West Bank is sealed off; two houses demolished in Bethlehem
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the complete closure
of the West Bank on Friday, sealing all entrances to Jerusalem and
Israel. According to the Defense Ministry, the closure will last at
least until next Sunday. Immediately after the attack on the school,
to the north of Bethlehem, Israeli military vehicles and bulldozers
entered Bethlehem, surrounded the home of Islamic Jihad activist
Muhammad Shahada and began to demolish the house. The
invading forces fired a missile at the two-storey house before
bulldozers began demolishing it. They also demolished the house
of Shahada's father and seized his brother.
Israel on alert, Gaza braces after Jerusalem killings
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel was on alert and Gaza braced for
reprisals on Friday as crowds mourned eight teenagers killed by a
Palestinian gunman at a Jewish religious school in an attack claimed
by the Islamist Hamas. Residents of the impoverished Gaza Strip
were bracing for punitive Israeli military strikes after the attack
which shook the faltering peace talks and provoked strong
condemnation from around the world. Thousands gathered in
Jerusalem for the funerals of the teenagers killed in the attack
carried out by a Palestinian resident of occupied east Jerusalem.
[This attack is very reminiscent of that by settler Baruch Goldstein
in a mosque in Hebron in 1994 – he used a machine gun to kill 30
Palestinians at prayer and wound 150. The suicide bombings started
soon afterwards. He is a hero to extremist settlers, and his
grave is a pilgrimage site for them.]
Analysis: Gazans see attack on yeshiva as
unusual achievement – by Avi Issacharoff
The celebratory shooting in the air in Gaza that followed the terrorist
attack in Jerusalem last night showed that the penetration of
Merkaz Harav was viewed as an unusual political and military
achievement for the group responsible. The attack brought
something to a wide public in the Gaza Strip that it had been
waiting for all week - revenge. The horror scenes from Gaza at
the beginning of the week sent Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other
groups racing for a terror attack, knowing that whoever managed
to pull one off first would score major points in the Arab and Palestinian street.
Mercaz Harav – the flagship of national-religious yeshivas
The Mercaz Harav rabbinic college is the most prominent yeshiva
in the religious Zionist world. It trained the movement's leading
rabbis as well as many yeshiva heads, city rabbis, and teachers
in religious colleges and high schools. The school was central in
shaping the evolution of religious Zionism. The foundations for
the religious settlements in the West Bank were forged in Mercaz
Harav, whose student Hanan Porat set out to restore the Jewish
settlement in Gush Etzion immediately after the Six-Day War. The
founders of Gush Emunim, a religious political movement that
encouraged Jewish settlement of land they believe God promised
the Jews, came from Mercaz Harav after the Yom Kippur War.
Thousands attend service for eight young
students killed as they gathered to pray
Thousands of Israelis gathered yesterday for an emotional funeral
service at the Jewish religious seminary in Jerusalem where eight
students were shot dead on Thursday night. "The murderer did
not want to kill these people in particular, but everyone living in
the holy city of Jerusalem," said Rabbi Ya'akov Shapira, the head
of the yeshiva. "They knew exactly where they were striking.
They wanted to hit at the heart and that is exactly where they hit,"
Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, a former student and now rabbi of the
Elon Moreh settlement, told the Ma'ariv newspaper. Another
graduate and resident in Elon Moreh, Benny Katzover, told the
paper: "The terrorist hit the apex of national activity of this generation."
Police arrest eight suspects in yeshiva shooting investigation
Jerusalem police chief says terrorist who killed eight Israelis in
Thursday's attack on rabbinical seminary led a normal life and
was not known to police; adds: Shooting not linked to Gaza
operation – Franco said the attack had been planned even prior
to the IDF's operation in Gaza, adding that the shooter had
apparently scoped out the seminary for some time before the attack.
'He was very enthusiastic about getting married'
From mid-morning yesterday the crowd of relatives and
neighbours began arriving at the house of 'Alaa Eddin Abu
Dhaim, 25, the Palestinian from East Jerusalem who is believed
to have carried out the attack that killed eight young Jewish
students at a religious seminary. Relatives said Abu Dhaim
worked as a minibus driver and was well liked and regarded
as religious. He had been engaged for six months to a young
woman who lived further down the valley. His father, an engineer,
was well respected. They said he appeared not to belong to any
of the Palestinian militant groups. Mousa Abu Dhaim, 42, a relative,
said nine members of the family had been arrested by Israeli police
late on Thursday. Five were released in the morning, though others
were still being held. Others said they could not explain why he
carried out the attack. "This is the thing we have no answer for,"
said another relative, who declined to be named. "It was a big surprise
to us and not easy to think about. He was very enthusiastic about
getting married. But circumstances can change, with things here
and pressure from Gaza."
Ahrah al-Jalil claims responsibility for Jerusalem shooting attack
Ma'an received a telephone call on Friday from a person claiming to
be affiliated with Ahrar Al-Jalil (Galilee Freedom Battalion), revealing
specific details about the operation. The caller claimed that a group
loosely affiliated with Ahrar Al-Jalil planned the operation and
provided the weapons and logistical support. Activists in Ahrar
Al-Jalil got acquainted to a former Hamas activist in the second
cell that planned the attack. The man was a friend of Ahmad
Al-Khatib from Kufur Manda, a Palestinian town in the northern
Israel, who stabbed an Israeli soldier in the old city of Jerusalem
last year. They said that Hamas in Gaza knew nothing about the
attack, and it appears that Hamas' military services in exile
planned the operation.
Hamas' armed wing denies claiming responsibility
for Jerusalem shooting attack
Ismail Radwan, a prominent figure in Hamas, told Ma'an:
"We can't claim responsibility for the attack, as political
leadership, because it is Al-Qassam Brigades responsibility
to announce that if they were behind it. We have no information about the issue."
Terror in Jerusalem – no intelligence ahead of attack
After a week of failed efforts to settle scores with Israel for the
casualties caused by its operation in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian
terror organizations scored a string of successes Thursday.
The day began with the bombing of an army jeep along the
Gaza border, which was videotaped by Islamic Jihad. It
continued with a direct rocket hit on a house in Sderot that
wounded several people, and ended with the deadly shooting
attack in Jerusalem's Mercaz Harav Yeshiva, the flagship
institute of the religious Zionist movement. The latter was the
worst terror attack to take place inside Israel in almost two
years. The new year is just over two months old, and the
number of Israelis killed by Palestinian terror - 15 - is higher
than the total for all of last year (13). [compare these figures
with the number of Palestinians killed by Israelis….]
Jordan: Terrorist's family forbidden
from erecting mourning tent
Jordanian authorities prevented relatives of Alaa Abu Dheim,
the terrorist responsible for the killing of eight at the Mercaz
Harav seminary in Jerusalem on Thursday, from erecting a
mourner's tent in the capital of Amman, Dheim's cousin told
the Al Jazeera television station on Saturday. Abu Dhaim also
said the security forces were preventing well-wishers from
arriving to the house and they were even confiscating
their identity cards.
Likud MK demands dismantling of
mourning tent for Jerusalem terrorist
"There cannot be a situation whereby the government of Israel,
in its territory, is allowing people to honor such a vile and
despicable murderer and adorn that honor with flags of Hamas
and Hizbullah, who call for Israel's destruction." he said.
[One hopes that he will next demand that the West Bank
settler shrines to the Jewish mass murderer Baruch Goldstein
be dismantled also] MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) spoke out against
Erdan's call to dismantle the mourning tent, saying
"I fundamentally object to collective punishment. He who carried
out an offense should be punished. I don't think that punishing
relatives is the correct way to deal with problems, it's wrong
and ineffective to punish the family."
Soldiers (not innocent students) killed at settler
center – by Khalid Amayreh
The Israeli electronic and print media on Saturday revealed that the
bulk of the eight Israeli Yeshiva (Talmudic religious school) "
students" killed or injured in an attack on the headquarters of the
Jewish settlement movement in Jerusalem on Thursday were
actually paramilitary soldiers. Merkaz Ha'rav, the ideological
central nervous system of religious messianic Zionism, combines
Talmudic studies with military training in its educational program.
This is known in Hebrew as 'Hesder Merkaz', in which students
perform nine months of military service. Meanwhile, a prominent
rabbi has once again called the Palestinians Amalekites, which
the Bible says "must be destroyed" and "wiped out from the face
of earth." The Rabbi, Ya'akov Shapira, who is also the current
Director of Merkaz Ha'rav, suggested that all Palestinians would
have to be exterminated.
Kill a hundred Turks and rest - by Uri Avnery
THE FIRST step on the way out of this madness is the readiness
to question all our concepts and methods of the last 60 years and
start thinking again, right from the beginning. That is always hard.
That is even harder for us, because our leadership has no freedom
of thought - its thinking is very closely tied to the thinking of the
American leadership. . . We will kill a hundred Turks and rest.
And from time to time, a Turk will come and kill some of us.
Why, for God's sake? What have we done to them?
Daily Star editorial: Slaughtering civilians does
nothing to serve the Palestinian cause
(Beirut) The general right of Palestinians to resist occupation is
enshrined in international law, and the specific impulse to avenge
the past week's atrocities in the Gaza Strip is perfectly understandable
, but those who exercise these prerogatives have a responsibility
to choose targets that will not undermine their cause. Thursday
night's shooting attack on a Jewish seminary in West Jerusalem,
which killed eight young civilians, did not meet that standard. Its
effect will be to damage the interests of the Palestinian people,
including those who, like the gunman, hold Israeli identification
documents.
Muslim American Society: In Palestine, murder will bring
neither freedom nor justice
The pursuit of liberation is a human response to oppression, and one
that is common to all oppressed people, in all periods of history.
But there is a moral and practical, distinction between legitimate
political struggle on one hand, and acts of criminal revenge on the
other. As Muslims, we believe that struggle against oppression,
and self-defense, are not only legitimate, but also required. The killing
of innocent people, on the other hand, is morally repugnant—and
Haram [forbidden]. It's long past time to end the violence, and the
killing, in Israel and Palestine. We mourn the deaths of hundreds of
Palestinian civilians, especially in Gaza. But now, we should also
mourn the killing of the Jewish students in Jerusalem, and call for the
respect for human life as a core value for both sides of this conflict.
An eye-for-an-eye, as Dr. King reminded us, will simply make both
Palestinians and Israelis blind.
Islamic organization condemns Jerusalem attack
The Islamic world's biggest political bloc on Friday condemned the
killing of eight Israeli teenagers in a Jerusalem religious school,
saying it abhorred "violence and terror." In a rare reaction to an
anti-Israeli attack, the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic
Conference expressed "grave concern over, and condemned
the recent killings of students in the west Jerusalem," a statement
released here said. OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu
also "reiterated the position of the OIC against any act of violence
and terror anywhere in the world," the statement added. The OIC
includes Iran, which is steadfastly hostile to Israel.
Zionist settlers try to burn one of the gates of the al-Aqsa mosque
(PIC)-- A group of Zionist settlers tried midnight Thursday to burn
one of the gates of the holy Aqsa Mosque but the attempt was
foiled when one of the guards spotted the smoke billowing from
the area. The guards reported that the settlers threw a petrol
soaked piece of cloth on Sakina corner close to the Silsila (Chain)
gate in the western side of the Aqsa Mosque. One of the guards
spotted the smoke and smelled fire near the gate – he then opened
the gate, saw the blaze and started putting it out, which he did after
almost half a meter of the wooden gate was destroyed. The sources
said that the five cameras in the Silsila gate and a nearby border
police center could not detect the culprit, according to the
police allegations.
Talk to Jazeera: Khalid Meshaal
In this episode of Talk to Jazeera, Meshaal talks about the
leaked US plan of arming Fatah and instigating a civil war in
Gaza. He also talks about rocket fire from the coastal strip
and answers questions about a possible truce with Israel.
Al Jazeera also questions the leader on Hamas's logic behind
rocket attacks from Gaza in light of the recent onslaught by
Israel and the humanitarian loss as a result. The Hamas leader is
asked about his links with Iran and where the group gets its
support from. Meshaal denies receiving any funding or arms from
Iran and insists that Hamas is an independent group, reliant on no one.
Nakba again – by Jonathan Cook
Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai's much
publicised remark about Gaza facing a "bigger shoah" --
the Hebrew phrase for the Holocaust -- was widely assumed to
be unpleasant hyperbole about the army's plans for an imminent
full-scale invasion of the Strip. More significantly, however, the
comment appears to indicate the direction of Israel's longer-term
strategy towards the Palestinians in the occupied territories.
The ultimate goal appears to be a variation on Vilnai's 'shoah':
Gaza's depopulation, with the Strip squeezed on three sides
until the pressure forces Palestinians to break out again into
Egypt. On that occasion, it can be assumed, there will be no
chance of return.
Abbas demands peace after surge of Mideast killing
(Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on
Saturday for talks with Israel despite a surge of violence and
said that a just peace was his people's goal. "We condemn
all the attacks, we demand peace and we are determined to
make peace, and there is no other path but the path of peace
based on international justice," Abbas told a rally at his
headquarters. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said on
Saturday that a special U.S.-Israeli-Palestinian committee, led
by U.S. Gen. William Fraser, would meet probably on Thursday
to examine to what extent the sides were meeting their
commitments under a long-stalled peace "road map."
Several protestors wounded in weekly
Bil'in nonviolent anti-Wall protest
The protesters were stopped by Israeli soldiers at the pass-through
gate of the wall and were prevented from reaching the land that has
already been confiscated from their village. Israeli soldiers then
used tear gas and sound bombs to disperse the demonstrators.
Palestinian youth participating in the demonstration responded by
throwing rocks at the soldiers, who then began firing rubber-coated
steel bullets. An Israeli peace activist, identified as Marina, and a
Palestinian protester, identified as Naji Shouha, were moderately
wounded by Israeli gunfire. Additionally, a number of Palestinians
and Internationals were treated for tear gas inhalation.
Two Palestinian resistance fighters injured near Gaza City
on Saturday at dawn when an Israeli shell exploded near them.
Palestinian Medical sources said that a group of fighters were
gathered outside of Gaza City when Israeli tanks stationed at the
northern Gaza-Israel border opened fire on them, injuring the two.
Dr. Mo'awyiah Hassanin, of the Palestinian Ministry of Heath, said
that one of the two injured sustained critical wounds. Local sources
in Gaza city said that two are said to be from the Al Qassam brigades,
the armed wing of the Hamas movement.
Israeli army wounds four Palestinians in
Beit Fajjar, west of Bethlehem
Medical sources said that two of the injured sustained critical wounds.
Israeli sources said that the four Palestinian youth were injured near the
illegal Israeli settlement of Majdal Ouz, located near Beit Fajjar. An Israeli
army spokesman said that the four were planning to ambush an Israeli
army unit that protects the settlement; the army official added that the
army managed to ambush the Palestinian group before it could conduct
their operation. They added that the four had hand grenades and a
home made bomb with them. When encountering Israeli troops they
hurled the two grenades at the soldiers; soldiers opened fire and injured the four.
IDF arrests three Palestinians who threw bombs at settlement
Israel Defense Forces soldiers operating near Bethlehem in the
West Bank on Friday shot and wounded a group of three Palestinians
who were seen earlier hurling explosives and Molotov cocktails towards
the entrance of the Jewish settlement of Migdal Oz. A fourth Palestinian
involved in the incident was also wounded by IDF gunfire, yet he managed
to flee the scene and elude arrest.
Gaza women rally to mark International Women's Day
Two rallies to mark International Women's Day were held in the Gaza
Strip on Saturday. In the first of two rallies, banners read
"Stop the Siege on Gaza" and "Stop killing women," according to
the UN office in Gaza city. The second rally was organized by the
Union of Palestinian Women in front of the Palestinian Legislative
Council building in Gaza City. The protesters demanded more rights
for women and an increased role in Palestinian politics and governance.
From Dr. Mona El-Farra in Gaza:
Women International Day, Gaza style
it is not the continous military brutalities against us , that will bring
security to Israel , what will bring security to all is
PEACE BASED ON JUSTICE ,and justice means palestinian
people right to live in degnity and eqaulity , based on acheiving
our national analeinable goals . from Gaza , i call upon you all to
show your soliderity and support for us . call upon your goverments
to stop the seige against Gaza NOW. with all my love and happy women day
On International Women's Day, female Palestinian
detainees face torture and oppression
Marking the March 8th, International Women's Day, the Mandela
Institute stated that international human rights groups should
probe violations against female detainees imprisoned by Israel.
According to the Institute, female detainees are subjected to
treatment that violates International Law including the Third and
Fourth Geneva Conventions. The Institute stated that there are
currently 80 female detainees imprisoned by Israel, including two
mothers, who are imprisoned with their children, identified as
Yousef and Ghada. Dozens of detainees are suffering from malnutrition,
and are subjected to torture, denied visitation rights and
put in solitary confinement.
Dichter: E. Jerusalem Arabs involved in militant
activity should be expelled to the West Bank
Vice Premier Haim Ramon said the attack proves that Israel
must leave the outer neighborhoods of East Jerusalem on the
eastern side of the West Bank separation fence, Channel 2
reported Friday. Police Chief Dudi Cohen said on Friday that
the shooting attack at the Mercaz Harav religious school was
an isolated incident carried out by one terrorist, and does not
indicate the start of a third Intifada. He maintained that the
shooting attack was especially severe because the terrorist was
from East Jerusalem and held an Israeli identification card.
MK Lieberman holds Arab members of
Knesset responsible for Jerusalem attack
On Friday, Member of Knesset Avigdor Lieberman, a leader in
the extremist Yisrael Beiteinu party, stated that Arab members of
Knesset were to blame for the recent attack on a religious school
in Jerusalem. MK Lieberman is known for his extreme views including
advocating the forced expulsion of ethnic Arabs from Israel and the
Occupied Territories. He said that Arab members of Knesset are to be
held responsible for the Jerusalem attack since, according to Lieberman,
they incite against Israel and collaborate with the leaders of terrorist organizations.
Mifdal calls for deporting family of Abu Dehaim to Gaza
(PIC)-- The Zionist extremist party Mifdal called on Israeli
interior minister Meir Sheetrit to deport the family of Ala Abu
Dehaim, 24, who carried out the attack on a religious institute on
Thursday, from occupied Jerusalem to Gaza. For his part, Knesset
MP Aryeh Eldad called on the Israeli government to establish a
religious institute carrying the names of the slain Zionists in place
of the Abu Dehaim's family house which is located in the
Jabal Mukabbir neighborhood.
Abdullah offers to rebuild all Gaza homes
JEDDAH, 8 March 2008 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques
King Abdullah has ordered the reconstruction of all demolished
Palestinian homes in Gaza as a result of Israeli attacks, Health
Minister Dr. Hamad Al-Manie said in comments published yesterday.
Missile goes down a union's throat – by Mohammed Omer
(IPS) - Two F-16 missiles were all it took to bring down the
five-storey headquarters of the Palestinian General Federation
of Trade Unions (PGFTU). The Union, established in 1965, is
one of the forerunners of the movement calling for an international
boycott of Israel, and imposition of sanctions on it until Israel meets
its obligations over UN resolutions, borders, and the right of
Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland. Following the
bombing last Thursday, Union members have resumed their work
from a tent, gathering what files and paper they could from under the rubble.
Egypt destroys six smuggling tunnels
The tunnels, which run under the border, were discovered
during a search that began Thursday in and around the frontier
town of Rafah. According to a security official who spoke on
condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak
to the media, the tunnels were in both agricultural and residential areas.
Gaza unites Palestinians, Fatah, Hamas – by Ola Attallah
The Israeli lethal attacks against Gaza . . . turned the tiny
territory into a moonscape with destroyed homes and
scorched earth; but it breathed life into long-dormant unity
between the rival brothers Hamas and Fatah. "Grief has
united us all," Kamal, a Fatah member, told IslamOnline.
Kamal did not think twice and rushed to the home of a Hamas
neighbor to condole with his family after he was killed in one
of the ongoing Israeli missile attacks on the Gaza Strip. Now
he says he will provide for the family of the Hamas victim.
Gaza story – to publish, or not to publish? – by Aijaz Zaka Syed
We face this battle in the newsroom almost on a daily basis.
Every time there's a slaughter of the Palestinians -- which is
almost every day -- we in the news business, especially in the
Middle East, face this predicament: To publish or not to publish?
Many of my fellow journalists and most media networks around the
world are sick and tired of going on and on about the 'Palestine
problem'. They are suffering from what you would call 'coverage
fatigue.' How long can you go on publishing the same stuff,
similar pictures and irritatingly familiar stories?
Fatah and IOA unite against Al-Jazeera TV
(PIC)-- Fatah faction and the Israeli occupation government
have apparently united against the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera
satellite TV as both parties started a campaign to boycott the
Arab satellite TV channel for unveiling the truth about the
Israeli massacres in the Gaza Strip. Fatah lady MP Najat Abu
Bakr asserted that she started a campaign to boycott Al-Jazeera,
charging that the channel was fueling the inter-Palestinian disputes.
Is Israel using prohibited weapons? – by Stuart Littlewood
I have just received from Gaza's Ministry of Health a report into the
effects of prohibited weapons Israel is suspected of using. In July
2006 doctors in Lebanon and Gaza were saying: "We never saw
before wounds and corpses like those that arrive in the ward…
what are these new weapons that cause such wounding and horrible
deaths?" The large majority of victims in both locations were women,
children and elders caught in Israeli attacks in the street, in the market
place and at home. Thermobaric bombs and grenades leave no visible
wound. What they saw led doctors to believe that a new generation
of weapons was being used in both territories.
Committed to inequality – by Ramzy Baroud
Death hovered over Gaza long before locally-made Palestinian
rockets struck near the Israeli southern town of Sderot on
February 27, killing Roni Yechiah and sparking an Israeli
'retaliation' that has already claimed over 120 Palestinian lives.
Yechiah's death was actually the first of its kind in nine months.
For Israel the rockets are important as a pretext to maintain a state
of siege against Hamas, and a low-intensity warfare that creates
permanent distraction from the confiscation of Palestinian land
and the expansion of illegal settlements – and also as justification
for the slow moving 'peace process'.
How Israel taught Hamas all it knows – by Mamoon Alabbasi
Once more, as Israel continues its ruthless attacks on the
Palestinian population (against both civilians and resistance
fighters), mainstream media outlets direct the blame on the victims.
This time the villain is none other than the democratically elected
Palestinian movement Hamas. Of course, no one is suggesting that
Hamas is a movement comprised of angels that have been inspired
by the words of Mother Teresa and had picked up their self-defence
strategy from Gandhi. Frankly, I am not aware of any political
movement that is. What is put forward, however, and has been
missed by ignorant or hypocrite Israel apologists, is the fact that
Hamas is least to blame in the plague that had haunted the region
for over sixty years – i.e. 40 years before the resistance movement
ever came into being. So what do some have against Hamas?
Or, more accurately, why is Hamas singled out?
PYN. Paz Ahora, ISM Spain:
Breaking the siege of Gaza, taking to the streets
After three and a half weeks of waiting at Rafah with much needed
medicines for Gaza, on the evening of Wednesday, March 5, Saif
Abu Keshek, General Coordinator of the Palestinian Youth Network
(PYN) managed to enter the besieged Gaza Strip. Carrying 50,000
euros worth of medicines unavailable or in very short supply in
Gaza, Saif has been at Rafah since February 12, 2008, waiting for
permission to enter, each day told to wait a little longer.
"I finally made it in," said Saif, "but there are tons more aid for
Gaza in dozens of trucks, still held up at the border."
Biblelands joins calls for end to Gaza blockade
BibleLands, the largest UK non-governmental provider of financial
support to the Holy Land, has added its voice to calls from a number
of church bodies and NGOs for an end to the blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Christian Aid, CAFOD, Amnesty International, Oxfam and Save The
Children were among a coalition of NGOs behind a report released
this week which warned that the Israeli blockade of Gaza was a "
collective punishment" contributing to the worst humanitarian crisis to hit Gaza since 1967.
Adalah-NY: Leviev 'spins' protests against his
companies' settlement construction
In a rare interview in the March 7 English edition of the Israeli newspaper
Ha'aretz Daily, Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev responded to questions
about recent protests and calls for a boycott of his companies in
response to their settlement construction in the Israeli-occupied
West Bank. Issa Mikel, a spokesperson for Adalah-NY - the group
that has organized eight protests outside Leviev's Manhattan jewelry
store since it opened last November - commented, "Leviev's
responses were disingenuous and troubling. . . Leviev also portrayed
his company's monopoly over Gaza's fuel supply as somehow charitable.
The silent violence of Gaza's suffering that candidates
and Congress ignore – by Ralph Nader
If Democrats and Republicans were serious about peace in the Middle
East, they would showcase the broad joint Israeli and Palestinian peace
movements. These efforts now include the over 500 courageous Israeli
and Palestinian families who have lost a loved one to the conflict and
who have joined forces to form the Parents Circle - Bereaved Families
Forum. Together, these families are expanding a non-violent initiative
to push for a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Even though some
of the families have visited the United States, their efforts are almost
unknown even to U.S. observers of that area's turmoil.
Rep. Paul stands alone in voting against Gaza bill
On Wednesday, March 5, the U.S. House of Representatives passed
H.R. 951, which condemns the ongoing Palestinian rocket attacks on
Israeli civilians, holding both Iran and Syria responsible for
"sponsoring terror attacks." This resolution problematically
includes a strong defense of the recent Israeli incursions in Gaza.
The resolution passed the House with an unequivocal majority of
404 to 1 with four representatives voting present and nineteen
abstaining. Who was the lone Member of Congress to stand up to
the Israel Lobby? Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) not only voted
against HR 951, but also made a very strong statement explaining
why he opposed such a biased pro-Israel statement.
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