Saturday, March 18, 2006

PALESTINE: United action against apartheid wall







Harrison Healy, Ramallah

Since January 2005, there have been regular demonstrations in Bil’in against the apartheid wall being constructed in the West Bank. The wall has divided Palestinian towns, destroyed homes, removed access to fertile land and imprisoned the Palestinian people.
Read more...http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2006/660/660p18.htm

Golden Al Quds


Al Quds is Arabia for the city known as Jerusalem in English.

Inshaallah, one day I will walk the streets once again; like my family did before me. And all people whether they are Jew, Christian or Muslim will be safe to see the One city that is Holy to all these religions.

Palestine Online Store


We take this opportunity to highlight the Palestinian woman's role in the Palestinian struggle for freedom.

http://www.palestineonlinestore.com/

http://solidaritydesign.com/

Ahlan Wa Sahlan! (Welcome!)

The Palestine Online Store, launched in December, 2003, is a not-for-profit activist project striving to make Palestine-related materials more widely available. While the focus is on informational resources, other products such as apparel, handcrafts, and solidarity items are also featured.

Informational/educational resources, such as books and documentary films, are extremely powerful in raising awareness about the situation in Occupied Palestine. We are glad to have a wide selection of both films and books, which will continue to increase as we grow, and we encourage you to consider using some of the films to lend out to your friends and neighbors, helping educate them about the Palestinian issue.

Many of the items featured at the Palestine Online Store are actually fundraisers for grassroots organizations. Remaining profits, if any, are channeled to SolidarityDesign.com for developing new projects such as this one, with the same mission of increasing awareness about the Palestinian issue.

Did You Know?


Market in Palestine flying the Palestinian flag...

20 Basic facts about the Zionist Regime of Israel Regarding The Palestine Problem:

THAT, when the Palestine Problem was created by Britain in 1917, more than 90% of the population of Palestine was Arabs?... And that there were at that time no more than 56,000 Jews in Palestine?

THAT, more than half of the Jews living in Palestine at that time were recent immigrants, who had come to Palestine in the preceding decades in order to escape persecution in Europe?... And that less than 5% of the population of Palestine was native Palestinian Jews?

THAT, the Arabs of Palestine at that time owned 97.5% of the land, while Jews (native Palestinians and recent immigrants together) owned only 2.5% of the land?

THAT, during the thirty years of British occupation and rule, the Zionists were able to purchase only 3.5% of the land of Palestine, in spite of the encouragement of the British Government?... And that much of this land was transferred to Zionist bodies by the British Government directly, and was not sold by Arab owners?

THAT, therefore, when British passed the Palestine Problem to the United Nations in 1947, Zionists owned no more than 6% of the total land area of Palestine?

THAT, notwithstanding these facts, the General Assembly of the United Nations recommended that a "Jewish State" be established in Palestine?... And that the Assembly granted that proposed "State" about 54% of the total area of the country?

THAT, Israel immediately occupied (and still occupies) 80.48% of the total land area of Palestine?

THAT, this territorial expansion took place, for the most part, before 15 May 1948: i.e., before the formal end of the British forces from Palestine, before the entry of Arab armies to protect Palestinian Arabs, and before the Arab-Israeli war?

THAT, the 1947 recommendation of the General Assembly in favor of the creation of a "Jewish State" was outside the competence of the Assembly under the Charter of the United Nations?

THAT, all attempts by the Arab States and other Asian countries to have the Assembly submit the question of "constitutionality" of its recommendation to the International Court of Justice for an "advisory opinion" by the Court were rejected or ignored by the Assembly?

THAT, when the Assembly began to experience "second thoughts" over the matter and convened for its second special session in 1948, it failed to reaffirm the 1947 recommendation for the partition of Palestine-thus destroying whatever dubious legality that recommendation for the establishment of a "Jewish State" had had?

THAT, that original 1947 recommendation to create a "Jewish State" in Palestine was approved, at the first vote, only by European, American and Australian States...for every Asian State, and every African State (with the exception of the Union of South Africa) voted against it?...And that, when the vote was cast in plenary session on 29 November 1947, urgent American pressures (which a member of the Truman cabinet described as "bordering onto scandal") had succeeded in prevailing only upon one African country (Liberia), both of which had special vulnerability to American pressures, to abandon their declared opposition?...And that, in other words, the "Jewish State" was planted at the point-of-intersection of Asia and Africa without the free approval of any Middle Eastern, Asian or African country except that Union of South Africa, itself ruled by an alien minority?

THAT, Israel remained, ever since its inception, a total stranger in the emerging world of Afro-Asia; and that Israel has been refused admission to any inter-state conference of Asian, African, Afro-Asian, or Non-Aligned States ever held?

THAT, since the General Armistice Agreements were signed in 1949, Israel has maintained an aggressive policy of waging military attacks across the Armistice Demarcation Lines, repeatedly invading the territories of the neighboring Arab States...And that Israel has been duly rebuked, censured, or condemned for these military attacks by the Security Council of the General Assembly of the United Nations on eleven occasions-five times by the Security Council and six times by the General Assembly?

THAT, no other country in the world, whether member of the United Nations or non-member, has been so frequently condemned by the United Nations? THAT, no Arab State has ever been condemned by any organ of the United Nations for military attacks upon Israel (or any other State)?

THAT, besides expelling the bulk of the Arab inhabitants of Palestine, and besides constantly attacking the neighboring Arab States, Israel has also consistently harassed the United Nations observers and other personnel stationed along the Armistice Demarcation Lines: It has assassinated the first United Nations Mediator and his military aide; it has detained some truce observers; it has military occupied and illegally searched the Headquarters of United Nations personnel; and it has boycotted meetings of the Mixed Armistice Commissions?...

THAT, Israel has additionally imposed a system of apartheid upon the Arabs who stayed in their homeland?...More than 90% of these Arabs live in "security zones;" they alone live under martial law, restricting their freedom to travel from village to village or from town to town; their children are denied equal opportunities for education; and they are denied decent opportunities for work, and the right to receive "equal pay for equal work?"

THAT, notwithstanding the foregoing facts, Israel has always been, and still is, widely portrayed in the Western press as the "bastion of democracy" and the "champion of peace" in the Middle East?

THAT, the Western Powers have persisted in declaring their determination to ensure a so-called "arms balance" in the area, as between Israel, on the one hand, and the one-hundred million inhabitants of the thirteen Arab States, on the other hand?... And this unilateral Western doctrine of so-called "arms balance" is no more reasonable than the suggestion that, in the Cuba-U.S.A conflict, there should be "arms balance" as between Cuba and the United States... or that the whole Continent of Africa should not be allowed to acquire more arms than South Africa... or that Mainland China should not be permitted to have more arms than Taiwan... or that the military allowed to acquire more arms than South Africa... and that only thus can peace be safeguarded in the Western Hemisphere, in Africa, in Asia, or in Europe?... Did you know that since the Intifada (Islamic Resistance) Started in December of 1987, the anti-peace Zionist in the Holy land have killed more than 2,000 innocent Muslim & Christian civilians, Injured more than 130,000, caused more than 19,000 detentions, and imposed more than 13,000 curfews on innocent people. Israel is not only the anti-thesis of a just peace in the Middle-East; it is also the anti-thesis to peace in the US. The American Sponsored "Middle East Peace Talks" are not the solution to the problem. They may even wind up enlarging it. Israel is an Illegal Zionist Entity. There is one thing everybody agrees upon and that is JUSTICE!

And JUSTICE Shall be Done

Friday, March 17, 2006

Example: Israeli Occupation Forces Kills 5 Palestinian Policemen

MK among 10 hurt at anti-fence protest




MK Mohammed Barakeh being pushed by a soldier during a demonstration against the separation fence in the West Bank yesterday.
Reuters

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=570288&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0
MK among 10 hurt at anti-fence protest

By Arnon Regular

MK Mohammed Barakeh (Hadash) was among 10 left-wing activists and a press photographer who were lightly injured yesterday when security forces dispersed a demonstration against the separation fence close to the West Bank village on Bil'in.

Bil'in, which is located north of the Jerusalem-Modi'in highway, has been the site of daily demonstrations against the fence by Palestinians and Israeli leftists. Hundreds of dunams of village land, located in the West Bank, were confiscated for use in construction of the fence.

Police officers and Israel Defense Forces troops at the site clashed with the hundreds of protesters who attended the anti-fence rally. The security forces fired rubber bullets and sprayed tear gas to disperse the crowd. During the clashes, which also included fist-fights, an Associated Press photographer was lightly hurt, apparently by a stun grenade thrown by police officers.

According to the demonstrators, at one point a stun grenade also went off near Barakeh's leg. He was treated by an ambulance crew at the site.

During the clashes, undercover security forces mingled with the demonstrators and began to throw stones at the soldiers and police, demonstrators said. The undercover security forces had provoked the police and soldiers into opening fire with rubber bullets and tear gas. The demonstrators said they had not thrown stones at the soldiers and police.

Barakeh added that the protest had been calm and that the security forces had unnecessarily used excessive force in an effort to disperse the crowd. He said he had identified himself to the commander of the forces and that while talking with him, the stun grenade had been thrown.

Later in the day, Barakeh sent a letter to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, Military Advocate General Avihai Mandelblit and the head of the Justice Ministry's police investigations department, Herzl Shviro, demanding that a criminal investigation be opened against those responsible for the firing of the stun grenade.

Military sources charged that Barakeh and the commander of the forces at the scene had not exchanged words; the sources added that the undercover forces had only started throwing stones after Palestinian youths had adopted such tactics. "Stone-throwing by the undercover forces is part of the way in which they operate in such instances," the sources said.

Israeli Settler Violence

November 10, 2000 - Settlers throw stones at Palestinians outside Nablus as soldiers stand by.
Photo credit: Jim Hollander, © Reuters



Settler Violence

http://www.btselem.org/english/Settler_violence/Index.asp

A cardinal task of any government is to enforce the law and protect the life, property, and rights of persons under its authority. For Israel, this duty applies not only to Israeli citizens residing within the state or territories under Israeli control, but also to Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories.

When Palestinians attack Israelis, the authorities invoke all means at their disposal – including some that are incompatible with international law and constitute gross violations of human rights – to arrest the suspects and bring them to trial. Defendants convicted by military courts can expect harsh sentences.

In contrast, when Israeli civilians attack Palestinians, the Israeli authorities employ an undeclared policy of leniency and compromise toward the perpetrators. This policy is reflected in the actions of officials in charge of law enforcement – the Israel Defense Force (IDF) and the Israel Police Force (IPF) – which do not do enough to prevent harm to the life and property of Palestinians, and to stop the violent attacks by settlers while they are taking place. All law enforcement agencies and judicial authorities demonstrate little interest in uncovering the substantial violence that Israeli civilians commit against Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.

Many failures of law enforcement against Israeli settlers in the Occupied Territories, and the discrimination underlying these failures, greatly undermine the rule of law in Israel, not only in the Occupied Territories, but in the State of Israel as well.

Stop the Wall


CAMPAIGN GOALS
The Campaign call is to:
1. Stop the Wall
2. Dismantle parts already built
3. Return all lands confiscated for the Wall, and
4. Compensate for all losses.


http://www.stopthewall.org/

Boycott Israeli Goods




This website gives foreign and domestic good's listings for any company that is Israeli backed or supported by the United States for Israel.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

The Global Boycott Campaign Against Israel's Latest News



CFL Alert


CFL ALERT: Tell Your Representatives To Demand An End To Israeli Provocations And Attacks
posted by Palestinian @ Thursday March 16th 2006, 9:47 pm
Filed under: Palestine, Israel, Campaign, Human Rights

-Tell your representatives that you are outraged by the myriad international law and human rights violations that the Israelis have committed in the past week and that you are alarmed by reports that the attack on the Palestinian prison in Jericho was done in collusion with the United States and Britain. Tell your representatives that you believe Israel is deliberately provoking the Palestinians in order to get them to retaliate and then respond by causing massive causalities to Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. Tell your representatives that you are outraged that your government is assisting the Israeli occupation forces instead of demanding that they cease all attacks on Palestinians.

-Tell your representatives that Ahmad Sa’adat is a political prisoner who has been detained without charges for four years in violation of Palestinian and International law. In 2002, the Palestinian High Court of Justice in Gaza ordered that Ahmad Sa’adat be released immediately as there was no evidence connecting him to the crime of which he was accused and Amnesty International found the proceedings which convicted the accused, grossly unfair.

-Tell your representatives that you believe their silence in the face of Israeli aggression is tacit approval of the brutal tactics that Israel is employing against the Palestinians. In the last week Israel has vowed to continue to steal land in the West Bank and in fact has begun construction to connect West Bank settlements to Jerusalem. Thousands of acres of land have been illegally transferred to settlements and army bases in the area while the U.S. government remains quiet. The U.S. has not responded to a single Israeli attack or provocation and instead has continued to repeat the same tired refrain, that Hamas “must recognize Israel.” Ask your representatives when they will begin demanding that Israel recognize international and humanitarian law and begin apply it to the Palestinians.

- Send our prewritten letter now

*EMAIL AND OR CALL THE WHITE HOUSE
WHITE HOUSE COMMENTS LINE: 202-456-1111
WHITE HOUSE SWITCHBOARD: 202-456-1414
WHITE HOUSE FAX: 202-456-2461
===============================
Citizens for Fair Legislation

http://www.cflweb.org/

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Middle East Peace Talks


Middle East Peace Talks

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5 REASONS to Stop US Military Aid to Israel


http://www.stop-us-military-aid-to-israel.net/


5 REASONS to Stop US Military Aid to Israel

1 Israel Is Illegally Occupying Palestine
Under UN Resolution 242, Israel is required by international law to withdraw from all the territories occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem. The United Nation's General Assembly has repeatedly condemned Israel's occupation of the territories as illegal (see UN resolutions 338, 1397, and 1402, among others). Israel's continued occupation of Palestine, sanctioned and maintained by the US, is one of the most serious obstructions to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.

"You must end the illegal occupation."Kofi Annan, addressing Israel in a meeting of the UN Security Council, March 12, 2002

Key Articles:

We Bought and Paid for Carnage of Palestiniansby Robert Jensen Professor of Journalism, University of Texas at Austin

America can Persuade Israel to Make a Just Peaceby Jimmy CarterChairman of the Carter Center and former US PresidentUS Aid to Israel: Feedingthe Cuckooby Paul de RooijEconomist living in London

Thou Shalt Not Killby Steven FeuersteinFounder of Jewish peace groupNot in My Name
Heavy Words or Heavy Actions: Stop US Military Aid to Israelby Frida BerriganSenior Research Associate with the Arms Trade Resource Center, a project of the World Policy Institute

The Strategic Function of US aid to Israelby Stephen ZunesAssociate Professor, Department of Politics, University of San Francisco


2 Israel Systematically Violates the Human Rights of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories
Each day, Israeli security forces in the West Bank and Gaza violate articles of the 4th Geneva Convention on Human Rights, an agreement that governs wartime rules of engagement and to which Israel is a signatory. Palestinian homes and agriculture fields are routinely demolished to make way for illegal Israeli settlements. Israeli soldiers regularly arrest and detain--often for years-- Palestinians without due process. According to Amnesty International, members of the Israeli security forces regularly use torture and prolonged incommunicado detention against Palestinians.

3 Israel is an Apartheid State
Israel has developed an elaborate system of racial discrimination, embedded in its legal system, rivaling Apartheid South Africa's laws. These laws include the Law of Entry, the Law of Return, the Citizenship Law, the Military Service Law, and a host of legally sanctioned, discriminatory rabbinical rulings. Palestinians are denied various welfare benefits, access to many jobs, and the leasing of homes and land controlled by government bodies. Electricity, sewerage, and roads are provided free to Israeli households, whereas many Palestinian communities in Israel, and especially in the Occupied Territories, have existed for decades without adequate services. Laws governing land ownership such as the Law of Acquisition of Absentee Property and the Law for Acquisition of Land blatantly discriminate against Palestinians. Indeed, land ownership in Palestine is more unjust than it ever wasin South Africa; at the height of apartheid, black people nominally `controlled' 13 percent of the land, whereas in Israel the Palestinians control only 2 percent of the land.

Blockades which allow settlers free movement but restrict Palestinians have lost 100,000 workers their jobs. The Israeli government issues identification cards and car number-plates, color coded, which restrict travel for non-Jews. Palestinians in the West Bank are routinely prevented from travelling to the Gaza Strip because they have to travel through `Israeli' territory. No significant industry has been permitted to develop in the West Bank or Gaza. Consequently, Palestinians are concentrated in the lowest paying jobs and form a super-exploited labour force for Israeli capital. The occupied territories import 93% of goods but export a mere 7% of what they produce. Palestinian exports to Western Europe are banned so as not to compete with Israeli exports. Ninety percent of Palestinian workers must travel to Jewish towns for employment.

4 US Military Aid to Israel Violates US Law
The US Arms Export Control Act (AECA) strictly forbids the government from giving military assistance to any country that violates internationally recognized human rights. The State Department's 2001 human rights report states: "Israeli security units often used excessive force against Palestinian demonstrators including live fire ... impeded the provision of medical assistance to Palestinian civilians by their strict enforcement of internal closures, which reportedly contributed to at least 32 deaths. Israeli security forces harassed and abused Palestinian pedestrians and drivers who were attempting to pass through the more than 130 Israeli- controlled checkpoints ..." Under the AECA, "the President is required to report to Congress promptly upon the receipt of information that a substantial violation of AECA may have occurred." The US government is fully aware of the Israeli army's human rights violations, as the above quote from the State Department shows. The US government has eroded its own credibility as an impartial mediator by continuing to arm Israel without restriction and allowing these weapons to be used against civilian populations in violation of US law.

5 US Military Aid to Israel threatens US Security and Global Stability
US funding of Israel's human rights abuses fuels resentment towards the US. While the rest of the world strongly condemns Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Territories, our government provides the political, diplomatic and material means for the occupation to continue. Such actions by the US government provoke anti-US sentiment throughout the world, ultimately jeopardizing the safety of people living in the US. The US can build its own security only by gaining the trust and respect of the international community.

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Sunday, March 12, 2006

Using a Sling Shot


Typical boy using a sling shot for rocks. Posted by Picasa

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