IOF troops invade Qalqilia, kill Palestinian teenager and wound 30 others

November 18, 2006

Qalqilia - Hundreds of special units of IOF troops backed with at least 23 military vehicles, bulldozers, and two tanks stormed the West Bank city of Qalqilia Friday night in a bid to capture Hamas field commander in northern West Bank Mohammed Al-Samman.

Palestinian teenager Tarek Ziyad Taha, 18, was shot with Israeli bullets in the back and abdomen in fierce clashes that erupted between stone-throwing Palestinians on the one hand, and the fully geared IOF troops on the other hand.

Taha was rushed to the UNRWA-run hospital in the city but succumbed to his wounds hours later, sources in the hospital affirmed.

The sources added that 30 other Palestinian citizens were wounded in the clashes due to the IOF troops' use of live bullets against them, prompting the hospital to transfer some of the injured Palestinians to hospitals in the nearby Ramallah city due to the seriousness of their injuries.

A number of Palestinian homes were reduced to rubbles by the Israeli bulldozers before IOF troops apprehended Al-Samman's three brothers in a bid to pressure him to surrender. Al-Samman didn’t give up.

Hamas Movement, for its part, urged its cadres in the district to remain vigilant against any possible IOF attempt to arrest them, explaining that the entire operation aims at capturing a number of Hamas cadres in the city in addition to Samman.

Palestinian security sources in the city revealed to the PIC correspondent that more IOF troops were called in to reinforce the intruding troops that imposed a curfew in the city and segregated men, women, and children in the city before using them as human shields during the operation.

Iraq's Future?

Islamophobic's Get Raged?

Man jailed for first 'web-rage' attack

November 18, 2006

Reuters

London: A British man said to have carried out the country's first "web-rage" attack was jailed for 2-1/2 years on Friday for assaulting a man with whom he had exchanged insults over the internet.

Paul Gibbons, 47, from south London, admitted he had attacked John Jones in December 2005 after months of exchanging abuse with him via an internet chat room dedicated to discussing Islam.

London's central criminal court heard that Gibbons had "taken exception" to Jones, 43, after Jones alleged that Gibbons had been "interfering with children".

After several more verbal and written exchanges, during which Jones threatened to track down Gibbons and give him a severe beating, Gibbons and a friend went to his victim's house in Essex, east of London, armed with a pickaxe and a machete.

Jones himself was armed with a knife but Gibbons seized it from him, held it to his throat and "scratched" him across the neck, the court was told.

Gibbons, who the court heard had previous convictions for "violent offences", pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding on the first day of his trial last month.

Unofficial "Bush as President" Poll

Just Say, "I Love You"

Want one? Go to http://geocities.com/testiflash

Noam Chomsky Q&A from Distorted Morality

The question is:

"Is President Bush serious in his desire to help secure a Palestinian state?"

Life of a Qassam Missile?

U.S. Soldier Deserves Death in Rape Murder Case

US soldier in Iraq gang rape gets 90 years

(Reuters)

17 November 2006

FORT CAMPBELL - A US soldier who pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the killing of her family was sentenced on Thursday to up to 90 years in prison.

Specialist James Barker will be eligible for parole under a plea deal with prosecutors that spared him the death penalty. The sentence was also subject to review by higher military authorities.

Barker, one of four US soldiers charged in the March 12 rape and murder of Abeer Qassim Al Janabi and death of her family, pleaded guilty to rape and murder charges on Wednesday and agreed to testify against his former comrades.

It was not immediately clear when Barker could apply for parole. Prosecutors declined to comment because three other soldiers and a former soldier were awaiting trial.

In an unrelated Iraq abuse case another Marine, Lance Cpl. Tyler Jackson, was sentenced on Thursday to 21 months in prison for his guilty plea to assault in the shooting death of an Iraqi man near the town of Hamdania and was sentenced to 21 months in prison.

Jackson, based at Camp Pendleton near San Diego, earlier this month became the third military defendant to plead guilty to charges stemming from the shooting death of 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad, a former Iraqi policeman, and will testify for the prosecution.

The gang rape and slayings at Mahmudiya, Awad’s death in Hamdania and the killing of 24 unarmed men, women and children in Haditha have sparked outrage and calls by officials in Iraq for a review of foreign troops’ immunity from Iraqi prosecution.

Life sentence

Barker, who was 23 when the rape and murder were committed, knew by his plea agreement that he faced what was in effect a life sentence, with the main question being whether it would be without the possibility of parole.

He provided graphic testimony to military investigators about the incident, saying those who committed the crime had been drinking whiskey mixed with an energy drink and discussed in advance killing an Iraqi family.

In the Hamdania case, the military judge who sentenced Jackson, 23, said he would have preferred to give the Marine a much harsher term but was limited by a pretrial agreement with prosecutors.

Jackson testified before his sentencing that he thought Awad was a known insurgent who had planned several deadly bombings, including one that killed four Marines weeks earlier. He did not find out the squad had killed an innocent man for weeks, he said.

‘If I had known, I would have told the rest of the members of the squad I wouldn’t do it,’ Jackson said. ‘I would have done whatever I could to stop’ the killing.

He is the third defendant to plead guilty to reduced charges in exchange for an agreement to testify against the other participants. Attorneys for the four remaining defendants say their clients are innocent and want to fight the charges.

Bush's Buy's Way into Hell

Bush gives go-ahead for building 'Bush Center' in Israel

Israel's ambassador to the U.S. asked Bush to sign off of the initiative to establish a center under the president's name in Israel, as a sign of gratitude for his support for the country and its security.

11.16.2006 /Haaretz

WASHINGTON - U.S. President George Bush was informed on Tuesday of an initiative to establish a center under his name in Israel, as a sign of gratitude for his support for the country and its security. Outgoing Israeli Ambassador to the United States Daniel Ayalon asked Bush for the go-ahead to establish such a center during a farewell meeting with the president and his deputy, Dick Cheney.

Bush told Ayalon that "freedom" would be a worthy subject for the center to focus on.

Ayalon has yet to approach donors with a request to finance the establishment of the "Bush Center" in Israel, but does not expect to encounter difficulties when it comes to raising the funds. The outgoing ambassador will continue to work on the matter with White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten.

Meanwhile, Ayalon, who leaves the diplomatic service in a number of days, left Washington on Tuesday and flew out to the West Coast where he will participate in a number of events before returning to Israel. His replacement, Sallai Meridor, will take up his post within a few weeks.

During his speech to the GA in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert thanked Ayalon for "his excellent service and personal commitment."

In his address, Olmert also thanked the U.S. Jewish community for its support for Israel during the war in Lebanon in the summer, warning, too, that the world was reaching its moment of truth with regard to Iran.

Olmert praised Bush's determination to prevent the nulcearization of Iran, adding that for the president to succeed, "he will need the support of the international community."

Olmert's address closed the GA, at which Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Finance Minister Abraham Hirschson also spoke. Opposition leader MK Benjamin Netanyahu also spoke at the conference.

Olmert remained in Los Angeles yesterday for meetings with the city's Jewish leaders and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

For You Soccer Fans

Soccer / Palestinian soccer team laments Gaza travel ban

November 16, 2006

By Reuters

The head of the Palestinian Football Association said his national team's no-show at an Asian Cup qualifier against hosts Singapore yesterday was due to Israel's refusal to allow players to travel from Gaza.

Ahmed al-Afifi said the fixture had to be canceled because players making up most of the team could not travel through the Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt. Another three players, Palestinian expatriates, were to have traveled separately.

He said Israel had also refused to allow team members to take an alternative route via Israel and the West Bank to Jordan for their onward journey to Singapore. They had planned to travel to Singapore on November 12.

The Israel Defense Forces denied the allegation, saying Rafah was open to the team at the time of their request to travel abroad. But a military spokesman confirmed that Erez, a Gaza border crossing used by Palestinians to enter Israel, had been closed due to security concerns.

Afifi said the Palestinian FA had appealed to world soccer's governing body, FIFA, which he had urged to reschedule the match.

"Israel has refused to allow the team to pass through the Erez crossing to travel to Jordan and from there to Singapore but FIFA insisted that the game must be held on time," Afifi told reporters in Gaza.

The Rafah crossing with Egypt has been closed intermittently since June 25, when Palestinian militants killed two Israeli soldiers and abducted another in a cross-border attack from Gaza.

Palestinian national team captain Saeb Jundeya said he was disappointed. "I had assured all my neighbors and people who asked me whether the game would be held on time that we would travel, but today I have to tell them that we were unable to make it because the occupation (Israel) did not allow it," he said.

Neither Singapore nor Palestine - the name FIFA gives the Palestinian team - can qualify for next year's finals as Iraq and 2004 Asian Cup hosts China have already guaranteed their places.

The 2007 Asian Cup will be co-hosted by Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia from July 7-29.

Spain, France and Italy to spearhead new Middle East peace initiative

Chirac with Abbas in April (MaanImages)

November 16, 2006

Ma'an - Spain, France and Italy have proposed to send international forces to Gaza in a new initiative launched Thursday to bring peace to the Middle East, international media sources have reported.

At a France-Spain summit held in Girona in Spain, the Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero proposed a new initiative for an immediate cessation of violence on both the Palestinian and Israeli sides, a prisoner exchange, an international peacekeeping force in the Gaza Strip, and an international Middle East peace conference. According to the BBC, this initiative will be presented to the European Union summit in December, where it is hoped Germany and the UK will back the initiative.

The initiative will also stipulate the formation of a Palestinian national unity government that is able to receive international recognition.

According to the Spanish newspaper 'El Mundo', the French president, Jacques Chirac, who Spain was hosting at the summit, has accepted Zaptero's suggestion to jointly head the initiative, and promised to discuss it with the Italian prime minister Prodi immediately. He said that the EU had to act in the face of an "increasingly dramatic situation".

The website of the Israeli newspaper 'Haaretz' reported that Italy's Prime Minister Romano Prodi said details of the initiative would be announced in the coming days.

Meanwhile, Ynet, the website of the Israeli newspaper 'Yedioth Ahranoth', quoted AFP sources saying that the EU had backed sending international forces to the Gaza Strip "similar to the force stationed in south Lebanon".

On Wednesday, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for military observers to be sent to the Gaza Strip, and suggested deployment of a multi-national force, akin to the reinforced UNIFIL in southern Lebanon. The resolution also condemned both Israel's use of "disproportionate force" in military operations in Gaza, and Palestinian militants' "firing of rockets into Israeli territory." In addition, the resolution expressed "deep concern" over "the implications of the recent appointment of Avigdor Lieberman as the new Deputy Prime Minister of Israel".

For the full text of the European Parliament resolution, click here

For a summary procided by the European Parliamentary service, click here

Link:

Israel rejects European draft for Mideast initiative

Death of former prisoner raises serious questions about conditions in Israeli jails

November 16, 2006

Hebron - Ma'an - The death of the Palestinian, Ziad Hamid, who served around 11 years in Israeli prisons, has posed a dangerous and topically hot question, relating to the deaths of several Palestinian prisoners after they are released from Israeli jails, especially those who have served long terms.

A report by the Prisoners' Association in Hebron stated that many released Palestinian prisoners have contracted cancer by the time of their release. This issue demands a serious investigation by international humanitarian organizations on the nature of the oppression and human destruction in Israeli prisons, which fill the bodies of prisoners with various diseases.

The report states, "It is evident that Palestinian prisoners live under very dire conditions in Israeli jails, ranging from internationally-banned means of torture, such as physical assaults and psychological stress, in addition to tear gas, fire and sonic grenades, which can include harmful radioactive elements, in addition to logistic and poor nutritional conditions in prison cells themselves." The World Health Organization (WHO) has not yet taken the initiative to question the spread of heart, blood, lung, back and brain diseases rife amongst Palestinian prisoners.

Many former prisoners have passed away due to diseases apparently stemming from their incarceration in Israeli jails. Among those are:

Sa'id Shamlakh from Gaza.
Jamil Abu Sneinah from Hebron
'Atif Abu 'Kar from Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem
Amjad 'Alawnah from Jenin
Musallam Ad-Duda from Hebron

Mousa Jum'ah from Jordan
Adnan Al-Balbool from Al-Khadir in Bethlehem
Amjad Faraj from Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem

Jamal Khamisi from Gaza
Ma'zooz Dalal from Qalqilia
Yousif Al-'Ar'ir from Gaza
Muhammad Taqatqa from Beit Fajjar in Bethlehem
Mahmoud Ibrahim Al-Kurd from Rafah
Isma'il Jaddo' from Bethlehem
Mahmoud Abu Hanafi from Beit Furik in Nablus
Tawfiq Al-Barghothi from Ramallah
'Ayid Jamjoom from Hebron

Skid Row Dumping What is Happening to America?

A photo supplied by the Los Angeles Police Department shows Johny Williams being taken from an ambulance to Skid Row.

Hospital Faces Skid Row Dumping Charges

November 16, 2006

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A Los Angeles hospital accused of dumping homeless patients on downtown's Skid Row is facing the first criminal charges in the city's campaign to crack down on the practice and clean up the area.

Kaiser Permanente is among 10 hospitals under investigation by city prosecutors for allegedly discharging homeless patients to the streets of Skid Row rather than to a relative or shelter.

The case against it stems from a March surveillance video showing a 63-year-old patient from Kaiser Permanente's Bellflower hospital wandering Skid Row in a hospital gown and slippers. Prosecutors describe what happened to Carol Ann Reyes in a document supporting the criminal charges filed late Wednesday.

"Skid Row is one of most dangerous places, not only in L.A., but in the state and the country, so to dump her right in the heart of it with a hospital gown and socks and sweat shirt is unconscionable," City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo told The Associated Press on Thursday.

His office charged Kaiser with endangering dependent care patients and false imprisonment. It also sued Kaiser under a state law on unfair business practices.

The lawsuit asks a judge to forbid all Kaiser hospitals from dumping homeless patients on Skid Row and to impose financial sanctions if the order is violated.

Skid Row has one of the nation's largest concentrations of homeless people, in part because it has a cluster of shelters and services to help them. Police have long suspected that medical centers and law enforcement agencies from elsewhere used it as a dumping ground for homeless people.

Delgadillo said the charges and lawsuit against Kaiser Permanente are a first step in holding hospitals accountable.

Diana Bonta, vice president of public affairs for Kaiser Southern California, said Kaiser has changed some its some of its practices since March.

"As soon as we heard about it, we said, 'this is not how we do business.' And we apologized," she said.

Delgadillo spokesman Nick Velasquez, however, said the office sued Kaiser because the company last year had been unwilling to reach a settlement that would have established guidelines prohibiting patient dumping.

The surveillance camera that spotted Reyes had been installed at the Union Rescue Mission the previous year because of the allegations that homeless people were being brought there and left on the street.

Reyes lived mostly in a public park in Gardena before she was hospitalized. When she was discharged, prosecutors say, she wasn't told she was being taken to Skid Row.

Hospital staff "summoned a taxicab and directed the taxi driver to transport Ms. Reyes to Skid Row, approximately 16 miles away. ... (She) was literally rushed out of the hospital and into the taxi even though the hospital staff could not locate her clothes," the documents said. Reyes was eventually spotted by shelter staff and escorted inside.

Bonta said Kaiser has since stopped using taxis to transport patients to Skid Row.

Hospital officials also are instructed to notify Skid Row service providers in advance if they are sending a discharged patient there, and drivers must escort the patient inside, she said.

If convicted of the criminal charges, Kaiser Permanente could be placed on probation that would limit its behavior and contain potential penalties. The medical facility's bonding and ratings also could be affected by any criminal finding.

City prosecutors said they have examined more than 40 allegations of hospital dumping on Skid Row. The investigation produced 15 potential cases, they said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and Public Counsel also plan to sue on Reyes' behalf.

"This is the first case in the nation where there is a joint effort by government and civil rights groups to halt the practice of hospital dumping," said Mark Rosenbaum, the ACLU's legal director.

Good Speech

The faith of a person will not be straight and sound until his heart is sound. And his heart will not be straight and sound until his tongue is straight and sound. [Ahmad]

If you desire to live such that your religion is safe and your portion is full and your honor is sound, guard your tongue and never mention another's faults remembering that you yourself have faults and others have tongues. [Ahmad Zarruq]

By A Revert Sister

Among the many important life lessons that I learned from my mother, the one that I have benefited the most from since my reversion to Islam is, "If you don't have anything good to say, then don't say anything at all."

"Striving for the past five years, to make my life conform to the tenants of Islam and to the Sunnah of the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhe wasallam, I now realize the true wisdom of this statement. The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, said, "Let he who truly believes in Allah and the Last Day, speak good or be silent." (Bukhari)

As a child, I half-heartedly followed this advice, because in my limited understanding I thought the lesson was just not to hurt anyone's feelings. Now I understand that the lessons are innumerable.

Speech is the main method of communication among human beings, it is how we convey our desires and emotions. Our speech reflects our "true" personalities, because the tongue is the vessel from which the contents of the heart pour forth. If a person's heart is good and pure, good will be reflected in their speech. But, if a persons' heart is corrupted and evil, this too will be reflected in their speech. The tongue, if used correctly can be a source of a major blessing, and if it is used incorrectly, it can be a source of evil and a cause for eternal punishment, "Sometimes a person says a thing which pleases Allah, and in return Allah raises his status (rewards him); and sometimes a person says something which displeases Allah, and it takes him to hell." (Bukhari)

Good speech is among the signs of true Imaan and it will be a source of success in the hereafter, as Allah says, "The Believers are successful, those who in their prayer have Khushu' (fear of Allah) and those who refrain from vain speech." [23:1-3]

The Prophet, sallallaahu alayhe wasallam, has also warned us regarding leaving our tongues unrestrained. Many of Muslims don't enter into conversations or discussions intending to commit major sins, yet very often even lawful talking leads to undesirable results. This is a common pitfall for many Muslims, especially those who indulge in idle and unnecessary talk. Alhamdulillah, Allah has not left us unarmed in this battle, for our benefit He has enclosed the tongue in its own small prison between our teeth and lips. Human nature demands that we feel apart of "the group" or sometimes we just want to add our "two cents," but before we open the prison doors, and uncage the beast, we should remember that silence is often a virtue and the rewards can be great. "Whoever guards what is between his jaws and legs, I will guarantee him paradise." (Bukhari) It would seem however, to anyone who happened into a gathering of Muslims, in any city in the world, that being successful and an open invitation to paradise by insufficient of an incentive for Muslims to incorporate good speech into their daily lives and more importantly their moral fiber. It is most unfortunate that indecent speech, back biting, and slander have become commonplace among the Muslims today, men and women. Satan has indeed succeeded in deceiving us into justifying this behavior as just a "little thing." At least seventeen times a day we ask Allah to guide us to His Straight Path and to make us among those people with whom He is well pleased, how far off that path we must be when a major sin in the sight of Allah, becomes a "little thing" in our eyes. Maybe we have just forgotten the consequences.

The main consequence of vain and indecent speech is that it puts one under the threat of Allah's punishment. Among the other consequences is that it corrupts and hardens the heart, it has been known to sever the ties of kinship and has also brought about the premature end to many friendships.

Allah, has given us the ability to perform both good and indecent speech. He has also put in man the fitrah to choose the former over the latter, His Pleasure from His Displeasure. Speech is a blessing from Allah, we must show gratitude for this great blessing by using it for spreading the 'Salam,' reading the Qur'an, enjoining good, forbidding evil, sincerely advising our brothers and sisters in faith and in all other things that bring us closer to Allah.

So the next time we open the prison doors, we should remember the invitation of Allah's Messenger, sallallaahu alayhe wasallam, to a paradise wherein are things that no eyes have seen and no heart has felt, and that Allah has equated good speech with true eman, but as the weeks pass, if we forget this very important lesson and we are ever in doubt, the best thing is just to remain silent, to leave that which makes you doubt for that which does not.

No Matter Who You Voted For

No matter who you voted for, the corporations won.

Fear of the Working Class At Home And Internationally Stirs Some Debate Among the Bankers

by Richard Mellor
November 03, 2006

There is growing concern among sections of the capitalist class that the rising opposition to their global offensive and the market will get out of control.

Never concerned about stuffing their pockets, they do worry about going to far

Richard Mellor
Retired member, AFSCME Local 444

As the conservative and right wing Christian elements of the Bush administration warn the US populace of impending doom at the hands of the liberal/homosexual and pro immigrant, terror supporting Americans, the serious representatives of the US capitalist class are deeply concerned about the real issues; wages, benefits, housing, health-care, and not least, food.

The world's bankers met in Jackson Hole Wyoming in August, in one of their strategy sessions aimed at ensuring their plunder of global society's wealth continues with the least disruption. Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve, expressed concern that the spoils of global plunder, what these representatives of the capitalist class refer to as "globalization", are being unevenly distributed.

Much of the concern was focused on the developing world (an interesting term as this world never really "develops") where the effects of global capitalism are devastating. Among the problems are protectionist obstacles to the free flow of goods, services, capital etc. that would slow the world economy. But it is also the social unrest caused by the increased super-exploitation of the poorer countries that is on their minds. While the recent placing of mine nationalization on hold by Bolivia's Morales has no doubt cheered them up a bit, the world's bankers are concerned the anger of the masses may not be contained and could at some point find a more formidable organizational expression.

But it is not just the former colonial world that is a cause for concern. The increased income disparity in the US is worrying to these more astute representatives of the capitalist class. Between 2000 and 2005 the US economy grew 12% and production was up 17% while the medium hourly wage rose a meager 3%. "Inequality is potentially a concern for the US economy...to the extent that incomes and wealth are spreading apart, I think that is not a good trend.", Bernanke warned US senators in July. (Financial Times 11-2-06) Lawrence Summers, former US treasury secretary has also written on the subject of late, expressing fears about the "anxious middle" referring to the US middle class.

The Union leadership has done a very good job in holding back any attempt by the ranks of organized labor to halt this trend but, unlike the Union leaders, the serious strategists of capital are well aware of the anger beneath the surface of US society. The have read history, they are very conscious of the potential power of the working class in this country; they are worried that the working class will burst though these obstacles to a fight back.

During the tech boom of the nineties profits reached a 40 year high and some gains were made particularly by workers on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder. Despite the booming economy and record profits, the gains workers made were due to market forces and not to an organized offensive on the part of the leaders of organized labor. Despite these favorable conditions, top Union officials continuously tell workers that we have to take concessions in these difficult economic times. This is their excuse for not launching an offensive against the well orchestrated attacks by the employers who have made it clear in their journals that they intend on taking back all the gains of the 1930's.

The capitalist class is salivating as profits continue to swell. According to the Financial Times, labor's share of the national income has fallen from 58.2% in 2000 to 56.8 in 2005, as profits equaled 13.6% of GDP in the second quarter of 2006. Economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saenz of US Berkeley estimate that the "share of total income captured by the top hundredth in the US doubled from 8% in 1980 to 16% 2004. (1)

The big corporations are having a field day. According to a report from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) released in July this year:

The average corporate tax rate in industrialized countries has fallen from 45% to 30% over the last 20 years

Out of the 275 largest corporations in the US, 82 paid no tax or received a tax refund one of the years between 2001 and 2003

And as a share of total taxation, corporate taxes have dropped by 15% in the UK and 22% in Italy since the 1980's, by 41% in Germany and 43% in Japan since the 1970's and by 53% in the US since the late 1960's. (2)

On top of this, US workers are returned much less of our money in terms of social services than other industrial countries. According to the article quoted above, among middle-income economies, only Russia and Mexico have higher levels of inequality and the "American Dream" is presently "a more common reality in Nordic countries than in the US."

The working class in the US has been under ferocious assault over the last period. Having no political party of our own has contributed to the fact that we receive social benefits from the employers in the main, something they resent as the median wage does not include total compensation which includes retirement, health care and other benefits and the cost of health care has sky rocketed. Unable to eliminate contractual obligations that contain such provisions, the employers have used their friends in the judiciary more aggressively. Steel, auto, airlines; the bosses in all these industries have used the bankruptcy courts to eliminate pensions even when they're not bankrupt.

The November elections don't offer much hope. The heads of organized labor are advocating the same strategy that has failed time and time again; elect a Democrat. It is this policy that has driven most Americans from the electoral process. The staunchest advocates of democracy and the right to vote have been quoted many times in the press as going to the polls, "holding my nose and voting for the lesser of two evils."

The Times article above describes the case of Jack Drake, whose job allows him much access to corporate financial information. "Almost every day I listen to chief executives explaining how well their companies are doing", he says, but, he adds, "I want the republicans out but I don't see the Democrats coming up with any good ideas." (3)

In California, the state labor federation is supporting all the bond measures. One of the major selling points to an already debt laden population is that this doesn't raise taxes. Of course it doesn't, it just raises interest payments, costing the working class and our children billions in payments to moneylenders who are the same forces that cut our wages and benefits and their taxes. The same forces that send working class kids to Iraq while theirs go to Harvard or the firm. No worker should support these measures, but for the union leaders, like the concessions on the job, it is better than the alternative of mobilizing workers, using our power to stop production and force concessions on them and ultimately gain control over the resources of society and their allocation.

The Iraq war may be enough to tip the scales for the Democrats but nothing is certain and it cannot be ruled out that the elections will be rigged. Either way, not much will change for workers economically and the worries of the bankers will still be there; what if the working class moves?

Class rule is a complex state of affairs and despite all their tricks and media stunts to convince workers that we actually can make a difference if we vote for the candidates from one of their parties, most workers recognize that we are being exploited and that the ruling class are thugs. The problem they ask is: what can be done about? But the likes of Lawrence Summers and Bernanke recognize that the stomach is the root-cause of many a great social struggle and they see the need for addressing these issues, just like they do the environment. They see workers on the offensive in Latin America, Asia, China, France, and they know that the US working class will not be left out of the fight; they can't be held back indefinitely.

Still, at times one has to laugh at the honesty among thieves. Federal Reserve chairman Bernanke has made a few blunders. He has had to learn the ropes, the ins and outs of how to deceive the public. After making some overly honest remarks about inflation he received a lesson from Trent Lott, the Republican from Mississippi, who commented, "He's got to learn from Greenspan on how to say a lot that actually says nothing," (4)

Perhaps Bush would be a better mentor on this subject.

(1) Financial Times 11-2-06: Why ordinary Americans have missed out on the benefits of growth
(2) Having their cake and eating it too – the great corporate tax break
(3) FT 11-2-06
(4)Bernanke takes heat from sens. for his remarks about inflation

Palestinian Resistance Groups Retaliating?

Hamas and Islamic Jihad claim responsibility for projectiles that killed one Israeli woman in Sderot, injured others

November 15, 2006

Gaza - Ma'an - An Israeli woman, 57, died in hospital on Wednesday morning from wounds she sustained after a Palestinian projectile landed in her home in the southern Israeli town of Sderot, Israeli security sources have confirmed. The armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad have claimed responsibility for the projectiles.

Israeli sources said that many Israelis were injured in the town when a number of homemade projectiles landed in Sderot and the Western Negev early Wednesday. One of the wounded Israelis is suffering from serious injuries, Israeli sources said.

Israeli media is also reporting that a bodyguard of the Israeli minister of defence, Amir Peretz, who comes froom Sderot, was also injured. It is reported that he has had to have a leg amputated.

Many projectiles launched by Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip landed in the town centre and some landed in the outskirts on Wednesday morning.

The Al Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, and the Al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, have announced that they are responsible for the launching of many homemade projectiles at Sderot on Wednesday.

The Al Quds Brigades spokesman, Abu Hamza, told Ma'an that his Brigades launched two projectiles at 8.05 on Wednesday.

The Al Qassam Brigades issued a statement in which they said that they were responsible for the launching of two projectiles at the same town, Sderot, at 7.30 am on Wednesday. They also said they fired another four during the night.

Both Brigades said that the shelling of the town is part of the retaliation for the Israeli attacks against Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), also announced their responsibility for launching a homemade projectile at Sderot on Tuesday evening.

The Brigades said in a statement that their continuous launching operations towards Israeli targets are in response to the Israeli massacres and bombardments in Gaza.

The Israeli town of Sderot lies close to the northeast corner of the Gaza Strip and is a frequent target for projectile-launchers in the Gaza Strip.

The projectiles that the Palestinian armed men fire from the northern Gaza Strip are crude, homemade rockets with limited capability or aim. They rarely cause injuries or damage, mostly landing in open areas.

According to Israeli army sources, it is believed that the projectiles were launched from an area near Beit Hanoun in the north of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli defense minister, Amir Peretz, has threatened the projectile-launchers with fierce retaliation.

America's Veto...

Israel Killing Hope in Beit Hanoun

November 15, 2006

Ramzy Baroud, Aljazeera.net English.

“God is greater than Israel and America,” was the echoing cry of tens of thousands of Palestinians, who descended into the graveyard in grief stricken Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip. They congregated in yet another familiar scene, to bury their loved ones, killed by Israel’s brutal war against the Palestinians. This time, the loss is too great to bear, even by the standards of the people of Gaza: Eighteen ambulances lined up, carrying the mutilated bodies of eighteen members of the same extended family, the great majority of whom were women and children; all civilians.

“I will avenge; I will avenge”, screamed a relative of one of those who perished in the Israeli artillery attack on Beit Hanoun, on Wednesday morning, Nov. 8. While a man initiates the burial ceremony by stepping forward carrying the lifeless body of his one-year-old baby; the tough posture that Gaza’s men often wish to exhibit was overshadowed by incomprehensive grief; relatives and friends were collapsing in droves; others reached toward the sky, in despair. Only God could hear them now. Two more tiny bodies, swaddled in white made their way through the crowd; more followed.

The total number of those killed in the Israeli bombing of the civilian neighborhood rose to 20, to be added to over 50 others killed earlier in the same Israeli military assault dubbed “Clouds of Autumn”, which converged mainly on Beit Hanoun; the latest two figures are to be included in the overall count of the 350 Palestinians killed since last June, in the wider military operation carried out in Gaza and dubbed “Summer Rains.”

The numbers are devastating as they are, but the devastation takes on a new dimension when the limbless, maimed, injured, homeless and the forever scarred are factored in. Not as if those spared such classifications are better off: Since Israel laid its military siege on Gaza — preceded and further cemented by an international economic and diplomatic boycott against the Palestinians and their elected government — Gaza’s misery suffers perpetual growth. First came the darkness — after the Israeli Army bombed the Strip’s primary power generator, then, poverty augmented — following the intricate plot to impoverish, and thus topple the government (Israel refused to hand over tax revenues it collected on behalf of the Palestinian government, denying civil servants their salaries, thus crippling the Occupied Territories’ economy); then the water got polluted, because of the electric shortage; then hospitals and all other public institutions were left in a state of near collapse; naturally, internal chaos prevailed, thanks in part to rogue Palestinian elements; then there was Beit Hanoun, another massacre to taint the collective memory of this nation, already overwhelmed with the most tragic of occasions.

This latest episode, like the others before it, is also courtesy of Israeli Defense Minister Emir Peretz — although the weapons technology is courtesy of our ever-generous US government — the rising star of Israel’s militancy. He pledged months ago to show his critics what sort of a tough man he was. The leftist media in Israel tried to sell him to the public as a populist leader with socialist tendencies — can Israel’s ideological classification be any more bizarre? Now even right wing media and politicians are cheering Peretz’s terror.

Israel’s Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh, told the Jerusalem Post that the “moral responsibility” for the deaths rested with Palestinian militants who were “cynically using their civilian population as human shields for terrorist activity”, reported Reuters; it also quoted Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Gillerman as saying that the attack hardly represented a “watershed moment (for) war is a dirty business and during war ugly things happen.” Strange that the leaders of a state that lives outside even beyond the fringes of morality and law, still speak as if they indeed possess moral superiority. Even stranger how such wicked disregard for human life is skimmed over in Western media, without the mocking language that often accompanies ridiculous statements often made by war criminals who defend their crimes as moral and human imperatives.

While some Israeli commentators had the courage to recognize the horror put forth by their malicious army, Ben Caspit was hardly one of them. He equated Gaza’s homemade rockets — which produced few injuries in many months — with his country’s barbaric ‘response’. “Every other method has been tried, and failed. With scoundrels you behave like a scoundrel, and with murderous, bloodthirsty terrorism that wants to wipe you off the map, you have to respond accordingly: Wipe it out.” And with it, wipe out entire families, devastate whole communities, send a whole nation into a perpetual state of grief, loss and despair.

What does the state of Israel hope to achieve from all of this? After sixty years of Palestinian revolt against dispossession and occupation, does Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his useless henchmen expect Palestinians to raise a white flag of surrender? Haven’t they seen the ever-flowing footage of Palestinians burying their dead? Haven’t they read the defiance, the tenacity in the faces of the living?

“I lost my whole family; is there anyone who is still alive? Any one?” screamed a Palestinian mother from Beit Hanoun as she fell in the arms of her neighbor. “My husband, my sister, my children, my mother...,” she counted what seemed like an endless list, but “I swear in the name of God, we will not surrender; this is our land and here we shall live and die.”

But history is of no lesson to Israel; it shall remain isolated in its antiquated, ideologically racist, and inherently theological ideals, operating outside of the law and of morality.

Be not surprised, however, when more crude rockets burn their way toward Israel in coming days and weeks, and equally expect many more hideous suicide bombings to detonate in crowded Israeli streets, creating further suffering. For Israel’s insistence on living by the sword will continue to create the perfect environment for violence to prevail, for innocents to die, and for people to lose everything, even their will to live.

Hamas Dampens Western Hopes

Hisham Abu Taha, Arab News

GAZA CITY, 15 November 2006 — Hamas said yesterday that a new Palestinian unity government will not recognize Israel or accept a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict as demanded by Israel and the United States. In Amman, President Mahmoud Abbas denied reports that Mohammed Shabir has been chosen as the man to lead the unity government.

The Hamas stance could undercut Palestinian efforts to ease an eight-month-old Western economic boycott by forming a unity government more acceptable to the West.

The United States and its partners in the Quartet of Middle East mediators imposed the boycott to pressure Hamas, which took control of the Palestinian Authority in March, to recognize Israel’s right to exist, renounce violence and accept existing peace deals.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the program of the proposed unity government between Hamas and Abbas’ Fatah faction “will not recognize Israel and will not include accepting the two-state solution.”

“We reject the two-state solution, which is the vision of US President George Bush, because it represents a clear recognition of Israel,” Barhoum said. “Our position in this regard remains unchanged. We reject joining in any government that recognizes Israel.”

Moussa Abu Marzuk, the second in command of Hamas’ political wing based in Damascus, also confirmed the Hamas stance. He told Palestinian press agency Ramattan: “The next government was not asked to recognize Israel and it will not do so.”

“Why should Palestine, which is not yet a state, recognize Israel?” he asked.

Nevertheless he said Hamas, which has controlled the Palestinian government since March, would give up “11 or 12 portfolios” in a unity Cabinet which Fatah is set to join.

The United States and the European Union regard Hamas as a terrorist organization and have cut off direct aid to its administration. As a result, the Palestinian government has largely been unable to pay its 165,000 workers since April.

Abbas, who discussed with King Abdallah of Jordan the latest situation in Palestine, said several names had come up during discussions on who will head the new government, “but so far no decision has been made.”

Sources in Fatah and Hamas said Sunday they had agreed on Shabir, a clinical biologist and former president of the Islamic University, as the next premier.

Shabir is considered close to Hamas but he never joined the party. Abbas described Shabir as “a well-known figure” but stressed that names of other candidates were also being discussed, a Jordanian court statement said.

Meanwhile, the US State Department said yesterday the sponsors of the Middle East peace process will meet in Cairo today to discuss efforts to revive negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

US Middle East envoy David Welch will represent Washington at the meeting with his counterparts from Russia, the European Union and the United Nations — a grouping known as the Middle East Quartet, spokesman Sean McCormack said.

McCormack said the meeting did not signal a major initiative to break a months-long deadlock in peacemaking efforts but an opportunity to “take stock” of the situation.

He also said the meeting was arranged before last week’s US elections in which opposition Democrats took control of Congress and immediately pressed President George W. Bush to reinvigorate his Middle East diplomacy.

“A lot of developments, a lot of different things are going on in the Middle East. We all thought this was an appropriate time for the envoys to get together,” he said.

Is It A Boy Or A Girl?

November 15, 2006

by Housewife4Palestine


For the next two weeks if my posting seems a little erratic, it is because the doctor advices me to take it easy, while in some ways my health seems to be getting better there is also other things with my health going on.

I have always been a puzzle when it comes to going to the doctor and I say this with a little chuckle.

I have never heard of having all the symptoms of having a baby and the usual tests keep coming out not conclusive, also their seems to be a possible problem with my liver.

Therefore, for the next week, no medicine and then another test. Also, I’m suppose to take it easy for two weeks until hopefully the doctor can understand what is really going on.

I say this with a lot of hope in my heart that Inshaallah (God willing) we will have a new happiness in our household, whether it is a boy or a girl. While I am not a spring chicken by any means, it is amazing to me for a woman as old as I am to maybe having a baby.

Moreover, while I do hope this to be true for their will be seven children in our family instead of six.

If it turns out to be something else, I do hope the doctor can find a way to make everything all right again.

So please be patient with me and inshaallah all will be right with the world again.

Islamic countries duty-bound to support Palestinians: Iran FM

Tehran Times Political Desk

November 15, 2006

TEHRAN -- Iran believes the helpless Zionist regime will not be able to maintain its existence through massacres, Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki said here on Tuesday.

At a joint press conference with his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud al-Zahar, Mottaki condemned the recent atrocities committed by the Israeli military in the occupied territories, saying that it is the duty of all Islamic and Arab countries as well as international organizations to fully support the Palestinians’ resistance.

Iran will join the efforts of the Arab countries that agreed to support the Palestinian people at the recent Arab foreign ministers conference in Cairo, he added.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Mottaki said that Tehran has not received any request for talks with the United States and has not yet made any decision on negotiations with Washington.

When Iraqi authorities asked Iran to sit at the negotiating table with the U.S., the Islamic Republic of Iran initially agreed in order to help the Iraqi people resolve their problems, he added.

However, when it became apparent that the U.S. wanted to use the talks for propaganda purposes, Iranian officials decided not to participate in the negotiations, he explained.

Al-Zahar expressed gratitude for Tehran’s financial and political support for the Palestinians and added that most of the ministers of the national unity government and the majority of MPs in the Palestinian parliament are Hamas members.

The recent Cairo meeting was different than the previous ones because the Arab countries decided to support Palestine in practice and the participants expressed their dissatisfaction with the U.S. attitude toward the Zionists’ crimes, he noted.

Rumsfeld faces German legal test

November 15, 2006

A lawyers' group has asked Germany to sue former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld over alleged prisoner abuse in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay.

The complaint was filed by the U.S.-based Center for Constitutional Rights on behalf of a Saudi man held in Cuba and 11 Iraqis held in Baghdad.

German law allows the pursuit of cases originating anywhere in the world.

State prosecutors have yet to decide whether to pursue the case. An earlier request for a case in 2004 was dropped.

Michael Ratner, the centre's president, said he felt the case had a better chance of success now because Rumsfeld was no longer in office and could not exert the same degree of "political pressure".

He added that the centre had more evidence than it did in 2004, citing the case of a detained Saudi national, Mohamad al-Qahtani.

"Al-Qahtani was a man who the U.S. alleged is al-Qaeda, who is in Guantanamo. The entire torture log of al-Qahtani over a period of two months was exposed," Ratner told the BBC.

The Center for Constitutional Rights argues that Rumsfeld was instrumental in abuses committed at Guantanamo Bay and at Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad.

The group of international lawyers alleges that Rumsfeld personally approved the use of torture to extract information from the prisoners.

Wolfgang Kaleck, the lawyer leading the attempt to bring the case, said former U.S. Army Brig-Gen Janis Karpinski would be the "star witness".

MS. Karpinski was commander of U.S. prisons in Iraq when several prisoners were abused by U.S. soldiers at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib facility.

Rumsfeld resigned on Wednesday following Republican losses to the Democrats in the U.S. mid-term elections.

The U.S. denies any torture has taken place at Guantanamo Bay and has defended its interrogation techniques.

Abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib was brought to world attention after soldiers' photographs of the incidents were released and published.

Ten U.S. soldiers have been found guilty of abuses at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison. The U.S. says they were acting without official sanction.

(Source: BBC)

The World's Most Criminal State

A BBC Documentary

American is at war for claiming that Saddam Hussian had so called "Weapons of Mass Destruction." And each day 100s of innocent people are dying in both sides. While ignoring the FACT that the most criminal state in the face of earth, Israel, not only has "Weapons of Mass Destruction," but also Chemical and Biological Weapons-where the "Criminal Government of Israel" is using it each day over innocent Palestinians who don't even have a knife to defend themselves.

While almost all the nation's of the World has closed thier eyes and are ignoring their (Palestinians) innocent cries.

Veil-wearing lawyer in UK removed from case

Shabnam Mughal, 27, was to have represented a client at an immigration tribunal. Instead, her firm, The Law Partnership, replaced her.

November 14, 2006

London: A Muslim lawyer who refused to remove her veil while representing a client in court was removed from the case by her firm.

Shabnam Mughal, 27, was to have represented a client at an immigration tribunal. Instead, her firm, The Law Partnership, replaced her.

"In the interests of the client, it was decided to send a partner," practice manager Javid Hussain said. Shabnam last week represented a man who had been denied a visitor's permit for a nephew.

Judge George Glossop asked Shabnam to remove her veil, saying he couldn't hear her.

Shabnam refused, and the case was adjourned.

US veto of Gaza resolution criticised

Amr Musa is to chair Sunday's meeting

12 November 2006

The Arab League has criticised the United States for blocking a UN Security Council resolution that sought to condemn Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip.

The US used its veto to halt the draft resolution, sponsored by the Gulf state of Qatar, that criticised the Israeli tank shelling of a home in Beit Hanoun on Wednesday in which seven children and four women were killed as they slept.

Amr Musa, the Arab League secretary general, said he was "surprised and disappointed" by the US move and said: "This veto will only increase anger.

"It is inexplicable that a veto can be used to protect Israeli actions against civilians."

He said the Arab world would not accept peace with Israel unless it was "just and balanced".

Negotiations

John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN, earlier described the text of the resolution as "unbalanced" and "biased against Israel and politically motivated".

Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the Egyptian foreign minister, said America's action would "only lead to impose the situation that Israel wants, and increase the frustration of Palestinian people".

A statement issued by Aboul Gheit's office said: "It is necessary for the Security Council to bear its responsibilities and stop turning a blind eye to Israeli acts in Gaza."

Egypt and other Arab powers fear that the latest bloodshed in Gaza could imperil an imminent deal for Hamas to reconcile with the more moderate Fatah movement and form a Palestinian unity government.

'Massacres'

Ghazi Hamad, a spokesman for the Hamas-led Palestinian government, said the US veto showed America's foreign policy bias in the Middle East.

He told Al Jazeera: "Such a decision was expected, because the US have already given the green light for Israel to carry on these massacres."

Arab foreign ministers are holding an emergency meeting on Sunday in Cairo, the Egyptian capital, to discuss plans to "confront on-going Israeli violence" against the Palestinian people", Arab League officials said.

The Arab League will also urge the UN Security Council to pass a resolution to form an international observation force to protect Palestinians, they said.

Israel has expressed regret for the loss of life in Beit Hanoun, but has said it will continue its military operations in Gaza.

It said an investigation indicated that the casualties in Beit Hanoun were caused by a "technical failure" in the fire control system of an artillery battery.

Source

No Stopping Iran's Nuclear Program

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivers his speech, during a conference of the general assembly of Asian Parliaments Association for Peace, in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 12, 2006.

Initially, they (the U.S. and its allies) were very angry. The reason was clear: They basically wanted to monopolize nuclear power in order to rule the world and impose their will on nations," Ahmadinejad told a news conference.

Ahmadinejad: No stopping Iran's nuke drive

November 14, 2006


Tehran: There is no stopping of Iran's nuclear programme despite threats of UN sanctions, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told world powers on Tuesday.

"The great powers have tried to prevent our people from achieving their rights in nuclear material," he said, while Europe and the United States move to impose sanctions on Iran for its nuclear ambitions.

"Iran is completely mastering the nuclear fuel cycle and time is playing in favour of Iran," he said.

"This year I hope will be able to have the great celebration of the nuclearisation of Iran," he added, without elaborating.

The Stongest Kids on Earth

The Children of Palestine

by Palestine4Islam

United States,"Which Road Should I Pick?"

Quit Palestine, Abbas Bluntly Tells Israel

Hisham Abu Taha, Arab News

GAZA CITY, 12 November 2006 — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas bluntly told Israel yesterday that the Jewish state would not live in peace and security unless it withdrew to its borders before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Abbas was addressing a crowd in Ramallah as Palestinians marked the second anniversary of the death of Yasser Arafat in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Abbas pledged to continue Arafat’s struggle for a Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem, and vowed not to concede a single foot of Palestinian land.

“Peace and security will not be realized under occupation and settlement and the inclusion of noble Jerusalem into Israel,” Abbas told the assembled crowd who held aloft the late leader’s portraits in the Muqatta headquarters, decked with Arafat posters and Palestinian flags. “Israel, if it wants peace, should apply international decisions and withdraw from Palestinian and Arab lands to the 1967 borders,” Abbas said.

Arafat was joint recipient with the late Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin of the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize. But he was boycotted by Israel and the United States in his final years as an obstacle to peace. His death in 2004 fueled hopes for progress in the Middle East peace process, but the daily lives of Palestinians have grown only more desperate since then.

“During Abu Ammar’s (Arafat’s) time, we used to pass through difficult situations but life never seemed so insecure as now,” 55-year-old Hamde Keshta, a carpenter in Gaza, told Arab News. “The need of the hour is for Fatah and Hamas to form a unity government and end the suffering of our people,” he added.

Khan Younis grocery shop owner Jamal Khader, 34, said that Arafat did a lot for his people even while he was under Israeli siege at his Ramallah headquarters.

In his Ramallah address, Abbas said that a unity government with Hamas was likely by the month’s end.

“I say to our people that we have realized great progress on the road toward forming a national unity government that can break the siege and open the way for a political solution that will end the occupation for ever,” the president said.

Drinking Coca-Cola Support's Israel

No Coke for me, no wonder Diet Coke makes me toss my cookies!


Boycott for Peace!











Brought not to you by the Coca-Cola Bottling Company Dallas, Texas.

Smash Israeli Colonialism

I Am Yet To Wonder

The corpse of a Palestinian tortured until dead by the Israelis. He was coiled blows, burned with a domestic iron, skinned sharp, and one drilled cranium to him several times.

November 12, 2006

by Housewife4Palestine

Maybe these days because of so many martyrs or the countless graves over the years, but I am yet to wonder what day will the madness end?

There is people begging for the murders to stop and it goes unheeded, even with all the peace marches and organizations that have documented the horror’s that continue to be perpetrated in a land that will always be Palestine.

I happen to listen to part of a video yesterday, about a man who spoke about how the Jewish people invaded our country two times and took control forcibly for a time at the cost of people who has always lived on this land.

Remember the first time, the Jewish people ended up scattered to the four winds. Just like what the Zionist is attempting to do with the Palestinians or completely eradicate us from the earth.

I to was asked the other day, by my husband if anyone of my family was still alive and to be perfectly frank as far as I know over time my whole family is becoming the way of the sounds in the wind.

The whispers of a distant past, this is what it is to be a forced refugee or to have genocide forced on your people day after day for over a hundred years.

Martyrs of a war we never wanted.

I happen to see the picture above of another brother, victim to the horrors of Israeli torture and I kind of asked myself; for those who support these horror’s can you really sleep at night or how are you going to justify all those who have died when you answer the questions God will surely ask?

For those in the United States as well as Israel and the other countries supporting this madness, when will you have enough, when the fat lady sings and your countries look like Pompeii?

You may walk about now and gloat how you are fat cats and inner bullies, but in the end, you will end up a whisper in the wind too.

Finally, I am not just feeling the sorrows of just the Palestinians, but I think deep down in my heart; I can feel the sorrows of the whole world, for what this world is becoming.

For this, I am heartbroken.