JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel should withdraw from nearly all territory captured in the 1967 Middle East war in return for peace with the Palestinians and Syria, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was quoted on Monday as telling a newspaper.

Olmert, in a caretaker role since quitting on September 21, said he was breaking new ground in calling for a broad pullback from the occupied West Bank, where Palestinians hope to establish a state, and in the annexed Golan Heights, which Syria wants back.

“(I am saying) what no previous Israeli leader has ever said: we should withdraw from almost all of the territories, including in East Jerusalem and in the Golan Heights,” Olmert, who resigned over corruption allegations, told Yedioth Ahronoth.

The Israeli daily called it a “legacy interview,” published on the eve of the Jewish new year, in which Olmert went further in making offers for peace than he ever did publicly when he was in active office, with greater power to see them carried out.

“We wish we had heard this personal opinion … (before) he resigned,” said Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki. “It is a very important commitment but it came so late. We wish this commitment can be fulfilled by the (next) Israeli government.”

According to Western and Palestinian officials, Olmert has proposed in peace talks with the Palestinians an Israeli withdrawal from some 93 percent of the occupied West Bank, plus all of the Gaza Strip, from which Israel pulled out in 2005.

Olmert has said repeatedly that Israel intends to keep major Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank in any future peace deal with the Palestinians.

A peace agreement, Olmert has said, would mean Israel would have to compensate the Palestinians for the land it hopes to retain by “close to a 1-to-1 ratio.”

In exchange for the settlement enclaves, Olmert has proposed about a 5 percent land swap giving the Palestinians a desert territory adjacent to the Gaza Strip, as well as land on which to build a transit corridor between Gaza and the West Bank.

The negotiations, which Olmert has vowed to continue until he leaves office when a new government is formed, have shown few signs of progress and both sides acknowledge chances are slim of meeting Washington’s target of a deal by the end of the year.

VIABLE STATE

Palestinian chief negotiator Ahmed Qurie, speaking before Olmert’s interview, said annexation of settlements would prevent the Palestinians from creating a viable and contiguous country.

“We can’t have a state with settlements dividing the land,” Qurie said.

Another senior Palestinian negotiator said tracts Olmert proposed to exchange in a peace deal “are lands we don’t want.”

Olmert has also engaged Syria in indirect negotiations with Turkish mediation. In the interview, he said peace would be impossible “without eventually giving up the Golan Heights.”

He has so far put off talks on sharing Jerusalem and ruled out a so-called “right of return” for Palestinian refugees, a central Palestinian demand. On both issues, there is strong opposition in Israel to significant concessions.

Olmert, who could face criminal indictment in a corruption investigation, will remain prime minister until a new government is approved by parliament. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is trying to form a coalition.

Additional Links:

Radical Settlers take on Israel

Israel’s Demi-Greek Tragedy

Courtesy: Reuters, International Herald Tribune

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After 115 days in captivity, BBC reporter Alan Johnston was released from Islamic extremists this morning by Hamas.

We are all overjoyed that you are free and returning home to your family!!! May God bless you as you start your road back to normal life!

And we thank Hamas for securing the release of this outstanding reporter and friend of the people of Palestine!

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THE rise of Hamas as a political force in Palestine has not aroused in Pakistan the kind of interest it deserves. An offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and its sweeping electoral victory in January 2006 should not be viewed merely as a reaction to Fatah’s decline in the post-Oslo accord period; there are more important reasons why Hamas became a viable alternative to Yasser Arafat’s Fatah in the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Hamas’s founders, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, who became a cripple at age 11 and remained wheelchair-bound till his murder by Israel, and Abdel Aziz Rantisi once belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) but fell out with it in the late eighties over what they thought was the MB’s lack of a focussed policy on Palestine.

The Muslim Brotherhood and the PLO both posed “problems” for Yassin and Rantisi. Devoted to the idea of uniting the Arab world on an Islamic platform, the MB rejected the boundaries of the Arab states, considered the existence of separate Arab states artificial, and believed in a united struggle by all Arab masses for capturing power. The aims were two – one, undoing the injustices done to the Arab world by the western powers and, two, building an Arab society based on Islamic values and purged of western “impurities”.

Founded in 1929 by Hasan al-Banna, the Brotherhood existed in Palestine the way it did, say, in Egypt or Algeria, and had no specific line of action for Palestine’s liberation. To it, the Palestinian issue was a problem to be solved, just as there were challenges to the Arab world in the presence of British troops at the Suez Canal and in the French occupation of Algeria. The creation of Israel and the occupation of Palestine by European migrants caused no particular change in the MB’s outlook and philosophy.

The PLO had an altogether different aim, its focus being on Palestine. To Arafat and other PLO leaders, pan-Arabism was useful if it furthered the cause of Palestine’s liberation. Founded in Cairo in 1964 by Gamal Abdel Nasser with Ahmad Shukairi as chairman (Arafat became its third chairman in 1969 and remained so till his death), the PLO could not but stick to a secular path at a time when the world was divided between the western and communist camps, with the vast majority of the Afro-Asian masses struggling for freedom from colonialism.

There were significant Christian populations in Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq. If he had to emerge as leader of the Arab world, and perhaps of Africa, Nasser was clear in his mind that his struggle and vision would not be confined to Egypt or Palestine.

Having successfully nationalized the Suez Canal and survived the 1956 tripartite attack on Egypt, Nasser aimed at a bigger role that aimed at liberating Arab countries then under British, French and Italian control and changing regimes in countries ruled by pro-western potentates – as those in Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Yemen, etc.

Trying to unite the Arab masses on an Islamic platform would mean alienating the affiliations of the Arab world’s Christian people. More important, such Islamic fervor would evoke little support from communist powers or from Afro-Asian countries. On the other hand, a secular fight against colonialism would mean fervent support from the communist camp and from Afro-Asian freedom-fighters and non-aligned leaders like Castro, Soekarno, Tito, Nehru, Nkrumah and others.

Ignoring Nasser’s achievements and focusing solely on Arafat, we can see that the strategy worked. By 1994 the “terrorist” leader had won the Nobel Prize for Peace (along with Yitzhak Rabin), and his enemies, who once denied the very existence of a Palestinian people, had conceded the idea of a Palestinian state.

While space does not permit a review of the events following the signing of the declaration of principles (DoP) in September 1993 and Arafat’s return to Palestine, briefly, we can see how Israel’s sabotage of the Oslo peace process and Arafat’s death strengthened the lobby that believed that the DoP was an instrument of capitulation. The post-Oslo period also saw PLO officials vulnerable to corruption charges. This was the vacuum that provided an ideal opportunity for Hamas to make gains at Fatah’s expense

Hamas, acronym for Harkatul Maqavamatul Islamia (Islamic Resistance Movement), came into being in December 1987 a few days after the second intifada, also known as Al Aqsa intifada, began following Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Islamic holy sites. Extensive debate preceded Hamas’s formation, for the MB’s Palestinian members were appalled by the Brothers’ failure to take up the cause of Palestinian territories groaning under Israeli occupation.

Yassin and Rantissi and many other Palestinian members of the MB, including Salah Shehada, Mohammad Shama’ah, Isa al-Nashar, Abdul Fattah Dukhan and Ibrahim Yazuri, were outraged that the Brothers relegated the Palestinian cause to a secondary position and attached greater importance to their Islamic agenda – a policy that often exposed the Brotherhood’s central leadership to the charge that it was working for Israel’s benefit. After intense debate, Yassin and Rantisi came to the conclusion that the Brotherhood did not have an answer to the Palestinian question and that what was needed was a party that would combine the Brothers’ Islamic zeal with Fatah’s focus on Palestine. That is what Hamas is.

It is an indication of the Hamas founders’ realism that they gradually moved away from the goal of the “liberation of Palestine” to the more practical task of making Israel quit the Gaza strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem.

Despite its Islamic commitments, Hamas was careful not to get involved with Al Qaeda or accept its philosophy that believed in terrorist attacks against targets within Muslim countries ruled by perceived pro-western leaders. From this followed a sensible military doctrine that differed in several significant ways from that of the PLO and Al Qaeda. First, Hamas renounced violence against all Muslim countries so as not to expose itself to the charge that it was shedding Muslim blood; second, it did not believe in attacking western targets anywhere in the world; third, it pledged not to carry out military operations outside Palestine.

Hamas’s Islamic philosophy and strong commitment to Palestine and its people are in sharp contrast to the situation in Pakistan where most religious parties pursue policies whose underlying philosophy lacks a focus on Pakistan and shows little consciousness of the country’s sensitive geo-strategic location and its security concerns. This is a tragedy for a country whose foreign policy since independence has been security-centric.

The religious parties’ rhetoric could be the subject of a PhD thesis. But it would not be wrong to assert that most religious leaders’ utterances have served to undermine the Pakistani state by creating contempt among the people for everything Pakistani. They might not have done so deliberately, but their rhetorical outbursts against all Pakistan governments, civilian and military – barring Ziaul Haq’s – have instilled into the people serious doubts about the moral basis of everything Pakistani. Unless they themselves come to power and establish an Islamic “system”, every government department, every NGO, every nurse, every traffic cop and every air-hostess is un-Islamic and therefore must be condemned. Even educational institutions, education itself, and teachers deserve to be reviled and held to contempt.

This philosophy has affected even those who may not be religiously inclined, but one can see its effect on the Pakistani people in the recklessness with which they go about burning public and private property. It is this kind of weird philosophy with extra-territorial loyalties that makes Lal Masjid clerics say that the last rites of Pakistani soldiers killed in battle with Uzbek and other militants should not be performed, because their death was haram. In other words, the loyalty of a segment of our religious leaders is not to Pakistan, but to Osama bin Laden and his militants waging war on the Muslim world’s only nuclear power.

Here we can clearly see the difference between Hamas and whatever is going on in Pakistan in the name of religion. While Hamas stands committed to the peace and prosperity of the Palestinian people, our religious parties lack the same kind of commitment to the Pakistani people whose majority is languishing in poverty and ignorance in a system characterized by gross inequalities in the distribution of national wealth.

That explains why the religious orthodoxy has never tried to mobilize the people’s energies for the stability, growth and consolidation of Pakistan and for its entry into the modern world through progress in science and technology at a rate one sees in China and the Asian tigers. Maybe, this would be an exaggeration to say, but the behavior of certain parties suggests that they would write off Pakistan in return for the Taliban flag to fly on a barren rock in Afghanistan.

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ISLAMABAD: The conference of Muslim Foreign Ministers Thursday called for boycott of Israel, and the principles regarding its implementation should be worked out.

The declaration also called for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, peaceful resolution of Iran’s nuclear issue, stability of Iraq and support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir for their right to self-determination.

The five-page declaration issued at the conclusion of the three-day deliberations of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers of Muslim countries, focused on the challenges facing the Ummah and called for inter-civilization dialog for mutual respect and understanding to strengthen international peace, security and global tolerance.

The foreign ministers condemned terrorism in all forms and manifestations and “denounced efforts to link terrorism with any religion, theology or culture.”

While supporting the establishment of an international center for counter terrorism, they resolved to strengthen cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

They agreed on exchange of information, capacity building and for addressing the root causes that include unresolved conflicts, suppression of people and denial of their right to self-determination.

The Foreign Ministers also condemned the growing trend of Islamophobia and “systematic discrimination against the adherents of Islam.”

“We call upon the international community to prevent incitement to hatred and discrimination against the Muslims and take effective measures to combat defamation of religions and acts of negative stereotyping of people based on religion, belief or ethnicity.”

The gathering also asked the Secretary General OIC to continue initiatives to effectively counter Islamophobia through debate at international fora.

Regarding Israel-Palestine conflict, the declaration says: We reiterate that the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with AI-Quds Al Sharif as its capital, liberation of all occupied Arab territories of Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, return of Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons to their homes and implementation of the Security Council resolutions 242, 338, 1397 and 1515 and General Assembly resolution 194 are vital for establishment of peace and security in the Middle East,10.

It said further: We also call for a just and comprehensive peace between Syria and Israel based on Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Syrian Golan Heights since June 1967 in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions.

The declaration dwells on Iraq situation: We emphasize the importance of early restoration of peace and stability in Iraq. We support the continuing efforts for promoting national reconciliation among all the Iraqi people, addressing the causes of violence and terrorism, preserving the inviolability of Iraq’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and national unity, accelerating the capacity of the Iraqi security forces, and securing the earliest possible withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq.12.

It said further: We emphasize that the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Lebanon must be fully respected. We extend full support to the Government and people of Lebanon in their reconstruction and rebuilding efforts following the damage caused by Israeli aggression.

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‘I want you to do something for me right away!’ I was accustomed to Rughda’s ways and her orders didn’t faze me. She has a good heart and spends much of her time and money trying to help the poor and disadvantaged. So I am happy to be part of her team, on-call whenever she deems it necessary. She explained to me that there was a Palestinian mother and child in the hospital just near my house, and that they needed support in all its forms right away. She told me that the child was a boy, eleven-years-old, who had been injured by the IDF (Israeli Defense Force). I live in Jordan, but most of the hospitals here reserve a certain number of beds, and in some cases entire wards, for the treatment of injured Palestinians.

I tracked down my sixteen-year-old son to go with me, because I always like to remind my own children how lucky they are, and try and instill in them some compassion for others, which is so sadly lacking wherever you look. It’s also important that they learn about what needs to be done in the world, so that when the time comes, they can make a real contribution.

So we set off. It’s only a three minute drive and I was soon striding onto the ward. This is a new hospital and one of the nicer ones in Amman. When I opened the door to the room I couldn’t help wrinkling my nose at the contrast between the smell of the ward and the smell of the room. As I was soon to discover, there were several reasons the room didn’t smell all that fresh.

My heart went out to Bilal the moment I set eyes on him. A waif of a child, he looked younger than his years if you took in his frame and noted the cheap track suit that hung on his sharp little bones. But if you looked at his eyes you got the fleeting impression that you were in the presence of a being hundreds of years old. The wisdom of pain, I was to discover.

His mother was a tough woman. Palestinian mothers have to be because they have no control over how safe their children are, and they never know if they’re going to have all their children safely home come nighttime.

Slowly the story unraveled.

Two years before, around the time that Rachel Corrie was brutally murdered by an Israeli bulldozer, this family had been just one of those to suffer the fate of losing their home when their whole neighborhood was flattened by Israeli injustice. The mother told me her harrowing story:

‘So much happened that day, we just couldn’t keep track of it all. Of course we were all devastated watching our homes become rubble, and seeing our treasured belongings scattered like so much garbage. But worse was to come.

‘The boys of the community had gathered to throw stones at the IDF who were overseeing the destruction of our lives. They were only little boys, five, six, seven. Bilal and his his friend were among the eldest at nine years old. So the IDF focused on them when they gave chase. It was a hot, dusty day, and the boys began to run. They didn’t know where they were going, but they knew that if they didn’t run fast the IDF would catch them and either shoot them or put them in prison. Both options are terrifying for grown men, never mind innocent, defenseless children.

‘Well practiced at running for their safety, the boys managed to crawl under some shutters into a shop without being spotted. They lay on the floor behind some shelving for hours, frightened to come out in case the soldiers were still there.

‘They were so thirsty, that eventually they couldn’t be patient any longer. They crawled around in the shop to see if they could find anything to drink. They were in a hardware store, and it didn’t occur to them that the bottles of clear liquid on the bottom shelf were anything but water. They both grabbed a bottle and prepared to take a swig. Bilal’s little companion was lucky, he felt the sting on his lips and snatched the bottle away, leaving the cruel liquid to splash to the floor. Bilal, in his desperation for something to drink, took a deep draft and staggered backward, gasping for breath. The liquid was acid.

‘Despite his own pain, and blistering lips, Bilal’s companion knew that he’d have to get help quick if he was to save Bilal’s life. In desperation, he crawled back out of the shop and ran to find someone, knowing that if the IDF was still around, this trip could cost him his life.

‘Luckily he managed to find help and Bilal was rushed to the nearest hospital, ill-equipped as all Palestinian hospitals are.’

I took this opportunity to ask about the rest of the family and Um Bilal (Bilals’ mother) continued her story.

‘That day we moved in with some friends on a different street. What could we do? We were all in the same position. At first I was in a daze. I didn’t know where any of my children were, except the youngest two who were with me. I have twelve children. And I’ll have more if I can because it’s the only way we can beat the Israeli occupation. They kill and maim our children and we keep having more. They’ll never win. Allah helps us. No matter how difficult things get, He helps us.

‘As night fell, my children all found where I was and joined me. All except Bilal. At that point I wasn’t too worried. We try never to worry about anything before it actually happens, and you get used to the stress of living from day to day, not knowing who will survive and who won’t.

‘Anyway, about 9.00 pm a neighbor came to tell me that Bilal was hurt and that I should come down to the hospital right away. It was frightening to see Bilal with all those tubes sticking out of him, and looking so sick. I thought he would die. The doctors explained to me that there really wasn’t much they could do, because the acid had burned through his esophagus and all the way down to his stomach. There was no longer a link between his mouth and his intestines. They made an opening in his intestines so that he could be fed, to give us all a breathing space while different specialists were consulted.

‘After a few days of not knowing what to do, the doctors told me that his only hope would be to get to Amman in neighboring Jordan, in the hope that the surgeons there would be able to do something.

‘So I made arrangements for someone with a taxi to take us to the border crossing. We were hours in the sun waiting to go across. I was used to the hatred and contempt the Israelis have for us, but seeing how they were even prepared to make a small boy in so much pain wait for so many hours instead of letting him go through to get medical attention was new even for me.

‘Eventually we were let through and we quickly found a car to bring us to the hospital as arranged. We were there for months and they performed so many operations. But they have all been a failure up until now. We returned to Palestine because the hospital told me they really couldn’t do anything more for Bilal. They showed me how to grind his food up in a small food processor they gave me, and we packed our belongings and made our way back to our sad little neighborhood. My husband couldn’t send me any money. There’s no work. He was a baker, and he had a little baker’s shop, he and his brother. Then one day the IDF fired a rocket into the shop. They said we are terrorists. So now even baking bread is a terrorist act. Anyway, my husband wasn’t in the shop at the time, but his brother was. You know the force of the blast blew him right into the oven. It was horrible. So my husband is alive but he has no work. There is no work in Palestine. So we do whatever we can. Sometimes we go hungry.

‘I didn’t want to take Bilal back to Palestine without finding a solution. But there were no other options. Ten months we were in Amman that time, and I had my baby there. Yes, this one was born in the hospital with Bilal.’

She held up a chubby baby for me to admire.

‘Anyway, the situation continued. Bilal’s morale sank very low. He keeps talking about how he wants to die because he can no longer be a complete human being. So I asked a doctor to try and do something to help us. This time they sent us to a different hospital in Amman. So far they have operated on him eleven times. I’m praying that the doctors here can do something for us and restore my son’s ability to eat and drink, so that he can feel he’s human again.’

I did my job according to Rughda’s orders. I gathered a few of my friends around me and together we raised some cash and a selection of clothes for Um Bilal and her two children, and even for her children and husband back home in Palestine. Having some new clothes was a small diversion for Bilal in the few days it took the surgeons to plan another round of surgery.

On the morning of his surgery, I planned my visit for later in the day, when I was sure he’d have come round from the anesthetic, and they’d have had time to see if they’d been successful.

Walking down the corridor I just sensed that all was not well. As I neared the room, I could hear screaming and shouting. When I drew level with the door I was shocked at the scene inside the room. It was in a state of complete disarray. The baby was crying and there were things lying all over the place where Bilal had thrown them.

The stale smell from the hand-washed clothing and the result of Um Bilal ‘camping out’ in the room, had developed into a stench as Bilal had wrenched the feeding tube from its place and the contents of his stomach were flying everywhere. His mother was trying unsuccessfully to hold him down, fearful that he would do himself serious harm.

‘Let me die! I want to die . . . no matter how many operations they do I’m never going to get better . . .’

It was a heartbreaking spectacle. I left the room in tears, unable to control my own feelings even for the benefit of this tragic family. Downstairs I made a call to the director of the hospital and told him the situation. He promised me he’d get a counselor in there right away to talk to Bilal. I later learned they’d arranged a date for the thirteenth and final surgery the next day. If that wasn’t successful, they had agreed to leave well alone. Bilal’s tiny frame was suffering greatly from the stress of surgery and there had to be a point at which they said ‘no more.’

After his final trip to the operating theatre I approached Bilal’s room with trepidation. It was an occasion of profound seriousness. His entire future hung by a thread and we all knew that. Taking into account his weakened physical state, his inclination to keep ripping out his feeding tube, and his rock-bottom morale, we all knew that if this surgery failed it would probably mean certain death for Bilal. Not immediately, but a slow lingering death—the kind that no eleven-year-old should have to endure.

I pushed the door open gently, anxious to assess the situation before they knew I was there. I first saw Um Bilal’s shining face. She was beaming from ear to ear, so I took heart and strolled inside. With joy I saw that Bilal was transformed from the day before. His smile was bigger than his tiny face.

‘Auntie, auntie, I swallowed water. It went right down to here! I’m cured—can you believe that?’

He gleefully indicated the point where he could feel his stomach. He grabbed a glass from the nightstand and took a tiny, careful sip to demonstrate how it was ‘going down.’ I was again in tears, but this time tears of relief. Here was one small Palestinian life that would continue in hope, at least for the time being.

I haven’t seen or heard from Bilal and his family since. They returned as soon as they could to Palestine; to a life of oppression and deprivation that most of us can only imagine.

Although Jordan is a place of peace and comfort compared to Palestine, and despite the fact that they could have stayed, they returned eager to continue to resist the brutal occupation that deprives them of a future, and deprives them of the comforts of everyday life that we all take for granted.

The very least we can all do today is say a prayer for the Palestinian people, and try and feel with them.

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Hi, I’m Patricia Skinner. Khalid has very kindly invited me to come along today and put down a few words on what I know about life in Palestine to mark Palestinian Prisoners Day. I live next door in Jordan, so we have a clear window on what is going on with the Palestinians on a day-to-day basis.

Most of you will be unfamiliar with Palestinian Prisoners Day. In fact, April 17, 2007 may be the very first time you’ve ever heard of it. For the most part, it affects just a small corner of humanity; those Palestinians living in Occupied territory who have fallen foul of the many rules laid down by their occupiers, the Israelis.

But there are many Small Corners of Humanity being oppressed out there, and together they add up to a mighty chunk of the human race. So We Who Have a Conscience owe it to each other to stick together and support each other’s causes. Don’t you agree?

I expect you’d like some statistics.

The hard facts are that over 20 percent — yes that’s 20 people out of every 100 — of Palestinians living in the Occupied territories have been detained at some point. According to Samoud, the number of prisoners at the moment stands at over 10,000. For a breakdown on the numbers, please visit the website.

Palestinians are allowed to be kept and tortured for up to 180 days without trial, and they can be deprived of legal representation for 90 days of this time. Torture is allowed under Israeli law, and the confessions extracted in this way are even considered admissible evidence in an Israeli court of ‘law.’ The Palestine Monitor will give you more information about this deplorable flouting of the Geneva Convention.

Many children are caught up in the Israeli detention process, more than you’d think because any child over the age of 14 is considered an adult to the Israelis, and will be tried as such. You can learn more here about Palestinian children in detention. I hope that you’ll take a look at these websites before you go on to read my true story about Bilal, a little Palestinian boy I befriended when he was having treatment in Jordan for terrible injuries sustained as a result of trying to get away from the Israeli Defence Force in order to avoid detention and torture.

My final thought is that the statistics are misleading. If you read the stories you’ll come to understand that all Palestinians living in the occupied territories are prisoners. It is up to every one of us to voice dissent and to keep on until Palestinians are free to enjoy their homes and their land, and to build lives for themselves.

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A good friend of mine, Haitham Sabbah, has posted this call to action on his blog, and we are reposting it here in its entirety and in solidarity with our Palestinian brothers and sisters.

On the 40th anniversary of Israel’s illegal military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem, join the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and United for Peace and Justice in Washington, DC, June 10-11, 2007 for a protest, teach-in, and lobby day.

The campaign starts underground - into the Washington subway system, to be exact. Beginning May 13, some 20 downtown Metro stations will be decorate with 46-by-60-inch ad posters and will appear for one month advertising a June 10 rally and march in Washington protesting “Israel’s illegal military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.”

The event is being organized by “End the Israeli Occupation“, and 250 member organizations around the USA.

Of course such a campaign can’t pass without the hidden hand poking its nose in it. The campaign’s effort to publicize the rally already ran into an roadblocks that escalated into a ‘freedom of speech’ issue that eventually involved the American Civil Liberties Union.

The saga began when CBS (the New York-based company that handles in-station advertising for the Washington Metropolitan Area) refused to place the organization’s ad, claiming that it was “too offensive to be displayed in a public place.” The ad is same as appears in the image above. I wonder who is offensive to who? The child challenging the tank on his way to school, or the tank that killed and still kills thousands of innocents in the occupied Palestine every year?!

CBS vice president rejected the ad, saying it appeared to violate company policy. “The ad,” she explained in an interview, “included a picture that I felt was inflammatory and was exploitative of children.”

Senese said the ad was not turned down because of its political stance. “I’m Jewish,” she added, “and I didn’t want to be seen as making a political statement.”

The ad is dominated by a photograph of a child who is facing a giant tank that looms menacingly in the near distance. The accompanying text reads in part: “Imagine if this were your child’s daily path to school. Palestinians don’t have to imagine.” In larger, bold letters, it also reads: “The World Says No to Israeli Occupation!”

Within days of CBS rejection, a campaign official obtained orders from higher authorities instructing CBS to place the ad as is.

Action: If you are in U.S. join the campaign to “End the Israeli Occupation.”

Note: You can download a full size poster from here!

[ratings]

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I have tried for a long time not to bring Palestine into my blog posts because of the natural divisive emotion that is felt by everyone to either side, but there are times when I start to wonder how much is enough. After many years of border wars and fighting, the Palestinians agreed to hold democratic elections to vote in the government that they felt would best represent their needs and protect their homeland, which according to Dubya is what he wants for the Middle East. The Palestinians elected a Hamas led government, only to have the entire international community turn their backs on them and refuse to give the foreign aid that Palestine requires to survive each day. Israel withheld millions of dollars of tax revenue from the Hamas government, and at the same time, the mighty IDF began to launch strikes into the Gaza Strip to kidnap and murder Palestinians to break the Hamas led government. Does anyone remember that days before Gilad Shalit was kidnapped, it was the Israelis that bombed a beach in the Gaza Strip killing innocent families? Do you remember the 20 seconds of news time that was given to this incident?

Soon after Gilad Shalit was kidnapped, the IDF kidnapped elected members of the Palestinian parliament that were affiliated with Hamas and brought them before a judge in Israel on terrorism charges. As if that was not enough, rather than come to the bargaining table and negotiate the release of their soldier, as they have done numerous times before, the Israeli government launched an all out offensive on the Gaza Strip to pound them into submission. Their first strikes were on the Palestinian infrastructure including electricity and water pumping; which progressed into “precision strikes” on civilian homes, elected government officials’ homes and offices and innocent people. Which part of this is not terrorism?

But wait, Dubya, Condi and “Poodle Blair” supported the Israeli destruction of Palestinian life as the world cried out for it to stop. Do you remember how many suicide bombers got to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem? Zero. The Israelis would like the world to believe that they have such a fantastic intelligence operation in Mossad that they were able to foil every attempt, yet they have not been able to find their kidnapped soldier with the same.

Now, the IDF has raided money changers and banks in the West Bank and robbed them of US$ 1 million that was supposedly earmarked for terrorism from Lebanon and Syria. I repeat “supposedly earmarked for terrorism.” This story didn’t come from BBC or CNN, but from the Daily Haaertz. Mohammed Assar, a money changer in the West Bank town of Jenin, said “They took me from my house and forced me to open the door and took everything I have: money, checks, dollars and shekels. They didn’t leave me anything except for the rubble.” While Hussein Yunis, another Jenin based money changer, said “they took my son and everything inside.”

This is not the first time this has occurred, according to the Daily Haaertz. In 2004, IDF troops raided 2 banks in the West Bank city of Ramallah, confiscating US$ 9 million believed to have belonged to Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other militant groups.

What I found most humorous was the story that ran alongside of this one that Condi Rice has told President Abbas not to join the new unity government with Hamas because it doesn’t meet the Quartet’s terms. Out of curiosity, who the hell is Condi Rice to tell anyone what government to support? Dubya’s administration has been plagued with more controversy than any US president to date, including the debating going on today on whether the War Crimes Act of 1996 should be changed to protect US military personnel and the administration from being charged with war crimes. Just the fact that they want to change the act is proof enough that they have violated it! But then when a British soldier admitted in court yesterday that he had violated the War Crimes Act, it makes it a bit more difficult to argue for a change in the law.

Granted, most people around the world don’t know that the US government blackmailed 100 countries that it provides foreign aid into signing an “agreement” not to prosecute US military personnel and government leaders, otherwise the foreign aid would be stopped. All of this while supporting the land grabbing habits of the Israelis that have re-settled over 500,000 families back to Israel on Palestinian land since the 1948 border demarcation, into the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and Sinai Peninsula; supporting the continued state terrorist activities of the Israeli Defence Forces bombing, kidnapping and arresting innocent Palestinians; supporting the building and expansion of an Apartheid wall larger in size than the Berlin Wall that separated East and West Germany. What was it that Reagan said… “Mr. Gorbachev, this wall must go!”

One thing that must also be noted is Israel has categorically refused to follow over 65 United Nations resolutions and has had another 35 resolutions against it vetoed by the United States since 1948. Yet, if you recall the Lebanon conflict, it was the Israelis that were begging for a resolution to disarm Hezbollah.

I will in no way attempt to cover the numerous atrocities that happen daily in the Palestinian Authority, but organizations like B’Tselem - Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, Canadian Muslims for Peace, Ariga, Americans and Palestinians for Peace, Six Common Myths, Global Issues, and Bitter Lemons have done a fantastic job of providing the history of the conflict.

You will also remember the 34 day shelling that Lebanon took due to the “kidnapping” of 2 Israeli soldiers, which most of the Western media forgot to point out were on Lebanese soil when they were taken, as reported by Forbes, China Broadcast News, and Asia Times. What were the Israeli soldiers doing in Lebanon?

No one has yet to ask that question and get an answer because Israel wants the world to believe that Hezbollah came across the border into Israel and kidnapped its soldiers. If you will recall, within hours of the “kidnapping” the Israeli military had started bombing Lebanon. Not southern Lebanon, but Beirut, which had nothing to do with what happened on the border with Israel. The Israelis calmly told the Lebanese that “they were going to bomb them back to the Stone Age.” But then what else do you expect of a coward military that knows nothing more than force and deceit?

At the same time, to make sure that Israel was “properly represented” on all internet discussion boards and forums, the Israeli PR machines started working to continue convincing the world that they were justified in what they were doing. Didn’t you notice that within hours of starting the bombing, Israeli spokespeople were on BBC, CNN, Fox and other news channels defending the fact that they were bombing civilian populations. What was the reason? We want to cripple Hezbollah. They even went to the extent of pointing a finger at journalists that had “fabricated” stories and “doctored” photos. Did they doctor the photos of Israeli children writing hate messages on the bombs that were being used to kill Lebanese children? Did they doctor the photos of the burned bodies that were brought into the hospitals?

But the world watched and cried with the Lebanese and Palestinians as Dubya, Condi and “Poodle Blair” continued to support Israel and allow the bombings to continue. 10 days. Another 2 weeks and then “it will continue until we have achieved our goals.”

Peace will only come to the Middle East when the Palestinian state is allowed to live and grow within the borders that were promised to it by the United Nations and the Balfour Declaration, not to mention the numerous road maps and peace plans that have been agreed upon since. If Israel believes that it has the right to exist and the Muslim states should accept it, then they must accept that the Palestinian State has the right to exist and the Israelis must accept it.

But hey don’t believe me, do your own research. Because I am sure there is an Israeli near you screaming that they are “God’s Chosen People” and this is just liberal propaganda….. But they probably voted for Bush - Cheney too….

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Israel Charges Palestinian Speaker with Being a Member of Hamas

I have tried very hard to keep my opinions about the Lebanon - Israel and Palestine - Israel wars to myself, but when I saw this story on BBC News, I just can’t do it anymore. The Israeli government is charging the Speaker of the Palestinian Assembly with being a member of Hamas. What? Did I hear that correctly? Israel lists Hamas as a terrorist organization, so even though Hamas is the elected government of Palestine, they can sweep into Palestine, kidnap its elected officials and charge them with being members of Hamas. Daily incursions, daily kidnappings, more fabricated charges.

Grow up, Ehud! Israel lost the war to Hezbollah because it was an exercise for your ego. Your entire administration is without military experience and proved it with adept skill during the Lebanon conflict. Israel is dead center of the media for the number of “mistaken” precision bombings that destroyed Lebanon’s infrastructure. What makes Israel different than Al-Qaeda? Oh yes, the support of the crusading US government.

When BBC and CNN reported this story yesterday and it made my blood boil. After 34 days of bombing the hell out of Lebanon, claiming of self-defence as it displaced almost a million Lebanese citizens and killing 1000. Call it what you want, but when a elected democracy abuses, kills and kidnaps citizens of another country, it is terrorism. But when I hear that they are charging the Parlimentary Speaker of the Palestinian Authority with being a member of Hamas because ISRAEL says Hamas is a terrorist organization, I have had enough.

When will the world wake up to these school yard bullies that seem to think that they are judge and jury for the entire Muslim world? When will the international community step in and demand that Israel implement the 60 UN Security Council resolutions that it has refused, REFUSED, to follow? While the conflict in Lebanon was going on, the Israel Defence Forces (the most cowardly military in the world) was invading Palestine daily and kidnapping Palestinian citizens and elected government officials. When it came to a ground war against Hezbollah, the IDF was beaten like little school girls because it was an exercise of the ego, not a planned military battle. Israel had no place in Lebanon and Hezbollah made sure that it was taught a lesson.

Ehud, do you think that this will keep the public from demanding your government’s resignations? Do you understand that Israel has committed an act of war and that if it were to dare do that to a country that has a military, it would be bombed into the stone age? But the Palestinians are not a threat. What is the worst they can do? Throw a rock over the apartheid wall that Israel has built around them? The typically school yard bully, push around those who can’t defend themselves. And Israel claimed self-defence against Lebanon for the kidnap of 3 soldiers. I believe it was Israel’s Defence Minister, Amir Peretz, that said that they would “bomb Lebanon back 20 years.” How dare you?

Is Israel really above reproach? Can no one dare to speak against Israel? Self Defence against Lebanon??? Really?? Was it the Lebanese that kidnapped Israeli soldiers? Was it the Lebanese that were lauching rockets into Haifa and other northern cities? No! It was Hezbollah. But the IDF is a cowardly military force that doesn’t have the ability to fight on the ground, as was demonstrated once the ground invasion started. The Americans have proved that anyone can drop bombs, but it takes military strategies to plan and execute a ground war. Israel’s IDF is an ego exercise for the Israeli government to show its US military might.

I watched Mark Regev on every news channel spewing about self defence and the non-implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1559 for 34 days, while excusing the fact that Israel has not implemented 60 UN Resolutions, including 242 which calls for the end of Israel’s occupation of Arab lands. Mark, do you think that everyone is as stupid as George Bush? Why has 242 not been implemented? You want to see peace in the Middle East and safe borders? Get the hell out of the Arab lands! Sheba Farms belongs to the Arabs. Palestine belongs to the Arabs. Lebanon belongs to the Arabs. Invade and occupy, like George Bush and it will see the same fate as the US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Massive casualities and international embarassment. But that is already happening. The UN gave Israel a country after one of the greatest human atrocities, but that was not enough. Israel deserves more. More of Palestine. More of Lebanon. If left to the Israelis, there would no longer be a Palestine or Lebanon. It would be Israel and Israel alone.

Anyone watching news broadcasts today is hit square in the face with continued reports of the IDF using chemical weapons in Lebanon. Cluster bombs on civilian populations. Refusing to hand over the maps to land mines that were planted during the 16 year occupation of southern Lebanon. These are all war crimes. Maybe Hezbollah should become like Mossad after WWII and start kidnapping Israel’s government officials and metting out justice without the international community involvement. A little of your own medicine may bring you back to reality.

Sadly, the Palestinian’s don’t have a slick PR guy like Mark Regev to turn the international opinion. If the Palestine had a PR guy, you would hear that since September 29, 2000:

• 775 Palestinian children have been killed by Israelis compared to 121 Israeli children
• 4,171 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis compared to 1,084 Israelis
• 30,670 Palestinians have been injured compared to 7,633 Israelis
• The US gives US$ 232,290 per day to Palestinian NGO’s compared to US$ 15,139,178 to the Israeli government per day
• 0 UN Resolutions have targetted the Palestinians while 65 UN resolutions that have targetted the Israelis
• 9,599 Palestinians are in Israeli jails compared to 1 Israeli in Palestinian jails
• 4,170 Palestinian homes have been demolished by Israeli compared to 0 Israeli home demolished by Palestinians
• 60+ new Jewish-only settlements have been built on confiscated Palestinian lands

(Courtesy of If American Knew and B’Tselem - Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in Occupied Territories)

Since its inception, Israel has done nothing but grab land from the Arabs under various excuses about the “security of the Jew state.” And because no Western power has turned around and slapped it across the face as it deserves, it continues to harass and punish the 3.2 million Palestinians for the actions of a few freedom fighters. I will not call them terrorists. If God forbid, my country is occupied by a foreign force and I have to live with the conditions that the Palestinians struggle with each day, anyone trying to get our freedom is a Freedom Fighter. The terrorist is the occupying force!

The best statement that I heard was from the wife of one of the kidnapped Fox News journalists, sitting with the mothers and wives of Palestinians jailed in Israel, with CNN’s camera’s on: “Today, Palestine is a prison and I am in prison with you.” Oddly, I don’t believe that the Palestinians have kidnapped either of these journalists.

Enough crap. One George Bush is enough in this world, we don’t need the Israelis trying to flex their muscle.

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