Secretary of US army resigns

The Washington Post found wounded soldiers lying neglected in the Walter Reed army hospital [AP]

March 2, 2007

The secretary of the US army has resigned following media reports that troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan were receiving substandard medical treatment at the Army's top hospital.

Francis Harvey, resigned on Friday a day after he fired the general in charge of the Walter Reed hospital in Washington DC.

"I am disappointed that some in the Army have not adequately appreciated the seriousness of the situation pertaining to outpatient care at Walter Reed," Robert Gates, the US secretary of defence said after Harvey's resignation.

"Some have shown too much defensiveness and have not shown enough focus on digging into and addressing the problems.

"Also I am concerned that some do not properly ... understand the need to communicate to the wounded and their families that we have no higher priority than their care."

Gates said a new permanent head of the medical center would be announced later on Friday.

An investigation by The Washington Post found that soldiers convalescing from war wounds at Walter Reed were subjected to a morass of bureaucratic red tape and housed in a decrepit building.

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President's Radio Address
March 2, 2007

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A Handy White House Guide For Patriotic Citizens

Footage reveals Zionist army crimes

March 2, 2007

The young Palestinian man was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt on a cold winter morning as he walked in front of heavily armed soldiers of the Zionist regime on a door-to-door sweep of three apartments in a crowded West Bank neighborhood.

The scene - caught by an Associated Press television news camera - revealed that the Zionist regime's army is still using Palestinian civilians as shield during military operations.

Human rights advocates believe that the practice is a violation of local and international law that places innocent civilians in the line of fire. Violation of human right is a common measure take place by the Zionist regime.

In its initial reaction to the footage, with utmost defiance, the Zionist regime claimed there appeared to be no wrongdoing by its soldiers.

In a statement, however, the regime's army pledged it would "pursue a thorough inquiry" into the case.

The incident occurred Sunday in Nablus, where the army has been conducting its most aggressive invasion throughout the week.

In the AP video, the young Palestinian man is seen leading soldiers to the door of a home. He stands outside as troops move in, then leads the soldiers up some stairs to the apartment's main entrance.

The man enters the home ahead of the soldiers. Gunshots are heard as several soldiers stand guard outside. The man then leaves the home, walks down the stairs and escorts the soldiers around the side of the building, where he said he led soldiers into two more apartments out of view of the cameras.

Later, he is seen on the footage being led down stairs with several Palestinians. He and the other men are all placed into a military vehicle.

In interviews with the AP, the Palestinian man, Sameh Amira, 24, said he was awakened at about 5 AM by soldiers and ordered to go with his family to a neighboring home.

About an hour later, he said he was forced to lead troops into three apartments, including his own. He said he was not allowed to put on warmer clothes.

The Palestinian man said the Zionist regime's forces forced him "to walk in front of them against my will," adding that he always was hit with gunpoint.

Inside his home, he said soldiers in a brutal action opened fire at bedroom closets. "All the time, I was scared, terrified. Anything could happen," he told the AP, pointing to bullet holes in the floor, closet doors and clothing in the closets.

Amira, who said he was released from army custody after several hours, said he is not a member of any Palestinian group.

He also said he was jailed by the Zionist regime's forces for more than three months without any charges.

International law, including the Geneva conventions and Hague regulations, prohibit placing civilians in harm's way during military operations.

In a show move in 2005 the Zionist regime's supreme court barred the use of civilians in 'arrest' operations. The court specifically banned using neighbors to knock on doors of houses with suspected activists.

The Zionist regime's military invasions became an issue in the spring of 2002, when the army carried out a major offensive in the West Bank.

During Zionists' raids, soldiers would sometimes force Palestinian civilians to approach the homes of 'wanted' combatants.

In August 2002, a 19-year-old Palestinian student, Nidal Daraghmeh, was martyred in such an incident in the West Bank town of Tubas.

At the time, troops called Daraghmeh out of his house and forced him to knock at the door of a neighboring building where Palestinian combatants inside thought there were only occupiers outside and opened fire to enemy.

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"Which Way Do I Go?"

Palestinian children learn dual sense of identity

Educators struggle to make young refugees understand Palestine's history - as well as host country Lebanon's

By Theodore May

March 02, 2007

BEIRUT: The Palestinian community in Lebanon is caught between two worlds. While there are now Palestinian children being born here whose grandparents have never laid eyes on Palestine, the idea of staying connected to their origins in the hopes of one day returning home remains strong.

Schools in the Palestinian camps struggle to give their students a sense of connection to their roots, while still fostering a feeling of belonging in the present. Teachers fight to fulfill the desires of their communities - that the children know their Palestinian heritage - and the needs of the modern Lebanese state - that children grow up with a consciousness of their host country.

History departments in schools have long grappled with trying to form their classes in such a way that their students emerge with a dual identity. But for schools funded by the United Nations, under the control of the Lebanese Education Ministry, and run by Palestinians, this is not a simple task.

Ashraf Abed al-Rafur is a history teacher at Khan Younis School in the Sabra refugee camp in the southern suburbs of Beirut. He teaches 13-15-year-olds in middle school there.

"[Palestinian children] should maintain their dignity and their respect for themselves and their heritage," says Rafur, speaking about the importance of dual identity for students.

The Education Ministry mandates a history curriculum for the ninth grade, the highest year taught at the school, but the institution has leeway to make its own decisions for seventh- and eighth-grade history classes.

As a result, seventh- and eighth-graders at Khan Younis get a blend of both Lebanese and Palestinian histories, with an emphasis on Palestinian history, while ninth-graders use the Education Ministry, textbook which focuses on 20th century world history and on Lebanon.

They are tested on world history at the end of the ninth grade.

"Students learn Palestinian history daily from mothers, fathers, their peers, and life in the camp. Then they learn it from school at the end," Rafur explains, detailing what he sees as an important distinction between teaching Palestinian and Lebanese history.

Students already have a strong attachment to Palestine by the time they arrive at school, and so the classroom is more of a last stop for learning Palestinian history, whereas school is really the first exposure for many Palestinians to Lebanese history.

Khan Younis' principal, Khaled Saris, said that it is the teachers' challenge to persuade the students to take ownership of Lebanon's history as well.

"The camps, although they are misery, they keep the identity of the Palestinians," he says.

The key to making students appreciate the two histories, Saris adds, is finding common themes between them. He says that by drawing a comparison between the two places, students will achieve a greater understanding of both.

Saris does so by giving comparative examples of both countries. Lebanon and Palestine are both lands that have been occupied by foreign forces, he says.

Saris argues that by comparing the two peoples' histories under occupation, the students can use their real experience here in Lebanon to come to a better understanding of the situation in Palestine.

One connection that the schools in the camps make between the two histories is the celebration of Martyrs' Day by both countries on different dates. On each of the two days, Palestinians use the occasions to commemorate martyrs both in Palestine and in Lebanon. In so doing, history teacher Rafur argues, the students can see the commonality of their two identities and can mentally justify this dual existence.

"We always commemorate national days to implant in our children the understanding that they have a country that is occupied by the Israelis and that they one day must liberate that land," Rafur says.

Saris argues that his commitment to teaching the dual identity is made more difficult because of the unequal rights Palestinians have in Lebanon.

"It is a different situation in Lebanon because of the hostility," Saris says. "In Syria and Jordan for example, Palestinians are more accepted in society and so they adopt the culture. They integrate more. But, in Lebanon, Palestinian culture is maintained more than elsewhere."

Over 60 years after first becoming refugees, the Palestinians still manage to walk the line and manage their dual identities. Whether another 60 years away from their homeland will erode that strong connection, only time will tell. But one thing is clear: Educators in the camps seem intent on ensuring that students continue to embrace both cultures and histories.

Israeli Harassment Against Palestinians Grows

Ramallah, March 1 (Prensa Latina) Israel s military courts held about 6,000 trials and administrative arrests of Palestinians in the West Bank last year, breaking a record in their judicial processes in the occupied territories, according to the media.

Yediot Aharonot daily says on Thursday that 2,938 administrative arrests of Palestinian were carried out without charges last year.

Detainees can be held in custody for six months or more based on secret evidence to which neither the accused nor the defense lawyers have access.

Arab Human rights champions have protested against that way of constraint of the Palestinian population.

U. S. Aid to Israel More then All of Africa

Iran Blames US for ME Woes

Sudanese President Omar Bashir, right, chats with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad before their talks in Khartoum on Wednesday. (AP)

KHARTOUM, 1 March 2007 — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his first visit to Sudan yesterday extended full support to his counterpart Omar Bashir, blaming the United States and its allies for the woes of the Middle East and the region.

On a two-day visit aimed at bolstering ties between the oil-producing Islamic states — both considered state sponsors of terrorism by Washington — the Iranian leader held talks with Bashir and several other senior officials.

“The forces of hegemony that are exerting pressure on the government and people of Sudan do not want to see a strong and effective” country, Ahmadinejad said before going into closed-door talks with his Sudanese counterpart.

“We are confident that our brothers, the president of Sudan and his colleagues...will forge ahead and present a united front in confronting those challenges,” he said.

Ahmadinejad later met Sudan’s First Vice President Salva Kiir, who heads the former southern rebel movement’s presence in the national unity Cabinet but has often expressed differences with Bashir.

The Iranian president did not explicitly comment on Tuesday’s decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to request summonses for two Sudanese officials suspected of war crimes in the western region of Darfur.

The move represented the first attempt to hold criminally liable officials suspected of masterminding the atrocities carried out against civilians in Darfur over the past four years.

One of the two officials is Ahmed Haroun, the current secretary of state for humanitarian affairs, while the other is Ali Kushayb, a pro-government militia leader.

“Our enemies are trying to destabilize us but we are capable of foiling their plot,” said Bashir, who also reiterated Khartoum’s support for Iran’s nuclear program, which the West is concerned will be used to manufacture weapons.

Without naming it, Ahmadinejad also blamed the United States for destabilizing Lebanon and “planting the seeds of sectarian discord” in Iraq.

The two delegations were expected to hold wide-ranging talks aimed at increasing bilateral cooperation in agriculture and industry that should culminate today with the signing of a package of agreements.

“Relations are at a very good level. We have many economic and cultural projects, in agriculture, energy and oil exploration in Sudan and culture,” Ahmadinejad said before leaving Tehran.

Iran’s ambassador to Khartoum, Reza Amiri, said he hoped business partnerships could help increase the volume of two-way trade to $70 million a year from the current level of $43 million.

Iran has also offered its expertise in the oil industry, an area currently dominated by China, India and Malaysia.

However, an issue that has also been at the heart of Iran-Sudan ties is military cooperation, with Sudanese Defense Minister Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein having visited Iran three times over the past year.

Hussein, a former interior minister and presidential adviser, is considered a key suspect by rights groups in the abuses that have plagued Darfur since February 2002.

Iran together with China, whose President Hu Jintao visited Khartoum earlier this month, is a key ally of Bashir’s regime and has spoken out against plans for a UN deployment in Darfur.
“Sudan and Iran feel targeted and must respond by making diplomatic efforts to better explain their positions in regional and international forums,” Sudanese presidential adviser Mustafa Othman Ismail said this week.

Rights groups and Darfur rebels have urged the ICC to target more senior Sudanese officials, including the defense minister and Bashir himself.

In another development, the Sudanese minister accused of war crimes in Darfur dismissed the world court’s allegations as politically motivated, as the United Nations yesterday warned its staff could be at risk over the case.

“I can defend myself and I am not worried at all,” secretary of state for humanitarian affairs, Ahmed Haroun, told reporters late on Tuesday on his return from Jordan, where he underwent medical tests.

“My conscience is at rest and I do not feel guilty because I acted within the legal framework and in accordance with the general interest,” he added.

Meanwhile, the UN mission in Sudan said it feared for the security of its staff because the war crimes case had been referred to the ICC by the UN Security Council.

“We issued yesterday an advisory to our staff” on the potential security repercussions, acting mission chief Taye-Brook Zerihoun told reporters yesterday.

“The ICC can be seen as part of the UN system and there could be reactions,” she said, adding that the UN mission had not yet worked out how to deal with Haroun in his role as secretary of state for humanitarian affairs.

Israeli Detention Campaign

Once a Land Known as "Paradise on Earth"

Panorama of a Time

Illegal West Bank homes for US Jews

There are 260,000 Jewish settlers living in the West Bank

February 28, 2007

Al Jazeera's David Chater reports on how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict came to Teaneck, New Jersey this week.

At an orthodox synagogue they were selling the message "invest in Israel's future - strengthen the settlements".

The project is aimed at getting American Jews to fill the financial gap left after the Israeli government decided to eliminate subsidies for building on the West Bank by encouraging them to purchase second homes in one of the many existing illegal settlements.

Ten settlements deep inside the occupied Palestinian territory are being promoted at the fair.

'Ideological investment'

Investors are assured that according to Israeli law there is no possibility of their ownership rights being violated.

No mention is made of the fact that all of the settlements are illegal under international law.


The settlements breach the Geneva Conventions and Security Council resolutions 446, 465 and 471, which require the dismantlement of settlements.

They also breach UN resolutions which demand that Israel withdraw to the pre-June 1967 borders and give back all of the occupied lands.

The potential investors are being told that hundreds of young families who cannot afford to buy houses are waiting to move into the settlements, providing them with a guaranteed rental market if they decide to purchase.

Aliza Herbst, the project director, describes the purchase of a second home in a settlement as an "ideological investment".

She says: "They could make more on their money by putting money in the bank."

'Facts on the ground'

The fair is part of a wider effort by the Jewish Settlers Council to get Jews from around the world to buy houses in the West Bank.

There are currently 260,000 Jewish settlers living in the West Bank. Although there are an estimated two-and-a-half million Palestinians living there, 60 per cent of the area is under Israeli control.

According to the Washington-based Foundation for Middle East Peace, the number of Jewish settlers in the West Bank increased by almost 6 per cent in 2006.

Chater says: "The creeping annexation of Palestinian land by Israel has continued apace under the watch of the prime minister, Ehud Olmert.

"The settlements are outside the blocs Israel expects to retain in any final status agreement with the Palestinians. More facts on the ground being cemented which will put the prospect of any such agreement further away than ever."

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Israeli army returns to Nablus with renewed force

Scenes of mass arrests in Nablus on Wednesday (MaanImages)

February 28, 2007

Nablus - Ma'an - The Israeli forces renewed their 'Operation Hot Winter' in the city of Nablus, in the north of the occupied West Bank, on Wednesday morning.

Palestinian security sources informed Ma'an News Agency that the renewed Israeli military incursion into the city began at 2.30 am on Wednesday morning. At least 120 military vehicles were observed entering the city, accompanied with bulldozers and armoured jeeps.

The director of the Palestinian Medical Relief Services in the city, Dr. Ghassan Hamdan, told Ma'an via telephone that the Israeli forces besieged three hospitals in the city, Ittihad Hospital, Al-Watani Hospital and Rafidia Hospital. He added that the Israeli forces deployed many military jeeps in the areas surrounding the hospitals including outside the gates of the hospitals. He added that the Israeli forces were banning the Palestinian ambulances from moving and from approaching the hospitals.

The Israeli forces imposed a curfew again on the city. All Palestinians were instructed to stay at home. The city's An-Najah University also announced a suspension of study in the university and the education directorate also announced that all schools in Nablus city would be closed Wednesday.

Palestinian security sources reported that the Israeli forces arrested the relatives of many so-called 'wanted' Palestinians in an attempt to pressurize the 'wanted' to surrender. Among those arrested were the mother of Amin Labbada, who is reportedly 'wanted' by the Israeli authorities; family members of Sufian Qanadilo, another 'wanted' Palestinian; and family members of Mahdi Abu Ghazala.

Eyewitnesses told Ma'an that the Israeli troops forced many Palestinian families in the Aqaba neighborhood of Nablus to evacuate their homes before then occupying the houses. These residential buildings were then transformed into Israeli military posts. Eyewitnesses said that the Israeli forces turned two schools in the city into military bases where they are interrogating Palestinians. One of the schools, Thafir Al Masri School, is located in the old city, and the other school, Al Fatimiyah School, is in the city center.

Ten Palestinian citizens were arrested in many parts of the city on Wednesday morning including a father of three sons, called Mahir Kharraz. The Israeli forces also arrested a student at An-Najah University, Ahmed Yusef Qa'u, 30. Qa'u is originally from the village of Kafr El-Dik, located southwest of Nablus in the Salfit governorate. The Israeli forces arrested Qa'u at his student residence near At-Takhasusi Hospital, a specialist medical centre, in Nablus, our correspondent in Nablus reported. Qa'u has previously been imprisoned by the Israeli forces but was released several years ago due to a lack of evidence against him.

Israeli sources said that the Israeli operation will continue and expand.

Now a Land of Second Class?

Israeli Arab group proposes new 'multi-cultural' constitution

By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent

A proposed constitution written by the Israeli Arab advocacy center, Adalah, states that Arab Knesset members will be able to bring about the disqualification of bills that impinge on the rights of Arabs, and classifies the State of Israel as a "bilingual and multicultural" country rather than a Jewish state.

The proposal, entitled "The Democratic Constitution," also calls for majority and minority groups to split control of the government in such a way that will strengthen the Arab minority on issues relating to the character of the state.

Adalah's version of the constitution essentially abolishes the Jewish elements of Israel, but allows the Jewish majority to maintain its character through educational and cultural institutions. The proposal invalidates the Law of Return, which grants automatic citizenship to people with at least one Jewish grandparent, and states that citizenship will be granted to those who come to Israel for humanitarian reasons, regardless of their religion.

The document states that the "internal refugees" Arab residents and their descendants expelled in 1948 and whose number is estimated at about a quarter of today's Israeli Arab citizens will return to the area where they used to live and receive compensation. The introduction to the proposed constitution demands that Israel recognize its responsibility for the "historical injustices that it caused the Palestinian nation in its entirety," withdraw from the territories and recognize the Palestinian people's right to self-determination. The proposal sets the state's borders along the 1967 cease-fire lines.

The proposed constitution grants citizenship to all descendants of Israeli citizens, whether they were born here or abroad, as well as to all spouses of Israeli citizens thereby undermining Israeli efforts to limit marriages between Israeli Arabs and Palestinians living in the territories.

Instead of dealing with the issue of who is a Jew, says Adalah, the proposal deals with the issue of who is a citizen.

Adalah's constitution is the first one proposed by an Arab institution, though there have been many proposed by various Jewish ones. Adalah chairman Prof. Marwan Dwairy said the other proposals are not based on democratic values.

"They relate to Arab citizens like foreigners in this homeland, in which history, memory and collective rights are the legacy of Jews alone," he wrote.

Adalah hopes that its proposal will spur public discourse on the legal and cultural standing of Israeli Arabs.

"If this 'Democratic Constitution' succeeds in highlighting the large gaps that exist between it and the other proposals, and generates dialogue and topical public discussion on the nature of the freedoms and rights in the this country, we will see it as an important step," wrote Dwairy.

According to the proposed constitution, all assets of the Waqf (the Muslim religious trust) that were expropriated after 1948 and all assets seized by the state from Arabs will be returned to their original owners, who will also receive compensation for the period of expropriation. The state must also immediately recognize all unrecognized Arab villages, the proposal states.

The document does not state what the symbols of the country should be, but says that they will be determined either by a Knesset committee, half of whose members will be Arab, or by agreement of 75 percent of Arab MKs.

All official publications, court rulings and media reports will be in both Hebrew and Arabic, according to Adalah. The proposal states that every cultural group, whether religious or ethnic, will be able to run their own institutions, and that national minorities can choose their own representative body, at the state's expense.

The proposed constitution grants the judicial system the authority to overturn any laws that contradict the constitution.

Adalah says that many of its sections are based on international declarations of human rights, and has consulted with legal experts from around the world, including some who were involved in South Africa's changeover from an apartheid state to a democratic one.

--------------------------

The news report is below, but the actual text of "The Democratic Constitution" may be found at:

ENGLISH COPY: http://www.adalah.org/eng/democratic_constitution-e.pdf

ARABIC COPY: http://www.adalah.org/ara/democratic_constitution-a.pdf

Source: http://www.adalah.org/eng/index.php

Was Palestine on a Map?

Israeli Settlers Occupy Nature Reserves

Mohammed Mar’i, Arab News

RAMALLAH, West Bank, 27 February 2007 — Jewish settlements have been annexing nature reserves in the occupied West Bank for construction, the Peace Now group said in a report yesterday. The anti-settlement watchdog said that annexation was detected in several central settlements in the Qana Stream area, west of Nablus in the West Bank.

The report said that the phenomenon is widespread and is the prime reason that attracts settlements in the area. The settlers have denied the report’s claims and have accused Peace Now of “spreading false rumors.”

Peace Now’s surveillance team analyzed aerial photographs of settlements and outposts and compared these to maps of nature reserves.

The analysis indicates that the territory claimed by 21 settlements and 10 outposts includes land belonging to nature reserves or national parks. According to the report, the settlements have claimed a total of 1,900 dunams in land in this manner.

In some cases, structures were built and roads paved on reserve and park lands. In other cases, settlements only annexed small plots of land and left them as open areas.

In extreme cases, dozens of structures were built. In the settlement of Karnei Shomron, east of Qalqilya, for example, 73 permanent structures were established within the confines of the Qana Stream Reserve. The settlements of Beit Arieh and Negohot, west of Ramallah, also saw the construction of over 20 new structures.

According to Peace Now’s data, the land of four outposts falls completely within the confines of nature reserves. The most significant of these is the outpost Alonei Shiloh, south of Nablus, which consists of 44 structures.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Ministry officials denied late Sunday that Defense Minister Amir Peretz was asked to involve himself in the decision by the Supreme Planning Council for Judea and Samaria (West Bank) to legalize the construction of the Matityahu East neighborhood of the settlement of Modi’in Illit, on Bil’in farming land west of Ramallah.

The officials said that “in any event Peretz was not a partner to the laundering of the plan, which was frozen by the Israeli High Court over a year ago.”

The coordinator of Israeli civil administration in the West Bank, who is subordinate to Peretz, must sign the development plan for the Matityahu East neighborhood of the settlement of Modi’in Illit for it to be legal.

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper said Sunday that the Supreme Planning Council for Judea and Samaria recently legalized the largest-ever illegal construction project in the West Bank. Part of the project is situated on private land, which belongs to Palestinian residents of the village of Bil’in.

The project calls for the construction of 42 buildings containing approximately 1,500 apartments. The buildings, already in various stages of construction, are in the neighborhood of Matityahu East, which is located in the large ultra-Orthodox settlement of Modi’in Ilit.

Peace Now and Bil’in residents filed a petition against the construction a week ago at the high court.

About a year ago, following another petition by Peace Now and Bil’in residents, the Israeli High Court ordered a halt to the construction and occupation of the buildings.

Once of Harmony, Not of War

February 27, 2007

By Housewife4Palestine

I tend to think many people these days only see Palestine for how the country is now, nothing but plagued with war.

But their was a time when this was not so, before the occupation. Palestine is a land of the greatest beauty and is known as the center of the world, as well as the Holy land.

Their was a time when Palestine was a place felt to be a land of the greatest harmony and peace, where the three religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam where friends and neighbor’s. It was common to go to each other’s home’s to eat and all the children played with each other. Furthermore, what seems to me so important, the true love of family and friends.

I was reminded today of a sorrow that is often times felt among the Palestinian people but often times never spoken, of how it really was before the occupation.

How their was so much love between people, their beauty and uniqueness that made up this country. People tend to think the war is just about land ownership, but it goes much further then this with the Zionist trying to destroy the beauty of a culture, like the extinction that should be on the endangered list.

I have often heard from some that have wished to understand the Palestinian people and their culture that it is not only separate from of the Arab countries, for no two Arab countries are alike as far as language and culture.

I read a story once that what appeared to have been an isolated people once, that when their language was changed to English and the assimilation to main stream global society what was created for these people is extinction. Majority of Palestinians refuse to be subjected to this type of cruelty, for one thing people tend to forget the true people known as Palestinians as the most riches and unique culture known to man, as well as an ancient culture that dates many thousands of years.

This is not just a simple genocide of a people, but to put something in the past like that which was written in the days of Moses (PBUH) for example. When you create a loss such as this, it will never be returned and the effect upon mankind could very well be catastrophic, I tend to think this element is forgotten.

If you think I am not correct see and learn about the culture of the people known as, Palestinians.”

You see war, thanks to the Zionist, but who do you think wishes peace, the people that many subject with the misguided label of “Terrorist” or “bad guys,” the Palestinian people for they speak louder for peace and wish it; where the Zionist who spit on the dove.