Mideast churches and India denounce Quran burning

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) -- A Florida church which says it intends to burn 200 copies of the Quran is not acting "within the teachings of Christianity," the patriarch of the Greek Orthodox church in Jerusalem said Thursday. The Council of Churches in the Middle East condemned the plans, calling them in a statement a "detestable crime against the teachings of Jesus Christ, and all of the values of the Church."
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And

India Leads Calls For Action to Stop Koran Burning
KABUL (Reuters) - India led calls on Thursday for the United States to intervene to halt a small church's plan to burn copies of the Koran in commemoration of the September 11 attacks and urged a media blackout to calm tensions.
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Phil Weiss meets 3 American officers in Jordan.

A must read in full..An eye opener!

"I often look around the political rabbithole I went down a few years ago and wonder what I’m doing here and whether I’ll ever get out. I think of all the associations and even interests I had earlier in life that I’ve cut myself off from. I wonder if I'm not bonkers or if I’ve had a temperamental breakdown in midlife that unsuited me for the world. Though generally I end up saying, What the hell, my wife’s ok with it, I’ve got a good life, you gotta do what you gotta do.

In the last couple days I’ve had conversations with three American military officers in Jordan that left me feeling good about my choice. In each case it was the officers who brought up the tremendous strategic liability that Israel represents for the U.S., and two of them used the words “Jewish lobby” without prompting.

I’m not going to give away details because these were two chance meetings; the individuals had no idea what use I’d make of their comments. All three work in the Arab world. One is retired, the other two were passing through. Now let me tell you what they said.

My first meeting was with the retired officer, and it was a little shocking, for while he seemed goodnatured, he twice used the word Nazis to describe Israeli political culture.

We got talking about what we were doing out here and when he told me about Palestinians he knows, I brought up the conflict. He said Americans have no idea how closely intertwined the Israeli military is with our military. He trained on a Cobra helicopter flight simulator back home, and he and every other American had to clear out of the building when the Israelis wanted to use the place. They were control freaks, on American soil. They flew around in F-15s and were refueled by American planes. The officer later visited Israel and was surprised to find out that the society is overwhelmingly right wing; and his military counterparts reminded him of what he’d read about Nazis. They were all in a permanent war mind-set he said, and with who? The Palestinians! Who are they kidding?

“The abused becomes the abuser,” he said. He tried to visit the Palestinian territories and was not allowed because he is American military and retired officers aren’t allowed in there for a period of years. Again; control. During the fierce questioning at the border, he began questioning the Israelis back, he was so angered by them.

This is a man who is pulling for the P.A. and the Israelis to make a deal to establish a two-state solution. But he brought up the “Jewish lobby” to explain our policy here. When it came to the whole Mideast, he was more Chomskyian. “Who weaponized religion?” he asked; "we did," in Afghanistan in the 80s, to fight the Russians.

I didn’t respond-- I think religions are pretty good at weaponizing themselves.

I asked him what generals think of the Israeli presence in our institutional life. All the generals know the story, he said, but they won’t say anything. To get to be a general, you have to be political; and once you’ve become a general, you know that it’s easy to make $1 million in corporate contracts upon retirement. You don’t want to screw that up.

My next run-in was with two officers who are younger and more idealistic. Once again the subject of the conflict came up naturally during a conversation about what we're doing out here. The first officer was blunt about the special relationship's damage to American interests, and he also used the phrase “Jewish lobby,” and mentioned AIPAC, to explain a miserable policy.

He was accompanied by a female officer. She told me of a friend she has back home running for a state legislature, and a supporter of Israel came up to him at an event and gave him $1000 and said, We know you’re strong on Israel. The friend confessed to her that he took the money because he needs it if he’s going to win, so he’s now bought on an issue that he's never said anything aboout and that means nothing to his district. Yes and what happens when he runs for Congress? I told her about all the folks at AIPAC bragging about building relationships with budding politicians, and even cultivating student government presidents.

The two officers have traveled widely here. It cannot surprise any regular reader of this site to hear their view that the issue is turning off the entire Arab world and “fueling extremists.” Ordinary Arabs are far better informed than any American, the officers said. They can quote verbatim portions of Obama’s speeches, they take him at his word. If nothing comes of the latest initiative, there will be rage across the Arab world.

The female officer complained about American ignorance of the situation. Americans have no idea what is going on in Palestine, she said. I argued with her about this a little (and cited the Time Magazine cover Adam blogged about—which turns out to be no great revelation).

She took the conversation further. When she was training in Arabic she had one teacher who told her that Truman’s whole State Department was against Partition and against recognizing the Jewish state. She was shocked to learn this, and then she came out here and understood why. Another of her teachers was a Palestinian American woman. Her mother was dying and she couldn’t get into the territories. The Israelis kept her from going back to the place she was born. Finally she got in, but her mother had died. “And she’s an American citizen!”

The female officer had found it a heartbreaking story that showed that our policy was wrong at two levels, strategic and moral. She sounded like Walt and Mearsheimer!

I won’t soon forget her last words to me, for they resonated in my own experience, and in the experience of many of my friends. “I’ve never thought of being an activist in life. I’m not that type. But on this issue, I am tempted to become an activist. I don’t see any other way that things will change.”

The conversation gave me hope that we are building a movement with new materials at the edges of American political life. We are fighting a political conspiracy in the very sense that Lincoln used that word when he ran for the new Republican party against slave power Democrats and Whigs in 1858 and then 1860. The existing political parties were corrupted by slavery, the Supreme Court was corrupted, the business class, and the main newspapers. They were all going along with slavery, overturning the old agreements to expand slavery in the territories. Taking on the establishment had required activism—building a grassroots movement. Lincoln was a moderate outsider. Remember that he was tolerant of slavery for a time.

And these officers are also moderates, they are all pulling for the two state solution. When it fails, I have little doubt where that female officer will go. Down the rabbithole."

Mondoweiss

PNA rejects settlers' presence in future Palestinian state

RAMALLAH, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) rejected Israel's proposal on Wednesday to keep the Jewish settlers living in the West Bank when an independent Palestinian state is established. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told "Voice of Palestine" Radio that keeping some Jewish settlements would be blocked under the Palestinian jurisdiction. The American World net daily had earlier reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had sent a proposal in secret to U.S. President Barack Obama to keep some Jewish settlers living in the future Palestinian state.
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Keeping those gangsters would be akin to rewarding a thief and a thug for his crimes..

Netanyahu hopes to kick the Palestinian state can down the road by as much as 30 years.

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to introduce any terms agreed in a Middle East peace deal over a period of decades rather than years, it has been claimed.
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PACBI: Artists support for boycott is ‘a groundbreaking, precedent-setting initiative that will significantly contribute to ending Israel’s impunity

Adam Horowitz
Two days ago I posted a statement from the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) regarding the Israeli actors' boycott of a new theater in the Ariel settlement. Many people understandably misunderstood the post (I was unclear) and thought the PACBI statement was referring a letter of support for the boycott from US and British artists, which it wasn't. Today PACBI has released a statement in appreciation of the solidarity effort.
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BDS spreading: from the campus to the streets

Following a sharp increase in divestment efforts across North American college campuses last spring, this academic year promises an even greater number of initiatives, as well as resistance from university administrations to embrace the social justice movement. Mohammad Talaat comments for The Electronic Intifada.
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"Revive the Economy--End Aid to Israel": One Nation march

Join Us at the One Nation march on DC, Oct. 2
The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is proud to endorse "The Peace Table," the peace and anti-war voice of the "One Nation Working Together" October 2 march on Washington, DC "for a future of justice at home and peace abroad, where we create good jobs for all of us and take on the great challenges we face as a nation." We'll be there to support demands for jobs and economic justice by calling for the United States to end military aid to Israel and redirect that money to unmet needs here at home.
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“We Are Going To Carry This Cause On For Everyone Who Cannot.” Rachel Corrie’s Family vs. the Israeli Government

Max Blumenthal
In a small courtroom in Haifa’s District Court, a colonel in the Israeli engineering corps who wrote a manual for the bulldozer units that razed the Rafah Refugee Camp in 2003 offered his opinion on the killing of the American activist Rachel Corrie. "There are no civilians during wartime,” Yossi declared under oath. Yossi made his remarkable statement under withering cross examination by Hussein Abu Hussein, the lawyer for the family of Corrie, who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer in Rafah on March 17, 2003. In the back of the courtroom were Rachel’s parents, Craig and Cindy, and her sister, Sarah, back in Israel for the second round of hearings in their civil suit against the state of Israel. They were joined by supporters, friends and a handful of reporters, including me. No reporters from the Israeli media were present — the case has been virtually ignored inside Israel.
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20 years jail sentence for non-violent protests advocate Abu Rahme

Israel: Activist Convicted After Unfair Trial
(Jerusalem) - An Israeli military court's conviction of Abdullah Abu Rahme, an advocate of nonviolent protests against Israel's de facto confiscation of land from the West Bank village of Bil'in, raises grave due process concerns, Human Rights Watch said today.
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Time's cover angers Abe Foxman (ADL) : "It's anti-Semitic" (yawn)

The ADL is not happy with Time. They sent the magazine a letter today in response to its current cover article, "Why Israel Doesn't Care About Peace." The gist of the article is that Israel is doing so well economically that affluent Israelis don't really care about making peace with the Palestinians. The ADL finds this thesis (wait for it . . .) anti-Semitic.

From the ADL press release:

In a letter to Managing Editor Richard Stengel, ADL called on the magazine’s editors to issue an apology to readers, both for the timing of the article and its calling up age-old anti-Semitic stereotypes about Jews and money.

The insidious subtext of Israeli Jews being obsessed with money echoes the age-old anti-Semitic falsehood that Jews care about money above any other interest, in this case achieving piece with the Palestinians,” wrote Mr. Foxman. “At the same time, Time ignores the very real sacrifices made by Israel and its people in the pursuit of peace and the efforts by successive Israeli governments of reconciliation.

Read more (via Mondoweiss)

Notorious Body Part Snatcher Dr. Yehuda Hiss Autopsied Rachel Corrie – Parts Still Missing

"Sometimes, reading an article about war, I want to puke. Recovering from Max Blumenthal’s latest bombshell from Haifa, that was my first impulse. Eventually, though, I merely cried:

[Dr. Yehuda Hiss] also conceded to taking “samples” from Corrie’s body for “histological testing” without informing her family. Just which parts of Corrie’s body Hiss took remains unclear; despite Hiss’s claim that he “buried” the samples, her family has not confirmed the whereabouts of her missing body parts.

Dr.Hiss came to attention because of this:

The chief pathologist of Israel for a decade and a half, Hiss was implicated by a 2001 investigation by the Israeli Health Ministry of stealing body parts ranging from legs to testicles to ovaries from bodies without permission from family members then selling them to research institutes. Bodies plundered by Hiss included those of Palestinians and Israeli soldiers. He was finally removed from his post in 2004 when the body of a teenage boy killed in a traffic accident was discovered to have been thoroughly gnawed on by a rat in Hiss’s laboratory. In an interview with researcher Nancy Schepper-Hughes, Hiss admitted that he harvested organs if he was confident relatives would not discover that they were missing. He added that he often used glue to close eyelids to hide missing corneas."

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Robert Fisk: The crimewave that shames the world

"It's one of the last great taboos: the murder of at least 20,000 women a year in the name of 'honour'. Nor is the problem confined to the Middle East: the contagion is spreading rapidly
It is a tragedy, a horror, a crime against humanity. The details of the murders – of the women beheaded, burned to death, stoned to death, stabbed, electrocuted, strangled and buried alive for the "honour" of their families – are as barbaric as they are shameful. Many women's groups in the Middle East and South-west Asia suspect the victims are at least four times the United Nations' latest world figure of around 5,000 deaths a year. Most of the victims are young, many are teenagers, slaughtered under a vile tradition that goes back hundreds of years but which now spans half the globe."
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Sarah Palin loves wild life..She owns one

Palin sitting on a dead animal

Translation from Persian and Ahmadinajad's speeches

From the Angry Arab:

"A keen and knowledgeable Western correspondent in the Middle East sent me this (he/she does not want to be identified):
"Hi As'ad. This is unreal. Or rather I'm astounded, but I shouldn't be. we had a story last night on Ahmadinejad in Qatar. I heard the Arabic in passing on TV and it said he said Israel should be destroyed siyasiyyan( politically). I come in today and find, as I feared, [] story misquoting him: Any Israeli attack against Iran means the elimination of the Zionist entity from the world map. no mentioned of "politically"
So I check the Farsi on IRNA. He says: هر اقدامي عليه ايران به معناي پاك شدن رژيم صهيونيستي از جغرافياي سياسي است
i.e. he does NOT say 'map' and he says the Zionist 'regime', as well as 'political geography'; i.e. he means that as a political entity it would cease, not that it's people would be destroyed. the rest you probably know: the original quote from 2005. I got curious and checked it (I read at time it was questioned but I didn't know Farsi then). [] ran him saying "israel should be wiped off the map", baldly; no other words of context. as far as I'm aware, it was this story that provoked the world reaction. but he actually said: imam goft een regime -e ishghalgar -e quds bayad az safheh -ye ruzgar mahv shavad, the Imam said this regime that occupies Jerusalem should be effaced from the page of time. i.e. he's talking about the political entity. I'm not defending him one bit, but he's making a point about the state of Israel, not that the population therein should be exterminated as the Nazis did. and look how successful this propaganda has been: the phrase has become so well-known that someone translating automatically jumped to these phrases "wiped off" and "map" when translating what Ahmadinejad said in Doha last night, fitting his words into this linguistic cast pre-prepared by media, without realising the distortion involved. (or not so successful this time: i caught it.. but not after the story was translated into every [] language service you can imagine)".
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Museum of intolerance

"Yet the museum is being constructed on the site of an ancient Muslim cemetery, desecrating the graves of the interred. Archaeologists believe the Mamilla (Faithful of God) Cemetery holds the remains of tens of thousands of Muslim soldiers of Salah ed-Din, the 12th century leader who reconquered Jerusalem from the Crusaders. The cemetery was actively used by prominent Palestinian families through 1948, when West Jerusalem fell to Israeli troops. Hence the site is immensely significant archaeologically, but is also culturally sensitive to Palestinians. An initial petition by Palestinian families and Islamic groups to the Israeli high court delayed but did not halt museum construction. Speed was the guiding principle of the project, not care for archaeological preservation nor respect for the dead, construction workers recounted to Israel's Haaretz newspaper. The Israeli high court denied a second petition, ignoring evidence that the Israel Antiquities Authority had suppressed the opinion of its own expert in originally permitting the museum's construction.

In fact, chief excavator Gideon Suleimani advised his Antiquities Authority superiors against construction on the site and has since characterized building there as "an archaeological crime."

Anti-Israel economic boycotts are gaining speed

"The sums involved are not large, but their international significance is huge. Boycotts by governments gives a boost to boycotts by non-government bodies around the world.
The entire week was marked by boycotts. It began with a few dozen theater people boycotting the new culture center in Ariel, and continued with a group of authors and artists publishing a statement of support on behalf of those theater people. Then a group of 150 lecturers from various universities announced they would not teach at Ariel College or take part in any cultural events in the territories. Naturally, all that spurred a flurry of responses, including threats of counter-sanctions."
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Munir's Story: 28 Years after the Massacre at Sabra-Shatila

No one has been punished or even investigated for the Sabra-Shatila massacre.

By Franklin Lamb – Beirut

The untreated psychic wounds are still open. Accountability, justice and basic civil rights for the survivors are still denied.

Scores of horror testimonies have been shared over the past nearly three decades by survivors of the September 1982 Sabra- Shatila massacre. More come to light only through circumstantial evidence because would be affiants perished during the slaughter. Other eyewitness are just beginning to emerge from deep trauma or self imposed silence.

Some testimonies will be shared this month by massacre survivors at Shatila camp. They will sit with the every growing numbers of international visitors who annually come to commemorate one of the most horrific crimes of the 20th century.

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The fascistic Israeli right-wing plan for a one-state solution is out and pushed

Worse than any apartheid! Where the Palestinians are not only second rate citizens but have no political will or power..Conditions for them here:

1. Arabs would be required to declare loyalty to Israel as a Jewish (and democratic ) state.

2. They would be subject to a security check

3. They would have to sever all ties, legal or otherwise, with their relatives in Jordan and other countries.

4. Those Arabs who are refugees from the 1948 War of Independence and their descendants would be required to declare they are forgoing both their right of return to Israel proper and their property claims.

And:

Gaza would come under Egyptian rule.

In short Israel should annex the West Bank, and create a One State from the Jordan to the Mediterranean.The Two State Solution is dead in the water as it is just another land grab by the Arabs for another terror state from which to murder Jews.

No less! But hey in case you forgot...Those people are in power..
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Historian Avi Shlaim on the peace talks

"The prospects for reaching a permanent status agreement are poor because the Israelis are too strong, the Palestinians are too weak, and the Americans mediators are utterly ineffectual. The sheer asymmetry of power between the two parties militates against a voluntary agreement. To get Israelis and Palestinians round a conference table and to tell them to hammer out an agreement is like putting a lion and a lamb in a cage and asking them to sort out their own differences.

Third party intervention is clearly indispensable. To put it more simply, there can be no settlement unless America pushes Israel into a settlement. Playing the honest broker will not do the trick. In the first place, most Arabs regard the United States as a dishonest broker on account of its palpable partisanship on behalf of Israel. Moreover, honest brokerage is not enough. In order to bridge the huge gap separating the two sides, America must first redress the balance of power by putting most of its weight on the side of the weaker party."

Read more-The Guardian

Mearsheimer: There will be no 2-state solution, only a greater Israel, and Palestinians will need the int’l community in the fight against apartheid

"The talks are going to fail and who's going to be blamed-- the Palestinians."

[Obama has caved to Netanyahu twice. In July, Obama invited Netanyahu to the White House and] "treated him like visiting royalty. He's 0 for 2. He's bringing these two leaders to Washington with no sense of how they're going to reach agreement... Israel holds virtually all the cards in this game... And President Obama has proved clearly that he's incapable of putting pressure on Israel... The [cause] is very simple, the Israel lobby here in the United States.

"The peace process was not a major step forward because it's led nowhere and has provided perfect cover to the Israelis to continue colonization... The peace process is a charade....

"Where is this all headed?.. You're going to end up with a greater Israel.

You already have a greater Israel. It's going to be one state. The Palestinians are going to have a handful of enclaves inside that state, one of which is the Gaza Strip, and there will be three or four in the West Bank. This will be an apartheid state... That's where it's headed. But it's Israel in the driver's seat. And the United States is merely Israel's lawyer...

"How [can] the international community... facilitate the two state solution? I think that question is largely irrelevant. There's not going to be a two-state solution. There's going to be a greater Israel, and the Palestinians are going to live in a greater Israel. The reason that the international community is of enormous importance to the Palestinians is because the big fight that lies ahead is going to involve democracy inside of that greater Israel. What the Israelis are going to try to do is keep the Palestinians boxed up in Bantustans... The South African model, that's correct."

(Via Mondoweiss)

Why this is not more widely known?

Someone posted this comment on Mondoweiss in regards to the stoning sentence of a woman in Iran..Here he writes of another comment made that doesn't seem to be in accord with what we hear everywhere:

It seems the whole story about stoning to death is nonsense. Here is a comment by b (Bernhardt) formerly of moonofalabama.com posted at Pat Lang’s sic semper tyranis blog.

“There is a lot of propaganda around this story and hardly a fact reported in the western media.

From what I gathered:

1. The woman was sentenced by a low court for aiding and abetting to murder her husband and for adultery and the punishment of stoning to death.

But in July the highest Iranian court judged that this was invalid and that the lower courts opinion was false.

There simply is no case anymore against that woman for adultery and there is no legal sentence of stoning her to death. It simply doesn’t exist anymore.

2. There is a sentence against the woman for aiding and abetting to the murder of her husband. That sentence is to 10 years of prison.

So far the facts.

Since 2002 stoning is abolished in Iran. While it is still on the books, it is no longer used.

Stoning:

The Iranian judiciary officially placed a moratorium on stoning in 2002, although the punishment remained on the books, and there were a few cases of Judges handing down stoning sentences in 2006 and 2007 [21] In 2008, Iran’s judiciary decided to fully scrap the punishment from the books in a legislation submitted to parliament for approval.[22] As of June 2009, Iran’s parliament has been reviewing and revising the Islamic penal code to omit stoning as a form of punishment.[23]
…
In July 2010, the Iranian judiciary spokesman Jamal Karimirad was quoted as saying “Stoning has been dropped from the penal code for a long time, and in the Islamic republic, we do not see such punishments being carried out”, further adding that if stoning sentences were passed by lower courts, they were over-ruled by higher courts and “no such verdicts have been carried out.”[26]

A crazy judgment by a lower court is certainly not something unusual even in the U.S.

So what is all the fuzz about if not for simple Iran bashing to prepare the public for war against Iran?”

Posted by: b | 06 September 2010 at 08:16 AM

Comment posted by Lysander(mondoweiss). Here

The list of the 150 US actors directors and film industry artists signatories of the solidarity letter

Solidarity with the Israeli actors who refuse to perform in the settlements, that is..
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Executed Mavi Marmara IHH humanitarian worker Cevdet Kiliçlar was no terrorist. He was a humanitarian worker

Photos: Cevdet Kiliçlar, aid worker with the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), participating in the IHH's program to supply clean drinking water through the drilling of new wells in villages across the Sahara belt of northern Africa; Niger, 2007.

Related:

1.

Cevdet Kiliçlar (second left) gestures to onlookers at the quay side as the Turkish merchant vessel Mavi Marmara departs Turkey for the Gaza Strip, May 2010. (via)

2.

Cevdet Kiliçlar (camera in hand) aboard the MV Mavi Marmara as it is boarded in international waters by Israeli troops, 31 May 2010. (via)

3.

The body of Cevdet Kiliçlar, below decks on the MV Mavi Marmara, shortly after Kiliçlar was shot through the forehead by an Israeli soldier who boarded the vessel on 31 May 2010. (IHH, via)

4.

Surgeons begin work at the IHH's newest clinic, the Cevdet Kiliçlar Operating Theater, which opened in Khartoum on 21 July 2010. The facility will provide free cataract surgery to restore sight to about 5,000 Sudanese patients per year. (via)

(Laurance of Cyberia)

Tony Bliar pelted with IRISH eggs and shoes at book signing

Skirmishes broke out between protesters and police at the first public signing for Tony Blair's memoirs, with shoes and eggs hurled at the former prime minister.

Four men were arrested and charged with public order offences for their part in the protest this morning outside Eason's bookshop on O'Connell Street in Dublin, Ireland, which involved anti-war demonstrators and the Continuity IRA-aligned Republican Sinn Féin, who oppose the Northern Ireland peace process.

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I love the Irish!

Jewish militia in the US trains to face-off "Muslim threat"

A Jewish group in the U.S. shares the view that Israelis are in danger wherever they are - and believes they should prepare themselves for the worst. Its members are involved in intensive training in military skills and survival methods. But as Lauren Lyster discovered, critics claim their enemy is mostly in the mind...

This is big news: 150 U.S. actors, directors back Israeli boycott of West Bank theater

More than 150 American actors, writers, directors and other artists sign letter of support for the Israeli actors who said they would not perform in Ariel.

More than 150 American actors, writers, directors and other artists signed a letter of support for the Israeli actors who declared they would not perform in the West Bank.

The American signatories include Cynthia Nixon, who plays Miranda on "Sex and the City"; Mandy Patinkin, who played Inigo Montoya in "The Princess Bride"; and character actor and writer Wallace Shawn, who played the principal in "Clueless."

	"Sex and the City" actress Cynthia Nixon

Ten days ago, the Israeli actors caused a storm when they released a petition stating they would not perform in the West Bank. Their move was prompted by reports that the theater companies were planning performances at the new cultural center in Ariel.

Read more Haaretz

Guy Denning - painting 'Nakba 2'

Working from initial drawing to finished painting over a two month period on 'Nakba painting 2'

Artist statement:
"Though I have produced work in sound, found objects, performance and the written word, the one constant in my practice has been painting. I believe art has a social function and as such artists have a responsibility to engage with an audience that may not be schooled in the finer intricacies of contemporary art theory. I have moved away from painting that engaged directly with the previous histories of High Modernism (something that took up much of my earlier work), and now tend to figurative, sometimes politically directed, work. I'm bitter. I look on it as one of my few positive character traits "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Denning
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With the beautiful Famous Blue Raincoat by Leonard Cohen as a soundtrack..
His website: http://www.guydenning.org/

Iraq Sunni fighters (of Al Sahwa) fear US pullout

Al Qaeda has apparently found a new number one enemy in Iraq since the US fully ended its combat mission there on Tuesday. An armed group of Sunnis - known as Awakening Councils or Sahwa - say they have become the main target of attacks from Al Qaeda. The Sahwa, many of whom used to fight US-led coalition forces in Iraq before switching sides, took up arms against Al Qaeda late in 2006 until 2008 with the support and backing of the foreign troops. They have been credited with helping reduce violence across the country, but now many members of the group fear the consequences of the departure of US troops. Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna reports from Baghdad, Iraq's capital.
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This raises an evident question: Who or what brought Al Q'aida to Iraq?

The Audacity of Cynicism, Elise Hendrick

"Barack Obama’s Iraq speech - is an impressive entry in the annals of war propaganda. In it, he glosses over a criminal war as ‘a remarkable chapter’ in US history, and creates the false impression that the occupation of Iraq is over. He places the responsibility rebuilding a society out of the rubble we created on the shoulders of the Iraqi people."
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Activists promote Egypt's spy chief Omar Suleiman for president

CAIRO: Activists hung posters across Cairo Thursday supporting Egypt's intelligence chief as a candidate in next year's presidential polls, the latest campaign to try to undermine a possible father-son succession in the Arab world's most populous nation.
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The Number One Religion in the U.S. May Be Egonovism, Not Christianity

"The term “Egonovism” comes from the latin “ego,” meaning self, and “novo” to make new, rewrite, or invent. And it fits perfectly. The individual develops their own personal religions system and borrows ideas from established religions that they’re familiar with. Many Egonovists include the Christ figure in their religion, and hence they self-identify as Christians."
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Historian Avi Shlaim: I’m not a refugee, my family left Iraq because we felt ‘insecure’ after Zionists wiped Palestine off the map

"I was five years old in 1950 when my family reluctantly moved from Baghdad to Ramat Gan. We were Arab Jews, we spoke Arabic, our roots went back to the Babylonian exile two and a half millennia ago and my parents did not have the slightest sympathy with Zionism. We were not persecuted but opted to leave because we felt insecure. So, unlike the Palestinians who were driven out of their homes, we were not refugees in the proper sense of the word. But we were truly victims of the Arab-Israeli conflict."
(Avi Shlaim reviewing "In Ishmael’s House: A History of the Jews in Muslim Lands", by Martin Gilbert) The Financial Times
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American artist and film maker Julian Schnabel brings Palestine to Venice

Director talks of 'responsibility' to tell story of Middle East conflict in film Miral, told through eyes of two Palestinian women. The American artist and film-maker Julian Schnabel said he felt a "responsibility" as a Jew to tell the story of Palestine when he opened his new movie at the Venice film festival. Schnabel's film Miral, competing with 22 others for the Golden Lion award, brought a note of seriousness to an event that sometimes veers towards the frothier side of culture.
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I remember Schnabel as a painter in the 80s and an abominable one at that. Maybe one of the worst I've EVER seen. Sloppy, hypish, technically challenged and aesthetically impaired. (see one here) But not surprisingly as it was the trend then he was immensely successful and any of his paintings would fetch tens of millions at that time (I've been told they go for peanuts now but that could be an exaggeration).. But then he started making films, one on artist Jean-Michel Basquiat which was a good movie (with David Bowie as Warhol) and then he followed with other highly praised and awarded films. I'm glad to see he found the right path not only artistically but also politically..

The Militarization of An Arab School in Israel

"The families of the Arab-Druze students at the ONLY high school in the Beit Jann village in Israel will start their fight on Wednesday Sept. 1 2010 “a battle” against the militarization of their school and children by the Israeli Education Ministry. The inhabitants of Beit Jann suffer under harsh discrimination in the civil rights, social, economical, and financial development of their town when compared to the jewish squatter colonies, towns and cities which were established nearby on the land of Arab since 1948. Beit Jann is a Druze village on Mt. Meron, in northern Israel. At 940 meters above sea level. Beit Jann is one of the highest inhabited locations in the country. In 2007, the population was 10,300. Under these hard conditions of discrimination and inequality in their civil rights which the Arab inhabitants of Beit Jann live, Israel intends to open a military air force class in the village and force the students who choose to learn physics, electronics and scientific subjects to enroll in the class of the Israeli Air Force. It is compulsory for every student to go to school wearing military uniform and to stand in the morning singing Israeli military songs and raising the Israeli flag.
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The Irish, rightly, do not trust Israel

EC halts proposed data deal with Israel
The European Commission has halted a proposal to allow Israel access to potentially sensitive data on European Union citizens following concerns expressed by the Irish Government.
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They called his grandfather a traitor

Via The Angry Arab:
"Even kids in Palestine know what he is up to: his grandson came to him crying and explained that children at his school had called his grandfather a "traitor".
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The Saudi-Israeli alliance (The Angry Arab)

"But more recently, the Saudis pressed Mr. Abbas to agree to the direct talks, using their financial aid to the Palestinian Authority as a lever."
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Shin Bet electrocuted child prisoners to extract confessions

Following a visit yesterday to some young prisoners being held at the Megiddo Prison, lawyers for the Ministry of Detainees have stated that the young prisoners testified under oath that they had been interrogated and systematically electrocuted and tortured by Israeli intelligence officers in settlements near to Palestinian cities. According to Salim Redouane who was arrested near Qalqilya on 08.05.2010, he was kept in a camp near Tzofin for 3 hours before being transferred to the settlement of Ariel where he was questioned by Shin Bet interrogators. His head was repeatedly hit against the prison room wall in an effort to get him to confess and he was beaten severely. The investigators threatened to burn his skin if he did not confess to the accusations against him.
Red more

Eden Ebergil's `Facebook Arabs` speak out

The photographs posted by former Israeli soldier Eden Aberjil on her Facebook page caused a great storm around the world and embarrassed the State of Israel. Everyone focused on the image of the soldier who violated the dignity of the bound security prisoners, but no one showed any interest in who these prisoners are.

"`I felt sexually assaulted`

After over an hour of driving, in a tank and bus, with their eyes covered and their hands cuffed – according to Eid – they reached Zikim. `The soldiers untied the cuffs in the back and cuffed me in the front. Then they seated us on concrete blocks, ` he says. `Father sat on the block next to me and moaned with pain from the cuffs. I heard a soldiers telling my uncle Asad, `Tell your brother to shut up, or else you`ll be crying over him.` We sat like that for half an hour.`

During that half hour, a group of female soldiers arrived. One of them was Eden Aberjil. `I heard the voices of several female soldiers laughing and shouting,` says Eid. `Guessing from the sound there were about 10 of them. One of them sat next to me and asked, `What`s your name?` I answered, `Eid`.

`She told me, `You are a terrorist`. Then she told me to sit on another block, next to my uncle Asad, and she sat down between us. She told my uncle: `You are Osama bin Laden.` Then she grabbed me by my beard and said, `You are Osama bin Laden`s son and are a terrorist just like him.` Then I heard to the clicks of cameras and the soldier told her friend, `Sawri, sawri,` which means `take a picture` in Arabic.`
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"American Radical" Norman Finkelstein: Israel losing PR campaign

In an exclusive interview with RT's Marina Portnaya, American-Jewish academic Norman Finkelstein takes on his critics, and accuses the US of coddling Israel, while undermining Brazil and Turkey. The outspoken Palestinian supporter is lobbying to speak at the United Nations, to promote progress for a Middle-East Peace Process.

Scores killed in suicide attack on Pakistan shia celebrating Quds Day

At least 43 people were killed and 80 injured in a suicide attack targeting a Shia Muslim rally in Pakistan's southwest city Quetta. Police on Friday said the bomber was among the 450-strong crowd and detonated on reaching the main square in the city, triggering chaotic scenes, with people setting fires as others fled or lay on the ground to avoid ongoing gunfire. The bomb appeared to target the rally being held for Al-Quds day, an international event held every year by the Shia community, opposing Israel's control of Jerusalem and showing solidarity with Palestinian Muslims. It is the second time this week the Shia minority has been targeted with a deadly attack. Al Jazeera's Tarek Bazely reports.
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Settlers: "We Are Building" All Over West Bank

Democracy Now:
"The talks are being held despite Israel’s refusal to freeze settlement construction in the occupied West Bank. On Thursday, the head of the West Bank settlers council, Naftali Bennett, declared an end to Israel’s partial settlement freeze and vowed to continue building."
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Coercion is for Palestinians only

Source: Abbas under U.S. pressure to continue talks even if settlements expand
Even if the PA agrees that some settlement blocs will remain in Israeli hands in a future agreement, Abbas cannot agree to a continuation of construction during direct talks, says a senior source.
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More building with US blessing!

U.S. gives Israel green light to build in 57 West Bank settlements
As de facto Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas ventures into futile negotiations with Israel, the U.S. has given Israel the green light to resume construction in 57 Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, Israeli sources said, despite the alleged decision to freeze settlement activity until September 26.
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Churches standing up to 'pro-Israel' politicians

Antony Loewenstein
Church vs State
The Australian Jewish News (AJN) was outraged. Its editorial in late July condemned the National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA) for a resolution calling on Australians to boycott Israeli goods made in the occupied Palestinian territories. The AJN wrote that the move contributed to a global campaign to 'delegitimise' Israel and lent 'credence to the perception of an apartheid state.'
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Music to the ears: British band Massive Attack backs boycott of Israel

The silent treatment

"...one of Britain's most successful bands, Massive Attack, is publicly backing the boycott.

“I've always felt that it's the only way forward," Robert Del Naja, the band's lead singer, tells me when we meet at the Lazarides gallery in Fitzrovia, London...

"We were asked to play Israel and we refused," he says. "The question was asked: 'If you don't play there, how can you go there and change things?' I said: 'Listen, I can't play in Israel when the Palestinians have no access to the same fundamental benefits that the Israelis do.' I think the best approach is to boycott a government that seems hell-bent on very destructive policies. And it's sad, because we've met some great people in Israel, and it's a difficult decision to have to make."...

“We are not going to achieve a quick lib­eration," Del Naja concedes, but says the point is to apply "pressure, the continual pressure that's needed"....

“The boycott is not an action of aggression towards the Israeli people," he says. "It's towards the government and its policies. Everyone needs to be reminded of this because it's very easy to be accused of being anti-Semitic, and that's not what this is about."

The New Stateman-Read more

Devendra Banhart cancels Israel show

Liars - The Overachievers (remix by Devendra Banhart)

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LIFE IN TALIBANISTAN, Part 1; Throw these infidels in jail

Pepe Escobar
Dear reader: let's sit back, relax, and take a trip down memory lane to prehistoric times - the pre-9/11, pre-YouTube, pre-Facebook world. Ten years ago, Taliban Afghanistan - Talibanistan - was under a social, cultural, political and economic nightmare. Arguably, not much has changed. Or has it? Ten years ago, New York-based photographer Jason Florio and myself slowly crossed Talibanistan overland from east to west, from the Pakistani border at Landi Kotal to the Iranian border at Islam Qillah. As Afghan aid workers acknowledged, we were the first Westerners to pull this off in quite a while.
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What the U.S. Leaves Behind: An Unstable, Vulnerable Iraq

Tony Karon
When President Obama announced on Tuesday night that "Operation Iraqi Freedom is over and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country," he was signaling an end to the U.S. military's effort to remake Iraq — "nation building," as it's sometimes known. "As our military draws down," he explained, "our dedicated civilians — diplomats, aid workers and advisers — are moving into the lead to support Iraq as it strengthens its government, resolves political disputes, resettles those displaced by war and builds ties with the region and the world."
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The Israel lobby will be televised

Philip Weiss
What do I mean by the Israel lobby? Well for one thing, I mean the routine inclusion of a pro-Israel point of view in our media, without contradiction. For the better part of an hour this morning, MSNBC featured commentary on the peace talks from Mitchell Bard, an advocate for Israel (here he says that the U.S. and Israel have common values and common interests and pushes to get Israeli professors hired at American universities and to improve Israel's image). Bard has written a book called The Arab Lobby, which I am betting claims that American policy in the region is driven by Arab interests; MSNBC featured images of the book's cover. So an advocate for Zionist ideals is given a platform on American television-- without the other side. No John Mearsheimer, no Ali Abunimah.
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A country subject to severe indoctrination

Haaretz - Editorial - The history books have already been rewritten. The Palestinian perspective of the Nakba - which is apparently at odds with the sterile Israeli narrative offered by Dr. Zvi Zameret, chair of the ministry`s Pedagogic Secretariat - has been censored, leaving only hollow praise for the state`s establishment. The Oslo Accords have been erased, and Holocaust studies have been expanded to "strengthen Jewish identity," while any reference to the wider context of the rise of European fascism has been omitted.
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Hypocrisy: US Condemns Killing of Israelis But Almost Never Of Palestinians, M.J. Rosenberg

The first statement to come out of the meeting between President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu was Obama's strong condemnation of the horrific killing of four Israeli settlers on the West Bank. These were civilians who were simply driving in a car when Hamas snipers took them out. The President was right to condemn these murders. Of course, we rarely, if ever, officially condemn the killing of Palestinians by the Israelis even though Israel is an established government (not a terror outfit), the largest recipient of US foreign aid and uses the weapons we supply (gratis) to do the killing. We did not condemn the Gaza onslaught in which the IDF killed 1,200 Palestinians (including 432 kids). We do not condemn the routine killing of Palestinian civilians by the army or the settlers. We did not condemn the the shooting of the American Jewish girl from Maryland who lost an eye for protesting the Gaza ship raid. We did, however, condemn the Goldstone Report for delineating what the IDF did in Gaza.
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Israeli settlers go on attacking spree in Hebron

Hebron, September 1, (Pal Telegraph) Tens of Israeli settlers started throwing stones at Palestinian vehicles which were passing today near the settlements of Kiryat Arba and Beit Hagai overlooking the street of Hebron - Beer Sheva- which is called Line (60) of settlements.
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50 settlers attack Palestinian family following Hebron shooting; Israeli soldiers stand and watch

Just after midday a large group of settlers from an illegal outpost near to where four Israeli settlers where shot and killed last night, carried out an attack on an innocent Palestinian family.
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In summer, West Bank towns have little water while settlers fill their swimming pools

Judith Sudilovsky - Imemc News - "I feel so angry when I see (the Israelis) watering their fields. They have lots of water and we don`t have water to drink," said Ali, who lives with his parents and three siblings in the last house of the village bordering the fencing and security road. With no running water in the village, Ali has to determine every morning whether his family has enough water in their tank for him to take a shower.
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Settlers build new settlement in Hebron

Hebron, September 2, (Pal Telegraph) Hundreds of Israeli settlers started last night building a new settlement on the territory of the farming village of “Baq’a”, east of Hebron in the West Bank. A villager named Mar’i Jaber (local witness), said that large numbers of Israeli settlers raided the village in the evening, with amounts of cement, sand, wood and water tanks in preparation for starting the construction of illegal outpost on a mountainous area located on the eastern side of the village.
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A nation of thieves! Two-thirds of Israelis support settlement building: poll (AFP)

AFP - Two-thirds of Israelis support a total or partial resumption of settlement building in the occupied West Bank, according to a poll broadcast on Wednesday, as peace talks are due to restart in Washington.
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Robert Fisk: Blair should take responsibility for Iraq. But he won't. He can't

This is not a debate, it's a bloody, blood-soaked disaster for which the former PM should take responsibility

Has this wretched man learned nothing? On and on, it went during his BBC interview: "I would absolutely...","I definitely...", "I believed absolutely clearly...", "It was very, very clear that this changed everything" – "this" being 11 September 2001 – "Let me state clearly and unequivocally", "The Intelligence picture was clear...", "legal justification was quite clear", "We said completely accurately... "Because I believed strongly, then and now...", "My definitive view in the end is..." You would have thought we won the war in Iraq, that we were winning the war in Afghanistan, that we were going to win the next war in Iran. And why not, if Lord Blair of Kut al-Amara says so.
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Stephen Hawking says universe not created by God

Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why we exist, says Stephen Hawking.

God did not create the universe, the man who is arguably Britain's most famous living scientist says in a forthcoming book.

In the new work, The Grand Design, Professor Stephen Hawking argues that the Big Bang, rather than occurring following the intervention of a divine being, was inevitable due to the law of gravity.

In his 1988 book, A Brief History of Time, Hawking had seemed to accept the role of God in the creation of the universe. But in the new text, co-written with American physicist Leonard Mlodinow, he said new theories showed a creator is "not necessary".

The Grand Design, an extract of which appears in the Times today, sets out to contest Sir Isaac Newton's belief that the universe must have been designed by God as it could not have been created out of chaos.

Read more-The Guardian

But of course, chief Rabbi of England doesn't like the idea: It lacks "logic"..

Lord Sacks accuses astrophysicist of logical fallacy in book excluding possibility of supernatural creation

The New York Times: Wiesenthal Worked for Mossad, Book Alleges

JERUSALEM — Simon Wiesenthal, a Holocaust survivor who gained worldwide fame for decades as a one-man Nazi-hunting operation, was in fact frequently on the payroll of the Mossad, Israel’s spy agency, a new biography asserts.

The assertion, based on numerous documents and interviews with three people said to be Mr. Wiesenthal’s Mossad handlers, punctures not only a widely held belief about how he operated; it also suggests a need to re-evaluate the standard view that the Israeli government took no interest in tracking down Nazis until the 1960 capture in Argentina of Adolf Eichmann, and little thereafter.

Amen to that!

From the Angry Arab:

Peace
"Of course peace won't emerge from the masquerade in Washington, DC but will eventually emerge--but only after the demise of Israel and the elimination of Zionism from historic Palestine."

Posted by As'ad at 10:00 AM 09/2/10

Angry

From the Angry Arab
"Don't you love it when White House Middle East experts (I mean, the two top Middle East hands, Feltman and Shapiro are horrible caricatures of classic DC Arabists who have been shunned from policy making since the Clinton administration) in Washington, DC invite King PlayStation and Husni Mubarak on the assumption that they would add legitimacy to the presence of the PA gang??? I really mean that: those experts think that those two are popular in the Arab world. But then again: those same people thought the people of Iraq were destined to restore monarchy after the American invasion. By the way, the descendant of the Hashemite family in Iraq is back in London, I am told, and has abandoned all his dreams that were fed to him by American neo-cons."

Posted by As'ad at 10:03 AM 09/2/10

Bernard Lewis and loving thy neighbours in Islam !

"A form of moderation has been a central part of Islam from the very beginning. True, Muslims are nowhere commanded to love their neighbors, as in the Old Testament, still less their enemies, as in the New Testament. But they are commanded to accept diversity, and this commandment was usually obeyed. The Prophet Muhammad's statement that "difference within my community is part of God's mercy" expressed one of Islam's central ideas, and it is enshrined both in law and usage from the earliest times."
Bernard Lewis

That Lewis, an "expert" on Islam, had never heard of or came across the concept of "husn ul jeerah" (Good neighbourhood, being a good neighbour not only to your next door, but up to forty houses in all directions, even if they were of a different faith!) is baffling! And to credit the Old Testament a superiority in that regard is laughable to say the least!! The Old Testament for gossake!!
Look I'm ready to accept and WELCOME criticism of Islam through and through on many accounts but to spread falsehood and made up stuff is not only unfair, it's despicable!

Salon’s Glenn Greenwald on the mainstream media’s refusal to take responsibility for the carnage in Iraq.

"The predominant attribute of American elites is a refusal to take responsibility for any failures. The favored tactic for accomplishing this evasion is the "nobody-could-have-known" excuse. Each time something awful occurs -- the 9/11 attack, the Iraq War, the financial crisis, the breaking of levees in New Orleans, the general ineptitude and lawlessness of the Bush administration -- one is subjected to an endless stream of excuse-making from those responsible, insisting that there was no way they "could have known" what was to happen: "I don't think anybody could have predicted that they would try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile," Condoleezza Rice infamously said on May 16, 2002, despite multiple FBI and intelligence documents warning of exactly that. One finds identical excuses for each contemporary American disaster. Robert Gibbs just invoked the same false excuse: that "nobody" knew the depth of the financial and unemployment crisis early last year."
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The Jewish Taliban

Max Blumenthal

Leading fundamentalist rabbis gather in Israel to defend the publication of a book, Torat Ha'Melech, that attempted to provide halakhic justification for the killing of non-Jews, including innocent children and families. The gathering exposed not only the ferocious racism of a swath of Israel's pro-settlement rabbinate, but the powerlessness of the government to stop them. Produced by Max Blumenthal, Joseph Dana and Alternet.
Full report

600,000 books looted in 1948

Jews looting Palestinian books in 1948

Antony Loewenstein

(The Great Book Robbery (teaser) from Benny Brunner on Vimeo.)

Only a few years after the Holocaust, this reveals the depravity of many early Zionists:

The Great Book Robbery is a multifaceted cultural heritage project. It has two major components, a documentary film to be produced, broadcast and screened internationally and this very website which will grow into a multi-function platform.

Two European broadcasters already committed to air the film. Furthermore, we are in advance negotiation with various international broadcasters to join us as co-producers. Currently we are seeking strategic partners and public financial support for the film as well as the website.

60,000 Palestinian books were systematically looted by the newly born State of Israel during the 1948 war. The story of the stolen books is not only at the heart of our project but also the launching pad of a much bigger and wider endeavor: We intend on communicating the scope and depth of the Palestinian tragedy through the destruction of Palestinian culture in 1948.

Israeli Group Distorting Wikipedia Info

An Israeli organization intends to 'revise' Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, based on "national and ethnic interests" of the Zionists.

Wikipedia has turned into a key source of information for Israeli citizens.

The ever-increasing popularity of Wikipedia has prompted the Yisrael Sheli organization to start modifying the online encyclopedia's web pages in line with the 'Jewish and Zionist interests.'

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A South African voice: Defence of Apartheid Israel Unjustifiable

The struggle for Palestine is 'the greatest moral issue of our time', said Mandela.

By Iqbal Jassat – Pretoria (South Africa)

I wonder whether pro-Israeli apologists ever sense the sheer hopelessness of their desperate attempts to shield the apartheid regime from legitimate and necessary criticism.

Having had the misfortune of reading the misguided views of Benjamin Pogrund [Sunday Independent, August 29], I am convinced that his angry attempt to admonish South Africans vis-à-vis their negative stance against Israel, reflects poor judgment.

By calling into question the actions of striking people within the public sector, he then demands that due to the unacceptable behavior accompanying the strikes, South Africa has no right to stand in judgment of poor little Israel.

Apart from the total lack of logic in his futile attempt to exploit the legitimate grievances of strikers, Pogrund displayed his unashamed loyalty to a pariah state that has been stripped of all morality due to its aggressive policies of oppression, occupation, racism and unending wars of destruction.

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The "peace" circus opens:- Can peace be achieved? Inside Story

Direct peace talks between Israelis and palestine are set to begin on Thursday after being frozen for two years. But with Hamas noticeably missing, can real peace be achieved? Is it time for the other players to recognise them? Or could talks with the Palestinian Authority simply make Hamas less relevant?

The claptrap vomits again!

Tony Blair: we must be prepared for attack on Iran

"The international community has to be prepared to take military action against Iran if the regime develops a nuclear weapon, Tony Blair has said in an interview to promote his memoirs, A Journey."
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From the Angry Arab: Arab public attitudes toward Arab nationalism

"In the last issue (August, 2010) of the journal, Al-Mustaqbal Al-`Arabi, there is an important study of Arab public attitudes towards Arab identity. `Ali As`ad Watfah, a professor of sociology at Kuwait university, finds evidence of increased attachment to Arab identity among Kuwaiti students. Some 72 percent of students desire Arab unity "in the near future." (p. 17). The study also finds evidence or rising sentiments in other Arab countries."
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Arab nationalism is not dead..though hard they ( the US/Israel) tried to destroy it..

A very cogent comment I found on Mondoweiss

"When it comes to violence: it’s not fair to hold occupied people to a higher standard than their occupiers."
Joseph Glatzer

Double standards

Four Settlers are killed and it's shock and horror! "Civilians" falling "victims" to "terror"! But who exactly are those cute little things?
Here's a resume of their daily occupation (pun intended): Just in the Past few weeks:

(click on headlines for articles)

Witnesses: Settlers beat 10-year-old Palestinian girl

Jerusalem settlers assault 9 year old, parents say

Settlers harass family near settlement

Early morning settler attack on Palestinian family in Hebron area

Israeli Settlers Attack Families And The Military Abducts Two In Hebron

Masked settlers attack international peace activists in Hebron

Settlers Assault A Palestinian Woman In Hebron

Police: Family attacked by settlers after car crash

Israeli Settlers Attack Palestinian Farmers Near Salfit

PNI leader attacked by settlers

Witnesses: Armed settler threatens farmers

Dark days in Al Buwayra: a week of settler attacks

When Settlers Attack....Today (And Everyday) In The West Bank

Settlers Attack as a Palestinian Villagers try to Secure Water in the South Hebron Hills, Joseph Dana

East Jerusalem: Settlers Take Over Another House

Official: Settlers uproot 200 olive trees south of Nablus

Armed settler guards attack mosque in Wadi Hilweh, shots fired at Palestinian residents

Price Tag: Settlers riot after structures razed

Witnesses: Settlers raid house, burn crops

PA official: Settlers set fire to village land

Settlers Destroy Farm Lands, Troops Arrest Civilians And Invade Areas In Gaza

Israeli settlers try to seize lands in Jerusalem

Settlers torch farmland east of Nablus

Israeli settlers throw stones at Palestinian car

PA official: Settlers vandalize cars after Hebron shooting

Bus damaged by rocks near Nablus

Israeli army escorts 500 Jewish Israelis into controversial settlement near Nablus

Report: Israeli settlers insult prophet Muhammad

List posted by Seham on Mondoweiss

US tells Turkey joint military exercise off if Israel not in

Turkish newspaper Hurriyet says Americans will not participate in joint military exercise slated for next month should Israel be barred from traditional drill
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Meanwhile: Settlers end freeze, resume construction

While PM launches peace talks, hundreds of settlers begin construction work throughout West Bank. 'We aren't interested in symbolism, but in returning to normal, routine life,' says Yesha Council member
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But hey! Israel wants peace! No really! They're "talking" about it..

Israeli Interior minister Yishai: Lebanon war lost due to distance from God

In sulfurous speech, minister declares whoever doesn't believe Israel is 'above nature' a sinner
"How can it be that the people of Israel go to war with all of the Arab armies, who could have beat us by simply walking? Can someone explain all these miracles and wonders?" he asked.

"But here we come to the Second Lebanon War, without Syria, without Jordan, without Libya – just 2,000 Hezbollah men. 2,000! And look at what happens. Do you know why? Because we said, 'My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth'. What do you think? That you can succeed without help from God? Without the Torah of Israel? Without the learned of the Torah?" he commanded.
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Mr Yishai..Did it occur to you that maybe your god has changed sides..You're too evil for his own sake?

Not guilty. The Israeli captain who emptied his rifle into a Palestinian schoolgirl

An Israeli army officer who fired the entire magazine of his automatic rifle into a 13-year-old Palestinian girl and then said he would have done the same even if she had been three years old was acquitted on all charges by a military court yesterday.
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The Sarrazin Debate: Germany Is Becoming Islamophobic

Thilo Sarrazin's comments about Muslims have triggered outrage in Germany and abroad, but have met with willing listeners among the general public. His rhetoric is slowly bringing about change in Germany, transforming it from a tolerant society into one dominated by fear and Islamophobia.
Read more-Spiegel

90-year-old Saudi to get 100 lashes

A 90-year-old Saudi man will be lashed 100 times with the whip after he was convicted of smashing the windscreen of a judge’s car to retaliate against a previous verdict against him, a local newspaper reported on Tuesday.
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Why this BBC headline omits mentioning they're settlers?

4 Israelis shot dead in West Bank
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Is it because it makes a huge difference ..Is it also to make you believe they're innocent, unarmed civilians that couldn't harm a fly?
Maybe!

550 IDF soldiers sign the "combatant letter" refusing to serve in the OT

• We, who know that the Territories are not Israel, and that all settlements are bound to be evacuated in the end.
• We hereby declare that we shall not continue to fight this War of the Settlements.
• We shall not continue to fight beyond the 1967 borders in order to dominate, expel, starve and humiliate an entire people.
• The missions of occupation and oppression do not serve this purpose � and we shall take no part in them. Read more