Another Palestinian Journalist persecuted for criticizing the PA

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Muhannad Salahat Victim: Muhannad Salahat
By Khalid Amayreh

Muhannad Salahat, 32, is another Palestinian journalist victimized by the Palestinian Authority Mukhabarat or General Intelligence. Earlier this month, Salahat, who lives in Amman, Jordan, but has a home in the northern West Bank town of Nablus, had to spend 14 nightmarish days in the custody of the Palestinian Mukhabarat in Jericho where he was thoroughly  abused for criticizing the PA, especially its so-called security coordination with Israel.


Following his release, Middle East Monitor had the chance to interview Salahat. The following is a verbatim translation of his testimony on the treatment he received  during his detention in Jericho. Salahat can be contacted on the following email address. salahatm@hotmail.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 

"On 18 March, as the bus I was riding from Amman arrived at the Allenby Bridge, which is under Israeli control, we proceeded to the Palestinian Authority Inspection Terminal where the minibus stopped for identity checking. Soon, I saw the bus being surrounded on all sides by policemen. One of them boarded the bus, carrying my passport in his hand and shouting "Where is  Muhannad Salahat." As I said "yes," the policeman asked me to disembark and accompany a number of other policemen to a nearby room where all my personal items and luggage were taken from me. Then I was taken rather unceremoniously to another room without being informed why. However, I understood that I was being pursued by the PA General Intelligence. At that point, I was able to call my family to tell them that I was being arrested. As soon as I ended the call, which lasted only for one minute, my mobile phone was confiscated.

Then I was taken to a third room, and a large Ford van stopped nearby and three armed young men dressed in plain clothes, got off the car, and asked me to stand up with my face toward the wall. They warned me  against  looking at them. A fourth person, armed with an Ak-47, stood behind, training his gun toward me.
After thoroughly checking my luggage, which they did  rather provocatively and in disorganized manner, they asked me to stuff them back randomly, after which I was led to the white van. A young man sat at the vehicle's door and kept screaming abusive language at me. He told me that "you should sit down properly because this is a Mukhabarat car not a casino".

After half an hour of driving, occasionally on a rugged road, we arrived at a large, white building, and as soon as I got off the car, I was blindfolded and the ten Intelligence agents kept screaming at me, ordering me to lower my head and not look around. One of them handcuffed my hand to his. As we arrived at the room, all my luggage, including the two laptops I had with me, were carelessly thrown on the ground. They meticulously inspected and examined every item of luggage and piece of paper I was carrying.

Then I was asked anew to stand up with my face toward the wall. Then I heard one of the agents say the following "this person is a kafir" (disbeliever or atheist). I tried to protest the verbal abuse, but to no avail as I was told threateningly to "shut up and keep your face toward the wall."
Afterwards, with my hand tied to the hand  of one of the Mukhabarat's personnel, I was taken in a humiliating manner to the doctor's  room for a routine  checkup. The doctor asked that no one carrying firearms should get inside his room. However, they disregarded his request. Then they took me back to another room where three officers began interrogating me.

The first interrogation room, apparently the director's room, was luxurious. The other room was dirty, slimy and had a rancid smell.
I was affronted with all sorts of strange questions accusing me of committing crimes, including murder. "Finally, we have captured you," they would say, with a sigh of relief. The first interrogation session lasted for three hours and the questions centered on trivial matters and did include some scolding, berating, and offensive language.

Thoroughly exhausted, I then was taken  to the dirty, slimy room, where I had no choice but to sleep on a filthy, smelly mattress.
The next morning I was once again taken for interrogation, but the questions they asked were unclear and extremely general. They would tell me "you sure know why you are here, we would like to know from you why you are being detained, and don't pretend that you don't know." Indeed, whenever I demanded to know why I was being detained, they would say "you sure know the reason."!
Then I was taken back to the room only to be subjected to a new session of  interrogation for two hours. After  asking me virtually the same questions asked repeatedly before, and without telling me why I was being held, I was taken back to the  dirty room. There I found a dirty metal dish  containing a few pieces of fried potatoes. They told me that this was my lunch.

As I began feeling the utter injustice of my detention, I decided to go on a huger strike at least until they tell me why I was arrested and on what charges. Seeing me refrain from eating,  a guard came to me, advising against entering into  a hunger strike, and warning that  that I would starve to death like a dog.
Similarly my cell-mate tried to convince me to abandon the notion of the hunger strike, saying that they had tried this method before but to no avail.

None the less, I insisted on the hunger strike, and in the evening  of that day they (the Mukhabarat agents) came to me asking that I  sign a piece of paper stating that I bear full responsibility for ramifications of  the hunger strike. On the third day of my strike, an officer came to me, suggesting  that if I  agreed to reconsider my hunger strike, they would inform me why I was being detained.

However, I refused to break my (extended) fasting until I was taken to a special interrogation room with three interrogators, including a chief interrogator, who asked  me questions pertaining to my personal  life, including professional career. Soon, they wanted me to tell them what 'crimes, mistakes, and excesses , I committed against the Palestinian national scheme as embodied by the Palestinian National Authority.' They wouldn't tell me what 'crimes, mistakes and excesses they were alluding to,'. Then they asked me to tell them every conceivable detail about my family, brothers,  sisters, their husbands, what  they do for  living and what political parties or groups they were affiliated with.

They also asked me if I had worked with the Jordanian Intelligence, arguing that it was perfectly logical for a person like me to be working with the Jordanian Intelligence. However, after several hours, they just told me that 'we were only having acquaintance sessions.'

Another Palestinian Journalist persecuted for criticizing the PAOn the same evening, and as I refused to terminate my hunger strike, They summoned me again and began a new spate of aggressive questioning on the nature of my work as a journalist and filmmaker and also on the nature of my work for the al-Jazeera network and the Emirate of Qatar. The interrogators concentrated on a newspaper report I had prepared in 2007 on the state of lawlessness and chaos in the West Bank and also Gaza following the Hamas' takeover. The report was still on the internet under the Arabic title "A little of what is happening in the West Bank and Gaza Strip." It was clear that they were disturbed by the report. I asked them why I was being asked about the report three years later. They didn't answer.

They also questioned me on the documentary films I was making for al-Jazeera. I told them that I was working for a Jordanian company that had a working relationship with al Jazeera and that I was not myself  directly working for al Jazeera.

On the fourth day of my hunger strike, one officer undertook to tell me why was being held  if I ended my hunger strike. I concurred, and they gave me a cigarette but no lighter. I asked for a glass of water, but was told that I could only drink water from the cell's lavatory's faucet.
Again, as I was taken for a new interrogation session, I was affronted with the same general insinuations  and questions asked ad nauseam in the previous days of my arrest. Feeling that they lacked any rationale for a genuine case against me, one officer started indulging in  abusive language against me, saying that I was a silly person and a  mercenary.

The insults continued until shortly before dawn. On the fifth day, I was told to write down all my email addresses and webpage(s). They also asked me if I had ever  castigated and smeared  the PA and its officials on my website, they mentioned some specific officials, asking me if I had ever vilified them. I refused to mention any person. They continued  their efforts to extricate confessions from me, regarding indulging in  incitement against  the PA, but without succeeding in extracting confessions from me.
On the sixth day, their treatment worsened dramatically as they began restricting my physical movement. For example, they wouldn't allow me to access the bathroom and toilet whenever I needed to.
During the first week of my detention, ten officers interrogated me alternatively, with four, three, two, or even one officer interrogating me once at a time. Then I  was subjected to solitary confinement inside a small cell, with a slimy bed, and a  rancid smell wafting around. They wouldn't allow me to wash my clothes, nor take a shower. Only five days later did  they allow me to change my clothes.

I asked them repeatedly to allow me to clean the room, but they wouldn't agree.
The interrogation continued, normally from 10 pm to around dawn. They once asked me about a visit to Syria where we filmed a documentary, and then they asked me about my friends in Jordan and why I was residing in that country  rather than in the West Bank

On the 12th day, they placed me in a room which they could constantly monitor. They would not leave even a Quran on the table  there. They demanded that I open my email, saying rather threateningly that if I didn't, they would treat me "differently." (probably an allusion to violence). They saw all the incoming  messages but found nothing objectionable, which frustrated them.

On the 13th day, a young but  ill-behaving man came, and asked me to write down  my complete CV. However as I began writing the CV, he would insist that I add  certain words that would indict me. I refused, which upset him and made him make threatening remarks.
On the 14th day, they asked me to collect my belongings because I was about to be released. At around midnight, a Mukhabarat car took me to the  Travelers' station in downtown Jericho where I boarded a taxi  bound for  Nablus.
I was surprised by the huge amount of disinformation disseminated by the Mukhabarat with regard to my arrest while in their custody. They claimed that my arrest was motivated by criminal rather than political considerations. They hinted that my arrest had to do with uncovered checks and unpaid alimony, which is totally false.
Similarly, it was clear that some people had sent messages to my employers, informing them that the background of my arrest was criminal, not political.
After my release, I contacted Adnan Dmeri, the official spokesman of  PA security agencies, and asked him about the disinformation disseminated against me for the purpose of defaming me and smearing my image, he told me that the security agencies were not responsible for this  since the defamatory materials were not posted on the official website of the Palestinian police."

Note: Salahat was rearrested on his way back to Amman on 18 April, apparently  by the same people who had arrested him before.
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Polanski's Ghost Writer - a film review

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Polanski's Ghost Writer - a film review by Gilad Atzmon

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It is somewhat puzzling that director Roman Polanski, who has managed to evade justice for more than three decades, decided to make a film chronicling a disgraced British PM in his attempt to escape the War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague.


.....The resemblance between Adam Lang and Tony Blair is more than obvious. Adam Lang is a handsome dark-haired guy, he is athletic, he is charming, he is slick, he is a war criminal but he is also venerable, he flips easily. The film tackles the most devastating chapter in recent history, the transformation of Anglo American liberal democracy into a lethal killing machine, fueled by pathos and righteousness, a chapter British society is not yet mature enough to deal with. Once again, it is artistic, creative minds such as Harris and Polanski who are engaged with questions the Chilcot Inquiry would never dwell upon.
To read more and watch trailers:
http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/polanskis-ghost-writer-a-film-review-by-gilad-atzmon.html


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ISRAELI INDEPENDENCE Vs PALESTINIAN NAKBA

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ARTICLES AND IMAGES OF

ISRAELI INDEPENDENCE Vs PALESTINIAN NAKBA

Israeli Flags

By Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

The articles and images crossing my mind and my computer screen over the past two days are an amalgam of ironies. An ultra orthodox Jew who burned the flag of the Zionist state on Sunday was arrested and charged. True to the Torah ultra Orthodox Jews have traditionally called the state of Israel, founded with the aid of British bayonets and guns as an abomination and a rebellion against the will of God. But recently, the virus of Zionism has spread to infect so many Jews who even claim orthodoxy even as more and more non-Jews and Jews shed the malady. The Satmar and Neturei Karta remain loyal to the traditions of orthodoxy and the commandments of the Torah to seek Justice (see) .

Israeli officials pose in the midst of flags to be videotaped affirming Israel will control occupied Jerusalem forever (International law notwithstanding). In my hometown of Beit Sahour, settlers showed up on Monday night to party with soldiers on Palestinian lands of Ush Ghrab (see also recent story on Beit Sahour as a microcosm of Israeli colonization ). To celebrate "independence day", Israeli settlers uprooted 250 olive trees in Qarout village near Nablus and Israeli authorities handed down a few orders for home demolitions (e.g. see ). The soldiers were everywhere; some were drunk with Alcohol or power or both.

We live in a la la land of make belief. Collective amnesia is characteristic of the lunatics running around. Few remember even recent massacres like Sabra and Shatila (see this amazing and heart-wrenching letter by Franklin Lamb ). Even fewer recall the Nakba or catastrophe of ethnic cleansing between November 1947 to December 1949 (see and ).

I believe it was a Nakba for all concerned, it is just that the intoxication of power prevents some from realizing how much they have hurt themselves.

On these days of cruel images and blue and white flags, it is critical to be reminded of why this Hasbara or Za'bara as Dr. Salman AbuSitta articulated beautifully.

But I actually think the excessive flag waving is a sign of insecurity and that the Zionist movement is feeling the end is near and the game is up (afterall truth is rather hard to hide). In the 1950s, there was an outpouring of Western public support for Zionism. It even included thousands of Internationals serving in Kibbutzes as volunteers. Today, the thousands of International volunteers are working with Palestinians and Zionists have lost the support not only of the Western public but even if he Jewish Israeli and Jewish Western public. See for example this inspiring report from Cecilie Surasky, Deputy Director, Jewish Voice for Peace which articulates the breadth and diversity of support for human rights and the narrow and regurgitated non-sense of Zionist support: "This morning's UC Berkeley divestment vote--it isn't over yet."

The action at University of California is but the tip of an iceberg. BDS is now in hundreds of cities around the world. The Zionist flags will not endure the strong winds or harsh sun of Palestine. The last colonial occupation in the 21st century will also come to an end. Minds long chained by propaganda will shed those chains and join the rest of humanity. Israeli "independence" will then be recognized as the day of sadness for losing moral compass and trying to create a Jewish state in a land that could have easily accommodated both immigrant European Jews and native Palestinians.

We are off to the International conference in Bil'in where hundreds are expected to attend including representatives of ALL Palestinian political factions, Israelis acting on their good conscience, and internationals. There, the struggle for justice will gain new momentum. Freedom for Palestinians will also mean freedom for Israelis from the chains of mythologies. Stay tuned.

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Abbas's militia kidnap seven people including journalist

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RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- A Palestinian human rights source reported that Abbas’s militias kidnapped once again on Monday morning journalist Muhannad Salahat, the representative of the Palestinian society for human rights (Rased).

The source added that Salahat was kidnapped at Al-Jesser crossing by Abbas’s militias who also confiscated his ID card and travel documents as he was leaving for Jordan without providing any reason for his detention.

These militias had already kidnapped Salahat on March 28 upon his arrival in the occupied Palestinian lands against the backdrop of articles he wrote criticizing the PA and the current inter-Palestinian division.

In a separate incident, Abbas’s militias kidnapped six Palestinian citizens affiliated with Hamas in the districts of Nablus and Al-Khalil, according to a statement issued by Hamas on Tuesday.

For its part, informed sources reported that the unconstitutional government in Ramallah transferred the preachers and imams of the main mosques in Tulkarem to other places in order to limit their influence and reduce the number of worshipers who frequent these mosques.
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The Goldman Scam & John Paulson's Links to 9-11

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Christopher Bollyn:



 The latest news about the fraud at Goldman Sachs confirms what I have been saying all along about the financial "meltdown" and government bail-outs of 2008-2009 - it was a massive Zionist fraud, which I called the Fleecing of America. Will Hutton of Britain's Observer reported on 18 April 2010 in an article entitled "Now we know the truth. The financial meltdown wasn't a mistake – IT WAS A CON" -

The global financial crisis, it is now clear, was caused not just by the bankers' colossal mismanagement. No, it was due also to the new financial complexity offering up the opportunity for widespread, systemic fraud...

Beneath the complexity, the charges are all rooted in the same phenomenon – deception. Somebody, somewhere, was knowingly fooled by banks and bankers – sometimes governments over tax, sometimes regulators and investors over the probity of balance sheets and profits and sometimes, as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says in Goldman's case, by creating a scheme to enrich one favoured investor at the expense of others – including, via RBS, the British [and U.S.] taxpayer.

The man at the center of this particular scam is a man named John Alfred Paulson and his company. The New York Times reports that Paulson personally made an estimated $3.7 billion in 2007 as a result of his hedge fund’s performance, and another $2 billion in 2008. The charge is that Goldman's vice-president Fabrice Tourre created a dud financial instrument packed with valueless sub-prime mortgages at the instruction of hedge fund client Paulson, sold it to investors knowing it was valueless, and then allowed Paulson to profit from the dud financial instrument.

John Alfred Paulson
As the Observer reported on April 18:
The reality was that Paulson was frantically buying credit default swaps in the CDO that would go up in price the more valueless it became – a trade that would make more than $1 billion. Worse, Paulson had identified some of the dud sub-prime mortgages that he wanted Tourre to put into the CDO. If the SEC case is true, this was a scam – nothing more, nothing less.

PAULSON'S CONNECTION TO STEPHEN BERGER
Following Harvard Business School, Paulson began his career working as a Management Consultant at Boston Consulting Group from 1980 to 1982 (where Benjamin Netanyahu began his career in 1976) and as an Associate at Odyssey Partners from 1982 to 1984. Paulson's career at Odyssey Partners brought him into a small circle of Zionist finance scoundrels comprised of Stephen Berger, Leon Levy, and Jack Nash.


John Paulson and Stephen Berger joined Odyssey Partners in 1982, the year it was founded by Jack Nash (left) and Leon Levy (right).

The late Jack Nash (in 1995) was a devoted Zionist supporter and chairman of the American Friends of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem (AFIM). His wife Helen is currently a vice president of the Zionist organization, of which the Baroness Nadine de Rothschild is the Honorary President and Jo Carole Lauder, the wife of Ronald Lauder, is an executive committee board member.


Ronald Lauder, a close friend of Benjamin Netanyahu, looks pretty miserable for a multi-millionaire Zionist in his mid-60s (even with his secretive Israeli girlfriend/Mossad handler/art dealer Daniella Luxembourg). Lauder was the driving force behind the privatization of the World Trade Center, a key part of the 9-11 plot. Guilt destroys a person up from inside. There is no escape, Ron.


Lauder's full-time Mossad handler Daniella Luxembourg and "contemporary art specialist" Amalia Dayan, both of Phillips, de Pury & Luxembourg. Dayan is the grand-daughter of Moshe Dayan. The world of Zionist terrorism is small and based on certain family ties. The Zionist terrorist regime of Israel today is very much like the Sicarii Zealots of the First Century. The Sicarii were Jewish robbers and terrorists who killed other Jews to further their extremist ends. Facing the power of the Roman army, the Sicarii wound up killing hundreds of Jews in the massacre of Masada. The Israeli terrorist regime of Netanyahu and Barak uses Jews as human shields, which endangers all Jews, Zionist and non-Zionist, in the same way as the Sicarii of Masada in the First Century. Israel today is becoming more and more like one huge Masada.
...AND 9-11
Stephen Berger
Stephen Berger was executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (1985-1990), the owner of the World Trade Center, when Atwell Security, a Mossad company, received the security contract in 1987. The Israel's Mossad attempt to obtain the security contract for the Port Authority in 1987 involved Mossad intelligence chief-cum-art dealer Peter Zvi Malkin. Michael Chertoff's mother, Livia Eisen, was also a Mossadnik art dealer in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
Sources and Recommended Reading:
"Now we know the truth. The financial meltdown wasn't a mistake – it was a con," by Will Hutton, The Observer (U.K.), April 18, 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/apr/18/goldman-sachs-regulators-civil-charges
The Architecture of Terror: Mapping the Network Behind 9-11
http://www.bollyn.com/the-architecture-of-terror-mapping-the-network-behind-9-11
Bollyn, Christopher, “The Fleecing of America: 9-11 and the Crisis on Wall Street,” Chapter XI of Solving 9-11: The Deception that Changed the World
http://www.bollyn.com/the-fleecing-of-america-9-11-and-the-crisis-on-wall-street
The Goldman Scam & John Paulson's Links to 9-11
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