, because the tension between the general settler population and the Israeli judicial system…is high now, the attorney general is careful not to heighten the tension.”

It is not uncommon for some settler rabbis, in the unique conditions of West Bank settlement life, to issue religious decrees, or psakim, that diverge from normative Jewish practice. In 2008, Avi Gisser, considered a moderate rabbi from the settlement of Ofra, ruled that Jews may violate Sabbath laws and hire non-Jews to build hilltop settlements. And In 2002, Yediot Aharanot reported that former Israeli Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu sanctioned Jewish harvesting of Palestinian-owned olive trees.

Gaza flooded after Israel opens dam gates Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:41:04 GMT

Israel has opened the floodgates of one of its dams in the eastern part of the Gaza Strip, flooding Palestinian houses and causing severe damage.

The Israeli authorities opened the dam's floodgates without any prior warning or coordination with local authorities in Gaza, stunning the residents of the area, the Press TV correspondent in Gaza reported late on Monday.

There has been heavy rain in the region over the past 24 hours. It seems the Israeli authorities could not handle the huge amount of rainwater and decided to open the floodgates without prior warning.

Because Gaza is located in a low-lying area and the elevation decreases on the way to the Mediterranean Sea, water gushed into the area, flooding two Palestinian villages and displacing a hundred Gazan families.
[...]
The flooding has made life more difficult for the Gazans, especially for those still living in tents because their homes were destroyed in the December 2008-January 2009 Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.

In the war, more than 1,400 people were killed, mostly women and children, and over 10,000 houses were destroyed or damaged, forcing at least 500 families to live in tents.

Very little progress is seen in reconstruction of the devastated areas in the Gaza Strip, mostly due to the Israeli blockade, which has prevented the delivery of building materials to the coastal enclave.

Israel's looming war in Gaza: Can Obama stop it before it starts? - Haaretz - Israel News

Israel's looming war in Gaza: Can Obama stop it before it starts? - Haaretz - Israel News

Schakowsky Prepares Legislation to Ban Blackwater

Published on Thursday, January 14, 2010 by RebelReports
Schakowsky Prepares Legislation to Ban Blackwater
Schakowsky says Blackwater has “severely damaged the credibility and security of our military and harmed our relationship with other governments”
by Jeremy Scahill
As multiple scandals involving Blackwater continue to emerge almost daily, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is preparing to introduce legislation aimed at ending the US government’s relationship with Blackwater and other armed contracting companies. “In 2009, the U.S. government employed well over 20,000 armed private security contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, and there is every indication that these figures will continue to rise in 2010,” Schakowsky wrote in a “Dear Colleage” letter asking for support for her Stop Outsourcing Security (SOS) Act. “These men and women are not part of the U.S. military or government. They do not wear the uniform of the United States, though their behavior has, on numerous occasions, severely damaged the credibility and security of our military and harmed our relationship with other governments.”

Isn't That Interesting: US/Israeli Charity uses little Palestinian Childs photo to raise money for Israel’s Hungry

Isn't That Interesting: US/Israeli Charity uses little Palestinian Childs photo to raise money for Israel’s Hungry

israel as one jewish says

IDF urges Negev residents: Get ready, Gaza quiet may not last - Haaretz - Israel News

IDF urges Negev residents: Get ready, Gaza quiet may not last - Haaretz - Israel News

falluja birth defects

Egypt deports British lawmaker Galloway

PressTV
A spokeswoman for the convoy said police intervened when Galloway and colleague Ron McKay arrived at the crossing.

"As soon as they emerged on to Egyptian soil, both men were forcibly pushed into a van, refused exit and told that they were leaving the country. They were then driven off in a police convoy," the BBC quoted him as saying.

Fresh Israeli strikes kill 2 Gazans

The airstrikes, which were launched in the early hours of Friday, hit seven targets near Gaza's border with Egypt.

Medics say several people have been left wounded or missing in the incident, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Meanwhile, Hamas and Palestinian radio stations have confirmed that Israeli F-16 jets and gunboats bombed Khan Yunis.

finally convoy has arrived in Gaza , God bless all truth seekers

To: The International Community

To: The International Community

We support the Cairo Declaration of the Gaza Freedom March, which reads as follows:

End Israeli Apartheid
Cairo Declaration
January 1, 2010

We, international delegates meeting in Cairo during the Gaza Freedom March 2009 in collective response to an initiative from the South African delegation, state:

In view of:

* Israel’s ongoing collective punishment of Palestinians through the illegal occupation and siege of Gaza;
* the illegal occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the continued construction of the illegal Apartheid Wall and settlements;
* the new Wall under construction by Egypt and the US which will tighten even further the siege of Gaza;
* the contempt for Palestinian democracy shown by Israel, the US, Canada, the EU and others after the Palestinian elections of 2006;
* the war crimes committed by Israel during the invasion of Gaza one year ago;
* the continuing discrimination and repression faced by Palestinians within Israel;
* and the continuing exile of millions of Palestinian refugees;
* all of which oppressive acts are based ultimately on the Zionist ideology which underpins Israel;
* in the knowledge that our own governments have given Israel direct economic, financial, military and diplomatic support and allowed it to behave with impunity;
* and mindful of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (2007)

We reaffirm our commitment to:

Palestinian Self-Determination
Ending the Occupation
Equal Rights for All within historic Palestine
The full Right of Return for Palestinian refugees

We therefore reaffirm our commitment to the United Palestinian call of July 2005 for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) to compel Israel to comply with international law.

To that end, we call for and wish to help initiate a global mass, democratic anti-apartheid movement to work in full consultation with Palestinian civil society to implement the Palestinian call for BDS.

Mindful of the many strong similarities between apartheid Israel and the former apartheid regime in South Africa, we propose:

1) An international speaking tour in the first 6 months of 2010 by Palestinian and South African trade unionists and civil society activists, to be joined by trade unionists and activists committed to this programme within the countries toured, to take mass education on BDS directly to the trade union membership and wider public internationally;

2) Participation in the Israeli Apartheid Week in March 2010;

3) A systematic unified approach to the boycott of Israeli products, involving consumers, workers and their unions in the retail, warehousing, and transportation sectors;

4) Developing the Academic, Cultural and Sports boycott;

5) Campaigns to encourage divestment of trade union and other pension funds from companies directly implicated in the Occupation and/or the Israeli military industries;

6) Legal actions targeting the external recruitment of soldiers to serve in the Israeli military, and the prosecution of Israeli government war criminals; coordination of Citizen’s Arrest Bureaux to identify, campaign and seek to prosecute Israeli war criminals; support for the Goldstone Report and the implementation of its recommendations;

7) Campaigns against charitable status of the Jewish National Fund (JNF).

We appeal to organisations and individuals committed to this declaration to sign it and work with us to make it a reality.

..................................................
[The entire petition, and the signatories present at the March, may be viewed at http://aliabunimah.posterous.com/gaza-freedom-marchers-issue-cairo-declaration
or at
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/gaza-freedom-marchers-issue-the-cairo-declaration-to-end-this-chapter-and-chart-the-way-forward.html

Information about the march is also posted at http://gazafreedommarch.wordpress.com/]
..................................................

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

Israeli forces attack Gaza Strip Fri, 01 Jan 2010 23:36:23 GMT

Israeli warplanes and tanks have carried out attacks across the Gaza Strip, damaging residential areas and leaving four Palestinians wounded.

The airstrikes which targeted residential areas in northern and central Gaza Strip, caused panic among children in the region, a Press TV correspondent reported on Friday.

Witnesses said Israeli F16 fighters fired two missiles and Israeli tanks fired two shells that landed at empty areas east and northeast of Gaza City, DPA reported.

Local ambulances took the wounded from eastern Gaza to hospital for medical treatment, according to medical sources.

An Israeli army spokesman confirmed the attacks, but gave no further details, AFP reported.

Egypt forces Viva Palestina convoy to long Gaza road Egypt forced Viva Palestina aid convoy to return to Syria, which is a long trip to reach the Gaza

Egypt forced Viva Palestina aid convoy to return to Syria, which is a long trip to reach the Gaza Strip.

Tuesday, 29 December 2009 13:15

Egypt forced Viva Palestina aid convoy to return to Syria, which is a long trip to reach the Gaza Strip.

The agreement came after a Turkish mediator reached a deal with the Egyptian consul in Jordan's Red Sea port of Aqaba.

The convoy will now head to the Syrian port of Latakia to sail from there to the Egyptian port of El Arish, and then to Gaza.