Time for New Clothes

(Photo by David Silverman/Getty Images)

Palestinians are dressed in new clothes for the celebration of Eid al Fitr, they are passing through a Israeli army checkpoint on the way to visit family and friends; October 12, 2007 on the outskirts of the West Bank Palestinian city of Nablus.

Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan and following special morning prayers.

A Palestinian man, carrying his belt around his neck at the same Nablus checkpoint.

Haniya in the Eid prayer: Let's shake hands and let love and harmony prevail

13 October 2007

As Muslims marked the Eid el-Fitr holiday with gifts and feasts on Friday, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip felt the tightening grip of an Israeli embargo and mourned the dead the Zionist daily crimes in the Palestinian countries and cities.

There were no reports of trouble as people gathered to mark what should be one of the happiest days of the year, the fear was never far from the surface in the coastal enclave of 1.5 million.

Haniyeh renewed his message to thousands of worshippers assembled for prayers, telling them: "There are wounds in every house but we need to rise above the pain. Let's shake hands and let love and harmony prevail."

But there is little sign Abbas is ready to listen.

His moves to isolate Hamas have won him the promise of talks on a peace deal with Israel and an end to international sanctions in the West Bank that were imposed on Palestinian areas after Hamas won a parliamentary election last year.

In the West Bank, Palestinians were more upbeat as people got together for family celebrations.

But Gaza's borders have been virtually sealed to all but essential supplies, casting a shadow over the holiday.

New clothes, a traditional purchase at this time of year, were hard to find in Gaza this week and prices for old stock had also risen sharply.

"People are poor, they are virtually dead. Parents can hardly feed their children," said mother-of-five Umm Mohammad as she hunted bargains on Thursday. "Sometimes you have to choose between food and new clothes."

Many Palestinians choose to visit family graves, especially those of "martyrs" killed in the conflict with the Zionist forces as 33 Palestinians were killed by the occupation forces during the holy month of Ramadan and hundreds others were killed during the year.

Zionist Aircraft Strike Kills 1 Palestinian and Wounds 5

13 October 2007

A Zionist air strike killed a Palestinian man and wounded five others in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanounon Saturday, local residents said.

The Zionist forces claimed the strike was aimed at a group of Gaza militants that had launched a Qassam rocket at the Zionist settlements.

On Thursday, the Zionist troops killed a Palestinian man from Fatah movement in the West Bank claiming that he is a militant.

Fatah security officials said the man was killed by undercover forces operating near the West Bank city of Jenin. They said he was shot while driving to his house with another man from the area.

Also Thursday, the Zionist forces tanks and infantry units were attacking the central Gaza Strip. Five civilians were injured in the attack as it was limited and the Zionist forces was shocked by the Palestinian resistance.

Ex-general calls Iraq a 'nightmare'

13 October 2007

A former top US military commander in Baghdad has described the war in Iraq as "a nightmare with no end in sight".

In the bluntest assessment of Iraq by a former senior Pentagon official yet, retired Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez also lambasted US political leaders as "incompetent, inept, and derelict in the performance of their duty".

Addressing a meeting of military correspondents and editors in Arlington, a Virginia suburb of Washington, Sanchez said: "There is no question that America is living a nightmare with no end in sight."

He said the current White House strategy will not achieve victory in Iraq.

Bush assailed

Sanchez blasted the "surge" strategy of George Bush, the US president, that calls for maintaining more than 160,000 US troops in Iraq until the end of the year in the hope of reducing sectarian violence.

"Continued manipulations and adjustments to our military strategy will not achieve victory," he said. "The best we can do with this flawed approach is stave off defeat."

Sanchez retired from the military in November 2006, part of the fallout from a scandal over abuse of detainees by US military personnel at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad.

Reacting to Sanchez's comments, the White House evoked a September report to congress by General David Petraeus, the current US military commander in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, the US ambassador .

"We appreciate his service to the country," Trey Bohn, White House spokesman, said.

"As General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker have said, there is more work to be done, but progress is being made in Iraq. And that's what we are focused on now."

'No hope'

Sanchez, however, had a starkly different view. "There is nothing going on today in Washington that would give us hope," he insisted.

According to Sanchez, US politicians in both the administration and congress have too often chosen loyalty to their political party above loyalty to the constitution because of what he called "their lust for power".

"There has been a glaring, unfortunate display of incompetent strategic leadership within our national leaders," the retired general complained.

"In my profession, these type of leaders would immediately be relieved or court-martialled."

Source

Let’s Not Forget NAFTA

The North American Free Trade Agreement

During the time of NAFTA, numerous American’s lost their livelihood, when this agreement occurred in 1 January 1994.

Many American’s, their income stopped completely; due to sudden unemployment without a foreseeable future.

Especially, among the elderly who raised livestock as their only income.

US Job Blitz?

President Bush waves as he departs Air Force One Friday Oct. 12, 2007 in Waco, Texas. The president will spend the weekend at his nearby Crawford, Texas ranch. (AP Photo/Duane A. Laverty)

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 13, 2007

Audio

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This is an historic time for our Nation's economy. Last week, we learned that September was America's 49th consecutive month of job creation -- the longest uninterrupted period of job growth on record. And on Thursday, we learned that the American economy set a new record for exports in a single month. Millions of American jobs depend on exports. More exports support better and higher-paying jobs -- and to keep our economy expanding, we need to keep expanding trade.

This week, I traveled to Miami to discuss the importance of trade and to call on Congress to pass new free trade agreements. In January of 2001, America had trade agreements in force with three countries. Now we have agreements in force with 14 countries, including seven in Latin America. And Congress now has an opportunity to increase America's access to markets in our hemisphere by passing three more free trade agreements in Latin America with Peru, Colombia, and Panama

These three agreements will expand America's access to 75 million customers. These 75 million customers are the equivalent of the populations of California, Colorado, Ohio, Michigan, Tennessee, and Massachusetts combined.

The first of the new Latin American trade agreements that my Administration negotiated is with Peru. This agreement would level the playing field for American businesses and workers and farmers. While almost all Peruvian exports to the United States now enter duty-free, most American exports to Peru face significant tariffs. The free trade agreement would immediately eliminate most of Peru's industrial tariffs, as well as many of its barriers to U.S. agriculture exports, and make American products more affordable and more competitive in that country.

The second of the new Latin American trade agreements that my Administration negotiated is with Colombia. Colombia is now our fifth largest trading partner in Latin America and the largest market for U.S. agricultural exports in South America. The free trade agreement with Colombia would immediately eliminate tariffs on more than 80 percent of American industrial and consumer exports. It would provide significant new duty-free access for American crops. And for the first time in history, U.S. companies would be able to compete on a level playing field.

The third of the new Latin American trade agreements that my Administration negotiated is with Panama. This agreement will immediately eliminate tariffs on 88 percent of our industrial and consumer goods exports to Panama. It will increase access for American farmers and ranchers. And it will open opportunities for American businesses to participate in the multi-billion dollar project to expand the Panama Canal.

As we work to pass these trade agreements with nations in Latin America, we'll also work to pass a landmark free trade agreement with an ally in the Far East -- South Korea. This agreement would open up one of the world's most powerful economies to more American goods and services exports. This agreement is projected to add more than $10 billion to America's economy. And like our agreements in Latin America, this agreement would strengthen our relationship with a democratic partner in a critical part of the world.

I know many Americans feel uneasy about new competition and worry that trade will cost jobs. So the Federal government is providing substantial funding for trade adjustment assistance that helps Americans make the transition from one job to the next. We are working to improve Federal job-training programs. And we are providing strong support for America's community colleges, where people of any age can go to learn new skills for a better, high-paying career.

Expanding trade will help our economy grow. By passing these trade agreements, we will also serve America's security and moral interests. We will strengthen our ties with our friends. We will help counter the false populism promoted by hostile nations. And we will help young democracies show their people that freedom, openness, and the rule of law are the surest path to a better life. So I call on Congress to act quickly and get these agreements to my desk.

Thank you for listening.

US Slaughtering Unarmed Civilians’ in Iraq?

The Martyr’s of Iraq

Innocent Men, Women, Children and the Elderly

Fall Conference Not For Peace but Attempt to Overthrow Hamas?

Palestinian children play in a park as they celebrate Eid Al Fitr in Shatila refugee camp near Beirut.

13 October 2007

Haniya warns Abbas against making peace concessions

Gaza: Hamas leader Esmail Haniya on Thursday urged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas not to 'fall into a trap' and make concessions to Israel at a planned peace conference which 'would create grave risks for Palestinians'.

The Islamist leader was speaking to some 10,000 worshippers near a mosque in the Gaza Strip before prayers to mark the Eid Al Fitr holiday.

Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in fighting with Abbas's Fatah forces in June, has repeatedly called on Palestinians not to participate in a peace conference slated to take place next month near Washington.

Abbas, who dismissed a Haniya-led government following the Gaza takeover, plans to attend the US-sponsored conference on Palestinian statehood.

Abbas has ruled out talking to the Islamist group in a reconciliation effort until Hamas gives up its control of the Gaza Strip.

Israel has also said that reconciliation between the Palestinian parties could torpedo the conference and it is trying to bolster Abbas to sideline Hamas.

"We tell President Abu Mazen [Abbas] not to fall into traps and illusions. Do not make concessions over the fundamental issues of occupied Jerusalem, refugees and the land," Haniya said in a speech.

Haniya said the conference "carries grave risks for the Palestinian cause and the entire region", adding that Israel and the United States would use it "as an occasion to provide new and more concessions".

Senior Abbas aide Saeb Erekat said in an Israeli television interview on Thursday that Abbas was determined to make the conference succeed and that he could resign if the talks failed. But he also said that success would end Hamas's reign in Gaza.

"When I say that Abu Mazen [Abbas] is not glued to his chair, I really mean it. It's not that he doesn't want to serve his people, but failure to produce an agreement will change the dynamics of thinking and thought within the Palestinian society," Erekat told Israel's Channel 10.

Erekat also acknowledged that Fatah is not strong enough to retake control of Gaza by force, but said "if an end game agreement is reached ... Hamas is over the same day in Gaza without a single shot".

US-sponsored Conference Aimed to Rescue Zionist Regime

13 October 2007

Tehran-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei warned Saturday that a US-sponsored Middle East peace conference this autumn is only aimed to rescue the Zionist regime.

"Any gathering held in the name of peace so far has been to the disadvantage of the Palestinian people. For the same reason, the Palestinian nation rejects the (so-called) autumn conference, too.

Then, how could other governments take part in a conference the Palestinian nation regards as deceitful!"

The Supreme Leader made the remark in his sermons at the special Eid-ul-Fitr prayers at Tehran Musalla (grand prayers ground), held to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

Referring to the "heavy defeat" suffered by the Zionist regime at the hands of the Lebanese Hizbullah last year, the Leader stated that the main aim of the US-sponsored conference is to "rescue the weakened Zionist regime."

He invited all Palestinian groups to "unity, brotherhood and vigilance" and stressed, "The enemy is fomenting sedition in your homeland. Be vigilant not to stand against one another."

The Supreme Leader said the aim of all policies and actions of the Zionists was to destroy the "incentive of resistance" in the Palestinian people.

He also praised the Palestinian resistance and noted, "The Palestinians and the Hamas government elected by them, are standing despite all the pressures and know that Palestine must be saved by the Palestinian nation. And the support of the Islamic Ummah for them will increase this resistance and steadfastness."

Turning to the efforts made by the US and Zionists to restrict Palestinians in a limited part of the occupied territories, that is the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, he said, "Enemies of Islam are making numerous efforts to slide the issue of Palestine into oblivion with the world public opinion.

"However, the rallies held by nations on the International Qods Day thwarted this big conspiracy and gave hope and rejuvenated the oppressed and lonely Palestinian nation."

The International Qods Day rallies, held on the last Friday of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Iran and various parts of the world were initiated by the late Founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran Imam Khomeini to voice support for the oppressed Palestinian nation and protest of the Islamic Ummah against Zionist usurpers.

Muslim Leaders Call for Peace With Christians

Barbara Ferguson

WASHINGTON, 13 October 2007 — More than 130 Muslim scholars around the world called for peace and understanding between Islam and Christianity on Thursday, the day before Eid Al-Fitr, saying “the very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake.”

In an unprecedented letter to Pope Benedict and other Christian leaders, 138 Muslim scholars highlighted the theological synergies of the two faiths and said finding common ground between the world’s biggest faiths was not simply a matter for polite dialogue between religious leaders.

The initiative was timed to mark the one-year anniversary of the open letter issued by Muslim clerics to Pope Benedict XVI in response to his remarks at the Regensburg University. Muslim leaders called on Christians to formally recognize historical and theological ties between the two faiths to build towards future collaboration.

Relations between Muslims and Christians have been strained as Al-Qaeda has struck around the world and as the United States and other Western countries intervened in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Such a letter is unprecedented in Islam, which has no central authority that speaks on behalf of all Muslims.

The list of signatories includes senior figures throughout the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. They represent Sunni, Shiite and Sufi schools of Islam.

Among them were the grand muftis of Egypt, Palestine, Oman, Jordan, Syria, Bosnia and Russia and many imams and scholars. War-torn Iraq was represented by both Shiites and Sunnis.

Mustafa Cagrici, the mufti who prayed with Pope Benedict in Istanbul’s Blue Mosque last year, was also on the list, as was the popular Egyptian television preacher Amr Khaled.

Dr. Mustafa Ceric, grand mufti of Bosnia and Dr. John Esposito, director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, briefed the media about the event at the National Press Club on Thursday.

The missive said Christians and Muslims make up over a third and a fifth of humanity respectively, “making the relationship between these two religious communities the most important factor in contributing to meaningful peace around the world.”

“If Muslims and Christians are not at peace, the world cannot be at peace,” the scholars wrote.

“Our common future is at stake. The very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake,” they wrote, adding that Islam and Christianity already agreed that love of God and neighbor were the two most important commandments of their faiths.

A Vatican official in Rome said the Roman Catholic Church would not comment until it had time to read the letter.

Pope Benedict sparked Muslim protests last year with a speech hinting that Islam was violent and irrational. It prompted 38 Muslim scholars to write a letter challenging his view of Islam and accepting his call for serious Christian-Muslim dialogue.

Benedict repeatedly expressed regret for the reaction to the speech, but stopped short of a clear apology sought by Muslims.

The new letter argues in theological terms, giving quotes from the Qur’an and the Bible that show both Christianity and Islam considered love of God as their greatest commandment and love of neighbor as the second greatest.

“The basis for this peace and understanding already exists,” it said. “It is part of the very foundational principles of both faiths: Love of the one God and love of the neighbor.”

It also refers directly to the wars that Muslims and Christians are involved in around the world.

“With the terrible weaponry of the modern world; with Muslims and Christians intertwined everywhere as never before, no side can unilaterally win a conflict between more than half of the world’s inhabitants. Thus our common future is at stake. The very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake.

“And to those who nevertheless relish conflict and destruction for their own sake or reckon that ultimately they stand to gain through them, we say that our very eternal souls are all also at stake if we fail to sincerely make every effort to make peace and come together in harmony.”

The message closes with a quote from the Qur’an: “So let our differences not cause hatred and strife between us. Let us vie with each other only in righteousness and good works.”

The Good and Not So Good This Holiday

Relaxing?

Just cannot be without their weapons, as they sit on the doorsteps.

On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

4- 10 October 2007

The suffering of Palestinian civilians at Israeli military checkpoints.


Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks on Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)



A Palestinian was killed by IOF in the Gaza Strip.
A Palestinian died from a wound he had sustained during an extra-judicial execution attempt carried out by IOF.
17 Palestinians, including 8 children, were wounded by IOF.
IOF carried out 2 extra-judicial executions against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, but they failed.
IOF conducted 21 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and 3 ones into the Gaza Strip.
IOF arrested 34 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank.
IOF razed at least 100 donums[1] of agricultural land and destroyed a number of civilian facilities in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun.
IOF have continued to impose a total siege on the OPT.
IOF have isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world and a humanitarian crisis has emerged.
Palestinian civilians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have been denied access to the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
IOF troops arrested 4 Palestinian civilians, including a child, at checkpoints in the West Bank.
IOF confiscated at least 1,130 donums of Palestinian land in East Jerusalem to construct new sections of the Annexation Wall.
IOF have continued settlement activities in the West Bank and Israeli settlers have continued to attacks Palestinian civilians and property.
IOF started to establish a road for settlers inside Palestinian communities in the north of Jerusalem.


Summary

America: We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For?

The Greatest Illusion ever?

Music by MUSE & Tchaikovsky
(Warning: Video has some profanity.)

Note:
This is actually a very interesting video, I have never seen anything like it before. This makes me think of something from science fiction.

Empire State Building to Go Green for Eid-al-Fitr

(Click on picture for story.)

Lawsuit: ICE drugging detainees set for deportation

Raymond Soeoth, pictured here with his wife, says he was injected with drugs by ICE agents against his will.

12 October 2007

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Former detainees of Immigration and Customs Enforcement accuse the agency in a lawsuit of forcibly injecting them with psychotropic drugs while trying to shuttle them out of the country during their deportation.

Raymond Soeoth, pictured here with his wife, says he was injected with drugs by ICE agents against his will.

One of the drugs in question is the potent anti-psychotic drug Haldol, which is often used to treat schizophrenia or other mental illnesses. Doctors say they are required to see patients in person before such drugs are administered.

Two immigrants, Raymond Soeoth of Indonesia and Amadou Diouf of Senegal in West Africa, told CNN they were injected with the drugs against their will. Both are plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union against the government. They are seeking an end to the alleged practice and unspecified damages.

Dr. Paul Appelbaum, a professor of psychiatry, law and ethics at Columbia University, reviewed both men's medical records for this report and was stunned by what he discovered.

"I'm really shocked to find out that the government has been using physicians and using potent medications in this way," said Appelbaum, who also serves as a member of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.

"That is the sort of thing that would be subject to a malpractice claim in the civilian world."

The allegations of ICE forcibly drugging deportees were raised last month by Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Connecticut, during the re-nomination hearing of ICE chief Julie Myers.

"The information the committee has received from ICE regarding the forced drugging of immigration detainees is extremely troubling, particularly since it appears ICE may have violated its own detention standards," Lieberman spokeswoman Leslie Phillips told CNN in an e-mail.

"Senator Lieberman intends to follow up with ICE to ensure that detainees are not drugged unless there is a medical reason to do so."

ACLU attorney Ahilan Arulanantham, who is representing Soeoth and Diouf, said, "It would be torture to give a powerful anti-psychotic drug to somebody who isn't even mentally ill. ... But here, it's happening on U.S. soil to an immigrant the government is trying to deport."

Responding to Lieberman's written questions, Myers said 1,073 immigration detainees had "medical escorts" for deportation since 2003.

From October last year to the end of April this year, she said 56 received psychotropic medications during the removal process. Of those, 33 detainees received medication "because of combative behavior with the imminent risk of danger to others and/or self," she said.

"First, I am aware of, and deeply concerned about reports that past practices may not have conformed to ICE detention standards," Myers said.

She added no detainee should be "involuntarily medicated without court order," except in emergency situations.

But both Soeoth and Diouf say they had not exhibited any combative behavior.

Soeoth, a Christian minister from Indonesia, spent 27 months in detention awaiting deportation after his bid for political asylum was rejected. Hours before he was to be sent back home on December 7, 2004, he says guards injected him with a mystery drug that made him groggy for two days.

"They pushed me on the bench, they opened my pants, and they just give me injection," he said through broken English.

He says he was taken to Los Angeles International Airport while in this drug-induced stupor, but two hours before takeoff, airline security refused to transport him, so ICE agents returned him to his cell at Terminal Island near Los Angeles. Terminal Island, once a federal prison, is a crowded facility along the ocean where hundreds of illegal immigrants await deportation.

Soeoth's medical records indicate he was injected with Cogentin and Haldol, even though those same records show he has no history of mental illness.

In the records, the government says he was injected with the drug after he said he would kill himself if deported -- a remark Soeoth denies ever making.

ICE said in a written statement it couldn't respond to specific allegations due to pending litigation.

"Department of Homeland Security law enforcement personnel may not and do not prescribe or administer medication to detainees," the ICE statement said. "Only trained and qualified medical professionals, including officers of the U.S. Public Health Service, may prescribe or administer medication."

But, Diouf says, he was injected on the plane right before he was to be deported. He said he even had a federal stay of his deportation -- and the paperwork to prove it -- but his U.S. government escorts wouldn't let him show it to the pilot of the plane preparing to fly him out of the country. See Diouf's stay of deportation document

That's when, he says, "I was wrestled to the ground and injected through my clothes."

A government report says he was medicated because he did not follow orders.

In both cases, Diouf and Soeoth remain in the United States pending a decision in the case. If they lose, they may land back in the hands of ICE, once again facing deportation.

Soeoth says he's traumatized by what happened. "I know this country [is] very generous to immigrants," he says. "What they did to me was very, very bad."

Fatah Security Forces Attack Mosque in Nablus

12 October 2007

The Fatah security forces arrested a Hamas party member in Jenin on Thursday and attacked a mosque in Nablus.

They gave the man's name as Abd Al-Rahim Hafez Rabay'a, from Jenin.

Security forces surrounded the Abu Bakr Al-Sadiq mosque in Nablus after the evening prayer.

They then attacked the mosque and removed all the banners belonging to the Islamic brigade.

Haniyeh warns against going to Autumn Summit amid of Lack of Full Palestinian Unity

12 October 2007

Head of the Palestinian government in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniyeh, on Friday described the US-sponsored autumn peace conference as an Israeli plan to trap President Mahmoud Abbas and to confiscate more lands in and around Jerusalem.

His comments came in a speech in Gaza to thousands of worshippers after the Eid Al-Fitr prayer.

Haniyeh called on all the Palestinian factions not to go on any meetings before Palestinian unity had been achieved.

He also called on the Arab countries, especially Egypt and Saudi Arabia, not to normalize relations with Israel.

Palestinians Celebrate Eid Al-Fitr

12 October 2007

Bethlehem - Ma'an – Palestinian Muslims in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip celebrated Eid Al-Fitr, on Friday.

Eid Al-Fitr is very much a social occasion when family and friends get together to enjoy specially prepared foods, including cakes filled with dates and nuts, after a month of fasting.

The Eid Al-Fitr is a three day holiday in Palestine. On the first day worshippers attend a twenty minute ceremony in the mosque before going to visit friends.

However, in Palestine the Eid festival is always tinged with sadness. People remember those who have died and others who cannot be with their families as they are in Israeli detention.

Why is Their a War on Islam?

12 October 2007

by HRM Deborah

In Islam, there are still the majority of people that still believe in Allah (God) and His principles. The majority of people known as Muslim’s still believe in helping humanity, whether it is giving a hand up to a simple hug.

Muslim’s, still believe in justice and love for all humankind against the forces of what is truly evil.

The majority of Muslim’s, are not terrorist or security risk’s but to the contrary, they are able to actually bring peace and harmony back into the world.

They are being attacked because there are those who are trying to destroy everything of Allah to create wars against not just Allah, but the innocent of humanity.

There is people right now, that appear to be in a form of hypnotism following what the forces of evil are telling them and when they actually see that which is coming from Allah; they seem to wake-up from their evil sleep and beg Allah to help them. It must be understood, that often times there is demon’s following these people when they are in the hypnotized state.

What we in the world actually have is not a war just on Islam, but a war against good and evil.

While there is a war ragging in Paradise, it is more accumulating upon the earth, against all humanity and those who will actually be saved from this horrendous war is those who are actually true to Allah.

As the war on earth more progresses, you will see more acts such as immorality and murder, to complete global unrest if the forces of evil are allowed to continue.

Anyone that is true to Allah will be attacked and they must stand strong against those who are opposing them for the simple fact they will survive and that which is evil will be destroyed for this is written in the prophesies from the beginning.

May Allah have mercy on all of us!

West aware of peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program - Kashani

12 October 2007

Tehran-Provisional Friday Prayer Leader of Tehran Ayatollah Mohammad Emami-Kashani said in his second sermon here Friday enemies resort to Iran's nuclear program as a pretext, knowing about its peaceful nature.

Addressing thousands of fasting Tehrani worshipers at central campus of Tehran University, Tehran's Friday preacher this week emphasized, "They say Iran should not conquer scientific peaks, and in fact they are opposed to the prospering of our universities' scientific identities."

Pointing out that the global arrogance, and particularly the United States, are terrorists, and provide incentives for crisis making throughout the world, he said, "The are the initiators of all types of corruption, and then launch fully falsified propagation against Iran in a bid to pacify us."

Kashani all the same assured the worshipers, "The Iranian nation would despite all such plots emerge victorious and conquer the peaks of success and prosperity along with its leader."

Elsewhere in his sermon, Ayatollah Emami-Kashani referred to the beginning of the new academic year, including the reopening of the universities, arguing, "The enemies of Islam are aware of the Iranian youth's high status and the Islamic ideology, which is why they will not leave us alone."

He added, "They know if they give us some time to grow at peace we would emerge as our time's great Islamic civilization." Referring to Iran's great past scientific records, and the resentation of such internationally renowned scientists as Avicenna and Farabi to the world, he said, "Today the conditions are a lot more appropriate for achieving the peaks of scientific success."

Bush and the Dalai Lama?

The much respected spiritual leader from Tibet, the Dalai Lama is suppose to be having a private visit with George W. Bush sometime next week.

Inside Myanmar: The Crackdown

Birtley witnessed the brutal crackdown onprotests by the Myanmar government [Al Jazeera]

9 October 2007

Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley spent nearly two weeks undercover in Myanmar filming the massive popular uprising against the country's military rulers.

He was on the streets of Yangon as monks led the people in an open show of defiance.

And as the only foreign television news correspondent in the former capital he witnessed the brutal crackdown by the army.

Often in disguise and posing as a tourist, Birtley came under fire with the protestors and worked under the constant threat of arrest by the Myanmar authorities.

In this 30-minute programme featuring scenes of the clampdown never aired before, he speaks to the ordinary people and the monks of Myanmar about the uprising and their hopes and fears for the country's uncertain future.

He looks at the social and economic problems currently gripping a country once so prosperous.

Part 1

Part 2

Happy Eid

Jimmy Carter Says US Tortures Prisoners

by Barbara Ferguson

WASHINGTON, 12 October 2007 — No matter your opinion of former US President Jimmy Carter, you have to admit he has guts. At 83, he decided to take on the Bush administration, and took an extra punch at Vice President Dick Cheney.

In an interview broadcast Wednesday by the BBC, Carter called Cheney “a militant who avoided any service of his own in the military and he has been most forceful in the last 10 years or more in fulfilling some of his more ancient commitments that the United States has a right to inject its power through military means in other parts of the world.”

Carter went on to say that the hawkish Cheney has been “a disaster for our country. I think he’s been overly persuasive on President George Bush.”

In the interview, Carter also criticized the Republican presidential candidates. “They all seem to be outdoing each other in who wants to go to war first with Iran, who wants to keep Guantanamo open longer and expand its capacity — things of that kind,” he said.

Carter continued his attack of the Bush administration beyond the BBC. Wednesday night he told CNN the US tortured prisoners in violation of international law, following an assertion last week from Bush that the US “does not torture.”

Bush was responding to an Oct. 4 report by The New York Times on secret Justice Department memorandums supporting the use of “harsh interrogation techniques.”

Bush defended the techniques last Friday by proclaiming: “This government does not torture people.”

Carter, the 2002 winner of the Nobel peace prize, said the interrogation methods cited, including “head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures,” constitute torture “if you use the international norms of torture as has always been honored — certainly in the last 60 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was promulgated.

“But you can make your own definition of human rights and say we don’t violate them, and you can make your own definition of torture and say we don’t violate them,” Carter said. “Our country for the first time in my life time has abandoned the basic principle of human rights,” Carter told CNN. “We’ve said that the Geneva conventions do not apply to those people in Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo, and we’ve said we can torture prisoners and deprive them of an accusation of a crime.”

During the interview, Carter also blasted fellow Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for refusing to commit to a full withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

The Innocent Ones

12 October 2007

by HRM Deborah

The Defining World of the Innocent Ones

1. Absence of guilt: the state of not being guilty of a crime or offense.

2. Harmlessness: harmlessness in intention

3. Freedom from sin: freedom from sin or evil

4. Lack of worldly experience: a lack of experience of the world, especially when this results in a failure to recognize the harmful intentions of other people.

5. Chastity: Relations within marriage for they only cleave to their spouse.

Why do the Innocent suffer?

People often wonder why people that are considered the innocent ones have to suffer so many hardships. This is actually a very simple question, because in many ways those who are innocent of the sin’s of this world are put under attack by Satan, because they bring good into the world that is contrary to what Satan does; in creating havoc and harm to people.

The true innocent ones, tend to be in many ways more like the purity you often see in small children that are overwhelmed by the splendor and beauty of world around them.

Those who are innocent tend to also view the evil in the world in a different manner then most people. They view it as not just sin’s but things that are solely a product of Satan as well, as that which is of Allah to be purely and honestly good.

They are more likely to combat the forces of evil, because their trust and alliance is with Allah.

They tend to be more capable of learning from the hardships thrust upon them.

They also, will tend to be more to helping humanity in easing their struggle and hardships, because an innocent can actually feel these hardships within themselves.

They also tend to posses within their heart’s many of the attributes usually associated with Allah, such as compassion and love for examples.

Furthermore, it is very important to them that happiness should be in the world and no suffering among humanity. It must be understood, those who are truly innocent are under Allah’s protection from much of what goes on in the world.

Learning from Stress in Relation to Problems

This was sent to me and I wished to share it along with everyone else, because there is some very good idea’s on how to work with life’s many problems.

Think of your problems as potential teachers. Most people would agree that the greatest sources of stress in our lives is our problems. To a certain degree this is true. A more accurate assessment, however, is that the amount of stress we feel has more to do with how we relate to our problems than it does with the problems themselves. In other words, how much of a problem do we make our problems? Do we see them as emergencies, or as potential teachers?

Problems come in many shapes, sizes, and degrees of seriousness, but all have one thing in common: They present us with something that we wish were different. The more we struggle with our problems and the more we want them to go away, the worse they seem and the more stress they cause us. Ironically, and luckily, the opposite is also true. When we accept our problems as an inevitable part of life, when we look at them as potential teachers, it's as if a weight has been lifted off our shoulders.

Think of a problem that you have struggled for quite some time. How have you dealt with this problem up until now? If you're like most, you've probably struggled with it, mentally rehearsed it, analyzed it again and again, but have come up short. Where has all this struggle led you? probably to more confusion and stress. Now think of the same problem in a new way. Rather than push away the problem and resist it, try to embrace it. Mentally, hold the problem near to your heart. Ask yourself what valuable lesson(s) this problem might be able to teach you. Could it be teaching you to be more careful or patient? Does it have anything to do with greed, envy, carelessness, or forgiveness? Or something equally powerful?

Whatever problems you are dealing with, chances are they could be thought of in a softer way that includes a genuine desire to learn from them. When you hold your problems in this light, they soften like a clenched fist that is opening. Give this strategy a try, you'll agree that most problems aren't the emergencies we think they are. And usually, once we learn what we need to learn, they begin to go away.

Zionist Forces Attacked Palestinian Prayers with Sonic Bombs

9 October 2007

Ibrahimi Mosque

Zionist forces on Tuesday morning launched sonic bombs at Muslim worshippers attending Ramadan prayer at the Ibrahimi Mosque in the southern West Bank city of Hebron.

Palestinian security sources reported that the Zionist military was against the gathering of hundreds of Muslim worshippers for "Laelat Al-Qadir", the 27th day of Ramadan and the holiest evening of the year for Muslims.

The Zionist forces launched sonic bombs in order to force the crowds to evacuate the mosque. There were no reported casualties.

Qalqilia

On the other hand, A group of Zionist settlers from Qedumim settlement, near the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia, on Monday afternoon threw stones at Palestinian cars on the main road between Qalqilia and Nablus.

Palestinian citizen Mahmoud Allam said that the windscreens of two taxis were smashed in the assault.

Allam said that more than two-hundred settlers amassed near Qedumim at around 4pm and threw stones and metal instruments at taxis, demolishing the windows of many.

The assault took place in the presence of Zionist police who were inactive, said Allam. Zionist sources reported that the Zionist military evacuated a settlers' outpost near Qalqilia on Monday.

Weaker Victims are easier to Pressure more than Powerful Aggressors

11 October 2007

Hamas took the world by storm with the thorough victory in the Palestinian Legislative elections. Prior to the elections, Hamas was expected to be a tough opposition comprising, at most, one third of the Palestinian Legislative Council. The region seemed set to continue along the path set 12 years ago: the Oslo Accords.

24 hours after the elections, Hamas emerged the uncontested majority in the Council, entitling the movement to form the next Palestinian government, without needing any help from other parties. Hamas won 74 seats in the 132-seat Council. In addition, 4 independents backed by Hamas won seats in the Council.

Immediately after the win was announced, international pressure was applied against Hamas to give up its principles and act as if it were a copy of the previous Palestinian Authority leadership. The two main pressure points are: 1) recognizing Israel’s right to exist; and 2) disavowing violence and disarming. The pressure took different forms of “demands,” “blackmail,” and “threats.”

However, Hamas has refused to bow to international pressure, and insisted on its position.

The “peace” process that has taken hold of politicians in the region reached a dismal stage. From the Palestinian and Arab point of view, the sequence of events is extraordinary in how many rights were forsaken for nothing but false promises.

The 1992 Madrid peace conference started with UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 as the reference for peace. The general principle was “return of Arab land in exchange for peace.” But 14 years removed from Madrid, 242 and 338 don’t factor into the equation. No Arab land was returned. Only unilateral Israeli moves, dictated by the interests of the Zionist entity, accounted for the return of southern Lebanon and, partially, the Gaza Strip.

The US has sided with Israel in voiding the right of return of Palestinian refugees, and in giving Israel permission to annex occupied Jerusalem and parts of the occupied West Bank. The pretext for this monumental shift, and total disregard for the most basic concepts of international law, is that the “facts on the ground” dictate that no refugees are to return to their homes, and settlements should be annexed to Israel.

Gone from the equation are legitimate Palestinian rights, set by international law and not the whims of Palestinians, and the integrity of the international community, represented by Security Council Resolutions 242, 338, and 194.

Despite the great divide between the rights Palestinians are entitled to and the actual situation on the ground, the international community insists on blaming Palestinians. It is true that Palestinians shoulder some of the blame. But the blame is for capitulating repeatedly in front of Israeli and American negotiators. The Israelis have become spoiled by how easily Palestinian negotiators give up Palestinian rights.

Hamas campaigned on a platform of change and reform. This includes internal and external reform. On the external front, the time of dictation by the occupation and its allies must come to an end. Israelis must be weaned from sucking Palestinian rights dry to the bone. And so the international community must understand that blaming the victims, no matter how easy and convenient it is, will not solve the problem. The international community must learn to take on the powerful aggressor, and check its hunger for devouring Palestinian rights.

Checkpoint Causes Iftar Traffic Tangle along Wadi Al-Nar Road

11 October 2007

Bethlehem – Ma'an – Israeli forces caused a massive traffic jam on the West Bank's main north-south thoroughfare Wednesday afternoon, stopping hundreds of Palestinians on their way to Iftar, the meal that breaks the dawn-to-dusk fast during the moth of Ramadan.

Ma'an's correspondent, who was delayed at the checkpoint on the Wadi Al-Nar road reported, "About half an hour before Iftar time, Israeli soldiers detained buses and taxis with Palestinian citizens and students for a long time. The soldiers deliberately inspected all passengers very slowly and in a provocative manner causing a traffic jam which extended kilometers on both sides."

Palestinians stopped along the road said Israeli forces have often slowed traffic to a stop just before Iftar, in what they say is a deliberate provocation.

Barred from Jerusalem most West Bank residents are forced to take the Wadi Al-Nar road, which snakes through the jagged mountains east of Jerusalem.

United States Presidential Platform Uses Islamophobic Tactics

Nine Republican candidates took part in the debate [AFP]

Thompson warns of 'Islamic fascism'

10 October 2007

Fred Thompson, the actor and ex-senator who has joined the Republican race for the US presidency, has vowed to halt the spread of "Islamic fascism" during a televised debate with his party rivals.

Thompson said "It is a global war - Islamic fascism has declared it upon us," during the debate with his eight rivals in Michigan on Tuesday.

"They play by no rules and they are intent on bringing down Western civilisation and the United States of America," said Thompson, famous for his role in the Law & Order television series.

Mitt Romney, a frontrunner, said Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, was a "rogue and a buffoon".

Rudolph Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, is the currently leading the race to become the Republican candidate, which will be decided during elections early next year.

He is respected for his leadership role after the September 11 attacks in 2001, but is battling to win over conservatives.

Iranian 'threat'

Thompson also said it was important to keep US troops in Iraq "to stabilise that place and not have to leave with our tail between our legs."

Ron Paul, an anti-war libertarian and Texas congressman who stunned his rivals by raising $5m for the campaign in the last three months, said he was not prepared to pledge his support for the nominee of the party.

"Not unless they're willing to end the war," he said.

When asked whether a US president should request authorisation from the US congress before launching a military strike at any future Iran nuclear weapons plant, Romney said:

"You sit down with your attorneys and tell you want you have to do," he said, before adding the president always had to act in the best interest of the United States.

Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, said he would attack Iran in a "heartbeat" if it was an immediate threat, while Ron Paul said the notion that Iran endangered the US mainland was "preposterous."

Senator John McCain pledged to consult Congress before any attack on Iran which he said "is, maybe, closer to reality than we are discussing tonight".

Iran has denied all accusations that it intends to develop nuclear weapons.

Tax or spend

The candidates also clashed on tax and spending issues with Giuliani accusing Romney of increasing taxes during his time as Massachusetts governor.

"The point is, you've got to control taxes. But I did it. He didn't," Giuliani said.

Romney shot back: "It's baloney. Mayor, you've got to check your facts. I did not increase taxes in Massachusetts. I lowered taxes."

Thompson and other Republicans criticised the explosion of federal spending in recent years and said rising budgets and deficits under George Bush, the US president, had to be brought under control.

McCain pointed to his own Republican party as the culprit. "We have to get spending under control," he said.

"We Republicans who came to power in 1994 to change government - government changed us."

Tibetan Activists Storm into Chinese Embassy

10 October 2007

New Delhi: About two dozen Tibetan activists living in exile in India broke through the gates of the Chinese embassy yesterday and painted "Free Tibet" on the building walls before being arrested by police, witnesses said.

The demonstrators were collared by security guards, dragged and pushed out of the building after the breach. Protesters are usually stopped by police well outside the high-security compound.

The protest in New Delhi came a day after China accused Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, of supporting "evil cults" like Falun Gong and Japan's Aum Shinrikyo.

Dressed in robes and their faces smeared with colours of the Tibetan flag, slogan-shouting activists painted "Free Tibet" and "Quit China" with red paint on the brass nameplate of the embassy gate and also on its white walls.

One activist strapped himself with an iron chain to the embassy gate while another tied himself to a flag pole in the building's front yard on which the Chinese flag was hoisted.

"This protest was against the new Chinese law which bars any Buddhist monk living outside China from recognising a 'living Buddha'," said Dhondup Dorjee, vice-president of the Tibetan Youth Congress.

A Key to Mental Health

Your own expectations are the key to the whole business of mental health. If you expect to be happy, healthy, and fulfilled in life, then that is where you will place your attention and that is what you will manifest.

Gunman Dies, 5 Injured at Ohio School

A Cleveland police officer runs into SuccessTech Academy in Cleveland, Ohio, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007. after shooting inside. Mayor Frank Jackson said three young people and two adults were hurt by a student who turned the gun on himself. (AP Photo//The Plain Dealer, Gus Chan)

10 October 2007

By JOE MILICIA

CLEVELAND - 14-year-old suspended student opened fire in a downtown high school Wednesday before killing himself, and five people were taken to hospitals, authorities said. After the shooting, shaken teens called their parents on cell phones, most to reassure but in at least one case with terrifying news: "Mom, I got shot."

Mayor Frank Jackson said the three teens and two adults were hurt. He said the children were in "stable, good condition," and the adults were in "a little elevated condition."

The shooter was enrolled at the SuccessTech Academy alternative school but had been suspended Monday for fighting, said Charles Blackwell, president of SuccessTech's student-parent organization.

Blackwell said the shooter entered the high school, a converted five-story office building, and gradually worked his way up through the first two floors of administrative offices to the third floor of classrooms.

"Nobody knows how he got in," he said.

Student Doneisha LeVert, who hid in a closet with two other students after she heard a "Code Blue" alert over the loudspeaker, said the shooter had threatened students Friday.

"He's crazy. He threatened to blow up our school. He threatened to stab everybody," she said.

Ronnell Jackson, 15, said he saw a shooter running down a school hallway.

"He was about to shoot me, but I got out just in time," he said. "He was aiming at me I got out just in time."

LeVert said she heard about 10 shots.

"I heard gunshots but I just thought someone was banging a book on the desk," said Rasheem Smith, 15. He soon realized there was a shooting and told his classmates to flee down the stairs.

Tammy Mundy, 38, who has a son and daughter at the school, told The Plain Dealer that her daughter called when the shooting started.

"She said, 'Mom they're shooting in here, kids are running out, I'm hiding in the closet,'" Mundy told the newspaper.

Then she called her 18-year-old son, Darnell Rodgers, on his cell phone, and he told her he had been shot in the arm.

"He said, 'Mom, I got shot,'" Mundy told the newspaper.

Rodgers' girlfriend, 17-year-old Lateisha Riddlehill, who hid in a bathroom during the shootings, confirmed that Rodgers had been shot in the elbow. She said he told her he was going to be fine.

The mayor said the other two teens injured were a boy and a girl, both 14, and that the girl had fallen and hurt her knee while running out of the school.

A hospital spokeswoman said Rodgers was listed in stable condition. David Kachadourian, 57, was in good condition, and a 42-year-old man was in surgery and his condition unavailable. The other two injured teens were taken to a children's hospital, which would not release their names, ages or conditions.

Students stood outside the building, many in tears, hugging each other and on cell phones. Others shouted at reporters with TV cameras to leave them alone. Family members also stood outside, anxiously waiting for their children to be released.

"I'm scared. I'm hoping no more people got hurt," Ronnell Jackson said.

The shooting occurred across the street from the FBI office in downtown Cleveland, and students were being sent to the FBI site.

"There are a lot of emergency vehicles," said spokesman Scott Wilson. "They're just trying to sort things out right now."

Wilson said he had no information on the shooting.

SuccessTech Academy is an alternative high school in the Cleveland city school district that emphasizes technology and entrepreneurship. It is is housed on several floors of the district's downtown Cleveland Lakeside Avenue administration building.

"It's a shining beacon for the Cleveland Metropolitan School System," said John Zitzner, founder and president of E City Cleveland, a nonprofit group aimed at teaching business skills to inner-city teens. "It's orderly, it's disciplined, it's calm, it's focused."

The school, opened five years ago, ranks in the middle of the state's ratings for student performance. Its graduation rate is 94 percent, well above the district's rate of 55 percent.

Further Information:

Student describes terror after shooting (Video)

School Shooting (Video)

Slideshow

Sweets Anyone

(AFP Photo SAIF DAHLAH/AFP/Getty Images)

A Palestinian man walks past a sweets stand on one of the last days of fasting during the holy month of Ramadan in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, 10 October 2007.

For Muslims the world over, Ramadan, held in the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, is a time of worship and contemplation during which a fast is observed from dawn until dusk.

Ramadan will culminate in three days of festivities known as Eid al-Fitr.

Olmert Denies Wrongdoing in Bank Deal

Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (L) sits during the opening of the winter session of the Israeli parliament on 8 October, 2007 in Occupied Jerusalem.

9 October 2007

Occupied Jerusalem: Police questioned Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday over allegations of attempted bid-rigging in the sale of a commercial bank, one of several scandals dogging the Israeli leader.

Olmert was Israel's finance minister during the 2005 privatisation of Bank Leumi, Israel's second biggest commercial bank.

Suspicions in that case focus on whether he tried to tailor the sale offer to give preference to a friend, who ultimately never bid on the bank. Olmert has denied any wrongdoing.

The prime minister is under another investigation over the apparently discounted price of an Occupied Jerusalem home he purchased in 2004, shortly after he stepped down as the city's mayor.

Israel's attorney-general is also considering whether to order a probe on whether Olmert, as trade minister in 2003, appointed cronies to a state business authority and helped secure funding for a factory represented by his former law partner.

Mansour: The Palestinian cause is facing a serious juncture

9 October 2007

NABLUS, (PIC)-- MP Mona Mansour, a member of Hamas-affiliated change and reform parliamentary bloc, has warned that the Palestinian cause is facing a serious juncture as a result of the inter-Palestinian crisis and the ongoing Israeli aggressions against the Palestinian people.

In a speech delivered by Mansour before the committee for the families of martyrs in Nablus city, she called on the Palestinian people to unite their ranks in the face of challenges which aim to undermine their unity, confirming that the Palestinian women will not allow the Israeli occupation and its agents to "beat their unity and steal their children's dreams".

The lawmaker hailed the supreme sacrifices of the Palestinian martyrs' families who offered their sons and daughters to defend their Palestinian land against the Israeli occupation, underlining that the attainment of great objectives in life requires equivalent great sacrifices.

The MP urged the attendees, in her capacity as a wife of a Palestinian martyr, to have patience and steadfastness and to raise their children well, calling on them to stand united against practices of security apparatuses loyal to PA chief Mahmoud Abbas topped by political arrests, security coordination with the IOA, and violations against freedom of expression.

Olmert Rules Out Concluding any Agreement with Palestinians

9 October 2007

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Ehud Olmert, the Israeli premier, in a speech on Monday before the Israeli parliament ruled out the possibility of concluding an agreement with the Palestinians, despite his intensive contacts and meetings with PA chief Mahmoud Abbas as a prelude to the autumn conference on the Middle East called for by the American administration.

Olmert told the parliament that he is determined to move forward in the peace process, but he also said that concluding an agreement with the Palestinian side is very far because the road is full of obstacles.

These statements come at a time when the PA negotiators started their talks with Israeli officials in a secret place in occupied Jerusalem in order to come out with a joint document supposed to be tabled in the autumn conference.

For his part, former Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the opposition Likud Party, seconded what Olmert said.

For his part, Jamil Mizher , a member of the central committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), stated in a press release that the autumn conference is an attempt to liquidate the Palestinian cause and to cover up for the failure of both American president George Bush in Iraq and Olmert in Lebanon.

Mizher urged Fatah and Hamas to take steps forward in order to return to comprehensive dialogue, pointing out that the Israeli occupation takes advantage of the state of division between them.

He also called on the international community especially the Arab and Islamic countries to intervene in order to end the siege on the Palestinian people particularly in the Gaza Strip because the humanitarian situation there is catastrophic.

For his part, Mohamed Al-Hindi, a prominent leader of the Islamic Jihad movement, confirmed on Monday that the autumn conference is futile because nothing can solve the issues of the major conflict with Israel except resistance.

Hindi warned that the USA is dealing with the Palestinian cause as part of the global war on terrorism and exploiting it to serve its orientations and schemes in the region

The Jihad leader underlined that any compromising over the issues of the final solution is forbidden, pointing out that the PA is trying to establish a state out of delusions in light of Israel's continuation to tighten the siege on the Palestinian people, to confiscate more Palestinian lands, to Judaize occupied Jerusalem and to expand the apartheid wall.

He highlighted that the state aspired by the Palestinian people is the one which brings them freedom and guarantee them the future, not the one created by the enemies for their own security and safety.

Why the Annapolis Conference will be Another Fiasco

Comment

8 October 2007

By Khalid Amayreh

It is really difficult to give the upcoming Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, the benefit of the doubt.

We do see a lot of movement here and there, but there is very little action if any. The US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, has been making unwarrantedly optimistic statements about the imminence of a historical breakthrough between the Palestinians and Israel. On Sunday, 7 October, she was quoted as saying that she believed the Palestinian problem was finally coming to an end.

I don’t know if Rice knew what she was saying. However, from observing things on the ground, it seems there is very little if any to warrant this euphoria.

In any case, one should remember that statements coming out of the mouths of senior officials of the Bush administration have very little credibility.

The Iraq debacle, and also Bush’s shameless bias toward Israel, should leave no doubt as to the moral bankruptcy of the current American administration.

What is more important though remains the situation in the Middle East and the conspicuous absence of any sign indicating an Israeli willingness to come to terms with intrinsic Palestinian rights, like the right of millions of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and towns from which they were uprooted at gunpoint in 1948.

Indeed, given the fact that the right of return is the main centerpiece of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it would be naïve to even imagine a genuine state of peace in the region without allowing at least significant numbers of these thoroughly tormented refugees to return to their ancestral homeland. They simply have suffered too much.

The refugee problem shouldn’t be viewed as just another issue that can be overcome or diluted via political maneuvering or behind-the-scene deal.

And Israel would be utterly mistaken in thinking that Abbas and his unconstitutional junta-like government are capable of enforcing a deal unacceptable to the majority of the Palestinian people.

The Palestinian people do want peace, but they are not willing to capitulate to Zionist colonialist ambitions and then call that “peace” or “breakthrough.” The lessons of the Oslo experiment have opened our eyes to Israeli tricks and ill will.

In addition to the paramount refugee problem, it is obvious that Israel is insisting on arrogating large parts of occupied East Jerusalem on the ground that Jewish neighborhoods go to Israel and Arab neighborhoods go to a putative Palestinian state.

That would be disastrous for the Palestinian cause since it would entail the whitewashing of decades of theft of Palestinian property in Palestine’s holy capital. After all, these are not “mere neighborhoods.” These are illegal settlements built on confiscated Arab land for the sole purpose of obliterating East Jerusalem’s Arab (Muslim-Christian) identity.

The same thing applies to these hateful colonies all over the West Bank, populated by extremist and mostly fascist-minded Ashkenazi Jews who believe that non-Jews are genetically inferior to Jews and therefore don’t deserve equal human rights.

Today, there is a consensus in Israel that the vast bulk of these colonies, which embody the Israeli policy of apartheid, land theft and ethnic cleansing, must be incorporated to Israel.

In practical terms, this means that the remaining Palestinian territory would be an archipelago of scattered towns and villages, lacking territorial continuity and utterly devoid of any viability.

So, one would wonder what kind of a “state” would such a deformed entity make?

There is also a very significant, I would say paramount, issue Israel is trying these days to impose on an ostensibly naïve Palestinian leadership. I am talking about the incessant demands by Israeli leaders that Abbas must recognize Israel as a State of the Jews.

Some casual observers might be prompted to think that recognizing Israel as a Jewish state is an innocuous matter since it is no more than stating the obvious.

However, it is extremely important to understand the implications of such recognition are far reaching. Recognizing Israel as a state of the Jews would mean in real terms that Israel’s non-Jewish citizens, who are approaching the 25%- threshold, will be doomed to a precarious, unstable future unless they “choose” to convert to Judaism, because Israel is a state of the Jews.

I know that Mahmoud Abbas is not smart enough to understand the historical and strategic implications of lending such a recognition to Israel, which implies, at least from the Israeli perspective, a recognition of the legality and morality of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, not only in the past, but in the future as well.

This is why Palestinians, wherever they happen to be, must send an unmistakable message to Abbas to clarify this matter to the Palestinian people immediately since there can be no stupidity and no treason more outrageous than recognizing Israel as a Jewish state, let alone a state for the Jews.

Similarly, the leaders of the 1.5 million-strong Arab community in Israel, people like Sheikh Ra’ed Salah, Ahmed Teibi, Muhammed Barakeh and others should warn Abbas against undermining the vital and strategic interests of Israel’s Arab citizens, especially their long-term survival as equal citizens of the Israeli state.

After all, Abbas has no right to recognize Israel as a state of the Jews. In fact, not even the US, Israel’s guardian-ally, has given Israel such a unique recognition.

There is one more reason that would make one think that the conference, slated to take place in the last week of November, will fail.

The current Israeli government is weak, divided against itself and made up mostly of Nazi-like extremists, people like Avigdor Lieberman, who has called peace-minded Israeli activists “Kapos,” a reference to Jewish traitors and collaborators who worked with the Nazis against their own people during the Second World War.

Hence, it is very difficult to expect the present Olmert government to be able to live with, let alone enforce, any prospective deal with an even weaker Palestinian Authority that lacks political legitimacy.

In all likelihood, should a “deal” be clenched by hook or by crook, Olmert would be forced to call for early general elections in Israel which most likely would see the ascendancy to power of the fascist camp in Israel, led by Benyamin Netanyahu, and including a plethora of fascist-minded parties that advocate the enslavement, expulsion or even annihilation of more than five million Palestinians living in Palestine-Israel.

I know my prognosis of the situation in Palestine makes many people uneasy. However, it is important to be honest and not be duped by false hopes based on wishful thinking and illogical reasoning.

There is an important fact in Israel which all those concerned for true peace in this region should understand very well. There is a solid majority of Israeli Jews who are opposed to giving up the spoils of the 1967 war even in return for full peace with the Arab world.

Needless to say, without ending the occupation of 100% of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, and without justly and honestly resolving the refugee plight, the talk about peace in this region will remain a futile (and dangerous) exercise in wishful thinking.