Saturday 17 September 2011

U.S. Congressman Witnessed European Special Forces Beheading Libyans

Walter Fauntroy, Feared Dead in Libya, Returns Home --
Posted: 2011/09/09
From: Source
   

by Valencia Mohammed

Guess Who He Saw Doing the Killing?

Former U.S. Congressman Walter Fauntroy, who recently returned from a self-sanctioned peace mission to Libya, said he went into hiding for about a month in Libya after witnessing horrifying events in Libya's bloody civil war -- a war that Fauntroy claims is backed by European forces.

Fauntroy's sudden disappearance prompted rumors and news reports that he had been killed. In an interview inside his Northwest D.C. home last week, the noted civil rights leader, told the Afro that he watched French and Danish troops storm small villages late at night beheading, maiming and killing rebels and loyalists to show them who was in control. "'What the hell' I'm thinking to myself. I'm getting out of here. So I went in hiding," Fauntroy said.

The rebels told Fauntroy they had been told by the European forces to stay inside. According to Fauntroy, the European forces would tell the rebels, "'Look at what you did.' In other words, the French and Danish were ordering the bombings and killings, and giving credit to the rebels. "The truth about all this will come out later," Fauntroy said. While in Libya, The former congressman also said he sat down with Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi for a one-on-one conversation. Gaddafi has ruled Libya since 1969, when he seized power in a military coup.

Fauntroy said he spoke with Gaddafi in person and that Gaddafi assured him that if he survived these attacks, the mission to unite African countries would continue. "Contrary to what is being reported in the press, from what I heard and observed, more than 90 percent of the Libyan people love Gaddafi," Fauntroy said. "We believe the true mission of the attacks on Gaddafi is to prevent all efforts by African leaders to stop the recolonization of Africa." Several months ago, Gaddafi's leadership faced its biggest challenge. In February, a radical protest movement called the Arab Spring spread across Libya. When Gaddafi responded by dispatching military and plainclothes paramilitary to the streets to attack demonstrators, it turned into a civil war with the assistance of NATO and the United Nations.

Fauntroy's account could not be immediately verified by the Afro and the U.S. State Department has not substantiated Fauntroy's version of events. Fauntroy was not acting as an official representative of the U.S. in Libya. He returned to Washington, D.C. on Aug. 31. When rumors spread about Fauntroy being killed he went underground, he told the Afro in an interview. Fauntroy said for more than a month he decided not to contact his family but to continue the mission to speak with African spiritual leaders about a movement to unify Africa despite the Arab uprisings. "I'm still here," Fauntroy said, pointing to several parts of his body. "I've got all my fingers and toes. I'm extremely lucky to be here." After blogs and rumors reported Fauntroy had been killed, the congressional office of Del.

Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced on Aug. 24, that she had been in touch with authorities who confirmed Fauntroy was safely in the care of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Inside his home, Fauntroy pulled out several memoirs and notebooks to explain why he traveled to Libya at a time when it was going through civil unrest. "This recent trip to Libya was part of a continuous mission that started under Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when he gave me orders to join four African countries on the continent with four in the African Diaspora to restore the continent to its pre-colonial status," Fauntroy said. "We want Africa to be the breadbasket of the world," he said. "Currently, all the major roads in every country throughout Africa lead to ports that take its natural resources and wealth outside the continent to be sold to the European markets."

Meanwhile reports from Tripoli are coming in. It seems in the last two weeks, rebel fighters have fired more bullets into the air to express their excitement than were shot during the assault on Tripoli earlier in August. But away from "jubilant" crowds we meet those who are not so pleased. Abdulrakham lives in Tripoli’s Abu Slim district, which has historically been pro-Gaddafi.

When the rebels arrived, his sister was badly injured. She is still in hospital in Tunisia. Abdulrakham does not want to show his face on camera and insists on a hidden location for the interview. He says the revolution has brought much fear in its wake. “There is no peace. There is no safety in the city. We do not let our children outside when it’s dark. We are afraid. We always wait for something bad,” he tells RT. “When Gaddafi was here, at least we didn’t have to sleep awake, like we do now. Abdulrakham says he also wanted change and a brighter future for his country, but not this way. “People are dying on both sides,” he continues. “The city’s been destroyed – and no one cares! Do they seriously think they changed it for the better?

Don’t lie to yourself – just look around! Is this what you wanted?” And what is around is a scene of widespread destruction and social chaos. The badly damaged buildings matched by the rising stench of garbage and decomposing bodies. Armed youngsters roam the streets, barely old enough to understand that what they carry are weapons, not toys. Many shops, schools, and hospitals are closed, while the city’s cemeteries are growing bigger. #

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Turkey: No need for "Mediation" in Crisis with Israel - Syrian Regime Will Fall

A stupid, and nowadays, there are many, may buy the story of Turkish story of crisis with Israel. The Israeli "expelled" Ambasador is a Turkish Jew, and his term expired days before the So-called "expellsion.". The sick Yankee Emperor is distributing his Middle assets, and Sultan Edughan wants his share.

Turkey Refuses US Mediation in Crisis with Israel
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Saturday that his country does not need United States' mediation to solve a long-lasting crisis with the Israeli enemy over a deadly 2010 flotilla raid.

"We do not need mediation ... for Israel in any way," Davutoglu said during a televised press conference in the central province of Konya when asked to comment on the possibility of the US helping to resolve their differences. "There is no such situation in which mediation is needed," he highlighted, as he explained that the demands of Turkey are clear if its former ally Israel wants to improve relations.
"No one should test our resolve on this matter," he went on to say, confirming at the same time that Israeli-Turkish relations might be on the agenda among other issues of a meeting between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Barack Obama next week on the sidelines of the UN general assembly. "The Americans are probably the people who best understand Turkey's position on this issue," Davutoglu added.

Israel and Turkey have been locked in a bitter dispute since May 2010 when Israeli naval commandos stormed a convoy of six ships trying to reach the Gaza Strip in defiance of an Israeli inhumane blockade, killing nine people.

Earlier this month Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador and froze military ties and defense trade deals.

Turkish PM: Syrian Regime Will Fall
Posted: September 17, 2011 by crescentandcross

Erdogan Warns Assad ‘Will Eventually Have to Pay the Price’

antiwar.com
Speaking today at a press conference in Tripoli, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan predicted that his nation’s neighbor and long time ally Syria was soon to undergo a regime change.

“Those who are attacking their people with tanks and guns will not be able to remain in power,” warned Erdogan, adding that Assad “will eventually have to pay the price for this,” and that “totalitarian regimes are disappearing.”

Though Turkey has been public with their criticism of the Assad regime’s increasingly bloody crackdown on dissent, Erdogan’s comments are the most straightforward call for regime change yet.

Turkey has been faced with a massive influx of refugees from Syria, and earlier this summer they were reported to be considering invading the northern belt of Syrian territory to create a “buffer zone” to house all of the refugees.
River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

How civil society pushed Turkey to ditch Israel’s war industry

16 September 2011


Last week’s takeover of the Israeli embassy in Cairo marked a new reality in the Middle East.
The world’s eyes are still fixed on the Middle East, and the first half of September has delivered two profound events in Egypt and Turkey that have sent shockwaves through the Israeli establishment.
On 2 September, the Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced the decision to downgrade diplomatic relations with Israel to second secretary level and cut all military relations between the two countries. Then, after weeks of protests, the Egyptian people finally stormed the Israeli embassy in Cairo on 9 September and staged a “citizen’s expulsion” of the Israeli embassy staff (“Egyptian protesters send Israel ambassador and his staff out of country,” AhramOnline, 10 September 2011).
At the cost of three lives and more than a thousand injuries, protesters literally shut down the Israeli embassy and required the Israeli ambassador to be flown directly back to Tel Aviv.

These two events are indicative of a three-fold shift in power relations: the core strength of the people’s movements, which have contributed to the changing governmental power balance in the Middle East, which in turn have begun to assert aspirations within global diplomacy. These slow yet steady shifts have a direct, net-positive effect on the Palestinian struggle for liberation and justice and an overall negative impact on Israeli apartheid.

People power

In Egypt and Tunisia, inspiring victories that have come out of determined struggles have brought to power governments that, if popular mobilization continues, will be obliged to respond, at least in part, to the persistent demands and undying aspirations of the people. Some governments are still brutally combating uprisings, such as Syria and Bahrain. And still other leaders have been keenly reminded that people count and can take control of their destinies.

Unquestionably, Palestine is and always has been on the agendas of the Arab popular uprisings. This has been particularly clear over the last few months in Egypt.

In order to appease at least some popular demands, the interim government tried to steer away from Hosni Mubarak’s pro-Israel policies. Egypt has begun renegotiating the gas contracts, which sold natural gas at below market price to Israel (“Israeli delegation in Egypt to negotiate fixed gas rates,” Al Masry Al Youm, 13 May 2011).

The official Egyptian airline EgyptAir closed down direct Cairo-Tel Aviv flights (“Egypt Air deletes Israel from its destination list,” Middle East Monitor, 23 March 2011).

However, the weak diplomatic response on the part of the post-Mubarak government to Israel’s murder of five Egyptian soldiers in August triggered dramatic popular action. Mohammed el Baradei and Amr Moussa, the two leading presidential candidates, both immediately called for a stronger reaction to Israel (“Egypt-Israel ties strained after border incidents, says analyst,” The Daily News Egypt, 19 August 2011).

The “citizen’s expulsion” of the Israeli embassy staff was a response to the first killing of Egyptian martyrs after the revolutionary weeks in Tahrir Square during the spring.

Likewise, Turkey’s diplomatic boldness can indeed only be viewed as a victory of activists, movements, and organizations that have consistently shown the Ankara government the line of actions to take in order to display its solidarity with Palestine.

Turkey ditches Israeli war industry

Turkish government taking leads from its citizens,
Here, the popular mood is similar to Egypt’s. For a long time, the Turkish government has been aware of the unpopularity of its support of the Israeli war industry and the occupation of Palestine. The people in Turkey have consistently shown overwhelming solidarity with Palestine, most notably with their mobilization for the 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla, which ended in a brutal attack by the Israeli navy. Israel commandos killed eight Turkish citizens and one US citizen of Turkish origin on the Mavi Marmara.

Now, we see the Turkish government taking leads from its citizens, mobilizations in the region, and the Palestinian people. Only two months ago, the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) launched its call for a military embargo on Israel (“Impose a mandatory and comprehensive military embargo on Israel,” BDS Movement, 8 July 2011).

This call was supported by organizations and unions representing dozens of millions of people all over the globe.

For civil society in the entire region, beyond just Egyptians and Turks, there can be no question about the power of citizens to affect social and political changes that can undermine Israeli apartheid and neo-colonial policies pursued by neighboring governments.

Meltdown of power structures

Power relations and alliances are changing in the Middle East. The strength of the people’s movements is a driving force in this phenomenon, as well as a result of it.

A short overview of the region reveals the slow meltdown of the power structures on which the US and the EU had cast a stronghold on the region. The wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan have proven to be military and political failures.
 
Libya "Liberators" with Popular Revolution "God Father"
Behind SarkoziAs NATO attempts to control oil reserves in Libya, the West is proving itself to be militarily overstretched, economically depleted, and politically discredited. The failures of its governments’ diplomatic initiatives for peace in the region are due to Israel and its arrogance, its impunity becoming a liability for Western powers. Pillars of colonial power such as the Mubarak regime have fallen, leaving a political void. At least until Egypt’s November elections, Turkey will be the only resource-rich and populous country with an uncontested leadership between the Mediterranean and Iran.
The Turkish realignment is also a reflection of this scenario. Turkey was Israel’s second biggest importer of Israeli weapons and had guaranteed to Israel airspace rights for military training flights. Turkey imported more than double the amount of arms from Israel than any other country in 2009 (“Palestinian civil society welcomes Turkey’s decision to suspend all military ties with Israel and lower diplomatic relations,” BDS Movement, 7 September 2011).

Turkey and Israel also conducted intensive joint military training exercises (“Military cooperation was at the hear of Turkey-Israel ties,” Defence Talk, 1 June 2010).

In this file photo Israeli soldiers stand near a rocket shield system. The radar system, which will be deployed in Turkey, will likely be stationed at a military installation in southern Adana or eastern Malatya. REUTERS photo
In this file photo Israeli soldiers stand near a rocket shield system.
The radar system, which will be deployed in Turkey,
will likely be stationed at a military installation in southern
Adana or eastern Malatya to (Protect Israel from Syrian and Iranian rockets).
REUTERS photo
The freezing of military ties is a dramatic show of force but is part of a long-term shift of policy. In the last few years Turkey’s prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has rebuilt relations with the Turkmen neighboring states, Iran, and others in the Global South and decisively shifted Turkey’s areas of interest towards the east and the south. Since the Israeli attack on the Mavi Marmara, Turkey has not signed any new military contracts with Israel. And just days ahead of the 2 September statement, Turkey reached an agreement with NATO to ensure that Israel would not have access to data collected by a new NATO anti-missile early warning system (“Turks to install NATO radar,” Hurriyet, 2 September 2011).

It’s notable also that the US seems to have conceded to the direction of Turkey’s new policies.
Taking advantage of the governmental power void and political support for Palestine at popular level, Turkey has forcefully put itself on the public and diplomatic map by letting Israel know it is not anymore dominating the region. That is an astute move that has allowed Turkey to assert regional hegemonic aspirations and, contemporaneously, to gain widespread sympathy across the Middle East for challenging Israel. Immediately afterwards, Erdogan extended his hand to Egypt by planning the first presidential visit to Cairo in 15 years. Being aware that Egypt and Turkey together make up more than half of the population of the Middle East and half of the eastern Mediterranean seashore, Erdogan will sign strategic economic and military agreements that could be the basis for a new Middle Eastern alliance (“Egypt, Turkey look to forge stronger ties as Erdogan readies to visit Cairo,” Today’s Zaman, 9 September 2011).

However, regardless of future Egyptian government and Egyptian-Turkish cooperation, one thing is clear: since 2 September, the new Middle East in formation has a leading figure nobody will be able to avoid.

Sham UN investigation

The latest Turkish announcements took on the United Nations as well. The Turkish move was ultimately triggered by what began as a stand-off on the Palmer report, a UN investigation into Israel’s attack on the Mavi Marmara. The formation of the Palmer Commission was a shield for Israel from condemnation of its violations of international law, to avoid a repeat of the detailed proof in the UN investigative report on the Israeli attack on Gaza in late 2008 and early 2009.

After the UN Human Rights Council had already mandated an expert committee to investigate the issue, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon formed an almost parallel committee. Ban appointed none other than Alvaro Uribe, the ex-president of Colombia, as vice-chairman of the Freedom Flotilla investigation.

Only a few months earlier, the UN Human Rights Commissioner had published a scathing report on violations of human rights and repression of human rights defenders committed in Colombia under Uribe (“Report of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Colombia,” 4 March 2010).

Moreover, Colombia became one of the world’s biggest importers of Israeli weapons during his presidency and the Colombian military continues to hire Israeli military “consultants” to learn from their methods of repression. Unsurprisingly, the outcome of the UN report was taken as an insult to Turkey as well as to international law (“Disappointment at the United Nations: the Palmer report on the flotilla incident of 31 May 2010,” Middle East Monitor, 9 September 2011).

Against the consensus of international law experts, the report argued that the siege on Gaza was legal and recommended that little more than an apology from the Israeli government would be an apt remedy for the killing of nine Turks. Turkey’s response was sharp and functioned on two levels: it stated its intention to refer the of Gaza to the International Court of Justice and promised that it will ensure freedom of navigation in the eastern Mediterranean by the force of its own navy.

These recent announcements by Turkey are therefore a message to the United Nations that it must not guarantee Israel impunity for its crimes. Where the UN fails, other avenues will succeed in holding Israel accountable. US vetoes in the Security Council can shield Israel only insofar as the West willingly permits this fig leaf to obscure its own unwillingness to act.

Turkey’s message is nothing new. Civil society around the world has long promoted a call for accountability through boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS), including the call for a military embargo on Israel. Civil society has already gained impressive victories over the last five years through BDS and a call for BDS may soon be heeded by institutions and governments.

It is crucial that activists in Turkey and around the world continue to escalate their mobilization in support of the Palestinian call for BDS and a complete military embargo on Israel in order to ensure that the Turkish government does not resume relations with Israel until Israel complies with international law and human rights and other governments follow suit. Activists will further have to develop and refine methods of monitoring the implementation of BDS pledges by governments, institutions and enterprises.

The people’s movements strengthen Middle Eastern governments against sustained apartheid in Israel. There is hope that the time is coming close when the nations finally unite in effective action against Israeli apartheid, colonialism and occupation.

Jamal Juma’ is coordinator of the Stop the Wall Campaign.
Maren Mantovani is international outreach coordinator of the Stop the Wall Campaign.
River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Will it ever stop getting "better" !

Ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney with Chabad:


Ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, right, signs an autograph for Malcolm Hoenlein, left, executive vice chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, who was keynote speaker at the Chabad dinner; looking on is dinner honoree Mike Shevell.


Sir Paul a surprise guest at Chabad Rutgers gala

Ex-Beatle’s girlfriend’s dad donates $500,000 for Torah studies






Susan Shevell joins her father, Myron “Mike” Shevell, in lighting the Hanukka menora at the Rutgers Chabad Founders Dinner; Shevell was honored for his $500,000 gift to create a Torah studies program. Photos by Debra Rubin Gov. Chris Christie displays the award he received at the Chabad dinner; with him are, from left, Malcolm Hoenlein, master of ceremonies Jerold Zaro, Rutgers Chabad executive director Rabbi Yosef Carlebach, dinner chair Lita Greenberg, and her husband, Jeffrey.


by Debra Rubin
NJJN Bureau Chief/Middlesex

December 9, 2010

The 32nd annual Rutgers Chabad National Founders dinner drew its usual crowd of philanthropists, Jewish communal and business leaders, and local and state political figures, including Gov. Chris Christie. But it was an unexpected guest who generated the most buzz.

As the 500 attendees were taking their seats at the Dec. 7 event in the ballroom of the Hyatt Regency in New Brunswick, an excited murmur went through the room. Guests reached for their cell phones to snap photos as ex-Beatle Paul McCartney walked in with longtime girlfriend Nancy Shevell.

Shevell’s father, Myron “Mike” Shevell was one of the night’s honorees — along with Christie — in recognition of his $500,000 gift to create a Torah studies program for Rutgers students, who will receive a certificate and stipend after completing 60 semester hours of study.

Shevell is chair of New England Motor Freight and the Shevell Group and vice chair of New Jersey Transit. McCartney has reportedly been dating Nancy Shevell, a vice president of the family-owned business, since 2007.

The dinner raised $3 million toward the $10 million expansion of Chabad House at Rutgers, increasing the size of what is already the world’s largest Chabad facility by 55,000 square feet. The expansion includes the addition of a boys’ dormitory, enlarged dining facilities, and the first Sephardi synagogue at an American public college campus.

The dormitory is being named in honor of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg, the Chabad emissaries killed two years ago in the terrorist attack in Mumbai.

Chabad has reached 80 percent of its fund-raising goal for the expansion, said its executive director, Rabbi Yosef Carlebach. The project is expected to be completed in the spring.

Although Sir Paul, dressed in a suit and high-top sneakers, wouldn’t take questions from the press, he graciously autographed dinner programs and shook hands with fans. He politely demurred and smiled when invited onstage with the rest of the Shevell family, but stood and cheered.

McCartney quietly sat at one of the front tables during the evening and applauded during Christie’s remarks.

The governor was followed by Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the keynote speaker. McCartney also listened and offered polite applause as Hoenlein delivered an impassioned speech focusing on the attempted “delegitimization” of Israel and the need to remain vigilant against anti-Semitism.

As he got up to speak, Hoenlein confessed to the crowd, “I’m nervous. You know, I’ve spoken with presidents and prime ministers — but Paul McCartney.”

Christie, well known as a rock fan, stopped in mid-speech as he glanced at McCartney’s table and remarked, “I can’t believe it; Paul McCartney.”

“I think we witnessed a Hanukka miracle,” Carlebach said of the dinner, which fell on the sixth night of the holiday. “Everyone who came thought they were coming to a small dinner, but when they left they didn’t feel that way.”

Asked if he knew in advance that McCartney was coming or if the rock star made any of the handful of significant anonymous gifts that were announced, Carlebach told NJJN, “I cannot confirm or deny anything about Paul.”

Mike Shevell said he made his donation in memory of his son, Jon, who died in 2008 at age 50 and who had been honored by Chabad in 2006.

“My son, Jon, started this and in his honor, I am finishing this,” he said, adding that he wanted to give Jewish students an incentive “to study the Jewish religion and further their Jewish studies.”
.

William T. Hathaway: The Last Jewish Prophet


A review of Gilad Atzmon’s new book, The Wandering Who?

The Wandering Who, Gilad AtzmonGilad Atzmon, OpEdNews contributing writer, has just published a study of Jewish identity politics. The Wandering Who? chronicles his journey away from his Jewish identity, and by extension away from all exclusive identities, into an inclusive humanness. It’s a painful journey, a brutally honest self exploration of these internalized tribal impulses. He emerges from the struggle deracinated but emancipated, freed of a destructive load of cultural baggage.

As the poet Allen Ginsberg said, “If you want to be a prophet, you have to tell your secrets.” By being brave enough to expose himself in writing, Atzmon has become a prophet, and his prophecy, as I see it, is a completion of the Mosaic journey, but this time as a mass exodus from Jewishness and all other ethnic bondings that split humanity. After 40 centuries of wandering in the desert of chosenness and separation, Jews and Gentiles alike can finally enter the full humanness of one world family, a secular promised land free of divisive group identities.
Jews have been at the forefront of every progressive movement for the past 160 years, and now it’s Atzmon’s turn. The atrocities of nationalism, both Jewish and non-Jewish, have forced him to the forefront of a movement to abolish all these tribal groupings, starting with his own.

The Wandering Who? is a threat not only to Zionism, but to all religious, ethnic, national, and even gender identities to which people cling. It’s a book of radical liberation and as such dangerous to every orthodoxy and structure of power that separates us into antagonistic camps. Atzmon is a true subversive. Much needed.

Now the survival of our species demands that also Christians, Muslims, Americans, Britons, etc. break out of their group mentalities. We can’t suddenly erase these categories, but we can relegate them to the background where they no longer determine our identity. Our sense of self can then be based on qualities that unite humanity rather than divide it.
Thanks for showing the way, Gilad.


You can now pre-order Gilad Atzmon’s New Book on Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Gilad Atzmon: Obama, the Palestinian State & Zionist Schizophrenia

Those who monitor the Hebrew press and understand the Jewish State may be slightly puzzled to find out that while in the Hebrew press there is only just a little and insignificant attention to the current Palestinian leaders’ drive for statehood, the Israeli English media outlets are saturated with news about the prospect of a pro-Palestinian resolution in the UN next week.

If you want to understand this clear discrepancy between the Jewish Hebrew press and English outlets, then here it is–we are dealing here with a clear split within the Jewish collective psyche.

I guess that some may be surprised to learn that Israel and most Israelis actually want the Palestinian initiative to go ahead and to succeed. They want a Palestinian State because this is the only solution that would save the ‘Jews only State’ from a demographic meltdown.

Recent polls in Israel prove that the majority of Israelis are very excited about the ‘Two State Solution’. Not only are the Israelis not threatened by the idea of a Palestinian State, they actually love it, for It would settle their reality within a framework of international law. Also, you may want to bear in mind that Kadima party, that won the last two elections in Israel, has been and still is, devoted to ‘disengagement’, a clear separation between the ‘Jews’ and the Palestinians by means of Israeli unilateral withdraw. In other words, a Palestinian statehood achieves the exact same goal; it removes Israelis from any responsibility to territories it once occupied and destroyed. It is obvious that some elements in Israel oppose the Palestinian UN initiative: I guess that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is not too happy about it. West Bank settlers may also be very angry but for some reason, even they are relatively quiet these days.

And yet, the Jewish Lobby around the world totally opposes the Palestinian UN initiative: it clearly holds a very simplistic image of an expansionist Jewish State from the ‘river to the sea’. And as it seems, it is not going to give up on its dream very soon.

What we see here in practice is a clear identity crisis or even a schizophrenic counter flow of aspirations between the Israeli and the Diaspora Zionist. While the Israelis are reverting to the old Jewish Ghetto attitude, they prefer to shrink, stay together and surround themselves with vast and impenetrable concrete walls, the Diaspora Zionist Jewish narrative is confrontational, belligerent, hawkish militant and expansionist. They want it all, with the Palestinians or without them.

Once again we notice that Israel and Zionism have evolved into two separate and opposing discourses. While Israel is seeking to maintain its racially oriented identity through politics of segregation, the Diaspora Zionist discourse is still insisting on solving the Jewish Question by the means of a conflict with no end.

But let us for a moment look at America; let’s try to understand how the world’s ‘single supper power’ is handling this Judeo-centric schizophrenic apparatus.

President Obama and his administration are obviously very confused. On the one hand, they are subject to some relentless pressure inflicted by the Jewish lobby. The Lobby doesn’t leave the American administration with much room to manoeuvre. But on the other hand, both American administration and Israeli Government do realise that, as far as Israel and its ‘security’ are concerned, the Palestinian UN initiative is not such a bad idea at all. In fact, Israel cannot pray for more than that.

It is clear by now that President Obama is not going to be saved by any of the so- called ‘America’s best friends’. For AIPAC and the Lobby, Obama is an instrument. By now the Lobby is used to regarding American politicians as their subservient puppets. Israel, on the other hand, is not going to save America either. It is two suspicious of the current administration. Israel is basically tired of the current American Administration. It will be happy to see Obama beaten.

Consequently, the American Administration is heading towards an inevitable humiliation in the UN. It will have to veto a decision voted for by many of America’s allies. This is clearly a disaster for Obama. And yet, one man can save America from its doomed fate. This man is no other than the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Only Abbas and the PA can let America off the hook.

But the meaning of it all is also very embarrassing. It means that the Palestinian President Abbas (who is a relatively weak figure in Palestinian politics as well as in international diplomacy) is the only person who can save our world’s ‘single supper power’ from a diplomatic fiasco.

I cannot make up my mind whether this is funny or sad, but let me tell you, it is certainly volatile.
The time is certainly right for America, Britain and the West to find the strength to oppose Zionist Lobbying and the power of Jerusalem.

You can now pre-order Gilad Atzmon’s New Book on Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Harmoush the 'defector': "Everything about him is impossible to verify"

BBC Via FL

"...Harmoush appeared on Syrian TV on Thursday, confirming his defection but denying that the Syrian government had ordered its army to fire on civilians. He also accused Syrian opposition activists in Turkey of "empty promises"...
They believe he was either kidnapped by Syrian intelligence agents or sent back by the Turkish security forces.But Turkish officials point out that of a total of over 18,000 Syrians who fled over the border, most have now chosen to go home.
We may never know why Col Harmoush went home. Turkish officials believe he may have been coerced, through threats to his family. His own accounts of how and why he defected are inconsistent. In the end, even the life story of this high-profile witness has proved impossible to verify.
He said: "During my service in the Syrian army, nobody has ordered me to fire at the civilians or any others. I didn't see or hear any commander in the army that had given orders to shoot at civilians." He said activists in Turkey had pledged to help him arm Syrian civilians, but added: "They were all promises... they promised to supply me with weapons and money for liberation, but they were just promises." Harmoush said groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood told him they had smuggled weapons into Syrian areas such as Homs, Hama, Idlib and Latakia. Referring to the deaths in Syrian towns, he said: "I am sure that armed groups were the killers."... Harmoush did not refer directly to his return to Syria, saying only: "I have been thinking about coming back since the 15th day of Ramadan [15 August], but I was shocked to be used as a trade and how people begged money in my name and offered many promises none of which was achieved."
Questions still surround Col Harmoush's defection, his time spent in Turkey and his return.
Originally it was reported he had defected from the army with 30 others after it began shelling the town of Jisr al-Shughour in June.
A video was posted on YouTube showing him holding up his military ID card and saying: "I declare my split from the army."
But he later told the BBC he had not been at Jisr al-Shughour at the time of the killings, had defected four days later and did so alone...."

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

29 years after the Massacre at Sabra Shatila…


Franklin Lamb

Sabha, Libya

Exclusive - Al-Manar

How much longer until we find the missing and grant civil rights to the rest?

“The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind” was the general consensus following a discussion between this observer and a gathering of Palestinian refugees in Sabha, Libya, many of whom would very much like to travel to Shatila camp in Beirut this week and participate in the 29th annual commemoration of the 1982 Israeli facilitated massacre that left more than 3000 dead and hundreds still missing.


Sabha, now the district Capitol, is about 400 miles south of Tripoli in the Saharan desert, and is one of the four main areas that NATO concedes is still controlled by pro-Gaddafi loyalists,( the other three are Sirte, Bani Walid, and Jufra) and for that reason NATO has intensified its, sometimes, seemingly indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas.
Today, NATO is desperately wanting to announce “mission accomplished” and put an end to its ill-conceived mission “ to protect Libya‘s civilians”, that President Obama assured the World nearly 7 months ago, “will last days, not weeks.” NATO continues to hope that no one bothers to carefully examine what it wrought here because no person of good will would accept its massive gratuitous carnage.
NATO’s bad luck it that its war on Libya’s civilian population continues to be documented and it will be held accountable, at least in the court room of public opinion and conceivably elsewhere.
It was from Sabha, following the 1969 September 1st Fatah Revolution that Gaddafi announced “the breaking dawn of the era of the masses".
As NATO tightens its noose around Sabha, the cousin of the “brother leader” (as Moammar was nick named by Nelson Mandela in gratitude for Libyan support for the long African National Congress (ANC) resistance to South Africans apartheid), and his able spokesman, Musa Ibrahim, reminds his audiences that the deepening civil war in Libya which was forced on this peaceful people by NATO and its ill-advised rush for regime change, is just beginning. Ibrahim and some diplomats here believe it may well engulf other parts of Africa and the Middle East. Musa added yesterday, “Our leader will die in our sacred country for what his hero, Omar Muktar sacrificed his life for, and that is our country’s freedom from colonialism.”
 
Today Sabha, with a usual population of around 130,000 is now less than half that but hosts a few thousand Palestinian refugees, who appear to avoid current Libyan politics. Some are survivors of the 1982 Israeli facilitated massacre at Shatila camp in Beirut and they insist that no Palestinian or Hezbollah groups were fighting anywhere in the East or around here. Maybe a few individual Palestinian members of the Benghazi based Muslim Brotherhood happened to be Palestinians but that was about all the gathered explained.

Many of Libya’s Palestinian refugees in Libya, like those is the Diaspora, desperately seek to learn what became of their family members who disappeared before, during and following the events of Sept. 15-20, 1982.

Palestinian refugees, like their Lebanese sisters and brothers suffer unrelenting pain and anguish as they resolve to take concrete steps to learn what happened to their loved ones.
For more than 30 years Palestinians in Lebanon have disappeared as a result of various Israeli invasions and the Lebanese civil war with innocent refugee camp residents becoming victims of shifting regional and local political alliances.







Thousands of Palestinians, like Lebanese from all the sects, became victims of enforced disappearances, abductions and other abuses. Seriously compounding the problem, Lebanon has failed to legislate a truth, justice and reconciliation agency. Consequently, along with the failure of the governments of other states that were involved, the result has been that the whereabouts of many Palestinians remain a mystery and those responsible remain unidentified and unpunished.


British Journalist Robert Fisk, writing in the UK Independent claims that more than 1000 Palestinians are buried in pits in Lebanon’s only Golf Course that is adjacent to Shatila camp and the Kuwaiti Embassy.
Dr. Bayan Nuwayhed al Hout -- author of "Sabra and Shatila: September 1982" told this observer: "I'm positive that dozens of people were buried there with the help of bulldozers. The bulldozers were used to get rid of the dead bodies."
Author Al Hout is referring to the fact that Israel supplied bulldozers, paid for my American taxpayers, to their allies, the right wing Christian militia that committed the slaughter with Israeli facilitation. On Saturday morning, September 18, 1982 Israeli Mossad agents inside the camp actually were observed driving three of the bulldozers in a frantic attempt to assist the Christian militia in covering up evidence of the crime before the exported international media arrived on the scene.
The late American journalist, Janet Lee Stevens, documented that during Sept. 18 and 19th, most of the massacre victims killed during this period were slaughtered inside the joint Israeli-Lebanese Forces “interrogation center.” Janet testified that these killed were put in flatbed trucks and taken to the Golf Course, just 300 yards away, where waiting Israeli bulldozers dug pits. Other trucks drove in the direction of East Beirut.

At the time of her death, seven months later, Janet was preparing her report for publication. This observer packed Janet’s belongings and after some wrangling with the US Embassy staff who had arrived on the plane President Ronald Reagan sent to return Janet and the other Americans remains to the US, her two cardboard boxes of papers and research notes were onboard. Unfortunately, but understandably, a family member, who I was advised did not understand Janet’s work in Lebanon, discarded her papers, following Janet’s funeral in Atlanta Georgia and before they could be collected by the University of Pennsylvania for analysis and preservation.
So we are deprived of most of Janet’s data on the missing Palestinians which confirmed the fate of several hundred who disappeared during the massacre. Fortunately, in February of 1983 Janet had forwarded some of her conclusions to friends and for publication.

What needs to be done to locate the missing Palestinians and Lebanese?

A serious and sustained effort to locate the disappeared Palestinians and Lebanese and bring some degree of solace and closure to their families should be undertaken without further delay.

These Palestinian and Lebanese families have no idea if their loved ones are dead or alive. Obviously they are unable to organize a dignified burial or even properly grieve. Families of the disappeared suffer from a series of legal, financial, and administrative problems that result from not knowing what became of their missing loved ones.
Wadad Halawani,
the founder of the Committee of
the families of the Kidnapped
and missing in Lebanon.
A recent Amnesty International study of Lebanon’s problems on this urgent subject included the experience of Wadad Halawani, the founder of the Committee of the families of the Kidnapped and missing in Lebanon. Wadad described her life after her husband, was taken away from their home in Beirut in September 1982, apparently by agents of Lebanese military Intelligence, the Duexsieme Bureau. Wadad was forced to raise her two young children, aged six and three alone following his disappearance, and she described how she “lost her balance in life.” She did not know “how to protect the children from the rockets” and was “lost for answers to their endless questions” about their father for which she had no replies.
From knowing many families of missing husbands, Wadad outlined the problems faced by them, personal, social, legal, administrative, and economic.

On the personal and social level, she explained that a Palestinian or any woman in Lebanon, whose husband is missing is neither a married woman nor single, divorced or a widow, and for all that time she will have faced serious problems and obstacles linked to the low status of women. On the legal and administrative level she explained that “a woman cannot spend her husband’s money nor dispose of his property, such as selling his car, as she does not have power of attorney allowing her to do so. Nor can she get a passport for herself, nor for her children if they are under 18 as the guardian required the father even though the mother is raising the children. On the economic level, Wadad told Amnesty International that most of the missing people are from poor families, so the loss of the breadwinner has had devastating impact. In many cases, the families have been unable to cover basic daily needs, including food, clothing, housing, medical care and the costs of education.

The families of missing and disappeared Palestinians and other persons have the right, under international law, to the truth which means a full and complete disclosure about events that transpired during the disappearance of their loved ones.
In March 2010, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that this includes the right to know the exact fate and whereabouts of each victim.

International law and human rights standards also require each party to an armed conflict must take all feasible measures to try and account for people reported missing as a result of the conflict, and release all relevant information concerning their fate or whereabouts.




This applies to Israel during the September 1982 massacre. More than once over the past three decades Israeli officials have reported that Israel has detailed records of what its sponsored militias did inside Shatila camp and on the periphery with respects to eliminating terrorists and hiding their remains. To date Israel has refused UN and international demands to turn over its records. The international community must sanction Israel until is complies with international law on this subject.

In addition, friends of Palestine including NGO’s and relevant UN agencies should immediately establish an agency cooperating with independent experts and representatives of civil society, including relatives of missing individuals, in cooperation with the Government of Lebanon to investigate the fates of every missing Palestinian and Lebanese including locating and ensuring protection for mass graves and for exhumations, to be carried out consistent with international standards to identify human remains and match them with DNA from relatives. The Embassy of Palestine in Lebanon would be a good choice for organizing the collection of DNA samples from Palestinian families with missing relatives.

As many Palestinians and their supporters arrive at Shatila camp in Beirut this weekend, the thoughts of Palestinians in Libya and the diaspora, land their friends around the world will be with them. As a young Palestinian lady in Sabha told this observer, and sounding very much like Miss Hiba Hajj in Lebanon’s Ein el Helwe camp:
“Every Palestinian must visit this site you told us about of this mass murder of our brothers and sisters. I will do it soon. I promise you. It is not an option, it is an obligation.”
Franklin Lamb is doing research in Libya. He is reachable c\o fplamb@gmail.com

He is the author of The Price We Pay: A Quarter-Century of Israel’s Use of American Weapons Against Civilians in Lebanon.


He contribute to Uprooted Palestinians Blog

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Gamal Abdel Nasser’s Son Dies

Comment:
I knew Khalid Gamal Abdel Nasser in Cairo University, I was one year ahead.
I remember him immitating his father famous Speach delivered on the birth of UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC.

New hope has emerged on the horizon of the East, a new great State emitted in its heart, has a great power in this East Not exotic nor usurper, not normal, protects and does not threaten, Safeguard, strengthen and not weaken, unite and not divide, ....."
أيها المواطنون أعضاء مجلس الأمة

لقد بزغ أمل جديد على أفق هذا الشرق، إن دولة جديدة تنبعث فى قلبه، لقد قامت دولة كبرى فى هذا الشرق ليست دخيلة فيه ولا غاصبة، ليست عادية عليه ولا مستعدية، دولة تحمى ولا تهدد، تصون ولا تبدد، تقوى ولا تضعف، توحد ولا تفرق، تسالم ولا تفرط، تشد أزر الصديق، ترد كيد العدو، لا تتحزب ولا تتعصب، لا تنحرف ولا تنحاز، تؤكد العدل، تدعم السلام، توفر الرخاء لها، لمن حولها، للبشر جميعاً، بقدر ما تتحمل وتطيق.

وفقكم الله وبارك لكم وحدتكم، وحمى جمهوريتكم العربية المتحدة.
والسلام عليكم ورحمه الله

I thought its Al-rayes, Gamal, but when I arrived to the lecture room, I was surprised to find that its his son Khalid
May God bless his soul 
,
Gamal Abdel Nasser’s Son Dies
Egypt's military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi on Friday led the funeral of the son of late president and leader Gamal Abdel Nasser who died Thursday, the official MENA agency reported.

Tantawi joined dozens of mourners including politicians and supporters of the late president for the funeral prayers of Khalid Abdel Nasser.

The son of the Arab nationalist leader was an outspoken critic of both his father's successors Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak.

In 1988, he was tried in absentia and later acquitted on charges of belonging to a secret leftist organization that was vehemently opposed to the 1979 so-called peace treaty between Egypt and the Israeli enemy.

In January and February, he joined protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square for mass rallies that brought the end of the Mubarak regime.

Khalid, a professor of engineering at Cairo University, died aged 62 after a battle with illness.
Source: AFP
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Friday 16 September 2011

Time for people power to open Rafah crossing

15 September 2011


People power has opened Rafah crossing before.

The wolf is more merciful than my brothers - Mahmoud Darwish
Writing about the Rafah crossing, after the spectacular success of the Egyptian revolution in ousting Hosni Mubarak, brings back the horrific memory of the deposed dictator’s regime. There were high expectations amongst the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza earlier this year after former Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil el-Arabi described the Mubarak government’s complicity with Israel in besieging Gaza as “disgraceful.”

This was followed on 29 May by an official announcement by the Egyptian government that the Rafah crossing would be permanently opened. Palestinians with passports would be allowed to cross into Egypt every day from 9am to 5pm, except for Fridays and holidays. Palestinian women and children would be able to leave Gaza without restrictions, while men between the ages of 18 and 40 would have to obtain visas to enter Egypt. Despite these conditions, and even though the free flow of goods and materials would not be allowed, Palestinians in Gaza welcomed this move.

This decision, however, was implemented for only two days. It was retracted without any formal announcement and the number now allowed to leave Gaza each day has been reduced to 300. No reason has been given for this change.

Ordinary people in Gaza remain the victims of this political about-turn with their right to freedom of movement curtailed yet again, with no indication of when they can expect to travel freely.

No justification for closure

International law is sometimes cited selectively, even by some Palestine solidarity activists, to justify the closure of the Rafah crossing. They argue that Gaza is not an independent state and that since the internationally recognized, Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority signed the 2005 Rafah Agreement on Movement and Access, only that entity has the right to oversee movement through the crossing on the Palestinian side.

Even Israel’s mainstream liberal media is lecturing the Palestinians of Gaza on what is best for them. The Israeli journalist Amira Hass is another critic of calls to open the Rafah crossing, locating herself in opposition to prominent international signatories to the International Campaign to Open the Rafah Crossing, such as South Africans Desmond Tutu and Ronnie Kasrils as well as the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Territories, Richard Falk. World-renowned writers Alaa Al Aswani, Ahdaf Soueif, Tariq Ali, Radwa Ashour, Mike Marqusee and Benjamin Zephania – to mention but a few – and major international solidarity groups and trade unions have also backed the call to open Rafah.
Hass’s argument is that the call to open the crossing permanently and unconditionally is “another self-described militant initiative that is a double-edged sword” because it is not combined with the demand for freedom of movement between Gaza and the West Bank — as if the opening of the crossing necessitates the closure of all other crossings between Gaza and Israel.

Confusing tactic with strategy allows Hass to ignore the simple fact that these six crossings are totally controlled by trigger-happy Israeli soldiers. For her, “the apparently progressive and militant initiative” to open the Rafah crossing turns the cutoff of Gaza from the West Bank into an “unchallenged reality.”
To a supporter of the two-state solution, this conclusion is of course valid. To not be able to see the immense amount of suffering caused by the closure of the crossing, and ignoring that Palestinians in Gaza currently have no other exit, boggles the mind.

Most importantly, Hass seems to even ignore the fact that the call to open the crossing permanently and unconditionally was issued by Gaza-based civil society and grassroots organizations. Meanwhile, Egyptian revolutionaries and grassroots organizations supported the call as soon as it was issued.

Rereading international law

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that:
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own,
and to return to his country.
International law is not against the opening of the Rafah crossing, and even if it was, it would be up to us, ordinary people, civil society and grassroots organizations, to create a new reality on the ground.
But international law is very clear that in cases of emergency, such as during the siege and massacres in Gaza, neighboring countries, such as Egypt, should open their borders. Bosnia is a good recent example where neighboring European countries heeded calls to open their borders for Bosnians in accordance with international law. One can go further and say that any government official imposing, or helping, in the imposition of this deadly siege on Gaza should be tried for war crimes. This question should be addressed to the present Secretary General of the Arab League, Nabil el-Arabi, as an expert on international law, and because his statements on Egypt’s relations with Israel gave unfulfilled hope to the besieged Palestinians in Gaza.

The reality is that Israel, both before and after 2005, is the only power that decides when to open the crossing and how to interpret international law, making sure that its own interests and that of the US and the West in general are secured.

International law and agreements can be used, and defended, as a framework for struggle where Palestinian rights are guaranteed and protected (such as UN Resolution 194, which calls for the Palestinian refugees’ right of return) and if such use supports resistance and national liberation. My understanding is that international law should serve freedom, equality and human rights.

The restriction of Palestinian movement at the Rafah crossing is, however, a political decision since the Palestinian national unity government, which survived for a short period of time in 2007, representing almost all Palestinian political organizations, indicated to both Egypt and the Quartet (the US, European Union, Russia and the UN) that it accepts the 2005 Rafah crossing principles. This Palestinian endorsement of the principles was never accepted by the Egyptian regime or the Quartet, resulting in the current stalemate that has led directly to the deaths of more than 650 Palestinians in Gaza who were unable to access needed medical treatment.

It is worth nothing that prior to 1967, under an Egyptian administration, the Gaza Strip had no controlled borders with Egypt, and Gazans were able to drive through the Sinai up to the Suez Canal without being stopped at all. That freedom of movement was never used as a pretext to deprive Palestinians in Gaza of the right to struggle to return to the villages and towns from which they had been ethnically cleansed. Gaza was still considered part of historic Palestine. The same principle applies today regarding calls to open Rafah; to open Rafah doesn’t mean the acceptance of the rest of Israel’s closure regime.

Ignoring colonization

The problem with the mainstream (mis)interpretation of international law is that it transforms the whole Palestine question into a decontextualized, postmodern language game. The international law referred to is viewed as ahistorical and takes into consideration the interpretation of the powerful party, Israel. This discourse ignores that Israel has colonized not only the land, but also history and the discourse that represents it. As historian Ilan Pappe says in a different context, Israel has employed its powerful apparatus to propagate its official narrative.
We Palestinians are engaged in a national liberation struggle and the context in Gaza, especially during and after the massacre, requires a complete paradigm shift in our understanding of the tools of struggle and the political program that is to be used. It is the time of people power as evidenced on the streets of Cairo, Damascus, Sana’a, Manama and Tunis. The people of Egypt with the Palestinians of Gaza can open the crossing permanently and unconditionally, regardless of what Israel and its backers in the White House and 10 Downing Street think. Their man in Sharm El-Sheikh is behind bars, thanks to the sacrifices and courage of ordinary people like Khaled Said and Ahmed al-Shahat and the men, women and children of Gaza who managed to tear down the cement walls on the Palestinian-Egyptian borders twice.
There are lessons to learn from Gaza 2009. We have lost faith in the so-called international community that claims to uphold international law, as their representatives such as the UN, EU and the Arab League by and large have remained silent in the face of atrocities committed by apartheid Israel. They are therefore on the side of Israel.
So what if Israel declares Gaza a “hostile entity?” The message from officials citing international law to justify the closure of the crossing, and some misinformed activists and journalists, is a mechanical interpretation of the law that does not take human lives into account.
The closing of the Palestinians of Gaza’s only exit to the outside world amounts to a crime against humanity, given the Israeli siege and ongoing bombardment of Gaza. Egypt has a moral and political obligation to open the Rafah crossing permanently and around the clock. Egypt cannot continue to support opportunistic interpretations of international law that justify the ongoing deprivation of medicine, milk, food and other essentials to the population of Gaza.
The sanctity of human lives should take precedence over borders and treaties and solidarity activists need to take the lead in making this point to the Egyptian and other governments.
Under the Geneva Conventions, Palestinians, like all other people, are entitled to freedom of movement and protection from collective punishment such as the arbitrary closure of the crossing.
No misinterpretation of international law can override Palestinians’ right to free movement in and out of Egypt just because they are also at the same time engaged in a struggle against Israeli occupation, colonization and apartheid.
Haidar Eid is an independent political commentator from the Gaza Strip, Palestine.
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