The world must say NO to Jewish Nazism before it's too late
By Khalid Amayreh • Dec 31st, 2008 at 12:32 • Category: Analysis, Human Rights, Israel, Khalid Amayreh, Newswire, Opinions and Letters, Our Authors, Palestine, War, Zionism
WRITTEN BY KHALID AMAYREH
The genocidal Israeli onslaught against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is strikingly similar to the German blitz in the initial stage of the Second World War. The pretexts are nearly the same and the behaviors of both Nazi and Israeli political and military leadership are nearly identical.
And as the German Nazis sought to justify their blitz against their neighbors to the east, using a plethora of carefully concocted lies and pretexts, Israel is doing virtually the same thing.
However, unlike the Nazis whose naked aggression was widely condemned around the world, the ongoing Israeli onslaught against the Gaza Strip is being condoned, even celebrated, by a huge media network throughout the western world from Sydney to Los Angeles.
Today, Israel is decapitating Gaza while claiming that it is only fighting Hamas. The Israeli air force is targeting and destroying schools, mosques, private homes, charities, public buildings, drug stores, colleges and universities, all under the false pretext of fighting Hamas.
This is not a war against Hamas. It is a war against the Palestinian people as is obvious from the fact that the bulk of the victims are innocent civilians.
And like all criminals, Israel is resorting to the fabrication of lies and half-truths to justify its genocidal blitz against an essentially unprotected people.
Many, probably most Jews in Israel and around the world, are bragging about the “heroic” Israeli army and its “achievements” against Hamas. Some Jews have described the slaughter as the “best Hanukah present ever.”
Well, I don’t really see any heroism in using state-of-the-art machines of death, such as the F-16 warplanes, apache helicopters and laser-guided bunker buster bombs against a people who don’t posses an army or an air force or anti-aircraft defenses.
There is no heroism, but sheer cowardice, in launching these deadly bombs at unprotected civilian buildings just as there was no heroism in the targeting of unarmed civilians by the Nazi war machines.
For sure, even the weakest air force in the world could bomb and destroy unprotected buildings and kill as many civilians as seen fit by morbid minds of Ehud Barak’s ilk.
In short, the Israeli onslaught against a people who don’t possess the means to defend themselves and can’t protect their children from Israeli brutality is an act of sheer cowardice. It can be compared with the Nazi SS strafing Jewish protesters with machine gunfire.
Israel and her mouthpieces in the West claim that Israeli army, a Jewish Wehrmacht by any standard of objective analysis, is merely reacting to Palestinian projectiles fired from Gaza onto Israeli settlements outside Gaza.
Well, this is only a pretext for too many reasons:
The so-called Qassam projectiles are symbolic and nearly innocuous weapons that make more noise than damage. During the past eight years, less than two dozen Israelis were killed by these projectiles. In the meantime, thousands of Palestinians, mainly children and other innocent civilians, were annihilated by the indiscriminate Israeli death machine. These are war crimes because even in war, there is proportionality and using excessive force, mainly against civilians, in reaction to minor provocation puts Israel on equal footing with Nazi barbarianism.
There are those who would argue that Israel has the right and duty to defend its citizens. Well, this is not the real issue, because one could argue that even the worst state in the world has the right to defend its citizens.
But Israel has been savaging an entire people by imposing a Nazi-like siege upon them on no other account than to punish them for electing a government that both Israel and her guardian-ally, the United States, didn’t like.
In short, Israel has been effectively telling the Palestinians, in word as well as in deed, that they face two choices: either to starve to death, or be exterminated by the Israeli war machine. In other words, the Palestinians must die if they resist and die if they don’t. This is while the Israeli hasbara (propaganda) machine keeps telling the world that Israel is only fighting Hamas and defending its citizens.
Well, Hamas may not be completely blameless in a certain sense. However, it is imperative to remind the world that the Islamic movement repeatedly voiced its willingness to stop the firing of “all” projectiles from the Gaza Strip if only Israel would reciprocate and lift the Nazi-like siege.
And as we all know, Israel consistently refused, insisting rather arrogantly that it had the right to kill the Palestinians and invade their territories whenever it deemed fit.
Needless to say, this is exactly the same sort of arrogance, insolence and bellicosity that characterized Nazi behavior.
A few days ago, Israeli analysts described the genocidal onslaught against Gaza as the Israeli version of the American “shock-and–awe bombing” at the beginning of the American invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq. Shock and awe against a thoroughly tormented and completely savaged people who have been through a hateful blockade, unprecedented in its cruelty and wickedness.
I can’t understand why Jews are behaving the way they are. Do the scenes of havoc and destruction and death in the streets and refugee camps of Gaza give them self-confidence? Do they enjoy watching Palestinian kids mutilated to smithereens by these hellish missiles launched at apartment buildings and homes from high altitude?
Does it make them feel that they are finally defeating Hitler?
I am asking these questions because I have seen Jews dancing and celebrating rather joyfully the carnage in Gaza. Indeed, a fleeting glance at the Israeli media these days reveals a sick and cannibalistic society that is as bestial as Nazi Germany was during the holocaust.
Perhaps I am doing some injustice to the Germans. After all, the Germans were living under a hateful and tyrannical dictatorship that would have brutally crushed any protests by conscientious citizens.
But, unlike Nazi Germany, Israel claims to be “a light upon the nations,” “the only democracy in the Middle East” and a civilized western nation.
Well, if such is the behavior of “democratic” Israel, just imagine how the Jewish state would behave once the terrorist entity fell in the hands of manifestly fascist forces and parties.
I have repeatedly warned in my writings that Israel is capable of committing a genocide or a holocaust against the Palestinian people and other peoples of the Middle East.
My warnings are not empty propaganda aimed at besmirching Israel’s image. Likewise, they are not motivated by anti-Semitism or hatred for the Jewish people, many of whom I respect and admire.
But the shocking pornographic slaughter in Gaza should be viewed as a clarion vindication of my warnings. Israel simply represents the Nazis of our time.
I know that many people around the world, especially in the West, realize the veracity of the analogy deep in their hearts. But they are afraid to call the spade a spade lest they be tarnished and hounded and harassed by the powerful Jewish media which more or less controls the public discourse in many western nations.
But the timidity of these cowards will not help them. Today, the Palestinians are the victims. But, surely, tomorrow will bring with it more victims, and Europeans and Americans in particular will not be immune.
Their lives may not be under an immediate threat now. But their freedoms certainly are.
Let us remember on this somber occasion the words of Martin Niemoller who lamented the bankruptcy of German intellectuals in the few years preceding the Second World War.
In Germany, they came first for the Communists,
And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists,
And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews,
And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up.
For God’s sake, let us learn from history, because today’s Israel is strikingly similar to 1936’s Germany.
Please, say No to Jewish Nazism before it is too late.
Khalid Amayreh is a journalist based in the Occupied Palestinian town of Dura.
Email this author | All posts by Khalid Amayreh
Not surrender to terrorism
לא נכנע לטרור
لا تستسلم للإرهاب
In Jerusalem
(A poem of Firasah Love and call to ALL the righteous of the world, on behalf of ALL my brothers and sisters now dispossessed, dying, and suffering in Palestine; and on behalf of the memory and honor of the great heroic writer and academic who spent his life struggling for the Palestinian cause – Edward Said, Nov 1, 1935 – Sept 25, 2003)
1.
i will die in Jerusalem on a day,
neither cold nor hot,
a day told of, long, long ago,
before the Ark of Noah, Alaihi-Salam,
was built to float, and rest upon the top of Mount Judi
the place of my birth is also the place of my death,
the origin is always in the end; ask Jesus, Alaihi-Salam,
or our Holy Prophet Muhammad, Sall’Allahu Alaihi was Salam,
their lives can tell you more of this than i,
but our ending is always in our beginning,
and our beginning is always in our end;
all things begin and all things must end – in Jerusalem.
i will die in the streets of Jerusalem,
on a day of joy amidst weeping,
wailing, and great lamentation,
A MANIFESTATION of
an aftermath to mad, but loving,
and yet, joyous, poetical prophesying,
though IAM no Prophet Alaihi-Salam, just another poet,
walking in the footsteps of the Prophets Alaihi-Salam,
who all went completely mad on behalf of the establishment
of righteousness in the midst of unrighteousness, and
justice in the midst of injustice;
you and my brothers will see –
because this earth and all flesh shall see it together,
yet, IAM but ONE of TWO,
that shall dance their MAD dance in the streets of
Jerusalem together,
on behalf of the
same ONENESS,
the ONENESS
of their brothers’ suffering,
the ONENESS of their brothers’ needs -
all my brothers in the great land of Palestine,
all my brothers and sisters who are dying in the great land of Palestine,
all my brothers who need me and you in the great land of Palestine,
all my brothers and sisters waiting on you and me, in the great land of Palestine;
my brothers near the Gaza Strip,
my brothers in Shiloh, Suba, Kakun, Jafa, and Akka,
my brothers who had thirty-two of their houses destroyed by bulldozers in the Rafa Refugee camp,
my brothers who are forced to walk a thin green line that leads to extermination, nullification, and more death,
all my brothers struggling to survive all over the Western Bank,
all my brothers in Jericho and Bethlehem,
all my brothers incarcerated in ghettos, jails, and prisons,
all my brothers who are being tortured daily,
my brothers who are being missiled in their sleep,
my brothers who are being bombed in their awake,
my brothers who are being machine-gunned down,
my brothers who are being run out of town,
all my brothers toward whom the Israelis act demon possessed – and do not care for or caress,
all my brothers who one day have a place to live – and the next day are dispossessed,
all my brothers who have lost their wives and their children,
all my brothers who have lost their arms and their legs,
my brothers who have been blinded,
my brothers who have been castrated,
my brothers who have been beheaded,
my brothers who are flame torched and maimed,
all my brothers who have been denied and disclaimed,
all my brothers who have lost their homes and their beds,
all my brothers who are beaten, shot in the back – in the head, and often left alone for dead,
all my brothers who are being made to fear and quake – all because of an unjust Israeli State.
II.
my wondrous and marvelous friend –
Reality Call from NEW Berlin writes to me and reveals,
that you have been Gangrened of Jewish Settlements –
the body of your nucleus cut off and discarded forever,
entire families with the young, elderly, and invalid,
literally burned and buried alive beneath the weight of overturned rubble
in brick and mortar – crying, hurting, needing, bleeding, dying,
an atrocity multiplied to the trillionth monstrosity,
a scientific equation of devastation that even Albert Einstein
or Dr. Frankenstein could not, and would not speculate to calculate,
an existential hypothesis of Salvador Dalied proportional distortion,
of politicalized exterminational surrealism in 3-D’d amplification application,
of alien domination, an abomination of horrified occupation,
where hundreds of your villages have been knocked completely off the face of the earth,
to be replaced by a distorted Jewish face and race of immanent domain and foul disgrace,
a policy of imperialistic expansion of manifest destiny without any right
of justice or equality for Your People’s Spirit, wrapped in sacred fragility of flesh, bone, and blood,
your dwellings taken away in a single day or blown away in a solitary night of catastrophic fright –
cities like Nahlal arising in the place Mahlul,
Kibbutz Gvat arising in the place Jibta,
Kibbutz Sarid arising in the place of Huneifis,
and Kefar Yehushu’a arising in the place of Tal al-Shuman
CITIES AND AREAS WHERE CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WARFARE IS
IMPLIED,
SUPPLIED,
APPLIED,
AND CAN NOT BE DENIED – LIKE,
nerve gas used on demonstrators in Gaza,
and water poisoning of those at the siege of Acre.
III.
but it was you my brothers, who laid foundation, and built and beautified the original land;
you are the heart and soul of the land and without you,
the great land of Palestine has no heart and has no soul;
because you are the salt of this land and you are it’s gold.
Shamir, my beloved Ustad, teaches me,
that in your veins run the blood of ancient Aegean warriors,
and that it was you who fought bravely on the plains of Karameh,
that you are the poetry of Mahmud Darwish, the wisdom of Edward Said,
and my Ustad says, there would be no Bible if there were no you,
no Star of Ghassul, or Castles of Monfort, and Belvoir too,
no Mount Carmel Monastery, no churches of the Holy Sepulchre and Nativity,
no temples of Jerusalem and Mount Gerizim by necessity,
no harbors of Ceasarea Philippi, no Mosques of Haram As-Sharif,
and no Judas to become the biblical thief,
and no disciple of Jesus, Alaihi ‘Salam, to wash his feet.
you are the perfection of Palestine’s wondrous Olive Oil,
the first disciples who helped Jesus, Alaihi ‘Salam, deliver his sermon on the Mount,
the great warriors, who defeated Napoleon Bonaparte,
and without you, the palaces of Jericho and Samaria today would not be art.
yes, it was you my brothers who built and beautified the land,
and now the world must come to help you make and take a stand,
an Intifada call, an Intifada wall of resistance, a greater Intifada resurrection,
of persistence – merciful, peaceful, and sincere assistance on behalf of every Palestinian woman,
boy, girl, and man – and we can, if we will but recognize as an entire WORLD view,
what is right, what is tight, what is just, and what is true,
but you can forget about the support of most evangelical Christians,
because they act as though they’ve never heard of you, let alone – loving you?!
IV.
mine is an end time, apocalyptic call – to brothers who love righteousness ALL –
over Palestine, Africa, and Holy Mecca – in Medina, London, and France – in Belgium, in India, Canada,
and in the Americas North and South;
my Rastafarian brothers who love righteousness in The West Indies,
my brothers who love righteousness in Saint Martin, Saint Croix, and Martinique,
my brothers who love righteousness in Barbados and Spain,
my brothers who love righteousness in Scotland, Great Britain, and the South of Wales,
all my brothers who love righteousness in the North – in Russia, Poland, and Afghanistan,
all my brothers who love righteousness in Iran, Syria, Libya, Egypt, Turkey, and Karbala,
all brothers who love righteousness in Sultan Bahu’s Pakistan,
all my brothers who love righteousness in Saint Jilan’s once, emerald City of Baghdad,
my brothers who love righteousness throughout the entire Sudan,
my brothers who love righteousness in The South – called Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam,
my brothers who love righteousness in communist China and Japan,
my brothers who love righteousness in Saint Touba’s Holy land,
all my brothers who love righteousness in The Gambia and in Senegal,
all my brothers who love righteousness in Nigeria, and Shaka Zulu’s Swaziland,
all my brothers who love righteousness in Switzerland and in the Mountains of Tibet,
all my brothers who love righteousness here, throughout the rest of the EARTH, and
THIS ENTIRE MULTIVERSE!
my brothers throughout the world, who hate injustice and unrighteousness in the great land of Palestine,
will all flank my perimeters,
whose base is wide,
whose height is infinite,
whose CapStone is -
MOST RIGHT GLORY-JUST!
but it will be too late,
because no appointment or date,
had been made or set,
to say good-byes before i left.
the station and estate will have changed by then,
and i will be flying further east,
apart from them, never, ever to return…
but i was there when they most needed me,
wrapped in purple, green, and gold mantles, of faith, and sincerity,
and yet i dreamed of no foreboding Martyrdom,
and i did not beat the drums of Lebanon,
or drink water at Aynou Rahmati’s Well of Mercy,
where Simba lives, and Mammadou gives, a children’s song unselfishly,
where the Angel’s visit i did receive, in wonder, awe, and sanctity,
or Saint Jilan adopting me as his beloved son out of graciousness and courtesy,
or Saint Touba’s self made shoes, i did with haste and not misuse –
hold, lick, and taste, in the Majestic House of Darr-ul-Quddus,
or at Serigne Saliou’s feet, a gift to me – i did advance – the miraculous mystic alchemedic sub-stance,
or smiled at, laughed with, and Ziarra’ed – by Serigne Afia when he called me M’Backe
and made me benediction of Shaikh – i did but tremble, and should not break, or take –
except to now dance, and romance, in exalted tranced ecstasy,
on behalf of my brothers being set completely free,
to return and rebuild their homes in Palestine finally,
without bulldozers or armored tanks,
or gun shots fired or heard ever again on the Western Bank.
V.
Yes, i will die in Jerusalem city,
not unbecoming, but a becoming – willingly;
on a street paved in pure gold,
among the young, the destitute, and the old,
who still have passion for ALLAH’s COME passion;
who have been mercified by The Mercifier of ALL,
i will die in the City of Jerusalem,
pouring – THROWING! buckets of my brother’s blood, sweat, and tears,
upon The Wailing Wall, standing and smiling in front of The Dome of The Rock,
for the whole world will recognize IAM the ticking clock,
with Nuclear Light Rays passing through and from me,
bursting and spreading forth everywhere endlessly,
leaving my image indelibly etched like a photo negative,
my life image positively reversed,
anthologized for all time,
on the window pains of my Palestinian brother’s street vending shops,
that had been bombed, toppled over, disarranged, and flattened to the ground,
as well as on the widows of houses in Ramalah, Samaria, Qumran, Janin,
and elsewhere, like, in the thought and hearts of men forever,
throughout the Nations, and on TeleVision Stations,
like CNN, NBC, ABC, and, Al-Jazeera,
who witnessed by satellite coverage, my flash, and my dash,
infinitely long, and secured by the promise of Him
who made all mankind to be in love and free,
without hate, without distasteful bitterness, of corrupted bile,
of a River Nile, rapidly running through the veins of diseased hearts,
it’s flowing waters turned red with the blood of death, hypocrisy, and destruction,
because they would not conform, or reform,
to the commands of the Divine decree – to see that all men be made free
VI.
The Poet’s Holy Lamenting Cry!
a litany of Holiness in demise of the unjust, the evil, and the unwise,
a litany of Holiness in song and deliverance for those who cannot sing,
a litany of Holiness in prayer only the wretched of the earth can know and bring
a litany of Holiness against all that is unHoliness i bleed,
a litany of Holiness for the Holy of Holiness that all mankind deeply doth need,
a litany of Holiness the poet shouts to the Holy mountains, the Holy heavens, the Holy earth, and its Holy seas,
a litany of Holiness resounding, abounding, astounding echo penetrating all Holy deaf ears,
a litany of Holiness in grief to waves of spectromatic unbelief on behalf of a billion Holy weeping tears,
a litany of Holiness for the praise of Holiness to come for a thousand Holy of Holy years
Holy! Holy! Holy! against all that is unHoly!
Holy! Holy! Holy! against the purity that is impurity and unHoly!
Holy! Holy! Holy! against the denial of the Holy!
Holy! Holy! Holy! for the yearning of the Holy!
Holy! Holy! Holy! for the return of the Holy!
Holy! Holy! Holy! for those who live to make unHoly clean and Holy!
Holy! Holy! Holy! for those who die to bring presence of the Holy!
Holy! Holy! Holy! for the unafraid to declare and become the just and the Holy!
Holy! Holy! Holy! for all that is perfect and righteously everlastingly Holy!
Holy! Holy! Holy! for to be all Men, Jinn, and Angels more Holy of – THE HOLY!
HOLY! HOLY! HOLY!
LORD GOD ALMIGHTY!
THE EARTH IS FULL OF HOLY-NESS – IN HOLY MOST GLORY-US!
VII.
Here in the Jerusalem, the City of Peace, i die;
i die when the Sun is once again in Sagittarius,
and the Moon is eclipsed in the sign of Pisces,
while finding release, and relief, of affectatious reflections,
in the eyes of my brothers souls,
as theirs meet mine for comfort and consolation,
thousands of them, now, waiting for relief, across the seas,
to give me their Salams, and other greetings of Peace.
Yes, i will gladly die in the City of Jerusalem,
and because of King Solomon’s, Alaihi-Salam, rewarding Song of Songs,
IAM the song of luminous martyred choirs singing on the Western Bank,
a Holy, Sweet Honey In The Rock, Acapella of,
God is not through with me yet!
because all musical instruments have been destroyed and set on fire there,
schools blown apart and pulverized into an
aggravated and intensified Cloud of Unknowing there,
and all school children’s books have been burned to a crisp there,
on heaps, too steep to climb, to put out the flames there,
and save them while they were still clasped tight in
the little children’s hands there,
before they cried, and died in pain there,
children and adult teachers who had been raped there,
and murdered on their land a million times by the millions there,
where a zillion tears have been shed there,
under a cloudy sky near Megiddo, or the city of Herodium, or Bethel, or Hebron,
when a nightmare of hell broke loose upon my brothers,
when i died in the Holy City of Jerusalem,
my face turned toward,
the Resplendent Light!
SIAM
An excerpt taken from Rain of Grace, New & Selected Poems by SIAM
http://www.rainofgrace.com
GOD HELP US!!! I AM SAYING NO TO JEWISH NAZISM!!!!!!
Mister Khalid Amayreh! Ur article is great! i added a link of it to my blog and send to all ppl i know!! I hope there wont be a problem!! but this must connect to a lot of ppl!!!
[...] sind die selbstgebastelten Küchenraketen nicht in erster Linie als Waffe, sondern vor allem als Symbol, denn sie erinnern täglich an das schreiende Unrecht und belästigen mit dem [...]
many comments come into the PTT mailbox, here are a few: Some from those sympathetic to the Palestinians, others with actions and information, and some from Zionists.
There are many of us who are seething with rage against the Zionist murderers, and who mourn for you and pray to God/Allah for justice for you. Every country is guilty of your murder by not speaking out and acting, instead of "calling for restraint", which are empty words. The world is going through a period of collective insanity, and perhaps we shall all have to be brought to our knees before a new world of justice, peace and love can be born. America is the great destroyer, descendents of the barbarians who overthrew peaceful Neolithic civilizations. Will Obama make a difference? Well, at least he's intelligent, unlike the outgoing moron, but all politicians act to further their personal interests rather than from principle.
A new world needs a totally different system of governance, in which politicians recognize that they are elected and paid by the electorate, and as such are their servants, not their masters. Those who want power cannot be trusted with it, so ministers must be appointed for a prescribed period of office on the basis of their wisdom, integrity, and intelligence and must be overseen by and answerable to a council of elders, who in turn are directly answerable to the people.
Before this can happen, humanity must grow up – it is presently like disturbed teenagers armed with terrifying weapons of destruction.
With deep sympathy, Yours sincerely, Eileen Noakes.
Dear friends: Our prayers are with you as you bury and mourn your dead, and try to care for those bereaved, for the wounded and dying. We pray for the day when the US government ceases its uncritical and criminally complicit support of the racist Israeli regime that has callously perpetrated this barbarity.
Know that many Americans are deeply ashamed of the stance of our government. May God give you strength to persevere.
Regards, Rev. C. F. Sills
Από: Avaaz
Θέμα: Thank you for taking action
Προς: messini_pepi@yahoo.gr
Ημερομηνία: Τετάρτη, 31 Δεκέμβριος 2008, 7:50
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Thank you for signing this emergency petition urging an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. 2009 must be the year when world leaders ramp up efforts to create a real and lasting peace between Israel and Palestine. The more people that sign on, the stronger our call becomes — please take a moment now to forward the email below to your friends and family, encouraging them to sign the petition too.
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The Avaaz team
———————————————-
Dear friends,
As we watch the Gaza bloodshed with horror, appalled at how the crisis is spiralling further out of control, one thing is clear — this violence will only lead to further civilian suffering and an escalation of the conflict.
There must be another way. Over 370 are dead and hundreds more injured — rockets are striking Ashdod deep inside Israel for the very first time, and the sides are mobilising for invasion. A global response has begun, but it'll take more than words — the immediate violence won't end, nor will wider peace be secured, without firm action from the international community.
Today, we're launching an emergency campaign which will be delivered to the UN Security Council and key world powers, urging them to act to ensure an immediate ceasefire, address the growing humanitarian crisis, and take steps to build real and lasting peace.1 Follow this link now to sign the emergency petition and send it to everyone you know:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/gaza_time_for_peace/97.php?cl_tf_sign=1
After eight or more years of ineffective US and global diplomacy — and now Gaza's bloodiest day in recent memory — we must issue a global outcry demanding that world leaders do more than make statements if they're to bring peace to this region. The UN, the European Union, the Arab League and the USA should now act together to ensure a ceasefire – which includes an end to rocket attacks into Israel and opening the checkpoints for fuel, food, medicine and other humanitarian aid deliveries.
With a new US President taking office in less than a month, a real opportunity exists to breathe new life into peace efforts. These latest hostilities require not only an immediate ceasefire but a commitment from Obama and other world leaders that resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is at the very top of their agendas. As the whole world is impacted by this ongoing conflict – we should demand nothing less.
In 2006 we mobilised for a ceasefire in Lebanon. For years we've worked to encourage a just and lasting peace, taking out billboards and ads across Israel and Palestine. Now as we head into 2009, we need to come together again to demand a peaceful and lasting resolution, instead of a further escalation of violence. Follow this link to put your name forward for peace:
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All sides to the conflict will continue to act as they have in the past if they believe that the world will stand by and allow them to do so. 2009 is a year that things can be different. As we face this crisis, and the possibilities of a new year, it's time for us to demand a ceasefire and work together to finally put an end to this cycle of violence.
With hope and determination,
Brett, Ricken, Alice, Ben, Pascal, Paul, Graziela, Paula, Luis, Iain and the whole Avaaz team
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Hamas is firing in the last days "Grad" rockets, 122 MM heavy rockets that have a range of 40 KM and can reach many of Israel's southern towns. Over a million civilians are under attack of these "Grad" rockets.
How did the Hamas got hundreds of those rockets? Hamas smuggled the rockets in underground tunnels from Egypt to Gaza. But wait, is that it? It's not that simple.
Hamas buys Iranian made or Chinese made rockets from someone, the rockets are shipped to an Egyptian port probably under fake content documents of some sort. Then the rockets are transported by trucks through the Sinai Peninsula to Rafah, on the Egyptian side and from there through the tunnels into Gaza. The Egyptian have to be really incompetent in order not to catch that illegal cargo on its hundreds of Kilometer ride from the nearest Egyptian port to Gaza … or maybe they just turn a blind eye. In either case they are to blame that Hamas has that weapon and every Israeli killed blood is on their hand.
Today some Egyptians are probably very sorry for being so careless and indifferent in what was flowing through the tunnels and for not stopping that flow before it deteriorated to a full war in which even Egypt seems to pay a price. It's time for Egypt to be more active and proactive in closing all the tunnels and making sure the Hamas is isolated from receiving more weapons. Making sure that the rule of Hamas is ended and never returns.
Israel has suffered the flow of rockets on its southern part for eight years. Numerous times the Israeli government said it will respond with all its force. The Hamas treated it as Wolf, Wolf cries. Now the media and the Arab world are complaining the response is not measurable.
Well, In order to make the war short and achieve long lasting quite and peace sometimes immense force is essential. In the Second World War usage of the Atomic bomb was not measurable, but it finished the war. A few months back Russia invaded Georgia, the force used was not measurable, but the conflict ended quickly.
What would the righteous world would say if Israel would have built the same rockets the Palestinians are using and for eight years would use the biblical eye for an eye approach, every time a rocket is fired from the Palestinian side, Israel would fire one into the Palestinian side. Firing the same rockets, same size, same inaccuracy and with same damage.
Would this be considered measurable and accepted by the world?
What would the world say if instead of using guided weapons to hit Hamas bunkers, command posts, rocket launch sites, underground tunnels, instead Israel would fire rockets at random into the Gaza civilian area – same as the Hamas is doing in the last eight years.
Israel pulled out from Gaza two years ago in order to allow the Palestinians to manage their own lives and have the freedom they wanted and fought for. What was Hamas next step after the disengagement? Did the Hamas build new schools? Did the Hamas build a new Hospital? Did the Hamas go to ask for money to build factories to create jobs? All the Hamas did was to arm itself to the teeth and provoke this war.
Six years ago a Hamas terrorist strapped a bomb belt around his waist and boarded a city bus my son was on. My son was coming back from school to our home after another day at school, the Hamas terrorist was on his way to kill Israelis, as many of them as possible. I know from firsthand the murderous nature of the Hamas organization and its lack of respect to human life, Israeli or Palestinian people.
I know what every father in Gaza is going through and how does it feel to lose a child. I am calling to all the parents in Gaza that want to see a brighter future for their children, renounce Hamas reject it's ideas and call for cease of all hostile activities, call for return of the sane people that can recover Gaza and make it a place that people can live in safely and in quality as every person in the world is entitled to.
As long as Hamas rule Gaza there won't be quite and peace for both sides, Hamas must be overthrown and cease to rule, until that time Israel can't stop it's operation.
Yossi
Yossi@blondi.co.il
Asaf's (Blondi) memorial web site: http://www.Blondi.co.il
Israel's Terror victims commemorations: http://www.ezy.co.il
המוות לא בא עם הזקנה, המוות בא עם השכחה – גבריאל גרסיה מרקס
'The injured were lying there asking God to let them die'
Fikr Shaltoot
The Guardian, Monday 29 December 2008
Being a health worker, I had to check the needs of Shifa hospital and the other hospitals in Gaza. The situation in Shifa is really bad. There were corpses in corridors covered with blankets. The mortuary couldn't cope with the number of bodies. Two bodies were left on stretchers, one wrapped in a blanket. They leave them until families can recognise them.
There were mothers, fathers looking for children, looking for relatives. Everyone was confused and seeking support. Mothers were crying, people were asking about relatives, the medical team was confused.
Some people were just lying there, some were screaming, some were very, very angry. There were a lot of injured arriving, ambulances coming in and out. The injured were coming by private cars and they were being left wherever. You could see blood here and there.
There is talk [the Israeli air strikes] were targeting the police and security forces but in Shifa hospital, I saw many, many civilians, some dead, some injured, some were children, some were women, some were elderly people.
There are people without their legs in very severe pain. The doctors and nurses were trying to give them painkillers and to keep them alive. Patients are lying there knowing they've lost their legs. Some were asking God if they could die. They were in a terrible psychological state.
The doctors and nurses were trying to do their best. They discharged all the patients from the chronic diseases ward and from the oncology ward to make way for the injured. They were using whatever they could.
There's no gauze so they are using cotton, which sticks to the wounds. They can't sterilise clothes for the operating theatre. They're using wrong sized syringes. They're working 24 hours. They're referring cases from one hospital to the next. One hospital was running out of anaesthesia. They're also drawing blood and there's no alcohol. This is a disaster.
Fikr Shaltoot is a programme coordinator for Medical Aid for Palestinians, a British non-governmental organisation that provides medical supplies in Gaza
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/29/israel-gaza-attack-shifa-hospital/print
S
I'm afraid this song may seem kind of soft in the face of the Israeli slaughter in Gaza, but please feel free to share, publish or use how you see fit. We very much enjoyed Gilad's piece. Thank you. Danny & Julia
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I may have sent this around already, but I thought I'd send it out again, especially in light of the recent air attacks. Here's hoping for a somber and reflective holiday to all who celebrate, and a call to action to all who look for peace, hope and renewal at year's end. love, Danny & Julia
Feel free to share, post, publish & distribute
for song audio click: http://www.redress.cc/cms-files/bethlehem.wav
Text is below…
O Bethlehem – A Christmas Carol for the 21st Century
by Daniel Patrick Welch
O Bethlehem O Bethlehem
The stars look down on thee
As Nazareth reaps grief and death
From mountain, plain and sea
O Bethlehem a world bedecked
In season’s peace and joy
Will still sit by as children die
And walls your heart destroy
O Bethlehem O Bethlehem
The prophets surely frown
A land in pain, a land in chains
As Abraham looks down
O Bethlehem your children sleep
In fear of tanks and guns
Do Moses, Christ, Mohammed weep
As we betray their sons?
O Bethlehem we seek that day
When Christmas bells ring true
When liberty and dignity
Belong at last to you
Can Bethlehem forgive a world
So callous and profane
And bring to pass a world at last
Where peace and justice reign
© 2007 Daniel Patrick Welch. Reprint permission granted with credit and link to http://danielpwelch.com. Writer, singer, linguist and activist Daniel Patrick Welch lives and writes in Salem, Massachusetts, with his wife, Julia Nambalirwa-Lugudde. Together they
run The Greenhouse School (http://www.greenhouseschool.org). Translations of articles are available in up to 25 languages. Links to the website are appreciated at danielpwelch.com.
Letter to Ethical British Company’ FreedomCall’ who stands by Gaza
By Saeb Shaath*
To The Management of the British company FreedomCall
Dear Madam-Sir;
You and your company took a great practical ethical stand on denouncing by action and deeds the massacre the Palestinian people have been subjected to in Gaza Strip. By severing all ties with Israel's MobileMax ** Company and any other Israeli company following Israel's strikes in Gaza. Doing that while we are going through a credit crunch and heading into a dark economical era, is very Nobel in deed. Your stand demonstrated the responsible side of business and showed how out people, serving the people and advancing their welfare, business is not suppose to be helping directly or indirectly in inflicting death and misery on people. I salute you and your company, my family, comrades and I admire the way you are keeping up the ethos of good business and putting humanity before money, which in this case is blood money. That is the way to conduct business. I hope you can spread that ethical business model across the globe, so people can feel they are safer.
Yours
Dr. Saeb Shaath
SAEB
Writer and Human Rights Activist
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
* Writer, thinker, public speaker on Middle Eastern affairs, and a former diplomat. He is the co-founder of Irish Map (Medical Aid for Palestine).
** http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3648346,00.html
Words for us all to remember from Elie Wiesel:
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. -Elie Wiesel
The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.
Elie Wiesel
There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. -Elie Wiesel
Goof article. It is refreshing that this author is giving us this side of the story, which is difficult to find on this issue, especially here in the US… Thanks.
VERY IMPORTANT
Please take some time to watch the TRUTH
You owe it to yourself
You owe it to your children
You owe it to this agonized planet
You owe to the future of humanity
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The TERROR of TERRORIST zionist entity can be seen here
http://palestinian.ning.com/forum/topics/the-other-side-of-the-story
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Reality in Palestine
http://palestinian.ning.com/video/1970466:Video:37170
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Gaza Massacre – The Movie
http://palestinian.ning.com/video/video/show?id=1970466%3AVideo%3A37291
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Nowhere to run for those trapped in Gaza
http://palestinian.ning.com/video/nowhere-to-run-for-those
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Happy New Year 2009 for the Children of Gaza!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://palestinian.ning.com/profiles/blogs/happy-new-year-2009-for-the
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The tiny bodies that were murdered
http://palestinian.ning.com/photo/photo/show?id=1970466%3APhoto%3A37286
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Some Thoughts on Resistance
I have befriended and cooperated with many Quakers over the years, and I deeply admire their commitment to peace, and the time and efforts that they give towards achieving this goal
However, there is a fundamental issue that tends to be overlooked, oversimplified and ignored by those lovely, compassionate and peace-loving people; when they talk about the problem of Palestine, they are inclined to blame and condemn both sides equally; i.e they equate the immoral actions of the criminal with the understandable reactions of the victim
Equating the instinctive response of the oppressed -who have been massacred, humiliated and dehumanized day in and day out for generations-, with the aggressive and brutal acts of the oppressor is a severe deviation from justice am afraid
Morally speaking: how -for the love of God- could we condemn those who are being slaughtered when they try to push their butchers away?
Some times the only way to sincerely help a criminal is by stopping him/ her from committing more crimes.
There is nothing more helpful or supportive to the tyrant criminals than teaching the man who has been constantly crushed and incessantly raped, victimized and butchered not to defend himself
We can not possibly equate the violent assault of oppressor with the self-protection of oppressed
The ACTION of AGGRESSION and OPPRESSION is NOT the same as the REACTION of SELF-PRESERVATION
To teach otherwise and to condemn equally both the oppressor and the oppressed is not upholding well with ethics and morality To measure the two actions with the same yardstick and to condemn equally both the oppressor and the oppressed does not uphold well with ethics and morality nor with human or Divine laws
God looks with tenderness, love, forgiveness and compassion at those who are severely abused, brutalized, oppressed exploited and browbeaten, so much so that they are forced to react
"Beware of the plea of the oppressed, for he asks God most high only for his due, and God does not keep one who has a right from receiving what is due." A saying of Muhammed peace be upon him
Our disapproval and condemnation must be focused on those who initiate aggression, oppress nations, and commit genocide.
The permeation to defend oneself (but NEVER to initiate aggression) is given to those who suffer the risk of annihilation and extermination by the One who created them
Who am I to deny those who are burning under tonnes of blazing missiles, that basic human right?
Who am I to judge their re-actions or intentions, as they tremble under the explosions of bombs?
Who am I to moralize with them as they pick up the limbs of their babies and loved ones?
“To those against whom war is made, permission is given (to fight back), because they are wronged; and verily, God is most powerful for their aid; (22:39-40)
Did we not know that
A man
With a knife
Against his throat
Has the right
To push His butcher
Away!!
More thoughts:
"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor." Bishop Desmond Tutu
To give an analogy;
If a thief comes to your home, kills some of your children, kicks some of them out, and locks you in the basement for sixty years, while raging havoc in your house and garden
Then you are told that the only solution is to negotiate with the murderer thief; however the thief refuses to talk to you because you words are unpleasant and they disturb his peace; as you keep making noise in the basement, and you throw some fire works out to your garden to get the attention of some neighbours with conscience.
Then finally the police intervene, and then after arming the thief to his teeth they persuade him to agree to talk to you.
At long last the thief agrees to talk to you, but he comes with a list of demands, including:
No talks about your children, who’ve been kicked out
No talks about any room in the house
No talks about his incessant torture of your children
No talks about allowing you to use the bathroom upstairs
No talks about which corner of the basement he might give you
Furthermore, he demands that you respect the facts on the grounds, and should never ask to resolve the injustice by going back to how things were 60 years ago
Not only that, he demands also that you accept his right to exist in your house forever, and his right to control your water supply, electricity, food, and movement
Then to add the icing on the cake, of course, you are not supposed to moan or mention your pain over the past sixty years
You must only be grateful, that the murderer thief would humble himself and talk to you
I am intrigued to find out what would YOU do if you were in that situation?
Would you accept sharing your house with the thief and live in the basement?
If you say you do, I would like to see you openly inviting some zionists who settled in my stolen farm to come to yours and share it with you, and if they come fully armed I hope you don’t mind, and that you accept them graciously
If all the Quakers and those who condemn the desperate Palestinians for their extreme reactions to extreme situations would live by their word and do exactly what they want the Palestinians to do; i.e. offer their homes to the zionists, that would be a breakthrough
All we need is a few millions to do this ultimate act of sacrifice by being a living archetype, in fact that could be a vital approach to a peaceful solution and a good lesson to us all
We humans find it easy to moralise and pass judgements, but much harder to live by what we preach
As for killing innocent people, here are some thoughts:
Firstly:
We, as Muslims, must NOT allow our pain and outrage at the hostility, horrors and crimes we have seen to deviate us from justice and from upholding our ethics!
"O ye who believe! be steadfast firmly for God, as witnesses to fair dealing, Let not a group's hostility to you cause you to deviate from justice. Be just, for it is closer to piety. Be God conscious; for God is Well Aware of what you do." (Quran; 5-8 )
secondly:
Qur’anic principles admonish followers of Islam against killing children and innocent people who are not actively involved in war, Muslims are prohibited from even cutting trees, demolishing homes and houses of worship, or causing damage to nature during war
"No soul shall be made to bear the burden (liability) of another." (35:18 )
Thirdly:
In the zionist entity, there are no civilians except children, , every man and woman MUST serve in the army for 2-3 years, and they stay in the reserve until they retire
Fourthly:
Hamas, as an Islamic Resistance Movement, theoretically adheres to those principles, and respects them; however, the human factor, the incessant devastatation, the constant trauma caused by long term brutality and the never-ending killing of Palestinian children infuriates the most sane person into anger and outrage
In no way, Hamas, justifies the killing of innocent children:
Hamas: Rocket attacks not aimed at Israeli women, children
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/971873.html
Gaza – The Islamic Hamas movement on Saturday denied targeting Israeli children and women with rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
"Hamas doesn't mean to kill children with its rockets," spokesman Ismail Radwan told reporters in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in response to a statement made by al-Qaida's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who said Hamas' random rockets kill women and children in violation of Islamic law.
Radwan added that "the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians may involve some killing of children," accusing the Israeli army of "deliberately killing children, women and destroying houses and mosques."
“We are freedom fighters, not gangs,” a senior Hamas official in Gaza told the AP. “Women and children are not a target for Hamas. They have never been a target and they will never be our main target despite the daily killing of our women and children by Israel in cold blood.”
Abu Mahmoud, a spokesman for the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the West Bank, said the group was “shocked by what we see on television” about the Russian school standoff.
“We would never agree to such a thing,” he said. “We never did such a thing and never would. When there is an explosion and children are killed, we are sorry for this because this was a mistake, not on purpose.”
http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=2&x_outlet=2&x_article=756
Hamas: rocket attacks not meant to kill Israeli children
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/05/content_7924868.htm
Enough to look at the figures to see who is really targeting children:
123 Israeli children have been killed by Palestinians and 1,050 Palestinian children have been killed by Israelis since September 29, 2000. http://www.ifamericansknew.org/
Fifthly:
Hamas has offered cease fire many times, Hamas has offered the ending of killing civilians on both sides, and all this was rejected and ignored by the warmongers of zion, time and again
Hamas offers to renew cease-fire with Israel
Friday, June 16, 2006
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/15/hamas.ceasefire/index.html
Israel rejects Gaza cease-fire offer
Sep 21, 2007
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1189411457380&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Ehud Olmert rejects Hamas' offer of cease-fire in Gaza Strip
23/12/2007
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/937196.html
Olmert rejects Hamas cease-fire offer
Tue., December 25, 2007
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/937511.html
ISRAEL REJECTS HAMAS CEASE-FIRE OFFER AS HUMANITARIAN CRISIS DEEPENS IN GAZA
April 25, 2008
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0425/p99s01-duts.html
Israel rejects Hamas cease-fire offer as humanitarian crisis deepens in Gaza
Fri Apr 25 08
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20080425/wl_csm/odu0425
.
How have the Zionists managed to convince the world that the Palestinians have no right to defend themselves from the ZioNazis?
It's as thought the USA had decided to defend Hitler!
We MUST educate the humanity not here in Palestinian part of the world to join: as ONE people: in the return of rocket fire –in an ECONOMIC sense in a UNITED BOYCOTT of all zionistas products worldwide in an economic rocket shot "felt round the world" BACK to the zionista thugs whom dare to call themselves "humans" in this struggle.
It is not my purpose to judge here, that is g-d's but they are not reacting in a human like form in this latest event …
Their deeds are AGAINST the very NATURE of the Universe we all live in and CONTRAVENE all manner of decency and respect, accorded each other as citizens of this planet spinning through space!
May the Universe respond in return as will it SOON, our only course is to hit the economy.
This will cause more grief and sorrow than you know, to these "humans".
be well be safe -support the cause, BOYCOTT BUSINESSES, pray for all and light candles, incense for support & relief in this struggle for the Palestinians, as well!
I am european and I am in tears watching the Gaza killing. How could the world remain indifferent? The zionists are worse than Hitler, they are now the ones killing children, they are now the real nazis, they are now the ones behind the palestinian holocaust. I am sorry but I have to say that I hate Israel, they are true psychos and we must stop them.
What this all reminds me of is the book Animal Farm by George Orwell. In it, the pigs complained about the "farmer" and made an elobarate plan for freedom. However, when they achieved it, they bacame even worse than the farmer toward the other animals.
Israel is treating the Palestinians worse than the Nazi treated them. At least the Nazis were out in the open about what they were doing, and didn't play victim.
What's so ironic here is that the grandchildren of Jews survivors of the Holocaust do the same to Palestinians.
They seem to forget the pain of the Holocaust or they may do not believe really in Holocaust..
Gaza=The greatest concentration camp
I haven't seen a single Jew to feel sorry about all this massacre.Everyone tells the same blah blah about Hamas.I don't care if Hamas does or doesn't use innocents as human shields.I do care for the result.And the result is disgusting.
Israelis and Jews should reconsider many things about their stance to palestinians and to every single person on this planet.
Israel is capable of committing a genocide against the world.