Bush Radio Address on Latin America

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 10, 2007

Audio


THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Today, Laura and I are in Latin America, where we are visiting five countries: Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico. These countries are part of a region that has made great strides toward freedom and prosperity in the past three decades. They have raised up new democracies. And they have undertaken fiscal policies that have brought stability to their economies.

Yet despite the progress we have seen, many citizens in our hemisphere remain trapped in poverty and shut off from the promise of this new century. Nearly one out of every four people in Latin America lives on less than $2 a day. Many children never finish grade school. Many mothers never see a doctor. The fact is that tens of millions of our brothers and sisters to the South have yet to see improvements in their daily lives. And this has led some to question the value of democracy.

Our Nation has a vital interest in helping the young democracies in our neighborhood succeed. When our neighbors prosper, they create more vibrant markets for our goods and services. When our neighbors have a hopeful future in their own countries, they can find work at home and are less likely to migrate to our country illegally. And when our neighbors feel the blessings of liberty in their daily lives, the appeal of radicalism declines, and our hemisphere becomes more secure.

The United States is doing its part to help our neighbors in Latin America build a better life for themselves and their families. We are helping these young democracies make their governments more fair, effective, and transparent. We are supporting their efforts to meet the basic needs of their citizens -- like education, health care, and housing. And we are increasing opportunity for all by relieving debt, opening up trade, and encouraging reforms that will build market economies, where people can start from nothing and rise as far as their talents and hard work can take them.

On Monday, I will meet a Guatemalan citizen who has experienced the power of open trade and free economies. His name is Mariano Can . Twenty years ago, he was an indigenous farmer whose land provided barely enough corn and beans to feed his family. No one in his family had ever been to college, and most of the people in his village never got past the sixth grade. And his own children's prospects for prosperity looked just as bleak.

Mariano was determined to do better for his family. So he organized an association of small farmers called Labradores Mayas. He persuaded his fellow farmers to switch their crops to vegetables they could sell overseas -- high-value crops like lettuce, carrots, and celery. Soon they were selling to big companies like Wal-Mart Central America. Today, the business he helped establish is thriving, and it supports more than a thousand jobs. It also has supported something else: a college education for Mariano's son.

Mariano is showing what the people of Latin America can accomplish when they are given a chance. We must help others like him gain the opportunity to build a better life for their families. The generosity of the American people is helping our neighbors in Latin America build free and vibrant economies. By doing so, we will increase living standards for all our citizens, strengthen democracy in our hemisphere, and advance the cause of peace.

Thank you for listening.

What this about Quarreling?

Quarrels would never last long, if there were not faults on both sides.

To understand is to forgive.

What is done cannot be undone.

Soft words are hard arguments.

"The bus driver called me a raghead."

FL Bus Driver Fired for Anti-Muslim Joke

March 16, 2007

BREAKING NEWS:CAIR-FL: TOUR-BUS DRIVER FIRED FOR MUSLIM JOKES ( Orlando Sentinel)

"And now they're telling us we're supposed to be nice to these Muslim terrorists who are trying to kill us all," Hilal Isler recalled him saying. "Here in America, we call them 'rag-heads' or 'towelheads,' but that's not right. What they wear on their heads is more like a sheet. We should be calling them sheetheads."

...Sabiha Khan, executive director of the Orlando office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said she receives two to three complaints a month about discrimination against Muslims in Central Florida. Mostly the incidents go unreported, she said...

Welcome to the Burma-Shave World

At one time in America a series of sign’s popped up along the road that was not just advertising, but informative as well as entertaining, they where known as the “Burma-Shave” sign’s.

Following is a link to reintroduce a little forgotten piece of Americana:

Burma-Shave Jingles

Eisner Museum Exhibit

"At the time, no one would have guessed that the Burma-Shave campaign would become one of the most memorable advertising campaigns of all time. Nor would they have known that the campaign would transform a small Midwestern company into one of the most popular shaving cream manufacturers in the country." Ca 1925

Palestinian Wins Golden Wreath Award for Poetry

9 February 2007

Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish is this year's winner of the Golden Wreath Award allocated by the Struga Poetry Evenings (SPE), its Managing Board president Zoran Ancevski announced on Friday. Despite Darwish, seven other poets from Mexico, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Albania, Romania and Macedonia were nominated.

- Currently Mahmoud Darwish is considered to be the most eminent Palestinian poet and the most acclaimed one who creates in Arabic language. He has published over 30 poetry volumes, 8 novels, all in all 40 works, said Ancevski.

Darwish has won numerous international awards and affirmations. He actually embarked his poetry career at Struga Poetry Evenings in 1978.

In his letter to SPE, he highlighted that poetry's true identity has its roots in humanity and pure aesthetics, as well as in its ability to travel freely between cultures and languages.

SPE director Eftim Kletnikov said that preparations for the forthcoming festival were underway, whereas the winner of the Bridges over Struga Award for best newcomer in world poetry was due to be announced.

SPE and this year's laureate will be traditionally presented to UNESKO on March 21, World Poetry Day.

Source

Mahmoud Darwish is reading part of Ahmad Al Arabi at Mohmed the 5th theater in Alrebat. (Morocco)16 - 2 - 2007




"Takabar Takabar" lyrics by Mahmoud Darwish, music by Marcel Khalifah.

Government of national unity wins PLC confidence vote with overwhelming majority

New government ministers (MaanImages)

March 17, 2007

Gaza – Ramallah - Ma'an - The Palestinian coalition government, the eleventh Palestinian government on Saturday won the confidence vote of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) with an overwhelming majority. 83 PLC members voted for giving confidence, whilst only 3 members voted against.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and an independent PLC member voted against giving confidence to the new government.

The confidence-giving session of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) took place in both Gaza City and Ramallah, the two cities have been linked through video conference.

The session was opened by deputy speaker, Ahmad Bahar, whose speech was followed by a statement from the PLC members who are serving in Israeli prisons. The prisoners expressed their support for, and confidence in, the new unity government, stressing the necessity of achieving Palestinian rights in Jerusalem, the right of return for Palestinian refugees and lifting the suffering of the Palestinians, especially those in Iraq. The PLC members called for an end to the tragedy of Palestinians in Israeli jails, especially the PLC members who were abducted by the Israeli forces a month ago.

This prisoners' declaration was followed by a statement from Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, he said: "We are entering a new era, with the opportunity to regain the occupied lands and build a Palestinians state with Jerusalem as its capital." Abbas said that this era should be an era of national unity and independence. He continued ''we are on the right track, as displayed by the recognition of Israel of the Palestine Liberation Organisation as a legitimate representative for the Palestinian people".

Abbas said "Palestinians have passed through many stages, including the declaration of an independent state in Algeria in 1988, and now we continue in this stage following the signing of the Mecca agreement. We are looking forward to freeing the occupied lands of 1967 and Jerusalem and ensuring a just solution to the issue of refugees, according to UN resolution 194."

Abbbas said "the PLO decided in 1993 to establish the Palestinian Authority as part of the path to the liberation of the occupied territories. We stress here that we denounce violence and are looking for a just solution through negotiations until we reach a comprehensive and just peace. We are calling on a mutual commitment from the Israelis in which all assassinations of Palestinians cease."

Abbas stressed that Jerusalem "will be the crown jewel of any peace agreement".

Abbas confirmed the Arab support of the government and expressed his wish to maintain this support as a means to end the siege and enable the PA and the Palestinian people to deal with Palestinian issues. He added that such support was necessary to end internal disorder and spread the sovereignty of law, as well as maintain the truce with the Israelis, end unemployment and poverty and resume the reformation of the economy, social sector and overall Palestinian development.

Regarding the Arab summit, Abbas said that the Palestinians are hopeful that the Arab countries will support the Palestinians and find the appropriate mechanisms to cooperate with the international community and the Quartet to apply the Arab initiative and achieve the US president Bush's vision of a two-state solution.

Addressing the Israeli people, factions and government, Abbas said "we are ready to resume the peace process and the negotiations between the Israeli government and the PLO". He stated that "the settlements, the separation wall and the besieging of Jerusalem will never bring peace to the region, or even come close. These procedures will only complicate the issue".

He also said: "The Palestinians are extending their hands to the Israelis to achieve peace, in order for generations to come to have the opportunity to live in peace". He emphasised that the PA is doing its best to solve the issue of the Palestinian prisoners and the case of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. He assured that the PA is making efforts to release Shalit in a prisoner exchange deal through the Egyptians.

Speaking to the Palestinian Diaspora, Abbas said that the PA will continue defending their right to return. Addressing the Palestinians in Iraq, Abbas said that consultations with the Iraqi leadership are ongoing and the PA is seeking to save these refugees.

Abbas concluded his statement by thanking Arab and foreign nations for their support of the Palestinians.

Acting speaker, Ahmad Bahar, said in his statement: "This is an epochal moment for the Palestinians especially after the dark era before the Mecca agreement." He commended all those who participated in the achievement of the Mecca agreement and saluted Palestinian prisoners, especially the PLC members, serving in Israeli jails.

Chaos and the Global Condition, Our Future?

Bush's Master Race Priceless?

Iraq: The Clean War

Israel/ Palestine: The Stagnation of Conflict

March 17, 2007

Editorial

by Housewife4Palestine

Most people have an understanding that the war between Israel and the Palestinian’s have been going on a mere 59 years now, when the real fact it has been going about a 104 years, I realize there is some that may argue this fact; but I assure it is an historical fact.

Day after day we can write about the latest atrocities, or the possible peaceful resolution that was dead before it hit the table most notably on the Israeli side because they have never pronounced real peace towards the Palestinian people in any form.

The only contention Israel has for the Palestinian people is move or die, which is not expectable to any people that has the legitimate right to live in their own country.

For the Zionist to say they have the right to take a country that was lost over two thousand years ago, then the Native American’s should have the right to reclaim the whole of the America‘s. While I am sure you would say this is demented, so is the so called right of anyone to occupy a country by force with the intent to commit forcible genocide of any people; but it has happened or attempted numerous times in history.

The bottom line of the Israeli/Palestinian war it has been a stalemate for those 104 years, with the Palestinians wishing peace and the Israeli’s with the always resounding "no."

Israel can claim all they want that they are a victim of this or a victim of that, while they hold the whip and beat an intellectual world that waned in belief to this contention far to long ago, even before the Jewish holocaust.

It is yet to wonder how the Zionist can collect countries towards their side, I wonder what was the promise or the payoff is because in the past when countries have done this they usually ended up like for example Germany during World War 2.

So here we stand that 104 years later, with the same story and the same stalemate, no political negotiation or solace will quench the bottom line of what is important for world peace, without the return of Palestine to their rightful owner’s, the Palestinian people and Zionist like the Nazi leaders held in world court for their crimes. While the Zionist and their allies are afraid of this, the war goes on.

One thing that is most important to remember than as in anytime in history, the need for global peace from chaos is needed now more then ever, for the real sake of all humanity.

In conclusion, blunder busting will not help a thing, just turn on a lamp and please stop stumbling in the dark. More then anytime in history, even I notice more people asking question’s in all sphere’s of the world, because they know as well as I would hope the rest of the world would see; that there is trouble stemming from one explosive political regime known simply as “Zionism!”

Iran condemns new draft resolution

March 17, 2007

Washington said it would make every effort to accelerate Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a visa, allowing him to come to New York to appear before the UN Security Council. He said Shawn Makromak spokesman for the White House said that Iranian officials had applied for a visa at the American embassy in Switzerland.

The Iranian Mission to the United Nations on Thursday asked for permission to allow the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attended the meeting of the Security Council which will vote on an international resolution imposing new sanctions on Iran because of its nuclear program.

The Iranian president had pledged on Friday to complete the work in the country's nuclear program.

Nejad said that his country was facing mounting international pressure to halt work on its nuclear program that Iran would not yield to international pressure to abandon the nuclear fuel cycle.

The Iranian President's statements came a day after the approval of the major members of the Security Council on a draft resolution imposing new sanctions on Tehran include a ban on arms sales and economic sanctions.

The draft resolution includes a ban on exports of arms and Iran freeze the assets of individuals and companies related to Iran's nuclear programs, missile and an invitation to the states and organizations that provide grants or loans to the Islamic Republic.

The language of threats

The Iranian delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency of the United Nations, the smaller bowl, that the threat of imposing international sanctions on his country wider is not a building.

He added in an interview with the BBC that the language of threat to any benefit and that no legal rules originally set penalties currently applied to Iran.

He emphasized that the Iranians are united in their support for the nuclear program in an unprecedented way and that Iran's possession of nuclear technology a matter of pride on the national level.

The news agency quoted Iran's official Islamic Republic of Nejad said in a rally in the town center of Iran, "to have a nuclear fuel cycle. And will not abandon them under pressure. Through your meetings (United Nations) you (Western forces) You can not Targulwa course of the Iranian nation, "according to Reuters.

Be committed to the suspension of the sanctions if Iran and returned to the negotiations.

The West feared that Iranian nuclear activities are aimed at producing nuclear weapons.

Iran refutes the fourth largest oil exporter in the world these accusations.

Regarding the request Nejad attend the meeting of the Security Council, said Dumisani Kumalo, the Ambassador of South Africa and the current President of the Security Council, that "the Council will have to decide whether to respond to this request or not."

He added : "The current challenge is that we do not know any time that would happen."

Translated

Looking Both Ways on a One Way Street

A pessimistic always looks both ways when he crosses a one way street. He who is over cautious will achieve little in life.

Six imams kicked off a US flight file civil rights lawsuit

March 16, 2007

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Six imams handcuffed and removed from a US Airways flight at a Minnesota airport over "suspicious activity" in November have sued the airline, alleging discrimination against Muslims.

The lawsuit was launched Tuesday against the airport authority, US Airways, the crew and several passengers, said the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a US Islamic civil liberties group backing the men.

The six imams, aged 26 to 55, several of whom are from Arizona, boarded the jet at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on November 20 after attending a North American imams conference in midwestern Minneapolis.

They were questioned for five hours by authorities before being released, following their removal from the airplane. Afterwards, US Airways refused to allow them to take another flight home.

According to the company, airport authorities had alerted them to "suspicious activity," saying the men prayed loudly and made anti-American statements at a departure gate before boarding the airplane.

In November, American media said the imams paid cash for their fares, or did not purchase return tickets, and chanted "Allah" as they were escorted from the flight.

In a statement, the imams denied the reports and all accusations, saying they were guilty only of performing "normal evening prayers."

One of them is blind. Another holds a US Airways loyalty card and had secured a seat in first class, CAIR said in a statement.

Venerated in their communities, these men "were removed from the US Airways flight 'for no reason' and were 'humiliated' by being handcuffed and taken off the plane in the view of other passengers," CAIR said.

Did You Smile Today?

by Housewife4Palestine

Sometimes getting to be older is not necessary a positive motion especially when you wish to have more children, as it turns out there is not going to be number seven, to the contrary, I am suppose to be on vacation. Being a kind of workaholic is like telling a sky diver they are grounded, for a time.

I am suppose to rest which I will assure everyone, I am trying or hmmm kind of. As you can see for a time I have slowed down but as for stopping, I keep finding a parachute.

I am having to take these days several pills prescribed by the doctor, but to me one pill is too much, like I heard in a movie once, yuck.

As I mentioned before I am not much of a television watcher and it seems these days reading being as tired as I am, is just an excuse for a good nap. But I look at this way, that it is only for a short time; I can only hope.

At least with taking a rest or suppose to be, I have time to visit with old friends and new ones from many places and I can say this part is nice. For people sharing about their lives and where they come from, is enjoyable because the world really is a magnificent place to be apart of.

One thing I had almost forgotten, having to work so much, is the sharing of a smile with someone who other wise may be having a gloomy day or bringing out the rainbows.

La. governor outraged over faulty pumps

March 14, 2007

“In the pump industry you can either lead, follow, or get out of the way.” Mwi

*By CAIN BURDEAU

NEW ORLEANS -Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco lashed out at the Army Corps of Engineers on Wednesday for installing defective pumps at three major drainage canals just before the start of last summer's hurricane season.

"This could put a lot of our people in jeopardy," Blanco said. "It begs the question: Are we really safe?"

She called for a congressional investigation into how the Corps allowed it to happen.

Citing internal documents, The Associated Press reported Tuesday that the Corps installed the 34 pumps last year in a rush to fix the city's flood defenses, despite warnings from one of its experts that the machinery was defective and likely to fail in a storm.

At the same time, the Corps, the White House and state officials were telling residents that it was safe to come back to New Orleans, which was devastated in August 2005 when Hurricane Katrina breached the city's floodwalls.

On Wednesday, Donald Powell, the administration's Gulf Coast hurricane recovery czar, said that he was never shown the memo, and that assurances he made that New Orleans was as safe as or safer than it was before Katrina were based on information he got from the Corps.

"We were asking the Corps to do the job as fast as possible to get the condition of the levee back to make it as safe as possible," Powell said. "That was the primary goal above all goals — safety in the region."

Becaue the 2006 hurricane season was mild, the new pumps were never put to the test.

The Corps and the politically connected manufacturer of the equipment, Moving Water Industries Corp. of Deerfield Beach, Fla., are still struggling to get the 34 pumps, designed and built under a $26.6 million contract, working properly.

The pumps have been plagued by excessive vibration, overheated engines, broken hoses and blown gaskets.

"You want to build confidence, but you have to tell it like it is," said Gwen Bierria, 65, who is rebuilding her home with her husband next to the London Avenue canal, one of two canals that were breached during Katrina and flooded vast sections of the city.

"It's like being pregnant, sooner or later it's going to show," she said. "And Katrina was a big-time show."

MWI is owned by J. David Eller and his sons. Eller was once a business partner of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in a venture called Bush-El that marketed MWI pumps. And Eller has donated about $128,000 to politicians, the vast majority of it to the Republican Party, since 1996, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

The U.S. Justice Department sued MWI in 2002, accusing it of fraudulently helping Nigeria obtain $74 million in taxpayer-backed loans for overpriced and unnecessary water-pump equipment. The case has yet to be resolved.

As for whether the city was as safe as the Corps claimed, Powell said: "We got through a hurricane season without a hurricane so we didn't have to answer that question."

But he said residents should not panic as the new hurricane season approaches. "The corps is working as fast it can to get the systems back up. The levee system is better than it has ever been," he said.

The Corps said it decided to press ahead with installation of the pumps because some pumping capacity was better than none.

The 34 pumps were installed in the drainage canals that take water from this bowl-shaped, below-sea-level city and deposit it in Lake Pontchartrain. They represented a new ring of protection that was added to New Orleans' flood defenses after Katrina. The city also relies on miles of levees and hundreds of other pumps in various locations.
___


*Pumps put in place by the Army Corps of Engineers pump water from New Orleans' 17th Street Canal to Lake Pontchartra in New Orleans, Saturday, March 10, 2007. One of the levees along the canal failed during Hurricane Katrina contributing heavily to the flooding of the city. The pumps and floodgate are designed to control the water level in the drainage canals during a storm event. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)

High Court rejects bid to open Gaza crossings to humanitarian aid

March 13, 2007

By Yuval Yoaz

The High Court of Justice on Tuesday rejected a petition to open all crossings between the Gaza Strip in Israel for the transfer of gasoline supply, medication and humanitarian aids.

The petition was submitted by six human rights organizations, including The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Physicians for Human Rights, Hamoked Center for the Defense of the Individual, B'Tselem, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, and Gisha.

The head of the Israel Defense Forces' Coordination and Liaison Administration, Colonel Nir Peres, told the justices during the deliberations Tuesday that, "Israel has no interest in creating a humanitarian crisis in the Strip, and is doing all it can to ensure the transfer of necessary provisions to the residents of the Strip, in coordination with the international community."

The justices ruled that the government's current policy of opening the crossings to allow in merchandise and closing them in cases of terror alert is "balanced and reasonable."

Israeli forces arrest 7 Palestinians in West Bank

Palestine-Israel, Politics, 3/13/2007

The Israeli occupation forces arrested today seven citizens, including a boy in the West Bank(WB) cities of Hebron, Nablus and Tulkarem, WAFA reporter and local sources said.

He added that a group of Israeli soldiers stormed the Old City of Hebron, launched a search campaign and arrested the boy Hatem al-Huseini 14-year-old.

The Israeli forces also besieged the house of Khalil al-Qawasmi 38, in Hebron city and arrested and led him into an unknown location. Another two citizens were also arrested.

In Nablus city, Israeli troops broke into the city and its Askar refugee camp, conducted a search campaign into citizens' houses and arrested two citizens, leading them into an unknown spot, locals said.
Witnesses said that Israeli soldiers stormed at dawn Tulkarem refugee camp and arrested a citizen, leading him into an unknown destination.

Extremist Israeli settlers plan to reenter and rebuild evacuated Hermesh settlement

March 12, 2007

Bethlehem - Ma'an - The electronic website of the Israeli newspaper, Maariv, stated on Monday that five extremist Israeli settler organisations are finalising a new plan to rebuild the evacuated settlement of Hermesh in the northern occupied Palestinian West Bank. The settlement was evacuated as part of the Israeli unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank.

The website reported that the settlers organisations have specified the Easter holiday period for reoccupying the settlement, following completion of ongoing preparations in the preceding weeks.

The group comprises of settlers who were evacuated from Hermesh and Sa-Nur. The Israeli military have not withdrawn from these two settlements and have not handed them over to the Palestinian authorities.

Nonviolent resistance to occupation: family refuses to leave despite being surrounded by settlements

March 13, 2007

by Najib Farag

IIbrahim Attallah is sitting in the nearly destroyed village of Khallet Sakariya. His family is alone now, surrounded by barbed wire and the observation posts that double as sniper towers.

The elderly man is the resident of what is referred as “the house of Khirbat Sakariya,” because it now surrounded by the Israeli Gush Etzion Settlement bloc that was built on southern Bethlehem lands.

The walls of Attallah's house are cracked and may collapse at anytime. Renovation is banned. The Israeli bulldozers and settlers are waiting for destruction to finish what they started: to erase another Palestinian village.

After prohibiting any development, construction or renovation, Israeli forces expected that the Attallah family would depart, leaving the land to the settlers. It has worked in many Palestinian towns were life has become too difficult to live there anymore, due to restrictions, the settlements or the Wall.

The road from Bethlehem City to the village is not an easy one, with about 15 kilometers driven on the settlement roads of Gush Etzion, the settlement that was built on thousands upon thousands of dunams of southwestern Bethlehem lands. The Israeli government built the settlement bloc as part of its policy to overtake Jerusalem through settlement and Wall construction, and land confiscation. Gush Etzion is positioned to be included within the limits of “Greater Jerusalem.”

While traveling to the village Israeli settlers were seen photographing any cars with Palestinian license plates on the grounds that all were suspicious, those marked with “press” in particular. In “Beit Khirbat Sakariya” amid the ring of the settlement, Attallah stood in his doorway dressed in a kafiya and the clothes of a traditional Palestinian man.

He was born in 1910 and has a long story of struggle against the settlements and military rule. The village is atop a mountain from which one can see the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. But in 1967 when the Israeli practices against the population were too difficult to bear, most left. The exception was the extended Attallah family of 50, which with several additions has become 510. They had lived on the family's land of 800 dunams, but with confiscation by Israeli settlers and soldiers there are just 50 dunams left.

Attallah said, “We have stood as strongly as possible in the face of severe soldiers and settlers or else we would not have been able to keep any of our land with us. What we were able to keep are our homes in semi-demolished states and a path as a way of preserving our presence here.”

Years ago, says Attallah, he approached a well regarded figure in the region, Mohammad Ali Jabari and asked for assistance in repelling the Israeli attack. “He suggested that we go to Moshe Danvan, the Israeli Security Minister at the time. We were on our way immediately. But what he proposed was a piece of land on which to build a villa, a large place compared to this, in order to get us to leave our land.”

He said he would not leave his land under any circumstance, a position that has won him the admiration of not only Jabari, but of Palestinians throughout the West Bank who know of Attallah as a sort of folk hero of the resistance. Numerous Israelis were assigned to mediate a deal in order to coerce the Attallah's into giving up their land. In 1980 the Israeli commander of the military occupying Bethlehem offered 300,000 Jordanian dinars if the owners would leave.

Attallah said that many Palestinians “who had followed the wishes of the Israeli occupiers have accepted similar offers in other areas.”

Israeli settlers and soldiers engage in violently harassing the family. “The settlers surround us from every side. They go where we are and start throwing stones at us and at our houses. They steal our chickens and sheep, and destroy crops. The soldiers demolish our homes and buildings. They play a game of 'cat and mouse' with us. They demolish something and we rebuild it.”

Attallah says that the spirits of generations of his family are here. Two of his sons are buried in the village, to which his 48 year old son Mohammed is the legitimate heir.

Mohammed began walking through the village to point out what life has come to. There are the cameras that the Israelis have installed, recording the movements of residents from all directions 24 hours a day. “This does not deter us,” Mohammed said. He kicks at the dry earth which cannot be replenished easily as the Israelis will not allow renovations to the water supply system, and walks to the mosque which is falling apart. Half of it was demolished by the Israeli authorities who will not allow it repairs or updates to be made. The entrance is small for the Prophet Zakariya. Mohammed said that Israeli settlers have come to the village and tried to enter the mosque, claiming it is sacred to them.

As far as education in the village is concerned, Mohammed said that he was able to convert several rooms to create a school in which he taught 26 students up to sixth grade. Although the Education Ministry has sent a few women, it is difficult to get teachers to stay when there are not even any bathroom facilities. He points out that the settlement surrounding them has large schools with “toilets, laboratories and swimming pools.” For this he blames the Palestinian Authority for ignoring Khallet Sakariya Village.

The Chairperson of the People's Committee for the Defense of Land in the southern West Bank, Khalid Al Azzeh, expressed pride in the Attallah family for its resolve and says that he tries to provide assistance by using Bethlehem District government channels. Howerer 50,000 shekels that were promised last year are still unpaid.

The local economy depends on dairy farm production, with the milk and cheese sold in Bethlehem and even to some settlers who the children say, "prefer what is the least expensive." Mohammad ran a small store for a time, but the trip to the city to replenish the supplies proved too costly and time consuming. Ibrahim Attallah's wife and Mohammad's mother says that everyone was doing fine, “as long as these settlers remain far away from us.”

She said, “We live on our land, despite the difficulties. We live here and we will die here.”

Stop the Massacre of Palestinian Women

(Benjamin Haine Cartoon)

700 Palestinian minors were arrested by Israeli army in 2006, Defence for Children International reports

March 14, 2007

Bethlehem - Ma'an - In 2006, Israel continued its policy of arresting and imprisoning Palestinian children, Defence for Children International-Palestine Section (DCI) reported in its 2006 report, issued on 4 March 2007.

Some 700 Palestinian children (minors under 18) were arrested by Israeli soldiers over the course of the year, DCI says in its report.

The introduction to the report continues as follows: "Of these, around 25 children were held on administrative detention orders, imprisonment without charge or trial. The overwhelming majority of those arrested in 2006 were boys; there were eight girl child prisoners who served sentences at different points during the year. Of these, four had been arrested in 2006.

"At any given point during the year, there were between 340 and 420 Palestinian children held in Israeli prisons and detention centers in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), with around 380 held at the end of the year. Of these, around 300 were being held in central prisons, either pending trial or after having been sentenced. The remaining 80 were being held in interrogation and detention centers. The number of children arrested in 2006 brings the total number of Palestinian children arrested by Israel since the beginning of the second Intifada in September 2000 to approximately 5,200.

"Palestinian child political prisoners routinely face violations of their human rights during the arrest through imprisonment process. They are exposed to physical and psychological abuse, often amounting to torture. They are denied prompt access to an attorney and often denied contact with their families and the outside world. Many are held without charge or trial. They face substandard, often inhumane, conditions of detention, both in the facilities where they are initially held and interrogated and in those where they await trial and serve their sentence. "

Moreover, they are frequently denied access to proper medical care. In many cases, the arrest, interrogation and imprisonment experience has psycho-social effects that extend far beyond the period of detention."

The full report can be downloaded at http://www.dci-pal.org/english/doc/Reports/2007/ChildPrisoners2006.doc

Bush’s Legacy?

FEMA Evicts 58 Families

Remember when Bush promised to rebuild New Orleans, and help the victims of Hurricane Katrina? Now the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is evicting an entire trailer park full of people who were made homeless by Katrina. It’s been 18 months. And people are still living in “temporary” housing because so much of New Orleans is still uninhabitable.



Nicole Dumas of FEMA, left, talks with Carolyn Young about where she will live. Fifty-eight families at the Louisiana site were given 48 hours to move.

Courtesy of Appletree

Cabinet for new unity government decided, PLC to hold vote of confidence on Saturday

(clockwise from top left) Abu Amr,Al-'Aalool, Al-Ahmad, As-Salhi,Barghouthi, Fayyad (MaanImages)

March 14, 2007

Gaza - Ma'an - The cabinet for the forthcoming Palestinian unity government is expected to be announced on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning. Ma'an has learned the names of all the candidates except those of Hamas. They are as follows:

• Deputy Prime Minister: Azzam Al-Ahmad

• Minister of Agriculture: Mahmoud Al-'Aalool

• Minister of Prisoners' Affairs: Tayseer Abu Sneina

• Minister of Health: Radwan Al-Akhras

• Minister of State: Khulood Issa

• Minister of Transportation: Sa'di Al-Krunz

• Minister of Foreign Affairs: Ziad Abu Amr

• Minister of Culture: Bassam As-Salhi

• Minister of Treasury: Salam Fayyad

• Minister of Interior: Hani Qawasmi

• Minister of Information: Mustafa Barghouthi

• Minister of Social Affairs and Tourism: Salih Zeidan

The acting speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), Dr Ahmad Bahar has called a session on Saturday at 11am in Ramallah, in the central West bank and in Gaza City through video conference, to vote on confidence for the new government.

The spokesperson of the interim Palestinian government, Ghazi Hamad, said on Wednesday that the designate Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh, has sent a letter to the acting speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), Dr Ahmad Bahar, asking for the PLC to conduct a vote of confidence on Saturday for the new unity government.

In his letter, Haniyeh confirmed that the government is committed to endeavoring to release the speaker of the PLC, Dr Aziz Dweik, and the other detained members and ministers.

The new Palestinian unity government will be the 11th Palestinian government.

Jaffa Gate ca 1900's

Jerusalem, Palestine; Jaffa Gate Postcard ca 1900’s

(This item is being sold on Ebay.)

Terrorism by Infection with AIDS?

Dear All ,

Kindly take a couple of minutes to may advise others also.

Please pass this on to others this happened in Paris recently and may happen elsewhere also .

A few weeks ago, in a cinema, a person felt something poking from her seat. When she got up to see what it was, she found a needle sticking out of the seat with a note attached saying "You have just been infected by HIV (AIDS )" .The Disease Control Center(in Paris) reports many similar events in many other cities recently. All tested needles were HIV Positive.

The Center also reports that needles have been found in cash dispensers (ATM) at public banking machines. We ask everyone to use extreme caution when faced with this kind of situation. All public chairs/seats should be inspected with vigilance and caution before use. A careful visual inspection should be enough.

In addition, they ask that each of you pass this message along to all members of your family and your friends of the potential danger.

Recently, one doctor has narrated a somewhat similar instance that happened to one of his patients at the Priya Cinema in Delhi .

A young girl, engaged and about to be married in a couple of months, was pricked while the movie was going on. The tag with the needle had the message, "Welcome to the World of HIV family."

Though the doctors told her family that it takes about 6 months before the virus grows strong enough to start damaging the system and a healthy victim could survive about 5-6 years, the girl died in 4 months, perhaps more because of the "Shock thought".

We all have to be careful at public places, rest God help! Just think about saving a life by forwarding this message. Please, take a few seconds of your time to pass along .

PS: It also happened in a Monot pub in Lebanon so be careful !

Translated

The Day the Music Died

This is the city that the Federal government abandoned, when the worse natural disaster happened in history; of the United States of America.

And they still do...

Scapegoats for 9/11 Have Secret Hearings?

9/11 suspects get hearings at Guantamamo

Demonstrators, one on his knees hooded with a U.S. flag and dressed in orange to resemble the prisoners held by the U.S. military in Guantanamo, confront Colombian riot police during a protest against the visit of U.S. George W. President Bush in Bogota, Sunday, March 11, 2007. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

March 12, 2007

By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON -Secret hearings for two suspected masterminds of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and a third terror suspect were held over the weekend at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as the military launched proceedings to determine whether 14 high-profile detainees should be prosecuted.

According to Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman, hearings for Abu Faraj al-Libi and Ramzi Binalshibh were Friday, and a hearing for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was Saturday. He said another hearing at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba was scheduled for Monday.

The hearings are to determine whether the detainees should be declared "enemy combatants" who can be held indefinitely and prosecuted in a military tribunal.

Mohammed is believed to have been the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks with the alleged help of Binalshibh, who also is suspected of being involved in a foiled plot to crash aircraft into London's Heathrow Airport.

Al-Libi is a Libyan regarded by Pakistani intelligence as a successor to Mohammed as the third-ranking al-Qaida leader. He became the most wanted man in Pakistan for reportedly masterminding two bombings 11 days apart in December 2003 that targeted President Pervez Musharraf for his support of the U.S.-led war on terror. Musharraf narrowly escaped injury, but 17 other people were killed.

Whitman said that at least one of detainees did not attend the sessions. In those instances the cases are considered in absentia. Whitman would not say which suspects did not attend the hearings. Edited transcripts of the hearings will be released later, he said.

The 14 high-profile detainees were moved in September from a secret CIA prison network to the prison at Guantanamo Bay, where the U.S. holds about 385 men on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.
___


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Defense Department: http://www.defenselink.mil

Cheney challenges 'anti-war' lawmakers

Vice President Dick Cheney delivers remarks at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee 2007 Policy Conference in Washington, Monday, March 12, 2007. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

March 12, 2007

By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON -Anti-war lawmakers in Congress are "undermining" U.S. troops in Iraq by trying to limit President Bush's spending requests for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday.

Hitting out at lawmakers who profess to back the troops but oppose Bush's plans in Iraq, Cheney said proof of their commitment would come as they consider legislation to provide nearly $100 billion for the rest of this year's costs of the wars.

The House plans to begin considering a bill this week that would fully finance the administration's request. Senate action is expected to come later.

"When members of Congress pursue an anti-war strategy that's been called 'slow bleeding,' they are not supporting the troops, they are undermining them," Cheney said in a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

"Anyone can say they support the troops and we should take them at their word, but the proof will come when it's time to provide the money," he said.

House Democratic leaders want to add provisions to the war spending measure requiring the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops by the end of August 2008 and possibly by the end of 2007. Some anti-war Democrats prefer limiting the funds so the administration would essentially be forced to remove U.S. forces, a strategy that party leaders have abandoned.

"We expect the House and Senate to meet the needs of our military and the generals leading the troops in battle on time and in full measure," Cheney said.

"When members speak not of victory but of time limits, deadlines and other arbitrary measures, they are telling the enemy simply to watch the clock and wait us out," he said.

Cheney said the House's nonbinding vote against troop increases in Iraq last month was an example of "twisted logic" and "not a proud episode in the history of the United States Congress."

Cheney added, "Very soon, both houses will have to vote on a piece of legislation that is binding, a bill to provide emergency funding to the troops, and I sincerely hope that this time, the discussion this time will be about winning in Iraq."

Speaking before a packed crowd at the Washington Convention Center, Cheney said it was one of several disturbing "myths" that one could support the troops and at the same time not give them what their commanders say they need to win.

Other myths are that Iraq is not central to the war on terrorism and that withdrawing from Iraq would somehow help the war on terrorism, the vice president said.

Cheney warned that terrorists would continue to attack the United States and its friends if they saw them retreating in the face of continued deadly insurgent attacks.

Olmert Ready to ‘Treat Seriously’ Saudi Arabian Peace Initiative

Mohammed Mar’i & Hisham Abu Taha, Arab News

RAMALLAH, West Bank, 12 March 2007 — As expected the summit meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ended yesterday with little progress on key issues.

Olmert and Abbas met face to face in Jerusalem for more than two hours, making little progress but agreeing to move forward with their fledgling dialogue, an Israeli official said.

“The meeting was constructive. The two sides agreed to have further discussions,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to talk to the media. As a goodwill gesture, Olmert pledged to extend the operating hours of Gaza’s Karni goods crossing.
Talks also touched on Israel’s calls for the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who is being held by Palestinian military wings, and the ongoing Palestinian rocket attacks out of Gaza, the official said.

Ahead of yesterday’s summit, Olmert announced he was ready to “treat seriously” a dormant Saudi initiative calling for a comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and the Arab world in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal from lands captured in the 1967 Mideast War.

The Saudi peace initiative, which aimed to solve the Palestinian issue by offering Israel peace, was first proposed in 2002 but never got off the ground. It is expected to be high on the agenda at a pan-Arab summit this month in Riyadh.

The Saudis have been pushing hard for other regional countries, many of whom have also endorsed it, to gather behind the initiative to push the peace process forward.

Olmert told his Cabinet yesterday that Israel is following development in the Arab world “with the utmost attention” and noted “positive developments” among moderate Arab countries.

“We have said more than once that the Saudi initiative is a matter which we would be ready to treat seriously and we have not altered our position,” he said. “We hope very much that at the meeting of heads of Arab states to take place in Riyadh, the positive elements expressed in the Saudi initiative will be revalidated and will perhaps improve the chances of negotiation between us and the Palestinian Authority.” In the past, Israel has rejected the plan’s call for a full withdrawal from the West Bank and East Jerusalem. It also opposes the plan’s implicit endorsement of a large-scale return of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to areas inside Israel.

The Abbas-Olmert talks were overshadowed by Abbas’ recent power-sharing deal with Hamas.

Olmert has said he will not conduct peace talks with a government that includes Hamas unless the group gives in to international demands to renounce violence, recognize Israel’s right to exist and accept past peace agreements. The unity deal, reached last month in the holy city of Makkah, only agrees to “respect” past agreements, falling short of the international conditions.
“The Israeli government has expressed its disappointment over the Makkah accord and has not changed its position,” Olmert told his Cabinet. “We hope that the Palestinian government that is to be formed will accept the Quartet (international) principles.” Palestinian officials said Abbas would try to persuade Olmert to accept the unity deal.

Olmert and Abbas walked into the residence together. The two leaders, flanked by their aides, sat on opposite sides of a conference table as the talks began. Olmert smiled to TV cameras in the room as he exchanged pleasantries with Abbas. Abbas has been traveling through Europe and the Middle East seeking international recognition for the Makkah deal. He says the agreement is the best he can get from Hamas.

The US and European Union have said they are waiting to see the program and make-up of the new government before making a final decision. Palestinian officials expect the new government to be formed within two weeks.

Meanwhile, Hamas yesterday rejected accusations by Al-Qaeda No. 2 Ayman Al-Zawahri that the Palestinian movement was surrendering to Israel by agreeing to form a unity government.

“These are unjust accusations without consequences for the policies of Hamas, which knows how to read the international and regional situation,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said.
The Palestinian Ministry for Prisoner Affairs said that Israel had freed jailed senior Hamas official Saleh Al-Aruri, after 15 years in prison.

Summarizing the Beauty

Palestine

(Rana Bishara)

By creating my doll with the combination of the Palestinian flag and cactus fibers (Sabaar-means being patient also representing the 531 Palestinian villages and towns destroyed since 1948 war). That summarizes the beauty I am looking for in women, the beauty of defending their nation and their family from occupation.

The Passing of Two Lives

March 12, 2007

by Housewife4Palestine

Every once in while a person seems to have to stand back and take stock of their life, especially when events that come our way seem to bring all of this about especially the important things in ones personal life.

The other day, a friend of my husband’s was shot between the eyes in America during a store robbery, apparently by two black men.

The friend, was 65 years old and the owner of a quaint corner market.

What is ironic, they where living in America where one would think it would be safer from being shot then in Palestine, but this were not the case. Most of all, this senseless death was for money.

While if I understood my husband correctly, these men that committed such a heinous act where caught by the police and are sitting in jail; but crimes such as this never seem to always get completely resolved.

Then we had the added sorrow, of a cousin just 45 years old dying of a heart attack, which my husband is spending time with the male members of the family for this.

I think how both these men are leaving family members and wives alone with the sorrow they are no longer with us to share the joys of their lives.

When occurrences such as this make’s one sit back to appreciate the love ones that are in our daily lives, for I can not help thinking that love of ones country is very important, but so is the love of family and friends which we cherish in spoonfuls from the heart.

One thing I have never completely understood is the way or how a person has passed away; seems to affect our lives or emotions in different ways.

International Women's Day at Hawara checkpoint

Palestinian women scuffle with Israeli soldiers during a demonstration ahead of International women's Day at the Hawara checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus

More Picture's...