Is this How the American Military is in Iraq?

Out on The Streets of Baghdad


They kind of flunked, in the public relations department.

President Bush Meets Congressional Leaders to Discuss War Funding Bill

By Bill Rodgers

19 April 2007

President Bush has met with the Democratic Party Congressional leaders to discuss the Iraq war and a pending bill to fund the U.S. military mission through September. President Bush has vowed to veto the bill because it imposes a timeline for withdrawing U.S. troops. More from VOA's Bill Rodgers.

Both the House and Senate versions of the bill set timetables for withdrawing U.S. combat troops from Iraq. The House version would order combat troops out by September 2008, while the Senate bill is less sweeping but still sets dates.

The Democratically-controlled House and Senate set these conditions in narrow votes last month as part of legislation to continue funding the military mission.

But President Bush says he will veto the war funding bill because it contains timetables. This standoff was the subject of Wednesday's meeting with Congressional leaders at the White House.

As the meeting began, Mr. Bush said he will listen to all viewpoints. "People have strong opinions around the table, and I'm willing to listen to them. I've got my own opinion which I'm more than willing to share. The whole objective is to figure out how best to get our troops funding, to get the money they need."

Following the meeting, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters he urged Mr. Bush to sign the bill. "We are in a position where we believe we are doing the right thing for the people of this country, the majority of the Congress and the military."

For her part, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also urged Mr. Bush to go along with the bill, but indicated there is some room for negotiation. "I think the conversation that we had is the basis for future conversations on this. But each side was very clear with its position but that doesn't mean that that is the end of the conversation. And that is what is known as a negotiation in government, it is not just one meeting."

Congressional Democrats are divided over how far to press forward with linking the troop withdrawal to the funding bill. Some want to use the bill as a tool to pressure Mr. Bush to accept a withdrawal timetable, while others are reluctant.

Republican Congressional leaders said after the meeting that no matter what the Democrats want, President Bush will not yield. House Minority Leader John Boehner said, "I thought the president was clear with the Democrats about what he would and wouldn't do. And he clearly is not going to sign a bill that handcuffs our troops and adds these tens of billions of dollars of unnecessary spending that are part of this bill. But at the same time, I think he was open to listening to the concerns of the Democrats, what they had to say, and it was a very polite meeting."

Meanwhile, in Iraq, a series of bomb blasts has killed more than 170 people in Baghdad. The deadliest car bomb attacks took place mainly in Shi'ite areas of the Iraqi capital.

Why I Never had a Desire to Own a Treadmill

Olive Tree as a Palestinian Identity

Olive trees have an ancient presence in Palestine. Some of the trees found in Palestinian orchards today date as far back as 500-1,000 years.

Palestinian farmers work long and hard to build plateaus on the mountain sides to prevent soil erosion. Olive trees are planted in these plateaus. The roots of olive trees spread far and wide also preventing soil erosion.

Palestinian olive orchards are nurtured as part of the family as they are passed on through generations and represent their heritage and connection to the land and to their own personal history. Palestinians consume olive oil daily in their diets and along with Zaa’tar (thyme) is the daily breakfast of almost every Palestinian farmer.

The olive tree has gained an iconic status in Palestinian culture in recent history. As the challenge and denial of a distinct Palestinian identity have lead Palestinians to exemplify themselves in their ancient olive tree entrenched in the land of Palestine for as long as they have been entrenched in Palestine.

Today many Palestinian girls and boys hang the olive trees as a gold pendant around their necks.

Prior to this current Intifada (uprising), Palestinian schools, universities, and some places of employment would close to allow the whole community to participate in the olive harvest season.

Photo Essay:

This post is dedicated to a very close friend, that is very dear to me and their family; from Jenin.

Washington’s “covert war” against Hezbollah

"Dick Cheney has given orders for a covert war against Hezbollah" (AFP Photo)

April 19, 2007

By Emile Tayyip

Recent media reports in the U.S. and UK suggested that the CIA has been authorized to take covert action against Hezbollah, as part of wider plan by the Bush administration to crush the Lebanese resistance group.

Such accusations were reiterated this month by Hezbollah’s deputy secretary general, Sheikh Naim Qassim, who said that the United States is waging a “covert war” against Hezbollah by arming militias opposed to the resistance group.

"The U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney has given orders for a covert war against Hezbollah. There is now an American program that is using Lebanon to further its goals in the region," Sheikh Qassim said in a recent interview with Britain’s Guardian daily.

According to the newspaper, U.S. intelligence agencies have been authorized to provide "non-lethal" funding to anti-Hezbollah groups in Lebanon and to activists who support the western-backed government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

“This happens with the knowledge of the prime minister and is facilitated by the security forces under his command,” Sheikh Qassim was quoted as saying.

The Guardian also said that the Bush administration had earmarked $60 million to boost the Lebanese interior ministry’s internal security force, which has almost doubled in size to 24,000 troops.

Sheikh Qassim described the interior ministry’s force as increasingly biased against Hezbollah. “The internal security forces have not succeeded in playing a balanced role... The sectarian issue is very delicate when it comes to the security services,” he warned.

“U.S. interference”

Sheikh Qassim, who was interviewed last week from a safe house in southern Lebanon, also charged that the U.S. had thwarted attempts by the Lebanese government and the Hezbollah-led opposition to reach a compromise over a months-old political crisis triggered by the government’s failure to form a unity coalition.

"We think that if it wasn't for the U.S. interference, we would have resolved the issue of participating in the government a long time ago," he said.

"America is forcing the government forces to prolong this crisis; because they want a price for it. They want to tie Lebanon into negotiations that benefit Israel and their plan for a new Middle East."

Sheikh Qassim also didn’t rule out another conflict between Hezbollah and Israel this summer. “We are prepared for the possibility of another adventure or the demand of American policy that might push the Israel army in that direction,” he said.

A UN-brokered ceasefire ended the Israeli-Hezbollah war in August after more than 1,200 mostly Lebanese civilians were killed in Israel’s vast bombardment of the country and land invasion in the south. The Israeli army lost 116 soldiers. Forty-three Israeli civilians were also killed by more than 4,000 Hezbollah rocket attacks.

During the 34-day conflict, Israel failed to crush Hezbollah or retrieve two soldiers captured by the resistance group in July, an excuse the Israelis used to launch the deadly offensive in Lebanon.

“Pre-planned”

Last month, former U.S. envoy to the UN, John Bolton, admitted that Washington deliberately resisted calls for an immediate ceasefire to end the conflict. He told the BBC that the United States wanted Israel to eliminate Hezbollah’s military capability before any truce can be implemented.

Washington decided to join efforts to end the fighting only when it was clear that Israel’s campaign to crush Hezbollah wasn’t working, Bolton said, adding that he was “damned proud of what we did.”

Also last month, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that he had been preparing for a huge assault on Lebanon before the capture of the Israeli soldiers, confirming Western media reports that the Israeli army had been preparing for such a war for years, and had shared its plans with the United States.

Moreover, Meyrav Wurmser, the wife of David Wurmser, Vice-President Dick Cheney’s adviser on the Middle East, recently told Israel’s leading newspaper, Yediot Aharonot, that the Bush administration stalled over imposing a ceasefire during Israel’s assault on Lebanon because it was expecting the war to be expanded to Syria.

“The anger [in the White House] is over the fact that Israel did not fight against the Syrians. The neocons are responsible for the fact that Israel got a lot of time and space. They believed that Israel should be allowed to win. A great part of it was the thought that Israel should fight against the real enemy, the one backing Hezbollah. It was obvious that it is impossible to fight directly against Iran, but the thought was that its [Iran's] strategic and important ally [Syria] should be hit," Wurmser said.

Putting all the pieces together, Israel had a plan, approved by the U.S., to launch war against Lebanon – followed by possible strikes against Syria – using the pretext of Hezbollah’s capture of the two soldiers. The real intention, analysts say, was to weaken what are seen by Israel and the U.S. to be Iran’s allies before attacking the Islamic Republic itself.

Clashes Erupt Near Mosque With Four Dead

Agencies

Published: April 20, 2007

Baghdad: Clashes have erupted near a mosque in western Baghdad before Friday prayers, witnesses and local media said.

Witness Basim Abu Ali told the Associated Press that US helicopter gunships and tanks fired on the Baiyaa mosque opened fire on "unarmed worshippers heading for prayers."

He said four people were killed and seven others hurt. Parts of the mosque were damaged, he said. Iraqi police and the US military could not confirm the incident.

State television also reported a "coalition jet fighter" bombed the Baiyaa mosque but gave no further details.The incident comes a day after US Defence Secretary Robert Gates made a surprise visit to Iraq to push President George W. Bush’s new anti-insurgency strategy.

The plan involves a joint US-Iraq security post where Iraqi and American soldiers will live and work together in efforts to stop the insurgency.

"I think that it's very important that they bend every effort to getting this legislation done as quickly as possible," he said.

Why should Palestinians Have Israeli Building Licenses?

Israeli military forces demolish seven houses near Hebron

Article 33
No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.

Pillage is prohibited.

Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited.

Fourth Geneva Convention
Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War

April 19, 2007

Hebron – Ma'an – Israeli forces demolished seven Palestinian houses on Thursday, in the villages of Qwiewis and Mniezel, south of Hebron, in the southern West Bank.

Security sources stated that an Israeli military force invaded the Palestinian area and imposed curfew, before they started to demolish several houses, claiming that the homes were built without licenses.

The Israeli military demolished six houses in the area almost a month ago, which were subsequently rebuilt with assistance from foreign solidarity activists. The Israelis demolished them once again today.

Palestinians Take Cover from Israeli Sniper Shooting

Palestinian forced to walk along the beach due to an IOF roadblock, then take cover when shot’s fly from the IOF for no apparent reason.

Soldier Questions the Human Race and Weapons

A soldier and his personal opinion of weapons and mankind.

Hamas IED Attack's on Israeli Military

Hamas IED Attack on Israeli Soldiers on Foot Patrol

Hamas IED on Israeli Military Bulldozer

"Al Nakba"--The Palestinian Catastrophe of 1948

Introduction

by shishi87

"Al Nakba" means "the catastophe" in Arabic. This word refers to the devastation of Palestinian society during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, when Zionists ethnically cleansed Palestinians form their homes.

Before Al Nakba, Palestinian society was diverse and thriving.

In 1948, Zionists forces expelled almost 750,000 Palestinians--2/3 of the population--from their homes. These Palestinians were forced to flee to neighboring countries (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, etc), where they lived in refugee camps. In many cases, Zionists also conducted massacres of innocent civilians who refused to give up their land.

Almost 450 Palestinian towns and villages were ethnically cleansed by Zionist forces. Most of these towns were demolished and taken by the newly established Israeli government to make room for Jewish immigrants.

Al Nakba marked the beginning of the Palestinian refugee crisis. According to the UNRWA, the number of Palestinian refugees today has almost reaced 4.5 million. These refugees are scattered throughout the world, many of which are still living in poverty-stricken refugee camps.

Israel has since refused to allow Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland, and has refused to pay them compensation as required by UN Resolution 194.

Video created by: Shirien D.
Music: "Birds of Galilee" by Marcel Khalife
Special Thanks to PalestineRemembered.com

What is It Like to Be a Palestinian Refugee

by Housewife4Palestine

With a sigh,what is it like to be a refugee, is the waiting as you pass the time each generation waiting for justice and the day Allah will open the door to go home.

People may say you are now apart of this place or that place, but you say, “NO.” Because it just doesn't feel like home, nor do you feel like you belong.

“I am Palestinian and the only place I belong is in Palestine!”


We Will Return

by Ramallah98

US Cannot Be Trusted to Act Responsibly: Global Poll

CHICAGO, 19 April 2007 — There is widespread global concern that the United States cannot be trusted to act responsibly in the world, according to a multinational poll released here yesterday.

But while there is broad international frustration with how the United States conducts its foreign policy, few people around the world want the United States to completely back off from its role as a global policeman, the poll found.

“There’s clearly a trend in terms of deepening negative attitudes to the US in how it executes foreign policy,” said Christopher Whitney, executive director for studies at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs which helped coordinate the 18-country study.

The US has long faced criticism internationally for its interventionist foreign policy, Whitney said. This survey found that the frustration is broader in scope than previously thought and has deepened in the wake of the war in Iraq. But mixed with this frustration is an understanding that the US has a significant role to play internationally and should not withdraw completely, Whitney said.

The most stark results were those showing a lack of trust that the United States would act responsibly and a sense that it had overreached on the global stage. A majority of respondents in Argentina (84 percent), Peru (80 percent), Russia (73 percent) France (72 percent), Armenia (58 percent), Indonesia (64 percent), China (59 percent), Thailand (56 percent), South Korea (53 percent) and India (52 percent) and more than a third of those in Australia (40 percent) and Ukraine (37 percent) answered “not at all” or “not very much” when asked how much they trusted the US “to act responsibly in the world,” the poll found.

The Philippines and Israel proved the staunchest supporters with 85 percent and 81 percent of respondents, respectively, saying they trusted the US either a “great deal” or “somewhat,” followed by Australia at 59 percent and Poland at 51 percent. More than three out of four Americans think their country tends to take on the role of international enforcer more than it should. Large majorities elsewhere also felt that way: France at 89 percent, Australia at 80 percent, China at 77 percent, Russia at 76 percent.

The Basis of Family

Unlike some other religions that consider celibacy a great virtue and a means of salvation, Islam considers marriage to be one of the most virtuous and approved of institutions.

There is no monasticism in Islam. Further, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) urged all those who can afford to provide for a wife to marry, as marriage is the legal means by which to avoid lewdness and immorality.

Since family is the basic unit of society, Islam lays great emphasis on the family system and its values. The basis of family is marriage. Islam prescribes rules to regulate family life so that both the spouses can live in tranquility, security and love. Marriage in Islam has aspects of `ibadah (worship) of Allah (God) in the sense that it is in accordance with His commandments that a husband and wife should love and help each other and rear their children to become true servants of Allah (God).

Marriage in Islam is a social contract that requires the consent of both parties. Neither the bride nor groom can be forced into a marriage. The man must give the bride a dower or gift called “mahr”. This is usually money, but it can be any gift according to his means. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) even allowed one of his poor Companions to marry a woman with his mahr being a promise to teach her some verses of the Qur’an. The dower goes to the bride, not her family, and she has the total right to decide what to do with it. Thus it is not, as some critics have said, a “bride price”.

The man also has the total responsibility to pay the household expenses. Even if a woman is wealthy, she does not have to spend any of her money on the maintenance of herself or the couple’s children. In fact, many Muslim women do work outside the home. They can contribute to the household budget if they choose, and they receive the Heavenly reward for giving charity, but they are not required to do so.

Every group needs a leader, and Islam gives that responsibility to the husband because he is the breadwinner. He should consult his wife on family matters, but the final decisions are his. The wife should lovingly obey her husband, even when she disagrees, to keep peace in the family and to win the pleasure of Allah (God). That does not mean that she is his slave and must wait on him hand and foot. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) himself helped his wives with housework. Furthermore, if a woman had a servant before marriage, she has the right to have a servant at her husband’s expense.

A man and woman should enter into marriage with the intention of it being permanent, and Islam has many teachings on how husbands and wives should deal with each other lovingly.
Contrary to popular misconceptions, the woman has the right to choose her husband; Islamic law does not permit her to be forced into any marriage. The wife also has the right to retain her family name and to keep and manage her own money from her work, inheritance, investments, gifts or other sources. It is her right to keep her money separate from her husband’s, and he has no right to it.

While men and women should enter into marriages with the intention of it being permanent, Islam recognizes that people do sometimes make poor decisions or change. Thus, divorce and remarriage are allowed as a last resort after estranged couples have attempted to reconcile their differences with the help of family or other counselors.

The Concept of Family in Islam

In Islam, family is the cornerstone of the social system. Family is not a casual or spontaneous organization of people, but it is a divinely ordained institution. Family and marriage are regarded as noble and sacred; a social contract that confers mutual rights and obligations on the couple.

The progress and welfare of society or its breakdown can be traced to the strength and unity or to the weakness of the family. The weakness is a crucial indicator of the weakness of society, reflected by problems like juvenile delinquency, drug abuse, alcoholism, teenage pregnancies, and divorce.

The concept of an "extended family" is common in non-Western cultures, unlike the concept of a "nuclear family", which means a family consisting of just the parents and their children, that is common in the West. "Extended family" means children, parents, grandparents, and sometimes in-laws share one household.

Islam does not specify that a Muslim family should be either nuclear or extended. With regards to relations within the same family, the first and most important is that of husband and wife, their children, and the grandparents.

Other relatives come in a second or third degree; although this is not to say that the individual has no obligation or responsibility at all towards these other relatives, whereas the first degree of relations has unequivocal and precise rights.

Islamic Family Laws

Although the nature of duties and obligations among members of a family are instinctive in human nature, it is important to realize that Islamic law exists only to supplement and enforce these innate feelings and not to replace them. Islam acts as a guarantee that the rights and responsibilities that each member of the family has with regard to others will be fulfilled with justice and equality.

Islamic family law establishes minimum basic rights to guarantee the interests of each family member. Thus, in Islam, family relations are governed by a balance between the innate sense of duty felt by family members and what is laid down as a minimum by the law.

In the absence of law, there could be problems arising from the fact that the innate nature of the father to treat all his children equally could be overridden by an attachment to one particular child, and so this child is especially favored, for example in inheritance, leaving the other children with their rights denied.

Lineage or lineal duty has an essential role in the Muslim family because from it stems the duties, obligations, and responsibilities of family members.

The most important Islamic teaching on this subject is that people must not claim a child as theirs if they adopted that child, and that children must not falsely claim to be the real son or daughter of a particular person if they are not, and that adopted children cannot be given the family name of their foster parents, because doing that would mask the adopted children's true identity. And of course, natural children have more claim to any inheritance than adopted children.

God says in the Qur'an what means,

[Allah has not made for any man two hearts within him; nor has He made your wives whose backs you liken to the backs of your mothers as your mothers, nor has He made those whom you assert to be your sons your real sons; these are the words of your mouths; and Allah speaks the truth and He guides to the way. Proclaim their real parentage. That will be more equitable in the sight of Allah. And if ye know not their fathers, then they are your brethren in the faith, and your clients. And there is no sin for you in the mistakes that ye make unintentionally, but what your hearts purpose (that will be a sin for you). Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful.] (Al-Ahzab 33:4-5)

On the other hand, if an orphan or abandoned child is looked after by a family as an act of compassion; being given shelter, food, clothing, and other needs, then this is legal and indeed a great act of humanity for which Allah promises great rewards. Though the adopted children do not inherit on the same footing as the natural children, it is commendable for the adopter to bequeath something to them.

The importance of the family in Islam comes from its allocated function in preserving the human race by procreation. Also, it is responsible for protecting the morals of the society and individuals by providing the only legitimate avenue for the satisfaction of the sexual urge.Moreover, the family has an important role in providing the socialization and value orientation of children, and in providing social and economic security. Finally, making up a family motivates individuals to work hard, sacrifice their own welfare, and become beneficent for the sake of their family.

Hamas says Israel's daily arrest campaigns of Palestinians show Israel's clumsiness and weakness

April 19, 2007

Nablus - Ma'an - Hamas members of the Palestinian Legislative Council representing Nablus have condemned the daily arrest campaigns carried out by the Israeli forces in different regions of the occupied West Bank. The latest was the arrest of 24 Palestinians on Thursday morning.

The delegates said in a media statement, "It is obvious that the [Israeli] occupation's policies continue to be clumsy; it does not want to seem broken in front of its people after it was incapable of releasing its prisoner from the Palestinian resistance in Gaza."

Bush Visits the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Mr.Bush: What Does Sudan have to do with the Jewish Holocaust or what the United States is doing with their Holocaust, towards the rest of the world; with Zionistic aid?


President George W. Bush watches a demonstration of Google Earth by Larry Swaider, Chief Information Officer for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, during his visit Wednesday, April 18, 2007. The President visited two exhibits and delivered remarks commemorating the Holocaust Days of Remembrance. White House photo by Eric Draper

Transcript of Bush Speech and Video

Jewish Holocaust

Palestinian Holocaust

U.S. army admits killing Afghan civilians

Afghan civilians have borne the brunt of violence(AFP Photo)

April 16, 2007

U.S. occupation forces killed or wounded at least 47 innocent Afghan civilians, including children, women and elderly villagers, after a bomb attack last month on a U.S. convoy in the eastern province of Nangarhar, a preliminary U.S. military investigation found.

Quoting the U.S. commander who ordered the probe, The Washington Post reported that there was no evidence that the marines present at the blast scene came under small-arms fire after the bombing, dismissing the soldiers’ initial reports.

"My investigating officer believes those folks (Afghans) were innocent … We were unable to find evidence that those were fighters," Major General Frank H. Kearney was quoted as saying.
The marines opened fire indiscriminately following the attack on their convoy on March 4. They killed at least 12 civilians and wounded more than 33 others, The Post said.

The dead included a one-year-old boy, a 4-year-old girl, three women and elderly villagers, according to a report by the Afghan Human Rights Commission (AHRC).

Senior military officials told The New York Times that the army is now exploring possible criminal charges against the marines.

“Indiscriminate force”

The findings of the U.S. investigation are similar to those of the Afghan Human Rights Commission, which said that the soldiers’ actions “constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian standards.”

"In failing to distinguish between civilians and legitimate military targets, the U.S. Marine Corps Special Forces employed indiscriminate force," AHRC said in a report.

"It was an illegal action," a 45-year-old car driver, who survived the U.S. attack, told the Times. He recalled how U.S. soldiers sprayed his car with hundreds of bullets and killed his 80-year-old father, 75-year-old uncle and his teenage nephew.

Another sixteen-year-old girl, identified as Yadwaro, was shot dead by U.S. forces while returning home from her family’s farmhouse with a bundle of grass.

Yadwaro's father-in-law said the girl was shot in the back and fell dead across the threshold. "They committed a great cruelty; they should be punished," he said bitterly.

Some of the families said they could not recognize their relatives because they were shot beyond recognition.

AHRC Deputy Director Nader Nadery said the shootings are not unprecedented. "This is not an isolated case” he said.

Last may, more than 76 Afghans, many believed to be civilians, were killed in U.S. air strikes on a village in southern Afghanistan.

Afghan civilians “main victims”

Afghan civilians have borne the brunt of attacks by rebels and occupation forces in the past 15 months, global watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report on Monday.

In the report, titled “The Human Cost”, HRW accused both sides of committing war crimes.

The New York-based group strongly denounced attacks by the Taliban and other anti-government forces that it said claimed the lives of more than 700 Afghan civilians since the beginning of 2006.

"Even when they’re aiming at military targets, their attacks are often so indiscriminate that Afghan civilians end up as the main victims," HRW terrorism and counter-terrorism director Joanne Mariner said in the report.

Mariner said that 2006 was the deadliest year for Afghan civilians since the 2001 U.S. invasion of the country, with at least 669 civilians killed in more than 350 documented attacks, most of which “appear to have been intentionally launched at civilians or civilian objects."

At least 52 civilians were also killed in rebel attacks in the first two months of 2007, the report said, adding that rebels regularly attack military targets, either U.S.-led occupation forces or the Afghan army and police, located in densely-populated areas.

Human Rights Watch also said that the Taliban has intensified targeted attacks against doctors, journalists, aid workers, religious leaders and government employees, often after accusing them of spying. At least 177 civilians were killed in such assassinations last year, it said.

Occupation forces “violate laws of war”

HRW also pointed to civilian casualties caused by occupation forces, saying 230 civilians were killed in U.S.-led or Nato operations in 2006, stressing that some of these attacks “appear to have violated the laws of war."

"There is no evidence that coalition forces intentionally target civilians, but in a number of cases international forces have conducted indiscriminate attacks or failed to take adequate precautions to prevent harm to civilians," it said.

The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force has about 37,000 troops in Afghanistan, while the U.S. has some 12,000 soldiers.

In latest violence, a bomb blast killed more than 10 Afghan policemen on Monday in the northeastern city of Kunduz.

On Sunday, four private security guards were blown up in the southern city of Kandahar and on Saturday seven policemen died near the border with Pakistan in Khost province.

Source

Freedom From Oppression

China, Switzerland drop Hamas boycott

April 18, 2007

RAMALLAH -- China and Switzerland have informed Palestinian officials they will deal with the new unity government made up of the Fatah movement and the militant Hamas group, the information minister said yesterday. Both nations have dealt with Hamas in the past, but the development appeared to reinforce a Palestinian effort to win recognition for their new government. Special envoys from the two countries met recently with Palestinian Foreign Minister Ziad Abu Amr and informed him of their decision to deal with the unity government "without any discrimination between its members," said Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti.

Further Reading:

U.S. may ease sanctions, Palestinian minister says

Israel rejects Hamas list of prisoners

April 18, 2007

Israeli prime minister stated Wednesday that the list of prisoners Palestinians want released in exchange for a captured Israeli soldier "creates expectations we cannot meet." The list has not been made public, but media reports have put the number of names between 350 and 1,450, including activists convicted in killing Israelis.

Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has not said how many Palestinians Israel would be willing to free in exchange for Shalit. He has hinted he would free a large number but not as many as 1,400.

Speaking before parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, the Israeli leader said the list is "disappointing and creates expectations that we have no chance of meeting."

Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti has said two prominent Palestinians are on the list. One is Marwan Barghouti, a West Bank leader of Fatah movement, who is serving five consecutive life terms in prison. The other is Ahmed Saadat, who is suspected of ordering and planning the 2001 assassination of an Israeli Cabinet minister.

Source

An Introduction to Hamas

Hamas (Arabic: حركة حماس; acronym: Arabic: حركة المقاومة الاسلامية, or Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya or "Islamic Resistance Movement"; the Arabic acronym means "zeal") is a Palestinian Islamist organization that currently (since January 2006) forms the majority party of the Palestinian National Authority.

Created in 1987 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin of the Gaza wing of the Muslim Brotherhood at the beginning of the First Intifada, Hamas is best known inside the Palestinian territories for it’s full resistance in military form. It is believed that Hamas wish the full freedom of Palestine and for unrest in the country to stop and return to the former identity of peace and full freedom for all, within Palestine.

They do not and will not recognize the State of Israel, For the Zionist have proven to be nothing but occupiers and murder’s through out the globe. Bent on the extermination of any and all Palestinian’s not only within Palestinian, but globally.

As my understanding, to create a final peaceful solution to the Palestinian question, Hamas has expressed that the return of Palestine as an Islamic State with freedom and protection of all inhabitance regardless of their religion or ethnic group.

Through out history, within any country that is subject to oppression or occupation, a resistance usually is formed, within Palestine there is several fighting for the lives‘, protection, survival and freedom of Palestine.

Hamas just happens to be the largest of these groups and while they are being deemed by Israel and the West as Terrorist, only to the fact they are doing everything in their power to resist the Zionist regime of genocide.

Further Reading:

Hamas Charter

Virginia Tech in Sorrow

Further Reading:

At least 33 dead in rampage on Virginia campus

Virginia Tech Killer Is South Korean

President Bush's remarks at Virginia Tech

Bush's Motorcade Leaving Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech Tribute

Allah Hu Allah

by Zain Bhikha and Yusuf Islam

Israel's Secret Service Plan: Shalom, Shin Bet

April 11, 2007

By URI AVNERY

Recently the chief of the Shin Bet declared that the "Israeli Arabs", a fifth of Israel's population, constitute a danger to the state.

He requested permission for the General Security Service to act against anyone who aims at changing the official designation of Israel as a "Jewish and democratic state" - even if they use nothing but completely legal means.

It follows that In the view of the chief of the Security Service, a central figure in the Israeli leadership, the task of the Shin Bet (now commonly known in Israel as Shabak) is not only to protect the state from spies and terrorists, but also from any challenge to its ideological designation, like the KGB in the former Soviet Union and the Stasi in communist East Germany. (The excellent Oscar-winning movie "The Life of the Others", now screening in Israel, shows how this worked in practice.)

Das Leben Der Anderen - The Life of the Others (Trailer)

* * *

ALL THIS is reminiscent of things past. Rather naively, I had thought that they belonged to bygone days which could never return.

Two weeks ago, the Israeli tabloid Yedioth Aharonoth published an interview with the lawyer Arieh Hadar, nicknamed Pashosh, a former chief of the interrogation department of the Shin Bet.

Pashosh disclosed that "In the 50s, the great enemies of the Labor Party - and therefore of Issar Harel, the chief of the security services, the Shin Bet and the Mossad - were Uri Avnery and his weekly magazine, Haolam Hazeh. Avnery called the Shin Bet "the Apparatus of Darkness", and Issar was convinced that Uri Avnery would destroy the state. Avnery and his magazine were under constant surveillance. A colleague of mine earned himself quick promotion by recruiting an employee of Haolam Hazeh's printing press. Every week, this employee gave him a smuggled copy of the magazine a day before its official publication date. My colleague gave it to Issar, who brought it every week personally to Ben-Gurion."

Pashosh added: "Issar had the Shin Bet publish a competing magazine, disguised as privately owned. The aim was to destroy Avnery."

These revelations were not news to me. Years ago, Issar Harel himself disclosed that he regarded me as "Enemy No. 1 of the regime". It may be remembered that in those days, three bombs were laid in our editorial offices and printing plant and two employees were injured. The fingers of both my hands were broken in an (unsuccessful) attempt to kidnap me. None of these crimes was ever solved.

In 1977, after coming to power, Menachem Begin revealed in an interview that at the end of the 50s Issar Harel approached him and told him that he had proposed to the Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, to put me in "administrative detention" - arrest without trial and without time limit. Ben-Gurion agreed, but posed a condition: that Begin, then the leader of the opposition, agree to it too, so that it could be done quietly. Begin demanded that Issar show him the evidence that I was a traitor, otherwise, he said, not only would he not agree, but he would raise hell. Issar never mentioned the matter again.

Begin did not leave it at that. He sent me his trusted lieutenant, Yaakov Meridor, to warn me. In spite of the extreme difference of opinion between us, which found its expression many times in Knesset debates, Begin accepted me, it seems, as an Israeli patriot.

* * *

THE QUESTION is, of course, why Ben-Gurion and the security service chief considered me "Enemy No. 1 of the regime".

That brings us to the subject now raised again by the Shin Bet chief.

I attacked Ben-Gurion on many subjects: the total domination of all affairs in the country by the Labor Party (then called Mapai), the corruption that was then starting to infect the ruling class, the discrimination suffered by Jewish immigrants from Oriental countries, the religious coercion, etc.

But the pivot of this struggle was the definition of Israel as a "Jewish state".

What is a "Jewish state"? That was never made clear. A state whose citizens are all Jewish? A state that belongs to Jews only? The "state of the Jewish people", which also belongs to millions of Jews who do not live here and are citizens of the US, Argentina and France? A state ruled by the Jewish religion? A state that expresses Jewish values (and if so, which ones?)

Furthermore - who is a Jew, in this context? After many hesitations, the Knesset adopted the religious definition: a Jew is a person born to a Jewish mother or who has converted to the Jewish faith, and who has not adopted another religion. The contradiction between the definition of Judaism as a religion and the assertion that the Jews are a nation was solved by adopting the fiction that with us, unlike other nations, religion and nation are one and the same.

The term "Jewish state" is nebulous. It can be interpreted in several ways. When one adds the word "democratic", it becomes an oxymoron - if a state belongs only to a part of its population it is not democratic, and if it is democratic then it cannot belong to a part of its population, even if they compose the majority.

Instructing the Security Service - our name for the secret police - to act against those who strive by legal means to change the "Jewish state" definition - simply means to cripple Israeli democracy. It is one of the basic principles of democracy that everyone has the right to propagate his views and convince people to change the laws and the constitution, as long as only legal means are used. If he or she succeeds in convincing the majority of the citizens, the desired change comes about.

Activating the secret police to abort this process would mean turning Israel into a police state. Not a "democracy protecting itself", but, rather, a state protecting itself from democracy.

* * *

I HOPE that the State of Israel remains a state with a Hebrew majority, that the Hebrew language will remain its main language, that it will express the modern Hebrew society and its culture and also keep alive the Jewish tradition of generations past. (About the Arab side of the matter - see below.)

But it must not do so by force, by way of oppression, by using the secret police and other means of compulsion. Natural processes must be allowed to work freely, whatever the results. We are not the only nation in the world in this situation.

If Israel is an attractive country, natural increase will rise and many will knock on its doors, people who desire to join our nation. The Israeli nation - unlike the Jewish religion - can in principle absorb everyone who wants to belong to it.

The relationship between a modern state and its citizens must be based on one consideration only: citizenship. The state belongs to all its citizens, and all of them must be equal before the law. That is what the 1948 Declaration of Independence promised: "The State of Israel will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex."

Some Israelis use the term "nation-state" as a pretext to oppress the Arab minority. They think about a nation-state in the spirit of the late 19th and early 20th century. In Poland, for example, where many of Israel's founders were born, the state fought against large communities of its own citizens - Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Jews and others.

The most extreme example was the Nazi state, which was based on the idea that the individual exists only as a part of his nation, as a mere cell in the national organism. This model drowned in blood and has been besmirched for all eternity by the horrors of the Holocaust.

Today the model that appeals to many is the American one. The American nation includes everybody who holds a US passport. A person who receives American citizenship - whether Mexican, Korean, Indian or Nigerian - at that moment joins the American nation and becomes an heir to George Washington, Abe Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

All modern nations are moving towards this model, each according to its own rhythm. Poland, too, now belongs to the EU, where millions of people are moving from country to country without restrictions. In most countries there now live millions of foreigners who are gradually being absorbed into the national population. Their children grow up with the local culture and the local language and study in the local schools. Without this massive reinforcement, many Western societies could not exist any more, as far as the economy and demography are concerned.

Will Israel, which misses no opportunity to describe itself as a Western country, turn its back on this reality and adopt the model of Pakistan, a state that was founded - at the same time as Israel - on an ethnic-religious basis?

* * *

MY IDENTITY consists of many different layers.

I am a human being, and as a human being I am a citizen of the world, bearing responsibility for the entire planet. I am committed to humanist values, to the ecology of the globe, to freedom, peace and justice for all. I hope that in the not too distant future, these values will be guaranteed by an effective world order.

I am a member of the Israeli nation, together with all the other people who hold an Israeli passport. Israel is my state. I want it living in peace, secure, flourishing and respected throughout the world. I want a state in which it is good to live, and of which I can be proud.

I am a son of the Jewish people. I am an heir to Jewish tradition, much as Australians and Canadians are heirs to the Anglo-Saxon tradition. There are Jewish values in which I believe, values of justice, peace and non-violence, which are very different from the values of the settlers in Yitzhar and Tapuah. I am close to the Jews around the world, and I am very glad that Jews around the world feel close to Israel. That is an emotional matter, which should not concern the state.

When the State of Israel really belongs, practically and officially, to all its citizens, it will be much easier for the Arabs here to decide on their status. If they choose to belong to the Israeli nation, much as Hispanics in the US belong to the American nation, that will be fine. If they prefer the status of a national minority, they should enjoy the rights of such a minority in a modern state. Either way, the Arabic language and Arab culture must be fully recognized by the state. The affinity of the Arab citizens with the Palestinian people and the Arab world must be considered just as legitimate as the affinity of the Hebrew citizens with the Jewish people throughout the world.

* * *

THAT IS my view. I intend to advocate it by all the legal means at my disposal in the democratic state that I helped to establish.

And if the Shin Bet does not like it, well, that is a pity. I just hope that they will not put me under administrative detention because of it.

Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and peace activist with Gush Shalom. He is one of the writers featured in The Other Israel: Voices of Dissent and Refusal. He is also a contributor to CounterPunch's hot new book The Politics of Anti-Semitism.

Follow the Women Program parade arrives in Bethlehem Monday

April 16, 2007
by George Rishmawi - IMEMC

A group of nearly 120 women from different parts of the world riding their bikes arrived in Bethlehem today to show solidarity with the Palestinian people.

The international cyclists are joined by some Palestinian cyclists, members of the Palestinian Cycling Club. The group entered Palestine on Sunday coming from Jordan after visiting Lebanon and Syria on their bikes.

The cyclists arrived in the town of Beit Sahour, where they were received by a crowd of the residents including the Mayor and the members of the municipal council.Michaelle Awad, one of the coordinators of the program which was organized by Siraj Center for Holy Land Studies said this program is one of many to be organized in Palestine that include international coming to show solidarity with the Palestinian people who have been living under occupation since nearly 40 years.

Follow the Women is an international movement comprised of approximately 300 ordinary women, from as many as 30 different countries, who support peace and an end to violence in the Middle East.

The group aims at raising awareness of how the current situation in the Middle East affects the lives of women and children in the region, and to show solidarity towards women in the region, and bring an end to violence and suffering in the region. In addition, increase support networks between women all around the world.

Al Ataba family awaits the release of their son detained nearly 30 years ago

Living in the Northern Mountain, overlooking the center of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and most of its neighborhoods, the family of detainee Sa’id Al Ataba, are still waiting his release, as they did for so many years, without giving up the hope that one day their dream will come true, and he will be able to welcome him back home.

April 17, 2007
by Amin Aby Warda
IMEMC

Nearly thirty years ago, in July 29, Al Ataba was taken prisoner by the Israeli soldiers.

As prisoner swap talks and many media outlets are reporting on a possible prisoner swap deal between Palestinian factions holding and Israel soldier captive, and Israel, the family of Al Ataba is hoping that he would be freed in this deal.

The family is living endless suffering as their son was kidnapped by the soldiers nearly 30 years ago and was imprisoned since then.

Um Radi, the 73-year old mother of Al Ataba, spoke to reporters who gather at her house each time there are talks about prisoner swap, to interview her and her family.

“Nothing changed, our situation is still the same”, she said, “my son is still behind bars”.

Despite her bad health conditions, she still receives the reporters and residents with a smile and shows them his pictures hanged on every corner of the house.

She managed to visit her son in January and described the visit as one of the “most beautiful moments in her life” but these moments ended when the soldiers said that “visiting hours are over”.

After she came home, she became sick and never left home again.

When asked about her feelings as the press talks about a possible prisoner swap deal, she raised her hands in the sky and said “I hope that God will fulfill my wish, and enable me to see him before I die.

“He was taken prisoner in 1977, he was only 26 years old and about to get married”, she stated, “But the soldiers kidnapped him”.

Um Radi also stated that her husband suffered a heart attack while visiting their son in Nafha Israeli prison and died.

Two years later, two of his uncles died, and also his grandparents and aunts died.

He couldn’t attend any funeral, his imprisonment kept him isolated and suffering as he was unable to see any of his relatives before they died”.

His story was told by several media outlets, after meeting his family, relatives and friends, but the most recent letter he sent from prison was foretelling of his steadfastness in spite his extended imprisonment.

My name is Sa’id Wajeeh Al Ataba, born in Nablus in 1951, I greet you, and great every Palestinian, Arab and Muslim, from my cell in Asqalan prison, I remind you that am still here, still imprisoned… struggling and fighting my bars and jailors, transforming the thorns into a new dawn for you, to tell you that we are born free, and will die free”.

“I was taken prisoner 29 years ago, since 1977; I want to remind you that my comrades and I are still here, still suffering and subjected to illegal practices. Will there be a new dawn for freedom? Is it the time to place the issue of the detainees back to its position as a top priority?”

“I lived 29 years of torture in Israeli prisons, am a Palestinian who is searching for the remains of an old wound inflicted by the Israeli occupation, am still living in a world filled with injustice and oppression, I wite my name with determination to remain among the loyal fighters for their land and people”.

“Our struggle is long, and left its marks on the body of every Palestinian, our struggle is the struggle of every Palestinian, and is continuous… endless”

Islamophobia: Testing People’s Reaction to Woman in Hijab

Commentary

by Housewife4Palestine

Islamophobia as far as what I have seen coming from the West, is a reaction to Propaganda brainwashing on the part of their government; as it is filtrated through the media almost non-stop.

Especially, over the net if your Muslim, your going to meet these people every once in awhile and so far what I have found is they are putting themselves more across as very sad self-destructive people. I tend to wonder if in their brainwashed state, they are lashing out to those who are not really sharing their sorrow.

Regardless, of their inner demon’s, lashing out in a racist hate filled manner towards anyone, is not only ethically wrong it is morally wrong and I have said countless times for I not wish it to be so; for the backlash over time could be monumental.

Police probe racist slurs sprayed on prof's door

A McMaster University professor who organized a campus day in support of Muslim students says racial slurs sprayed onto her office door have left her in complete shock. Hamilton police have launched a hate crime investigation into the racist attack condemned by Hamilton's Muslim community and McMaster officials. Investigators believe the incident is a backlash against last week's Wear a Hijab Day, an event organized by associate French professor Muriel Walker to help sensitize people about Islam.

"What have I done, not just to deserve this, but to inspire this kind of strong reaction?" she said. "I am still in disbelief." Campus cleaning staff discovered the racist and profane graffiti on Walker's door early Tuesday morning. They also found copies of controversial Danish editorial cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed glued to her door. "Did I really do something that bad to trigger this whole hysteria?" Walker said.

Their should never have been introduced any form of racism into the world, but it is here and the way to deal with it is to ignore it as much as possible by not feed it’s flames.

I have often wondered if there is a way to help these people in their brainwashed state, but at this time I am still wondering. I am not speaking of the small slur’s, but the Islamophobic extremist.

“Silence sometimes can do more good, then speaking.”

Ayat of the Day

Too many people out there that believe Allah is a moon god and what not.

Allah is the Arabic word for "God" which is called upon by muslims, Arabic christians and many Arabic Jews (including the Yemenite Jews, several Mizrai communities and some Sephardim).

Allah is the same Abrahamic God as mentioned since the time of Adam.

Allah is not a God for Arabs, for Israel or for Middle East, but for all mankind.

Have a great day and peace.