New Orleans....... revisited

New Orleans is being re-evacuated
George Bush might come and revisit

Baghdad is also practically evacuated
and deserted , and bombed and occupied
George Bush might come and revisit

I suggest that next year , all the US-help
intended for the State of Israel ,
would be redirected to the State of Louisiana .

After all New Orleans is a city in the USA
and not in that Promised-Land !!!

By the way ,
the Israeli-Settler who occupied Gaza for 37 years , for free,
have been compensated for moving out......
but some of the New Orleans victims , still did not !!

Raja Chemayel

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The other face of western democracy

It is really difficult to blame millions of young men and women throughout the Third World, especially in the Muslim world, for their mounting disenchantment with western democracy.

by Khalid Amayreh

A few years ago, many people in the Arab world were made to believe that the “American way” would empower the masses and help build a society based on liberty and justice which would also eventually produce economic prosperity.

However, these people soon discovered that they had been duped and deceived as they found out how democracy looked like “in action” in Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo, and, of course, in Palestine.

The often pornographic dichotomy between the ritualistic pronouncements by western leaders on democracy and human rights, on the one hand, and their scandalous actions, behaviors, and policies, on the other, served only to deepen people’s disillusionment with a “democracy” that preaches one thing and does the opposite.

In his second inaugural address, George W. Bush, emphasized the centrality of “democracy” in his administration’s foreign policy.

“It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.”

In reality, however, we all saw that instead of supporting democracy and discouraging tyranny, Bush did quite the opposite by fighting democracy and encouraging tyranny in many parts of the world, especially the Arab world.

Indeed, in most Arab countries considered allies (or rather puppets) of the United States, criminal violations of human rights and civil liberties are now more pervasive than when Bush became President nearly eight years ago.

Torture is widespread and state-of-the-art torture tactics, e.g. such as “water-boarding,” are being introduced to a number of Arabs state under direct American supervision. This is in addition to the scandalous “renditions” operations in which several Arab regimes are involved.

Today, virtually all American-allied Arab regimes in the Middle East are full-fledged repressive police states where citizens venturing to exercise even a modicum of their civil rights and liberties are persecuted, imprisoned and tortured or dismissed from their jobs.

In some countries, thousands of people are rounded up like cattle and placed in mass prisons in order to prevent them from taking part in local or parliamentary elections. And this is done while western democracies keep blathering about democracy and human rights.

In occupied Palestine, George Bush’s hypocrisy cries out to the seventh heaven. In 2006, Palestinians held parliamentary elections at the urging of the man in the White House. However, when the Palestinian people elected a political party which Bush and Ariel Sharon, the certified war criminal, didn’t like, all hell broke loose, and the Palestinian people were subjected to a harsh blockade unseen since the soldiers of Adolph Hitler besieged Ghetto Warsaw in 1943.

And when Gaza children were being starved and killed in droves, as they continue to be even as I write this commentary, the Bush administration’s reaction was voiced by its secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, that unethical and lying lady, who congratulated Tzipi Livni, the equally criminal-minded Israeli foreign minister, on the “remarkable success” of the blockade, saying “It is working, and we are glad that it is.”

But Rice is by no means inventing anything. Madeline Albright, Secretary of State during the Clinton administration, had uttered even more virulent sound-bites when asked what she thought about the estimated one million Iraqis annihilated by the US-led sanctions during the 1990s. She reportedly said rather nonchalantly that “if it is good for America, it is worth it.”

Well, I imagine that Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin as well as all other mass murderers, past and present, would have made the same argument to justify their crimes against humanity.

Yes, many people in our part of the world thought, probably out of naivety, that western democracy was ethical, moral, just and humane, but reality showed that it is often unethical, immoral, unjust, inhumane and outright criminal.

Ask the Afghan civilians whose families have been exterminated and homes destroyed by wanton western bombardment of their villages. Ask them what they think about American democracy? Ask the Iraqis whose country has been bombed out back into the Middle Ages. Ask them if they are better off now than they were under Saddam Hussein.

Ask the Palestinians whose children have to die of illness and disease because the “only democracy in the Middle East” wouldn’t allow them access to adequate medical care.

Ask them, and they will tell you the truth.

Of course, George Bush is not the only villain in the arena. Most of the “democracies” of Western Europe have played a shameful role in effecting the genocidal wars in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan, and they all, with a few appreciable exceptions, have done so in the name of democracy and human rights.

We saw recently how the leaders of Germany, Italy, France and Britain embraced the Nazi-like Israeli state on its 60th anniversary, the state whose very existence is a crime against humanity.

Similarly, we saw how British Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently described the extirpation of the Palestinian people from its ancestral homeland and the creation thereon of the terrorist state as the “greatest event in the 20th century.”

This is the leader of the very country that had enabled Zionism to rape Palestine and expel its native inhabitants to the four corners of the world.

And at the top of all this monumental oppression, British leaders still have the moral and intellectual depravity to denounce us as “terrorists” for resisting our tormentors and wanting to be free.

Today, western democracies are busy fostering “democracy and human rights” in occupied Palestine by funding a police state apparatus where political activists are abducted and tortured and even killed, and journalists and university professors are incarcerated and maltreated by young, ignorant security cadres who would do anything for a few hundred dollars at the end of the month.

This is indeed the “democracy” that is being exported to us and which the West in coordination with Israel is trying to force down our throats.

Well, sorry guys, your democracy is killing us, we don’t want to have any part of it. (end)

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Today in Palestine! ~ Headlines Saturday, August 30, 2008 ~

Palestinian minister of tourism visits 5,500-year-old olive tree near Bethlehem
(30 Aug) The tree, dated to 3,500 BC by Japanese experts, is 20 meters in diameter, and is believed by locals to have been the tree of it Ahmad Al-Badawi, who legend holds was an ancient holy man. If the dating for the tree is accurate, it was planted in the Neolithic period, when Homo sapiens began to farm land and settle into towns and villages. The tree may have been among the first cultivated by modern human beings. The villagers call it The Al-Badawi Tree. The tree is located in the southern mounts of Jerusalem, which have been threatened to be confiscated by the Israeli military for the construction of settlements. During the construction of the Israeli separation wall, dozens of ancient trees which date back to the time of Christ have been bulldozed and died.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=31620

Joe Gulledge, CPT: Israel must rein in settler movement
(Aug 29) I left my home in the United States to spend the summer in the West Bank, where I was attacked by Israeli settlers late last month. As a member of the Christian Peacemaker Team, I went to the South Hebron Hills to help keep young Palestinian children safe from Israeli settlers intent on hurting Palestinians. . . The occupied West Bank today is like walking through a page from a different era - part Wild West, part Jim Crow - with one set of laws for Palestinians and another set for Israeli settlers. . . Something has gone profoundly wrong when Palestinian children must risk their lives just to get to school. It is past time for our government to pressure Israel to rein in the settler movement.
http://imeu.net/news/article0014053.shtml

Palestinian citizen injured in the head at the hands of IOF troops in Na'lin
(30 Aug) RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces on Friday fired bullets and teargas at Palestinian citizens and foreign sympathizers who were marching in a peaceful demonstration against the construction of the separation wall on the lands of Na'lin village west of Ramallah. Local sources said that large numbers of army troops were deployed in the area and blocked media from reaching it. The citizens cut the barbed wire installed by those soldiers to prevent them from reaching their lands, but they were met with the IOF firing of bullets and tear gas that injured Mohammed Siyaj, 23, in his head while many others were treated for suffocation as a result of inhaling the tear gas.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7rk6NQ%2bv1tCDE3JOBD%2fV%2bwID%2bwIDqbqDXyx4vbLhnKIgxbhq09TJyhRKcl2egl53YRmJhWWunUJVjQNz0FoA9okb9OOGMZyV0wlJ89VWpLck%3d

30 Aug Reports from the ground: Weekly non-violent struggles in Bil'in, Ni'lin, and A-Masara
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article616

Family of Israeli landmine victim questioned for hours; home raided by Israeli soldiers
(30 Aug) Israeli forces questioned the family of Nizar Sawarkah, who was killed yesterday in Arrabah near Jenin after he stumbled on an unreported landmine in an abandoned Israeli military facility. Palestinian security sources stated that several Israel military vehicles raided the Sawarkah's home town overnight and ransacked the deceased's home. The Sawarkah family was forced into the street while the house was searched, then questioned for three hours in their home. No arrests were reported.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=31612

Israeli forces storm playground and arrest youth preparing for soccer game
(29 Aug) The Israeli army forced their way into the playing field of a Palestinian secondary school in the village of Tell in south west Nablus district on Friday afternoon. Local witnesses told Ma'an that dozens of Israeli soldiers stormed the area where a soccer game was about to be held and arrested 19-year-old Isma'iel Ibrahim Afanah and took him to an unknown destination.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=31598

Palestinians forced to strip at military checkpoint in Jenin
(30 Aug) Jenin / Ali Samoudi – Israeli soldiers forced Palestinians to remove their clothing for invasive searches before passing a military checkpoint in southern Jenin's Qabatiya yesterday. This is not an isolated incident. Eyewitnesses report that Israeli forces have done the same thing around Jenin in the past. "Soldiers used several methods to provoke, insult and humiliate citizens," a witness said. . . During the past few days Israeli forces have intensified their practices at the barriers around Jenin which is undergoing a campaign of daily raids and searches.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3443&Itemid=1

PCHR report on Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights, 21-27 August 2008
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3445&Itemid=1

Palestinian and Israeli leaders to meet for talks on Sunday
(30 Aug) The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet with the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday for continued 'peace talks', according to officials.The talks come just days after a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in which little progress was made toward lifting the roadblocks to peace that Israeli leaders have imposed.The timing also coincides with the release of a report by Reuters News Agency that the US government is providing tax breaks to organizations that fund illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land, in direct violation of the statements made by Rice and George W. Bush.
http://www.imemc.org/article/56775

Bush's Mideast timeline looking unattainable
(30 Aug, AP) Peace negotiators representing Israel and the West Bank's moderate Palestinian leadership privately report progress in their efforts to outline future borders. But the talks are taking place in a vacuum, and haven't been accompanied by serious goodwill gestures that could help them succeed.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080830/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mideast_peace_doldrums

Fayyad: Transitional government must be formed to oversee elections
(30 Aug) Palestinian Prime Minster of the caretaker government Salam Fayyad affirmed the need for a transitional government to replace the caretaker government in order to restore national unity. This body, he continued, would be charged with managing the country in preparation for general legislative and presidential elections. Fayyad called the transitional government a necessity if Palestinians wanted to end the separation between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=31622

Former advisor to Arafat: "Time for a [peaceful] third intifadah"
(30 Aug) Basam Abu Sharif, an advisor to the late Palestinian President Yaser Arafat, has urged Palestinian youth to begin a third intifadah and popular strike to force the international community to re-evaluate their position on Israel and strengthen the Palestinian negotiating position. Abu Sharif urged the youth of all of the Palestinian factions to carry out peaceful demonstrations and sit-ins until the end of Ramadan with the aim of igniting a popular intifada (uprising) and a comprehensive strike demanding "freedom and independence in peaceful ways." If Palestinians resist peacefully en masse, he said "the entire world will become convinced of the necessity to bring justice to the Palestinians."
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=31618

Hamas: 'PA security arrests 11 members in West Bank'
(30 Aug) Sources close to the Hamas movement reported on Friday that Palestinian security forces, loyal to president Mahmoud Abbas and his Fateh movement, arrested 11 members and supporters of Hamas in the West Bank Thursday. . . Moreover, Hamas sources said that the security forces are still holding captive Abdul-Rahman Ashour, Mohammad Abu Al Izz, and Nasr Al Beitawi, the son of legislator Hamid Al Beitawi. The three were arrested more than a month ago.
http://www.imemc.org/article/56774

Hamas: PA security seized 9 loyalists
(30 Aug) Palestinian Authority (PA) security services arrested 9 Hamas affiliates in the West Bank on Friday, Hamas said in a statement issued Saturday. According to the statement, Firas Zubaidy and Muhammad Shunnar were seized in Nablus district in the northern West Bank; Zakariyya Nassar, Walid Alqam and Salim Shahatit were seized in Dura in Hebron district in the south. . . .
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=31615

PA raids near Hebron uncover more weapons, forged document
(30 Aug) Several weapons stashes, forged documents and incriminating photographs were seized in Hebron Saturday afternoon as local police and security conducted a widespread campaign. Earlier in the day fifty fugitives were seized in Surif north of Hebron, and several imprisonment orders were issued by Palestinian Authority (PA) security and police. The Palestinian police information office said in a statement that the security campaign in Surif and Dura included raids against drug and weapon dealers. . . Saturday evening the police intelligence unit held a press conference in Hebron, where they displayed the confiscated materials. Items not shown were financial documents that "belong to Hamas."
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=31623

Egypt opens border crossing with Gaza Strip
(30 Aug, AP) GAZA CITY - Egypt opened its border crossing with the Gaza Strip on Saturday, allowing hundreds of people to enter and leave in a goodwill gesture before the holy Muslim month of Ramadan begins, officials said. People eligible to enter Egypt were told to gather in the southern town of Khan Younis at dawn, where their applications were processed. At least four buses crossed through to the Egyptian side where hundreds of police crowded to ensure security. Egypt will allow Palestinian students enrolled in universities abroad to leave Gaza, along with those with foreign residencies and work visas.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/30/AR2008083000357.html

Egyptians stranded in Gaza for six months bid farewell as Rafah crossing opens
(30 Aug) Since 8:00am Saturday morning, 6 buses carrying about 300 Egyptian citizens and residency permissions waited to cross the border at Rafah. The crossing will be open until 8pm and will open again on Sunday from 8am to 8pm. According to the de facto government ministry of health in the Gaza Strip, 400 patients from the Gaza Strip who have transfer permissions will leave through Rafah crossing for treatment abroad on Sunday.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=31613

Hundreds leave as Egypt opens border with Gaza
(30 Aug) Gaza: Egypt opened its border crossing with the Gaza Strip on Saturday, allowing hundreds of people to leave the Hamas-controlled territory, Palestinian officials said. Egyptian security and border sources said the Rafah border crossing will remain open for two days to allow Gazans with foreign residence permits and humanitarian cases to cross into Egypt.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/region/Egypt/10241272.html

Gaza blockade protesters arrive in Cyprus with Palestinians
(29 Aug) LARNACA, Cyprus (AFP) - Activists who sailed to the Gaza Strip in two fishing boats in symbolic defiance of an Israeli blockade arrived back in Cyprus Friday with seven residents of the besieged territory on board, among them a teenager who needs an artificial leg. "I am very happy to be in Cyprus. I feel overwhelmed and overjoyed," said Saed Mosleh, 16, who lost his leg to an Israeli tank shell, as he was lifted from one of the boats in a wheelchair.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080829/wl_mideast_afp/mideastconflictgazacyprus

Gaza blockade boats planning second voyage
(30 Aug) Two boatloads of international protesters who defied Israel's blockade of Gaza sailed into Cyprus' Larnaca port late Friday, carrying seven Gaza Palestinians who had been confined to the territory. Some 32 protesters escorted the Palestinians on the 30-hour voyage that they hailed as effectively ending Israel's blockade of the Palestinian territory. "It's opened the door to everything," said U.S.-based Free Gaza Group organizer, American Paul Larudee. He said the way is now clear to deliver humanitarian assistance and ferry people in and out. Free Gaza plans a second trip to Gaza within the next month.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1016517.html

Group on Gaza protest ship vows to start regular ferry service
(30 Aug) Larnaca: International protesters who defied Israel's blockade of Gaza to aid Palestinians have arrived in Cyprus, pledging to make a return voyage. Dozens of well-wishers greeted the 32 protesters and Palestinians at dockside of Larnaca port late on Friday.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10241264.html

Israeli forces arrest four fishermen at Beit Lahiya shore
(29 Aug) Four Gazan fishermen were detained and taken to an unknown location after being attacked on their boats while in Gaza waters near the northern Strip city of Beit Lahiya. Eyewitnesses reported seeing several Israeli vessels closing in on two Palestinian fishing boats, which were then attacked and arrested as the sun rose.Those detained were 55-year-old Mohammed Issa Sa'ad Allah, 18-year-old Ahmed Farid Sa'ad Allah, 60-year-old Mohamed Mohamed Sa'ad Allah and 39-year-old Jihad As-Sultan.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=31591

Stolen gas canisters were Gaza bound
(29 Aug) The largest illegal fuel depot in Israel's history was discovered yesterday when National Infrastructure Ministry inspectors raided a warehouse in Ashkelon's southern industrial zone.The warehouse, owned by a former defense establishment employee, housed more than 1,700 containers of cooking gas, or about 100 tons of fuel. Inspectors stressed that the warehouse had none of the standard fuel safety features, and the location of such an unprotected depot within rocket range of the Gaza Strip constituted a major hazard. The ministry suspects the containers were bought from an Arab resident of northern Israel, and then resold to a Palestinian resident of Gaza.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1016316

CNN video on Palestinians' right of return, Lebanon refugee camp
(28 Aug)
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/index.php?cl=9487020

Medical supplies destroyed as union actions against Hamas gov't continue in Gaza
(29 Aug) The de facto health ministry of the Gaza Strip said Friday morning that it apprehended groups of doctors and nurses attempting to destroy valuable and irreplaceable x-ray and surgical equipment. The actions are part of a surprise call for a strike from the Union of Medical Professionals after it was discovered that 40 union members were fired from their jobs in Gaza. This is one of a series of union actions protesting what they call the "violent means" of the Hamas government.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=31603

Penalties for striking medical workers threatened by de facto Ministry of Health
(29 Aug) No private medical company may employ a public sector worker on strike, said de facto minister of health Dr Basem Na'em on Friday. Na'em gave an emergency press conference late Friday in Gaza city, where he addressed the recent issues of striking medical workers. The medical workers union is the third union to declare a strike in the Gaza strip in response to what it calls the dangerous policies of the de facto Gaza Strip government. Na'em added that no one, whether organization or individuals, is to be permitted to destroy the health services essential to Palestinian citizens. Severe penalties, he said, will be taken against anyone who contravenes government orders beginning on Sunday.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=31605

False statement: PA Ministry of Health denies ordering striking workers to jobs
(30 Aug) Ramallah – The Ministry of Health for the Palestinian Authority (PA) stated Saturday that earlier statements urging striking Gazan medical workers back to their jobs was a forged statement. The ministry has avoided condemning or condoning the call to strike, but has said that it condemns the actions of the Hamas led government in Gaza with regards to medical workers.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=31610

Doctors' union: Gaza strike still on
(30 Aug) The Doctors' Union issued a statement Saturday afternoon assuring Palestinians that the medical workers' strike in the Gaza Strip is still on. The false call to end the strike issued Saturday morning by forged Ministry of Health documents, said the Union statement, was simply "one person's opinion on the subject," and not an official directive. The union added that whoever does not commit to the strike will be punished. The statement added that the strike will bring back people's rights in all governmental institutions in the Gaza Strip.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=31621

Gaza doctors strike against Hamas sackings
(30 Aug) GAZA CITY (AFP) - Doctors in the Gaza Strip went on strike Saturday to protest the sacking of some 50 doctors and other health workers by the Hamas-run health ministry, saying the decision was politically motivated."Today we have begun a total strike in the government-run health sector in the Gaza Strip and there is good participation, with 70 percent taking part," an official in the health workers' union told AFP on condition of anonymity.The official said emergency services providers and health workers loyal to the Islamist Hamas movement which has ruled Gaza since June 2007 were not taking part in the strike.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080830/wl_mideast_afp/mideastpoliticsgazahealthstrike_080830115714

Khalid Amayreh: Journalist recounts nightmarish detention in PA prison
(30 Aug) Awadh Rajoub, who works for the Arabic service of al-Jazeera.net, was charged with writing inflammatory reports and undermining vital national interests. "They confronted me with a huge pile of news reports I had written. They thought that these reports would indict me. They simply had no idea about how the press functions in a free society." Rajoub lamented the state of press freedom in the Occupied Territories
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2008/08/30/journalist_recounts_nightmarish_detentio

Detainees in Al Jalama Israeli prison on hunger strike
(29 Aug) Lawyer Bothaina Doqmaq, head of the Mandela Institute in Palestine, reported on Friday that the detainees in several sections and in solitary confinement in Al Jalama Israeli prison and interrogation center started a hunger strike on Thursday in protest to the harsh living conditions and the administration's rejection to move them to ordinary sections although they ended their interrogation period.
http://www.imemc.org/article/56772

Neve Gordon: Refusing to oppress
(30 Aug) Eighteen-year-old Sahar Vardi is currently in an Israeli military prison. She is being punished for the crime of refusing to be conscripted into the Israeli military. While Vardi is the first woman to be imprisoned this year, she is part of a broader movement of Shministim, high-school seniors who refuse to be conscripted due to the military's oppression of the Palestinians. Two other conscientious objectors, Udi Nir and Avichai Vaknin, were imprisoned earlier this month and a few others are likely to follow suit.
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/ngordon.php?articleid=13380

Israel may release 450 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit
(29 Aug) An Israeli ministerial committee is set to discuss captive soldier Gilad Shalit deal on Sunday, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has asked it to draft a list of 450 prisoners that Israel may release in exchange for the soldier, local daily Ha'aretz reported on its website Friday. A senior government source was quoted as saying that Hamas recently increased the number of Palestinian prisoners it wants Israel to release in exchange for Shalit, from 1,000 to 1,500.
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90854/6489759.html

Hamas: List of 1,000 names not negotiable if Israel wants Shalit
(30 Aug) Bethlehem – Hamas told a Dutch newspaper that they would not give up on the list of prisoners they want free in exchange with captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. The statement came from Abu Ubaydah, spokesperson for the Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing. He said that the list of prisoners delivered to Israel includes all of the imprisoned Palestinian leaders and women prisoners.A Qatar-based newspaper reported Saturday that Hamas raised its demands to 1,500 prisoners after the latest prisoners swap between Israel and Hizbullah.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=31617

Modern soaps, smells, and detergents, 'Made in Palestine'
(29 Aug) Jenin – Ma'an – A detergent company based in Ramallah/Al-Bireh has launched a new promotion campaign, called "Made in Palestine," to market its goods nationally, in competition with Israeli and international brands.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=31595

Handicapped Palestinian siblings locked in cellar 'for years'
(28 Aug) BEIT AWWA, West Bank (AFP) - For years Nawal, 42, and her brother Bassam, 39, were kept captive by their father in a dark and filthy cellar sealed with an iron door because they are mentally handicapped, Palestinian police said on Thursday.Police discovered the pair by chance in a pre-dawn raid on Tuesday as they were hunting for suspects in Beit Awwa, a tiny West Bank village near Israel, and handed them over to an institute for the handicapped.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080828/wl_mideast_afp/mideastpalestiniansocialdisabled_080828172835

Sex, love, violence - first Palestinian soap ready to air
(29 Aug) Ramallah - Womanhood, domestic violence, sexuality and love are some of the themes dominating a new Palestinian soap opera, set to air next week at the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. "Our main focus was entertainment," said Fareed Majari, the producer of "Matabb" - Speed bump in Arabic - the name of what is being billed as the first homemade Palestinian soap opera, using local actors, dialect and themes to discuss pressing issues in the society.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/228652,sex-love-violence--first-palestinian-soap-ready-to-air.html

Stuart Littlewood: Israeli PR fails the 'decent, honest and truthful' test
(30 Aug) Stuart Littlewood shows how Israeli public relations fodder pumped out in London and Tel Aviv fails a crucial PR test. He argues that, if the Palestinians and other Arab were to get their media act together, they could "make mincemeat" of Israeli propaganda.
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2008/08/30/p28204

In Israel, a clash over who is a Jew
(30 Aug) Yael did not need a divorce, they ruled, because she had never been married. She had never been married because she had never been Jewish. And because she had never been Jewish, her children were not, either. "I was in shock. I couldn't believe it," said Yael, 43, who would allow only her Hebrew name to be published out of privacy concerns. Blond, blue-eyed and athletic-looking, Yael is baffled by the ordeal. "My kids grew up Jewish," she said. "They don't know anything else."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/29/AR2008082903594.html

Jerusalem council member: Seculars only have child and dog
(30 Aug) Seculars fear Haredi takeover - Mayoral race heating up as council meeting on haredi kindergarten generates catcalls, comparison to Nazis
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3589411,00.html

Peace Train: 'Apartheid barrier'
(29 Aug) Israeli authorities recently announced that they will soon move a portion of the "separation barrier" that snakes through the West Bank dividing land available to Israelis from land to which Palestinians are confined. Word that Israel would relocate the barrier stirred hopes in Jayyous that it might be moved to the Green Line. Such hopes, however, have been dashed by recent news. After the relocation, three-fourths of the land tended by Jayyous residents as well as all their water supplies will still remain on the Israeli side of the barrier, accessible only through a single checkpoint.
http://www.coloradodaily.com/news/2008/aug/29/apartheid-barrier/

Khaled Diab: The Middle East on Biden
(30 Aug) Not one to rest on his laurels, Barack Obama is already delivering on his promise of change – albeit in the wrong direction. He has changed his image from that of the sophisticated, sensible and sensitive "outsider" to become another establishment figure. Since his nomination, the formerly progressive senator has taken a sharp turn to the right, and morphed, in terms of rhetoric at least, into a "Republican-lite" candidate. With his selection of Joe Biden, who can best be described as a dovish hawk, the transformation seems complete, as the man resembles John McCain on foreign policy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/30/usa.barackobama?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews

Palestinian doctor describes torture in Libyan jail
(29 Aug) PARIS (AFP) - A Palestinian-born doctor imprisoned in Libya on charges of infecting children with AIDS has offered new and harrowing details of his incarceration, according to judicial testimony seen by AFP Friday. In his account to French judges, Doctor Ashraf al-Hajuj describes being raped by a German shepherd, having his nails ripped off and being given electric shocks.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080829/wl_mideast_afp/bulgarialibyahealthaidspalestiniandoctor_080829190245

Iraq's Palestinians still live in fear
(29 Aug, AP) BAGHDAD - Omar Ahmed rarely emerges from his rundown Baghdad housing project. When he does, he leaves behind the Iraqi-issued ID card that marks him as a Palestinian and switches to the Iraqi dialect of Arabic at police checkpoints. The 23-year-old keeps a low profile because of repeated attacks and harassment of Palestinians, still resented by many Iraqis for what was perceived as their privileged status under Saddam Hussein
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080829/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_palestinians_in_limbo

Iraq: Kidnappings now become 'unofficial'
BAQUBA, Aug 29 (IPS) - Residents of Baquba deny police claims that kidnappings are now a matter of the past. "There are fewer people disappearing, but it continues," a trader who asked to be referred to as Abu Ali told IPS. "All of us know that several people are still being kidnapped every week."
http://dahrjamailiraq.com/hard_news/archives/iraq/000833.php

Iraq to clear out Baghdad squatters
(30 Aug) BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraqi forces will begin evacuating from next week squatters illegally occupying the Baghdad homes of people who fled at the height of the sectarian conflict, officials said on Saturday. The move is designed to encourage people who are the legal owners of their homes to return, said Daniel Endres, representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080830/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestrefugees

www.TheHeadlines.org

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How Arab normalization is undermining the boycott movement

Wassim Al-Adel,

The proliferation of fast food chains like McDonald's in the Middle east is an indicator of the collusion between government and Arab big business at the expense of the boycott movement and resisting Israeli occupation. (Matthew Cassel)

While boycott and divestment campaigns in the West become more sophisticated and widespread, the Arab world's longstanding boycott of Israel is being undermined by Arab governments, companies and businessmen. This attempt at no-concession normalization with Israel must be
countered by all those working for justice in Palestine. The recent Adalah-NY campaign against Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev sheds light on the burgeoning relationship between Arab governments and businesses, and Israel.

Earlier this year, the New York-based coalition Adalah-NY successfully spearheaded a campaign to prevent Leviev from opening a branch of his diamond chain in Dubai. Leviev is the chairman of Africa Israel Investments, which is constructing illegal Jewish-only settlements in the area of the West Bank village of Jayyous through its subsidiary, Danya Cebus. A mixture of media exposure and public outcry forced the Emirati authorities to deny that the jeweler had been granted any permission. This was a victory for those who wish to see an end to the Israeli occupation.

The success of the Adalah-NY campaign offers activists two insights: first, there is a growing culture of numbness and complicity toward Israel and its financial backers which is being cultivated at the highest levels of Arab governments. Second, these same governments are susceptible to pressure when the extent of this collusion becomes apparent.

It is disappointing to learn that, while public outcry and media attention effectively prevented Leviev from setting up shop in Dubai, other companies with known links to Israel continue to operate freely there. Giant retailer Marks & Spencer is high on the boycott list of most pro-Palestinian groups, and yet it has just recently opened one of its biggest stores in Dubai with an investment of approximately $3.9 million and plans for further expansion throughout the region.

Singled out in 2000 for praise by former Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom Dror Zeigerman, Marks & Spencer was estimated at the turn of the millennium to import almost $440.88 million worth of Israeli products and goods each year. Meanwhile the opening of the first Dubai outlet in 1998 was honored by the presence of then Crown Prince of Dubai and Minister of Defense Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who is now ruler of Dubai, prime minister and vice president for the United Arab Emirates. Given the prominence of Marks & Spencer's Zionist supporters, it is difficult to imagine how al-Maktoum could have been ignorant of the company's links to Israel. Of course, the Gulf states have been notoriously fickle observers of the pan-Arab boycott of Israel. Therefore it is not surprising that at an institutional level, discourse which would have been considered taboo just ten years ago is now being disseminated shamelessly.

One example of this was demonstrated recently with the announcement of Kuwait's "Silk City." A $132 billion project now under development, Silk City aims to connect Kuwait to Baghdad, Damascus, and then on to Iran and further afield to China. One of the aims of the project is also, in the words of project chief planner Sami al-Faraj, to "connect to Israel" (Khaleej Times Online, 22 July 2008). Al-Faraj, who is also president for the Kuwait Center for Strategic Studies and adviser to the Gulf Cooperation Council, referred to criticisms of this plan as "outdated." Unsurprisingly, Kuwaiti officials have remained silent about this, a silence which is underlined by acquiescence to Western and Israeli demands for normalization. For Saudi Arabia, membership in the World Trade Organization, which forbids the boycott of other member states including Israel, has meant that the official Saudi policy of boycotting Israeli goods is also in tatters, though it has yet to be formally abandoned.

The Arab boycott is essentially three-tiered, with the first tier concerned mainly with the direct boycott of Israeli products and any dealings with Israeli individuals or businesses. The second tier involved boycotting companies which operated in Israel or dealt with it, while the third covered companies which have dealings with those in the second tier. This boycott is now limited only to the first tier, and as demonstrated by the Leviev affair, even that is steadily being eroded.

To gain an insight into how the Arab boycott has been weakened one need only look at the situation in Syria, the headquarters of the once highly influential Central Boycott Office. The changes since 2000 have been astonishing as we see products and companies which would have been banned outright only a short time before now made widely available. This is due in part to the slow but steady liberalization of the economy. In Damascus, the skyline is scarred by the enormous Four Seasons hotel, introduced by the billionaire Saudi Prince Walid bin Talal, and with branches throughout the world -- including Jerusalem. In the trendy Abu Roumaneh district, the first official Kentucky Fried Chicken in the country has been opened and is a favorite haunt of the Damascene well-to-do (in sharp contrast with its image in the West as a fast food chain for the lower-income working classes). The launch of KFC was handled by the huge Kuwaiti group Americana, which handles other fast food chains throughout the region and accentuates the strong Gulf influence behind this effort to erode the boycott. The fact that KFC was once boycotted by the Central Boycott Office appears to be conveniently forgotten now. In both examples we see a silent collusion between the government and Arab big business at the expense of the boycott and resisting the occupation.

The list of examples can go on almost indefinitely but the central concern remains: there is an urgent need for investigating and documenting this trend which seeks to undermine the Arab world's boycott of Israel and the viability of resisting its occupation of Palestine. Arab governments can no longer be, if ever they were, considered reliable champions of the boycott. The recent experiences of groups like Adalah-NY and the Boycott Israeli Goods campaign has helped to expose the power relations which underlie the economic collaboration of Western and Arab states and companies with Israel. They have also served to embarrass those Arab governments, forcing them to maintain pressure on Israel. Otherwise, neglecting this trend could lead to an undermining of current and future Western-based boycott campaigns against Israel.

Wassim Al-Adel is a London-based Syrian blogger (http://maysaloon.blogspot.com/) and MA candidate in philosophy.

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From Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank

A Palestinian journalist just released from a Hebron jail has accused the Palestinian Authority (PA) security authorities of mistreating him and incarcerating him in “difficult conditions” for over a month.

Awadh Rajoub told reporters Friday that he was placed in solitary confinement for more than 15 days and that he had to sleep in a rancid cell, using his own shoes as a pillow.

“At one point they covered my head with a bad-smelling sack, apparently in order to prevent me from seeing people they didn’t want me to see.

“But I heard people being tortured and I know that several people were transferred to hospital or sent to their homes due to torture.”

Rajoub, who works for the Arabic service of al-Jazeera.net, was charged with writing inflammatory reports and undermining vital national interests.

“They confronted me with a huge pile of news reports I had written. They thought that these reports would indict me. They simply had no idea about how the press functions in a free society.”

Rajoub lamented the state of press freedom in the Occupied Territories.

“When journalists are arrested by security personnel in broad daylight and threatened to be prosecuted by a military tribunal, it means something wrong is taking place.”

The 30-year-old Hebron journalist described his incarceration as “illegal and immoral,” saying that the security agencies had no right to arrest journalists.

Rajoub said interrogators had berated him for interviewing and quoting political leaders and intellectuals whose views they considered detrimental to Palestinian interests and libelous to the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah.

“I told them that this was part of my job as a journalist. I explained to them that as a journalist I am required to report all news and views regardless of my personal opinion.

“But they wouldn’t understand this language.”

PA officials initially claimed that Rajoub’s arrest had nothing to do with his profession as a journalist, prompting his family to call them “big liars.”

Last week, Rajoub’s family petitioned the High Court in Ramallah to force the security authorities to release him on the ground that military courts had no jurisdiction in civilian cases.

Asked whether he is going to exercise “self censorship” and stay on the “safe side” in light of his ordeal, Rajoub said he now realized that “nothing can be taken for granted” and that “press freedom under an authoritarian regime is a fantasy.”

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Paul McCartney To Perform in Israel - Time to Protest

Urgent action is needed.

Please write to Sir Paul (info below).

Paul McCartney to perform in Israel

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3586599,00.html

PACBI letter to the Beatles:

http://www.pacbi.org/press_releases_more.php?id=655_0_4_0_C

Sample Letter:

Sir Paul McCartney

It is with great sadness that I hear that you will be including Israel on your upcoming tour in September. I am writing to ask you to reconsider this.

As I'm sure you are aware the state of Israel continues to breach international and human rights law by its illegal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and treatment of the Palestinian people. As well as the constant attacks by the Israeli army and armed settlers, Palestinian land is systematically stolen, houses demolished and crops destroyed. For over a year now the state of Israel has been carrying out a slow genocide in the Gaza Strip, maintained a tight blockade over its inhabitants, denying them medical aid, food and fuel for the electricity supply, affecting all aspects of life including sewage.

Israel’s actions have been heavily criticised by leading human rights organisations, ex-President Jimmy Carter, Desmond Tutu and UN human rights observers, however it is able to continue due to the political, financial, commercial and cultural support it receives from the international community. By giving a concert in Israel at this time you will be seen to be condoning Israel’s actions while ignoring the plight of the Palestinian people.

Your music has always been associated with hopeful and free aspirations, this reputation will undoubtedly be tarnished should this concert go ahead. Boycotts are a non violent opportunity for people everywhere to show their disapproval when governments refuse to carry out their obligations under international law. As was the case in apartheid South Africa, it was the courageous stand of people from all works of life around the world which finally helped to end apartheid. Palestinian artists, trade unionists, teachers, writers, film-makers and non-governmental organizations, supported by an increasing number of brave Israelis, have called for a comparable boycott of Israel, as offering another path to a just peace
.
Today there is a growing movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions in the UK and internationally, which will continue until Israel treats its Palestinian citizens and Palestinians in the Occupied Territories justly and fairly. I urge you to reconsider your proposal to tour Israel.

To be sent to:

Paul McCartney
MPL
1 Soho Square
London W1V6HD

contact@mplcommunications.com

and

Stuart Bell || Media Director
The Outside Organisation Ltd
Butler House
177-178 Tottenham Court Road
London W1T 7NY
T: + 44 (0)20 7436 3633
F: + 44 (0)20 7462 2920
www.outside-org.co.uk

Please copy to the PSC info@palestinecampaign.org

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Calling On Egypt To Open The Rafah Crossing

http://www.petitiononline.com/pal2008/petition.html

The petition link above calls on Egypt to open the Rafah Crossing. Please sign it and forward to your contacts lists.

Many thanks,


Petition from Palestinians in Al Arish

Some people in Arish have written a petition in protest of the Rafah closure, to be delivered to the egyptian authorities, asking Mubarak/Suleiman to have it opened immediately. on the other hand, most do not want to sign their names because they are worried about repercussions from Egypt.

[i helped in the writing, in case you're wondering about the English.]

please forward widely

thank you!

eva

22 August, 2008

To the Honorable President Hosni Mubarak, Honorable Omar Suleiman,Interior Minister Habib Ibrahim El Adly and Members of Cabinet,

We, the hundreds of Palestinians waiting at the Rafah crossing in Egypt, call upon your honorable government to allow the entrance of over 600 Palestinians stuck in Egypt and separated from our homes in Gaza due to the continued Rafah border closure.

Egypt has historically played an integral and active role in the Palestinian struggle for justice, holding numerous negotiations between Palestinian and Israeli leaders, as well as between our different Palestinian political parties. We greatly appreciate this support which has meant an alleviation of some of our problems and the resumption of stalled peace discussions, as well as the continuous efforts of the Egyptian government to help reunite Palestinians.

But, as we wait and suffer, silent and out of the international spotlight, we state clearly that Palestinian suffering should not be politicized. The closure of Gaza for over one year, including the continued closure of Rafah, has created a humanitarian crisis that Egypt has a very tangible role in solving, immediately. Egypt should not partake in the immoral sanctions and border closures imposed on Palestinians, sanctions which the justice-seeking people of the international community have recognized as collective punishment imposed because Hamas is in power.

We beseech you, above all, to keep in mind that the politicians who may be sparring, vying for power, are not in the same dire situation as the thousands of civilians stuck at the border on either side, people waiting only to enter to be with families or to exit for medical treatment, schooling, work...

Our money is running out –for many it is completely depleted –as we have waited for weeks, without working. Many of us have come from countries where we have work permits, taking vacation time to visit families not seen in years. We risk losing our jobs and our residency permits, or otherwise leaving Egypt without having seen our families in Gaza. Indeed, we are now merely running on hope and faith that the border will open one day.
But we are weary and that faith is worn-out.

There are approximately 450 Palestinians in Al Arish waiting to enter Gaza. There are approximately another 100 in Cairo. Most of us have been waiting since June 1st. Others among us have been exiled in Egypt for over a year, outside of Gaza when the border was sealed closed in June 2007 after Hamas took control. Approximately 200 of the Palestinians waiting to re-enter Gaza are in dire financial circumstances, many of whom must beg for and borrow money, some of whom are sleeping in the streets. This is without even mentioning the over 3,500 terminally ill Palestinians within Gaza who await the opening of the Rafah Crossing for treatment in hospitals outside Gaza. Nor does it include the thousands of others who need to leave Gaza to study and work in other countries where they hold residency permits.

On Wednesday morning, one of the hundreds stuck in Al Arish lost his father to a chronic illness. The son had been waiting for the border to open so that his father could see his grandchild and the son could say a last goodbye. He has lost this chance. The pain of his father's death is amplified by the knowledge that if the border had been opened two days earlier as promised, let alone months earlier, he would have been able to bid his father farewell.

It is with overwhelming sadness that we acknowledge that this man's loss is not an isolated case. As we sit, just 50 km from our land, we ask again and again: "when will the border be opened? Why are we, the people, being punished? Will our Egyptian brothers and sisters see us waiting close but cut off from our land as our families die, get married, go on with their lives separated.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu said in May of this year that the international community's "silence and complicity on the situation in Gaza shames us all." As the honorable Tutu said, "Gaza needs the engagement of the outside world." We add that Palestinians need the engagement of Egypt to open the Rafah border and end this inhumane situation.

Respectfully,

The Palestinians waiting in Al Arish for the Rafah Crossing to Open

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