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	<title>Palestine Think Tank &#187; Newswire</title>
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	<description>Free Minds for a Free Palestine</description>
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	<itunes:summary>Free Minds for a Free Palestine</itunes:summary>
	<itunes:author>Palestine Think Tank</itunes:author>
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		<itunes:name>Palestine Think Tank</itunes:name>
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	<copyright>2008</copyright>
	<itunes:subtitle>Free Minds for a Free Palestine</itunes:subtitle>
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		<item>
		<title>Mohamed Khodr &#8211; Letter to Rachel Corrie&#039;s family and Washington State legislators</title>
		<link>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/16/mohamed-khodr-letter-to-rachel-corries-family-and-washington-state-legislators/</link>
		<comments>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/16/mohamed-khodr-letter-to-rachel-corries-family-and-washington-state-legislators/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Mar 2010 09:14:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mohamed Khodr</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Biography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Newswire]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Palestine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Resistance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Somoud: Arab Voices of Resistance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Zionism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Activism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rachel Corrie]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[US foreign policy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://palestinethinktank.com/?p=6024</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When will this idealistic young Washingtonian rest in peace knowing that her parents no longer struggle alone but have been joined by your spirit for truth and justice?]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div>
<div><a href="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/rachel-corrie-shrouded.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-6025" title="rachel corrie shrouded" src="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/rachel-corrie-shrouded.jpg" alt="rachel corrie shrouded" width="360" height="240" /></a>Below is a letter I sent to the Corries but more importantly to executive and legislative members in Washington State where Rachel Corrie was a resident.   It includes the Governor, Lt. Governor, Senators and Congressmen in D.C. and senators and members of the general assembly in Washington State as well as the media.</div>
<div>March 4, 2010</div>
<div>Mr. and Mrs. Corrie</div>
<div>Honorable Members of the Executive and Legislative Branch Washington State</div>
<div><em>&#034;Right and wrong are the same in Palestine as anywhere else. What is</em></div>
<div><em>peculiar about the Palestine conflict is that the world has listened to the</em></div>
<div><em>party that committed the offence and has turned a deaf ear to the victims.&#034;</em></div>
<div>    -British Historian Arnold Toynbee</p>
<p>This coming March 16 will be the seventh anniversary of Israel&#039;s deliberate murder of a 23 year old young idealist college student from Olympia, Washington named Rachel Corrie.   Her story and the shocking photos of her murder can be found in the links below.</p></div>
<div>For seven years Israel has denied and falsified the story of this American citizen&#039;s murder, albiet with the silence and usual paralysis of our government when the issue has to do with Israel.</p>
<p>Notice how Israel publicly rebuffed President Obama on freezing illegal settlements.  It not only continued building illegal settlements by the hundreds in the West Bank and East Jerusalem but it continues to demolish Arab Christian and Muslims homes in East Jerusalem while the U.S. retracted its opposition and took the usual default position of silence and blaming the victims as it&#039;s done for over 60 years.</p>
<p>The blatant and open murder of an American citizen by Israel was met by utter callousness and silence by the White House, Congress, and the main stream media.   The enormous and heart wrenching pain her parents have endured all these years have been suffered alone without any substantial support from our government whose main responsibility is the protection of its citizens.   They&#039;ve travelled across this country and abroad keeping the memory of their daughter&#039;s death alive while seeking any support for justice for their daughter.   Rachel.   Other peace activists have been similarily killed, maimed and injured by Israeli forces for their just work to protect the civilian Palestinian population and bring their plight to the world&#039;s attention.</p>
<p>An American ecumnenical group called the Christian Peacemaker Teams (<a href="http://www.cpt.org/">http://www.cpt.org/</a>) risk their lives daily as they escort Palestinian children to school thereby preventing their murder or injury by Israeli soldiers (See Guardian UK paper article:  Israeli Officer:  I was right to shoot 13 year old child, Radio exchange contradicts army version of Gaza killing, Nov. 24, 2004)</p>
<p>Compare our national silence on Rachel&#039;s murder to the uproar and outrage by our government and media that followed the murder of Daniel Pearl, WSJ journalist, in Pakistan.   A movie was made about his murder while for the first time in modern history the State Department placed an advertisement for the movie, A Mighty Heart, on its official website.    The website later took down the ad.</p></div>
<div><a href="http://video.state.gov/?fr_story=76f8b258b7e94570724d6c80beb79413de5a76bb">http://video.state.gov/?fr_story=76f8b258b7e94570724d6c80beb79413de5a76bb</a></div>
<div>(State Department Website with Daniel Pearl Movie&#8211;no longer exists)</p>
<p>PLUS, UNLIKE RACHEL&#039;S DEATH SEE WHAT OUR CONGRESS DID.</p>
<p>Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act Subsequent to the U.S. House of Representatives passing the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act on June 10, 2009, Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) introduced the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act to the Senate on October 1, 2009, where it is currently under consideration by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. This legislation would direct the State Department to include information relating to freedom of the press worldwide in annual country reports on human rights practices. &#034;The right to a free press is a right upon which we all rely. And every time a journalist is kept from doing his or her job, it is each of us whose right is being violated,&#034;</p></div>
<div>said Dodd in a floor statement. &#034;This legislation, in turn, will help to shed light on crimes where these brave journalists themselves are the victims.&#034;</p>
<p>What Now for Rachel&#039;s parents as they continue their painful struggle for justice for their murdered daughter? </p>
<p>Will you the elected officials of Washington State muster the courage and compassion to speak out for this young dead American peace activist who saw the wrongs of what our nation is doing in its blind and unquestionable support of Israel?</p>
<p>Or will her death be once again ignored and swept under the rug of political expediency, fear and political correctness?   Is her life less worthy and valuable than Daniel Pearl&#039;s or the murder of any other American citizen abroad?</p>
<p>When will this idealistic young Washingtonian rest in peace knowing that her parents no longer struggle alone but have been joined by your spirit for truth and justice?</p>
<p>Many of you are parents and grandparents and can fully understand and sympathize with the tragic pain of having a young daughter killed by an American bulldozer in a nation that wouldn&#039;t exist without America&#039;s support and contiued benevolence.</p>
<p>I ask you in all that is holy and meaningful in your lives do not let Rachel&#039;s death go unanswered, do not let this young woman&#039;s death pass without justice.   Her parents need your help and support as they take on one of the world&#039;s most powerful nations, politically and militarily, with unprecedented support in our Congress and media. </p>
<p>Washingtonians need to know you&#039;ll be there to help, support, and protect them against the evil dangers they face abroad whether in Israel or Pakistan.</p>
<p>May the memory of our dear Rachel always be an inspiration to Peace and Freedom loving peoples throughout the world.</p>
<p>With all due respect and hope, I remain</p></div>
<div>Mohamed Khodr M.D., M.P.H.</div>
<div><a href="http://www.rachelcorrie.org/statements.htm">http://www.rachelcorrie.org/statements.htm</a>  <br />
(Her Memorial Site)</div>
<div><a href="http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2003/03/17/15838231.php">http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2003/03/17/15838231.php</a></div>
<div>Please view the photos of Rachel Corrie&#039;s stand in front of the bulldozer and after her murder.  It clearly shows she was standing in direct site of the Caterpillar&#039;s driver.   She was trying to prevent the house demolition of a Palestinian physician and his family&#039;s home, not the lie of Hamas tunnels.</div>
<div><a href="http://rachelswords.org/2006/10/14/rachel-corrie-myths-and-facts/">http://rachelswords.org/2006/10/14/rachel-corrie-myths-and-facts/</a></div>
<div>(Rachel&#039;s heartwarming and moving words on Israel&#039;s occupation:  See what Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and many other organizations say about her murder)</div>
<div>
<a href="http://www.danielpearl.org/news_and_press/newsletter_09_Dec_vol6_ed2.html">http://www.danielpearl.org/news_and_press/newsletter_09_Dec_vol6_ed2.html</a></div>
<p>Daniel Pearl&#039;s Website with Congressional Act included</p></div>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>&quot;Fourth Reich Israel&quot; Blogger: Deceptive &quot;Geneviève&quot;</title>
		<link>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/16/fourth-reich-israel-blogger-deceptive-genevieve/</link>
		<comments>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/16/fourth-reich-israel-blogger-deceptive-genevieve/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Mar 2010 08:57:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Guest Post</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Hasbara Deconstruction Site]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Newswire]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Palestine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Zionism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hasbara Buster]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Honey Trap]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet deception]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://palestinethinktank.com/?p=6018</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[...a desire to disrupt the communities of people working for Palestine, to entrap young Muslim men in a "honey trap", a need to find "radical anti-Zionists" and get their private contact information to threaten them or worst of all, to damage the Palestinian cause by bringing it to disrepute. Is she a Zionist? A few of us had suspected as much, due to the "over the top" blog name, but then again, it is hard to tell, but there are signs pointing towards the affirmative, and the damage this person intentionally does points VERY much in that direction.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div>
<div>There can be much glass strewn along the path of activists. This is why integrity counts a lot. This is why most activists take the risks of being who they are, though it would be easier to just be a shadow or a pen-name: because they know that there is no integrity in anonymity and operating under their own names will cause them some grief, but it has the power of honesty behind it. In anonymity one can say or do anything. One can even change their identity when they want to, when the &#034;game gets boring&#034;  or make a series of identities to &#034;spice things up&#034; or when they need to attempt a new tactic or especially engage in unethical behaviour. What follows is indeed one of those things we hate to see. It is about a blogger of the blog &#034;Fourth Reich Israel&#034; and manager of the Ning site Peace for Palestine and the web of deception she has woven for whatever reasons she may have. Could be boredom, could be need to have sexual or romantic involvement, could be something sinister: a desire to disrupt the communities of people working for Palestine, to entrap young Muslim men in a &#034;honey trap&#034;, a need to find &#034;radical anti-Zionists&#034; and get their private contact information to threaten them or worst of all, to damage the Palestinian cause by bringing it to disrepute. Is she a Zionist? A few of us had suspected as much, due to the &#034;over the top&#034; blog name, but then again, it is hard to tell, but there are signs pointing towards the affirmative, and the damage this person intentionally does points VERY much in that direction.</p>
<p>The post that follows, (one of two) was on Facebook, where a discussion ensues giving more detail and perspective, and where &#034;Geneviève&#034; (probably her most charming alias) participates. Far from answering a single question (other than claiming she is a Muslim, but not explaining the behaviour that would be very difficult for a Muslim to accept), she accuses others of being Zionists, being murders, being lonely even!  I was hesitant to publish this. After some reflection and advice seeking from a person who has studied in the most important Quranic school in Senegal, I reached the conclusion that it was necessary to publish about this deception in our community. The reason is quite evident. My friend told me that there is a consideration of morals and responsibility that must be assumed, and I believe the reason is convincing. &#034;If a person puts a shard of broken glass where someone will be walking, that person is responsible for harming another. If instead, I do not put that glass there, but know it has been put there and do nothing to remove it or to warn you that it is there, I too assume responsibility for this harmful act, as if I myself had done it.&#034; </p>
<p>This is why activists attempt to protect one another from infiltrates, from harmful persons, even just suspicious persons or situations. They seek to keep the persons and cause they defend safe from harm. There are activists who will walk down the path paved with shards of &#034;Geneviève&#034;&#039;s broken glass and deception. They should heed the warning, protect their privacy and beware. She certainly isn&#039;t the only one out there, just one whose game has been discovered. - Mary</p>
<p>This is the link where you may read the comments <a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?v=feed&amp;story_fbid=10150149787930204&amp;id=100000513050132#!/note.php?note_id=360215809086&amp;id=100000372458065&amp;ref=mf">http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?v=feed&amp;story_fbid=10150149787930204&amp;id=100000513050132#!/note.php?note_id=360215809086&amp;id=100000372458065&amp;ref=mf</a>  The second post is even more explicit, and if you have Facebook, you can check it out yourself, following the link in the comments.</p>
<p>Written by Maik Finch</p></div>
<div><strong>this is Genevieve _</strong></div>
<div>
<div><a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=130857&amp;op=1&amp;view=all&amp;subj=360215809086&amp;aid=-1&amp;auser=0&amp;oid=360215809086&amp;id=100000372458065"></a></div>
</div>
<div>
<p><a href="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/genev-1.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-6019" title="genev 1" src="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/genev-1.jpg" alt="genev 1" width="553" height="368" /></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>she&#039;ll tell you this photo was taken a few years back when she was a model<br />
but now she&#039;s a 33 year old Parisienne who works in the editing business<br />
<strong>_ except she isn&#039;t</strong></p>
<p>Genevieve runs a blog that she wants to become well known<br />
she uploads the posts to her blog from her Paris apartment<br />
and all the wonderful poems that she&#039;s written<br />
<strong>_ except she didn&#039;t</strong></p>
<p>about two months ago Genevieve created a new ning group<br />
that already has 178 members<br />
<strong>_ except there aren&#039;t really that many</strong></p>
<p>this afternoon Genevieve posted publicly on a social network<br />
that she&#039;s about to become the chief editor of Palestine Telegraph<br />
she told people she deserves this exalted position<br />
for &#034;working 10hours a day 7 days a week for Palestine&#034;<br />
on top of doing her editing job where she travels around the world<br />
to make a living in order “to take care of myself and also fund my charity work and activism”<br />
<strong>_ except she doesn&#039;t have a job </strong><br />
<strong>_ and there&#039;s no evidence we can find of her charity work</strong></p>
<p>in the past Genevieve has told people she&#039;s a Muslim<br />
<strong>_ except she isn&#039;t</strong></p>
<p>she has had people banned from groups and sites<br />
accusing them of sending her pornographic pictures<br />
<strong>_ except they didn&#039;t</strong></p>
<p>she has gained others sympathy and asked them to fight her corner<br />
against unwanted sexual attacks and stalking of her which she never initiated<br />
<strong>_ except she did</strong></p>
<p>if we can believe Genevieve about anything<br />
(we still don&#039;t know her real name btw)<br />
she’s actually a 56 year old Canadian who was born in Hungary<br />
she lives with her Jewish husband in British Columbia, Canada<br />
and though her son follows the Jewish faith she is adamant she isn&#039;t Jewish herself<br />
she boasts about wearing a $25,000 diamond wedding ring<br />
and of &#034;all the rubies and emeralds&#034; that she owns<br />
she makes fun and belittles her husband who she says does everything for her<br />
(which might explain why she has so much time on her hands)<br />
she says that she hates her real name because her parents gave it to her<br />
she says that she doesn&#039;t use it because her parents abused her _</p>
<p><strong>is this the real Genevieve?</strong></div>
<div>
<div><a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=130858&amp;op=1&amp;view=all&amp;subj=360215809086&amp;aid=-1&amp;auser=0&amp;oid=360215809086&amp;id=100000372458065"></a></div>
</div>
<div>
<p><a href="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/genev-2.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-6020" title="genev 2" src="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/genev-2.jpg" alt="genev 2" width="336" height="316" /></a>since being discovered having concocted a series of the grossest lies<br />
against a Palestinian man that many of us know<br />
Genevieve has finally been called on to explain herself<br />
and given several opportunities to provide even one scrap of evidence<br />
for all the accusations she has made against Muslim men<br />
she&#039;s been advised that to make such accusations without evidence<br />
causes suspicion in others _ especially when the accusations never seem to end<br />
both past and present her response has always been the same _<br />
to turn on her questioners and the people she went to originally for help<br />
and to accuse them of anything that comes in to her mind<br />
zionist _ sadist _ pervert (the actual list is much longer)<br />
BUT THE ONLY THING THAT SHE NEVER DOES<br />
is provide the evidence to support these many claims</p>
<p>according to the experts<br />
&#034;a pathological liar is defined as someone who lies incessantly to get their way<br />
and who does so with little concern for others.<br />
Pathological lying is a coping mechanism developed in early childhood<br />
and it’s often associated with some other type of mental health disorder.<br />
A pathological liar is often goal-oriented (lying is focused on getting one&#039;s way).<br />
Pathological liars have little regard or respect for the rights and feelings of others.<br />
A pathological liar comes across as being manipulative, cunning and self-centered.</p>
<p>(<a onmousedown="UntrustedLink.bootstrap($(this), &quot;08dbc8e465fc0b552fca238f758740cf&quot;, event)" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.truthaboutdeception.com/confront_a_liar/public/pathological-compulsive.html" target="_blank"><span>http://www.truthaboutdecep</span><span> </span><span>tion.com/confront_a_liar/p</span><span> </span><span>ublic/pathological-compuls</span><span> </span>ive.html</a>)</p>
<p><a href="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/genev-3.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-6021" title="genev 3" src="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/genev-3.jpg" alt="genev 3" width="209" height="330" /></a> this is the photo that Genevieve has sent to unsuspecting Muslim men <br />
 <br />
 <br />
 <br />
 </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/genev-4.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-6022" title="genev 4" src="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/genev-4.jpg" alt="genev 4" width="228" height="324" /></a>here&#039;s another<br />
she sends them when she thinks they&#039;ve been hooked (<em>It&#039;s by a stock photographer and the title is &#034;Wet&#034;)</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>when Genevieve started her ning site<br />
she asked others for help to create false accounts<br />
because she wanted &#034;to boost her numbers&#034;<br />
but there’s actually another reason for these false accounts _<br />
here&#039;s a message she made from one of them before admitting it was really her<br />
&#034;<em>i&#039;m looking for a man like you _<br />
i recently got rid of my &#039;x&#039;, not political enough<br />
when are you coming to _____ so we can meet up</em>&#034;</div>
<div>
<p>that looks a lot like initiating something &#039;sexy&#039;<br />
and if you plan maliciously upon the response you might get<br />
then the word for what you&#039;re doing is &#039;entrapment&#039;</p>
<p>is Genevieve actually the enemy or someone we should feel sorry for?<br />
does any of this really matter to any of us?<br />
well it certainly does matter if you&#039;re a Muslim male<br />
and you&#039;d be well advised to stay away from her group<br />
because you would never know which members are really her!!<br />
and in my humble opinion it matters a whole lot more<br />
if you&#039;re about to become chief editor of the Palestine Telegraph<br />
(or was that just another lie?)</p>
<p><span>__________________________</span><span> </span><span>__________________________</span><span> </span>__________________</p>
<p>a question you might be asking yourselves<br />
is why _ if so many have been affected by Genevieve’s lies<br />
has it fallen on only me to tell you all this?<br />
everyone in our activist community has their role to play _<br />
and fortunately for all of us it doesn’t usually involve this kind of sordid situation<br />
for me it’s maybe different _ if I have any role to play then it’s about ‘defence’<br />
and i give a rat&#039;s ass for others opinions of who i am or what i do_<br />
this has been an embarrassing and dirty business for everyone involved<br />
taken weeks to gather evidence and extricate the men who were affected<br />
according to the experts pathological liars should be continually confronted by their lies _<br />
Genevieve was told to clean up her act and remove the false members of her group<br />
sadly _ as predicted _ she simply became abusive<br />
but she was given many chances to avoid this public disgrace _</p></div>
</div>
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		<title>Israeli Apartheid and the Nakba &#8211; video by Anthony Lawson</title>
		<link>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/16/israeli-apartheid-and-the-nakba-video-by-anthony-lawson/</link>
		<comments>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/16/israeli-apartheid-and-the-nakba-video-by-anthony-lawson/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:18:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Guest Post</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Newswire]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Palestine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Zionism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ethnic Cleansing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Holocaust]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Human Rights Violations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israeli apartheid]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/16/israeli-apartheid-and-the-nakba-video-by-anthony-lawson/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Very good video that explains how it is logical that Israel is aptly described as an Apartheid State. Although it is actually worse. ]]></description>
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		<title>Khalid Amayreh &#8211; Britain&#039;s policy on Palestine is hypocritical, duplicitous and mendacious</title>
		<link>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/15/khalid-amayreh-britains-policy-on-palestine-is-hypocritical-duplicitous-and-mendacious/</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:09:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Khalid Amayreh</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Khalid Amayreh]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Palestinian politicians]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[ 
By Khalid Amayreh in occupied Jerusalem
Last week, a few Palestinian journalists and I had the opportunity to meet with Martin Day, a spokesman of the British government. The meeting, which was hosted by the Arabic Media Internet Network (AMIN), took place in Ramallah. In his introductory remarks, Day gave the impression that the imminent renewal [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span> </span><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: medium;"><img title="Khalid Amayreh" src="http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/images/article_images/articles/khalid-amayreh-4.jpg" border="0" alt="Khalid Amayreh" hspace="10" vspace="10" width="250" height="189" align="left" /></span>By Khalid Amayreh in occupied Jerusalem<br />
</strong>Last week, a few Palestinian journalists and I had the opportunity to meet with Martin Day, a spokesman of the British government. The meeting, which was hosted by the Arabic Media Internet Network (AMIN), took place in Ramallah. In his introductory remarks, Day gave the impression that the imminent renewal of peace talks between the almost completely helpless Palestinian Authority (PA) and a brazenly insolent Israel, ruled by the most hawkish government in the Jewish state&#039;s history, will eventually achieve peace and lead to the establishment of a viable Palestinian state. He also lauded the Obama administration, underscoring its <span style="COLOR: #cb0000"><em>&#034;sincerity&#034;</em></span> towards resolving the enduring Palestinian cause. Day&#039;s remarks were received with disbelief and dismay by the small audience of journalists, writers and cameramen who thought that Day either didn&#039;t know what he was talking about, or he did know what he was saying but was detached not only from truth but from reality as well.</p>
<p>As a torrent of questions was directed at him, the British diplomat switched <span style="COLOR: #cb0000"><em>&#034;from straight talk&#034;</em></span> to PR talk, recollecting some of the <em><span style="COLOR: #cb0000">&#034;pro-Palestinian&#034;</span></em> gestures and postures made recently by the British government, such as supporting the Goldstone Report at the United Nations.</p>
<p><img title="Martin Day in Ramallah" src="http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/images/article_images/articles/martin-day-in-ramallah-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Martin Day in Ramallah" hspace="10" vspace="10" width="250" height="186" align="right" />Day was asked if he thought that the flaccid British approach toward Israel &#8211; for example, asking nicely if the Jewish state would like to refrain from undermining peace efforts   would really make Israel reconsider its manifestly criminal policy toward the Palestinians. Fleeing from the heat of the question, Day said there was no alternative to peace talks. He then dodged another question on whether he thought the impending talks would be truly genuine or just more of the same, as most Palestinians think. He was reminded about the fiasco of direct PA-Israel talks which lasted for eighteen years. One journalist asked, <span style="COLOR: #cb0000"><em>&#034;What makes you think that three months or even one year of indirect talks will succeed in achieving what eighteen years of direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians failed utterly to achieve?&#034;</em></span> Frustrated by the directness of the questions, Day seemed at a loss about how to answer, knowing very well that the present so-called <span style="COLOR: #cb0000"><em>&#034;peace efforts&#034;</em></span> are nothing more than a desperate regurgitation of previous talks.</p>
<p>He refused to answer a question on why the European Union, including Britain, was refusing to exert meaningful pressure on Israel to stop building Jewish colonies on occupied Palestinian territories, which undermine really seriously the feasibility of the increasingly moribund two-state solution. One journalist asked Day if he thought the Obama administration, which has been unable to persuade Israel to freeze settlement expansion, would be able to force Israel to end its occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Unable to answer the question, Mr. Day, who had earlier praised the Obama administration, said he was speaking only on behalf of the British government.</p>
<p><img title="Martin Day in Ramallah" src="http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/images/article_images/articles/martin-day-in-ramallah-2.jpg" border="0" alt="Martin Day in Ramallah" hspace="10" vspace="10" align="left" />Our encounter with the British diplomat convinced us that Britain has a consistently pro-Israeli policy and that the occasional gestures made toward the PA regime are meant only to cover up the long-standing British acceptance of Israeli criminality. Britain does give the PA regime some aid in the form of training the PA police force. However, it is very clear that the British aid is not conditional on an undertaking by the PA to respect the human rights and civil liberties of Palestinian citizens in the West Bank. Hence, one can claim safely that Britain is effectively helping the PA to torment its citizens and violate their human rights, a fact corroborated by many human rights organizations, including the London-based Amnesty International.</p>
<p>Palestinians, along with many honest and conscientious people around the globe, including many British citizens, have hoped that successive British governments would one day try to atone for Britain&#039;s grave sins against the Palestinian people. After all, it was Britain which gave Palestine to the Zionist movement through the infamous Balfour Declaration in 1917.</p>
<p>However, to the chagrin of many, Britain has shown consistently that the same criminal mindset that gave Palestine to Zionism on a silver platter remains alive and well in London. In fact, one could cite hundreds of examples showing that Britain is not really sincere about reaching a just peace in Palestine.</p>
<p>For example, the decision by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to prevent the issue of arrest warrants for suspected Israeli war criminals, such as Ehud Barak, Tzipi Livni, Gabi Ashkenazi and Ehud Olmert, to name but a few. Under the new proposal made by Brown less than two weeks ago, the Crown Prosecution Service will take over responsibility for prosecuting war crimes and other violations of international law. Bowing to Zionist pressure and utterly ignoring the massacres Israel carried out in Gaza last year, Brown wrote in the Daily Telegraph, <span style="COLOR: #cb0000"><em>&#034;As we have seen, there is now significant danger of such a provision being exploited by politically-motivated organizations and individuals who set out only to grab headlines knowing their case has no realistic chance of a successful prosecution&#034;</em></span>.</p>
<p>This ill-advised proposal by Brown should be viewed as a blunt betrayal of the thousands of Palestinians killed, maimed and incinerated by the Israeli war machine during Israel&#039;s genocidal onslaught against the people of Gaza. It should also be viewed as a tacit encouragement to Israel to keep up its militaristic approach toward the Palestinians. In the final analysis, crime unpunished is crime encouraged. The proposal also shows that the British decision to back the Goldstone Report at the UN was no more than a PR exercise intended to maintain a semblance of credibility among Britain&#039;s Arab friends.</p>
<p>This duplicity on the part of the British government is further underscored by the virtual British silence in the face of the latest provocative decisions by the Israeli occupation authorities to build tens of thousands of additional settler units for Jews in East Jerusalem.</p>
<p>The feeble and certainly ineffective British stand in the face of Israel&#039;s determination to destroy every chance for peace proves that Britain is actually a hindrance to, rather than a facilitator of, peace in the Middle East. Indeed, since British Ambassador to the UN Lord Caradon drafted the Resolution 242 in November 1967, Britain has been pandering to the whims of the Zionist regime in a manner that is only outmatched by America.</p>
<p>Some Palestinians and Arabs had thought naively that the exit of the certified war criminal Tony Blair from the British government would restore some balance to British foreign policy toward the Muslim world, especially Palestine. However, with a gung-ho approach towards Iran, the murderous intervention in Afghanistan and the nefarious connivance with the Israelis, Britain is riding roughshod over all Arab and Muslim sensibilities. This more or less strengthens the arguments of extremist groups like al-Qaeda, which say that the West will not behave justly and decently toward Muslims unless it is forced to do so.</p>
<p>While the British government is certainly to blame for its hypocrisy and duplicity toward the Palestinians&#039; plight, for which it must shoulder some responsibility, Palestinian and Arab officials should always challenge British diplomats and officials to act on their criticism of Israel. It is unacceptable to criticize Israeli settlement expansion in the morning while assuring Israel in the evening that relations with Britain will remain exceptionally strong and be unaffected by any differences over the settlement issue. Britain is the mother of all the calamities that have befallen the Palestinian people since 1914. Hence, a British discourse toward the Palestinian people that is based on deception and dishonesty can never be accepted, even if British diplomats claim it is based on good will.</p>
<p><span><span style="font-size: x-small; font-family: Arial;">source: <strong><span style="font-size: medium; color: #ff00ff;">Middle East Monitor</span></strong></span></span><span> </span> </p>
<div><span><span style="font-size: x-small; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/articles/62-europe/778-britains-policy-on-palestine-is-hypocritical-duplicitous-and-mendacious">http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/articles/62-europe/778-britains-policy-on-palestine-is-hypocritical-duplicitous-and-mendacious</a>-</span></span></div>
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		<title>Brenda Heard &#8211; The Complex Business of Assassination</title>
		<link>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/12/brenda-heard-the-complex-business-of-assassination/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:38:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mary Rizzo</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Counter-terrorism, No thanks!]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mary's Choice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Newswire]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Palestine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Zionism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dubai Assassination]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hamas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hariri]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lebanon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mossad]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[“Event”?  An assassination, an international scandal steeped in fraud and political greed, is laughed off as an “event” suitable for parody.  Clever salesmen ridicule the justice system to joe-public, who parades the untouchable crime and criminal on his t-shirt.  A cold-blooded con-man who ordered executions like room service is remembered for his cunning and polished accent. ]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/special-tribunale.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-6001" title="special tribunale" src="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/special-tribunale.jpg" alt="special tribunale" width="230" height="230" /></a>WRITTEN BY BRENDA HEARD   Antonio Cassese, President of the <a href="http://www.stl-tsl.org/section/AbouttheSTL">Special Tribunal for Lebanon</a> (STL), recently presented the <a href="http://www.stl-tsl.org/x/file/TheRegistry/Library/presidents_reports/Annual_report_March_2010_EN.pdf">First Annual Report</a> on the operation and activities of the Tribunal during the period from 1 March 2009 to 28 February 2010.  With its remit to investigate the 14 February 2005 Beirut bombing that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 22 others, the international Tribunal has been busy.  The year has been spent “establishing the basic structure of the institution” and gathering “evidence against both the direct perpetrators of the crimes, as well as the ‘perpetrators behind the perpetrators’ – i.e. those senior political, military and paramilitary leaders who – although physically, geographically or temporally removed from the crimes – in fact bear the greatest responsibility.”  </p>
<p>Cassese notes the “obvious discipline and sophistication of those behind the attack.”  He explores at length the theoretical ethos of the work being undertaken, a step he terms “indispensable.” He concludes that</p>
<p>“All the organs of the STL are not unmindful of the host of hurdles they will have to face, both at present and when they begin to discharge their judicial mandate fully. But they are prepared to surmount those hurdles with intrepidity. After all, the undertakings of anybody struggling for the realization of human rights, and in this case, for the vindication of the rights of the victims and the punishment of the authors of very serious misdeeds, is a labour of Sisyphus.”</p>
<p>Intrepid as they may be, however, it must be remembered what the tale of Sisyphus has come to symbolise: a task that accomplishes nothing beyond its own futile implementation.  The mythological figure, you will recall, was subject to the eternal punishment of pushing a boulder up a hill, waiting for it to roll back down, and then pushing it up again and again.  </p>
<p> The complex mysteries of unsolved assassinations in Lebanon, Cassese suggests, may always remain just that.  It is ironic timing then, that just as the STL published its report, we find other perplexing news reports on this complex business of assassinations in the Middle East.  There is the admiration expressed for a British/Israeli “spy.”  And there is the audacious pride exhibited over the recent “Dubai mission.”</p>
<p>“He exemplified how to fulfill a public mission,” said Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in praise of David Kimche, who died of cancer 8 March.  Born and bred in Britain, Kimche emigrated to Palestine in 1946, where he went to work for the Zionist project of Israel.  As agent and later deputy head of the Mossad, as well as director-general of the Foreign Ministry, Kimche “took to his grave,” says the <em>Jerusalem Post</em>, “scores of secrets about Israeli clandestine activities that were not only classified information, but in many cases were without documentation and filed only in his brain.”</p>
<p>Israeli media champions this “master of disguise” who posed as a British businessman, a journalist, or maybe a diplomat, with his “extraordinary talent for winning people’s confidence,” noting that the “work he did in Arab countries is inestimable.”</p>
<p>Following the killing of eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, for instance, Kimche “helped direct Israel&#039;s spectacular revenge” with the aid of its European agents: a string of assassinations in Lebanon and across Europe.  “The aim was not so much revenge but mainly to make them frightened,” Kimche stated.  “We wanted to make them look over their shoulders and feel that we are upon them. And therefore we tried not to do things by just shooting a guy in the street—that’s easy.”</p>
<p>Easy indeed. </p>
<p>Kimche was well-suited to his position, as he was “known for his elegant English accent and courteousness, and these qualities sometimes deceived people, as he could be very cunning, determined, and even cruel.”  He was just the man to woo the Francophile, Christian Phalangists in Lebanon, in order to set the groundwork of allies for the Israeli military invasion in 1982, when assassinations were camouflaged amongst the carnage of the brutal onslaught that ensued. </p>
<p>Yet inexplicably, Kimche inspired an aura of admiration rather than disgust.  The BBC labels him a “spymaster,” a “descendant of a prominent Swiss Jewish family.”  Haaretz finds him “similar in style to the characters described by the British author John le Carre in his spy novels.”</p>
<p>(Quote sources: <a href="http://jta.org/news/article/2010/03/09/1011005/kimche-top-spy-dead-at-82">Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA</a>), <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=170592">Jerusalem Post</a>, <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1155423.html">Haaretz</a>, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8558332.stm">BBC</a>)</p>
<p><a href="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/brenda-moss-thumb.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-6003" title="brenda moss thumb" src="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/brenda-moss-thumb.jpg" alt="brenda moss thumb" width="263" height="83" /></a>It seems there are many who admire the Bondian license to kill.  American media giant ABC expresses amusement that “<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/slideshow/photos-israeli-mossad-shirts-boast-dubai-hit-10009759">After Dubai Hit, Sales of Mossad Merchandise Soar</a>.”   The “tale of an Israeli hit squad swooping into an Arab country to kill a Palestinian militant commander,” ABC reports, “has sparked pride” in Israel.  Quoting a representative of <a href="http://www.israel-catalog.com/Default.asp?">Israel-Catalog.com</a>, t-shirts reading “don’t mess with the Mossad” are now best sellers.  “Before the Mossad operation no one was really interested in these t-shirts, but now everyone wants one.”  Many varieties are available, including “Mossad’s Dubai Operation” (now on “weekly special”) and “I’m Gail Folliard’s alibi.”  This last one is particularly noteworthy.  As Folliard is <a href="http://www.interpol.int/public/data/wanted/notices/data/2010/66/2010_7066.asp">wanted by Interpol</a> for an arrest warrant issued by the UAE for Crimes against Life and Death, it is a fair indication of the extent that cover-up is routinely endorsed in this complex business of assassination. </p>
<p>The Western-Middle Eastern collusion is far from an isolated incident.  On 9 March Dubai&#039;s police chief accused Israel of “vast falsification” of travel documents, noting that dozens of false passports have been uncovered:</p>
<p>“Israel is falsifying Western passports on a large scale. We discover forged passports on a daily basis.  The world must stop an operation of vast falsification of official documents (that) a formal body (Israel&#039;s spy agency Mossad) is carrying out.  It is shameful for the European countries that a country which claims to be a state of law is falsifying their passports.  This is an unprecedented phenomenon for one country to forge the documents of another, [which is] usually done by criminal gangsters, not states.” [<a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g2SlYcj-mK7k8JyCA7nwl7LmWYwA">AFP</a>]</p>
<p>Meanwhile, an Israeli supermarket has created a new advertising campaign.  Mocking the security camera footage showing suspected assassins in Dubai, the commercial shows actors carrying tennis rackets, and wearing hats, glasses and wigs — the same disguises worn by the alleged killers — as they make their way through store aisles. “We offer killer prices,” announces the advertisement&#039;s tagline.  The advertising executive responsible claims “It&#039;s a funny take of this event.” [<a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jVC73_TJy2zwQcLD7RwYYcBrqDUQD9EBUMA00">AP</a>] </p>
<p>“Event”?  An assassination, an international scandal steeped in fraud and political greed, is laughed off as an “event” suitable for parody.  Clever salesmen ridicule the justice system to joe-public, who parades the untouchable crime and criminal on his t-shirt.  A cold-blooded con-man who ordered executions like room service is remembered for his cunning and polished accent. </p>
<p> Assassinations in and around Lebanon have for years been challenged only by gossip.  Yet in this complex business of international intrigue, we see <a href="http://www.un.org/News/briefings/docs/2009/090303_OBrien.doc.htm">$51.4 million</a> in the first year alone being spent in a Netherlands office building to house a “Special” Tribunal for Lebanon.  A tribunal that hopes somehow it might balance its aim to “render expeditious and true justice and to accomplish the truth-seeking mission entrusted upon it by its founding instruments” on the one hand. . . with a boulder-pushing Sisyphus on the other.</p>
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		<title>Sami Jamil Jadallah &#8211; America does not get it!</title>
		<link>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/12/sami-jamil-jadallah-america-does-not-get-it/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:31:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sami Jamil Jadallah</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Middle East Issues]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Newswire]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Palestine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Zionism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israeli politicians]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Netanyahu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Palestinian politicians]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://palestinethinktank.com/?p=5994</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For many years since the early days of the Reagan and Bush administration continuing with Clinton and now Obama administrations, everytime there is visit by a high ranking American official, Israel announces either expansions of Jewish settlements, expulsions of Palestinians from East Jerusalem, expansions of security checkpoints, expanding the Apartheid Wall, committing targeted assassinations or attacking neighboring countries.  This is the message American officials get from Israel every time they can pretend they are on a “peace mission”.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/biden-net.bmp"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-5999" title="biden net" src="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/biden-net.bmp" alt="biden net" /></a>In the last few days I have been following the visits of both Vice President Joe Biden and Senator George Mitchell to the Middle East and the different and competing messages coming out of Washington, Ramallah, Tel-Aviv and Cairo the seat of the Arab League.</p>
<p>Vice President Joe Biden is a seasoned politician with over 30 years in the US Senate with many years of tenure as Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee and one would assume is a smart man who can understand words and actions. He seemed to lose both while on his visit to Israel.</p>
<p>It seems the Obama-Biden’s White House does not get it. V.P. Biden&#039;s statement quoted in Haaretz, “Palestinians, Israelis must decide for themselves if they want peace” sounds very good but when it comes from someone like Joe Biden such statement is not only stupid but reckless as well.</p>
<p>All of the US administrations with the exception of Eisenhower and Kennedy including Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II and now Obama has always acted not as an unbiased arbitrator but as partners with Israel and always gave Israel the legal, political, economic and military cover needed to continue with its occupation, with its expanding settlements, with its seizures and closures, its never ending daily aggression and pretended always to ignore the fact that Israel whether Labor, Likud, Kadima, Shas or whatever never was interested in peace with the Palestinians based on land for peace. One can only explain US-Israel relationship as one of a “pimp and his bitch” with Israel being the “pimp” of course.</p>
<p>Elie Yishai, the Israeli interior minister, did not let the visit of Joe Biden to Israel end without taking deliberate action not only to humiliate Joe Biden and the Obama administration but also to make sure he rubs Biden&#039;s face in the dirt with his announcement that Israel will build 1,600 new units in occupied East Jerusalem.</p>
<p>For many years since the early days of the Reagan and Bush administration continuing with Clinton and now Obama administrations, everytime there is visit by a high ranking American official, Israel announces either expansions of Jewish settlements, expulsions of Palestinians from East Jerusalem, expansions of security checkpoints, expanding the Apartheid Wall, committing targeted assassinations or attacking neighboring countries.  This is the message American officials get from Israel every time they can pretend they are on a “peace mission”.</p>
<p>One would think that after some 43 years the American administrations get the message right, that Israel never was and never will be interested in any kind of peace with the Palestinians. Israel was, is and remains committed to Greater Israel, remains committed to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from all of Palestine including Israel and the West Bank with calls for making Jordan the home for the future Palestinian state.</p>
<p>Haaretz also announced that Israel is in the process of planning to build 50,000 more units in the occupied West Bank, this is in addition to those 1,600 announced by the Netanyahu government as a welcome reception to Joe Biden and George Mitchell. The Israeli actions from the early days of 67 was for making the West Bank part of the “Jewish” state never referring to the area as “occupied” but as “Judea and Samaria” and at best “disputed” territories.</p>
<p>One can understand Washington’s failure to understand that Israel does not want peace; one could never understand Ramallah and the Arab League actions and statements that assume Israel does want peace.</p>
<p>The PLO leadership failed to understand this &#034;strategic” and “ideological” decision on the part of Israel when it entered into negotiations with Israel leading to Oslo with the agreement and acquiesce of the Palestinian Trio of Arafat, Abbas and Qurai leaving Israel with total and absolute control over 57% of the “occupied territories”, total and absolute control over East Jerusalem including the power to ethnically cleanse Arabs from East Jerusalem.</p>
<p>More troublesome is the decision by Abbas and his administration in Ramallah to continue to negotiate with Ehud Olmert for a couple of years while Olmert and his government was building and expanding settlements more than ever.</p>
<p>In 2008 Israel built 1,647 units in the West Bank an increase of 60% over 2007 and built 5,431 new units in East Jerusalem an increase of 600% over 2007, not to mention expulsions of tens of thousands of Arabs from East Jerusalem. Yet Mahmoud Abbas, and his chief negotiator Saeb Erekat and the PLO executive secretary Yaser Abed-Rabou continued to negotiate with Olmert on a regular basis, meeting at times over dinner as if there are no new settlements.  One has difficulty to understand why Abbas and his PLO team continued to negotiate with Olmert and his war criminal partners Livni and Barak and needed to have Arab League cover to start “proximity” talks with Netanyahu.  Nothing has changed between Olmert and Netanyahu, both are committed to Greater Israel, both are committed to keeping Jerusalem united and under total Israeli control and both never considered the West Bank as “occupied territories” but always referred to it as “Judea and Samaria”.</p>
<p>I guess the only thing left for the Ramallah and the PLO leadership to negotiate is the annual management fees it gets from Israel, US and EU as manager of the Jewish Occupations and the numbers of VIP passes for its many top level executives and functionaries.  One can understand if Washington does not get it, one could never understand why the PLO leadership does not get it? Why Amer Musa and the Arab League do not get it? That Israel was and is and will remain never interested in “peace” with the Palestinians if that “peace” means ending the Jewish Occupation that started on June 5<sup>th</sup>, 1967. One also could never understand the Arab continued reliance on the US as an “honest broker” in the “peace process” when the US past and present administrations where always Israel’s “bitch”. Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden, peace can happen only when Israel decides and takes the necessary measures and actions it wants peace not before.</p>
<p>also here:<br />
<a href="http://www.jeffersoncorner.com/america-does-not-get-it/">http://www.jeffersoncorner.com/america-does-not-get-it/</a></p>
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		<title>Mazin Qumsiyeh &#8211; Back in Palestine</title>
		<link>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/12/mazin-qumsiyeh-back-in-palestine/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:22:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Guest Post</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Arabian Coffee House]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://palestinethinktank.com/?p=5995</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It was hard to say goodbye to my wife and friends in the US.  The last night was very meaningful as we were in New York seeing the performance of Najla Said, daughter of my friend and mentor, the late Professor Edward Said (for an earlier statement from Najla, see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEMrmRCbvA0 ). I cried while she [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><a href="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Mazin_Q_headshot.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-5997" title="Mazin_Q_headshot" src="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Mazin_Q_headshot.jpg" alt="Mazin_Q_headshot" width="200" height="184" /></a>It was hard to say goodbye to my wife and friends in the US.  The last night was very meaningful as we were in New York seeing the performance of Najla Said, daughter of my friend and mentor, the late Professor Edward Said (for an earlier statement from Najla, see</div>
<div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEMrmRCbvA0">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEMrmRCbvA0</a> ). I cried while she was speaking</div>
<div>because her words expressed deep emotions that I often felt but could not adequately express.  I was touched by her openness with her emotions about being, like her father, &#034;out of place&#034; living in New York but somehow connected to Palestine.  The play is simply called &#039;Palestine&#039; and it ends with her saying that Palestine makes her cry! A truly powerful play.</div>
<div>On the flight from New York to Amman, I have time to ponder the past, the future, and the present.  Questions race in my mind and most left  unanswered. How did we end-up here?  Did I reach out enough to those few individuals who came to my talk at Rutgers and Northeastern to defend Zionism? How do I show appreciation for those who came to support or who hosted me? What will happen in the next few weeks, to me and to Palestine? My thoughts are interrupted by the Delta pilot announcing that we will enter</div>
<div>restricted airspace and that everyone is to return to their seat and buckle-up?  The US citizen behind me comments as the stewardess passes that this must be a military base.  She says simply &#034;we are passing over Israel&#034;. I think in my mind &#034;same thing&#034; and want to say it out loud but decide to not say anything.</div>
<div>We land in Amman around 5 PM, and the officer at the passport control asks me how long I will be staying and I say I am leaving directly to Palestine. I chat with the taxi-driver, a Palestinian who never saw Palestine.  He tells me I should stay overnight and feels protective of me.  I arrive at the Jordanian border controls and it is empty and I am quickly processed and I catch the bus smoothly.  As the bus crosses the bridge into the occupied territories my heart beats a little faster.  At the first checkpoint before the passport control, I make a call to the lawyer.  His phone is turned off. 30 minutes later we are about to disembark in front if the building with passport controls and I call again.  No answer.  I begin to sweat.  I call my sister and tell her to try to reach the lawyer.  There are two friendly individuals who happen to be on the same bus.  One of them teaches with me</div>
<div>at Bethlehem University.  When I give him my card, he just simply says &#034;do not worry, it will be OK&#034;.  I feel an inner peace that is hard to describe. I smile at him. I smile at the 3 year old child in the seat in front of me. </div>
<div>Half an hour later, my friends passed through and I am at the window being asked questions by a blond Ashkenazi young women who never smiles.  After examining my Palestinian document (issued by the Israeli ministry), and spending a few minutes at her computer, she demands I show her my American passport.  She asks a few more questions.  She consults with the girl next to her, whispers something and points at the screen.  The other girl says something like &#034;kin, aval lo.&#034; yes but no.. I am still calm.  She hands me back my American passport.  Three minutes later, she stamps and hands me back the other document.  My friend who was waiting for me says &#034;see I told you&#034;.  I did not answer.  I am a bit confused.  Questions rush through my head.  What does this mean? Does it confirm the idea that they came to my house after I left so that I would be scared and not come back? Or was this because of the pressure from the letters from the senators office, from three congressmen, from many activists demanding that I be given safe</div>
<div>passage? (see below). Or maybe there is yet another game I do not understand.  Maybe the Buddhist charm that a friend gave me for good luck worked and they simply missed me buy accident? Maybe they will come for me later? Emotions of relief are tempered by a deep anger at this whole affair. Whatever game is being played, it is sick and not amusing. I promise myself that I am not going to let it pass, I will follow my lawyer&#039;s advice and a)</div>
<div>still go to see the military officer Sunday or Monday (after the weekend/Sabbath), b) still keep this issue public and publicized. I resolve to do more to support others who are less fortunate than I am. La lucha continua.  I get home at 11:30 PM, tired and drained.  My mother is waiting for me on the street.  I kiss her cheeks and tears come to my face as</div>
<div>Najla&#039;s words come to mine &#034;Palestine makes me cry&#034;.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>I will keep you informed of what happens next but for now I will call friends here to see where we are with planned activities of popular resistance. I will also prepare my lectures for tomorrow at Birzeit University and take it one day at a time occasionally reporting to you as before on life under occupation.  I am truly grateful for and touched by all the letters of support.  A petition was created and is posted at TheStuggle.org. There is even a facebook page which has now hundreds of members to support me (<a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=341498237214&lt;http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=341498237214&amp;ref=mf&gt; &amp;ref=mf">http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=341498237214 </a>).  This  outpouring of love is hard to reciprocate but if there is anything I could ever do for any of you, please do not hesitate to ask. For example, I would love to host you in Palestine and show you around. </div>
<div>&lt;http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=341498237214&amp;ref=mf&gt; &amp;ref=mf</div>
<div>For now, I enjoy the simple pleasure of eating green almonds from my yard. And the journey continues of seeking to have &#034;joyful participation in the sorrows of this world&#034;. Life under colonial occupation continues.  Negev human rights activist Nuri el Okbi was brought to the Be&#039;er Sheba Magistrate&#039;s Court on many &#034;charges&#034; because he refuses to leave his land. </div>
<div><a href="http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/press_releases/1267326280/">http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/press_releases/1267326280/</a></div>
<div>Israel continues to intensify efforts at social engineering in the Negev as elsewhere to remove Palestinians from their land.  Today (Friday), the occupied areas are under full closure with worshippers prevented from getting to Al-Aqsa mosque to avoid any demonstrations over Israel&#039;s approval of 1600 new housing units for Jews in Arab parts of the city.  The latter represented not just a spit on the face of Abu Mazen but visiting US vice president Joe Biden who wiped it off and called it rain according to Haaretz</div>
<div>( &lt;<a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1155895.html">http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1155895.html</a>&gt;</div>
<div><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1155895.html">http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1155895.html</a> ).  There is a Zionist man I sometimes exchange views with openly and on numerous occasions he told me in response to incidents like these: the world is based on might/power and state interests, get used to it.  I choose to believe that all good comes from people who disagree with this Machiavellian notion. After all, if we all believed in entrenched power, we would have no civil rights in the US, no end to the war on Vietnam, and Palestine would have become a pure Jewish Zionist state by now.<br />
 </div>
<div>With love to all. </div>
<div>Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD </div>
<div>Popular Committee to Defend Ush Ghrab (PCDUG) </div>
<div>A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home </div>
<div> <a href="http://www.qumsiyeh.org/">http://www.qumsiyeh.org</a>  </div>
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		<title>Leaked Zionist strategy Paper to counter BDS &#8211; MUST READ!</title>
		<link>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/11/leaked-zionist-strategy-paper-to-counter-bds-must-read/</link>
		<comments>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/11/leaked-zionist-strategy-paper-to-counter-bds-must-read/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:52:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Guest Post</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Grassroots Activism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hasbara Deconstruction Site]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://palestinethinktank.com/?p=5986</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[

Here is a leaked copy of the Zionist plan to attack the Boycott and Divestment Campaign Against Israel&#039;s Occupation and to strategy to shut down the debate on the Palestinian issue and to shift it discussion of anti-Semitism and not Israel&#039;s illegal Occuption and illegal settlements and human rights violations. (thanks to the various people [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div>
<div>
<div id="attachment_5987" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 360px"><a href="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/settler-poster-child.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-5987" title="settler poster child" src="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/settler-poster-child.jpg" alt="an example of changing the context of the issue by appealing to emotions and creating a brand new narrative" width="350" height="238" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">an example of changing the context of the issue by appealing to emotions and creating a brand new narrative</p></div>
<p>Here is a leaked copy of the Zionist plan to attack the Boycott and Divestment Campaign Against Israel&#039;s Occupation and to strategy to shut down the debate on the Palestinian issue and to shift it discussion of anti-Semitism and not Israel&#039;s illegal Occuption and illegal settlements and human rights violations. (thanks to the various people who supplied this material).</p></div>
<p>Delegitimization of Israel: “Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions”<br />
Co-Chairs: Dr. Mitchell Bard and Professor Gil Troy</p>
<p>This position paper summarizes the discussions of the Working Group on Delegitimization at the 2009 Global Forum against Anti-Semitism. Our task was to generate specific action plans to respond to the BDS – boycott, divestment, sanctions – movement, to reframe the issues in our favor and to set a new proactive agenda. If there was one clear conclusion that emerged from the two-day session in December, it was THERE MUST BE FOLLOW UP. There is a need in the Jewish world today for more coordination, for more sharing of best practices, for more LEADERSHIP in the fight against anti-Semitism. Activists in the field feel alone. Those who succeed are not sharing their successful tactics and strategies; those who are less experienced flounder, wasting precious time, resources, goodwill. Everyone was honored and excited to participate in the Global Forum; no one wanted it to be limited to a two-day meeting, and many volunteered to keep the global conversation growing.</p>
<p>Beyond that, this paper will spend less time on definitions and narratives, and instead serve as an initial brainstorming document. Through the use of a Wiki set up with the assistance of Dr.Andre Oboler, task force members helped edit these two papers. The first was initially authored by Gil Troy, the second on taking offense, by Mitchell Bard. We thank all the participants for all their time, passion and expertise – and look at this as the start of an ongoing process, which we hope will continue.</p>
<p><strong>BDS AS A CLEAR TARGET:</strong><br />
There is a clarity in fighting against BDS that could provide traction in the Jewish world and beyond. In the current climate, Israel advocates are always going to lose a fight over “settlements” and “occupation,” or at best get mired in stalemate. BDS shifts the terrain, making the battle one over Israel’s right to exist, over the legitimacy of Zionism, over the anti-Semitic tropes shaping the anti-Israel movement, and the rank anti-Semitism behind the disproportionate, obsessive focus on Israel. It is also a battle about freedom of speech and of open discourses, given the BDS attempt to shut down normal flows of learning and commerce with Israel. This is a battle we can win – and (shhh, don’t tell anyone) have been winning so far, in many ways, in many communities.</p>
<p>We also should recognize that BDS is a part of a broader campaign to delegitimize Israel. This campaign of delegitimization, Dr. Joel Fishman writes, has been &#034;a central motif of Palestinian propaganda in international bodies&#034; and reflects a strategy of a &#034;People&#039;s War,&#034; as full blown political, economic, cultural, ideological struggle against the very existence of Israel.</p>
<p>The Foreign Ministry can help centralize the fight against BDS and delegitimization, coordinate responses to what is a coordinated attack, share information, take a moral stand against the human rights hypocrites, engage diplomats in a fight for Israel’s basic rights, and train Israeli diplomats about the BDS movement. But the fight also has to be local not international, rooted in particular community norms, and necessarily somewhat distanced from the Foreign Ministry which is, naturally, perceived as a biased party, and whose involvement in all facets would help our enemies argue that we are fighting for Israel using the fight against anti-Semitism as camouflage.</p>
<p><strong>PUT BDS IN CONTEXT:<br />
</strong>Part of the fight against BDS is an educational one. And central to that is explaining that<br />
(as mentioned before) BDS crosses the line into traditional bigotry, both by resurrecting traditional anti-Semitic tropes, and by following the traditional ways of all bigots in attacking the essence of Israel and the Jewish people rather than constructively seeking to change particular policies or actions.BDS is part of the “Durban Strategy” adopted by NGOs during the infamous Durban Conference that was supposed to be against racism in late August, early September 2001. Good liberals on campus and elsewhere who think they are just fighting for “justice” need to be confronted with the fact that they are advancing a particular agenda with a particular – and quite problematic – pedigree.BDS is also part of the broader Islamist strategy to undermine the West. Especially in North America, activists need to understand how positions they are taking are aiding the same people who support shooting up Fort Hood, trying to down commercial jets on Christmas, and succeeded in killing nearly three thousand people on September 11, 2001.</p>
<p><strong>Strategy / Vision A 5 Year Plan<br />
</strong><br />
All too often, we get mired in the tactics of the day-to-day battle and are too reactive. The group decided that before plunging into a more detailed discussion of some dimensions of the problem, we should step back and think about our vision, about our strategy and about what tactics will achieve our broader goals, five years from now.</p>
<p><strong>Our Vision:</strong></p>
<p><strong>Includes: Israel being a cause to celebrate<br />
</strong><br />
<strong>Humanization of Israel</strong> (using a vibrant proactive approach making the Zionist case while emphasizing Israel’s many positive accomplishments and appealing characteristics</p>
<p><strong>Driving a Wedge between Soft Critics and Hard Delegitimizers</strong></p>
<p><strong>Strategy<br />
</strong><br />
To have in place legislative prohibitions vs. BDS which can then be applied in different communities, acknowledging the different legal traditions.</p>
<p>Creating “Best Practices” which can be modeled and taught.</p>
<p>To have in place institutions (centralized, or &#039;hub within network&#039; institutions) that can share information. (Committee members disagreed whether the bulk of the work should be from the government or from the community/civil society).</p>
<p>Institutions: To have in place Affinity Groups – lawyers, accountants, academics etc who can help fight BDS from within</p>
<p>Israeli intellectual &#039;buy in&#039; – mobilizing Israeli academics and other professional who understand the seriousness of the threat and fight it</p>
<p>Encouraging more Israel Studies on campus as part of a broader rebranding and reversing of the current wherein enemies of Israel on campus are rewarded and friends are punished</p>
<p>Debranding the NGOs (Non-governmental Organizations) – naming and shaming</p>
<p><strong><em>Pursuing a strategy of ridicule and satire – especially on the internet</em></strong></p>
<p><strong>Here are some steps we should follow to achieve those goals:</strong></p>
<p><strong><em>1. Let’s Reframe to Name and Shame:</em></strong></p>
<p>BDS means very little to most people – and sounds like a communicable disease (which in some ways, like anti-Semitism itself, it is…) The awkwardness of the language, and the venom behind the sentiments, together provide a double opportunity. We can rename and reframe their movement. We need to point out how BDS crosses the line from legitimate criticism to historically- laden, anti-Semitic messaging. We should note that BDS fails the “Sharansky Test” of Demonization, Double Standards and Delegitimization” because it singles out Israel for special condemnation, speaking for example about the “apartheid nature of the state” rather than specific policies. We could reinforce this by adding a 2-E Test – “exceptionalism” and “essentialism” – which again focuses on singling out Israel and, in the nature of traditional bigotry, condemning the actor not the act.</p>
<p>In that spirit, in Toronto, the Jewish Federation re-christened the movement the Blacklist, Demonize and Slander movement. In addition to exposing the animus of the movement, the label cleverly filtered the BDS movement through the correct cultural framework when the BDSers targeted the Toronto Film Festival. Jane Fonda, initially, was happy to sign a petition bashing Israel. When she found out that she supported a “blacklist” – a major no-no in post 1950s Hollywood culture, she felt ashamed and retracted. Similarly, the leading academics fighting boycotts have been scientists, because free exchange is the lifeblood of the scientific community and the thought of risking that for mere politics is appalling to many. At the same time, there are (some, not enough) voices in the gay community denouncing groups such as “Queers Against Israeli Apartheid,” because they know how much more liberal Israel is than any other Middle Eastern country (the major international association of gay travel agents held its annual meeting in Israel in 2009).</p>
<p>These examples suggest we need to think, case by case, about how to frame the BDSers in the way that most emphasizes the gap between their actions and the democratic ideals they pretend to espouse. Recasting the campaign as a blacklist is a powerful way to demonstrate what the movement is really about. We should think of other strategies that help delegitimize the delegitimizers.</p></div>
<div>More broadly, we need to think about what the right messaging for an anti-BDS campaign could be – “Let Israel Live,” for example, may make Israel sound pathetic and may sound too 1940s – kind of begging the world’s permission for Jewish survival. But, given the culture of crisis in the Jewish world, that is the kind of slogan that just might work. We invite other suggestions.</div>
<div>It is also important to determine the need for a response on a case by case basis. Some people argue that every BDS initiative must be fought out of fear of a domino effect; however, it may not be to our advantage to do so. Sometimes, we may give a trivial exercise greater meaning.</div>
<p><em><strong>1.1 Ensuring tactics don&#039;t defeat strategy</strong></em></p>
<p>The campaign against the University and College Lecturers&#039; Union&#039;s boycott attempt in the UK was a signal success, mainly due to a classic job of re-framing. The BDS crowd wants the debate to be about Israel and the pro-Israel crowd made it about academic freedom. Although this is an exquisite tactic it runs the risk of leading to a strategic defeat.</p>
<p>What happened was that the &#034;bad guys&#034; talked about how bad Israel is and the &#034;good guys&#034; talked about how bad boycotts are. In the end the only messages that anyone heard about Israel were how bad she is. The boycott motion was handily defeated, but such a triumph contains the seeds of a Pyrrhic victory. Perhaps it&#039;s natural to glory in any kind of victory we can obtain in this fight, however, “Israeli policy makes me sick, but boycotts make me sicker” (as stated as a typical progressive view in the BDS fight) is hardly the ringing endorsement of Israel we would all seek!</p>
<p>To quote Charles Jacobs (late of the David Project), students are often reduced to arguing that &#034;Israel doesn&#039;t suck.&#034; This is only a slight exaggeration. Unless we can come up with a way to produce a new meta-frame for discussing the Middle-East the BDSs will keep us on the run until we are worn out.</p>
<div>(Emendation, post conference: Wes Streeting President of the UK&#039;s National Union of Students argued that this concern was somewhat ill-founded. In the working group session he stressed that the argument against boycotts in general had opened the way to substantive discourse on why a boycott was particularly unjust when focused on Israel. If that&#039;s an accurate depiction of what happened, then it&#039;s a good example of what we need to do to ensure that strategy is not eclipsed by tactics.)</div>
<p><strong><em>2. Dig Deep to Undermine</em></strong></p>
<p>When the Student Society of Concordia University in Montreal was overtaken by Palestinians and anarchists in the late 1990s, early 2000s, rumors were rife about activists just enrolled in one course per semester to keep their eligibility for the Student Society, about money from outside the university being pumped into the pro-Palestinian activities and about money from the Student Society being diverted both for personal gain and for unauthorized political use. Surprisingly, neither the Jewish community nor the journalistic community undertook the kind of Edwin-Black- style investigation the whole mess deserved, for various cultural and political reasons. Investigative journalism is an underutilized tool in the fight against coordinated movements like the BDS movement.</p>
<p>Similarly, we need to do more historical research, showing the polluted origins of the Zionism is racism, Israel apartheid, and BDS movements. In October 1976, just under a year after the 1975 Zionism is Racism resolution passed the UN General Assembly, Professor Bernard Lewis published an article “The Anti-Zionist Resolution,” in Foreign Affairs (Vol. 55, No. 1 (Oct., 1976), pp. 54-64), uncovering the Soviet and Nazi roots of the resolution. Lewis’s research remains relevant today – as does his example.</p>
<p><strong><em>3. We Need a War Room</em></strong></p>
<p>The BDS movement is well-coordinated (and well-financed) <span style="color: #ff0000;">(MY NOTE: HUH???)</span> . The Jewish community needs a war room, tracking this movement, sharing best practices, coaching communities. All too often (and most especially on campus), when an anti-Israel initiative is launched the few who care act as if such a thing never occurred elsewhere and start working on their own strategy – rather than relying on a broad network and a collective memory that should be helping them.</p>
<p>The War Room could also provide the necessary intelligence and background that could be useful in the kinds of grassroots fights necessary to defeat BDS. Whether this War Room should be linked to the Ministry, or to the Global Forum, or to another Jewish organization, or stand on its own, is an important subject we should debate.</p>
<p>In describing this much-needed body of activists and academics we debated the nomenclature – some call it a clearinghouse, others a hub – but we need to share information, coordinate strategy, learn from each other, and push certain lines, taking offense, not just playing defense. In North America, the Federation system is talking about launching a coordinating body to fight BDS. England has “Fair play” functioning as a hub. In France the CRIEF coordinates. All these initiatives should be coordinated globally – through Israel, the target of the attack and the center of the Jewish people.</p>
<p>To be specific:<br />
* Our guiding principle is that the first people to fight are the people on the ground – this is added value not a command center<br />
* The mission is to be informational and tactical – a clearinghouse of information and like the town crier of old – a spur to action with weekly updates, particular tactics<br />
* Like an iceberg, partially submerged – we need to make some public points to shape the narrative against BDS, delegitimizing the delegitimizers, but we also need ome private initiatives. We should not share all our strategies and tactics for the enemy to see<br />
* Broadcast and narrowcast – having some messages that work globally, but also customizing our messages for campus, unions, civil society<br />
Professor Irwin Cotler spoke at the Global Forum about “the globalization of the indictment” and our need to take back the narrative, to become the plaintiff…. How can we do this is we don’t coordinate strategies, if there isn’t a central body for information sharing, with a great website, but also engaged experts, representing the different countries, helping to shape this battle, sending out weekly updates, helping people who want to get involved, and, as one of our participants suggested targeting the bad guys, using the blogosphere to mock them, to embarrass them, to name and shame?</p>
<p>Each community should of course have its own structures but this war room should act as a hub. It should start simply by coordinating a proactive, integrated structure against BDS and delegitimization – if it works, it could be a crucial resource when crises develop,and it truly could be a global forum against anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism and delegitimization, but for now let’s keep it focused.</p>
<p><strong><em>4. BDS Draws a Line in the Sand</em></strong><strong><em> </em></strong></p>
<div>BDS Draws a Line in the Sand &#8211; Either testing or recruiting progressives. By implicitly shifting the debate from Israeli policy to Israel’s right to exist, BDSers have provided what we could call the J-Street Test (or the test for J-Street). Progressives, no matter how critical of Israel, who condemn the BDS movement, prove their “pro-Israel bona fides.” (And Tal Shechter of J Street U recently sent out this message: “We should be investing – not divesting – in our campus debate, in our communities and in the people who will bring about change in the region. That’s why J Street U is launching an ‘Invest, Don’t Divest’ campaign today to raise money for two organizations — LendforPeace. org, a Palestinian microfinance organization set up by students like us, and The Center for Jewish-Arab Economic Development, which promotes Jewish-Arab Economic Cooperation in Israel.”)</div>
<div>Critics of Israeli policy can in fact be particularly useful in this fight – note how much of the British academic boycott was repudiated by people who were from the left but recognized the boycott threat as a great threat to academic freedom. So fighting BDS can help heal some of the rifts in the Jewish community, assert a big-tent Zionism, and invite left-wing critics of Israel who nevertheless believe in Israel’s existence to stand up for Israel on this defining issue.</div>
<div>The argument should be made – and this is true, not a mere tactic – that BDS harms the peace process. Whatever one thinks of Oslo, it is not coincidental that Israel entered into the Oslo Peace Accords only after the UN lifted its odious Zionism is Racism resolution in 1991 and that Israel made peace with Egypt only after Sadat came to Jerusalem. A nation under threat of boycott, a nation that feels its very existence and international legitimacy are threatened, is less likely to make peace, which makes the Palestinian strategy particularly self-defeating at this point (not to mention the fact that Israeli academics are among the most outspoken peace advocates).</div>
<p><strong><em>5. BDS merits a double ju jitsu move</em></strong><strong><em><strong><em> </em></strong></em></strong> </p>
<div>A “Let Israel Live” anti-BDS campaign, if done right, could provide the kind of community-wide unity, continuing passion, and identity-building activism, last seen during the Soviet Jewish movement. The threat is intense enough, the moral issue is clear enough, all we need is the motivation, leadership, and organizational sophistication to make it happen.</div>
<div>
<p><strong><em>6. Make this the New Soviet Jewry Movement</em></strong></p>
<p>A “Let Israel Live” anti-BDS campaign, if done right, could provide the kind of community-wide unity, continuing passion, and identity-building activism, last seen during the Soviet Jewish movement. The threat is intense enough, the moral issue is clear enough, all we need is the motivation, leadership, and organizational sophistication to make it happen.</p></div>
<p><em><strong>7. Make the fight Horizontal, Hip, and Hysterical…</strong></em><em><strong> </strong></em></p>
<div>While we do need some central coordination via a “war room,” we must not forget the importance of the netroots in combating BDS. The fight needs to be horizontal not hierarchical – what we use to call “grassroots” empowering college students to get involved using their skills, their media, their networks to push back. In the same spirit, the fight should be “hip,” rooted in the language and mores of the 21st century, presenting an updated, exciting, relevant celebration of modern Israel. And, as already mentioned, the fight should be hysterical – we forget just how powerful a tool ridicule can be as a weapon in politics, especially in our “Jon Stewart” culture.</div>
<p><em><strong>8. Speak to Israelis about their roles as ambassadors and dangerous role as enablers</strong></em><em><strong> </strong></em></p>
<div>The fight against anti-Semitism, against BDS, and for Israel begins at home, in the homeland. Israelis can be the most effective ambassadors and activists in the fight against BDS – this should be the kind of fight for survival that transcends most political divisions and harnesses the kind of ingenuity and passion Israelis bring to more conventional battlefields. Israelis need to understand that, for all their much vaunted, “Start-up Nation” Hi Tech inventiveness, if the European Union decides to boycott Israel, the economic impact would be devastating. The threat is real – but not well known, and usually seen, unfortunately, through a left-right prism.</div>
<p>At the same time, Israeli critics of Israeli policy need to understand that in an age of instant communication, what they say “within the family,” echoes throughout the world. The Norman Finkelsteins and Noam Chomskys of the world quote Israelis incessantly. No Israeli should feel compelled to change their politics, no matter what Chomsky and Finkelstein would choose to do. But ALL Israelis should watch their language, understanding that false Nazi/Apartheid/ Racism analogies feed Israel’s harshest enemies, who wish to wipe out the state. There is a rich bank of historical analogies and words Israeli critics can use to criticize Israel. There must be an awareness of how harmful the Nazi and Apartheid analogies are, and how they are used – the slogan “Never Again” should apply to false, offensive, analogizing, not just the mass murder itself</p>
<p>Note the analysis of Uri Avnery of the BDS. Avnery has a long record of harshly criticizing Israel, but distinguishes between his ultimately loving criticism and the exterminationist agenda underlying much of the BDS Campaign. He writes: “Reading some of the messages sent to me and trying to analyze their contents, I get the feeling they are not so much about a boycott on Israel as about the very existence of Israel. Some of the writers obviously believe that the creation of the State of Israel was a terrible mistake to start with, and therefore should be reversed. Turn the wheel of history back some 62 years and start anew.</p>
<p>“What really disturbs me about this is that almost nobody in the West comes out and says clearly: Israel must be abolished. Some of the proposals, like those for a “One State” solution, sound like euphemisms. If one believes that the State of Israel should be abolished and replaced by a State of Palestine or a State of Happiness – why not say so openly?</p>
<div>“Of course, that does not mean peace. Peace between Israel and Palestine presupposes that Israel is there. Peace between the Israeli people and the Palestinian people presupposes that both peoples have a right to self-determination and agree to the peace. Does anyone really believe that racist monsters like us would agree to give up our state because of a boycott?” Other Israelis – and other critics outside of Israel – should be appealed to on these terms, understanding that the BDS-Apartheid- Nazi-language is anti-Israel and anti-peace. See <a onmousedown="UntrustedLink.bootstrap($(this), &quot;94bde23837c4a457c14d9611699da8b5&quot;, event)" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.jewishvi/" target="_blank">http://www.jewishvi</a>rtuallibrary. org/jsource/Quote/Avneri1. html</div>
<p><em><strong>9. Ally, Fraternize, and Build Coalitions</strong></em><em><strong> </strong></em></p>
<div>We need to do a better job of empowering and educating Jewish and pro-Israel students. Specifically through advocacy training programs, like hasbara fellowships and many others, which bring students to Israel and give them the knowledge, skills and confidence to advocate on campus. Too many students are too intimidated to express their views. They need quick and easy answers to the most common criticisms thrown at them, and the confidence to deliver those messages. Jewish community organizations need to invest in these programs, and send their students to Israel to learn. Setting up one hour seminars on campus don&#039;t work, students need to go to Israel, learn the situation, and practice the responses.</div>
<div>We also need a major push to educate non-Jewish student leaders. Specifically, more money needs to be spent on the programs that already exist in countries like Canada to send non-Jewish student leaders (members of student government, campus organizations, campus newspapers etc). to Israel to learn the facts on the ground. They are the future leaders off-campus and in the media, and we are losing this battle.</div>
<p><em><strong>9.3 Reporters</strong></em><em><strong> </strong></em></p>
<div>We need to adopt a radically different approach to media relations: ‘embracing the journalist’, building relationships to go beyond the two traditional approaches of giving information to the press and monitoring/criticiz ing the media for ‘getting the story wrong’ – and instead helping them to ‘get the story right in the first place’, as MediaCentral does here in Israel. Reaching out to all levels of the media – local and national – to engage rather than criticize, without the “Hasbara” agenda but instead promoting accuracy as Israel’s best ally, widening the lens and helping to reframe the MidEast situation and to affect the tone and terminology used. Working to win the ‘battle for hearts and minds’ through the heart rather than the head, using Dale Carnegie’s approach to &#034;win friends and influence people&#034; or to put it another way, &#034;rather than fighting your enemy, make the enemy your friend….”</div>
<p><em><strong>9.4 Bloggers</strong></em><em><strong> </strong></em></p>
<div>We need a creative, edgy, systematic outreach to pro-Israel bloggers, who are willing to target BDSers and delegitimizers, exposing their tactics, ridiculing them as necessary, and, as much as possible putting them on the defensive.</div>
<p><em><strong>9.5 Professional Organizations and Communities</strong></em><em><strong> </strong></em></p>
<div>Dr. Jonathan Rynhold, who was involved in combating the proposed British academic boycott of Israel, suggests applying some of the lessons from that experience more broadly. He proposes forming and informing groups of Jewish/pro-Israel professionals within various national and international professional association/ organizations/ unions. Their first order of business should be passing anti-discrimination by-laws within the organization that are general in nature, and that do not mention Israel per se, but rather oppose discrimination on the basis of race, religion, nationality etc. This would put the onus on the boycotters to prove they are NOT discriminating, instead of pro-Israel forces having to prove Israel’s innocence. He also suggests offering a positive alternative to the boycott, such as engaging Israelis and Palestinians through the particular professional framework of the organization. Israeli organizations should take the lead in seeking international partners and preparing the groundwork for these general denunciations of boycott resolutions. All too often we wait until the crisis is upon us, rather than laying the foundation before trouble erupts. And considering that the specter of boycott already has arisen in various academic contexts, it is particularly important to re-establish and fund an organization of Israeli academics to work with the Israeli Academy of Science against the boycott, where Bob Lapidot has been the contact person.</div>
<p><em><strong>10. Zero in on a moment to raise awareness of the BDS threat and start delegitimizing the delegitimizers</strong></em><em><strong> </strong></em></p>
<div>Beyond Israel (and the communities of Israelis abroad), even many ardently pro-Israel activists do not quite know what to do with Yom Hazikaron, Israeli Memorial Day. Perhaps this year is the time for a mass, international, cross-community teach-in about BDS on Yom Hazikaron, remembering the fallen soldiers and victims of terror by learning that words can kill (or heal), that demonization has facilitated violence and undermines peace. An added bonus is that after this sobering, somewhat defensive day of learning, one can simply celebrate Israel’s birthday, with Yom Ha’atzmaut immediately afterwards.</div>
<p><em><strong>11. Meet “lawfare” with “lawfare.”</strong></em><em><strong> </strong></em></p>
<div>Professor Irwin Cotler has termed the variety of ways in which BDSers have hijacked international human rights laws to hound Israelis as “lawfare.” Many of the French delegates explained that there had been some success in applying the new French penal code outlawing discrimination based on religious or ethnic characteristics against BDSers – who sometimes have very violently ruined Israeli fruit in supermarkets. We should explore this more fully, being sensitive to the different legal traditions in the particular countries involved.</div>
<p><em><strong>12. Let’s Push More Broadly for a Citizenship 2.0 Campaign</strong></em><em><strong> </strong></em></p>
<div>One way of not just wallowing or being defensive, but to take the offensive, is to push a broader, Citizenship 2.0 campaign, deputizing the next generation to fight hate on the Web in general, and anti-Israel material in particular. Part of fighting anti-Semitism should entail enlisting educators, parents and community leaders to envision Citizenship 2.0, teaching students to avoid polluting on line-discourse themselves, to combat on-line hate, to assess on-line information critically, and to use the net&#039;s grassroots power to defend democratic values against the haters. The Internet works democratically, let’s mobilize and deputize young people in Israel, and the world over to fight hate wherever they see it (and, of course, never indulge in it). For parents, instead of grumbling about their kids being on “the computer” all the time, perhaps they could start boasting about their kids as modern Judah (and Judith) Maccabees, striding across the blogosphere, defending the Jewish people, fighting the BDS-ers and standing for truth, justice, civility and democracy.</div>
<p><span style="color: #ff0000;"><em><strong>GOING ON OFFENSE</strong></em></span></p>
<p>The time has come to explore ways to put the boycotters on the defensive and to initiate our own campaigns to highlight issues of concern. For example:</p>
<div><em><strong>1. Seek to have boycotters expelled from international organizations. One</strong></em> condition of Saudi Arabia’s admission to the WTO was that it cease its boycott of Israel. It promised to do so and then, after admission, declared it would not end the boycott. Organizations such as WTO should be pressured to adhere to its rules and other groups (e.g., sports federations) should be lobbied to adopt anti-boycott provisions.</div>
<p>2. Lobby academic journals to adopt policies barring submissions from anyone who advocates an academic boycott. Journals are supposed to promote academic freedom and intellectual exchange and should not collaborate in efforts to stifle such exchanges. If academic boycotters cannot get published, they will perish.</p>
<p>3. Circulate information on Muslims acting contrary to Islam. If the people of countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia knew their “pious” leaders were really alcoholics, gamblers and perverts, they might hasten regime change.</p>
<p>4. Create a “Student Rights Watch” organization that would seek to counterbalance certain NGOs that have become Israel-bashing specialists. SRW could go in at least two different directions – one would be to make a human rights organization that monitored activities around the world with the emphasis on non-democratic states (as HRW once did) – another approach would be to have the students focus on rights as students on college campuses with an emphasis on how Israel and Jews are treated, but also monitor other abuses inside and outside the classroom.</p>
<p>5. Launch a Saudi apartheid campaign. It is galling that Israel is tarred with comparisons to South Africa when there is a country that really does merit this comparison. Progressive and women’s groups should be natural allies in such a campaign, which might have a goal of adopting Sullivan-like principles for Western companies doing business in the kingdom.</p>
<p>6. “Buy Israel” campaign. This is already being done is some areas, but it might be adopted as an international program.</p>
<p>7. Buy Israel Bonds. It has been done quietly, but a more aggressive effort might be made to sell Israel Bonds to corporations and other entities (there is a danger to raising attention to it as it might create a new target for BDS). It may be a tougher sell given current interest rates at the moment, but one of the best responses to BDS is multimillion dollar bonds purchases made by banks, unions, pension plans, and others.</p>
<p>8. Outreach to mainline Christians. We have spent too little time on educating non-Jews and reacting only at the last minute when some of their leaders try to adopt BDS proposals at their national conventions. These churches bring in a parade of anti-Israel speakers who are rarely countered. Rather than focus so much attention preaching to the choir, greater efforts should be made to speak directly to non-evangelical Christians. The MFA could be especially helpful in this area.</p>
<p>9. Outreach to key minorities. In the United States, Hispanics will become an increasingly influential factor in American politics and, therefore, the U.S.-Israel relationship. Too little effort has been given to educating this community about Israel.</p>
<p>10. Developing Israel Studies as an academic discipline. Most universities have few if any courses about modern Israel and many of those that are taught are usually taught badly. A variety of steps can be taken to enhance the field across the globe. In the U.S., for example, the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE), has brought 65 visiting Israeli scholars to teach for an academic year at more than 40 universities over the last 5 years. AICE also supports graduate students pursuing Ph.D.s in Israel-related fields and postdoctoral fellows. Chairs and centers of Israel studies are being created in the U.S. and, more recently, the U.K. Providing the next generation with a good education about Israel is vital for the future as well as critical to countering present campus-based efforts to delegitimize Israel.</p>
<p>11. Try to make inroads at the UN and its associated agencies by targeting small nations. Many of these countries do not give a lot of thought to the Middle East and go with the herd. In fact, we know the UN reps sometimes act with little or no instruction from their governments. It may not be possible to overcome the Arab/Islamic bloc and its allies, but it may be possible to chip away at its majorities so votes are not one-sided and resolutions so biased (a small effort along these lines is underway in the U.S.).</p>
<div>12. A priority should be placed on defunding anti-Israel UN agencies, such as the Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. Efforts should be made to focus the UN on a positive agenda of economic development, health and environmental protection and lobby that funds be directed away from attacking a UN member and toward the mutual interests of all members.</div>
<div>These are just a few ideas that we hope will serve as the basis for discussion and stimulate additional suggestions for proactive measures to improve Israel’s image, delegitimize the detractors and energize everyone committed to fighting anti-Semitism.</div>
<p><span style="color: #ff0000;"><em><strong>AGENDA FOR THE WORKING GROUP MEETING</strong></em></span></p>
<p>These were some of the questions we addressed – although it was difficult to cover them all, let alone answer them adequately in two short sessions. Still, we include them as food for thought for future conferences.</p>
<div>I. Should this “working group” evolve into an ongoing task force – if so, what is its mandate, what are its goals, who will participate, what can it hope to achieve?<br />
II. Have we effectively explained why BDS crosses the line from legitimate criticism to historically- laden, anti-Semitic messaging (failing both the 3-D, Demonization, Double Standards, and Delegitimization, and 2-E, Essentialism and Exceptionalism, tests?)<br />
III. If there is to be a “war room” – who should run it? where should it be? who should participate? who will pay for it? what are its goals?<br />
IV. How can we best harness the comparative strengths of different institutions/ communities in order to achieve the most effective response? Where specifically do the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Global Forum fit in?<br />
V. In strategizing regarding the BDS movement, how do we keep the messaging positive – while motivating normally apathetic students, etc?<br />
VI. Who can make the case to Israelis that some of the discourse in Israel is harmful – and how can it be done in an effective manner?<br />
VII. If the idea of a broader anti-BDS/pro- Israel movement makes sense – who will run with it, how do we make that happen? Can we work in some cooperative fashion or will multiple organizations insist on doing it their way with little or no coordination?<br />
VIII. What other ideas do we have for “Going on Offense”: and which ones do we wish to make priorities?</div>
<p>Universities (or other institutions) that invest in Israel seldom do so for reasons of Zionist sympathy. If they have put money into Israel or Israeli companies it&#039;s because their investment advisers have told them that it&#039;s the right thing to do in order to grow their endowment. Hence, divestment would be financially inadvisable.<br />
If, in the midst of a divestment campaign, campus unions that represent technical, administrative and janitorial staff were convincingly informed that the divestment campaign might well lead to job cuts (and not amongst the tenured academics pushing for BDS) they might easily be persuaded to condemn such a campaign. How embarrassing for the &#034;progressive&#034; academics pushing BDS to be opposed by the representatives of the lowest paid workers on campus?</p>
<p>9.2 StudentsFar too much of the fight against anti-Semitism and for Israel occurs within a Jewish community bubble. The Foreign Ministry can be a particularly useful force here in helping build alliances with academics, business people, politicians, anti-terror/ national security types, Christian Zionists, civil libertarians – creating a broad coalition that is against demonization. Moreover, we learn from the anti-academic- boycott movement in England, whose guiding principle is that “the first people to fight BDS should be the people in the sector,” self defense is the best defense.9.1 Labor unionsBDS merits a double ju jitsu move: First, the BDS response to Israel is so over the top, it should be an opportunity to delegitimize the delegitimizers. Second, the Toronto community has been particularly effective in turning the lemons of BDS into lemonade – going from “Boycott” to Buycott – with the results being sold-out Israeli movie nights at the Toronto Film Festival, record-ticket sales for the targeted Dead Sea Scrolls, and a run on kosher wine when BDSers attacked Israeli wine. More broadly, the second paper offers many interesting ideas for getting off the defensive, becoming pro-active and taking the fight to the BDSers.</p>
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		<title>Women imprisoned &#8211; Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association</title>
		<link>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/10/women-imprisoned-addameer-prisoner-support-and-human-rights-association/</link>
		<comments>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/10/women-imprisoned-addameer-prisoner-support-and-human-rights-association/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:13:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Guest Post</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Human Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Newswire]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Addameer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Human Rights Violations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[palestinians]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[political prisoners]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Press Release: International Women’s Day 2010
8 March 2010 
 
Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association marks International Women’s Day 2010 by honoring, commemorating and saluting Palestinian women political prisoners and detainees in their steadfast resistance against Israeli colonial occupation and struggle towards securing the right of Palestinians to self-determination.
 
An estimated 10,000 Palestinian women have been arrested [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left; padding: 0px;"><strong><a href="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/pls-fml-prs1.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-5983" title="pls fml prs" src="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/pls-fml-prs1.jpg" alt="pls fml prs" width="350" height="510" /></a>Press Release: International Women’s Day 2010</strong></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; padding: 0px;">8 March 2010<strong> </strong></div>
<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; padding: 0px;"> </p>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left; padding: 0px;">Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association marks International Women’s Day 2010 by honoring, commemorating and saluting Palestinian women political prisoners and detainees in their steadfast resistance against Israeli colonial occupation and struggle towards securing the right of Palestinians to self-determination.</div>
<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; padding: 0px;"> </p>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left; padding: 0px;"><span>An estimated 10,000 Palestinian women have been arrested and detained since 1967 under Israeli military orders, which govern nearly every aspect of life in the occupied Palestinian territory today, including more than 750 Palestinian women arrested by Israel between the years 2000-2009. While the call to end violence and arbitrary detention against women around the world should take place 365 days a year, Addameer would like to take a moment today to reflect upon and recognize the plight of Palestinian women and their unique experiences of colonial violence within Israel’s prison system and unlawful regime of colonial occupation.</span></div>
<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; padding: 0px;"> </p>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left; padding: 0px;">As of March 2010, there remain 34 Palestinian women held in Israel’s prisons and detention centers, including three women held under administrative detention, eight women held pending trial and 23 women serving a sentence of imprisonment, of whom five are serving life (including multiple life) sentences. Both of the prisons that hold the majority of Palestinian female detainees, HaSharon and Damon Prisons, are located outside the 1967 occupied territory, in direct contravention of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which provides that, as an Occupying Power, Israel must detain residents of the occupied territory in prisons inside the occupied territory. The practical consequence of this unlawful transfer is that many prisoners have difficulty meeting with their Palestinian defense counsel and do not receive family visits as their attorneys and relatives are most often denied permits on “security grounds” not disclosed to them.</div>
<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; padding: 0px;"> </p>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left; padding: 0px;">In addition, both HaSharon and Damon Prisons lack a gender-sensitive approach and, as such, female prisoners detained there suffer from harsh imprisonment conditions and interlocking systems of oppression which are enacted through medical negligence, denial of education, denial of family visits, solitary confinement, and overcrowded cells. A majority of these cells are infested with insects, dirty, and lack adequate ventilation and natural light. Personal health and hygiene needs are rarely addressed by the Israeli Prison Service, even in cases involving the detention of pregnant female detainees.</div>
<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; padding: 0px;"> </p>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left; padding: 0px;">Other forms of abuse perpetrated against Palestinian women detainees and prisoners include numerous forms of sexual harassment, namely: threats of rape (in some cases threats of rape are made towards the detainee’s family members), sexually degrading insults, and invasive body/strip searches used as a method of punishment. These occurrences are a fundamental part of Palestinian women’s prison experiences and should be understood as a common and systematic form of racial and gendered State violence.</div>
<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; padding: 0px;"> </p>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left; padding: 0px;">Moreover, research has shown that Israel’s prison authorities use these forms of sexual harassment to deliberately exploit Palestinian women’s fears by playing on patriarchal norms as well as gender stereotypes within particular customs of Palestinian society. Accordingly, occurrences of sexual harassment are a sensitive issue for Palestinian women and their families; this vulnerability makes these measures especially effective tools for interrogators, and is compounded by the lack of available post-assault resources.</div>
<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; padding: 0px;"> </p>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left; padding: 0px;">Addameer submits that Israel’s routine practice of strip searching female prisoners and detainees as a method of punishment violates <span>both international human rights and humanitarian law, including the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, as well as the</span> <span>International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which stipulates in Article 7 that: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment…”. Similarly, Article 3(1)(c) of the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) forbids“outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment”.</span><span> </span></div>
<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; padding: 0px;"> </p>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left; padding: 0px;">Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association condemns the use of all measures of abuse Israeli actors use against female prisoners and detainees, and calls for the immediate release of all Palestinian political prisoners held unlawfully outside the occupied Palestinian territory. Addameer further calls for an immediate stop to Israel’s practices of sexual violence, including strip searches and invasive body searches, shackling of pregnant women during labor, and use of threats and/or other forms of sexual assault. In addition, Israeli authorities, in particular the Prison Service, must meet their obligations under the UN Minimum Standard Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and ensure that all subjects under Israeli jurisdiction are granted their full rights to formal education for girls under the age of 18, (including access to books and study materials inside the prisons), nutritional diet programs, especially for pregnant detainees, health care including specialized gynecological services, hospital/doctor visits when required, dental care, and open family visits (especially for mothers of minors). Of particular importance, Addameer demands that female prisoners and detainees be provided unhindered access to religious, cultural and gender sensitive social services, including trained Arabic-speaking women specialist in the field of social work, psychology and counseling. It is important to note that these rights and services must be administered only by Palestinians; as such, the Israeli authorities and the Israel Prison Service must grant full, unhindered access to Palestinian programs and service providers in this regard.</div>
<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; padding: 0px;"> </p>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left; padding: 0px;">On International Women&#039;s Day 2010, Addameer stands in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners and detainees who remain strong in their resistance against Israel’s colonial occupation regime, and asks the international community for its continued support and solidarity all year round.</div>
<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; padding: 0px;"> </p>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; padding: 0px;">For more information on female prisoners, please visit: <a href="http://www.addameer.info/">www.addameer.info</a> or contact:</div>
<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; padding: 0px;"> </p>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; padding: 0px;">Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; padding: 0px;">PO Box 17338, Jerusalem</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Tel: +972 (0)2 296 0446</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Fax: +972 (0)2 296 0447</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; padding: 0px;">Email: <a href="mailto:info@addameer.ps">info@addameer.ps</a></div>
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		<title>Khalid Amayreh interviewed by Silvia Cattori</title>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:52:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Khalid Amayreh</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Biography]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Khalid Amayreh (*) is a journalist who lives in Hebron, a city brutalized and bloodied daily by armed Jewish settlers who are driving the authentic inhabitants by force. He is what might be called a true Palestinian; a man of integrity who was never seduced by financial rewards and prestige; a man standing who has [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_5921" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/khalid-amayreh-3.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-5921" title="khalid-amayreh-3" src="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/khalid-amayreh-3.jpg" alt="Khalid Amayreh" width="300" height="211" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Khalid Amayreh</p></div>
<p>Khalid Amayreh (*) is a journalist who lives in Hebron, a city brutalized and bloodied daily by armed Jewish settlers who are driving the authentic inhabitants by force. He is what might be called a true Palestinian; a man of integrity who was never seduced by financial rewards and prestige; a man standing who has remained with his martyred people in order to witness every day the atrocities he suffers at the hands of the Israeli army, but also, and this is the most painful, at the hands of the authorities of Ramallah. He himself has been imprisoned, savagely beaten without knowing why, by this Palestinian police to the training of which Bernard Kouchner is so pleased to have participated.</p>
<div>His articles, to which he devotes all his energies and time, by love for his country that Israel has turned into a nightmare, reflect daily the torture, the arrests, the abductions, the humiliations, the massacres that the Israeli army imposes constantly to his destitute people, abandoned by the world. He calls a spade a spade when he documents the racist remarks of the Jewish religious and political leaders advocating the mass murder of Palestinians. He compares the Israeli military to the Nazis when they behave as such. He describes the Israeli anti-Muslim racism, which resembles in many respects the “<em>anti-Jewish propaganda of Nazi Germany in the 1930s</em>”. He challenges the colonization presented as a &#034;<em>return to their original homeland</em>”. He deserves our full consideration. It is appalling that witnesses of his calibre are ignored by the mainstream media. He responds here to the questions of Silvia Cattori.</div>
<div>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Silvia Cattori</strong>: <em>You have written countless articles explaining in detail what is happening in Palestine. When you see that the crimes of Israel, you are documenting in your articles &#8211; which are translated in many languages, and well reported in the Arab medias and in the new medias &#8211; remain largely ignored in the mainstream western medias, aren’t you sometimes discouraged?</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Khalid Amayreh</strong>: No, not at all, the evilness of the Israeli regime instils in us a greater determination to keep up the struggle. With every murderous crime committed by the Zionists, whom I often call the “<em>Nazis of our time</em>”, we acquire new evidence that the evil regime’s end is inevitable. Evil can’t be sustained for ever. Eventually it will destroy itself along with the evil doers. This often happens due to purely internal factors, but it could be also as a result of a combination of internal and external factors. The fact that Israel is trying to censor the messages and punish the messengers (e.g. international observers and human rights activists operating in occupied Palestine) shows that Israel has much to hide from the eyes of the world. Nonetheless, Israel is fighting a losing battle as many Israelis are finding out that Zionist criminality can’t be sustained for ever. In a world where everything can be denied, there are forces undeniable. And on earth, where nothing is sure, we have our certainties. As an oppressed people our certainty is to be free. True, our freedom is not around the corner, but, nonetheless it is a certainty.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Silvia Cattori</strong>: <em>Deceit is everywhere. While large international solidarity associations with the Palestinian cause immediately publish all the writings of Israeli militants and journalists like Michel Warschawski, Uri Avnery, Amira Hass, or Gideon Levy, few of your articles pass the censorship. This shows well that the discourse in the solidarity movement is biased, truncated at will; of course they condemn the occupation but they do not question the legitimacy of Israel, the dispossession of Palestine in 48, etc. Better to be Israeli Jewish to report on Israel Palestine?</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Khalid Amayreh</strong>: Your observations are unfortunately correct. However, it is always better to view the half-full part of the proverbial glass. That these people don’t publish my articles is unfortunate, however, the fact that they have brought themselves to realizing that Israel is committing crimes and violating the basic human rights of the Palestinian people is a laudable act in itself.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">What is more important is that a revolutionary act can’t occur outside its natural historical and political milieu. We just can’t expect people who were breast-fed with the holocaust religion all their life to suddenly convert to anti-Zionism. In France, as in the United States and much of the West, turning one’s back completely to Israel and Zionism means losing a certain part of one’s identity. Hence, many people are just not ready to undergo the desired transformation. My personal impression is that the final transformation will ultimately occur as the universal resistance to Zionism becomes deeper and irreversible as the futility of the so-called peace process become clearer, which is happening now.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Silvia Cattori</strong>: <em>The murder of a Hamas military executive, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, has been largely commented. Never has been Israel’s image so degraded. But should we not see that no Western State condemns the Israeli policy of targeted killings of Palestinians fighters? Doesn’t this demonstrate that Western politicians do not want to see the ugly and brutal policy of the current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman [<a id="nh1" title="[1] Benjamin Netanyahu, born in 1949, is the current prime minister and (&#8230;)&#034; name=&#034;nh1&#034; href=&#034;http://www.silviacattori.net/article1139.html#nb1&#034;>1</a>]?</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Khalid Amayreh</strong>: You see, international politics is very much like a house of ill-repute. Principles, including so-called moral principles, mean nothing as opposed to statecraft. In western countries, leaders and politicians would go to a great extent asserting the ideals of freedom, human rights and democracy. However, when these principles collide with expediency or pass through a real test (e.g. Hamas’s election victory in 2006), they are let down in the name of realism and pragmatism.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The same thing applies to Israeli behaviour. Israel has always been a criminal entity. And the West went along with that. Hence, it would be naïve to expect the West to undergo a sudden awakening of its conscience just because Israel has murdered a Palestinian leader. Israel has always committed such crimes, and the West has always lived with this. So there is absolutely nothing extraordinary here.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Silvia Cattori</strong>: <em>When Benjamin Netanyahu reiterates that Israel will never withdraw from East Jerusalem, nor return to 1967 borders, nor allow Palestinian refugees to return to what is now Israel, which means do you have to voice your anger?</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Khalid Amayreh</strong>: I tend to believe him, which really convinces me of the futility of seeking peace with Israel. Unfortunately, it is too late for peace with Israel. Now it is either open-ended conflict, or a single democratic state in all of mandatory Palestine from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean where all inhabitants are viewed as citizens, irrespective of religion and ethnicity. Needless to say, the later concept is anathema for Israel, since it would lead to the loss of Israel’s Jewish identity.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Silvia Cattori</strong>: <em>After calling to dismember Iraq, after destroying Lebanon and Palestine, Israeli regime wants now to attack Iran and encourage his allies to enter in his war propaganda. President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government is openly the most eager to support Israel against Iran. But is it really Iran that threatens the Middle East?</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Khalid Amayreh</strong>: No, Iran in no way represents a threat to the Middle East. Iran is still very much a Third World country that lacks the ability (and the inclination) to pose such a threat. Besides, Iran, unlike Israel, has not waged wars of aggression in modern times.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">In my opinion, the driving motive behind the Israeli-western hysteria against Iran is to ensure that Israel remains the sole, undisputed, and unchallenged superpower in the Middle East as it is now. Hence, the largely phobic talk about the possible destruction of Israel by Iran is more than rubbish. It really insults people’s intelligence and should never be entertained by serious peoples.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Israel possesses hundreds of nuclear heads and bombs, along with their delivery systems, which means that it would be utterly foolish to threaten Israel. Some would claim that the Iranian leadership can be “<em>foolish</em>” but this is nonsense. A country that has been able to navigate itself through the treacherous terrains of international politics can’t really be foolish.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">In the final analysis, we are talking about a potential challenge to Israeli supremacy in the region, not existence, a condition that has persisted since the aftermath of the Second World War. This is what irks Israel and the West.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">As to Sarkozy, he obviously lacks the rectitude of an honest leader. He is very much a European copy of George Bush, but lacking the enormity of means that were at the latter’s disposal.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Silvia Cattori</strong>: <em>How France &#8211; totally aligned with Israel as it is from 2007 – could it help the Palestinians people to regain their rights? Did it not already lose all its credit and influence in the region? As for the strategy of Obama for the Middle East has it not already failed?</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Khalid Amayreh</strong>: No, France is not really qualified to carry out a truly constructive role in helping the Palestinians regain their rights. France, especially under the present government, is too reluctant, too inconsistent, too unprincipled and too much seduced by Zionist romanticism.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Indeed, France has repeatedly demonstrated that its heart and mind belong to Israel, not to Justice. Moreover, the scandalous French stand on the genocidal Israeli onslaught against the people of the Gaza Strip a year ago was really a classical example of political whoredom. What else can be said of a major international power that once taught the world the meaning of liberty that stood idle, passively watching Nazi-Israel rain death on the heads of Gaza’s helpless children and women while mendaciously claiming to be doing this in self-defence?</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Silvia Cattori</strong>: <em>Have you not been shocked by the call to recognize a “Palestinian State without borders”, made by Bernard Kouchner on the day (21 February) of the arrival of the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, in Paris? If France wants to recognise a Palestinian State, why should it be without defining its borders?</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Khalid Amayreh</strong>: Yes, I have. And I think many other Palestinians have the same feeling. The reason for that is very clear. The French proposal for recognizing a Palestinian state without borders should be viewed as a mere euphemism for the liquidation of the Palestinian cause.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Besides, any temporary arrangements would have be more or less vague arrangements in order to be accepted by both sides. And from our experience with the Oslo Accords, vague arrangements are always interpreted by the powerful side, in this case Israel, in a way that serves the Israeli designs, while the other party, the Palestinians, is left indulging in day-dreaming.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Didn’t Shimon Peres, the hero of the Qana massacre [<a id="nh2" title="[2] Qana is a village in Southern Lebanon where many Lebanese civilians, (&#8230;)&#034; name=&#034;nh2&#034; href=&#034;http://www.silviacattori.net/article1139.html#nb2&#034;>2</a>], say “<em>I can’t post a guard at Arafat’s lips</em>,” when the late Palestinian leader said that the Oslo Accords gave Palestinians an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital?</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Besides, who would or could guarantee that Israel wouldn’t treat the “<em>temporary borders</em>” as “<em>permanent borders</em>”? The United States? France? The United Kindom? Germany (we probably shouldn’t even mention Germany, given her pornographic embrace of Israeli Nazism!)? Well, these powers can’t even get Israel to stop demolishing an Arab home in East Jerusalem, let alone force Israel to withdraw from Palestinian land.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Silvia Cattori</strong>: <em>The day after his call, in an article co-authored with Miguel Angel Moratinos [<a id="nh3" title="[3] An article in the daily Le Monde on February 22, 2010, “À quand l&#039;État (&#8230;)&#034; name=&#034;nh3&#034; href=&#034;http://www.silviacattori.net/article1139.html#nb3&#034;>3</a>], Bernard Kouchner spoke of a new plan that sets the agenda for negotiations on the final status of the Palestinian State. Here, again, do you think that this is a credible solution? Is not Bernard Kushner’s plan an Israeli plan? A plan</em> “for the establishment of institutions and the creation of a viable Palestinian State” <em>that Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad had endorsed in summer 2009, that would build a state</em> &#034;in facts and on the ground&#034; <em>for 2011, through an increase of economic projects? What does that inspire you?</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Khalid Amayreh</strong>: I think this plan is no plan at all. It is rather a process of deception very much like the defunct Oslo process. Besides, it is always ludicrous and vacuous to claim that a viable Palestinian state can be built while the Palestinian people are still languishing under a cruel foreign military occupation that controls every aspect of their lives.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I sincerely believe that Mr. Fayyad is acting very much like Alice in Wonderland. He is a man who was parachuted from North America to Palestine thanks to a decision by President Bush. I dare say he is not really acquainted with the Nazi-like nature of the Israeli regime. Moreover, he naively thinks that the building of institutions, probably along with international recognition, could create a certain mechanism, or a momentum, that would eventually make the proverbial viable Palestinian state an achievable task.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">To this, we Palestinians, who have been through it all, from creation to destruction, say a big « <em>No</em> ». We have learned, the hard way, that the creation of a state before liberation is a dangerous and stupid act of gambling. This has been proven in a clarion way through the Oslo process, which gave us annexation instead of liberation and apartheid instead of statehood.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Besides, who would guarantee that Israel wouldn’t move its tanks to crush all the institutions Mr. Fayyad would like to build in cooperation with people like Kouchner, especially if Palestinians continued to be affronted with the durability of the “<em>temporary borders</em>” being proposed now?</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Silvia Cattori</strong>: <em>Salam Fayyad is a politician that Sarkozy and Kouchner would like to seat in power definitely. Luisa Morgantini, the leader of the solidarity movement in Italy, considers Salam Fayyad as a militant, a friend of the Palestinian cause. Who is Fayyad really for the Palestinians? What did he to improve the daily life of his people? Have you seen less check points, less jobless under his regime? Is it true that the economic situation improved in the West Bank what does it mean for the Palestinians on the ground? Do you believe that Fayyad could be the right person to solve the Palestinian cause?</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Khalid Amayreh</strong>: In my opinion, Fayyad is a man who is effectively striving to carry out the Netanyahu concept of “<em>economic peace</em>” whereby Palestinians, or a majority of them, would accept trading off their national aspirations for jobs and money. In other words, he wants to us to settle for a deformed “<em>state</em>”, one without dignity, without freedom, without authority, without anything, for a little-whore of a state that would be perpetually subject and subservient to Israel. As to Jerusalem, the right of the refugees, the numerous Jewish colonies that continue to expand throughout our land, this is none of his concerns. His ultimate concerns is to achieve “<em>economic prosperity</em>” but at the expense of our legitimate and inalienable rights, including the right to freedom from Israeli Nazism.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">If Fayyad’s vision were to succeed, God forbid, we would be condemned to many decades of serfdom and subjugation by Jewish colonialism, all in the name of peace.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Silvia Cattori</strong>: <em>The Palestinian people and their cause can only suffer from the split between Fatah and Hamas. In 2008 you said that</em> “it is imperative that member-States of the European Union (EU) either collectively or individually should initiate a meaningful dialogue with Hamas as soon as possible. Needless to say, such a dialogue would be expedient to all parties involved as well as to the cause of peace and stability in the Middle East.&#034; [<a id="nh4" title="[4] See: “Europe should speak to Hamas now”, by Khalid Amayreh, November (&#8230;)&#034; name=&#034;nh4&#034; href=&#034;http://www.silviacattori.net/article1139.html#nb4&#034;>4</a>]. <em>In October 2009, when Fatah and Hamas were close to signing a pact of national unity, there was a big hope. Yet the division remains? How can we imagine that Mohammed Abbas and Salam Fayyad can be loyal in a future coalition with Hamas after all the betrayals that are known?</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Khalid Amayreh</strong>: I am not really optimistic about true reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas. The reason for that is that Fatah, indeed the entire Palestinian Authority, lacks the will to act independently, given the fact that they both are almost completely dependent for their financial survival on western and pro-western Arab donors.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Indeed, the “<em>raison d’être</em>” of the Palestinian Authority (PA) now, at least from the American and Israeli view point, is to combat Hamas or at least inhibit its growth.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">This is not a matter of a transient political strategy. It is much more than that. Israel, which continues to control the overall American policy in the Middle East, believes that the inclusion of Hamas into the main body of Palestinian politics would more or less raise the ceiling of Palestinian aspirations and expectations. This, not the issue of terror, is the main reason of Israel’s vehement hostility to Hamas.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Moreover, Israel hopes that a strong Hamas would ensure that Fatah wouldn’t make serious concessions to Israel with regard to cardinal final-status issues such Jerusalem and the refugees.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">This is why it is likely that the dichotomy between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas will continue for sometime unless the Palestinian Authority delivers itself from the shackles of subservience to the United States and European Union, which considers Hamas a terrorist organization.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Silvia Cattori</strong>: <em>An intelligence officer of the Palestinian Authority, Fahmi Shabana al-Tamimi [<a id="nh5" title="[5] See: “Hedonism in Ramallah”, by Khalid Amayreh, 18 February (&#8230;)&#034; name=&#034;nh5&#034; href=&#034;http://www.silviacattori.net/article1139.html#nb5&#034;>5</a>], has condemned the misuse of public funds within the Palestinian Authority; has he been heard? Where are the billions paid by the European Union?</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Khalid Amayreh</strong>: No, he hasn’t been heard and is unlikely to be heard. The reason is clear. For the Palestinian Authority to truly and sincerely fight corruption, it would have to demolish the entire Palestinian Authority apparatus because corruption, in its various forms, is the other side of the Palestinian Authority regime. In fact, there is an umbilical relationship between the Palestinian Authority and corruption. This might sound as an exaggeration to many, especially in the west. But this is taken for granted here. In short, corruption infests every aspect of the Palestinian Authority so much so that only a thorough and complete overhaul of the Palestinian Authority would stem the plague of corruption.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Silvia Cattori</strong>: <em>When Mahmoud Abbas asks Hamas legitimate authorities (in Gaza) to recognize Israel as a precondition to forming a government of national unity, does it sound normal?</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Khalid Amayreh</strong>: No, it doesn’t. And he hasn’t the courage to say so openly before a Palestinian audience. Besides, he and his Palestinian Authority had recognized Israel a long time ago, and look what they have got in return?</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Silvia Cattori</strong>: <em>The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) recognized Israel. But is it its honour? What is the usefulness of the PLO? Has it still reason to be? Do you consider its representatives abroad as legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people? Mahmoud Abbas does he not use the PLO to divide the Palestinians?</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Khalid Amayreh</strong>: The PLO used to be a true representative of the Palestinian people. But this was when the PLO still retained it national chastity. Now, in my opinion, the PLO lost much if not all of its national honour, if only by indulging in manifestly treasonous acts such as the so-called security coordination with Israel. Some Palestinians are already calling the PA, the daughter of the PLO, a Palestinian “<em>judenrat</em>”.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Silvia Cattori</strong>: <em>Your representatives outside do not seem to be concerned with the abuses of the Palestinian Authorities. Leila Shahid, Palestinian representative in Brussels continues to refer to Oslo, to negotiations, and other nonsense. By the way, this PLO representative is considered, for instance in France, the legitimate Palestinians’ voice by activists like Dominique Vidal and Michel Warschawsky, with whom Leila Shahid held conference for years in France. Did Palestinians expect them to resign in 2006 when Abbas and his Fatah movement had lost the power?</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Khalid Amayreh</strong>: This is really tragic, because these people are supposed to defend the honour of the Palestinian people, not blindly support and defend policies that corrode this honour in the service of Israel.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">My impression is that these people are following the old adage “<em>when money appears, heads bow</em>.” I am sorry that some of our people have reached this level of depravity.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Silvia Cattori</strong>: <em>When the Palestinian representative in UNESCO Elias Sambar, or members of the Palestinian Authority, stigmatize Iran &#8211; one of the few countries in the region which denounces Israel without concessions &#8211; or blame the Palestinian Muslim resistance to be “Shiia” [<a id="nh6" title="[6] See: “The Shi&#039;a Threat in Palestine: between phobias and propaganda”, by (&#8230;)&#034; name=&#034;nh6&#034; href=&#034;http://www.silviacattori.net/article1139.html#nb6&#034;>6</a>], do they express the opinion of the majority of your people?</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Khalid Amayreh</strong>: I don’t think so. My impression is that they indulge in this stupid ranting in order to receive a certificate of good conduct from the U.S. and Israel. Otherwise, one might ask what interest do Palestinians have in alienating millions of Shiite Muslims around the world by calling Hamas “<em>Shia’a</em>”?</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Besides, didn’t Fatah and the PLO repeatedly beg Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah to include Fatah prisoners in any prisoner-exchange deal with Israel; hence the hypocrisy on their part.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Silvia Cattori</strong>: <em>Another grim reality: the Fatah collaboration with the enemy. Under these conditions when the Palestinians hear Abbas or Fayyad talk about the</em> “liberation of Palestine”,<em> can they believe them?</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Khalid Amayreh</strong>: Yes, I know that too well. This is really beyond chutzpah [insolence]; it is pornographic hypocrisy bordering on mental sickness.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Silvia Cattori</strong>: <em>You wrote that the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)</em> “is functioning very much like a hanger-on vis-à-vis the American backed Palestinian Authority “ [<a id="nh7" title="[7] See: “What is wrong with PFLP? ”, by Khalid Amayreh, 16 October (&#8230;)&#034; name=&#034;nh7&#034; href=&#034;http://www.silviacattori.net/article1139.html#nb7&#034;>7</a>]. <em>But is it not sad to see that outside, solidarity associations and leftist groups consider the PFLP as a leftist party and, therefore, collect and send to its leader large sums of money? Is this a good way to help the Palestinian in general?</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Khalid Amayreh</strong>: The PFLP is not what it used to be. Its effective alliance with an American-backed Fatah has more or less undermined its erstwhile reputation. For example, the PFLP has not adopted an uncompromising stance vis-à-vis the issue of security coordination with Israel. I remember that two years ago, one PLO security commander declared that “<em>the Palestinian Authority and Israel have one common enemy, that is Hamas</em>,” and the PFLP kept silent in the face of this national apostasy.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Moreover, the PFLP was virtually silent and made no reactions to the serious attacks by the Palestinian Authority on freedom of speech, human rights and civil liberties in the West Bank. To many Palestinian, this stand was unforgivable. More to the point, there is a widespread impression in occupied Palestine that the PFLP leadership has on many occasions allowed the Palestinian Authority leadership to utilize the PLO, of which PFLP is a founding member, in the showdown with Hamas.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">None the less, most Palestinians, including this writer, still view with respect and admiration Ahmed Sadat, the imprisoned chief of the PFLP. We hope that he will be free from Zionist jails soon.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Silvia Cattori</strong>: <em>The Al-Aqsa Mosque is a place forbidden to many Palestinians. New restrictions are forbidding Muslims to go on the site of Haram Al-Sharif. After all the punishments they suffered from the Israeli occupiers, is it not the cruellest humiliation for the Palestinian?</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Khalid Amayreh</strong>: Yes, it also shows that Israel denies non-Jews freedom of religion. How else can one relate to these draconian measures when people from Paris to Los Angeles can access the Aqsa Mosque while Palestinian Muslims and Christian who live only a few hundreds meters away are denied the right to visit and pray at their respective holy places? Even the most fascist states in history didn’t embark on such measures.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Silvia Cattori</strong>: <em>Gaza remains under siege despite protests from many Muslims and non Muslims in the world. Can the Palestinians of Gaza continue to survive without outside help?</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Khalid Amayreh</strong>: The Palestinians have no choice but to survive. The Palestinians have survived in spite of history because they constantly and feverishly clung to that choice, if you can call it a choice. The other alternative was ultimate demise and national obliteration.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">None the less, there is no doubt that the enduring Gaza nightmare represents a stigma of shame at the forefront of the international community as well as upon humanity’s conscience as a whole.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">It is more than lamentable that while an entire people is being raped, humiliated, starved, and tormented, the nations of the world are just looking on passively as if this slow-motion holocaust were taking place on a different planet or in a different galaxy. I really can’t find the right word to describe the gigantic crime of apathy toward Gaza. Now, I understand that why many people were silent when the Nazis were doing what they were doing Europe in the course of the Second World War.</p>
</div>
<p align="right"><strong>Silvia Cattori</strong></p>
<div>(*) Khalid Amayreh, born on 1957 in Hebron did his university degrees in the United States: BA in Journalism at University of Oklahoma, 1982; MA in Journalism, University of Southern Illinois, 1983. For a long time, his life was not made any easier by the fact that he was largely confined by the Israeli military authorities to his home village of Dura, near Hebron were he is actually based.<br />
His website: <a href="http://www.xpis.ps/default.aspx">http://www.xpis.ps/default.aspx</a></div>
<p> </p>
<hr size="1" noshade="noshade" /> </p>
<p>[<a title="info notes 1" name="nb1" href="http://www.silviacattori.net/article1139.html#nh1">1</a>] Benjamin Netanyahu, born in 1949, is the current prime minister and head of the extreme right-wing Likud party. He was the first to ever be voted prime minister via direct elections in 1996, and later served as foreign minister and finance minister under Ariel Sharon.</p>
<p>Avigdor Lieberman, born on 1958 in Kishinev, Moldavia, is the current foreign minister and leader of the extreme right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party, which after the 2009 general elections has become Israel’s third largest party. Lieberman immigrated to Israel in 1978. Shortly after arriving in the country, he enlisted in the Israel Defence Forces and served in the Artillery Corps.</p>
<p>[<a title="info notes 2" name="nb2" href="http://www.silviacattori.net/article1139.html#nh2">2</a>] Qana is a village in Southern Lebanon where many Lebanese civilians, who had taken refuge in a UN compound to escape the fighting, were killed by the Israeli artillery on April 18, 1996.</p>
<p>[<a title="info notes 3" name="nb3" href="http://www.silviacattori.net/article1139.html#nh3">3</a>] An article in the daily <em>Le Monde</em> on February 22, 2010, “À quand l’État palestinien ?”, by Bernard Kouchner French Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Miguel Angel Moratinos, Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.</p>
<p>[<a title="info notes 4" name="nb4" href="http://www.silviacattori.net/article1139.html#nh4">4</a>] See: “<a href="http://www.xpis.ps/Uploadarticles/335articles%20Europe%20should%20speak%20to%20Hamas%20now.doc">Europe should speak to Hamas now</a>”, by Khalid Amayreh, November 2008.</p>
<p>[<a title="info notes 5" name="nb5" href="http://www.silviacattori.net/article1139.html#nh5">5</a>] See: “<a href="http://www.xpis.ps/Uploadarticles/1594articles%20Hedonism%20in%20Ramallah.doc">Hedonism in Ramallah</a>”, by Khalid Amayreh, 18 February 2010.</p>
<p>[<a title="info notes 6" name="nb6" href="http://www.silviacattori.net/article1139.html#nh6">6</a>] See: “<a href="http://www.gremmo.mom.fr/legrain/shia_sunnism_20091001.htm">The Shi’a Threat in Palestine: between phobias and propaganda</a>”, by Jean-François Legrain, 1st October 2009.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">[<a title="info notes 7" name="nb7" href="http://www.silviacattori.net/article1139.html#nh7">7</a>] See: “<a href="http://www.xpis.ps/Uploadarticles/260articles%20What%20is%20wrong%20with%20%20%20PFLP.doc">What is wrong with PFLP?</a> ”, by Khalid Amayreh, 16 October 2008.</p>
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		<title>Zahir Ebrahim &#8211; Anatomy of Conspiracy Theory</title>
		<link>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/10/zahir-ebrahim-anatomy-of-conspiracy-theory/</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:34:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mary Rizzo</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[WRITTEN BY ZAHIR EBRAHIM     Some may rationally ponder that how is it, that such a long running global conspiracy for world government as outlined in Project Humanbeingsfirst&#039;s report &#034;The Enduring Capitalist Conspiracy for World Government&#034;, can be kept alive across centuries and across geographies. This brief paper examines that question.
Noam Chomsky had once observed an [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>WRITTEN BY ZAHIR EBRAHIM     <a href="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/brainwash1.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-5975" title="brainwash1" src="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/brainwash1.jpg" alt="brainwash1" width="458" height="309" /></a>Some may rationally ponder that how is it, that such a long running global conspiracy for world government as outlined in Project Humanbeingsfirst&#039;s report <strong>&#034;The Enduring Capitalist Conspiracy for World Government&#034;, </strong>can be kept alive across centuries and across geographies. This brief paper examines that question.</p>
<p>Noam Chomsky had once observed an insightful nature of such &#039;conspiracies&#039;, as the open shared natural goals stemming from the very nature of its definition, which could therefore, no more be termed a conspiracy than both GM and Ford endeavoring to maximize their profits at all cost be termed a &#039;global corporate conspiracy&#039;.</p>
<p>I have always added to that, the equally un-remarkable observation that a hungry lion anywhere in the world pouncing upon a lamb is similarly no global conspiracy by the world&#039;s lions to eat up all the lambs on the planet. That is just the nature of the bestial predators when its &#039;might defines right&#039;. The higher cerebral concepts of &#039;right&#039;, &#039;wrong&#039;, &#039;moral&#039;, &#039;immoral&#039;, etc., do not even exist among any primal predators, for these only behave according to their nature. Pious platitudes, if they could be argued by the lion or the snake for instance, would in fact only be disseminated to the lambs and the mice to make them an even easier morsel to acquire!</p>
<p>The only thing that occasionally deters such exercise of primacy is a collective natural response like the one observed in the &#039;Battle at Kruger&#039; park. Indeed, the quest for the holy grail of extracting voluntary servitude from the masses of mankind is the key idea of cultivating a willingly compliant public in order for the illuminated ones becoming their stewards for life. In Bertrand Russell&#039;s&#039; timeless characterization, to extract voluntary servitude such that: &#034;</p>
<div><strong><em>a revolt of the plebs will become as unthinkable as an organised insurrection of sheep against the practice of eating mutton.&#034;</em></strong></div>
<p><strong><em>Thus we observe that from Plato to Nietzsche, from the philosopher-king to the &#039;Ubermensch&#039;, all have argued the necessity of ruling upon the sheepish masses as the &#039;divine&#039; imperative of the &#039;enlightened ones&#039;. Indeed, Zbigniew Brzezinski even sub-titled his seminal book &#034;</em><em>The Grand Chessboard&#034;</em> with its egotistical subtitle &#034;<em>American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives&#034;,</em> merely extending that idea of &#039;Ubermensch&#039; rule from the most &#039;enlightened ones&#039;, to the most powerful sole-superpower!</p>
<p></strong></p>
<p>The same theme exists among the &#039;Chosen Peoples&#039;, to deem their primacy upon the goyim their inherent nature, their divine destiny. The &#039;Ubermensch&#039; are suckled these lessons in their mothers milk to acquire those imperatives across generations in perhaps the same way as the generations of corporate executives and CEOs who inherently know that they need to continually enhance the valuation of their company&#039;s stock performance in a capitalist system.</p>
<p>So, when these &#039;divine&#039; ubermensch creatures who are beyond good and evil, behave in their primal predatory natural manner across time and space, across evolution or creation, are they being &#039;<strong>conspiratorial&#039;</strong>?</p>
<p>In the Chomsky-Ebrahim nomenclature, perhaps not.</p>
<p>In the Ron Paul nomenclature, it is merely a shared &#039;<em>Conspiracy of Ideas&#039; </em> in which &#039;<em>CFR exists, the Trilateral Commission exists&#039;,</em> and that, it is only &#039;<em>an ideological battle&#039;</em> wherein:</p>
<div><strong>&#034;some people believe in Globalism, and others of us believe in national sovereignty; and there is a move on toward a North American Union just like early on there was a move on for a European Union and it eventually ended up. &#8230;</strong></div>
<p><strong>These are real things, it&#039;s not somebody made these up, it&#039;s not a conspiracy, they don&#039;t talk about it, and they might not admit about it, but there has been money spent on it &#8230;</p>
<p>So it&#039;s not so much a secretive conspiracy, it&#039;s a contest between ideologies; whether we believe in our institutions here, our national sovereignty, our Constitution, or are we going to further move in the direction of international government, more UN. You know, this country goes to war under UN Resolutions. I don&#039;t like big government in Washington. So I don&#039;t like this trend towards international government &#8230;</p>
<p>But it&#039;s not so much it&#039;s a sinister conspiracy, it&#039;s just knowledge is out there, if we look for it, you&#039;ll realize our national sovereignty is under threat!&#034;</p>
<p>In the United States&#039; legalese nomenclature, breaking of a <em>federal statute</em> by at least two or more persons working in collusion (and when caught), is defined as &#039;<em>criminal conspiracy&#039;</em> and &#039;<em>federal crime&#039;.</em> According to the Columbia Encyclopedia, it is criminal whether or not Congress imposed criminal sanctions on the activity itself. A conspiracy need only be proved by &#039;<em>circumstantial evidence&#039;</em> even &#039;</p>
<div><em>if it violates the rules against hearsay evidence&#039;:</em></div>
<p></strong><em></p>
<div><strong>Conspiracy: &#034;in law, agreement of two or more persons to commit a criminal or otherwise unlawful act. At common law, the crime of conspiracy was committed with the making of the agreement, but present-day statutes require an overt step by a conspirator to further the conspiracy. Other controversial aspects of conspiracy laws include the modification of the rules of evidence and the potential for a dragnet. A statement of a conspirator in furtherance of the conspiracy is admissible against all conspirators, even if the statement includes damaging references to another conspirator, and often even if it violates the rules against hearsay evidence. The conspiracy can be proved by circumstantial evidence. Any conspirator is guilty of any substantive crime committed by any other conspirator in furtherance of the enterprise. It is a federal crime to conspire to commit any activity prohibited by federal statute, whether or not Congress imposed criminal sanctions on the activity itself.&#034;</strong></div>
<p></em><strong>According to such legalism, smart conspirators, if powerful enough, could affect the enaction of conducive federal statutes, or prevent the enaction of adverse ones, that would enable them to get away with many morally reprehensible systems and acts. The Federal Reserve System for instance, falls into this category. A legalized extortion racket to enslave the public in perpetual debt for the issue and supply of their own national currency. Similarly, bootlegging is a federal crime one decade, a respectable business the next! And internationally, it is the enaction of laws under WTO which defines what is criminal and what isn&#039;t - not the raping and harvesting of developing nations that goes on under its conspiratorial rubric!</p>
<p></strong></p>
<p>Thus suffice it to say, the word &#039;conspiracy&#039; even has legal semantics, albeit rather limited. It is limited because it is easy to circumvent an abhorrence and call it legal when the king makes the laws.</p>
<p>But the multitudinous connotations of this word do not stop there. It also has a &#039;tin-hatted&#039; or &#039;kookish&#039; implication in furtherance of the devilish art of political science based state-craft. This was indeed implied by Congressman Ron Paul in his afore-quoted speech when he stated regarding the North American Union: &#034;</p>
<div><em>These are real things, it&#039;s not somebody made these up, it&#039;s not a conspiracy, &#8230; So it&#039;s not so much a secretive conspiracy, &#8230;&#034;.</em></div>
<p><em>In fact, some of the best cloaking devices for clandestine covert-operations and hidden agendas have been invented by the most brilliant minds - here is one exposition for instance from Ezra Pound: &#034;<strong><em>invent two lies and have the public keep arguing which one of them might be true&#034;.</em></strong> Another is by Leo Strauss - the erudite teacher of the majority of the neo-cons - called &#034;<strong><em>Noble Lies&#034;.</em></strong> A third by the White House, often referred to as &#034;<strong><em>plausible deniability&#034;,</em></strong> okay may be it was invented by the DIA, the grand-daddy of all intelligence agencies. This thinly-veiled euphemism for deception to protect the leadership if things go badly in covert-operations became public knowledge during the Iran-Contra scandal, the televised coverage of which had gripped the American nation for months, including myself. And this wasn&#039;t just a rogue operation with ad hoc deniability cover by patriotic agents as most in the public are led to believe. Deniability is official government policy vis a vis any covert operation dating back to President Truman&#039;s signing of NSC 10/2. That directive made the introduction of &#039;plausible deniability&#039; a requirement for CIA&#039;s clandestine operations in case they were ever blown while still active. Below is an excerpt from</p>
<div><strong><em>Note on U.S. Covert Action Programs:</em></strong></div>
<p></em><strong><em>&#039;Management of Covert Actions in the Truman Presidency</p>
<p></em>The Truman administration&#039;s concern over Soviet &#039;psychological warfare&#039; prompted the new National Security Council to authorize, in NSC 4-A of December 1947, the launching of peacetime covert action operations. NSC 4-A made the Director of Central Intelligence responsible for psychological warfare, establishing at the same time the principle that covert action was an exclusively Executive Branch function. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) certainly was a natural choice but it was assigned this function at least in part because the Agency controlled unvouchered funds, by which operations could be funded with minimal risk of exposure in Washington.1</p>
<p>ClA&#039;s early use of its new covert action mandate dissatisfied officials at the Departments of State and Defense. The Department of State, believing this role too important to be left to the CIA alone and concerned that the military might create a new rival covert action office in the Pentagon, pressed to reopen the issue of where responsibility for covert action activities should reside. Consequently, on June 18, 1948, a new NSC directive, NSC 10/2, superseded NSC 4-A.</p>
<p>NSC 10/2 directed CIA to conduct &#039;covert&#039; rather than merely &#039;psychological&#039; operations, defining them as all activities &#8211; which are conducted or sponsored by this Government against hostile foreign states or groups or in support of friendly foreign states or groups but which are so planned and executed that any US Government responsibility for them is not evident to unauthorized persons and that if uncovered the US Government can plausibly disclaim any responsibility for them.</p>
<p>&#8230; The Special Group and the 303 Committee approved 163 covert actions during the Kennedy administration and 142 during the Johnson administration through February 1967. The 1976 Final Report of the Church Committee, however, estimated that of the several thousand projects undertaken by the CIA since 1961, only 14 percent were considered on a case-by-case basis by the 303 Committee and its predecessors (and successors). Those not reviewed by the 303 Committee were low-risk and low-cost operations. The Final Report also cited a February 1967 CIA memorandum that included a description of the mode of policy arbitration of decisions on covert actions within the 303 Committee system. CIA presentations were questioned, amended, and even on occasion denied, despite protests from the DCI. Department of State objections modified or nullified proposed operations, and the 303 Committee sometimes decided that some agency other than CIA should undertake an operation or that CIA actions requested by Ambassadors on the scene should be rejected.&#039;</p>
<p>Lastly, we also have the &#039;</strong><strong><em>limited hangout&#039;</em></strong> and &#039;<strong><em>modified limited hangout&#039;</em></strong> conspiracies to mislead the public in case &#039;plausible deniability&#039; for governmental wrong-doing doesn&#039;t work. This modus operandi of accepting partial mea culpa for something less consequential in order to mask the more egregious crimes was amply demonstrated by Richard Nixon during the waning years of his presidency. A good description of it with excerpts from the Nixon tapes planning the red herrings is on Wikipedia.</p>
<p>It should now be self-evident that while still active, or while mileage is being extracted from a clandestine operation recently concluded, or some egregious wrong-doing, all references to it must be squashed or dismissed, inter alia, by labeling them as kookish &#039;conspiracy theories&#039;. And when blown, to have the cover story ready for &#039;plausible deniability&#039;, and/or some version of &#039;limited hangout&#039;. What are these if not real conspiracies to mask real clandestine covert-operations and wrong-doings?</p>
<p>Thus, if it is axiomatically asserted that there is no such thing as a real conspiracy theory, then that really works wonderfully in the interest of the cloak-makers because it makes one forget the perspectives of history.</p>
<p>And this complex Machiavellian deception game behind alleging &#039;kookishness&#039; bears exposing fully: invent two or more lies, not just one, and keep the good hearted well meaning peoples in the &#039;populist democracy&#039; occupied debating which one of them might be true, for it would hardly matter what conclusions they reached. And wherever they ended up, to perhaps yank one of the lies from underneath them by conclusively showing it to be false thus conveniently demonstrating a baseless &#039;conspiracy theory&#039; in order to keep that notion alive in the public imagination. This consequently delegitimizes in the public mind serious researchers&#039; efforts in uncovering any covert-operation while its secrecy is of paramount necessity. Afterwards, after faits accomplis, after statute of limitations expiring, it makes little difference if historians and con-fession artists make a pecuniary gain peddling what is inconsequential history to the newer evolving realpolitik du jour. The recognition of this self-evident truth of the matter and its utility to Machiavellian statecraft was boldly narrated even in the New York Times (Ron Suskind, Oct. 17, 2004):</p>
<div><strong>&#039;<em>That&#039;s not the way the world really works anymore,&#039;</em> he continued. &#039;<em>We&#039;re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you&#039;re studying that reality &#8212; judiciously, as you will &#8212; we&#039;ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that&#039;s how things will sort out. We&#039;re history&#039;s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do. </em>&#039;</strong></div>
<p><strong>Cass R. Sunstein of Harvard Law School, the man who is today President Obama&#039;s Information Czar in the White House, in his 2008 paper titled </strong><strong>Conspiracy Theories,</strong> called this process of the creation of diabolical red herrings, introducing &#039;<strong><em>beneficial cognitive diversity&#039;</em></strong> through &#039;<strong><em>cognitive infiltration&#039;.</em></strong> The paper has to be read in its entirety in order to be appreciated for its brazen and open appeal to Machiavelli.</p>
<p>So many complex semantics for the simple term &#039;<em>conspiracy theory&#039;</em> - it&#039;s not just mere nomenclature - that this overview of its usefulness to statecraft was necessary in order to situate anything with such a bombastic title as &#039;<em>The Capitalist Conspiracy&#039;,</em> in its proper social-political-legal-conspiratorial context.</p>
<p>And an equally insightful and rational response to this question of long enduring conspiracy for world domination, is added to the motivational mix by G. Edward Griffin in the video below:</p>
<div><strong>&#034;After a man has far more money than he possibly can spend for pleasures, what is left to excite him? For those with the ruling class mentality, the answer is power - raw power over other human beings. Money can buy such power only to a point, beyond that, politics is the sport, and world politics is the ultimate game.&#034;</strong></div>
<p><strong>Thus, Griffin aptly noted: &#034;</strong><strong><em>The New World Order Is Not New&#034;</em></strong>, but a common objective borne of natural inclination to primacy which apparently transcends time, space, geography and race. It naturally increases in its scope in proportion to the vistas of power it acquires. And it automatically attracts to its cause the coterie of sycophants and useful idiots essential in realizing its overarching agendas. It is helped along, as W. Cleon Skoussen uncannily observed in his commentary in &#039;<strong>The Naked Capitalist&#039;</strong>:</p>
<p><strong>&#039;The real value of Tragedy and Hope &#8230; [is the] bold and boastful admission by Dr. Quigley that there actually exists a relatively small but powerful group which has succeeded in acquiring a choke-hold on the affairs of practically the entire human race. Of course we should be quick to recognize that no small group could wield such gigantic power unless millions of people in all walks of life were -in on the take- and were willing to knuckle down to the iron-clad regimentation of the ruthless bosses behind the scenes. As we shall see, the network has succeeded in building its power structure by using tremendous quantities of money (together with the vast influence it buys) to manipulate, intimidate, or corrupt millions of men and women and their institutions on a world-wide basis.&#039;</strong> (pg. 6)</p>
<p>Subsequent manipulation of global events through statecraft machinations become trivial when one has already taken over the state&#039;s machinery and its many essential instruments of policy-making. The upshot of it all is that it becomes a moot point what label one might give to this empirical predatory behavior. Zbigniew Brzezinski even openly proclaimed its pertinence to statecraft in the very first sentence of his book mentioned earlier: &#039;<strong><em>Hegemony is as old as mankind&#039;.</em></strong> The undeniable fact remains that world-government has been a long historical passion of oligarchs! The quest for the hegemony of the entire world has been their natural enduring conspiracy for world government. And it is finally coming to its grand fruition in our own time as most useful idiots still mindlessly chatter on about &#039;conspiracy theories&#039;.</p>
<div><strong>The Capitalist Conspiracy</strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"> </p>
<p></span></p>
<p>[The Capitalist Conspiracy video embedded]</p>
<p><strong>Further Study References:</strong></p>
<p>[1] <a href="http://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2008/09/capitalist-conspiracy-world-government.html">http://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2008/09/capitalist-conspiracy-world-government.html</a></p>
<p>[2]</p>
<div><a href="http://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2008/10/monetary-reform-bibliography.html">http://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2008/10/monetary-reform-bibliography.html</a></div>
<p><a href="http://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2008/10/monetary-reform-bibliography.html">[3] </a><a href="http://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2008/12/responseto-ft-gideon-rachman-worldgov.html">http://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2008/12/responseto-ft-gideon-rachman-worldgov.html</a></p>
<p>[4]</p>
<div><a href="http://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2009/04/some-dare-call-it-conspiracy-garyallen.html">http://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2009/04/some-dare-call-it-conspiracy-garyallen.html</a></div>
<p><a href="http://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2009/04/some-dare-call-it-conspiracy-garyallen.html">[5] </a><a href="http://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2009/12/brilliant-world-order-bedtime-story.html">http://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2009/12/brilliant-world-order-bedtime-story.html</a></p>
<p>[6] <a name="12744e7eccda881e_12744e759c4e0814_12744e6b5bdd83c4_12744e64a5ee6f49_12744e599c39b442_12744e39a43b54e5_Note on  U.S.  Covert Action Programs NSC 10/2"></a></p>
<div><a href="http://fas.org/sgp/advisory/state/covert.html">http://fas.org/sgp/advisory/state/covert.html</a></div>
<p><a href="http://fas.org/sgp/advisory/state/covert.html">[7] </a><a name="12744e7eccda881e_12744e759c4e0814_12744e6b5bdd83c4_12744e64a5ee6f49_12744e599c39b442_12744e39a43b54e5_Cass R. Sunstein: Conspiracy Theories"></a></p>
<div><a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1084585">http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1084585</a></div>
<p><a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1084585">[8] </a><a name="12744e7eccda881e_12744e759c4e0814_12744e6b5bdd83c4_12744e64a5ee6f49_12744e599c39b442_12744e39a43b54e5_G. Edward Griffin interviews Norman Dodd: The Hidden Agenda of Tax   Exempt Foundations for World Government"></a></p>
<div><a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8605813744843314322">http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8605813744843314322</a></div>
<p><a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8605813744843314322"><strong>Source URL:</strong> </a><a href="http://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2010/03/anatomy-of-conspiracy-theory.html">http://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2010/03/anatomy-of-conspiracy-theory.html</a></p>
<p><strong>Source PDF:</strong> <a href="http://humanbeingsfirst.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/anatomy-of-conspiracy-theory-march2010a.pdf">http://humanbeingsfirst.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/anatomy-of-conspiracy-theory-march2010a.pdf</a></p>
<hr />The author, an ordinary researcher and writer on contemporary geopolitics, a minor justice activist, grew up in Pakistan, studied EECS at MIT, engineered for a while in high-tech Silicon Valley (patents <a href="http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&amp;Sect2=HITOFF&amp;u=/netahtml/PTO/search-adv.htm&amp;r=0&amp;p=1&amp;f=S&amp;l=50&amp;Query=%28IN/Zahir+and+IN/Ebrahim%29+and+AN/Sun&amp;d=PTXT">here</a>), and retired early to pursue other responsible interests. His maiden 2003 book was rejected by six publishers and can be read on the web at <a href="http://prisonersofthecave.org/">http://PrisonersoftheCave.org</a>. He may be reached at <a href="http://humanbeingsfirst.org/">http://Humanbeingsfirst.org</a>. Verbatim reproduction license at <a href="http://www.humanbeingsfirst.org/#Copyright">http://www.humanbeingsfirst.org#Copyright</a>.</div>
<div><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6260646431723948415">http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6260646431723948415</a></span></div>
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		<title>Nima Shirazi &#8211; &#039;Néjàd Vu, All Over Again: The Media, &#039;Pretext,&#039; Context, &amp; 9/11</title>
		<link>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/10/nima-shirazi-nejad-vu-all-over-again-the-media-pretext-context-911/</link>
		<comments>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/10/nima-shirazi-nejad-vu-all-over-again-the-media-pretext-context-911/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:07:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Nima Shirazi</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Analysis]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[9/11]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ahmadinejad]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Despite a nearly endless barrage of reporting on Iran&#039;s nuclear energy program, the US government&#039;s push for a new round of sanctions, and on-going efforts to foment regime change in the Islamic Republic, all had been relatively quiet on the Ahmadinejad front in the Western press for some time.
Until now.
The mainstream media&#039;s favorite scapegoat, Iranian [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/mahmoud-ahmadinejad.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-5971" title="mahmoud-ahmadinejad" src="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/mahmoud-ahmadinejad.jpg" alt="mahmoud-ahmadinejad" width="200" height="134" /></a>Despite a nearly endless barrage of reporting on Iran&#039;s nuclear energy program, the US government&#039;s push for a new round of <a href="http://www.raceforiran.com/clinton-strikes-out-in-brazil-a-security-council-divided-on-iran-sanctions" target="_blank">sanctions</a>, and on-going efforts to foment <a href="http://www.raceforiran.com/is-the-obama-administration-moving-closer-to-endorsing-regime-change-in-iran" target="_blank">regime change</a> in the Islamic Republic, all had been relatively quiet on the Ahmadinejad front in the Western press for some time.</p>
<p>Until now.</p>
<p>The mainstream media&#039;s favorite scapegoat, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, resurfaced on Saturday amidst <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/03/07/ahmadinejad.afghanistan/" target="_blank">reports</a> that he called the attacks of September 11, 2001 &#034;a big lie.&#034; According to the immediate and rabid response of virtually every Western news network around, this was simply the latest insane claim of the same raving madman who has <a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/Ahmadinejad_Calls_911_Big_Fabrication/1976396.html" target="_blank">previously</a> threatened to wipe a foreign state off the map and denied the Holocaust.</p>
<p>Yet, as with those other <a href="http://www.mohammadmossadegh.com/news/rumor-of-the-century/" target="_blank">mistranslated</a> or <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12790.htm" target="_blank">misunderstood</a> statements, this new claim hardly stands up to even the most cursory scrutiny, as it has been reported with little accompanying context and comparison. According to a translation by <em><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6251AO20100306" target="_blank">Reuters</a></em>, Ahmadinejad, addressing the staff of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry, <a href="http://www.irna.ir/View/FullStory/?NewsId=996850" target="_blank">stated</a> that, &#034;The September 11 incident was a big fabrication as a pretext for the campaign against terrorism and a prelude for staging an invasion against Afghanistan.&#034; <em>PressTV</em> <a href="http://presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=120195" target="_blank">translated</a> the President as saying that the circumstances of 9/11 were a &#034;big lie intended to serve as a pretext for fighting terrorism and setting the grounds for sending troops to Afghanistan.&#034;</p>
<p>Most of the <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100306/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran" target="_blank">press</a>, including <em><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/06/world/main6273527.shtml" target="_blank">CBS</a></em>, <em><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/06/ahmadinejad-911-attacks-a_0_n_488789.html" target="_blank">Huffington Post</a></em>, and <em><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,588255,00.html" target="_blank">Fox</a></em>, ran with an <a href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_IRAN?SITE=WIMAR&amp;SECTION=HOME&amp;TEMPLATE=DEFAULT" target="_blank"><em>Associated Press</em> report</a> by Ali Akbar Dareini entitled, &#034;Iran&#039;s Ahmadinejad: Sept. 11 attacks a &#039;big lie&#039;&#034; while <em><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/03/07/ahmadinejad.afghanistan/" target="_blank">CNN</a></em> and <em><a href="http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1154445.html" target="_blank">Ha&#039;aretz</a></em> reprinted the <em>AP</em> with some slight variations like using the headline &#034;Ahmadinejad Calls 9/11 &#039;A Big Fabrication&#039;.&#034;</p>
<p>Robert Mackey, writing for <em><a href="http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/06/ahmadinejad-calls-911-a-big-fabrication/" target="_blank">The New York Times</a></em> editorialized that Ahmadinejad told Iranian intelligence officials that the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City was &#034;staged.&#034;</p>
<p>By reporting that he called 9/11 a &#034;lie&#034; or &#034;fabrication,&#034; the press has completely subverted the meaning of Ahmadinejad&#039;s actual statement. Headlines and ledes like the ones printed by the mainstream media give the intentionally misleading interpretation that Ahmadinejad claimed that 9/11 didn&#039;t actually happen. But the full quote obviously reveals something quite different. The events of 9/11 &#8211; that hijacked airplanes were flown into buildings, killing tens of hundreds of people &#8211; is not questioned or denied by Ahmadinejad in these statements. The attacks, in and of themselves, are not debated or disputed. What Ahmadinejad says is that the event itself was the result of, as <em>PressTV</em> <a href="http://presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=120195" target="_blank">reports</a>, a premeditated &#034;scenario and a sophisticated intelligence measure,&#034; that was subsequently used as an excuse to justify the so-called &#034;War on Terror&#034; and invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.</p>
<p>In short, President Ahmadinejad does not claim that 9/11 itself is a lie. He never has. In May 2006, in a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/09/AR2006050900878.html" target="_blank">letter</a> written directly to George W. Bush, Ahmadinejad states, clearly and unequivocally,</p>
<blockquote><p>&#034;September Eleven was a horrendous incident. The killing of innocents is deplorable and appalling in any part of the world. Our government immediately declared its disgust with the perpetrators and offered its condolences to the bereaved and expressed its sympathies.&#034;</p></blockquote>
<p>Ahmadinejad&#039;s words echo those of his predecessor, President Mohammad Khatami, who in the wake of the attacks declared, &#034;On behalf of the Iranian people and the Islamic Republic, I denounce the terrorist measures, which led to the killing of defenseless people, and I express my deep sorrow and sympathy with the American people.&#034; Furthermore, Iran was one of the first countries to hold <a href="http://www.time.com/time/europe/photoessays/vigil/index.html" target="_blank">candle-light vigils</a> in solidarity and sympathy with the victims of the attacks.</p>
<p>What Ahmadinejad does claim, however, is that the official story of the events &#8211; publicly memorialized in the publication of the US government-sponsored <em>The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States</em> (also known as the <em>9/11 Commission</em>) &#8211; is dubious, incomplete, and may very well have been the result of well-calculated misinformation and deliberate action (or, perhaps, inaction on previously obtained intelligence) by the US government. This is neither a new revelation for Ahmadinejad nor for the world community in general. In his <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/09/AR2006050900878.html" target="_blank">letter</a> to Bush, Ahmadinejad wrote,</p>
<blockquote><p>&#034;Could it be planned and executed without coordination with intelligence and security services &#8211; or their extensive infiltration? Of course this is just an educated guess. Why have the various aspects of the attacks been kept secret? Why are we not told who botched their responsibilities? And, why aren&#039;t those responsible and the guilty parties identified and put on trial?&#034;</p></blockquote>
<p>In questioning the job done by American intelligence agencies, and questioning the US government&#039;s official version of events and responsibility, in the lead-up to September 11th, the Iranian President isn&#039;t alone.</p>
<p><strong>Esfahan is Half the World, and Half the World Questions the 9/11 Story</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3nX-fTH8cpk/S5VVBMGncXI/AAAAAAAABzU/WPOGIb2YhzE/s1600-h/617px-911worldopinionpoll_Sep2008_pie.png" target="_blank"><img style="min-height: 194px; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3nX-fTH8cpk/S5VVBMGncXI/AAAAAAAABzU/WPOGIb2YhzE/s200/617px-911worldopinionpoll_Sep2008_pie.png" border="0" alt="" /></a>To read the hysterical reports about his recent 9/11 comments questioning the accepted story of the event, one would think that Ahmadinejad is voicing roundly rejected, widely unpopular, and insanely outrageous conspiracy theories, devoid of any <a href="http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2009/09/16/911-unanswered-questions/" target="_blank">reasonable evidence</a> or public support. This is hardly the case.</p>
<p>In fact, Ahmadinejad is in the company of more than half of planet Earth, half of New Yorkers, and almost half of all Americans. His views are not particularly uncommon, let alone unique. They surely don&#039;t demonstrate a lunatic fringe viewpoint, but rather an opinion well within the public discourse, though not often discussed by Western media.</p>
<p>Whereas the <em>9/11 Commission</em> was <a href="http://www.9-11commission.gov/" target="_blank">officially</a> &#034;created by congressional legislation and the signature of President George W. Bush in late 2002&#8230;to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, including preparedness for and the immediate response to the attacks,&#034; a plurality of the public believe this goal was not successfully accomplished and have doubts about the Commission&#039;s findings.</p>
<p>An August 2004 <a href="http://www.zogby.com/search/readnews.cfm?ID=855" target="_blank"><em>Zogby</em> poll</a>, conducted right after the Commission&#039;s report was made public and just days before the Republican National Convention was held in Manhattan, found that over 49% of New York City residents and 41% of New York State citizens say that at least some US government officials &#034;knew in advance that attacks were planned on or around September 11, 2001, and that they consciously failed to act.&#034;</p>
<p>Another <a href="http://www.zogby.com/features/features.cfm?ID=231" target="_blank"><em>Zogby</em> poll</a> from May 2006 found that 42% of Americans believe that &#034;the US government and its 9/11 Commission concealed or refused to investigate critical evidence that contradicts their official explanation of the September 11th attacks&#034; and said &#034;there has been a cover-up.&#034; Another ten percent of respondents were unsure. The same poll found that 44% of Americans believe that &#034;the Bush Administration exploited the September 11th attacks&#034; in order to advance its own foreign policy agenda in the Middle East, namely, &#034;to justify the invasion of Iraq.&#034;</p>
<p>Furthermore, 45% of those polled agree that &#034;so many unanswered questions about 9/11 remain that Congress or an International Tribunal should re-investigate the attacks, including whether any US government officials consciously allowed or helped facilitate their success,&#034; while eight percent remain &#034;unsure.&#034;</p>
<p>A <em>Scripps Howard/Ohio University</em> poll from July 2006 <a href="http://www.scrippsnews.com/911poll" target="_blank">discovered</a> that &#034;More than a third of the American public suspects that federal officials assisted in the 9/11 terrorist attacks or took no action to stop them so the United States could go to war in the Middle East.&#034;</p>
<p>The next year, in May 2006, a <a href="http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/bush_administration/22_believe_bush_knew_about_9_11_attacks_in_advance" target="_blank">Rasmussen poll</a> revealed that &#034;overall, 22% of all voters believe the President [sic] knew about the attacks in advance,&#034; while &#034;a slightly larger number, 29%, believe the CIA knew about the attacks in advance.&#034;</p>
<p>Between May 2002 and October 2006, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9/11_opinion_polls#United_States" target="_blank">polls</a> conducted by <em>The New York Times</em> and <em>CBS News</em> found that upwards of 79% of the American public believed that &#034;When it comes to what they knew prior to September 11th, 2001, about possible terrorist attacks against the United States,&#034; members of the Bush Administration were either &#034;mostly telling the truth but hiding something,&#034; &#034;mostly lying,&#034; or &#034;not sure.&#034; In those four and a half years, the number of respondents convinced that the government was &#034;mostly lying&#034; grew by 20%.</p>
<p>A September 2008 <em>World Public Opinion</em> survey, <a href="http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/a-13-2008-09-10-voa59-66688377.html" target="_blank">asked</a> &#034;16,000 people in 17 countries who they thought was responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.&#034; The results showed that &#034;majorities in only nine of the 17 countries believed that al-Qaida was behind the attacks.&#034; In response, WPO director Steven Kull stated,</p>
<blockquote><p>&#034;Broadly, I think what this tells us is that there is a lack of confidence in the United States around the world. It is striking that even among our allies, the numbers that say al-Qaida was behind 9/11 do not get above two-thirds, and barely become a majority. So this is a real indication that the United States is not in a strong position to, in a sense, tell its story. The American narrative is not as powerful in the world today.&#034;</p></blockquote>
<p>Evidence aside, the mainstream media presents Ahmadinejad&#039;s recent statements as if they represent an outlandish theory based upon nothing more than paramount insanity.</p>
<p><strong>Wiping Context Off the Map</strong></p>
<p>Disingenuously reporting that Ahmadinejad called 9/11 a &#034;big lie&#034; without exploring the context his statement, notably his claim that 9/11 was used as a &#034;pretext&#034; to carry out the invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, is much akin to headlines announcing that Ahmadinejad threatens to &#034;wipe out&#034; Israel without presenting the statement in full. For instance, a <em>Jerusalem Post</em> <a href="http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:-swUedidfpMJ:www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite%3Fcid%3D1164881878838%26pagename%3DJPArticle%252FShowFull+Jpost+1164881878838&amp;hl=en&amp;client=firefox-a&amp;gl=us&amp;strip=0" target="_blank">article</a> from December 12, 2006 and entitled &#034;Ahmadinejad: Israel will be &#039;wiped out&#039;&#034; states in the first paragraph that the Iranian President &#034;vowed once again that Israel would be &#039;wiped out.&#039;&#034; Only later in the <a href="http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/jerusalem-post/mi_8048/is_20061213/ahmadinejad-israel-wiped-soviet-union/ai_n47360275/?tag=content;col1" target="_blank">piece</a> does writer Herb Keinon reproduce the entire quote, which reveals a contextually vital qualification:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#034;The Zionist regime will be wiped out soon the same way the Soviet Union was, and humanity will achieve freedom&#8230;[elections should be held among] Jews, Christians and Muslims so the population of Palestine can select their government and destiny for themselves in a democratic manner.&#034;</p></blockquote>
<p>Similarly, press reports from the previous fall, which sparked the entire &#034;wiped off the map&#034; fiasco, failed to tell their readers the whole story. In that <a href="http://www.president.ir/farsi/ahmadinejad/speeches/1384/aban-84/840804sahyonizm.htm" target="_blank">speech</a>, analyst Arash Norouzi explains, &#034;Ahmadinejad declares that Zionism is the West&#039;s apparatus of political oppression against Muslims. He says the &#034;Zionist regime&#034; was imposed on the Islamic world as a strategic bridgehead to ensure domination of the region and its assets.&#034; Apparently, in his reading of history, Ahmadinejad was simply reiterating the suggestions of Zionism&#039;s founder Theodor Herzl. In chapter 2 of his 1896 manifesto, <em>Der Judenstaat</em>, Herzl <a href="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Zionism/herzl2b.html" target="_blank">wrote</a>,</p>
<blockquote><p>&#034;We [Jews] should there form a portion of a rampart of Europe against Asia, an outpost of civilization as opposed to barbarism. We should as a neutral State remain in contact with all Europe, which would have to guarantee our existence.&#034;</p></blockquote>
<p>Ahmadinejad reminded his audience that, while the eventual weakening or complete dissolution of America&#039;s hegemony over the Middle East via its colonial-settler garrison state may be unthinkable or unimaginable to some, &#034;as Khomeini predicted, other seemingly invincible empires have disappeared and now only exist in history books.&#034; He listed the Shah&#039;s tyrannical monarchy in Iran, the repressive and expansionist Soviet Union, and the Iraqi dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, as examples of &#034;regimes that have collapsed, crumbled or vanished&#034; in only the past three decades. In conclusion, Ahmadinejad repeated Khomeini&#039;s prescient view that the political demise of the Zionist government of Israel would soon follow: &#034;The Imam said this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time.&#034;</p>
<p>Of course, all we&#039;ve ever heard from Western press reports is that Ahmadinejad threatened to &#034;wipe Israel off the map,&#034; an idiom that doesn&#039;t even exist in the Persian language, and that was the end of the discussion.</p>
<p><strong>Confusing &#034;Pretext&#034; with &#034;Pretense&#034;</strong></p>
<p>When Ahmadinejad speaks about historical events acting as <em>pretexts</em> to subsequent injustices, he is not claiming that the first event never happened, but simply stating that the event served to justify what followed. This <em>pretext</em>, then, is the exploitation of terrible tragedies as an <em>excuse</em>, <em>motive</em>, and ostensible <em>reason</em> ascribed to explain what historically occurred next. Using horrific events to nefarious advantage is what Naomi Klein has essentially defined as &#034;<a href="http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine" target="_blank">The Shock Doctrine</a>.&#034; This is what Ahmadinejad has spoken about when he uses the term &#034;pretext,&#034; which is why, in his <a href="http://presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=120195" target="_blank">speech</a> on Saturday, he stated that &#034;Depredation, bullying and killing the reality of humanity are the outcomes of the capitalist way of thinking.&#034;</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the media has decided to equate the term &#034;pretext&#034; with &#034;pretense&#034; and insist that they are both identical synonyms for a <em>claim</em>, <em>invention</em>, <em>myth</em>, <em>fabrication</em>, or <em>lie</em>. With this in mind, it is easy to see how the demonization campaign of Ahmadinejad has been so successful.</p>
<p>This deliberate misinterpretation is not at all new. Even though it is commonplace in the press to insist that Ahmadinejad is a virulent <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/cook08032007.html" target="_blank">anti-Semite</a> who believes the Nazi holocaust never happened, this is an absurd suggestion unsupported by the facts.</p>
<p>When, at <a href="http://www.wideasleepinamerica.com/2009/04/durban-ii-alethophobic-boogaloo.html" target="_blank">last April&#039;s <em>Durban II</em> conference</a>, Ahmadinejad addressed the founding of the State of Israel in 1948 by <a href="http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2009/04/21/full-text-of-president-ahmadinejads-remarks-at-un-conference-on-racism/" target="_blank">stating</a>, &#034;As was the case after World War II, armies occupied other territories and people were transferred from territories&#8230;In reality, under the pretext of compensating for the evil done in the name of xenophobia, they in fact set up the most violent xenophobes, in Palestine.&#034;</p>
<p>He continued, &#034;The Security Council made it possible for that illegitimate government to be set up. For 60 years, this government was supported by the world. Many Western countries say they are fighting racism; but in fact support it with occupation, bombings and crimes such as those committed in Gaza. These countries support the criminals.&#034;</p>
<p>The media reported that Ahmadinejad called the holocaust a myth, which promoted a pre-staged walkout by attending European delegations. But the usage of the word &#034;pretext&#034; is obvious to anyone willing to actually read.</p>
<p>Ahmadinejad&#039;s <em>Durban II</em> comments repeat remarks he previously wrote back in early September 2006, in a <a href="http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2006%20Opinion%20Editorials/September/5%20o/Full%20Text%20of%20President%20Mahmoud%20Ahmadinejad%27s%20Letter%20to%20German%20Chancellor%20Angela%20Merkel.htm" target="_blank">letter</a> sent to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. In it, Ahmadinejad stated, &#034;World War II came to an end with all its material and moral losses and its 60 million casualties. The death of human beings is tragic and sad. In all divine religions and before all awakened conscience and pure nature of mankind and the sense of right and wrong, the life, property and honor of people, regardless of their religious persuasion and ethnic background, must be respected at all times and all places.&#034;</p>
<p>By accepting the 60 million death toll of World War II, how could Ahmadinejad be denying the mechanized ethnic cleansing of millions of European Jews? He continued,</p>
<blockquote><p>&#034;Honorable Chancellor</p>
<p>I have no intention of arguing about the Holocaust. But, does it not stand to reason that some victorious countries of World War II intended to create an alibi on the basis of which they could continue keeping the defeated nations of World War II indebted to them. Their purpose has been to weaken their morale and their inspiration in order to obstruct their progress and power. In addition to the people of Germany, the peoples of the Middle East have also borne the brunt of the Holocaust. By raising the necessity of settling the survivors of the Holocaust in the land of Palestine, they have created a permanent threat in the Middle East in order to rob the people of the region of the opportunities to achieve progress. The collective conscience of the world is indignant over the daily atrocities by the Zionist occupiers, destruction of homes and farms, killing of children, assassinations and bombardments.</p>
<p>Excellency, you have seen that the Zionist government does not even tolerate a government elected by the Palestinian people, and over and over again has demonstrated that it recognizes no limit in attacking the neighboring countries.&#034;</p></blockquote>
<p>If Ahmadinejad&#039;s point still isn&#039;t clear, he elaborates:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#034;Using the excuse for the settlement of the survivors of the Holocaust, they encouraged the Jews worldwide to migrate and today a large part of the inhabitants of the occupied territories are non-European Jews. If tyranny and killing is condemned in one part of the world, can we acquiesce and go along with tyranny, killing, occupation and assassinations in another part of the world simply in order to redress the past wrongs?&#034;</p></blockquote>
<p>The question is not whether the holocaust happened or not, rather, it is how that horrendous tragedy has been exploited in order to justify <a href="http://www.wideasleepinamerica.com/2009/05/laws-of-land-over-shills-and-far-away.html" target="_blank">the establishment of a &#034;Jewish State&#034; in Palestine</a> and rob indigenous Palestinians of their own rights to self-determination. The issue is not to call history into question, but rather to explore the consequences of historical acts.</p>
<p>Furthermore, Ahmadinejad has always made a stark distinction between Jewish people and Zionists. He has said on numerous occasions that his opposition to a Jewish State is a political and ideological one, and not to be confused with a violent ultimatum or military threat to the Israeli people. Ahmadinejad has repeatedly <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/19/world/middleeast/19iran.html?_r=1&amp;hp&amp;oref=slogin" target="_blank">said</a> that Iran has &#034;no problem with people and nations&#034; and <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94900645" target="_blank">that</a> Iran does &#034;not have any confrontation with anyone. We seek relations based on respect and justice.&#034; Even more specifically, in a 2008 <em>CNN</em> interview with Larry King, he stated <a href="http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2008/09/23/lkl.intv.ahmadinejad.jews.cnn" target="_blank">quite clearly</a> that &#034;we don&#039;t have a problem with the Jewish people.&#034;</p>
<p>Just to be extra clear, Ahmadinejad declared, &#034;We are opposed to the idea that the people who live there should be thrown into the sea or be burnt,&#034; <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/19/world/middleeast/19iran.html?_r=1&amp;hp&amp;oref=slogin" target="_blank">reiterating</a> his belief in self-determination of all people based upon elections: &#034;We believe that all the people who live there [in Israel and Palestine], the Jews, Muslims and Christians, should take part in a free referendum and choose their government.&#034;</p>
<p>Even during his widely <a href="http://www.wideasleepinamerica.com/2009/04/on-ahmadinejad-and-progressive-myopia.html" target="_blank">lambasted</a> <em>Durban II</em> <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/burningIssues/idUKTRE53J3PI20090420?pageNumber=1&amp;virtualBrandChannel=0" target="_blank">speech</a>, Ahmadinejad clearly demarcated the distinction between the 19th century colonial ideology of Jewish nationalism and the Jewish religion, stating, &#034;The word Zionism personifies racism that falsely resorts to religion and abuses religious sentiments to hide their hatred and ugly faces.&#034;</p>
<p>Despite the fact that Ahmadinejad called for an &#034;end to Zionism,&#034; countless news agencies erroneously reported that he sought the &#034;destruction of Israel,&#034; and numerous commentators, including British ambassador Peter Gooderham, <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h-NABlEjaGSsDBh_qdpdNmX7V6VwD97O4G082" target="_blank">called</a> these remarks &#034;anti-Semitic.&#034;</p>
<p>In his <a href="http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/06/ahmadinejad-calls-911-a-big-fabrication/" target="_blank">piece</a> about Ahmadinejad&#039;s 9/11 statement on Saturday, <em>The New York Times</em>&#039; Robert Mackey, reminded his readers about comments made by the Iranian President during an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quds_Day" target="_blank">International al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day</a> rally on September 18, 2009, a national celebration in solidarity with the Palestinian people and in opposition to Zionism. Mackey, who refers to Quds Day as &#034;Iran’s annual anti-Israel day,&#034; writes that Ahmadinejad <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE58H17S20090918?rpc=64&amp;sp=true" target="_blank">told</a> the <a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=106510&amp;sectionid=351020101" target="_blank">crowd</a> that &#034;The pretext for the creation of the Zionist regime is false&#8230;It is a lie based on an unprovable and mythical claim.&#034; Again, the <em>pretext</em> of the holocaust is not at all the same thing as a <em>lie</em>.</p>
<p>The holocaust, as an historical occurrence admitted to by its own perpetrators in Europe and widely described as the systematic and mechanized murder of millions of Jews, is not being called a lie in this statement. Considering that the indigenous people of Palestine bear no responsibility for the atrocities committed by the Nazis, the consequences of the holocaust, however, as it was used to justify the creation of Israel in Palestine, is what Ahmadinejad states is based on a &#034;mythical claim.&#034; This becomes quite clear by listening to the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/VChapaev#p/u/12/t87YcQ4uiV0" target="_blank">very next line of Ahmadniejad&#039;s speech</a>, unreported by Mackey or anyone else in the Western press: &#034;The occupation of Palestine has no connection with the issue of the holocaust.&#034;</p>
<p>Later in the Quds Day speech, Ahmadinejad once again made sure to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t87YcQ4uiV0" target="_blank">distinguish</a> between Judaism and Zionism:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#034;The Zionists have no faith. It is a big lie that the Zionists should be considered tantamount to the Jews or the Christians. Zionists are not Jews nor Christians, and, rather, the Zionists seek to destroy all the values brought about by the divine prophets&#8230;the basis of Zionism is to destroy human culture and human values and the values of all nations.&#034;</p></blockquote>
<p>Iran itself has an ancient community of over 25,000 Jews, the second largest Jewish population in the Middle East after Israel itself. Along with Ahmadinejad, Siamak Morsadegh, the Jewish Iranian legislator and community leader, has <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/981600.html" target="_blank">criticized</a> Israel&#039;s policies towards Palestinians, especially in Gaza, saying it showed &#034;anti-human behavior&#8230;they kill innocent people,&#034; and continuing that the Jewish community in Iran does &#034;not recognize a government or a nation for the Zionist regime.&#034;</p>
<p><strong>&#034;A New Pearl Harbor&#034;</strong></p>
<p>That Ahmadinejad &#8211; along with millions and millions of others around the world &#8211; would find the official story of 9/11 <a href="http://www.newser.com/story/24718/ahmadinejad-calls-911-suspicious-event.html" target="_blank">suspicious</a> is not without <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_the_9/11_Commission" target="_blank">good cause</a>.</p>
<p>A year before the September 11, 2001 attacks, neocon think tank <em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century" target="_blank">Project for a New American Century</a></em>, published a 90-page <a href="http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf" target="_blank">manifesto</a> for a imperially dominant American Empire, urging &#034;that America should seek to preserve and extend its position of global leadership by maintaining the preeminence of U.S. military forces.&#034; Among its aims, the report, entitled <em>Rebuilding America&#039;s Defenses: Strategies, Forces, and Resources For a New Century</em>, calls for the United States to &#034;fight and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major theater wars&#034; and achieve &#034;a global security order that is uniquely friendly to American principles and prosperity.&#034;</p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century#Persons_associated_with_the_PNAC" target="_blank">PNAC&#039;s members</a>, including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Eliot Abrams, Zalmay Khalilzad, Paul Wolfowitz, Bill Kristol, Robert Kagan, Norman Podhoretz, John Bolton, Scooter Libby, and Richard Perle, believed that &#034;the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event &#8211; like a new Pearl Harbor.&#034; Maybe those many <a href="http://www.antiwar.com/orig/weiner6.html" target="_blank">PNAC</a> members who, later that year, were subsequently <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century#Associations_with_Bush_administration" target="_blank">appointed</a> to top level positions in Bush&#039;s new administration didn&#039;t want to wait that long for such a galvanizing moment in order to pursue their own <a>agenda</a> of unilateral preemptive invasions of Middle Eastern countries.</p>
<p>When Ahmadinejad speaks of 9/11 as <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/06/world/main6273527.shtml" target="_blank">involving</a> a &#034;complicated intelligence scenario and act,&#034; shouldn&#039;t the media perhaps contextualize his statement by discussing the <a href="http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/07/08/robert-mcnamara-deceived-lbj-on-gulf-of-tonkin/" target="_blank">exaggerated</a> and <a href="http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/gulf_of_tonkin/articles/rel1_skunks_bogies.pdf" target="_blank">manipulated</a> 1964 <a href="http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon3/pent4.htm" target="_blank">Gulf of Tonkin</a> <a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/nsa/spartans/chapter5.pdf" target="_blank">incident</a> which was largely responsible for <a href="http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2261" target="_blank">launching</a> the American military <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;source=web&amp;ct=res&amp;cd=4&amp;ved=0CBoQFjAD&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gwu.edu%2F%7Ensarchiv%2FNSAEBB%2FNSAEBB132%2Findex.htm&amp;ei=dsqVS_3ILtXl8QaX0tCoBQ&amp;usg=AFQjCNGuJvpI7G4T4-OLwfKmAnMFabpbYg&amp;sig2=Id6FcTjg7-5r-CCxy5ylVA" target="_blank">campaign</a> in Vietnam, the 1954 Israeli false flag <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=dULlTAe_NwEC&amp;pg=PA46&amp;dq=%22false+flag%22+Israel+Egypt&amp;sig=6fM1-s1fY7OLrJF2A99xcUHSL0g" target="_blank">operations</a> known as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavon_Affair" target="_blank">Lavon Affair</a> conducted <a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3065838,00.html#n" target="_blank">against Egypt</a>, or the planned, but never implemented, <a href="http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20010430/index.html" target="_blank">Operation Northwoods</a> scheme in 1962 concocted by the U.S. Department of Defense to <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/aus.tv.x-files/browse_thread/thread/389c6945e535d5c8/" target="_blank">instigate</a> a war with Cuba (one of the plans consisted of hijacking an airplane and blaming the new Castro regime).</p>
<p><em>IranAffairs</em>&#039; Cyrus Safdari <a href="http://www.iranaffairs.com/iran_affairs/2010/03/ahmadinejad-and-911-conspiracy.html" target="_blank">reminds us</a> of &#034;Emad Salem, an undercover FBI informant who had infiltrated the group that carried out the first WTC bombing back in 1993. He was smart enough to record his conversations with the FBI. Turns out, he <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/28/nyregion/tapes-depict-proposal-to-thwart-bomb-used-in-trade-center-blast.html" target="_blank">specifically warned the FBI of the bombing</a>, and offered to replace the bomb material with a harmless substance, but the FBI said no.&#034; What about the completely <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-07-08/news/the-alarming-record-of-the-f-b-i-s-informant-in-the-bronx-bomb-plot" target="_blank">bogus</a>, but thoroughly hyped, &#034;Newburgh bomb plot&#034; to bomb synagogues in Riverdale, NY and fire a missile at a US military jet, which was <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-07-08/news/the-alarming-record-of-the-f-b-i-s-informant-in-the-bronx-bomb-plot" target="_blank">entirely set up</a> by FBI informant Shahed Hussain.</p>
<p>What about the 2007 <a href="http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2007/911-Lynn-Margulis27aug07.htm" target="_blank">statement</a> by <a href="http://www.nsf.gov/od/nms/recip_details.cfm?recip_id=228" target="_blank">National Medal of Science</a> laureate Lynn Margulis in which she referred to 9/11 as a &#034;new false-flag operation, which has been used to justify the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as unprecedented assaults on research, education, and civil liberties&#034;? Or former CIA Middle East operative Robert Baer, who has <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Debunking-11-Mechanics-Defenders-Conspiracy/dp/product-description/156656686X" target="_blank">written</a>, &#034;Until we get a complete, honest, transparent investigation &#8211; not one based on &#039;confession&#039; extracted by torture &#8211; we will never know what happened on 9/11.&#034; Or former senior CIA official Bill Christison, who <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Debunking-11-Mechanics-Defenders-Conspiracy/dp/product-description/156656686X" target="_blank">wrote</a> that there is a &#034;strong body of evidence showing the official US government story of what happened on September 11, 2001 to be almost certainly a monstrous series of lies.&#034; What about the other <a href="http://original.antiwar.com/mcgovern/2009/05/22/cheney-support-for-israel/" target="_blank">CIA</a> officials who <a href="http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_alan_mil_070922_seven_cia_veterans_c.htm" target="_blank">question</a> the <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/11/16-0" target="_blank">official story</a>?</p>
<p>What about the <em>Guardian</em> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/nov/01/afghanistan.terrorism" target="_blank">report</a> from November 1, 2001 which revealed that, according to French intelligence officials, &#034;Two months before September 11 Osama bin Laden flew to Dubai for 10 days for treatment at the American hospital, where he was visited by the local CIA agent&#034;?</p>
<p>What about the <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;source=web&amp;ct=res&amp;cd=2&amp;ved=0CBEQFjAB&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wtc7.net%2F&amp;ei=e9yVS-3JIqj68QbdraD-DA&amp;usg=AFQjCNGrrRIsisfasC3mY5toKDItbsn37A&amp;sig2=nNy1UL-XvBxEkr-sL0DOZg" target="_blank">mysterious collapse of Tower 7</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Danger" target="_blank">Able Danger</a>, the <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2005-11-29/news/running-from-the-truth/" target="_blank">failure to scramble jets</a>, the <a href="http://www.nswbc.org/Press%20Releases/NSWBC-911Comm.htm" target="_blank">myriad National Security experts</a> denied, ignored, or <a href="http://911research.wtc7.net/post911/commission/report.html" target="_blank">censored from the </a><a href="http://www.harpers.org/archive/2004/10/0080234" target="_blank">9/11 Commission</a> report, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/01/AR2006080101300.html?sub=AR" target="_blank">deception and non-cooperation</a> by the Department of Defense, whistle-blowers like <a href="http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101020603/memo.html" target="_blank">Coleen Rowley</a>, supposed <a href="http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a048.htm" target="_blank">short-selling and text message warnings</a>, or the <a href="http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/fiveisraelis.html" target="_blank">five dancing Israelis</a> seen watching and videotaping the attacks from New Jersey&#039;s Liberty State Park across the Hudson River?</p>
<p>What about the British intelligence <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/1579043.stm" target="_blank">report</a>, entitled &#034;Responsibility for the terrorist atrocities in the United States,&#034; which purports to provide evidence that &#034;Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda, the terrorist network which he heads, planned and carried out the atrocities on 11 September 2001, yet begins with the following disclaimer: &#034;This document does not purport to provide a prosecutable case against Osama Bin Laden in a court of law&#034;?</p>
<p>What about the <em>BBC</em> <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1581063.stm" target="_blank">report</a>, entitled &#034;The investigation and the evidence,&#034; which concludes, &#034;There is no direct evidence in the public domain linking Osama Bin Laden to the 11 September attacks&#8230;At best the evidence is circumstantial.&#034;</p>
<p>What about the <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&amp;aid=15892" target="_blank">evidence</a> that, in no verified audio or video tapes, has bin Laden actually claimed responsibility for the attacks, yet <a href="http://www.public-action.com/911/oblintrv.html" target="_blank">has even been quoted</a> as stating, &#034;I have already said that I am not involved in the 11 September attacks in the United States. As a Muslim, I try my best to avoid telling a lie. I had no knowledge of these attacks, nor do I consider the killing of innocent women, children and other humans as an appreciable act&#8230;we are against the American system, not against its people, whereas in these attacks, the common American people have been killed.&#034;</p>
<p>What about the fact that Osama bin Laden is, to this very day, not specifically wanted in connection with the 9/11 attacks, according to FBI&#039;s own <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/fugitives/laden.htm" target="_blank">Most Wanted List</a>?</p>
<p>As a result, is there not plenty of dubious information and spurious evidence surrounding the official story of the September 11 attacks to warrant some sort of suspicion, regardless of what you may personally think actually happened? In this way, with his recent comments, President Ahmadinejad has given voice to the majority of the world. But clearly, for fear they might stumble on some uncomfortable truths, it appears easier for the mainstream media to decontextualize his statements and label him a crackpot conspiracy theorist who is a danger to the American way of life, thus leading the United States <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/feb/18/hillary-clinton-iran" target="_blank">down the path</a> to <a href="http://www.infowars.com/bomb-iran-drumbeat-picks-up-pace/" target="_blank">attacking</a> a <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24939.htm" target="_blank">third Middle Eastern country</a>, than to do its own job.</p>
<p>By misrepresenting the country of Iran, its people, its system of government, its culture, its religion, its elected and unelected leaders, the Western press has already set the stage for an attack on the Islamic Republic. Because of the media&#039;s sensational and propagandistic reporting, <a href="http://trueslant.com/allisonkilkenny/2010/02/20/majority-of-americans-think-iran-has-the-bomb/" target="_blank">71% of Americans</a> already believing that Iran currently possesses nuclear weapons. 90% think that <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/125996/view-iran-critical-threat-interests.aspx" target="_blank">the power of Iran&#039;s military</a> poses either a <em>critical</em> or <em>important</em> &#034;threat to U.S. vital interests&#034; (despite the fact that <a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iran/2006/iran-060531-irna03.htm" target="_blank">Iran&#039;s military budget</a> that is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures" target="_blank">literally</a> one hundred times <a href="http://www.tehrantimes.com/Index_view.asp?code=163138" target="_blank">smaller</a> than that of <a href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/data-bytes/gdp-bytes/c4c-drives-growth/" target="_blank">the US</a>). <a href="http://www.pollingreport.com/iran.htm" target="_blank">59% of American citizens even support unilateral, preemptive US military action</a> against Iran regardless of whether economic or diplomatic efforts achieve the government&#039;s desired effect.</p>
<p>Perhaps, as was seen with the <a href="http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3062" target="_blank">lead up to the invasion of Iraq</a>, the press is doing <a href="http://www.raceforiran.com/who-wants-to-bomb-iran" target="_blank">exactly</a> what the <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/leupp06232009.html" target="_blank">US government</a> <a href="http://rawstory.com/2009/2009/10/attack-iran-before-israel/" target="_blank">wants</a> it to do.</p>
<p>*****</p>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><em><strong>Nima Shirazi</strong> is an author and musician. He is a contributing writer for Foreign Policy Journal, Palestine Think Tank, and The Rag Blog. His analysis of United States policy and Middle East issues, particularly with reference to current events in Palestine and Iran, can be found in numerous other online and print publications, such as Palestine Chronicle, Monthly Review, ColdType, Information Clearing House, OpEdNews, VoltaireNet, World Can’t Wait, CASMII, Ramallah Online, Kenya Imagine, InfoWars, and Woodstock International.  </em></div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"> </div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><em>He currently lives in Brooklyn, NY, with his wife and books.</em></div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"> </div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><em>Visit his website at: </em><a href="http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/about/www.wideasleepinamerica.com" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0854c7;"><em>www.wideasleepinamerica.com</em></span></a><em>. </em></div>
<p><em>Contact him at </em><a href="mailto:wideasleepinamerica@gmail.com" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0854c7;"><em>wideasleepinamerica@gmail.com</em></span></a><em>.</em><br />
&#8211;<br />
Wide Asleep In America<br />
Brooklyn, NY<br />
<a href="http://www.wideasleepinamerica.com/" target="_blank">http://www.wideasleepinamerica.com</a></p>
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		<title>Antoine Raffoul &#8211; Full-Circle of The Waiting Game: Total Boycott Against Total Occupation</title>
		<link>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/08/antoine-raffoul-full-circle-of-the-waiting-game-total-boycott-against-total-occupation/</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:22:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Guest Post</dc:creator>
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Reading Rifat Kassis&#039;s Opinion: Moment of truth (e.i. 4 March 2010) we are inspired to put a halt to the arguments that call for a selective boycott of Israel, and to defy those voices which warn us Palestinians (and many internationalists, for that matter) who criticise Israel for fear of being labelled &#039;anti-semites&#039; (although we [...]]]></description>
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<div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #000000;"><a href="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/boycott_logo.gif"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-5956" title="boycott_logo" src="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/boycott_logo.gif" alt="boycott_logo" width="210" height="194" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Reading Rifat Kassis&#039;s Opinion: Moment of truth (e.i. 4 March 2010) we are inspired to put a halt to the arguments that call for a selective boycott of Israel, and to defy those voices which warn us Palestinians (and many internationalists, for that matter) who criticise Israel for fear of being labelled &#039;anti-semites&#039; (although we are Semites). We challenge politicians who call for yet another round of talks (proximity or otherwise) on the Palestine/Israel question. Shall we count how many of these talks have we had in the last 62 years?</p>
<p>A boycott cannot be selective anymore. As Mr Kassis wrote: &#034;The occupation is not a random onslaught of power, and it isn&#039;t conducted on some remote soil: it is a complete matrix of control, a strategic, consistent, deliberate, historically constructed, externally condoned&#8230;&#034; and, lest we forget, perpetrated on Palestinian land.</p>
<p>The point being missed by many calling for a selective boycott is that the decisions being made inside Israel, inside the OPT and throughout historic Palestine, are made by the Zionist leadership and its collaborators, whose aim is the total annexation, occupation and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian territories, not just post UNRES 181, not just post the Armistice Lines of 1949, not just post the 1967 conquests, but throughout historic Palestine.</p>
<p>The last 62 years of illegal Zionist conquest and occupation, cannot be swept aside by simply agreeing to a temporary status-quo pending final status agreements. Those painful 62 years cannot be parcelled into some kind of colonial areas called A, B, C, Gaza or Jerusalem. They cannot be relegated to the dustbin of history by a ceasefire, a checkpoint or an Apartheid Wall. As the occupation is total and illegal, then the boycott must be total and legal.</p>
<p>We should not just boycott the olive oil produced in the &#039;West Bank&#039; because it is produced in an illegal settlement on the West Bank, but also boycott all products produced in all illegal settlements. We should not just boycott an academic institution involved in state financed military projects, but also boycott others involved in state financed cultural, scientific and academic activities. We should not just boycott an Israeli sports team playing internationally under the Israeli banner, but also boycott an Israeli dance or theatre company sent abroad to whitewash the fascist image of a cruel fascist State. We should not just boycott Caterpillar for demolishing homes and uprooting Palestinian olive groves, but also boycott those companies that supply the sand and cement which make up the Apartheid Wall.</p>
<p>We challenge those who call for a mild and selective boycott to identify any Israeli institution, may it be large or small, which is not part of this &#039;matrix of control&#039; that suffocates our Palestinian nation.</p>
<p>As this occupation is total and unmerciful, so must our universal approach to fighting it and ending it be. As Israel&#039;s occupation covers all of historic Palestine and not only selective parts of it, so must our call for a democratic state which includes all of historic Palestine. A Palestine for all its people: Jews, Muslims, Christians, Coptic, Atheists, and non-Conformists.</p>
<p>In order to achieve this goal, we need a total boycott of the Zionist State. In order to achieve this aim, we need to identify that State. In order to identify that State, we need to untangle the politics of intrigue which produced the 181 UNRES which paved the way for the creation of that State. In order to untangle the tangled politics of that Resolution, we need to sit down, dust-off and read the official archives that go back to the 1917 Balfour Declaration. We need to dig deep into the dark politics and personalities that gave one nation, Palestine, away to one small foreign group against the will of over a million indigenous Palestinian people. We must go the full circle.</p>
<p>It is a trip which will take us full circle. We have come full circle now,a so our boycott must be a full boycott.</p>
<p>Therefore, let us not read the pages of only one chapter of this saga and leave others unturned simply because it is easy to &#039;let bygones be bygones&#039;. Israel has never compromised its aims, its goals or its aggression against the Palestinian people. It has never compromised its defiance of international law. It has never compromised its arrogance towards its most powerful ally, the United States. It has never compromised its military campaigns against innocent civilians to achieve all its Zionist goals. The initial cure to all this is a total boycott.</p>
<p>Total boycott against a total occupation. Nothing less will do.</p>
<p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #000000;">Antoine Raffoul, is a Palestinian architect working in London, and the co-Ordinator of 1948.Lest.We.Forget, a campaign group aiming at the roots of the Palestinian/Israeli problem.</span></div>
<div>
<div><strong>1948: LEST WE FORGET</strong></div>
<div><a href="http://www.1948.org.uk/">www.1948.org.uk</a></div>
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		<title>Anis Hamadeh &#8211; Palestine 2030, A Literary View into the Future of Palestine</title>
		<link>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/06/anis-hamadeh-a-literary-view-into-the-future-of-palestine/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sat, 06 Mar 2010 12:46:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Guest Post</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Arabian Coffee House]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Biography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Newswire]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Palestine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Somoud: Arab Voices of Resistance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Zionism]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[The following eleven voices from different countries show views on Palestine after the breakdown of Zionism, written in 2030, three years after the State of Israel had collapsed. 
1. Shlomo Berge: &#034;Three years ago, the last war in the region ended. We as Israelis never knew how real peace would feel like, because we were [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><a href="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/anis.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-5945" title="anis" src="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/anis.jpg" alt="anis" width="300" height="396" /></a>The following eleven voices from different countries show views on Palestine after the breakdown of Zionism, written in 2030, three years after the State of Israel had collapsed. </em></p>
<p>1. Shlomo Berge: &#034;Three years ago, the last war in the region ended. We as Israelis never knew how real peace would feel like, because we were told that there will always be anti-Semites who want to exterminate us. In a way, the way things went was inevitable. We just saw no other solution and were backed by so many countries in our violent delusion. I remember from kindergarten and school how our army was glorified as was the defense against the enemies. Gaza 3 changed a lot of that. While in Gaza 1 and 2 some thousands of Palestinians were killed, Gaza 3 reduced the population by about 20 percent. Of course there had been many outcries, but Israel was used to face opposition and to preserve what was called &#039;self-defense&#039;. Things then happened very quickly: riots and terror attacks from Palestinians inside Israel led to their expulsion by the army. When the settlements in the West Bank were attacked, the army went all the way and cleared the West Bank completely from the Arabs, claiming that the enemy wanted to make the region &#039;judenfrei&#039;, i.e. free from Jews. There was a huge celebration when Israel was finally freed, a little like back in 1967. As Israel had pre-emptively struck Iran with small nuclear bombs and also invaded Syria and Lebanon, there was no power left to immediately threaten us. The US had already weakened all other powers in the region. Only international rejection became really harsh and massive and Israel finally left the United Nations, stating that the anti-Jewish Nazi spirit in the UN countries was unacceptable and that nobody was to tell Israel what to do to save its existence. By that time, about four million people had been killed by Israel, while about 40.000 Zionist soldiers and some Jewish civilians were killed. Although the number of enemies had increased, nobody dared to attack the Zionist state, because Israel openly threatened to drop more nuclear weapons as it had done in Iran. But instead of having peace, Israel fell into a civil war. Some settlers tried to take over large portions of land declaring they represented the real Israel. Several Jewish groups launched terror attacks while Jews from many countries entered and claimed land and property. The army split up into several factions and soon we had no more government. There were hundreds of dead Jews every day and nobody could help us. Whoever tried to analyze the situation was called an anti-Semite, because allegedly Jews were seen as the perpetrators of all evil which is an old anti-Semitic cliché. People did not distinguish between Jews and Zionists. Many Jews were not perpetrators, but as non-Zionists they were not accepted as real Jews by the people in power. It was such a shame. The militias just had way too many weapons. It was chaos. Far more than a million Jews left the country in despair. In the end, the Palestinians just came back and founded the Democratic Republic of Palestine. They were the only ones left to run the country.&#034;</p>
<p>2. Lubna Younis: &#034;I lost my whole family in the second Nakba, when the Zionists drove us out of Nablus to stop all resistance and terror attacks forever. I was just a child then, but I remember how the missiles flew and the tanks came in. The Zionists called it a &#039;transfer&#039; and said it was to reach peace from the terrorists, but like in 1948 they killed many of the men in combat age. I played outside when a bomb destroyed our home. Everybody inside was dead. Such a typical Palestinian story ever since 1948. The neighbors took me with them to Jordan. Unlike 1948, the exile of the second Nakba only lasted for five years. The Zionists had no more targets and so they started killing each other. In the end, the whole country was devastated. You know, in the 5000 years of the history of this country it never faced such a destruction. Olive trees need decades and centuries to grow and so many thousands of them were pulled out of the ground. Pollution and the wall also helped in ruining the beautiful landscapes. Nothing like this had ever happed to this country before and never was the local population forced out like that. When the Zionists used up their weapons against themselves and when the government broke down in the Civil War, the United Nations sent troops to Dimona to make sure nobody uses nuclear weapons again. It was enough that some of them had been used against Iran. Then, when it was quiet, we just returned to our homes and villages. There were several waves of people returning, also from the refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria, and other places. Today, a majority of 70 percent Palestinians live in Palestine, Muslims, Christians, Jews and atheists. The rest are former Israelis, the survivors of the Civil War minus the emigrants. Many went back to where they or their parents originally came from, the USA, Russia and other places. More than a million Jews moved during the Civil War and many others after the establishment of Palestine. Of course we persecuted the war criminals among the remaining Jews, but in the end only three or four thousand were put into jail. Some incidents of lynch mobs are known, but the new authorities were strictly against that and cooperated with the UN. (By that time the UN headquarters had already moved to Europe.) We wanted to stop all extra-judicial killings, we just had enough of all that. We then rebuilt our cities and villages and kind of resumed our history in a way that we had been deprived of since the days of Lawrence of Arabia. Nobody talks about terrorism anymore, all the borders are open now, and soon all Arabs will have a shared currency. It is good now, no more killing, and yet we still mourn the millions of victims. At least, so we want to think, all these people did not die in vain. But sometimes it is hard to recall all this horror. Every year, we commemorate the dead of all sides including the European Holocaust in the Count Bernadotte Congregation Hall in Jerusalem.&#034;</p>
<p>3. Umm Midian: &#034;I belong to the very few Israeli Jews who have always been in solidarity with the oppressed Palestinian people. I lived in Israel then and I live much better in Palestine now. There was a huge fear that the Arabs would kill all Jews once the army would not defend them anymore. But it turned out that ironically the Jews in the country have never been as secure as they are now. Many Arabs felt honest sympathy when they saw how Jews killed Jews by the thousands, despite the fact that millions of Arabs and Muslims had been killed by the Zionists before. Racist Zionism was the original problem, there is no more doubt about that today, even in the US. Nobody seems to want to talk about Zionism anymore, as if the Zionists had come from outer space and then disappeared again like extra-terrestials. Of course the Zionist perpetrators were and are taken to account by their victims. This is normal and it is a matter of justice. But the fear of a heavy revenge proved to be unwarranted. Maybe deep in their hearts the Zionists thought: since we have been so brutal with them on a regular basis, they just have to hate us and give us exactly what we gave to them. But they forgot that those Arab and Muslim victims are no Zionists, they do not follow this logic.&#034;</p>
<p>4. Theodor Madden: &#034;By the time Israel fell apart I worked in the US Foreign Office. They were difficult years ever since it came out that 9/11 was an inside job, orchestrated by parts of our own government. You remember the conspiracy theory according to which Islamic terrorists did the job. When the voices of architects and firemen got louder, asking how three buildings could collapse like that against all laws of physics, the pressure got really hard. Then there were many other unsolved questions, e.g. about the much too small hole in the Pentagon building, the lack of remains, the suspicious drills, strange facts about the so-called terrorists and so on. The government should just have provided answers. Instead, the Patriot Act was used against the critics. And we lost so many soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan/Pakistan and spent so many billions of dollars. Why? All this was originally linked to 9/11 without any logic. People started asking what we were trying to accomplish in the countries we attacked. So we were almost paralyzed when Israel targeted Iran unilaterally, when it expelled the Palestinians and when it started destroying itself physically. There was nothing at all the US could have done to prevent this. What should we have done? Send in troops into a civil war zone? To support whom? Our own country was about to collapse and this is actually still possible, although rather unlikely, because we brought all our troops back home now. The situation thus has deescalated for us. Moreover, we do not send weapons to what is now Palestine and do not pay the Egyptians and other regimes any more money, which saves billions of dollars. The whole arms industry is in decline and we do not really care after this nightmare. My personal opinion is that we should have arrived at this conclusion soon after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I personally never was an adherent of Zionism, but of course it was a shock to see our close ally Israel breaking down like a house of cards. The good thing is that there are many fewer weapons in the region now. We never thought that stability could be so cheap, financially speaking. We had to give up our hegemony of the oil fields and strategic places, but we are learning to appreciate the new possibilities that go with regional stability. We don&#039;t have the choice, anyway, I guess.&#034;</p>
<p>5. Agathe Mengel: &#034;As a German politician it has always been clear to me that we had to stand by the side of Israel and there is nothing we have to be sorry for! The constant rocket-fire and anti-Semitism forced Israel to defend itself. The collapse of the State of Israel is a catastrophe, because it was a safe haven for all the Jews in the world. This is why we have recognized the new state only because the EU has made this decision and we could not have opposed it. It is beyond question that the German history has made the State of Israel necessary. Anti-Semitism is still very strong in the world and Israel was the only democracy in the Middle East. It may be true that there have not been any combat actions observed in the region for three years, but this can change any time. We certainly did not make a mistake here in Germany when we supported Israel, because we have a responsibility.&#034;</p>
<p>6. Yossi Feinsand: &#034;I am one of the survivors of the Civil War and I admit that I used to be an ardent Zionist before this war. But in the end I recognized that we were the ones who made the biggest mistakes. I feel betrayed by my parents, schools, politicians, and media. They always told us we cannot be wrong and that it is an old anti-Semitic cliché that the Jews are the guilty ones. But it is we who were guilty in Palestine! Not because we were Jews, but because we were Zionists. It developed into a racist ideology not much better than Nazism, if at all. How many people did we kill? Millions. It started when we came from abroad, made our state without any agreements and at the same time expelled the indigenous population. We were told in our schools that we are special, the chosen people, eternal victims, and that we need a strong army to fight our vicious enemies. Today I live in Jerusalem among all these &#039;enemies&#039; and they are much nicer than what we used to be. As Zionists, we actually projected all of our own faults onto the Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims. We accused them of hostility when we were hostile. We called them violent while being violent. We held Islam to be an evil religion, because we as Zionists acted in an evil way. We claimed they want to take our land and what we did was take their land. Why did our friends not stop us? I feel so ashamed and can only say how proud I am to be a Palestinian now. I tell my story to everyone and even learned Arabic to do so. Wherever I come I receive so much affection and friendship that it makes me cry. How generous my fellow countrymen are, how great also the Islamic religion. They do not torture me, they all forgave me and I have nothing to fear in my great country, in Palestine!&#034;</p>
<p>7. Naser Ateeq: &#034;Like every Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and Human Rights advocate I am more than happy that the long Zionist nightmare finally has ended. And it is clear to the world now what the &#039;conflict&#039; was all about. They had taken our land and expelled us, killing many, and most of the world had called our legitimate resistance &#039;terrorism&#039; and turned us from victims to perpetrators, because the weakest always become the scapegoat. Why did they not learn from the German history? But in the end the world saw the real face of Zionism and now they are quiet at last and we got our land back. Now we must face our own demons, because we do not want to make the same mistakes and project our traumas onto others. One of the taboos of our Palestinian society is, for example, child abuse. It has always been normal for our fathers to beat the children. And society has covered it up. Parents used to be like gods, beyond justice. Even for driving a car you need a license, but children can be raised by every idiot. This must stop now! The problems of our society were not all produced by Israel. By beating our children we have destroyed ourselves and by oppressing our sisters, because they are women, we also did wrong. We have had a damned pasha society and some even derived this sinful behavior wrongly from the Qur&#039;an or the Bible. Some groups have killed and threatened Jewish civilians and there is no excuse for that, not occupation, not anything. We have killed collaborators and showed that we can also be killers, just like them. And we witnessed lynch mobs, even if they were few, after the collapse of the Zionist state. All this must stop immediately and without condition. No more killing! No more oppression! No more beating of our beloved and helpless children! In many respects, we are completely retarded and backward. &#039;Takhalluf&#039; is the Arabic word for that, in case you have forgotten. A lot of all that is claimed to be Islamic, but I don&#039;t believe that. Fortunately, we are a democratic society now. It did not astonish me that in our second free elections the Islamic parties have lost their majority. They have their place and they are important, but Palestine has always been open to all faiths and so it is only normal that the Democratic Party has won the last elections. In it we find all currents in the good manner of Bir Zeit campus society in its best days. There are even some people in it who used to be in the collaborator party of Fatah.&#034;</p>
<p>8. Muna el-Missiry: &#034;Egypt profited so much from the new time. Not only because the borders to Palestine and ALL other Arab countries plus Iran are open now, but we also got rid of the unwanted regime, even without a military coup. Like in some other Arab countries the Islamists started with a big success after Gaza 3. They are the only popular currents that were able to gain a huge block of voters, because they represent our main religion and because they are not as corrupt as other trends, especially those affiliated with the West. But then, like in Palestine itself, the peoples recognized that a liberal society in the end works better and that it does not deny religion, anyway. We will not forget that it was the Islamists who opened all the borders, in their quest to restore Islamic unity and the &#039;umma&#039;, i.e. the universal Muslim community. Traveling educated us Egyptians, us Arabs and Muslims a lot and we had hungered for that. Of course, not all of our problems have ceased with the disappearance of the Zionist state, but a lot of them really have. The falcons in Arab countries cannot take Israel as a pretext for weapon-trade and sternness anymore, and indeed we do not feel threatened, especially since the US has completely withdrawn all its troops from the region. Today I can travel from Cairo to Jerusalem in only a few hours, without a visa! In fact, I went there only two weeks ago to help rebuild the Dome of the Rock and the Aqsa Mosque which were heavily damaged in the last years of the Zionist Civil War.&#034;</p>
<p>9. Yousuf Sharif: &#034;Since we threw our king out of the country, Jordan faces much more than a renewal. People call it a rebirth. Everything seems possible now. We have a free press and nobody has to fear anything when speaking out against injustice. Jordanian kings have a long history of collaboration with the Zionists and this chapter is closed now forever! Every Palestinian in Jordan &#8211; that is about 70 percent of the population &#8211; is free to return to Palestine. Most of them don&#039;t, because they found a home in Jordan and they can travel to Palestine whenever they want. Only the victims of the second Nakba returned with an overwhelming majority.&#034;</p>
<p>10. Gulamhusein: &#034;I am now an old man of 102 years. I was born in Bombay. For most of my life there I lived in terror, what with ghastly Hindu-Muslim riots breaking out on a regular basis. To make matters worse we had the British occupying our land, our beloved India, and lording it over us. Under the leadership of Gandhi we mounted a movement to drive them out and we ultimately did. Even as we gained independence in India, Palestinians lost more than half of their land to an Israeli state imposed on them by the international community, many members of which had their arms twisted to vote for the UN partition resolution. There followed a massacre of Palestinians. I simply could not understand how the Jews, who had suffered so much under the Germans and others, could inflict so much death, destruction and misery on the Palestinians so as to be able to create a Jewish state of their own on the land the Palestinians had occupied for centuries. Nor could I understand how those living in Israel, and even more puzzlingly, those living in other countries, could believe the Israeli propaganda that the Palestinians were trying to take their land and drive them into the sea when the truth was that the Jews were taking Palestinian land and trying to drive the Palestinians, if not into the sea or the Jordan River, then out of what used to be their land. It took me some time to learn and understand that not all Jews were complicit. Many were, from the start, opposed to Zionism. It was only the Zionists who were to blame and, even most of the Zionists believed and acted as they did because the truth was hidden from them and they were fed lies from childhood. As time went on, more and more of these came forward and said so. The Nakba of 1947/48, the 1967 War, the 2009 Israeli invasion and destruction of Gaza, and the failure of the international community to come to the aid of the Palestinians, take suitable action against Israel for its violations of international law and end Israel&#039;s illegal and brutal occupation of West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights, left me shaken, and almost destroyed my faith in justice. I wondered if Palestinians would ever get justice. But history, as life, takes strange and unexpected turns. After the Civil War, the Palestinians, who had been driven out of their lands, started coming back from Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Iraq and even from far away countries. The Israelis feared that the Palestinians would do unto them as they had done unto the Palestinians. But the Palestinians, the majority of them Muslims, remembered their beginnings. Their Prophet and his followers (the Muslims), had been persecuted and tortured for years by the Meccans and had ultimately been driven out of Mecca. Years later, the Muslims marched triumphantly back into Mecca, led by Prophet Muhammad. At that moment, the Meccans hid, fearing that the Muslims would be vengeful and there would be a massacre. But Muhammad had ordered the returning Muslims that there was to be no looting or pillaging, no killing, no rape, no taking of slaves. And there was none. &#8211; In the three years that have elapsed since the collapse of Israel there has been a great change. There is, at last, peace in the region. The inhabitants of the Democratic Republic of Palestine &#8212; Jews, Muslims, Christians, no matter what their faith or ethnic origin &#8211; live in peace and harmony, as of old. The phony &#034;war on terror&#034; has ended. I never imagined this day would come. Nor did millions of others. But come it did, three years to this day. It is a miracle. As is my being alive at 102 years!&#034;</p>
<p>11. Dana Azulai: &#034;At the beginning of the Civil War my parents got killed in a bombing. I had just finished school by the time and did not know how to carry on. I was in despair. When my relatives in Canada invited me to come to them, I accepted their offer gratefully. They took care of all the formalities and, luckily, it all worked out rather quickly. Despite the fact that Israel had gained a very bad reputation in world, due to the &#039;transfer&#039; of the Arabs, the attacks on Iran and the Civil War, I was well-received by most of the Canadians, and treated in a friendly way. I also found a job very soon. But despite all of that I never really felt well. The weather and the landscape are so much different and also the mentality of the people. When the Civil War was over I certainly thought about returning. But then the Palestinians founded their state and my dream to go back home, was soon over. Surely, the Palestinians would not allow the return of Jews. Besides, how could I voluntarily go to a land that was now governed by our enemies? But I still was in touch with some friends, who had stayed in Israel and who had survived. They, too, were afraid after the new state was built. But in the course of time they reported about the reconstruction work and about the peaceful coexistence. It was not so easy for me, but the country, that now called itself the Democratic Republic of Palestine, was my homeland. I missed my friends, the Mediterranean Sea, the sun, and everything. So half a year ago I returned. I was astonished about the fact that it was so easy. I just had to prove that I was born in the territory of what today is Palestine and immediately got my papers. It is not easy to be back. I am always confronted with what my people did to the Palestinians and to themselves. But I am happy that I ventured to do it.&#034;</p>
<p><em># 10 written by Gulamhusein Abba (www.anis-online.de/1/rooms/gulamhusein/index.htm), # 11 written by Sabine Yacoub, www.sabine-yacoub.de, all other entries by Anis </em><br />
<a href="http://www.anis-online.de/2/literatur/2030.htm">http://www.anis-online.de/2/literatur/2030.htm</a></p>
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		<title>Petition to stop destruction of Muslim Cemetery for &quot;Museum of Tolerance&quot;</title>
		<link>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/05/petition-to-stop-destruction-of-muslim-cemetery-for-museum-of-tolerance/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:24:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Guest Post</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Action Alert]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Culture and Heritage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Newswire]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Palestine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Petitions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Religion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Zionism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jerusalem]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mamilla Cemetery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Museum of Tolerance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[petitions for Palestine]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Petitioners request that the Government of Switzerland, in its capacity as depository of the Fourth Geneva Convention, consider this issue in the context of resuming the High Contracting Parties’ Conference to the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Please sign this important Petition and pass it on to others to prevent Israel from continuing its ethnic cleansing not only [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span><a href="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/mamilla.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-5953" title="mamilla" src="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/mamilla.jpg" alt="mamilla" width="350" height="233" /></a>Petitioners request that the Government of Switzerland, in its capacity as depository of the Fourth Geneva Convention, consider this issue in the context of resuming the High Contracting Parties’ Conference to the Fourth Geneva Convention.</p>
<p></span>Please sign this important Petition and pass it on to others to prevent Israel from continuing its ethnic cleansing not only of the living but also of the dead in a drive cloaked with a &#039;tolerance&#039; approach. The zionists have not run out of ideas to lie, to cheat and to steal&#8230;and in broad daylight.</p>
<div><a href="http://www.mamillacampaign.org/">http://www.mamillacampaign.org/</a></div>
<div>
<div>
<div>Antoine Raffoul</div>
<div>Coordinator</div>
<div><strong>1948: LEST WE FORGET</strong></div>
<div><a href="http://www.1948.org.uk/">www.1948.org.uk</a></div>
<div><span> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>A.</strong> <strong>THE MAMILLA CEMETERY: ITS HISTORY AND IMPORTANCE<br />
</strong>The Petitioners are individuals whose human rights have been violated by the destruction and desecration of an ancient Muslim cemetery, the Ma’man Allah (Mamilla) cemetery in Jerusalem, by the government of Israel working in conjunction with the Simon Wiesenthal Center (“SWC”) of Los Angeles, California, USA.1  Petitioners also include human rights non-governmental organizations concerned about this desecration.  A significant portion of the cemetery is being destroyed and hundreds of human remains are being desecrated so that SWC can build a facility to be called the “Center for Human Dignity &#8211; Museum of Tolerance” on this sacred Muslim site.</p>
<p>The Mamilla cemetery has been a Muslim burial ground since the 7th century, when companions of the Prophet Muhammad were reputedly buried there.  Before that, it was the site of a Byzantine church and cemetery.2  It is well attested as housing the remains of soldiers and officials of the Muslim ruler Saladin from the 12th century, as well as generations of important Jerusalem families and notables.3  The cemetery grounds also contain numerous monuments, structures, and gravestones attesting to its hallowed history, including the ancient Mamilla Pool, which dates back to the Herodian period, or the 1st century B.C.  Since 1860, the cemetery has been clearly demarcated by stone walls and a road surrounding its 134.5 dunums (about 33 acres).4  The antiquity of the cemetery was confirmed by the Chief Excavator assigned to excavate the Museum site by the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA), who reported that over 400 graves containing human remains buried according to Muslim traditions were exhumed or exposed during excavations on the Museum site, many dating to the 12th century. His estimation that at least two thousand additional graves remain under the Museum site in 4 layers, the lowest dating to the 11th century, also verifies the antiquity and importance of the cemetery.5</p>
<p>The Mamilla cemetery’s significance was recognized by successive authorities.  It was declared an historical site during the British Mandate by the Supreme Muslim Council in 1927, and as an antiquities site by the British in 1944.6  It continued in active use as a burial ground throughout the Mandatory era.  In 1948, soon after the new State of Israel seized the western part of Jerusalem, where Mamilla is located, the Jordanian government objected to any desecration of the cemetery.  The Israeli Religious Affairs Ministry acknowledged in response Mamilla’s great importance to the Muslim community in a communiqué,stating:</p>
<p>[Mamilla] is considered to be one of the most prominent Muslim cemeteries, where seventy thousand Muslim warriors of Salah al-Din al-Ayubi’s [Saladin’s] armies are interred along with many Muslim scholars.  Israel will always know to protect and respect this site.7</p>
<p>In 1986, in response to urgent protests to the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) regarding destruction of parts of the Mamilla cemetery, Israel avowed that “no project exists for the deconsecration of the site and that on the contrary the site and its tombs are to be safeguarded.”8  Subsequently, the IAA itself included Mamilla on its list of “Special Antiquities Sites” in Jerusalem, and determined it to be a site of especially high value with “historical, cultural and architectural importance,” on which there should be no development, and which should be rehabilitated and maintained.9</p>
<p>These earlier proclamations by Israeli authorities appeared to recognize the sacredness with which Muslims view their burial grounds, and the Mamilla cemetery in particular.10  Islamic jurisprudence consistently holds burial sites to be eternally sanctified, and disinterment of human remains is expressly prohibited. As with other monotheistic religions, the rites and beliefs associated with death and burial are an integral part of the religious practices and beliefs of Muslims everywhere.</p>
<p><strong>B. ISRAEL’S PROGRESSIVE DESECRATION OF MAMILLA FAILS ITS OBLIGATION TO PROTECT HOLY SITES UNDER ITS CONTROL<br />
</strong>The western part of Jerusalem, including the Mamilla cemetery, came under Israeli control in 1948.  This was despite United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 of 1947, which aimed to create an international corpus separatum for Jerusalem and ensure the protection of all holy sites. The resolution specified that “existing rights in respect of Holy Places and religious buildings or sites shall not be denied or impaired,” and that “Holy Places and religious buildings or sites shall be preserved.  No act shall be permitted which may in any way impair their sacred character.”11  On 9 December 1949, the United Nations General Assembly, in resolution 303(IV), restated its intention that “Jerusalem should be placed under a permanent international regime, which should envisage appropriate guarantees for the protection of the Holy Places, both within and outside Jerusalem …”12  In 1967, after occupying the remainder of Jerusalem, Israel passed the Holy Places Law which purports to protect religious sites from violators.13</p>
<p>Notwithstanding the above, the government of Israel, over several decades, has progressively encroached upon the cemetery with the construction of roads, buildings, parking lots and parks.  Israel has ignored the repeated protests of Jerusalemites and other Palestinians (as well as Jews and others) against these desecrations, which included appeals to international bodies such as UNESCO.14  Amir Cheshen, former Arab-Affairs Advisor to Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek from 1984-94, who has first-hand knowledge of such events, confirmed this history of protest, stating that:</p>
<p>Islamic stakeholders, particularly in Jerusalem, also among the Muslim community both in Israel and abroad, never abandoned their interest in what transpired in the cemetery, nor their sensitivity in this regard.  And they always viewed construction that damaged the tombs and human remains as a violation of sanctity and their religious sensibilities.15</p>
<p>The latest incursion, and the one most outrageous to the Petitioners and others, involves the construction of this so-called “Center for Human Dignity – Museum of Tolerance” by the SWC, with the support of the Israeli government.  This construction project has resulted in the undignified disinterment and disposal of several hundred of graves and human remains, the exact amount and whereabouts of which are currently unknown, and threatens to erect a monument to “Human Dignity” and “Tolerance” atop thousands more graves.  It has proceeded in the face of ongoing opposition to this desecration by Palestinian individuals and organizations, by numerous Jewish individuals and organizations who morally oppose the project,16 and notwithstanding opposition from the current Israeli Mayor of Jerusalem, who early on urged that the museum not be built on the Mamilla cemetery site.17</p>
<p>The petitioners have exhausted all means at their disposal to prevent further desecration of this sacred cemetery and, hence, bring the matter to your urgent attention, as Israel’s conduct blatantly violates international human rights law, as detailed below.</p>
<p><strong>C. ISRAEL’S TREATMENT OF MAMILLA IS PART OF A PATTERN OF DISREGARD FOR MUSLIM RELIGIOUS SITES</strong><br />
Israel’s actions on the Mamilla cemetery illustrate the state’s disdain for the religious and spiritual beliefs and sentiments that holy sites engender among Palestinians and Muslims everywhere.  The disparity in the treatment of Jewish and non-Jewish holy sites is clear.  There is a marked inequality, for example, in the treatment of Jewish remains found on construction sites and those of non-Jews.  This is illustrated by the fact that Jewish religious authorities are immediately called upon when it is believed that there are Jewish remains so that they be accorded proper religious treatment and excavations may be stopped.  In contrast, as in the case of Mamilla and other non-Jewish sites known to be Muslim cemeteries, no Muslim religious authorities were consulted in order that the remains and the cemetery be dealt with according to Islamic law.18  As Gideon Suleimani, the Chief Excavator appointed by the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) to excavate the Museum site on Mamilla attested, “[A Ministry of Religion official] came to the site and told me, &#039;If one Jewish skeleton were found, I would stop the excavations immediately.’  But no Jewish remains were found and [he] was not concerned.”19 This attitude on the part of Israeli authorities, and the discriminatory practices underlying it, is confirmed by a recent study on the treatment of non-Jewish holy sites in Israel, which documents several cases in which Israeli authorities continued construction works despite the discovery of Muslim graves during construction projects.20</p>
<p>The desecration occurring at Mamilla is, thus, part of a larger pattern of disrespect, denigration, and desecration of the cultural heritage, including religious sites such as cemeteries, of non-Jewish individuals and groups by the Israeli state.  This pattern of discrimination was discussed in a recent report by the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief, stating that:</p>
<p>all the 136 places which have been designated as holy sites until the end of 2007 are Jewish and the Government of Israel has so far only issued implementing regulations for Jewish holy sites.21</p>
<p>The United States State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report of 2009 similarly found that:</p>
<p>The Government [of Israel] implements regulations only for Jewish sites.  Non-Jewish Holy Sites do not enjoy legal protection . . . because the Government does not recognize them as official holy sites…While well-known sites have de facto protection as a result of their international importance, many Muslim and Christian sites are neglected, inaccessible, or threatened by property developers and municipalities.22</p>
<p>Given this pattern of discrimination, not only with regard to the treatment of holy sites, but in all facets of the Israeli government’s relationship with the Muslim and Christian communities under its control,23 it is no surprise that attempts to stop the desecration of Mamilla, legally and otherwise, have been rebuffed by Israeli authorities.</p>
<p><strong>D. EXHAUSTION OF REMEDIES<br />
</strong>Numerous avenues have been pursued in attempting to stop the current desecration of the Mamilla cemetery.  Resort to the Israeli judiciary has been futile.  Although a petition to halt construction presented to the Israeli Muslim Shari’a Court was granted, the Israeli High Court overruled it, holding that the Shari’a court lacked jurisdiction.  The High Court ultimately ruled, on a separate petition, that construction on the cemetery was lawful.24</p>
<p>Significantly, since the High Court ruling in October, 2008, it has been revealed that the High Court’s decision was based on serious misrepresentations made by the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) regarding the extent of graves and human remains located on the site and discovered during excavations.  In particular, Gideon Suleimani, the Chief Excavator assigned by the IAA to excavate the site, attested that the IAA withheld from the High Court his considered conclusion that the site should not be approved for construction.  This conclusion was based on the facts that:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">his archaeological excavations were completed in only 10% of the entire project site, while in the remaining 90% of the site, “excavation was either only partial or preliminary”;25</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">“A total of 250 skeletons were excavated, some of them from secondary burials, and another 200 graves were exposed but not excavated,”26 and,</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">the site contains at least 4 more as yet unexcavated layers of Muslim graves dating back to at least the 11th century, with an estimated 2000 graves remaining under the site.27</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Instead of forwarding these conclusions to the High Court, the IAA withheld Suleimani’s report and submitted to the Court that there were no impediements to construction on most of the site, and released it for construction.28 The High Court ruling relied in large part on the submissions of the IAA that only a small portion of the Museum site contained the majority of the human remains found, that the excavations were otherwise complete, and that “no scientific data remained,” all of which contradicted the findings of the IAA’s own Chief Excavator, Suleimani.29  Suleimani has since declared that the IAA “under pressures on the part of the entrepreneurs and politicians, participated in the destruction of a valuable archeological site,” and that its conduct constitutes an “archeological crime.”30 As he stated in an interview, “We’re talking about tens of thousands of skeletons under the ground there, and not just a few dozen.”31</p>
<p>A subsequent petition to nullify the IAA’s decision to release the site for construction, based on the above revelations, has recently been denied by the High Court on largely procedural grounds, namely, that there was nothing in the second petition that was novel, and that it therefore could not reconsider its previous ruling.32 While stating that Suleimani’s report to the IAA had been submitted to the Court during hearings on the previous petition, the Court did not address, as it had failed to do in its first judgment, the significant contradictions between Suleimani’s report and the information provided by the IAA regarding the progress and results of the excavations on the site.  33Rather, it reiterated the IAA’s version of the results, which its Chief Excavator Suleimani attested was “a factual and archaeological lie.”34 This showed a puzzling disregard of the facts that should have been central to the Court’s decision in both judgments, namely, that the Museum’s construction was taking place on an ancient cemetery site replete with Muslim graves and human remains, which were being desecrated in the process.</p>
<p>This ruling, together with the Court’s 2008 ruling, clearly illustrates the Court’s bias in favor of allowing the SWC “Center for Human Dignity &#8211; Museum of Tolerance” to be constructed.  Its decisions make evident that the High Court, in keeping with the Israeli judiciary’s clear bias in favor of Jewish interests above those of Palestinians, views Israel’s development prerogatives as more important than respecting the religious beliefs of and preserving the cultural heritage of its disdained minority Muslim and Christian populations.</p>
<p>Informal avenues to convince the Israeli authorities and the U.S. backers of the project (the SWC) to consider alternative locations have also been unsuccessful, and have revealed the callousness of these authorities to the claims of Palestinians and Muslims regarding their rights and feelings toward the desecration of the cemetery.35</p>
<p>Petitioners thus have no recourse but to international human rights law and the institutions tasked with upholding it, to which this petition is submitted.</p>
<p><strong>E. INTERNATIONAL LAW VIOLATIONS<br />
</strong>Construction of the Museum on a portion of the cemetery constitutes a violation of numerous international human rights, including:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">The right to protection of cultural heritage and cultural property, including religious sites such as cemeteries, as guaranteed by international human rights instruments such as the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and buttressed by extensive  international humanitarian law protections, the principles of which are considered customary international law principles.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">The right to manifest religious beliefs, as propounded in the UDHR and the ICCPR.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">The right to freedom from discrimination, as set forth in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), the ICCPR and the ICESCR.  IV.The right to family and culture, as set forth in the UDHR, ICCPR, and the ICESCR.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>F. REQUESTS FOR ACTION<br />
</strong>In light of these violations, the petitioners request the following actions on the part of the officials and bodies addressed herein:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Petitioners request that the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief, the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, and the Independent Expert in the Field of Cultural Rights urgently demand that the Government of Israel:
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Immediately halt further construction of the Museum of Tolerance on the Mamilla cemetery site;</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Document and reveal to the petitioners the whereabouts of all human remains and artifacts, as well as archaeological fragments and monuments exhumed in the construction;</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Recover and rebury all human remains where they were originally found, in coordination with, and under the supervision of, the competent Muslim authorities in Jerusalem; and,</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Declare the entire historic site of the Mamilla cemetery an antiquity, to be preserved and protected henceforth by its rightful custodians, the Muslim Waqf (public endowment) authorities in Jerusalem.</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Based on the mandate laid out in the Human Rights Council resolution of October 21, 2009, petitioners request that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights consider this complaint on an urgent basis and investigate and report on Israel’s violation of the above human rights, which, together with other Israeli actions that degrade or damage non-Jewish religious sites, constitute a pattern of gross violations of the human rights of Palestinians and Muslims.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Petitioners request that the Director General of UNESCO consider this complaint in light of existing UNESCO resolutions on the subject and the human rights violations alleged herein, and coordinate efforts with the above-mentioned United Nations officials in order that the Mamilla cemetery, a cultural and religious heritage site of great value, be preserved and protected.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Petitioners request that the Government of Switzerland, in its capacity as depository of the Fourth Geneva Convention, consider this issue in the context of resuming the High Contracting Parties’ Conference to the Fourth Geneva Convention.</li>
</ul>
<p></span></div>
</div>
</div>
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		<title>Khalil Nakhleh &#8211; How Must We Explain Our Century-old Struggle to a Foreign Audience?</title>
		<link>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/05/khalil-nakhleh-how-must-we-explain-our-century-old-struggle-to-a-foreign-audience/</link>
		<comments>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/05/khalil-nakhleh-how-must-we-explain-our-century-old-struggle-to-a-foreign-audience/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:57:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Guest Post</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Culture and Heritage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nakba and Right of Return]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Newswire]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Palestine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Somoud: Arab Voices of Resistance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[War]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hasbara]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[palestinians]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Refugees]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ROR]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[US foreign policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Zionism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://palestinethinktank.com/?p=5940</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[To work strategically on our liberation process, we need to instill an appropriate discourse that embodies our future strategic vision.  This discourse should start by purging itself from the language of  “two-state solution”,  “two states for two people”, “West Bank and Gaza”, “East Jerusalem”, “peacemaking”, “direct or indirect negotiations”, “state building”, “legal or illegal settlements”, etc.  Our language should focus on means of resistance to achieve our liberation towards living in a free, non-racist, secular country in the entire land of historical Palestine; on emancipation from occupation and economic dependency; on individual and collective rights; on international law; on responsive and accountable leadership; on self-reliance and productivity; and on the right of all the refugees and displaced persons, who were ethnically cleansed from their homes and country by the Zionist colonial movement, to return to Palestine.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong><a href="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/wall-53.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-5941" title="wall 53" src="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/wall-53.jpg" alt="wall 53" width="400" height="300" /></a>Personal reflections on my forthcoming lecture</strong> </p>
<p>Since the date for my new lecture became fixed, a few months back, at my <em>alma mater</em> university in the State of Minnesota, USA, where I received my first 4 years of higher education, and earned my Bachelor’s degree, I was in a quandary.  Certainly, this would not be the first lecture I give to an American academic audience in my long career, but since I chose the topic of <em>“Whither Palestine/Israel: What Future?</em>  I have been preoccupied almost constantly with this lecture.  Whatever else I was doing, researching, writing, attending conferences, workshops, meetings, etc, or being involved in domestic and manual chores at home, and so forth, this forthcoming lecture dominated my mind.  It was my nagging concern, and I kept pushing to have it become my wife’s nagging concern too.  Why?</p>
<p>Whatever I read on this broad subject during this period (and I read a lot!); whatever came into my “in box”—reports, studies, analyses, position papers, book reviews, articles, petitions to sign, etc., all was perused; and some was read thoroughly and carefully, with the forthcoming lecture in mind! Why? What was I looking for?</p>
<p>The audience to whom I will be speaking, who is not unfamiliar to me (because I taught there for seven years) was firmly nestled in the back of my mind … my memory.  Basically, this is an audience of privileged Catholic young men and women; the product of middle and upper economic classes; well-bred and well-immersed in the so-called “Judeo-Christian tradition”; and who do well financially when they graduate.  They succeed in gravitating voluntarily and enthusiastically, with unmatched conviction, nurtured by a deep sense of Catholic loyalty (avoiding the wrath of generations of cumulative Catholic guilt), to good job opportunities in mainstream sectors that reproduce and sustain prevalent American culture.  My recollection of this audience (at least in the mid to late 1970’s and through the review of the “Alumni magazine”, which I receive regularly) is that they are not much interested in knowing and analyzing the changing state of the world beyond US borders, unless they happen to have been somehow affected by it, or participating in it through the direct occupation of other countries, e.g., Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Haiti, etc, or indirectly, e.g., Palestine.</p>
<p>Therein lays my quandary.  My main and nagging concern was this: How can I constrict more than a century-old Palestinian struggle for liberation and against foreign colonialism in a lecture of about 30-40 minutes, to such an audience, without “force spoon-feeding” them; without suffocating them with reams and reams of information; and without thrusting them into the realm of history, to where they would be very reluctant to go on their own volition? How best to etch in their brains one or two deep insights that they will not forget, and that they would keep coming back to for reference, even if they naturally resist doing so?</p>
<p>At the same time, doesn’t this quandary apply in speaking to any audience who identifies and supports the illegal American invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan as their patriotic duty? Wouldn’t this require at least two to three “pruning” attempts before you can get to the core of the issues, and before you can get such an audience to see and acknowledge the core?</p>
<p>Initially, and as a way out of my predicament, I began working on a basic premise that I need to find and cast in front of them bits of critical data, strung in a somewhat coherent logical chain that can be verified empirically, without requiring leaps of a different system of logic.  I started squeezing my mind, and everything I read and re-read.  I wanted to come up with some type of a list of what is important (for them to know) and what is less important?</p>
<p>I concluded, readily, that they needed to have a visual image of how the land of Palestine was effectively eviscerated, decimated, dismembered … since 1947.  So, I worked on providing maps revealing the gradual obliteration of the land of Palestine.  This is easy to show, because such maps abound.  But this, in itself, wasn’t satisfactory to me.  Should I, then, refer them to basic good references that document this process of genocidal tragedy? But, then, how I can bring them from there to today? How can I entice them to cross with me, quickly and without major diversions, the last century of the Zionist colonial onslaught on Palestine?</p>
<p>How much detail should I expose them to, while introducing the entire “Oslo process”, for example? But, regardless of the level of detail I would provide them, what essence would they retain from these “Oslo” details? And what essence I want them to hold on to and, hopefully, internalize? Should I, for example, highlight the fragmentation of the land (the essence of coherent geography and space)? Should I underscore the acquiescence to a continued military colonial occupation, as it is driven and encouraged by the emergence of a Quisling “Palestinian Authority” in its role as a sub-agent for Israeli control and oppression? Or, should I give more attention to the pre-designed role of “Oslo” in the total fragmentation of the Palestinian people, and the dissolution of their struggle for liberation and freedom, etc ? Or, should I deal with all the above components as constituting the elements of an insidious plan? And finally, is my audience opposed, in principle, to military occupation and colonization of another people?</p>
<p>Or, on the other hand, should I start with the now and telescope it back into its historical context? Why not, it occurred to me, start shocking them by focusing, for example, on the most recent racist genocidal calls to “curb Palestinian births” by one Martin Kramer of Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs? Or, by the Israeli decision to erase the 800 years old Palestinian Mamilla Cemetery in Jerusalem to make room for a Jewish so-called “Museum of Tolerance” in its stead?  Or, by the multitude of stories of Palestinian daily human sufferings and humiliation on the military checkpoints, in all Palestinian areas under occupation (Gaza, West Bank, Jerusalem)?  Or, should I focus on the rise in numbers and percentages (since 2001) of attempted suicides among Palestinian young people (18 – 30 years of age), mostly women (about 80%), because of the absence of hope, blocked horizons, and evaporating alternatives for decent human and free existence? Etc, etc.</p>
<p>As always, I attempted to engage my wife in this process of mental deliberations.  She was instrumental in helping me get out of this predicament.  “This is important, but not shocking ”, she advised.  “Why don’t you focus on the real basics? It is about time, at this critical stage, to re-focus on the real essentials of the entire struggle, and to forcefully engage your American audience to reflect on these essentials.” And this is what I am doing.  I “shifted gears” to go faster towards the target! <strong>What are the real essentials, and where do we go from here? This will be the core of my forthcoming lecture.</strong></p>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Essential one:</span></strong></p>
<p><strong>The creation of Israel, as a result of the “Partition Resolution” (UNGA 181) in 29 November 1947 is illegal and has no legitimacy, just like the invasion and occupation of Iraq by American forces.</strong></p>
<p>* <em> “Israel was created, mainly, by Zionist terrorism and ethnic cleansing – a pre-planned process that saw three-quarters of the indigenous Arab inhabitants of Palestine dispossessed of their homes, their land and their rights.”</em><strong> </strong></p>
<p>*  The assertion that Israel’s birth certificate and legitimacy was given by the UN Partition Resolution is pure Zionist propaganda, because:<strong> </strong></p>
<p><em>“In the first place the UN without the consent of the majority of the people of Palestine did not have the right to decide to partition Palestine or assign any part of its territory to a minority of alien immigrants in order for them to establish a state of their own.”</em><strong> </strong></p>
<ul>
<li><em>“The UN General Assembly did pass a resolution to partition Palestine and create two states, one Arab, one Jewish, with Jerusalem not part of either. But the General Assembly resolution was only a recommendation – meaning that it could have no effect, would not become policy, unless approved by the Security Council.”<br />
</em><strong> </strong></li>
<li><em>“The General Assembly&#039;s recommendation never went to the Security Council for consideration because the U.S. knew that, if approved, it could only be implemented by force given the extent of Arab and other Muslim opposition to it; and President Truman was not prepared to use force to partition Palestine.  So the partition plan was vitiated.”</em></li>
</ul>
<p>*  Hence, the push and pressure on the Palestinians to recognize the Zionist state.  “<em>In international law only the Palestinians could give Israel the legitimacy it craved.”  </em>(<strong>See </strong><a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PalestineThinkTank/~3/6z7P1e92WiQ/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=email"><strong><em>Alan Hart, “ Zionism Unmasked&#034; </em></strong></a><em>, <strong>Palestine Think Tank, 13 February 2010.)</strong></em></p>
<p>*  <em>“The vote was 33 in favor, 13 against and 10 abstentions, with a requirement for a 2/3 majority. Is that a large majority? Abstentions obviously were not counted, but why and under what pressure of ideals were those abstentions made? And what about the other countries, more than the fifty-six voting within the UN, and probably more including the many colonies that were probably excluded at the time?”</em></p>
<p>*  <em>“The UN Partition Plan of 1947 is of dubious validity … based as it was on a limited and perhaps contrived vote count. … Further questions arise from the Plan itself in which it says:</em><em> ‘The Security Council determine as a threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression, in accordance with Article 39 of the Charter<strong>, any attempt to alter by force the settlement envisaged by this resolution;’</strong></em></p>
<p>*  The historical record documents clearly that there was a large &#034;attempt to alter by force the settlement envisaged by this resolution,&#034; and that “<em>rose immediately from the Israeli ‘defence&#039; forces who quickly set about the ethnic cleansing of over 400 towns using tactics which today would be considered terror.” </em> (<strong>For the above, see Jim Miles,</strong><strong> “ Shlaim&#039;s Israel and Palestine”,</strong><strong>, 18 January 2010,  </strong><a href="http://www.zmag.org/zspace/jimmiles"><strong>Jim Miles&#039;s ZSpace Page</strong></a><strong>). </strong></p>
<p>*  Although I accept the position of those who argue that “Israel exists and the vote is irrelevant”, it is, nevertheless, imperative to keep reminding that Israel, as a state, was created by Zionist colonialism and terror, not a political peaceful entity along side of Palestine, but a settler colonial entity on top of Palestine, and obliterating it.</p>
<p>*  It is vital to keep questioning “<em>What is the true nature of this state of Israel that commands the allegiance of the American people and is now seeking to enlist the governments of the world against its perceived ‘existential’ enemy, Iran?” and that may ignite a third world war!</em></p>
<p>*  It is vital to keep reminding<em> </em>that this rogue state is in defiance of international law, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Geneva Conventions that apply to occupying powers.  This is a state “that possesses weapons of mass destruction, including hundreds of nuclear weapons, and refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty”, not to mention stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons;</p>
<p>*  It is crucial to keep reminding that this State “<em>has defied more than 160 UNGA and 39 UNSC resolutions, demanding it act as a civilized state abiding by international law and protocol”;<br />
</em></p>
<p>* It is fundamental to keep reminding that this is “<em>a state that has systematically confiscated, appropriated, annexed, and assimilated virtually all land belonging to the Palestinians in a sixty-year period of time, leaving them approximately 14 percent of their original land, making it the greatest visible land theft known to human kind in our day”;<br />
</em></p>
<p>*  It is important to keep reminding that this is “ <em>a state that proclaims itself a democracy but is not and, with malicious intent, confiscates the money belonging to a democratically elected government in Palestine and arrests their representatives without charge or trial.” </em><strong>(See William A. Cook,  “The Unstated Script of the Wiesel Open Letter to President Obama”, </strong> <strong>23  February 2010, </strong><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/"><strong><em>Information Clearing House</em></strong></a><strong><em>.</em></strong><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"> </span></strong></p>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Essential Two:</span></strong></p>
<p><strong>The “Oslo Process” with all its accords, starting with the “Declaration of Principles” in September 1993, is an international plan, inspired, devised and supported by the very Western powers that created the illegitimate state of Israel.  It was imposed on the Palestinians for the simple reason to force them to acquiesce to the <em>status quo</em> of Israeli colonialism and occupation of the entire land of Palestine. “</strong><strong><em>By mortgaging the Palestinian leadership to US and Israeli sponsorship, by creating and maintaining administrative, legal and financial structures that will ensure this dependence, Oslo has been what</em> i</strong><strong><em>t was designed to be from the start: the mechanism of ending the Palestinian quest to end Israeli colonialism and occupation, and the legitimation of Israel&#039;s racist nature by the very people over whom it exercises its colonial and racist dominion.”</em></strong></p>
<p>The main <strong>pillars of this process</strong>, as it has been shown in actual application and results, are the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>The fragmentation of Palestinian political leadership, and the obfuscation and destruction of the principle of “representation”, namely, the relationship between the PLO and the PA;<strong></strong></li>
<li>The fragmentation of the Palestinian people into unconnected pieces and geographies: West Bank, Gaza, Jerusalem, Areas occupied in 1948, refugees in camps, “<em>shatat</em>” (Diaspora) Palestinians, Areas “A”, “B”, and “C” in the West Bank, etc ;<strong></strong></li>
<li>The Palestinian dependence on international aid for their basic physical survival, the daily running of the administrative governing apparatus, with emphasis on security rather than on the productivity of agricultural lands for food security, etc;<strong></strong></li>
<li>The creation of distorted and corrupt social and economic classes who usurped power and economic resources, rendering society more pauperized: “A political class”, “A policing class”, “A bureaucratic class”, “An NGO class”, and “A business class”; <strong></strong></li>
<li>The continued international legitimation of Israel’s racist nature.  (<strong>For the above, See</strong> <strong>Joseph Massad,</strong> <strong>“</strong><strong>Oslo and the end of Palestinian independence”, Al-Ahram Weekly Online, 21-27 January 2010).</strong><strong> </strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Essential Three:</span></strong></p>
<p><strong>The only way to ensure Palestinian emancipation from this system of occupation, colonialism and apartheid is to work towards establishing a free, democratic, secular and non-racist country in the entire land of historic Palestine, while Israeli Jews embark on self-liberation from the dominant racist Zionist ideology.  The cardinal question is this:  How to break this vicious cycle of colonial occupation and apartheid, and to expose the various measures of “managing the conflict” as delusionary substitutes for a just, lasting and democratic solution targeting the entire people of the historical land of Palestine? How to really seize the initiative for freedom and democracy? What should be our guiding principles?</strong></p>
<p><strong>To start with, what’s the situation today in Palestine/Israel?</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>The status quo on the ground reveals the presence of 3.8 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, about 40% of whom live in, what has been described, an open air prison in Gaza; nearly half a million illegal Zionist colonists (called “settlers”)living in the West Bank; and 1.3 million Palestinians living as a subjugated minority on their land, inside Israel, among nearly 6.0 million Israeli Jews.<br />
 </li>
<li>At the end of 2008, at least <strong>7.1 million Palestinians</strong>, representing <strong>67 percent of the entire Palestinian population </strong>(10.6 million) worldwide were <strong>displaced persons</strong> (<strong>6.6 million refugees</strong> and <strong>427,000 IDPs</strong>). This makes Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) <strong>the largest and longest-standing case of displaced persons in the world today.<br />
</strong> </li>
<li>Starting sometime un the late 1980s,<em> “the number of settlements, and even the size of their population, became immaterial because the apparatus of Israeli rule was perfected to such a degree that the distinction between Israel proper</em>[Areas occupied in 1948]<em> and the occupied territories</em> [Areas occupied in 1967]<em>—and between settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and Jewish communities inside Israel—was totally blurred.   Similarly, <strong>the takeover of land</strong> ceased to be chiefly for the purpose of settlement construction and <strong>became primarily a means of constricting the movements of the Palestinian populace and of appropriating their physical space”.<br />
</strong></em><em> </em></li>
<li><em>“As far as Israeli citizens and their range of interests are concerned, the annexation of the territories is a fait accompli. …  The continuation of the status quo creates a quasi-stable situation: the Jewish community, a loose framework of cultures and ethnic tribes in constant tension, is held together by enmity to the Palestinian “Other”, and by a determination to rule them. … Fragmentation became the major tool of Israeli control, to preserve their rule over Israel/Palestine from the river to the sea. … The ruling Jewish community will continue, even when it becomes a minority, to force this split on the Palestinians with the usual carrots and  sticks, dictating the agenda, presenting threats, imposing collective punishments and bribery. … The ‘peace process’ serves as a curtain behind which divide and rule is entrenched”.<br />
</em><em> </em></li>
<li><em>“They have invented a unique concept of a ‘state’: its ‘sovereignty’ will be scattered, lacking any cohesive physical infrastructure, with no direct connection to the outside world. …  The airspace and the water resources will remain under Israeli control.  Helicopter patrols, the airwaves, the hands on the water pumps and the electrical switches, the registration of residents and the issue of identity cards, as well as passes to enter and leave, will all be controlled (directly or indirectly) by the Israelis.”<br />
</em><em> </em></li>
<li>“The status quo will endure as long as the forces wishing to preserve it are stronger than those wishing to undermine it, <strong>and that is the situation today in Israel/Palestine.”  
<p></strong></li>
<li>Several factors sustain the current status quo and ensure its survivability.  These include the high level of fragmentation of Palestinian society and the ongoing incitement of the fragments against each other; the “mobilization of the Jewish community into support for the occupation regime, which is perceived as safeguarding its very existence”; the sustained funding of the status quo by the so-called “donor countries”, which “frees Israel from the burden of coping with the enormous cost of maintaining the control over the Palestinians and creates a system of corruption and vested interests<em>”</em> ; the ongoing delusion that “negotiations” will end the status quo, thus rendering it a temporary state; and “the silencing of all criticism as an expression of hatred and anti-Semitism”.</li>
<li>The status quo is characterized by a huge gap in GDP between Palestinians under occupation and the occupying Israelis, of a magnitude of 1:20. “<em>This gap cannot endure without the force of arms … which enforces a draconic control system.</em> … <em>All the economic, social and spatial systems of governance in the occupied territories are designed to maintain and safeguard Israeli privileges and prosperity on both sides of the ‘Green Line’, at the expense of millions of captive, impoverished Palestinians”.  
<p></em></li>
<li>This status quo is labeled, by Benvenisti, as <em>“de facto bi-national regime” </em>, a term stressing  “<em>the total dominance of the Jewish-Israeli nation, which controls a Palestinian nation that is fragmented both territorially and socially.” </em><strong>(For the above quotes, see Meron Benvenisti, “The Inevitable Bi-national Regime”, January 2010).</strong><br />
 </li>
</ul>
<p><strong>To work strategically on our liberation process, we need to instill an appropriate discourse that embodies our future strategic vision.  This discourse should start by purging itself from the language of  “two-state solution”,  “two states for two people”, “West Bank and Gaza”, “East Jerusalem”, “peacemaking”, “direct or indirect negotiations”, “state building”, “legal or illegal settlements”, etc.  Our language should focus on means of resistance to achieve our liberation towards living in a free, non-racist, secular country in the entire land of historical Palestine; on emancipation from occupation and economic dependency; on individual and collective rights; on international law; on responsive and accountable leadership; on self-reliance and productivity; and on the right of all the refugees and displaced persons, who were ethnically cleansed from their homes and country by the Zionist colonial movement, to return to Palestine.</strong><strong></strong></p>
<p><strong>To embark on this course, we should be committed to struggle, with anti-Zionist Jews, for:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>“The dismantlement of the existing system of colonial apartheid, and all forms of racist political, spatial, economic, and psychological separation on the historical land of Palestine”, on the premise that: “all activities resulting from the illegal and criminal Zionist-Western colonization of Palestine, since Palestine was targeted at the turn of the twentieth century, including land and water theft for exclusive Jewish-Zionist settlements, political and legal structures, displacement and replacement of indigenous populations, privileged access and exploitation of natural resources, etc, are null and void, and should be dismantled.”</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>“The unhindered return<strong> </strong>of all Palestinian individuals and groups who were forced by the Zionist colonial enterprise, with the active support of the Western imperialist centers, to abandon their homes and properties; and to exercise their inalienable natural right to acquire these properties back;”</li>
<li>“The unobstructed productive use of their lands and other natural resources for the indigenous development of the society;”</li>
<li>“The total freedom of all the people of historical Palestine to chose the type of their governance system, without any coercion or prejudice;”</li>
<li>“The safeguarding of the seminal principle of separating religious beliefs from the political system, and the use of religion as the basis of government;”</li>
<li>“The legal guarantee of equal rights of individuals and groups for all minorities living in the new Palestinian Society;”</li>
<li>“The insistence on the basic principle that majority-minority relations must be based on equality and non-exploitation.” </li>
</ul>
<p>Such a worthwhile, justified, and difficult but legitimate struggle would: </p>
<ul>
<li>“Rectify the historical and continuous evil and injustice done to the Palestinian people;</li>
<li>Preserve the geographical and territorial integrity of the land of Palestine, and will work as a counterweight to the insidious process of fragmentation;</li>
<li>Insist on the Right of Return of all Palestinians to their lands and properties from which they were forcefully and criminally evicted;</li>
<li>Dismantle all Zionist and Jewish-Israeli structures and laws that were built on inequality and on the exclusion of Palestinian Arabs, with the purpose of imposing and maintaining a hegemonic control of the Zionist-Ashkenazi state over the entire region;</li>
<li>Allow and encourage mutual living and existence between the Palestinian Arabs and Israeli anti-Zionist Jews in the historical land of Palestine, within a democratic, non-sectarian, equal, non-repressive, non-exploitative, just and open society;</li>
<li>Promise genuine and sustainable development of the territory of Palestine, for the benefit of all its inhabitants, especially the poor and the marginalized, by focusing on the effective, productive and purposeful use of land and water, for the full employment potential of its workers;</li>
</ul>
<p>Set an important human example of how antagonists may live together harmoniously in a delineated physical space, once racist and exclusionary ideology and practices are expunged.”</p>
<p><strong>(For the above quotes, see Khalil Nakhleh, “Thinking the Thinkable”, 20 August 2008, </strong> <strong><a href="http://www.kanaanonline.org/articles/01633.pdf">http://www.kanaanonline.org/articles/01633.pdf</a>).</strong> </p>
<p><strong><em>Khalil Nakhleh, Ph.D.</em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Independent Researcher and Writer</em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Ramallah, Palestine/Israel</em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>(Struggling to Transform Our Homeland)</em></strong></p>
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		<title>Qais Nawwaf &#8211; Roberts Owes Iraqi People an Apology</title>
		<link>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/05/qais-nawwaf-roberts-owes-iraqi-people-an-apology/</link>
		<comments>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/05/qais-nawwaf-roberts-owes-iraqi-people-an-apology/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:30:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Guest Post</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Analysis]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[From Dissident Voice
As an Iraqi, I took serious offense to Paul Craig Roberts’ patronizing article, “Muslim Disunity: A Religion Divided Among Itself,” in Counterpunch, March 2, 2010. Roberts audaciously states that the “reason Americans are still in Iraq is because the Iraqis hate each other more than they hate the American invader.” Roberts blames the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/us-soldier-iraqis.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-5936" title="us soldier iraqis" src="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/us-soldier-iraqis.jpg" alt="us soldier iraqis" width="380" height="253" /></a>From <a href="http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/03/roberts-owes-iraqi-people-apology/">Dissident Voice</a><br />
As an Iraqi, I took serious offense to Paul Craig Roberts’ patronizing <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts03022010.html" target="_blank">article</a>, “Muslim Disunity: A Religion Divided Among Itself,” in <em>Counterpunch</em>, March 2, 2010. Roberts audaciously states that the “reason Americans are still in Iraq is because the Iraqis hate each other more than they hate the American invader.” Roberts blames the vast majority of the violence in the war on Iraqis themselves. It almost defies logic that, after the murder of 200,000 people in the 1991 war, the death of about 1.7 million under 12 year-long sanctions, the murder of more than 1.2 million under yet another war, brutal military occupation and the unrestrained use of white phosphorus and depleted uranium, Iraqis have caused more damage to themselves than the United States has. It is a claim as bizarre as Zionists’ complaints about Palestinian resistance in an asymmetrical warfare setting; while Israel possesses nuclear weapons, tanks and F-16’s, with which they murdered over 1,400 people in Gaza last year, Palestinians get the brunt of the criticism for killing 13 Israelis. Roberts’ condescending assertion, that Iraqis have harmed themselves more than the US has, echoes Donald Rumsfeld’s delusional <a href="http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=28388" target="_blank">statement</a>: “The sooner the Iraqis can defend their own people and generate revenue, the sooner they will be self-reliant and not dependent on either foreign troops or international assistance.”</p>
<p>Roberts also insults the Iraqi resistance by stating it inflicted losses on the American superpower “in their spare time” off from fighting Shi’is. Completely disregarding 1,400 years of Islamic history, a single athletic dispute leads Roberts to conclude that “Muslims cannot even play together”. This focus on an isolated event is selective, as Mr. Roberts doesn’t appear to recall that Sunnis and Shiis both celebrated the Iraqi soccer team’s victory in the 2007 Asian Cup.  Even if we were to assume Iraq’s Muslims aren’t united enough for Roberts’ taste, he seems to have ignored the USA’s critical divide-and-conquer role in Iraq. He doesn’t appear aware of the USA’s deployment of Shii and Kurdish troops to battle Sunni cities, such as Fallujah in November 2004. He ignores the USA’s political and financial support of sectarian parties, politicians and clergymen. He also neglects to mention the Israeli role in sowing the seeds of conflict in Iraq, outlined in Oded Yinon’s infamous <em>A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties. </em>Roberts is unaware of 17-year old Othman from A’athamiya, a young Iraqi who drowned after rescuing nearly a dozen Iraqis when the A’imma Bridge in Baghdad collapsed in 2005. He also overlooked the joint Sunni-Shii celebrations of Muntathar Zaidi’s throwing his shoes at Bush. The US corporate media, which cheerlead for the war, has every interest to blackout, marginalize and ignore stories of Iraqi unity. It is regretful that Roberts condescends Iraqis in the same manner.</p>
<p>One wonders whether Mr. Roberts would’ve displayed this same white man’s burden, vilifying misbehaving oppressed peoples, by admonishing Native American tribes who may have been at odds during the theft of their land by white settlers. Would Mr. Roberts have weighed in on the dispute between the Nation of Islam and Malcolm X? Would he have demonstrated moral authority to arbitrate between Martin Luther King Jr’s philosophy of nonviolence and Malcolm X’s commitment to freedom by any means necessary? Would he have appointed himself as judge between the North and South Vietnamese? Dictating derogatory suggestions to the oppressed is no business of “solidarity” activists. If Roberts is entitled to instruct Iraqis to unite, surely Iraqis are far more entitled to tell Americans, including Roberts, to put their right-wing, left-wing, class and racial divisions aside to meaningfully mobilize to end their seven-year occupation of our country (by “meaningful”, I mean more substantive than symbolic anti-war protests every anniversary of the war). When they have extra time on their hands, Iraqis could probably tell Americans to unite on their debilitating healthcare disputes.</p>
<p>It is frustrating enough when the operators of the US war machine and their mouthpieces in mainstream media refer to Iraqis in demeaning sectarian language. It is far more disappointing when those involved in the “anti-war” movement, who are supposedly in solidarity with Iraqis, use such divisive, disrespectful discourse. I call on Mr. Roberts to apologize to the beleaguered Iraqi people, victims of two decades of his country’s ruthless foreign policy, funded by his tax dollars, for publishing such an undeserved portrayal.</p>
<p>Qais Nawwaf is one of millions of displaced Iraqis. He resides on a colonized part of Indigenous territory commonly referred to as the &#034;United States.&#034; He has a degree in a discipline invented by his ancestors: writing. He may be reached at: <a href="mailto:qnawwaf@gmail.com">qnawwaf@gmail.com</a>.</p>
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		<title>Israel, Yemen, the Gold Watch and Everything!</title>
		<link>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/04/israel-yemen-the-gold-watch-and-everything/</link>
		<comments>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/04/israel-yemen-the-gold-watch-and-everything/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:28:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mary Rizzo</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Analysis]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[But I know. You’re going to tell me that Obama has already assured us that he has no intention of sending troops into Yemen, right? Well, actually I believe him. How can he? We’re already over-extended with a war in Afghanistan and one staring in Pakistan. Where is he going to get the troops? Now Bush might try to pull off a crazy thing like that but that’s not Obama’s style.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/yemen.bmp"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-5933" title="yemen" src="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/yemen.bmp" alt="yemen" /></a>WRITTEN BY Keith Johnson</p>
<p>The fingerprints of Israel’s meddling are all over the place in Yemen. And you better believe that we’ll be hearing a lot more about Yemeni connections to all manner of atrocities committed in the name of “Allah” against the United States. Israel will make darn sure of that. And what’s my evidence? Well, recent history would be a good place to start.</p>
<p>Does anybody remember the USS Cole? In October, 2000 while refueling in the Port of Aden, the USS Cole was sunk by a small boat loaded with explosives, resulting in the death of 17 soldiers and injuring another 39. Samples of the explosives taken from the ships hull revealed that the explosive was of a type only available in the U.S. and…(drum roll please) that’s right-Israel!</p>
<p>How about the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Sa&#039;ana? In October 2008 Yemeni security forces arrested a group of alleged Islamists militants linked to Israeli intelligence in connection to that provocatuered attack. The network was described as 40 people from different Arab nationalities that were spying for the Mossad. Say it ain’t so, Joe!</p>
<p>Israel has even been linked to the Somali piracy trade when Somali pirates were found to have telephone links to former Israeli Prime minister Ehud Olmert’s office. Nasty business.</p>
<p>Now how could our “only ally in the Middle East” do such awful things to their best friend in the whole wide world? Simple. It’s the old Mossad “we will wage war by way of deception” technique of carrying out attacks on your ally and blaming it on the one’s you want your ally to attack in retaliation (in layman’s terms of course).</p>
<p>So what’s the hubbub, bub? Why all this activity concentrated in and around Yemen? Well, Israel has always salivated over controlling that region. In an article appearing in “The Yemen Times” on October 26, 2008 titled “Israeli Strategy to occupy Al-Mandab Strait” Najeeb Al-Ghurbani writes:</p>
<p>“The first President of the Zionist government David Goryon expressed his state’s aspirations to control the Red Sea in 1949. He rather said, “We are besieged from land frontiers while sea is the only passage to the outside world and the only means for establishing communication with other continents.”</p>
<p>If you want an even better grasp on the Israeli strategy you can find it in Saudi Arabian Colonel Turki Al-Anazi’s “Strategy Research Project” document titled “Strategic Importance of the Red Sea”. Starting on page 13 under the heading “Israeli Strategy”, Col. Al-Anazi states:</p>
<p>“Free navigation to and from Eilat is considered absolutely essential to Israel’s security and economic interests and to reduce Israel’s political isolation, due to the enmity with its Arab neighbors.</p>
<p>The Red Sea’s importance for Israel grew since it is the best waterway for shipping and trade with East Africa and the Far East. The prime concern for the Israelis is to secure free passage through the straits of the Red Sea so it would not be under any political or economical pressure.</p>
<p>The Israeli strategy in the Red Sea stands on certain bases.</p>
<p>First, the necessity of Israel’s security that demands controlling the straits and waterways of the Red Sea and preventing any of its adversaries from controlling them.</p>
<p>Secondly, the Red Sea is vital to Israel’s economic well being since it’s a maritime route to the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean’s and links it to Asian and African trading markets.</p>
<p>The Israelis even set their own goals dealing with the Red Sea region, which are:</p>
<p>1.) To secure free navigation on the Red Sea</p>
<p>2.) To accomplish a strategic depth in the Red Sea, which enable Israel to monitor the Arab military in this region</p>
<p>3.) To break any Arab blockade on any of the Red Sea straits, waterways or on the Israeli ships</p>
<p>4.) To guarantee and secure the civilian line and military lines in the Red Sea which are directed to the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal or to the Indian Ocean through the Strait of Bab Al-Mandab.”</p>
<p>So it should come at no suprise that Connecticut Senator and Israel-firster Joe Lieberman wants a pre-emptive strike on Yemen. Not only does he want retaliation for the failed attempt to blow up a Delta airliner in Detroit by Nigerian student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab; but it’s also the fulfillment of a lifelong Israeli dream.</p>
<p>And since we’ve touched on the subject of the Christmas day “Fruit of the BOOM!” false flag event, I might as well point out that even that smells of Israeli mischief. When you consider that security at the Amsterdam airport where our alleged terrorist sailed through was run by an Israeli company ICTS (the same company responsible for security for every airport from which the 9-11 terrorists departed) and when you factor in that his father (who is mistakenly reported by the MSM to be a Nigerian banker) is an arms dealer with intimate and far reaching ties to Israel and the Mossad, you can’t blame me for sending up red flags all over the place.</p>
<p>But I know. You’re going to tell me that Obama has already assured us that he has no intention of sending troops into Yemen, right? Well, actually I believe him. How can he? We’re already over-extended with a war in Afghanistan and one staring in Pakistan. Where is he going to get the troops? Now Bush might try to pull off a crazy thing like that but that’s not Obama’s style. Obama is a protégé of Zbigniew Brzezinski and using your own men and resources to fight wars is not how old Zbig rolls. Brzezinski’s strategy is one of proxy wars. Brzezinski method is to pit one group against the other in order to destabilize the region. An example of this is the creation of al-Queda in Afghanistan (by none other than Obama’s current Defense Secretary Robert Gates). The U.S. trained and equipped a fighting force and pitted them against the Russians. Nice way to save some scratch while at the same time devastating your opponent.</p>
<p>So how can this strategy be applied to an offensive in Yemen? Well, I tend to side with Webster Tarpley here and his assessment of the situation. Tarpley points out that the objective in Yemen is to break it up into micro-states and mini-states. And there are at least four groups that can be used to facilitate this. To the north are the Shiite Houthie rebels who are supported by Iran and fighting in opposition to the central government. Then we have the Saudi backed Sunni who are in support of the central government. Throw in some hard lined Communist left-overs from the old soviet days and a bunch of Guantanamo ex-cons and escaped prisoners joining the CIA…uh, I mean…al-Queda and you’ve got the makings of one hell of a party!</p>
<p>And of course after they get through killing each other off and pieces of Yemen start breaking into sub-regions and enclaves, Obama can step in with his Nobel prize in hand and offer humanitarian aid and assistance; which essentially means Wall Street, Tel-Aviv and London coming in for the kill under the President’s left cover.</p>
<p>And by the time its all over, the U.S. will have set a nice little table for its client state Israel to feast upon.</p>
<p>But that’s just my opinion. What do I know?</p>
<p><a rel="nofollow" href="http://revoltoftheplebs.wordpress.co...nd-everything/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #417394;">http://revoltoftheplebs.wordpress.co&#8230;nd-everything/</span></a></p>
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		<title>Hail to the Prince: Obama, the paradigmatic Machiavellian Leader</title>
		<link>http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/04/hail-to-the-prince-obama-the-paradigmatic-machiavellian-leader/</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:00:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mary Rizzo</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ 


A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.
Nicolò Machiavelli

WRITTEN BY MARY RIZZO
Obama, before he actually “did” anything, had a reputation. And, indeed, reputation &#8211; what others think you are, and not what you actually are &#8211; is a crucial factor in a public figure. A political leader, while marketed, literally, in order to [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="mceTemp"><em> </em></div>
<div id="attachment_5929" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 360px"><a href="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Obama-Machiavelli.JPG"><img class="size-full wp-image-5929" title="Obama Machiavelli" src="http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Obama-Machiavelli.JPG" alt="Prince Obama by Edna Spennato" width="350" height="450" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Prince Obama by Edna Spennato</p></div>
<div class="mceTemp">
<div>
<div><em>A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.</em></div>
<div><em>Nicolò Machiavelli<br />
</em></div>
<p>WRITTEN BY MARY RIZZO</p>
<p>Obama, before he actually “did” anything, had a reputation. And, indeed, reputation &#8211; what others think you are, and not what you actually are &#8211; is a crucial factor in a public figure. A political leader, while marketed, literally, in order to reach positions of power in most democracies, is going to have to continually develop a reputation that will keep the story going, because, not being a dictator, a president is going to have to obtain consensus for the many things that the power he holds enables him to enact, but not without some accountability. </p></div>
<p>What you “are” and how you are “perceived” is a fascinating topic. It is dealt with mainly in sociology and psychology, but someone very important in the history of thought had a great deal to say about it regarding politics and power. Unwittingly, this topic that has been one of my favourite areas of research was dropped on my lap in my day-to-day life: helping my child with her homework. </p>
<p>By any measuring stick, the scholastic curriculum of Italian children is complicated. In the 5<sup>th</sup> grade they are spending five months studying Homer and classical poetry. When they are 11 or 12 they are expected to make sense out of Dante, Cervantes and Ariosto. Most of the time they require help from older siblings, cousins or parents, so in addition to crouching over the textbook summaries and sloppy notes, a daily ritual is taking the books of adults off the shelves and trying to find a way to work through the labyrinth of archaic language that is the bulk of the content, and to put things into an understandable context, at least enough to get the kids through the frequent oral exams. </p>
<p>This winter break, my 12-year-old daughter’s history and literature lessons were focused on Savonarola, Dante, the Counter-Reform and Machiavelli, so we spent many hours preparing for the exams coming up in January. Needless to say, while the topics may be really dull for a child, I realised they were perfect primarily to keep the teacher interested. Not that I am against culture, but with the heritage Italy has, and the linear direction of history, it’s complicated as hell for a pre-teen. While it was frustrating thinking of how my kid was going to tackle things like the Council of Trent and the Guelfs and Ghibellines, I myself was happy to have a chance to revisit things that I studied in University, this time in their original language and with greater awareness of the context and how they have often been paraphrased erroneously, even diluted and twisted, to conform to a modern sensitivity. </p>
<p>Trying to paraphrase the basic concepts and reading the various textbook presentations (both for the History class and the Literature class) gave me a chance to look at the material with fresh eyes and some of that has been illuminating for me. I have no illusions that textbooks are outside the dominant discourse. They all have an agenda, and nowhere like in a crucial field that is run by the government, that of education, is there going to be anything far outside the approved national narrative. Yet, the approach was different than what I was used to, embracing Machiavelli as the pioneer of political science, but also someone who was an acute observer of reality and still today relevant. </p>
<p>And, in reading the summarised material, I realised that President Barack Obama, not so differently from his direct predecessors, rather than being inspired by Andrew Jackson, Samuel Adams or Abraham Lincoln, is a brilliant student and disciple of Nicolò Machiavelli.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.<br />
</em>Nicolò Machiavelli</p></blockquote>
<p>Machiavelli’s got something of a reputation, evidenced by the fact that his name has become an adjective with largely negative connotations, not really merited, in all honesty. What makes it even more entertaining is that the most scandalous part of his theoretical writing was the analysis of “reputation”, and the necessity of the leader of a State to manipulate the idea and the perception others have of him in order to carry out actions that have as the goal consolidation and maintenance of his own power. </p>
<p>I’m assuming everyone is familiar with Machiavelli’s concepts, as expressed in his major work “The Prince”. But for the sake of clarity, I will briefly sum them up. Many tend to call that treatise a kind of “recipe” for the shrewd leader, but his ideas were not the fruit of some conniving mind, rather they were quite simply a lucid analysis of the real world. He warned that before him, all had analysed politics and leadership according to “ideal” criteria. Useless. Something ideal remains theoretical and very rarely is able to be put to the test, and therefore is non-existent. There is no evidence Popes are the representatives of God’s will or that Kings descend from the emperors of Rome, so those battling in defence of one or the other for those reasons were not saying what the real role of these rulers were, which was a form of total control by means of the carrot and the stick, but kept hidden by all that “ideals” rhetoric. </p>
<p>Yet, most governing systems, (even modern ones ranging from democracy to constitutional monarchies to military dictatorships to theocracies), carry the germ of some ideal and this obviously is true for the ideologies, bearing the root in their very name, and they take advantage of that when they can so as to build their reputation and gain consensus. The vision of what shall be obtained and the means to do so are constructed and not accidental. However, Machiavelli took the mask off things by noting that throughout history there has never been a government, regime or ideology that could qualify as fully meeting its ideals, a “perfect society” (not necessarily a utopia, just a society that works according to the ideal rules established). The best thing to do, in the light of that, was to analyse the reality and study the States in order to be able to create and consolidate the power of the leaders (who at the time represented the land and the people), determining the necessary means to maintain that power and if at all possible, to expand it. </p>
<p>And the beauty of his thesis is in its simplicity and the ease of its being verified. His idea was that in public life only the praise and blame of fellow human beings is what really counts. Thus, Machiavelli supposed, the ruler needs to acquire a good reputation while actually doing whatever seems necessary in the circumstances, no matter how “right or wrong” it could appear or actually be. Thus, rulers must <strong>seem</strong> <strong>to be generous</strong> while spending their money to consolidate their own wealth and power, <strong>appear</strong> <strong>to be compassionate</strong> while ruling their armies cruelly, and act with great cunning while <strong>cultivating a reputation for integrity</strong>. In essence, the ace ruler, cream of the crop, has to be considered as a worthy recipient of peace prizes <strong>while at the same time</strong> he is sending more troops to wage war in faraway lands. People will see the parts of it they want to see, and all of it is real. </p>
<p>In his writing, a true “Prince/President” has to appear “compassionate, faithful, humane, religious” without actually being any of these things. He should go to Cairo to tell Muslims they have a beautiful faith, yet address them in a way only a colonialist could do, using Arabic words to thrill them, a sort of <em>Ich bin ein Berliner</em> in Middle Eastern Sauce. He believes that they are so thirsty for American love and so intellectually immature that they will be impressed enough into thinking he is sincere, allowing them to approve his doublespeak: talking about peace and love while telling them how just and righteous the wars against Muslim nations were and how Palestinians have to “stop killing”, then they will be like “the good side, peace-loving but forced into a preventive war”. If they accept and approve all of this, they win! They get to join the “international community” and be worthy of that love. He has carried on in the great Neocon tradition in citing <em>that stuff</em>, terrorism, defining it as located in the Muslim world and joining as a single category true terrorist acts with resistance insurgency against (American) military occupation, all of it bad, bad, bad and going to be punished. Machiavelli would have been impressed at the blatancy of it and in awe of how it was done by today’s Prince. Not too many people in history have applauded their oppressor while he is doing his job so ruthlessly. </p>
<p>Obama studied his Machiavelli, of this there can be no doubt! He knows that history teaches that the head of a State has to be a “fox” as well as a “lion”, crafty and ferocious. His adversaries have to be weakened totally or else extinguished. As a matter of fact, the adversaries have to be shown courtesy or even a level of respect in order to obtain their friendship; the alternative is to kill them, and they will be told they have the choice of obedience or death. All clearly spelled out. But, this too was a Bush specialty. It is just that Bush got criticised for it and has not collected any prizes recently in Stockholm. </p>
<p>On the national level, the Prince understands that although it is desirable to be both loved and feared by one’s subjects, it is difficult to achieve both, and of the two, Machiavelli declared, it is far safer for the ruler to be feared. Thus, any kind of restrictions of freedom, a lietmotif of decades of American leadership, are creating stress levels that force Americans into numbing themselves in front of mindless infotainment and disinformation. Stressed because they know they are being monitored at all times and one false move, one bad investment, one iffy book taken out of the library, one strange video downloaded, one racist joke made over the phone, and they may do some hard time. Should the skeletons in the closet get discovered, the real ones this time, there will be no one to save them. Even the folks who work for Obama had to fill out detailed personal questionnaires (preventive scandal insurance), so if that’s how one handles friends, heaven help the rest of them. </p>
<p>The Prince should be able to control his subjects by demonstrating qualities of severity that could also be cruel, because the subjects must feel fear and respect towards the leader, and the two-stepping charmer we all would like to date could turn into the goose-stepping enforcer who decides Guantanamo isn’t such a bad idea anyway, and allowing cops to shoot down Imams in Detroit and ask questions (maybe) later was still the Law and Order MO. </p>
<p>Machiavelli looked at reality without hypocrisy. He had the courage to cut through the rhetoric and recognise that it is action that shapes geopolitics, and his most intense statements were those about the relationships a State has with another. He insisted that the only real force of a State is in an extremely well-armed military, solid and faithful to its leader. </p>
<p>Clashes and wars are born out of will to power and desire to control ever greater territories, conquest, in other words, not for abstract principles, though the abstract principles get the consensus required by a democracy. You can’t invade a country and say, “We want your resources”, though you are actually taking control of them, they always “did something” to deserve it, and the spoils of war are extreme punishment that they had coming. But you can get people to support a war because it will prevent terrorism or even make the world a safer place, but once in there, well, why not take advantage of the stuff under the sand? Indeed, Obama continues and adds more ammo to the policy of controlling territories, even those that are not contiguous and would need military garrisons to control after the dust settles. He learned the Machiavellian lesson that the life of a State is regulated by calculation, force, even brutality. A Strong State tends to conquer and annihilate a weaker one. Back in history this is the constant. No need to reinvent the wheel. </p>
<p>Peace can only exist when it is in the interests of the nations. The idea of love between populations has existed only in rhetoric. It is one army fighting another for the sake of the leader and his expansionist ambitions. The leader that wants to maintain his power will attack when he has the military advantage, and will claim that others forced him into it. There will be peace once the nations that have invasion soldiers crawling all over them capitulate and let the history run its course. </p>
<p>This paper is only a brief exercise, a stimulus for readers to find more of their own evidence as we note that the salient points that characterise “The Prince” are not so different from “The President”, based on Machiavelli’s treatise. I thank Italy’s Ministry of Education, my daughter’s professor and my daughter herself for turning homework into discussion points.</p></div>
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		<title>VIDEO by Shadi Nassar &quot;I RESIST&quot;</title>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:32:46 +0000</pubDate>
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		<description><![CDATA[Beautiful video by a rising star, Shadi Nassar. "I Resist" is three minutes of power, beauty and ultimately hope. The Palestinians will never be defeated, their existence is resistence. ]]></description>
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