November Peace Conference Future for Palestine?

Haniyeh Renews Call for Arab Boycott of Peace Conference

6 October 2007

Gaza – Ma'an – Deposed Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh called on Arab States, especially Egypt and Saudi Arabia, to reconsider their decision to participate in the US-sponsored peace conference in late November.

Though Haniyeh's Hamas cabinet still controls the Gaza Strip, his government has been deliberately excluded from the conference. American and Israeli officials view the Hamas regime as illegitimate, despite Hamas' offers to restore most government ministries to the control of the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.

Speaking to a Palestinian newspaper reporter in Gaza on Saturday, Haniyeh said: "We will address our Arab brothers, namely Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and request that they reconsider any decisions related to the participation in that conference. We will make special reference to Saudi Arabia for its political, historical and religious importance in the Arab world. The same thing applies to Egypt." Haniyeh called on these countries to avoid providing coverage for any additional abandonment of Palestinian rights."

Dim prospects for peace

On Friday officials announced that the conference will be postponed beyond the original starting date in order to allow Israeli and Palestinian negotiators more time to hammer out a preliminary agreement going into the conference. While Palestinian officials have repeatedly called for negotiations on final status issues—the fate of Palestinian refugees, the status of Jerusalem, and the borders of a Palestinian State—Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wants the bilateral negotiations to result in a rough "declaration of interests."

Haniyeh also expressed doubt that the conference or the related bilateral talks could reach an agreement that would minimally fulfill Palestinians' unalienable rights. He noted that Israel is likely to refuse the right of return for Palestinian refugees, refuse the establishment of Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital, and fail to withdraw from territories occupied in 1967.

Comparing the upcoming conference to the Oslo Accords, Haniyeh expects the meeting to result in, at best, a framework for further negotiations. In Haniyeh's view, the past 13 years under the Oslo agreement have seen little progress toward a substantive peace deal.

Israeli Military Forced to Retreat from Gaza Incursion

Image captured during a previousIsraeli invasion of Gaza (MaanImages)

6 October 2007

Gaza – Ma'an – Israeli military tanks on Saturday penetrated the eastern neighbourhood of Shujaiyya in Gaza City.

Ma'an's reporter said the invading troops were pelted with stones by Palestinian children.

Eyewitnesses said that an undercover Israeli force entered the eastern Al Bureij and Al Maghazi refugee camps, in the central Gaza Strip.

The incursion took place under the cover of Israeli fighter jets which flew low over the area.

The eyewitnesses added that Palestinian fighters countered the invading Israeli forces and launched mortar shells, forcing the troops to retreat.

The Two Angels of the Prophet’s (PBUH)

6 October 2007

by HRM Deborah

Michael (Mikh’al) is always to the left of Gabriel (Jibra’il), as he is always to the right.

Michael is not just a giver of blessings, but also the commander of war in Paradise against the forces of Satan; while Gabriel, sends messages from Allah and revises the Quran in Allah’s behalf.

Both are characterized usually by control, especially in not being excessively emotional or aggressive towards any earthly protests. However, they do have the abilities, to strike a person dead or in other manners if they attempt to harm a Prophet, for the Angel of Death (Malikul Mawt) is never far away from them.

They do not speak to people in the usual manner either; they speak from within the person towards the outlet of the ears, not the other way around like humans speak. When these angels speak to a person, they will have unusual feelings inside themselves, to sometimes a very warm feeling.

They are always known to not only protect a Prophet, but Gabriel is the mediator between Allah and the Prophet where the Prophet gets their knowledge and guidance. Michael on the other hand is the Prophet’s protector among other things.

It is said, that if one has a chance to see these two angels, they will get a taste of Paradise and the person that for lack of better words that they guard, is by proof of them a Prophet of Allah.

A Prophet is not just born, they are sent by Allah before their birth and all major Prophet’s their birth’s as well as their life have been foretold.

One thing about a Prophet, they have a very unusual life, why they may not know they are a Prophet, other then they seem to be able to do things different then other people, one thing most have wished for, is to be like other people; even though they know this is actually impossible.

To learn they are a Prophet is usually told to them in some manner, then they begin to understand their differences or given little hints within their life because of their unusual abilities.

Furthermore, one thing about a Prophet is they do have the abilities to ask Allah for the army in Paradise if they are needed or the angels.

You will not find any real depiction of what angels actually look like.

Make War not Health Care?

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 6, 2007

Audio

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. One important commitment of the Federal government is to help America's poorest children get access to health care. Most of these children are covered by Medicaid, which will spend more than $35 billion to help them this fiscal year. For children who do not qualify for Medicaid, but whose families are struggling, we have the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP.

Washington is now in the midst of an important debate over the future of this vital program. I strongly support SCHIP. My Administration has added more than 2 million children to SCHIP since 2001. And our 2008 budget increases SCHIP funding by 20 percent over five years.

Unfortunately, more than 500,000 poor children who are eligible for SCHIP coverage are not enrolled in the program. At the same time, many States are spending SCHIP funds on adults. In fact, based on their own projections for this fiscal year, Minnesota, Illinois, New Jersey, Michigan, Rhode Island, and New Mexico will spend more SCHIP money on adults than they do on children. And that is not the purpose of the program.

This week, congressional leaders sent me a deeply flawed bill that would move SCHIP even further from its original purpose. Here are some of the problems with Congress's plan: Under their plan, one out of every three children who moves onto government coverage would drop private insurance. In other words, millions of children would move out of private health insurance and onto a government program. Congress's plan would also transform a program for poor children into one that covers children in some households with incomes up to $83,000. Congress's plan would raise taxes on working people. And Congress's plan does not even fully fund all the new spending. If their plan becomes law, five years from now Congress would have to choose between throwing people off SCHIP -- or raising taxes a second time.

Congress's SCHIP plan is an incremental step toward their goal of government-run health care for every American. Government-run health care would deprive Americans of the choice and competition that comes from the private market. It would cause huge increases in government spending. It would result in rationing, inefficiency, and long waiting lines. It would replace the doctor-patient relationship with dependency on bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. And it is the wrong direction for our country.

Congress knew that I would veto this bill, yet they sent it anyway. So on Wednesday, I vetoed the SCHIP bill. And I asked Members of Congress to come together and work with me on a responsible bill that I can sign -- so we can keep this important program serving America's poor children.

When it comes to SCHIP, we should be guided by a clear principle: Put poor children first. I urge Republicans and Democrats in Congress to support a bill that moves adults off this children's program -- and covers children who do not qualify for Medicaid, but whose families are struggling. If putting poor children first takes a little more than the 20 percent increase I have proposed in my budget for SCHIP, I am willing to work with leaders in Congress to find the additional money.

Ultimately, our Nation's goal should be to move children who have no health insurance to private coverage -- not to move children who already have private health insurance to government coverage. By working together, Republicans and Democrats can strengthen SCHIP, ensure that it reaches the children who need it, and find ways to help more American families get the private health coverage they need.

Thank you for listening.

END

Hamas envoy: US, Israel not after peace in region

6 October 2007

Tehran-The United States and Israel are not seeking any peace in the region despite what they have claimed, Hamas envoy in Tehran, Abu Ossama Abd al-Moti, said Friday evening.

Speaking on the sidelines of an Iftar (fast breaking dinner) ceremony, the envoy slammed an upcoming US-sponsored conference on Palestine which is expected to be held in the US in November.

Referring to the conference as "part of a conspiracy against the Palestinian nation," Abu Ossama said that it aimed to eliminate the government of Ismail Haniyeh and the political Islamism in the region.

The conference is also to be held in order to prepare the grounds for an attack against Iran, Syria and Lebanon, the envoy said.

He noted that the conference "will not reach any of its goals as launching attacks against the three countries requires a peaceful situation in the region."

Abu Ossama supported Iran's plan to hold a referendum in entire occupied lands to solve the Palestinian crisis.

However, he noted that the US, Zionist regime and Europe would never even think about such a plan as its implementation would lead to complete decline of Israel.

Are Thugs Defending ‘US Interests’ Lesser Thugs?

6 October 2007

by Ben Tanosborn

“Yeah, but if your life depended on it, wouldn’t you rather have those Blackwater guys by your side to make sure you stay safe?” That seems to be the mother of all questions that usually ends up closing the conversation du jour: America’s private armies.

As unsavory as it may be for many Americans to hear or read about the shameful and unforgiving acts at Abu Ghraib, Fallujah, Haditha, and countless other places — each and every account highly sanitized before being allowed to reach the current penumbra of public disclosure — a clear majority continues to shrug their shoulders to the realities happening in Iraq, or Afghanistan for that matter; some much preferring to change the conversation to a different topic, others showing a total lack of humanity by remaining bent on defending the indefensible.

Defending so-called “American interests” has often been the barricade of last resort for scoundrels and downright criminals, en route to their highly fortified refuge of patriotism — scoundrels and criminals fighting under the cover and propriety of an honorable flag, or even the redesigned Jolly Roger sans the skull-and-bones, but an equally strident symbolism, representing a corporate logo together with a lofty mission. These are all byproducts of what we Americans jave become: A nation of PR-managed people. If only someone would tell us once and for all just what those interests are that we’re so diligently and desperately trying to safeguard!

Is it economic interests that must be defended; and if so, exactly whose? Is it a military position of unrivaled strength that we must possess and constantly show off? And if such is the case, is it to keep America safe from unprovoked harm, or is it in pursuit of what many feel is nothing but our leaders’ “empire lust”? Is it terrorism, and its root causes, we are trying to eradicate; or could it be that it’s in our leaders’ best interest to make sure terrorism not only survives but metastasizes?

When anyone talks about “American interests” in such universal terms, are they talking about interests for the American many, the citizenry; the hoi polloi; the once hoped-for classless class? Or, are they the interests of an American client, employer, or even a menagerie of corporate entities or an often-suspected elite class?

All of these questions require answers if the people of these United States are to survive as free citizens, and the country is to remain a free nation; freedom defined principally as lack of fear from reprisal, and not just from dangers coming from without but from within.

This recent stir-up involving Blackwater should serve as a wake up call to a reality our self-censured corporate media won’t dare touch, most politicians are unwilling to tackle and our government feels helpless trying to investigate being itself the architect and builder of this house of horrors that they’ve made of the Middle East.

Whether America’s contracted private armies serving in Iraq provide 20,000 or 30,000 or 40,000 mercenaries is not the issue. Numbers mean very little. But the sheer use of mercenary forces, call them peace keepers or body guards if that tones down these Rambos to a measure of acceptability, says everything.

Wars are in most cases, by their essence, improbable to justify and none can be afforded minimal legitimacy until every able-bodied person in a nation is ready to take up arms to defend their society, their nation. No armies-for-hire can ever be deemed an ethical undertaking by any society, and when it comes to bullies-for-hire, such undertaking is downright obscene.

But I’ll tell you what I find the most incredible aspect of it all. And that is, these Rambo-luminary mercenaries with a capital M — for big money — not only have a staff chaplain, but a place of worship to boot!

Now we shouldn’t be shocked when we are told that even the devil has a guardian angel: A Blackwater peace enforcer to be sure!

Peacekeeping, peace enforcing, private protection... just a way, a name, a license which is issued to career bullies not just to unrestrainedly “kick ass” but to determine who is to live and who is to die. Soldiers of fortune, mercenaries, legionnaires, and corsairs — they all seem to find common valor in one thing: Death, whether it involves taking yours (life) or risking and losing theirs.

We, in the United States, are getting to the point where we are confronted with little differentiation in mission between those we call “our troops” and the private armies made up of “former troops.” Have we already forgotten how America’s military leveled a major Iraqi city, Fallujah, in angry response to the killing of four Blackwater military private contractors? Does anything else need to be said?

As to the question that was asked at the beginning of this piece, although I understand how thankful Gen. Edward Pietrzyk, Poland’s ambassador to Iraq, must be to Billionaire Erik Prince’s privateers for whisking him away to safety during an attempt on his life a few days ago, I pass on the “opportunity” to ever have to thank these bullies for giving me protection against imminent danger. No, thanks, I wouldn’t care to have them by my side, and for that matter, nor would I welcome their chaplain.

Bush Says US Does ‘Not Use Torture’

by Barbara Ferguson

WASHINGTON, 6 October 2007 — President George W. Bush yesterday defended the Central Intelligence Agency’s use of “black sites,” or secret overseas prisons, to interrogate terrorism suspects — and said the United States does not use torture.

Bush said he put the program “in motion” to detain and question terrorism suspects, and it had yielded information that helped “better protect” Americans. The program has sparked criticism over interrogation methods.

“I have put this program in place for a reason — that is to better protect the American people,” Bush said in an impromptu statement from the Oval Office yesterday morning. “You bet we’re going to detain ‘em, and you bet we’re going to question ‘em. This government does not torture people; we stick to US law and our international obligations.”

Bush addressed the controversy after calling in reporters to discuss the latest job numbers, which are down. He did not take questions. The president made the comments amid new disclosures that the Justice Department in 2005 had secretly endorsed the harshest interrogation techniques ever used by the CIA. The White House also confirmed the existence of two secret memos, first reported in The New York Times on Thursday, that appear to authorize the CIA the ability to use its most extreme interrogation techniques, including simulated drowning known as “water-boarding.” The Bush administration has been playing an elaborate cat-and-mouse game with Congress over acceptable methods of interrogation since the 9/11 terror attacks.

Bush has said the Geneva Conventions prohibiting the mutilation, cruel treatment and torture of detainees do not apply to Al-Qaeda members.

Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel seemed to agree. In a 2002 memo to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, then White House counsel, it claimed Bush was not bound by federal anti-torture laws and argued that anyone using tactics authorized by the president could not be prosecuted.

Moreover, the memo argued cruel and degrading treatment was not illegal so long as it did not produce physical pain equivalent to organ failure or death or mental pain causing lasting psychological damage. The Abu Ghraib prison scandal triggered a marked shift in public — and congressional — opinion. In 2005, US lawmakers passed the Detainee Treatment Act, which explicitly banned “cruel, inhuman or degrading” treatment of prisoners.

The president said yesterday that “the techniques that we used have been fully disclosed to appropriate members of the US Congress.” The Bush administration has briefed the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence about various aspects of the interrogation methods being used on terror suspects. But the committee has demanded to see the opinions written by Justice Department lawyers to justify the harshest methods.

Questions about harsh interrogation techniques have become a hallmark of the Bush administration and most of those questions continue to swirl around Justice Department’s former Attorney General Gonzales who, the reports said, approved the legal opinions to bring policy more in line with the wishes of President Bush.

Gonzales left his office last month amid charges he had politicized the Justice Department and compromised its independence in his zeal to accommodate his mentor, Bush.

Following disclosure of the Justice Department memos, Democratic lawmakers demanded that the agency turn over the two memos. The controversy could complicate the upcoming confirmation hearings for Attorney General-designate Michael B. Mukasey.

Democrats said they would call Steven Bradbury, the acting chief of legal counsel at the US Justice Department, identified by the Times as the author of the memos.

On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

27 Sep. - 3 Oct. 2007

Special Issue on the 7th Anniversary of the al-Aqsa Intifada


The Intifada Enters Its Eighth Year and Criminals Remain Free of Punishment

This report coincides with the 7th anniversary of the eruption of the al-Aqsa Intifada, which broke out following the former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s provocative visit to al-Aqsa Mosque (the Holy Sanctuary) in occupied Jerusalem. Over the last 7 years, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have perpetrated grave breaches of international law, including war crimes, against Palestinian civilians, in a manner unprecedented since 1967. The international community has remained silent and the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 failed to meet their obligations to ensure respect for the Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and provide protection for Palestinian civilians. The international silence has served to encourage the Israeli government and its occupation forces to perpetrate more war crimes with impunity against Palestinian civilians.

Over the past 7 years, IOF have employed its full-fledged arsenal against Palestinian civilians and property in the OPT. IOF have also attacked medical crews and journalists and killed and wounded a number of them. PCHR believes that the international failure to punish Israeli war criminals to apply the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 1949 in the OPT is a form of permission for more killings.

The 7th year of the Intifada has been the worst for the Gaza Strip. IOF hand continued to impose a total siege on the Gaza Strip, isolating it from the outside world, and forcing nearly 1.5 million Palestinians to live in a big jail under severe humanitarian conditions. IOF closed all border crossing of the Gaza Strip following Hamas’ takeover of the Gaza Strip on 14 June 2007. Israeli policy peaked with declaring the Gaza Strip as “an enemy entity.” Although such declaration does not bring any new, as IOF have effectively dealt with the Gaza Strip as an enemy entity, it implies more sanctions against the Palestinian civilian population. IOF have allowed the entry of limited food and medical supplies into the Gaza Strip. The total siege imposed on the Gaza Strip has impacted all aspects of life in the Gaza Strip and has violated Palestinian economic and social rights. Moreover, IOF have continued to prevent Palestinians from the Gaza Strip from travelling to religious sites in Jerusalem. They have only allowed a few number of Christians to travel to the West Bank during Christian occasions.

In the West Bank, IOF have continued to construct the Annexation Wall in violation of international law and humanitarian law and the Advisory Opinion issued by the International Court of Justice on 9 July 2004, which considers the Wall illegal.

In the 7th year of the Intifadah, IOF have continued to move into Palestinian communities and kill and arrest Palestinian civilians. IOF have also continued to impose severe restrictions on internal movement inside the West Bank. They have divided the West Bank into 5 separate partitions through a network of checkpoints and barriers. They are currently at least 40 permanent checkpoints and at least 15 temporary ones in the West Bank. These figures do not include checkpoints erected along the border between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. IOF have also closed scores of roads with barriers, including sand hills, cement blocks, iron gates and trenches. By the end of 7th year of the Intifada, the number of checkpoints in the West Bank has been 546.

IOF have maintained policies aimed at the Judaization of Jerusalem. They have continued to construct the Annexation Wall around the city and take a series of measures against its Palestinian population. They have cut off the city from its Palestinian surroundings and expanded settlements around the town.

In the 7th year of the Intifada, 470 Palestinians, including 344 civilians (73%) have been killed by IOF. The number of civilian victims includes 81 children (23%) and 14 women (3.5%). In the Gaza Strip alone, 365 Palestinians, including 262 civilians, have been killed by IOF. According to PCHR's documentation, 83 Palestinians have been extra-judicially executed by IOF (34.5% of the total number of civilian victims). This number includes 72 targeted persons and 11 civilian bystanders. Also during the 7th year of the Intifada, IOF killed 2 medical personnel and a journalist. In addition, a Palestinian civilian was killed by an Israeli settler.

By the end of the 6th year of the al-Aqsa Intifada, 4,329 Palestinians, including 3,413 civilians (79%), have been killed. These figures include 724 children (22%) and 119 women (3.5%). In the Gaza Strip alone, 2,502 Palestinians, including 1,779 civilians, have been killed by IOF. According to PCHR's documentation, 668 Palestinians have been extra-judicially executed by IOF (19.6% of the total number of civilian victims). This number includes 448 targeted persons and 220 civilian bystanders, including 73 children. Read more...

A Sea Serpent (Hydra)

In this depiction of an Egyptian myth, of the Great Cat performing an heroic deed by killing Apophis, the evil snake.

6 October 2007

by HRM Deborah

While I am probably the last one to mention any form of idolatry, in this particular case, this situation reminds me an element that comes of Satan and sometimes appears to be embodied in evil people like the Jinn and every time they open to speak it is blasphemy.

While, I was having a difficult time to explain this type of person that can walk the earth, this particular Egyptian mythological picture came up on search and was the closes I could come to explain this type of person; as well as how to oppose them.

Other then the picture, there is no other intention towards idolatry.

The times we are in with all the chaos that is running rampant and possible appearance of this particular person is only here to make war with those who are true to Allah. Their actual appearance is more like a serpent, but very well can appear as a man.

Many will be as though they worship this serpent, as well as those who do not know the truth of Allah in their hearts and this beast slays all these people. They will be in a place that is represented of every nation and every tongue. This person will also appear to travel through out the world creating havoc upon mankind. They like all that comes from Satan, are great liars and practice deception.

One thing that must not be forgotten, they appear to have great wealth.

They are just one of the false prophets that appear before Dajjal, because they have not shown so far some of the attributes of Dajjal.

One final mention, when the serpent is destroyed another will arrive from out of the earth, which will seem to appear more fierce. The one from the earth will have two horns like a lamb and speak like a dragon.

Update:

The sea serpent, will threaten if they feel in any kind of danger or that they are loosing grip with their power. They are extremely dangerous, they will harm you in many manners, take all precautions; to protect yourself from their manipulation and threats of death.

Can They Sink Any Lower?

President George W. Bush discussed the economy with the press Friday, Oct. 5, 2007, in the Oval Office. Pictured with the President are, from left: OMB Director Jim Nussle, CEA Chairman Ed Lazear and NEC Director Al Hubbard.

The Democrats and Iran

5 October 2007

By LEE SUSTAR

Voting to declare one of Iran's security forces a "terrorist organization." Authorizing yet more funding for Bush's war on Iraq. Declaring that U.S. troops might occupy Iraq until at least January 2013.

Sounds like the posturing of one of the whatshisnames running for the Republican presidential nomination. But these are the policies and political positions of the Democratic Congress and its leading presidential contenders.

At a debate on September 25, the top three Democratic presidential candidates--Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards--all refused to declare that they'd have pulled U.S. troops out of Iraq by the end of their first term, if elected.

"I think it would be irresponsible" to promise a pullout by January 2013, Obama said. "I cannot make that commitment," said Edwards. For her part, Clinton, typically, dodged a direct answer: "It is very difficult to know what we're going to be inheriting."

Earlier that day, a majority of Senate Democrats supported a measure sponsored by Sens. John Kyl and Joe Lieberman declaring Iran's Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization--and calling on the U.S. government to "combat, contain and roll back the violent activities" of Iran.

Thanks to the Democrats, the referendum--which at least some observers likened to an authorization for war--won by an overwhelming 76-22 margin. Clinton voted yes; Obama, in what is becoming a habit, skipped the roll call.

To top it off, tacked onto the measure at the last minute was a resolution expressing support for the partition of U.S.-occupied Iraq into ethnic and sectarian cantons--a ratification of the process of ethnic cleansing that has driven millions of Iraqis from their homes and claimed the lives of untold numbers.

Not quite one year after they took control of Congress, thanks to a huge antiwar vote in the 2006 congressional elections, the Democrats have not only failed utterly to stop the war on Iraq--they've caved in one confrontation after another with the White House. Party leaders who once claimed they would force the Bush White House to "change course" have come to resemble their loser of a presidential candidate in 2004, John Kerry.

When criticized by opponents of the war, the Democrats respond in almost a single voice that they don't have the votes to override a Bush veto--or even win a procedural voice to end debate in the Senate and come to an up-and-down vote on controversial legislation.

That's blatantly dishonest--as insider journalists Jim VandeHei and John Harris pointed out in the online Beltway gossip publication The Politico.

"There is a lot more Democrats could do to change, or at least challenge, the politics of the war in Washington, even if they do not have the numbers to impose new policies on President Bush," VandeHei and Harris wrote.

"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) could force a vote a day over Iraq. She could keep the House in session all night, over weekends and through planned vacations. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) could let filibusters run from now till Christmas rather than yield to pro-war Republicans...[A]ntiwar lawmakers can hardly say they have done everything possible to challenge the war and bring attention to their cause."

The Democratic contenders to replace Bush in 2009 aren't doing anything more. With the exception of Dennis Kucinich and Bill Richardson, the candidates all propose not to end the occupation of Iraq, but to downsize and repackage it to make it more militarily and politically sustainable for the long term.

As Financial Times commentator Gideon Rachman--in an article titled "Many contenders but just one voice"--wrote: "On a whole range of issues that remain very controversial even among close American allies in Europe and Asia, there is a broad American consensus [spanning] Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards on the Democratic side to Rudolph Giuliani, Mitt Romney, John McCain and Fred Thompson among the Republicans.

"All of the main candidates want to build up the American military rather than shrink it (Senator Clinton wants to add 80,000 troops to the Army). They all agree that the U.S. has the right to take pre-emptive military action in the 'war on terror.'...They are all strong supporters of Israel. And they are all talking tough on Iran.

"Even on Iraq--despite the bitter rhetoric--the mainstream Democratic and Republican positions are closer than either side would care to acknowledge. President George W. Bush announced last week that troops will start withdrawing later this year. The 'surge' is over. But none of the main Democratic candidates endorses the antiwar left's call for an immediate and complete pullout. So the debate comes down to an argument about the scale and pace of troop withdrawals."

The leaders of the Democrats are more and more openly converging with an imperialist consensus for U.S. policy in Iraq and beyond that the bipartisan Washington establishment can live with.

The Democrats' base, on the other hand, is as bitterly opposed to the war as ever. The frustration and disillusion with the party that claimed to be against the war has been expressed in small protests by figures like Cindy Sheehan, who have called the Democrats out. But the more general response has been demoralization.


* * *

THAT KIND of attitude among the party's most dedicated supporters could even put the party's 2008 prospects at risk--an election that has looked like a slam dunk for the Democrats, no matter who is nominated for president.

"So nothing can go wrong for the Democrats?" wrote New York Times columnist Frank Rich. "Of course it can." Rich points out that the Washington insiders who have already anointed Hillary Clinton as the next president "are the same political pros who predicted that scandal would force an early end to the Clinton presidency and that 'Mission Accomplished' augured victory in Iraq and long-lasting Republican rule."

In both 2000 and 2004, the Democrats had every opportunity to give voters a reason to be for their presidential candidate--and they failed miserably. The electoral strategy of positioning its candidates just barely to the left of the Republicans convinced at least some voters of what didn't seem possible--that George Bush was not only worth having a beer with, but he was more honest than John Kerry.

Now, after a brief period earlier this year in which the Democrats appeared willing to challenge the Bush White House, the old strategies of retreat, concession and surrender have returned.

This isn't merely because the Democrats are following a bad electoral strategy. The Democratic Party is the second party of American capitalism and is fundamentally committed to the interests and priorities of the U.S. ruling establishment.

When it comes to foreign policy, while there may be disagreements about tactics, the Republicans and Democrats agree on the aim of protecting U.S. power around the globe--as is increasingly clear from the debate in Washington these days.

But the anger among ordinary people that made itself felt in the 2006 elections--over the war specifically, and falling standards of livings for worker more generally--hasn't gone away.

Pressure from its base--as well as another disaster in Iraq and Afghanistan--may yet prod the Democrats back to the left. In any case, the hatred of Bush and the Republicans runs so deep that even the Democrats' prowar policies may not overly harm their election chances, even if the voters are well to the left of the candidates on Iraq and other issues.

What's certain right now, however, is that opponents of the war can't wait on a Democratic president taking office in 2009 to try to revive antiwar organizing. Those opposed to the war will have to rely on their own activism to force a change in U.S. policy--and the time to begin is now.

Lee Sustar writes for the Socialist Worker.

Reduced Charges for Haditha Marine

5 October 2007

An investigating officer has recommended that a murder charge be dropped against a US marine accused of leading his team in killing 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha two years ago, a defence lawyer says.

If the proposal is accepted, as is likely, it would mean that no one will face murder charges in the biggest case involving Iraqi civilian deaths.

Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Ware recommended that Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich be charged with negligent homicide in the deaths of five children and two women, said Neal Puckett, Wuterich's lawyer.

Wuterich had previously been charged with the unpremeditated murder of 17 men, women and children.

If the proposal is accepted by Lieutenant-General James Mattis, the commanding officer overseeing the case, no one will face murder charges in the Haditha case.

'Best decision'

Ware's non-binding recommendation comes after a preliminary hearing where evidence against Wuterich was reviewed.

Wuterich, 27, has expressed regret over the deaths but maintained that he operated within combat rules and "made the best decisions I could have at the time".

At the preliminary hearing, the squad leader said "engaging was the only choice".

Puckett, his lawyer, said they were "very pleased and also not surprised given how the other cases have gone".

"There has never been any inkling that any of these marines lost control or went on a rampage," he added.

Reduced charges

Negligent homicide carries a maximum sentence of three years while for murder it life imprisonment.

Puckett said Ware also recommended dropping charges against Wuterich of making a false official statement and telling a squad member to do the same.

The Haditha slayings occurred on November 19, 2005, after a roadside bomb hit a marine convoy, killing a soldier and wounding two others.

Although prosecutors have not won any convictions, three senior officers have been censured - an administrative punishment that could affect their career advancement and retirement benefits – for failing to investigate the killings.

Commenting on the recommendation, Tom Umberg, a retired army colonel and former military prosecutor, said Ware could have proposed manslaughter charges instead.

"This is a major blow to the prosecution," he said. "Negligent homicide is at the lowest end of the spectrum."

Source

How the Donkey Got in Trouble?

Israeli and Palestinian capitals could be set up in Jerusalem - officials

4 October 2007

Washington: Five former State Department and Pentagon officials are proposing Israeli and Palestinian capitals in occupied Jerusalem and excluding Arab refugees from returning to Israel as part of an Middle East accord.

In a six-page policy statement submitted to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, they also suggested a series of peace conferences following the one she hopes to convene next month, probably in Maryland. Hamas has not met US terms for attending. Those conditions are recognising Israel's right to exist and abandoning violence against the Jewish state.

But the ex-officials suggested Hamas might be drawn to attend a second conference, which implicitly would accept the first one and Israel's existence. Jerusalem's future and that of Palestinian refugees have snarled past US peace efforts. Former President Bill Clinton's mediation efforts between the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak envisioned the sharing of Jerusalem. Clinton ruled out requiring Israel to take in most Palestinians or their families who claimed to have been forced out of Israel during creation of the Jewish state in 1947-8.

It will be very difficult, "but not impossible," said Robert Pelletreau, a former US ambassador to Egypt and ex-assistant secretary of state for the region.

Along with the announcement of the conference, he said, "you have several things that can reinforce each other if they are framed properly. The refugee issue is the most difficult."

Commentary:

by HRM Deborah

“Jerusalem's future and that of Palestinian refugees have snarled past US peace efforts.”

This is interesting because the Zionist made the refugees and them along with the United States thinks they have no place.

Wonder, how they would feel if circumstances were reversed?

I guess other people could call them the millions that are supposed to be silent.

Alternatively, another thought, maybe Israel should stop immigration from there side calling them Diaspora Jews and allowing them to speak in the open forum. May very well put AIPEC, out of business?

Peace deal 'possible by May'

Israeli soldiers check a Palestinian man during a military operation in the West Bank city of Hebron.

5 October 2007

Ramallah: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's government said yesterday formal negotiations to create a Palestinian state could be completed in six months after a US sponsored Middle East conference.

Palestinian Information Minister Riyad Al Malki said the agreement would then be brought before the Palestinian people, both inside the Palestinian territories and abroad, for a referendum.

It is unclear how a referendum would be organised with the Palestinian territories divided between Hamas Islamists ruling the Gaza Strip and Abbas's secular Fatah faction controlling the occupied West Bank.

Briefing reporters one day after Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met in Jerusalem, Malki said final-status talks would be based on a joint document that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will begin drafting next week.

Malki said the joint document, which will be presented to the conference in mid-to-late November, would touch on final status issues such as borders, the fate of occupied Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees but would not go into "the minute details."

Israeli and Palestinian officials said Abbas and Olmert on Wednesday agreed that final-status negotiations would begin after the conference but Olmert balked at setting a specific timeline for reaching a final deal.

Malki said Abbas expected the final-status talks to last "for six months at most" because much of the groundwork had been covered in earlier negotiations.

Once a final-status agreement is reached, it would be presented to a follow-up meeting of the countries that took part in the conference, Palestinian officials said.

The conference is part of a US-led effort to bolster Abbas and his West Bank-based government and to isolate Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in June.

Hamas has rejected the conference and said the Olmert-Abbas meetings were aimed at ensuring "fundamental Palestinian issues" would not be addressed.

Iranian Officials Support Palestine on Qods Day

5 October 2007

Tehran-On the occasion of the World Qods Day, the Iranian senior officials by participating in a rally condemned crimes of the Qods occupying regime and its supporters and supported the oppressed Palestinians.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad here Friday condemned the atrocities of the Zionist regime against the oppressed Palestinian people and said, "Why don't you let the black box of the Zionist regime be decoded? He asked supporters of the Zionist regime while addressing ralliers in the World Qods Day rallies.

"If the Western leaders are not members of the Zionist party, they should allow an international fact finding group decode the black box," he added.

"Nations should be allowed to conduct research on crimes of the Zionist regime and decode the black box for its atrocities," Ahmadinejad continued.

"They violate sanctity of prophets and insult human dignity and democracy and say they have nothing to do with these acts.

"You have turned what you call Holocaust into a holy issue and do not let anybody raise any question about it." Ahmadinejad stated, "Events took place in the World War II.

Later, they committed a historical genocide in Palestine. They ratified unlimited and holy rights for themselves and introduced all nations as criminals.

"They allowed themselves to commit whatever crimes under the pretext of the Holocaust. They even built secret prisons in Europe and attacked and imposed economic sanctions against a nation who did not officially recognize the Zionist regime."

"Today, Qods is not an issue only related to Palestine and the Middle East but a case of world of humanity," Ahmadinejad said.

He stated that creation of the Zionist regime, continuation of its existence, its performance and unlimited support for the regime (by the US) are an insult to human dignity.

The president said, "The world should know that the Iranian nation hates massacre. It regards agents of the World War II and Hitler as dark and black faces."

He stressed that the Palestinian people would not give up their right until liberation of Palestine and condemnation of criminals.

Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi joined the World Qods Day rallies today, held on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadhan.

The ayatollah said, "World Qods Day makes afraid arrogant states, especially the Zionist regime."

Majlis Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel told IRNA on Friday while marching with people," Palestine issue will never be put into oblivion by the world's Muslim nations."

He said Iranians' high turnout in today's demonstrations sends an important message to global arrogance and the usurper Zionist regime that Muslim nations are fully aware of the ongoing conditions worldwide.

First Vice-President Parviz Davoudi said here Friday that the Zionist regime and its structure are marked with crimes, so nothing but resistance would work against this illegal entity.

Minister of Culture and the Islamic Guidance Mohammad-Hossein Saffar-Harandi here Friday stressed the vital role of the Islamic world's support for the Palestinian people.

Speaking to IRNA on the sidelines of the International Qods Day rallies, Saffar said, "Qods Day is a day when the glass palace of the enemies of Islam shattered."

He went on to say " Qods Day is a day of confrontation between the whole blasphemy against the whole Islam and a symbol of shouting of the world oppressed people against arrogant powers."

Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar called the World Qods Day as a symbol of integration of all Muslim nations.

While marching with other people in Tehran streets, Najjar told IRNA, "Qods Day is a memory of late Imam Khomeini."

The minister went on to say, "Holding free elections is the best solution for Palestine issue."

A Time For Thinking Twice

Just as a point of reference, the doors to the rear of Olmert and Abbas, when my family lived there they where decorated French style doors. Their were also flowing curtains that use to dance in the wind. As for the furnishing’s, let’s say Olmert needs a new decorator and leave it like this. What is sad, every family that lost a home to these Zionist have memories and they are passed down to generations to never forget their homes that where stolen and where they actually call home.

5 October 2007

by HRM Deborah

A little something seemed to come to mind, with Mahmoud Abbas, Ehud Olmert and George Bush trying to orchestrate a peace deal that with the November summit where the majority of the peace deals in the past have failed. Where do these people seem to think this one will be any different, especially with so many countries this time against them because it is not in the Palestinian’s best interest?

As I have mentioned before, this particular peace deal is actually illegal, because the appropriate parties to actually be present for something such as this Bush and Olmert are failing to include them. They may have a long list of who will attend, but if anyone does not include the right parties how do they expect it to ever be accepted?

I will even make a point of mention here, which the other member’s of my family in the previous deals was done in the same manner as this particular peace deal. I was thinking here about the time during the 1967 war when my mother was so upset and trying to tell me we was safe, when in actuality we wasn’t and how even at this time the Israeli’s where referring to us as “Rats.”

As for Abbas, the majority of Palestinian’s actually despise him, so that sends him out the window with the baby and the bathwater.

While people keep saying their should be a two state solution what they are not taking into account that Palestine was invaded, occupied by the Israel’s and no amount of white washing will ever change this fact.

As for a deal that actually will give bread crumbs to the Palestinian people, this goes without saying much more.

Here I express a little message to Olmert, especially lately since he is making a point of the fact he is living in my families home, since my great Grandmother was murdered there; is the house haunted?

When the Zionist went to take this home they forced out my great grandfather with four small children, three girls and a small son who he was nothing more then a baby. My great grandmother, tried to get the Zionist out of her home, in turn they shot her and killed her.

From everything I have ever known about the Zionist their only claim to peace is what they did to my grandmother and many thousands of Palestinians to this day and as far as I can see it shouldn’t change.

I am one voice to say we as Palestinians wish peace and I know the majority of Palestinians are saying the same, but not at costs that are way to dear to us.

Israel Continues Jerusalem Restrictions for Fourth Friday of Ramadan

Worshipers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the lastFriday of Ramadan in 2006 [Ma'anImages]

5 October 2007

Jerusalem – Ma'an – Israeli authorities deployed thousands of police in Jerusalem while continuing restrictions on Palestinian worshipers' access to the city on the fourth Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Israeli officials said police and soldiers would guard the entrances to Jerusalem, as well as checkpoints along the Israeli separation barrier near Bethlehem and Ramallah.

The Associated Press reported that thousands of Palestinians had thronged checkpoints by midmorning. Israeli forces used stun grenades to disperse the crowd.

While Thousands of Palestinians attempt to reach Jerusalem each Friday during Ramadan, hoping to worship at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Israel allows only those who meet strict criteria to enter. Among Palestinians living in the West Bank, access is limited to men over the age of 45 with a special permit, or over 50 without a permit. Women over 35 with a permit, and all women over the age of 40 are allowed.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest site in the Islam, and a locus of deep religious and political significance for Palestinian Muslims in particular. A visit bty then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to the mosque in September 2000 sparked the Second Intifada.

Fruits of Democracy?

Israel Demolishes Historical Fence in Jerusalem

Israeli soldiers check a wheelchair bound Palestinian man during a military operation in the Old City in the West Bank city of Hebron on Thursday. (EPA)

by Mohammed Mar’i

RAMALLAH, West Bank, 5 October 2007 — Sheikh Mohamed Hussein, the grand mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine, strongly denounced the Israeli demolishing of an Islamic archaeological fence adjacent to the fountain of Sultan Suleiman Al-Qanoni, near Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound which was constructed 491 years ago.

Hussein said that this “assault” on such antiquity comes within the framework of a scheme prepared by the Israel to judaize places of worship and Islamic antiquities, pointing out that the Israeli authorities put some Jewish stones in the area in an attempt to conceal Islamic monuments and antiquities as a prelude to erase the history of the holy city and its Islamic character.

The mufti also revealed that the Israeli authorities are carrying out demolition works against the antiquities of the Umayyad state era and excavations in the road to the Magharba gate and other assaults on Islamic antiquities.

Hussein called on the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to assume their responsibilities toward the protection of Islamic and historical antiquities in Jerusalem. He also revealed the existence of more than 70 outposts for Jews inside the Old City of Jerusalem which does not exceed one square kilometer.

In another development, the Arab member of the Israeli Knesset (parliament) Mohammed Barakeh accused the Israeli internal intelligence agency Shin Bet of extorting sick Palestinians from Gaza Strip into spying for them.

The Israeli daily Ma’ariv said that the Shin Bet used several means used in exploiting, trapping, and recruiting the sick Palestinians. “The news reports indeed add more evidence to that I have on my desk on the inhuman and unjustified methods used by the Shin Bet in extorting sick Palestinians from Gaza Strip seeking medication in the West Bank or inside the 1948-occupied Palestinian lands to recruit and employ them as spies,” Barakeh wrote in a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

He affirmed that he personally witnessed a case wherein the Israeli soldiers blocked sick Palestinian child from proceeding to the hospital despite his bad health condition at the Beit Hanon crossing point, north of Gaza Strip. “These are war crimes on the part of the Israeli soldiers that are added to the war crimes they had been committing against the Palestinian people over the past six decades with full support of the successive Israeli occupation governments,” he added in his protest letter.

He also criticized the “lame Israeli security pretexts” to justify such crimes against the sick Palestinians saying, “No excuse could justify denying a sick person proper and fast medical attention.”

In an interview with Ma’ariv, several Palestinian cases complained that the Israeli intelligence officers stationed at the crossings on borders between Gaza Strip and Israel had asked them to collaborate with the Shin Bet in exchange for granting them an exit permit to seek medication outside Gaza. According to Ma’ariv, the Shin Bet threatened that any Palestinian refusing to collaborate with the agency will be banned from proceeding for medication regardless of his health condition.

A bomb exploded near a vehicle carrying members of a Hamas security force in the Gaza Strip early yesterday, injuring at least three people, Hamas officials and medical workers said. Hamas officials said the Gaza City blast appeared to have been caused by a roadside bomb aimed at a Hamas patrol. The three injured were members of Hamas’ Executive Force.

Later yesterday, Israel carried out an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip, an army spokesman said. The missile missed its target, a car carrying gunmen, but injured three civilians nearby, the Islamic Jihad militant group and medical officials said. The early morning roadside bombing that injured three Hamas men could stoke tensions between the Islamist group and Fatah.

On Wednesday, Hamas ordered the temporary closure of the main Fatah headquarters in the Gaza Strip, citing security reasons. Hamas said the headquarters was located near where a car exploded on Tuesday night, killing three Fatah members.

The Boy with Little Arms

5 October 2007

by HRM Deborah

I am thinking I was maybe ten years old at the time, when I use to go to my father’s parents home and in those days children sometimes played American baseball in the street. All the children that wished to in the neighborhood would come and we would split into teams to play this game.

One day a boy that was living with his grandparents just a little down the street from mine, came one day and asked to join in on the game.

What was different about this boy is he had no hands and maybe three quarter’s of his arms. He happened to been born this way.

All of us children got together and decided if this meant so much to him, we would let him join into our fun.

To our surprise he actually could play very well, he even could bat and to this day I still am not sure how he was able to do this.

Because I was the one that had asked the other children if it was a good idea for him to play, this boy with little arms came upon himself to be my friend. We actually became very good friends, especially when he found that playing with all of us made him so happy.

One day, my paternal grandmother after my grandfather had died, decided she not wish for me to play anymore or be friends with the boy. I became very sad about this and it became so unbearable that I asked my parents if it would be a good idea, to go to the boys grandparents and explain why I could not only play anymore, but allowed to be friends with their grand son.

One of the few time’s my father agreed and my mother thought it was a wonderful idea, except for one problem, how to go to the grandparent’s home without my grandmother getting upset.

Well I stayed in the yard for a little time until the coast was clear and my parents had gone inside the house. I hurried down the street to boy’s grandparents and set out to explain that I was sorry for what I was not able to do anymore. While the grandfather understood, I still felt bad because if I was not going to play the game no one else was either and this meant the boy with little arms could not either.

What was even worse, are the parents of the boy since he had little arms was why he came to live with his grand parents to begin with.

Also, I was the boy’s first friend and he had to be close to about my age, so this seemed worse to me because I couldn’t understand especially at the time why he had not had friends before.

While everyone even the boy understood my dilemma, the boy told me everything would turn out good. So from that time, until my parents and I moved, me and the boy would stand on the curb and in a manner of speaking waved as well as smile at each other so we knew we was still friends. This lasted for almost two years.

Freed BBC Reporter Writes to Guantanamo Detainee

4 October 2007

NEW YORK (Reuters) -A BBC reporter kidnapped and held for months in the Gaza Strip has written to an Al Jazeera television cameraman detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to express his support, a journalism watchdog said on Thursday.

In a letter to Guantanamo detainee Sami al-Hajj, a copy of which was released by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in New York, Alan Johnston thanked al-Hajj for his appeal to the Gaza kidnappers to release him earlier this year.

Johnston disappeared on March 12 while driving his car in the Gaza Strip and was held for nearly four months. Al-Hajj made a public appeal to the Gaza kidnappers in March, saying: "While the United States has kidnapped me and held me for years on end, this is not a lesson that Muslims should copy."

Al-Hajj has been held at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo for more than five years on suspicion of having links to Islamic militant groups. He has been accused of making videos of Osama bin Laden though U.S. authorities have not brought any official charges.

"In the light of my own experience of incarceration I am aware of how hard it must be for you and your family to endure your detention, and I very much hope that your case might be resolved soon," Johnston wrote in the letter.

"I understand that after some five years in Guantanamo you are calling to be allowed to answer any allegations that are being made against you. And of course I would always support any prisoner's right to a fair trial."

The CPJ said al-Hajj's lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, had called the accusations baseless and reported that U.S. interrogators focused almost exclusively on obtaining intelligence on Qatar-based Al Jazeera and its staff.

It quoted his lawyer as saying al-Haj had staged a hunger strike and was in declining physical and mental health, having lost nearly 40 pounds (18 kg).

There are about 340 detainees at Guantanamo. The first prisoners arrived nearly six years ago after the United States began what U.S. President George W. Bush called a war on terrorism in response to the September 11 attacks by bin Laden's al Qaeda network in 2001.

Bush the Eastern Cowboy

George W. Bush was born in New Haven, Connecticut on July 6, 1946; but raised in Midland and Houston, Texas.

Bishops' Warning over Middle East

4 October 2007

Three senior bishops have made public a letter they wrote to the prime minister about hopes for peace in the Middle East after he failed to reply.

The letter, written three months ago, accused Israel of undermining the chance of a future Palestinian state.

The Bishops of Exeter, Winchester and Coventry believe only a two-state solution will create peace.

But they said that this would soon become impossible unless international pressure was placed on Israel.

The Bishop of Exeter, Michael Langrish, the Bishop of Winchester, Michael Scott-Joynt, and the Bishop of Coventry, Colin Bennetts, sent the letter privately to Gordon Brown on June 13, and decided to make it public after failing to get a response.

'Segregation wall'

The bishops singled out what they called the "segregation wall", telling Mr Brown he would be horrified to see how it cut Palestinians off from farmland and water supplies.

The Israeli government says the West Bank barrier is a security measure to stop suicide bombers.

Critics say the structure is part of an effort to annex occupied land and it has been declared illegal by the international Court of Justice.

They argued that the barrier should not be allowed to become Israel's new border because it would constitute the expansion of Israeli territory by force.

Bishop Langrish told the BBC News website that they were not intending to embarrass the prime minister by releasing the letter.

He said they thought it was important to get a response before the forthcoming peace conference.

Clarify approach

"We all have a long-standing engagement with the Middle East and we are often asked about our government's real position on the issue given he had made some interesting speeches," he said.

"We were asking him to clarify the approach of the government in this area."

The bishops claimed that the alternatives to a two-state solution were a mass movement of population or some form of apartheid, both unacceptable.

Meanwhile, they said, the possibility of any independent Palestinian state being viable would shortly disappear.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said Downing Street's correspondence unit has no record of receiving a letter dated June 13, but had received a follow up on September 25.

He said: "They thought a reply to this had gone out yesterday, possibly today. It should be with the bishops shortly."

Source

Report: Tzipi Livni Holds Closed-door Meetings with Arab Officials

4 October 2007

By Nathan Guttman

Israel’s foreign minister Tzipi Livni was quietly carrying out a new strategy of normalizing relations with Arab countries in a series of backroom meetings.

During her weeklong stay in the United States, Tzipi Livni made her case at the U.N. as well as in a series of meetings with representatives from a host of Arab countries that currently do not maintain formal ties with Israel.

“As the parties take the risks for peace, we look to the international community and to the Arab and Muslim world to offer support, not to stipulate conditions,” Livni said Monday in her speech at the General Assembly.

In closed-door meetings with Arab officials, Livni set out specific measures to support the process, including the public backing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the beginning of a normalization process with Israel.

During the week, she shuttled between meetings with the Amir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, and with cabinet ministers from Oman, Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan, Egypt and Mauritania. She also participated in a meeting attended by the secretary general of Oman’s foreign ministry hosted by the American Jewish Committee. The event celebrated 10 years of a joint desalination project in Oman, the only remaining active cooperation program out of the many joint groups that were established after the Oslo Accords.

The flurry of activity comes in advance of an American-sponsored peace conference set for next month. American officials announced this week that the conference would take place in Annapolis, Md.

Livni’s tactics seemed designed as a response to what Israelis perceive as one of the major failures of the 2000 Camp David U.S.-Palestinian-Israeli summit: Lacking the support of Saudi Arabia and other moderate Arab countries, the Palestinian leadership under Yasser Arafat would not go ahead with compromises on issues relating to refugees and Jerusalem, ultimately resulting in the process’s failure.

Israel has struggled to achieve normal relations with Arab states, but Arab Gulf countries have long made resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute — or at least achieving significant progress toward a resolution — a precondition of normal relations. As a result of this policy, Israel has only a handful of low-level interest offices in Arab countries and has no diplomatic or commercial ties with the most important player in the region, Saudi Arabia.

According to Israeli diplomatic sources, the foreign minister called last week for gradual or phased normalization between Arab countries and Israel, but she stressed Israel’s expectation to see the Arab world show its gratitude for Israel’s willingness to show both on final-status issues and on measures designed to improve the situation on the ground.

Peace Conference Invitee List Revealed

4 October 2007

Bethlehem – Ma'an – Palestinian Information Minister Riyad Al-Maliki revealed a long list of invitees to the US-sponored international peace summit scheduled for November.

According to Al-Maliki, US President George W. Bush plans to invite the members of the international Quartet, the G-8, all permanent members of the UN Security Council, the Arab Follow-Up Committee, and three additional predominantly Muslim countries.

The Quartet is composed of the US, European Union Russia, and the United Nations. The addition of the G8 countries means that Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom will be invited. As a member of the Security Council, China will also be invited.

The Arab League Follow-Up Committee, established to pursue implementation of the Arab Peace Initiative, includes Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Palestine, Qatar, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Oman, Algeria, Bahrain, Yemen and Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa.

Finally, Turkey, Indonesia, and Malaysia have been added to the guest list.

Al-Maliki said President Abbas and other countries would ask the conference sponsors to invite India, South Africa, Brazil, Greece, and Spain.

The minister told a press conference in Ramallah Thursday that the negotiations will be based on a joint declaration which Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert are expected to develop over the coming weeks in bilateral talks. The declaration, according to Al-Maliki, will tackle the final-status issues such as the borders of a future Palestinian state, the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees.

Al-Maliki said the declaration will be submitted to the Palestinian people for approval in a referendum.

President Abbas expects the negotiations to last no more than six months, because previous negotiations have already completed a considerable part of the work.

Al-Maliki said the declaration will be submitted to the Palestinian people for approval in a referendum.

Further Reading:

Abbas, Olmert Ask Negotiators to Draft ‘Joint Statement’

Condoleezza Rice on Mediation Mission to Palestinian Territories Next Week

4 October 2007

Bethlehem – Ma'an – US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice will visit Israel and the Palestinian territories next week to mediate between the Palestinians and the Israelis, the spokesperson of the US state department Shawn McCormick said on Wednesday.

"I expect intensive shuttling between the different sides," he said.

He said that Rice will endeavor to complete the formation of the joint Palestinian-Israeli document to be submitted to the US-sponsored autumn conference.

"Formation has really begun, yet the serious has not started," he said.

"The Saudis said that there has been encouraging progress, yet there should be more hard work," he added.

Learning the Quran

4 October 2007

by HRM Deborah

In my life, I have had several people ask me to help them learn the Quran and to actually learn is easier then most people think.

First before you even open the Quran, pray for Allah to really teach you, then when you actually open the Quran and start reading you will actually learn; some people have seen amazing things that they never thought of or knew before.

The Quran will actually feel like the words are alive.

When you finish for that time, please do not forget to tell Allah, “thank you.”

Please do not be surprised as you learn that an overwhelming peace comes over you.

Three Minds

Great minds discuss ideas,

Average minds discuss events,

Small minds discuss people.

US-Backed Terrorists Martyr Clergyman

4 October 2007

Zehedan, Iran-US-backed terrorists martyred a clergyman in Khash, in this southeastern province Tuesday night.

The clergyman, Mehdi Tavakoli, was delivering sermons at a mosque when he was martyred by unknown terrorists.

The White House which has been defeated by the resolve of the Iranian nation, has put support for terrorists on its agenda in order to create an atmosphere of terror and intimidation and kill innocent people.

Aerial Views Of Jerusalem

(Photo by David Silverman/Getty Images)

2 October 2007

JERUSALEM - Israel's separation barrier cuts through the Palestinian village of Abu Dis, this aerial view of East Jerusalem.

Is She Real or Not?

4 October 2007

by HRM Deborah

This is interesting, I could do a very revealing series on this topic, but I am sure there are certain people that really hope I do not; even though right now they are trying to make a loud point to denounce my existence.

There is an old saying, the louder someone tries’ to denounce something, the opposite must be true or they wouldn’t be trying so hard.

What is interesting, they probably know more about me than I know of myself, most people I think are like this especially when your memories of things only start at a certain age.

Also, I am sure going through life being human one can not remember every thing of your life on a daily bases. Like how many people can remember what they had for breakfast yesterday, for me that it easy right now because it is Ramadan.

What is interesting, I was born into this position; I did not go and apply for this job; who would want to be born into a war? But I will admit, I do love my country and all the Palestinian people very much; as my Mother and Grandmother before me.

As well, my Mother did her very best being in exile or attempted hiding to teach me Islam; as well as me learning myself. For this, I thank Allah everyday.

While those who actually know of me and especially those who have been trying to murder me, observe me or try to make people think I am not real; is kind of funny in a way because they wouldn’t be trying so hard if they didn’t know.

Even the man that murdered some of my family knows the truth and had admitted, I was real; even when I got this position. This information came to me in and odd way and I say this with a smile.

Finally, I am interested in the person that happened to have a picture of me and posted it with one of my articles on the net? I am very happy to say, I do look like my Mother and many people have told me I am allot like her.

Not gloating, but I always thought my Mother was beautiful, she became a martyr at age sixty-six.

Note:

I put above a Palestinian rose, because I have good memories about roses.

When I was two years old, my mother had Rheumatic Fever and by Allah’s grace she did recover. But, I use to put roses by her bed and even a little time after she recovered, so she would have beauty when her eyesight was returning.