Poet's Page
music and opinion from Wales' wandering poet.
Peace Page
REQUIEM
Poet and Efran Kaye's tribute
to everyone killed in wars.
Bless the large numbers of Ethiopians,
the many good people in Indonesia, and
the folks of Russia, Greece and Egypt,
who are now playing it.
100% CERTAIN 9/11 WAS MOSSAD OPERATION
Most US people polled believe that 9/11 was an
"inside job", but what would they feel if they
found out that it was designed by Zionists who
deliberately killed thousands of innocent US
citizens to drive the US into wars on Muslims?
They'd be angry, right?
US HATRED OF MUSLIMS IS FEEDING THE 1%'s WARS
An 18-month-old girl is taken off a JetBlue
Airways plane in the USA... because her name
appeared on a no-fly security list.
The parents of the toddler, who were also taken
off the plane, say they were humiliated by the
security officials’ action.
“We were put on display like a circus act because
my wife wears a hijab,” Riyanna's father told
WPBF 25 News, ABC's local affiliate in West
Palm Beach, Florida.
He says the incident was motivated by prejudice
because they are Muslims and of Middle Eastern descent.
A JetBlue spokesperson calls it a “computer glitch”
and states that the airline is investigating
the incident, which occurred on May 8th at
Fort Lauderdale airport in Florida. JetBlue
has apologised to the family, who live in New Jersey.
“We believe this was a computer glitch,” JetBlue
says. “Our crewmembers followed the appropriate
protocols, and we apologize to the family
involved in this unfortunate circumstance.”
The family was eventually 'allowed' to re-board
the flight, but left the airport in protest.
The Transportation Security Agency says that the
little girl couldn't have been on the government
watch list as she'd been issued a boarding pass.
A poll by the Pew Research Centre last year
shows that abuse of Muslims by US airport
security, law enforcement officers and others
has increased considerably since US Muslims
were first polled in 2007.
43% of US Muslims report experiencing harassment
in 2010, a 3% increase on 2007's figures.
Meanwhile, US armed forces are trained to fight
and explode nuclear missiles on Muslim states..
2 more occupation soldiers are killed today in an
attack in eastern Afghanistan, NATO announces.
**********************************************
NEW WORLD ORDER OLD WORLD TRICKS
Not so long ago Egypt and the Sudan were united.
But the colonial powers have succeeded in their
"divide and rule" tactics, and now South Sudan’s
Minister of Agriculture Betty Achan Ogwaro is
in Israel to attend the regime’s annual
exhibition of agriculture and technology,
Agritech 2012, in Tel Aviv, Press TV reports.
According to the report, South Sudan is planning
to buy Israel’s agricultural products and
technologies to produce raw materials for
plant-based bio-fuel.
Thousands of farmers in South Sudan have
recently started cultivating Manihot plant,
whose roots are consumed for producing
ethanol, which is used as 'clean fuel'.
During Ogwaro’s meeting with Israel’s Deputy
Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, the two sides
decided to establish a special agricultural
village in South Sudan as a model for future villages.
Israel established full diplomatic relationship
with South Sudan soon after the African country
gained independence on July 9, 2011, following
decades of conflict with the north.
The oil-rich nation is one of the least-
developed countries in the world, where one
in seven children dies before the age of five.
***********************************************
NAKBA IGNITES THE BEAST
At least 70 people are injured in Qalandiya by
Israeli troops clashing with Palestinians today
over Israel's illegal occupation on Nakba Day.
**********************************************
THOUSANDS KILLED BY NATO BOMBING OF LIBYA
According to Libyan National Transitional
Council Chair Mustafa Abdel Jalil, about
25,000 people were killed and 50,000 others
injured from February 2011 to October 2011.
But Human Rights Watch thinks it was "dozens":
"NATO warplanes carried out 26,500 sorties,
including 9,700 strike missions, over Libya
from March 2011 to October 2011," Human
Rights Watch accepts, but then concludes that
"a few dozen" civilians were killed.
It is an indication of the callous indifference
and conformist credulity of the populations of
NATO countries, that nonsense of this sort is
regarded as credible. Clearly the number of
those killed by NATO bombing was in the
thousands and probably in the tens of thousands.
HRW, whose staff bounce around from NGOs to the
White House to the US Democratic Party, is to be
congratulated, however, for making its bias so
clear. It's a propaganda organ of the US centred
Empire, always was, always will be.
***********************************************
AFGHAN KILLINGS CONTINUE
On Sunday, members of the Afghan national police
force shoot dead at least two UK soldiers in
Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
On Saturday a UK soldier serving with NATO forces
in Afghanistan was killed by a man believed to
be a member of the local Afghan police.
On Saturday, also, a NATO soldier died of his
injuries. On Friday a man dressed in Afghan
army uniform killed another US "liberator",
wounding several others in Eastern Afghanistan.
***********************************************
30,000 UK POLICE MARCH TO DEMAND "NO MORE CUTS"
When billions are spent on war on innocents and
the same amounts are "saved" by cutting public
services, it makes all of us think and act...
on Saturday hundreds of thousands marched and struck
across the UK yet Maude says they are inflating
protesters' numbers and tells them to accept the
Tory coalition's "generous" offer.
When the UK public understands that the city of
London makes money from crushing and killing
innocents abroad and cutting life at home...
we can finally all move forward.
***********************************************
LOGAR - UNLUCKY FOR SOME
At least 3 US soldiers are reported wounded by
rocket fire on their base in Logar, Eastern
Afghanistan, and a US surveillance drone is
reported as having "crashed" in Logar near the
same US military base.
***********************************************
55 KILLED BY US-BACKED "REBELS" IN SYRIA
Turkey sets up "safe zones" and refugee camps
to help fight Syria... and shames a proud land.
Israel is confessed as having trained recently,
forty captured "rebels" inside Syria.
***********************************************
NETANYAHU TO INSIST ON JEWS SERVING IN MILITARY
In a move which sidelines any religious parties
which insist that religious education defers any
call to mandatory miliary service for Israeli kids,
Kadima joins the huge 94 member coalition despite
having sworn not to do so "under any circumstances".
The move also defers any elections until 2013.
***********************************************
WHO CARES?
As the new President of France tells the world
that the UK government cares only about helping
the "City", a new report says that one in five
homeless people living on the streets in Sussex,
England, are ex-service personnel of the UK
armed forces who've suffered extreme war traumas.
Over 15 ex-members of the armed forces are
currently sleeping rough in Brighton and Hove,
The Argus reports, while the number is as high
as 50 across the whole of Sussex.
Sussex police do not confirm the figures, but
Sergeant Richard Siggs, who leads the Police
Street Community team in Brighton says that
they “have a number of homeless individuals
who inform us that they are ex-military."
“One man I know was on board a boat that was
blown up in the Falklands. Others have recently
come back from Iraq and Afghanistan,” he adds.
Ex paratrooper Nick Zaver, who now runs a charity
for ex-servicepeople in the region says that he
ended up “homeless and sleeping in [his] car
for three months”, after 18 years in the army.
The guys we are meeting have given their lives
for their country and have ended up with
nothing, the lowest of the low,” Zaver says.
The report underlines the conditions the UK war
machine imposes on its most dedicated citizens.
The paper quotes other ex-soldiers complaining
that they have to “manage” their “mental health
issues on a daily, sometimes moment-to-moment
basis” and have to endure “flashbacks and night
terrors” after war traumas, including witnessing
the mutilated bodies of children and women in Iraq.
This is while client support officer for the
Royal British Legion in Sussex, Alan Merry,
says he sees 150 to 200 former soldiers each
year who are mostly homeless or becoming so.
***********************************************
MOTHER AND FOUR CHILDREN KILLED BY AIRSTRIKE
A US-led airstrike slaughtered a mother and her
five children near Kandahar on Monday.
Locals are outraged and say they plan to protest.
On Sunday an Afghan soldier shot a US sergeant dead.
Meanwhile, the UK’s military death toll in
Afghanistan has reached 412 so far, with the
news of the death of 2 more UK troops on Monday.
The UK’s MoD confirms the death of two soldiers,
saying in a statement that the “soldiers, from
the Royal Logistic Corps, were attached to 1st
Battalion The Royal Welsh Battlegroup, in the
northern part of Nahr-e-Saraj district in the
troubled southern Helmand Province”.
The MoD says that the two soldiers died in an
"indirect fire attack" on Forward Operating Base Ouellette.
"Sadly, I must report that today that (sic) two
soldiers from The Royal Logistic Corps attached
to 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh Battlegroup
were killed in an indirect fire attack on their
base”, said Task Force Helmand spokesperson,
Major Ian Lawrence.
"The thoughts and condolences of everyone
serving in the Combined Force are with
their families and friends."
************************************************
FRANCE, RUSSIA, GREECE... FACE THE FUTURE !
France achieves a socialist victory by 53%
to 47% as Msr Hollande becomes President.
Putin officially steps back into the Presidency
today, and those parties in Greece following
US "austerity" plans, are now the minority !!!
Let us hope that peace is strengthened now.
The Wales miners' slogan was "Forward to
Peace and Socialism. In THAT order.
Shalom.
***********************************************
3 MORE SOLDIERS KILLED IN ILLEGAL AFGHAN WAR
Three more soldiers are reported killed Sunday
in the East of Afghanistan. No details.
************************************************
SPRING OFFENSIVE STARTS IN OCCUPIED AFGHANISTAN
Two more soldiers from the UK have been killed
in southern Afghanistan, as US-led foreign troops
brace themselves for the Taliban’s seasonal surge.
The UK soldiers were killed on Friday in a
Taliban mortar rocket attack on their base
in the northern part of the Nahri Saraj
district in Helmand province. No further details.
***********************************************
EGYPTIANS TELL MILITARY JUNTA FRIDAY: "GO NOW!"
Egyptians massing in their “million-man” march
in Cairo on Friday, to demand the end of army
rule, after the recent killing of 20 protesters
by pro-military thugs, met more violence...
with one killed and scores injured on Friday.
At least 20 were killed previously by thugs, who
were armed with rocks, clubs and firebombs, in
what is now called the 'Abbasieh massacre'.
The Muslim Brotherhood called on protesters to
return to Liberation Square on Friday to demand
that the ruling military council step down now.
In the Abbasieh massacre on Wednesday, dozens
were injured in unprovoked attacks on protesters
who were camping out near the Defense Ministry,
and calling for an end to military rule.
The protesters were mostly supporters of Hazem
Abu Ismael, a presidential candidate from the
Islamic party, who was barred from running in
the country’s upcoming presidential election.
Soldiers and police stopped the clashes nearly
six hours after they began. They were accused
of not intervening until after the deaths.
**********************************************
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DROPS IN US
The United States has dropped in the newly
released press freedom index, almost entirely
thanks to the brutal treatment of journalists
covering the Occupy movement.
Freedom House issued its annual Freedom of the
Press report on Tuesday.
Freedom House says that the arrests, detentions
and beatings that some journalists faced during
the height of the Occupy protests is responsible
for a one-point drop in its standing.
The overall score declined by one point due to
detentions, rough police tactics, and other
difficulties encountered by journalists while
covering protests associated with the Occupy movement.
Freedom House places the US at 22, tied with
Estonia and Jamaica with an 18 point score.
(0 is the best on the scale.)
It's the second time this year that the US has
suffered in a press freedom index over Occupy.
reports the Huffington Post.
**********************************************
'TALIBAN' ANNOUNCE SPRING OFFENSIVE
After several months of audacious attacks and
rising occupation casualties with supply routes
threatened, the US-led NATO forces now face more!
***********************************************
2 MORE SOLDIERS KILLED WEDNESDAY IN AFGHAN CHAOS
Two US-led NATO soldiers are killed Wednesday in
Afghanistan. A statement from NATO says that
one of the soldiers is killed by IED explosion
"in the east", on Wednesday.
**********************************************
TWO KINDS OF MAY DAY IN AFGHANISTAN
On May day Afghans blocked the Kabul-Kandahar
highway to demand that foreign soldiers go home
after four children were killed during clashes
between Nato troops and resistance forces.
The protesters were carrying the bodies of four
children aged eight to 12.
Zabul's deputy governor Mohammad Jan Rasoulyar,
says that the children died during a gunfight
between Taliban fighters and ISAF personnel
in Shahjoy on Monday evening.
Mr Rasoulyar says the gunfight started when
guerillas attacked the ISAF soldiers as they
met local community leaders.
"ISAF and Afghan troops returned fire. There was
an exchange of fire during which four children
were killed and some others kids were injured.
"Today the people are protesting at the killing
of the children."
On Monday thousands of Afghans rallied in Kabul
against the continued influence of warlords in
government who toppled the progressive Democratic
Republic government on April 30th, 1992.
The victory of the US-backed mojahedin also
marked the start of the 1992-1996 civil war
that saw the Taliban come to power.
Protesters, including members of the left-wing
Solidarity Party, accuse the Karzai clique and
its Western backers of appointing "war criminals"
to senior government posts.
They burned pictures of prominent mojahedin and
demanded punishment for those involved in human
rights violations over the past three decades
of war in Afghanistan.
The demonstration was mounted after a 'national
holiday' honouring former warlords on April 28th,
which is known as Mojahedin Victory Day.
At the same time as good Afghans march bravely
to expose the US/warlords axis as murderers,
Obama flies secretly into Kabul to sign an
agreement to extend the US presence beyond 2014.
Shortly after arriving in Afghanistan under
cover late on Tuesday night, US President
Barack Obama signed a deal with his Afghan
counterpart Hamid Karzai to provide aid,
advisers, and support for 10 years after the expected departure of foreign combat troops
in 2014, CBS News reports.
After signing, Obama went straight to the US-run
Bagram Air Base in eastern Afghanistan, and met
US troops briefly, before giving a televised
speech, then quickly ending his surprise visit.
Obama says the US is building an "enduring"
cooperation with Kabul to train Afghan forces
to take full responsibility for security.
Obama "warns" that if foreign forces leave
Afghanistan immediately, they will "lose
everything they have gained". He urges the
illegal occupation forces to "finish the job
they started" before withdrawing.
Obama's visit and "agreement" knocked huge May
Day demonstrations off the front pages... !
As casualties rise in Afghanistan, public opinion
in the US and most other NATO members has turned
against the US-led illegal war.
Hundreds of civilians have lost their lives in
US-led operations in Afghanistan over the past
few months, with Afghans becoming increasingly
outraged at the unending deadly assaults.
Violence has spread from Afghanistan’s volatile
south, to all areas, over the past year.
************************************************
HUGE UK UNION ACTS TO BOYCOTT ISRAEL
The Unison union has blocked the participation
of an Israeli expert at an NHS-sponsored
workshop on negotiation and conflict management
next week in Manchester.
Union members "would find it difficult to be
lectured in conflict resolution by someone from
Israel," a Unison spokesperson tells the Guardian.
Unison, the UK's largest trade union, represents
1.3 million public service workers, and has
several times voted for a general boycott of Israel.
"Unison's local representatives at the
Manchester Mental Health & Social Care Trust
did request that the decision to invite Mr Moti
Cristal to facilitate a Partnership Workshop on
8th May 2012 be reversed," Kevin Nelson, the
regional secretary of Unison North West Region says.
"It was considered that the decision to invite a
prominent Israeli negotiator would be unacceptable
given UNISON and TUC policy on the Middle East conflict.”
Moti Cristal, an Israeli advisor and trainer on
negotiating skills, who was scheduled to present
a "master-class" at a workshop on conflict
resolution for managers on May 8th, received an
email on April 27 from the company organizing
the seminar, telling him that his lecture had
been cancelled "on the grounds that it is policy
of the union and the Trades Union Council, to
support the Palestinian people."
***********************************************
MONDAY - ANOTHER SOLDIER KILLED IN AFGHAN MESS
Another US-led soldier dies by IED blast on
Monday. No details except it occurred in the South.
**********************************************
STOP IMPRISONING INNOCENT PALESTINIANS
The Palestinian Forum in Britain (PFB) is to
deliver a message to the office of the UK's
PM, David Cameron, on Monday, May 7, asking
for UK intervention to press Israel to respond
to Palestinian prisoners’ humanitarian demands.
************************************************
THE CO-OP KNOWS
The UK’s fifth biggest food retailer and the
country's largest mutual business, the Co-
operative Group, has extended a boycott of
goods from illegal settlements produced on
occupied Palestinian territories in the West bank.
The supermarket chain is taking the lead among
European supermarkets to end trade with those
companies that purchase produce made in illegal
Israeli settlements... continuing the UK Co-ops'
policy of holding to ethical trade practices.
"Following an audit of the Group's supply chain,
it will no longer do business with 4 companies,
accounting for £350,000 worth of sales, as there
is evidence that they source from the Israeli
settlements in the Palestinian occupied
territories," their statement says.
"The Group will also continue to actively work
to increase trade links with Palestinian
businesses in the occupied territories.”
The Co-op, which has not bought goods from
illegal settlements since 2009, is to extend
the boycott further by "no longer engaging
with any supplier of produce known to be
sourcing from the Israeli settlements".
This brave move by the UK's Co-op is expected
to hit 4 Israeli companies, including Agrexco,
Arava Export Growers, Adafresh, and Mehadrin,
which is Israel's largest agricultural export company.
Welcoming the move, Hilary Smith, Co-op member
and Boycott Israel Network (BIN) agricultural
trade campaign coordinator, says that the Co-op
"has taken the lead internationally in this
historic decision to hold corporations to
account for complicity in Israel's violations
of Palestinian human rights. We strongly urge
other retailers to take similar action."
A spokesperson for the Palestinian Union of
Agricultural Work Committees says that trading
with companies such as Mehadrin...
“constitutes a major form of support for
Israel's apartheid regime over the Palestinian
people, so we warmly welcome this
principled decision by the Co-operative."
***********************************************
BEGINNING OF THE END IS... WHERE?
Ali Akbar Salehi says on Sunday that the
April 14th talks marked the beginning of the
closure of Iran’s nuclear case.
Iran’s foreign minister says that the latest
round of the talks between Tehran and six
major world powers (P5+1) is the "beginning
of the end" to the Islamic Republic’s nuclear case.
Salehi makes his remarks in a joint press
conference with Armenia's Foreign Minister,
Edward Nalbandian, on Sunday in Tehran.
Salehi adds that the Deputy Secretary of Iran's
Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), Ali
Baqeri, and the EU Deputy Secretary General for
Political Affairs, Helga Schmid, have been
assigned to prepare the draft of a framework
for cooperation before the next round of the
talks... in Baghdad.
Describing the Istanbul talks as “successful,”
the Iranian foreign minister expresses hope
that the meeting in Baghdad will be even more fruitful.
“While we took one step forward in Istanbul,
God willing, we will take several steps in
the Baghdad meeting,” he says.
After the Istanbul talks, both sides hailed
the talks as constructive.
The next round of the talks will be held on May
the 23rd, in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.
Yet Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA said on Friday
that a new round of talks between Tehran and the
P5+1 (US, UK, France, China, and Russia, plus
Germany) - would be held in Vienna on May 13th
and 14th. Ali Asghar Soltanieh said on Friday,
that the sides would meet in Vienna at Iran’s
representation offices at the IAEA, said IRNA.
“Following negotiations with the Agency
regarding the framework and modality for
resolving the questions, it was agreed
that the next round of talks be held in
the Islamic Republic’s permanent
representation offices at International
Organizations, such as the IAEA, in Vienna.”
*********************************************
TWO MORE SOLDIERS DIE IN ILLEGAL AFGHAN WAR
One is reported as a "non-combat" death, and the
other is stated to have died in an IED explosion
in the south... no other details given Saturday.
***********************************************
NEOCON CUTS FACE REVOLT IN EUROPE
Selling off state assets and cutting benefits
pensions and wages to tackle the eurozone's debt
crisis is being rejected by people across Europe
...and leading to the collapse of governments.
On Friday, the Romanian government collapsed as
it lost a no-confidence vote over state asset
sales. Earlier this week, the Dutch government
fell after failing to agree on spending cuts to
comply with the new "rules".
Now Merkel publicly intervenes in the French
debate as Hollande, the socialist party choice
insists that France will challenge all this...
and only just in time, as the possibility of
peaceful growth is fading as the wardogs growl
and send armaments across the world to gain
profits for the 1% from conflict.
Guess which European state is most in debt,
cutting most, and pouring armaments most
into countries like Indonesia, Bahrain, etc?
That's right - the UK !
Far from containing its external debt, the UK
would disappear if "international investors"
withdrew their money. But the 1% love a UK
which harbours gun runners and crook bankers !
Perhaps the Irish will show the way in their
May referendum... and decide to follow their
truer vision of building a loving community.
The alternative for Europe, is conflict and war.
************************************************
POWER STRUGGLE CONTINUES IN EGYPT
Egypt’s Higher Presidential Election Commission
has reversed its decision to bar Mubarak-era
Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq from running in the
country’s upcoming presidential election.
Egypt’s election committee announces now the
'final' list of 13 candidates for Egypt’s
upcoming presidential election.
The list includes Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime
minister to serve under Mubarak.
"After listening to Shafiq's appeal, the
committee decided to halt the decision to
exclude him from the presidential race," Farouk
Soltan, head of the election committee, says.
The list also includes Mubarak's foreign minister
and the former Arab League chief, Amr Moussa.
Mohamed Morsi, head of the Muslim Brotherhood’s
Freedom and Justice Party, is also among the
presidential contenders confirmed now.
The polls are to be held in two rounds. The first
over two days on May 23rd and 24th, while a run-
off, if necessary, will take place on June 16th
and 17th. Final results are expected on June 21st.
The military council took power after the
February revolution in Egypt, that over-
threw Mubarak’s Western-backed regime.
The SCAF promised to step down after a 6 month
period and hand over power to a civilian
government, a pledge it has so far failed to fulfill.
***********************************************
THE PAIN OF IEDs FOR US-LED TROOPS CONTINUES
Four more US soldiers are killed in Afghanistan
Friday, three when a bomb strikes a US patrol in
Panjawi district, Kandahar, and a man in Afghan
army uniform has opened fire on US-led forces
in Afghanistan, killing at least one soldier.
The three US soldiers were on patrol as the
blast occurred earlier in the day.
The southern regions of Afghanistan, including
Kandahar, are among the most dangerous parts
of Afghanistan for US-led foreign troops.
Insecurity continues to climb across Afghanistan
despite the continued presence of nearly 130,000
US-led forces in the Asian country.
At least four US-led foreign soldiers died
in separate incidents on Monday/Tuesday,
in different parts of Afghanistan.
Two foreign soldiers working with NATO forces
were killed in bomb blasts in the country's
south and east on Monday, says a NATO statement.
Meanwhile, two more US-led soldiers died of 'non-
combat injuries' in east and south Afghanistan.
***********************************************
TO KEEP THREATENING A 3RD WORLD WAR IS NO GAME
The current extreme right wing Israeli state
threatens again to attack Iran, even after
Iran's Supreme Leader announced that nuclear
weapons are forbidden by God. Israel's present
leaders must know that any attack on Iran will
cause an explosive series of events across the
Middle East and wreck the world's already fragile
economy... and COULD lead to nuclear war...
Yet the current 'Defense' Minister Ehud Barak
says that Israel is not playing games about
striking Iran, if all other options fail.
Speaking at a ceremony for fallen soldiers at
Kibbutz Mishmar HaSharon, Barak says Israel is
not just trying to persuade the international
community to apply more pressure, the Times of
Israel news site reports.
"We're not playing games here. These are genuine,
serious matters. Underpinning all the preparations
and the activities, there has to be a willingness
to tackle the real challenge if it comes,"
Barak tells local media.
The Israel-Iran war of words has hit a crescendo
in these last months, with Israel threatening to
take military actions against Iran if economic
and political sanctions "fail to deter Tehran
from pursuing nuclear weaponry."
"We really have to be ready for every kind of
test. I don't want to elaborate as regards our
capabilities, but when we speak to our friends
about not taking any options off the table, we
mean what we say," Barak stresses.
Israel says it suspects that Iran's nuclear
program aims at nuclear weapons, although
Iran insists that it is for peaceful purposes.
Barak's words come just one day after Israel
Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lt-Gen
Benny Gantz says that the Israeli army is
prepared to launch an attack on Iran's nuclear
facilities once a government decision to that
end is made.
"The State of Israel thinks that a nuclear-armed
Iran is a very bad thing that must be stopped
... we're preparing our plans accordingly,"
Gantz tells Yediot Aharonoth daily.
These threats are an illegal and dangerous move.
To bomb Iran's nuclear reactors NOW THEY ARE
OPERATING will cause a holocaust on Iran's people.
It appears that we are being herded like cattle
to war and that the Empire (the US,) is blind.
The "recession" is sweeping away the centre of
politics in Europe too. We had better pray that
the far right doesn't win over the left THIS time.
In France, the racist card is being played hard.
Let's ACT to create a REAL economy for our youth!
Other races aren't taking all the jobs away...
there ARE no jobs ! At best, there are less &
less jobs, & an absent economy.
Cuts, cuts and more cuts... are NOT the answer.
***********************************************
ANOTHER SOLDIER BLOWN UP IN ILLEGAL AFGHAN WAR
A bomb explosion has claimed the life of another
US-led foreign soldier in southern Afghanistan,
Press TV reports on Tuesday.
**********************************************
CORRUPTION RULES
As rightwing "cuts" governments start to fall
across Europe... (France, Netherlands, Czech,)
it is clear that corruption lies at their core.
The Panorama discussions on UK TV lately claim
that the city of London "subsidises" Scotland,
Wales and the rest of the UK, because big firms
led by city brokers are making all the UK's money.
But what they DON'T mention is that the "cuts"
economy and the ruin of industrial honest work
is down to following policies which help the
city bankers' corrupt practices. Bribes lie at
the HEART of UK politics, the media, etc...
and a renewal of honest endeavour is due.
In Mexico a watchdog is urging the government
there to check claims that top executives at
Walmart's Mexican subsidary bribed officials
to let it build shops across the country.
Transparency Mexico director Eduardo Bohorquez
says international conventions require a federal
probe, despite only local officials being
implicated in the scandal... so far.
Government officials are refusing to comment on
claims published in the New York Times, that US
Walmart executives stopped bribe investigations.
The paper says executives in Mexico bribed officials
with $24 million (£15m) to gain the company's rapid expansion.
Walmart de Mexico, now the country's largest
private employer, also refuses to comment...
Walmart owns Azda, your friendly supermarket!
***********************************************
EGYPT SIZZLES IN OPPOSITION TO ISRAEL
Egypt's parliament is calling on the country's
top cleric to resign over his recent visit to
Israel-occupied East al-Quds (Jerusalem).
Egyptian MPs on Sunday voted to demand that the
Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa submit his resignation and
apologize to Arabs and Muslims, Reuters reports.
Goma visited the al-Aqsa mosque compound in East
al-Quds on Wednesday. His trip to the holy city
has provoked a storm in Egypt and the Arab world.
The Egyptian cleric says his visit was unofficial
& personal & didn't signal recognition of Israel.
Although Egypt was Israel’s strongest Arab ally
during the rule of former dictator Hosni Mubarak,
the Egyptian public views Israel as an enemy,
and Egypt's new parliament is reflecting this.
Yesterday (Sunday), Egypt repealed the 2005 gas
export accord with Israel, which supplied Israel
with cheap natural gas to generate electricity.
**********************************************
ONLY THE RICH GET PLEASURE FROM THIS...
Two more US-led soldiers serving with ISAF have
been killed by an IED in eastern Afghanistan.
ISAF says in their Monday statement that the
soldiers lost their lives yesterday when hit
by an improvised explosive device (IED).
The statement does not reveal any details, but
most of the foreign troops in the eastern part
of Afghanistan are US soldiers.
**********************************************
FROM MONTREAL TO PALESTINE
The international disorder of the West's elite
is being challenged in Canada, where 90 were
arrested simply for gathering to protest...
and in Palestine, Israeli prison guards have
attacked Palestinian prisoners in an attempt
to force the inmates to break their hunger
strike, Palestinian human rights sources say.
The prisoners were attacked in Ashkelon prison
after they began their hunger strike.
The Israeli authorities also confiscated personal
belongings of the prisoners, Palestinian news
website Maan reports this weekend.
Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners began the
hunger strike on Tuesday, April 17th, which
marked 'Palestinian Prisoners Day'.
The prisoners are going without food in protest
at their arrest and imprisonment without charge,
and at being forced into solitary confinement
by the present extreme-right Zionist regime.
On Tuesday, thousands of people demonstrated
across the occupied West Bank and the Gaza
Strip to express solidarity with the prisoners,
as 99%ers across the world fight for justice.
***********************************************
BLACK HAWK DOWN IN HELMAND, AFGHANISTAN
At least four US troops are killed Friday when a
helicopter operated by the US-led ISAF goes down
in southern Afghanistan on Friday, a US military
officer tells the LA Times on condition of anonymity.
“There was bad weather occurring at the time of
the crash, but enemy action cannot be ruled out
at this time,” the officer notes.
An official ISAF statement reads “The crash site
is secured; the cause is under investigation.
Additional information will be released as appropriate.”
----------------------------------------------
EGYPT's REAL REVOLUTION "THIS FRIDAY" - !
The Muslim Brotherhood's disqualified
presidential candidate says Egypt's ruling
military council has no intention of transfering
real power to a civilian government.
"The military council, in my opinion, is not
serious about the handover of power," Khairat
al-Shater says at a press conference in Cairo.
He accuses the ruling Supreme Council of the
Armed Forces of "looking for a figure that it
can control from behind the curtains."
Egypt's electoral commission - made up of Mubarak-
era judges - turned down appeals filed by Shater and
9 other candidates disqualified from running in
the May presidential election.
Shater describes the electoral commission's
decision to ban him from the upcoming election
as a "crime against the Egyptian people."
He warns that his disqualification is the first
real sign of fraud in Egypt’s first presidential
election since the February 2011 ouster of US-
backed dictator Hosni Mubarak.
Shater accuses the ruling junta of trying to fix
the poll by eliminating Islamic candidates.
He says the supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood
are gathering in Cairo's Tahrir Square today
to defend the goals of their revolution:-
"This Friday is the real handover of power."
On Saturday, 10 of the 23 registered candidates
for the upcoming presidential election were
barred from running, including the Salafist
Hazem Abu Ismail, and Khairat al-Shater.
************************************************
ANOTHER UK SOLDIER DIES FROM AFGHAN WAR INJURIES
Another UK soldier has died in a hospital in the
UK after sustaining serious injuries in an IED
explosion in southern Afghanistan.
On Wednesday the UK's MoD announced that the
soldier (injured in Afghanistan last week),
has died of his wounds, AP reports.
He died at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.
The soldier, serving with 33 Engineer Regiment,
was wounded on April 11th and flown back to the
UK for treatment, says the 'Defense' Ministry.
His death brings the number of UK forces killed
in Afghanistan to 409, according to official
figures released by icasualties.org.
***********************************************
USA EXPOSED
Just as Turkish political leaders warned that
US policies of "beggar my neighbour" are killing
economic growth & Russians warned that sanctions
on Iran are designed only to hurt the US' rivals,
Defense & foreign ministers of NATO member states
gathered in Brussels for talks on the withdrawal
of US-led foreign forces from Afghanistan.
The two days of talks that began on Wednesday,
focussed on the pullout from Afghanistan;
'despite' the steadily rising violence.
Their meeting came just 3 days after fighters
launched a series of coordinated attacks on
embassies, government buildings, and US-led
military bases in Kabul and 3 eastern cities.
The wave of coordinated attacks last Sunday
left 51 people dead.
NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu:
“clearly we still face security challenges,
this was not the first such attack and I
do not expect it to be the last.”
NATO members agreed in November 2010 to hand
over security to Afghan security forces by
the end of 2014.
Australia says now it will begin pulling out its
troops from Afghanistan later in 2012, one year
earlier than planned. New Zealand is now talking
about doing exactly the same.
Why should the rest of the world pay for the US?
Don't we have enough problems to solve to create
a better future in our own countries, without
also having to feed a corrupt parasitic economy
bent on forcing up oil prices and creating wars?
*********************************************
1,200 PALESTINIAN PRISONERS ON HUNGER STRIKE
... scroll down to Palestine section
*************************************************
SOUTH AMERICA SLAPS THE US
If the US insists on excluding Cuba from the OAS,
there will be no more OAS meetings, says Columbia.
Bolivian President Evo Morales says that Latin
American countries are in rebellion against the
US after years of being bullied and cowed.
He makes his remarks on the last day of the
Summit of the Americas, which gathered leaders
and representatives of members of the
Organization of American States (OAS), which
includes all of the countries of the Western
Hemisphere... except Cuba (barred by the US).
“It seems the United States still wants to
isolate us from the world, it thinks it can
still manipulate Latin America, but that's
ending,” Morales says.
“This is a rebellion of Latin American countries
against the United States,” he adds.
The US emerges from the summit in Colombia
completely isolated, as nearly 30 regional
leaders protested at the continued exclusion
of Cuba by refusing to sign a joint declaration.
Obama sat and listened throughout, and made nice
noises about softening the US stance on Cuba, but
Morales denounces a “US dictatorship over South
America and the Caribbean,” adding, “The United
States and Cuba have something in common: both
send troops to other countries. Cuba sends
medical care; whereas the United States sends
troops to end lives. That's the big difference.”
Now Argentina nationalises a huge petrol company
... owned by a Spanish conglomerate.
**********************************************
SO MUCH NEWS...
There is so much news to report, but the new
airstrikes by US assassination drones which
leaves dozens of Somalis dead, every day, is
the most awful, because there is no UN reaction.
Someone in the US, presumably, goes home tonight
after killing human beings by remote control...
and this may even be applauded in the West!
These killer drones are engaged in SEVEN Muslim
countries now, and it begs the question - 'how
can the world continue to allow the US and the
current racist regime in Israel to do this ?'
They are the ONLY states breaking the law in this
way. There can be no peace until they are stopped.
************************************************
UK EMBASSY IN AFGHANISTAN HIT AND SOLDIER KILLED
The UK embassy in Kabul has been struck with two
rockets. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office
confirms that there has been an “incident”.
A rocket-propelled grenade was also fired into a
house used by UK diplomats, the state-run BBC reports.
Another soldier is reported killed in the East. No other details are given.
**********************************************
NUCLEAR ENERGY FOR ALL - NUCLEAR WEAPONS FOR NONE
The Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security
Council (SNSC), Saeed Jalili, repeats the demand
of the Islamic Republic for global nuclear disarmament.
Jalili, Iran's top negotiator in the talks with
the P5+1, reiterates on Saturday that Iranian
views and positions with respect to the nuclear
issue “bring about the opportunity for nuclear
cooperation in the two key areas of disarmament
and non-proliferation.”
Referring to Iran's use of peaceful nuclear
energy based on its indigenous capacities,
the Iranian negotiator says that Iran can
serve as a successful precedent in the
promotion of the motto: “nuclear energy for all,
nuclear weapons for none” for all other countries.
Iran and the P5+1 held two rounds of talks on
Saturday in the Turkish city of Istanbul.
Expressing optimism that the "positive" talks
towards cooperation will continue into the
future, Jalili says: “The negotiations were
forward-leaning and plans were made to attend
to many issues for cooperation.”
The Iranian official adds that both parties have
agreed to continue nuclear cooperation based on
the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
************************************************
THE ESCAPE GRATES...
At least 384 prisoners have escaped from a gaol
in northwestern Pakistan after it was attacked
by armed militants, Press TV reports last Sunday.
Some 200 armed militants equipped with automatic
weapons and rocket-propelled grenades stormed a
central gaol in the suburbs of the northwestern
town of Bannu early in the day, wounding dozens
of police guards and prisoners, say officials.
Prison guards and police forces exchanged fire
for several hours. But the militants manged to
escape before paramilitary troops and army
commandos arrived to assist the police.
“Some 384 prisoners, including some hardcore
militants, have escaped during the attack,"
an official says, on condition of anonymity.
"Preliminary information suggests that there
were some 944 prisoners in the jail according
to the tally late last Saturday," he says.
"At least 20 of them were ``very dangerous
Taliban militants,'' including one, Adnan
Rashid, who was allegedly involved in an
assassination attempt against the former
President, Pervez Musharraf.
Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) say they are
responsible for the attack. “We attacked the
Bannu prison and got our special members freed,"
TTP spokesperson, Ehsanullah Ehsan, says.
************************************************
EGYPT's ELECTION COMMISSION BANS CANDIDATES
Egypt's presidential election commission has
disqualified 10 out of 23 candidates from the
upcoming election, including the Muslim
Brotherhood’s Khairat al-Shater, Mubarak’s
spy chief, Omar Suleiman and Salafi nominee,
Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, from next month’s vote.
The candidates had 48 hours to appeal... all were
turned down by the ex-Mubarak appeal judges.
The polls, over two rounds, are held over two days
on May 23rd and 24th, while a run-off, if necessary,
would take place on June 16th and 17th.
Final results are expected on June 21st.
The disqualifications came just two days after
Egyptians held a mass rally, organized by the
Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafist groups, to
pressure the country’s ruling junta to prohibit
members of the ousted ex-ruler Hosni Mubarak’s
regime from running for president.
The demonstration came one day after parliament
ratified a bill prohibiting members of the old
guard from standing for public office.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate Khairat al-
Shater, said that Suleiman’s presidential bid
could spark a second revolution in the country.
Now he's banned as well !
************************************************
MORE DRONES FALL IN ILLEGAL AFGHAN WAR
Fighters last Saturday claim to have downed yet
another US surveillance drone in Afghanistan.
They claim they shot down the drone in Laghman
Province, and say they have all the wreckage.
Officials have not yet confirmed the report.
Earlier that Saturday, another US drone crashed
in Ghazni Province.
Afghan soldiers reportedly found the wreckage of
the crashed drone and handed it over to the US-
led forces in the region.
On Thursday, a US helicopter belonging to 'ISAF'
also crashed in the eastern province of Khost.
The cause of the crash was not determined.
Fighters claim to have shot down several unmanned
craft & NATO helicopters in Afghanistan recently.
************************************************
THE BIGGER VIDEO
As Russia, China and India state at the end of
their tripartite meeting on Friday, THEY are
the guarantors of peace in the world today...
just as the US has been exposed as a military
aggressor which pretends to care about peace
and 'human rights', but promotes wars worldwide.
The US' move to focus on Asia is being watched.
Obama's regime is heavily arming the Philipines,
and encouraging them to aggressively fight China
over boundary disputes. Now, the Philipines are
full of beautiful people, and we hope and pray
that they do not fall for this evil US manouvre.
***********************************************
WARS STOP RISE OF ALTERNATIVE POWER TO USA
Destabilizing the situation in the Middle East,
North Africa and Africa in general, seriously
hinders access to world energy resources,
holding back the development of new industrial
nations, Pavel Zolotarev says. This, in turn,
allows the US to remain the world leader –
which is its official ultimate objective.
Zolotarev doesn't believe that Israel or the US
will launch a strike on Iran, but suggests that
the splitting up of African nations, such as the
fragmentation of the Sudan, Somalia & all the
'permanent' wars there, will halt the advance of
S America, S Africa, China, and India, etc.
It also drives up the price of oil... so the
game the US is playing keeps MOST of us poorer.
************************************************
WE WANT LOVING POWER
The power to show love is true democracy, true
socialism, say the peoples of South America.
Indigenous peoples of the continent demand of
the leaders who will meet at the Sixth Summit of
the Americas in Cartagenas, concrete solutions
to the problems that affect their rights and
the rights of society in general.
In an interview with Prensa Latina, Luis Evelin
Andrade, president of the National Indigenous
Organization of Colombia (NIOC), stresses that
native peoples expect real commitments to be
taken during the summit.
Indigenous people, he says, hope the leaders
will talk about incorporating into all their
decisions cultural diversity, and make progress
on officially recognizing indigenous rights.
Andrade describes the situation of indigenous
communities as paradoxical, because their
political rise is acknowledged and there have
been changes on rights matters, but still they
suffer hunger, poverty, and social exclusion and
face great difficulties in health and education.
So, he concludes, we expect commitments aimed at
solving the problem of poverty, but above all,
the inclusion of all social sectors in decision
making. Over 150 representatives of various
indigenous peoples of America meet in Cartagena
de Indias, to defend their rights and promote
dialogue with governments, countries and states.
We talk 'inclusion' in the West... they ACT!
************************************************
IT's AN ILLEGAL WAR - YET SOLDIERS DIE IN IT
Another US-led soldier has been killed in a
roadside bombing attack in the southern part
of war-torn Afghanistan.
NATO says in its statement that the soldier was
killed in the south on Wednesday, without any
further information until relatives are told.
Most soldiers located in southern Afghanistan
are from the US & UK.
Meanwhile, the UK's Ministry of Defense said on
Monday that a UK soldier died in hospital from
injuries suffered in an explosion in Afghanistan
over two months ago.
He was named as Corporal Jack Stanley from
The Queen's Royal Hussars.
Roadside bombs are by far the most lethal weapon
militants use against the US-led foreign troops.
***********************************************
HEADING IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS...
The UK's police are policing less 'by consent'
and more like Egypt under Mubarak, as their
weapons to control dissent grow. At first they
had horses and truncheons. Now they have those
plus water-cannons, 'kettling', tasers, dogs,
tear gas, plastic bullets, and soon, lasers
which 'temporarily' blind, and a new 'all UK'
pepper spray, just like the US !
Meanwhile, in post-Mubarak Egypt, the Egyptian
parliament has voted to ban the presidency bids
of people from ousted dictator Mubarak's regime.
On Tuesday MPs approved a proposal under which
Mubarak’s regime elements are not allowed to
run for president.
The law particularly targets ex-spymaster chief
Omar Suleiman and former Prime Minister Ahmed
Shafiq, who infuriated the public by announcing
their bids to contest for the top post.
The Tuesday vote came in a parliament dominated
by the Muslim Brotherhood party.
Egypt’s electoral commission says 23 people
have registered to run in the country’s first
presidential poll since Mubarak was overthrown
in February 2011.
The final list of approved candidates will be
announced later this month & the presidential
vote is scheduled to start on May the 23rd.
If the UK were to overthrow THEIR Head of State
for presiding over policing by violence...
but no - it's simply UNTHINKABLE.
**********************************************
US VETERANS JOIN "OCCUPY WALL STREET"
US veterans have joined the “Occupy Wall Street”
movement in New York, to protest against war,
corporatism, social injustice and unemployment.
They also say that they are part of the 99%
of the US population and, back home now,
they need training to qualify for employment.
“Basically, what is happening is that you have
a decade of war, and at the beginning a lot of
people were trumped up with patriotism, and
patriotic fervour, but then eventually you go
over there, you realize that you are not
fighting terrorists, you are not fighting
insurgents, you are fighting people ,” Michael
Patterson, an Iraq war veteran says.
According to the US Bureau of Labor statistics,
unemployment for veterans who fought in Iraq
and Afghanistan is higher than the national
average, at about 12% (av rate 9% nationwide).
Despite police crackdowns and mass arrests,
the Occupy movement has now spread to many
major US cities as well as to Australia,
the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Ireland,
Portugal and, of course, Greece.
UN FINALLY PUBLISHES REPORT ON THE MAVI MARMARA
The UN report blames Israeli troops for using
excessive force in the incident, but an Israeli
official says there will be no apologies to
Turkey despite the report blaming Israeli troops.
Turkey has responded by expelling the Israeli
Ambassador, downgrading its relationship, and
halting any military ties.
************************************************
ISRAEL'S REPORT ON THE MAVI MARMARA
& THE PALESTINE PAPERS
Defending the indefensible:
Israeli lies about the Mavi Marmara
On 23rd January 2011, Israel released a report
justifying their violent attack on the aid
flotilla on 31st May 2010.
Here we set out why the attack was illegal & wrong.
Israel had no legal right to prevent humanitarian
aid reaching Gaza: Under the fourth Geneva
Convention, Israel as an occupier has a duty to
protect civilians under its control, ensuring
free unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief.
Israel failed to meet that basic requirement. PM
David Cameron compared Gaza to a ‘prison camp’.
John Ging, then Head of the United Nations Relief
and Works Agency in Gaza, said the international
community should ‘look for practical ways to
break the siege’ and recommended ‘sending ships’.
Israel had no legal right to board the flotilla:
The Turkish flagged ship was in international
water. Under international law, all states have
freedom to sail ships in international waters –
to board this ship was a breach of Turkey’s sovereignty.
Israel was not acting in self-defence: Israel’s
argument that it was acting in self-defence is
indefensible: Israeli Forces boarded an unarmed
boat using gas bombs, tear gas, rubber bullets
and live ammunition. Civilians on board had
every right to defend themselves against this
illegal and unwarranted attack.
An independent panel? Israel appointed the panel
to investigate itself – its independence can be
judged by the appointment of David Trimble, a
founder member of the Friends of Israel, as one
of two foreign observers.
Israel’s account is full of lies: If they had
nothing to hide they would have given back
evidence taken from those on board.
For an accurate, official report
visit the UN Human Rights Council at:
A message from the Chair of PSC on the Mavi Marmara
‘White-wash’ doesn’t adequately describe the 300
page report issued by the Israeli Government on
Sunday. Reading Sarah’s harrowing account of the
vicious & unprovoked attack on the Mavi Marmara,
you could be forgiven for trying to work out
what international law allows a country to board
a ship in international waters, assassinate 9
passengers and injure over 50 others.
Well of course, there is no law that that allows
the Israeli government to behave in this way.
Yet year after year, with arrogance and impunity,
they get away with it. PSC’s role is to hold
Israel to account for their illegal actions
& to hold the international community to account
over their inaction.
To do this we need your support - unlike the well
resourced Israeli Government spin machine, the
Palestine Solidarity Campaign survives through
the generosity of its members and supporters.
This year going to be a critical in our campaign
to support the people of Palestine – to win the
argument & achieve justice we need your support.
If you are able to make a donation, however big
or small, please GO here:
http://www.palestinecampaign.org/
Thank you.
Hugh Lanning
Chair
Palestine Solidarity Campaign
-------------------------------------------------
Eye witness and PSC Director Sarah Colborne
gives the facts about the Israeli military assault
"In the early hours of May 31st myself and 600
peace activists were 70 miles off the coast of
Gaza. On board our boats were 10,000 tonnes of
humanitarian aid for the besieged people of Gaza:
baby milk formula, electric wheel chairs, cement.
All of us on board the Mavi Marmara and the other
ships that made up our international flotilla
for peace and justice had the simple objective
of highlighting the morally bankrupt and illegal
blockade on Gaza.
At just after 04.00, the Israeli assault began.
Warships, helicopters, speedboats and submarines
surrounded us. Israeli military, armed to the
teeth, descended from helicopters. The final
toll of the attack on the flotilla was nine
passengers dead and over fifty injured. Some
were shot five times. Others were killed
assassination style – a single shot at close
range to the back of the head. Three Israeli
commandos were disarmed and taken below deck
to receive medical treatment – hardly the act
of violent passengers. No Israeli commandos
were killed. Weapons taken from the soldiers
were not used against them.
As I heard the news that the attack on the
Freedom Flotilla had been declared legal
by the Israeli Government, the images of
that massacre returned.
No whitewash of an enquiry can deny the reality.
For those of us on the boat that day, and for
millions across the world, our resolve has been
strengthened – we will free Gaza, we will free Palestine".
-------------------------------------------------
The Palestine Papers – The truth about the peace process
There are 1,600 internal negotiations documents
about the Palestine/Israel peace process,
dating from 1999-2010.
The ‘Palestine Papers’ are available
on Al Jazeera's and The Guardian's websites:
This seemingly endless and ugly game of the peace process
is now finally over. “The peace process is a sham.
Palestinians must reject their officials
and rebuild their movement“
Over a thousand Palestinian prisoners held by
Israel launched an open-ended hunger strike
on Tuesday to demand that Israel's ruling
regime end 'detention without trial' now.
1,200 of the 3,500 prisoners who refused to
eat on "Prisoners' Day," are continuing with
an open-ended hunger strike, according to
Israeli prison spokesperson, Sivan Weizman.
As well as demanding an end to Israel's policy
of "administrative detention," under which
Palestinians can be sentenced to months or
years behind bars by military courts without
being charged, the striking prisoners are
calling for an end to solitary confinement
and for Gaza families to be allowed to visit
prisoners held in Israel.
The mass hunger strike is one of the largest on
record, says Sahar Francis of Addameer, a
prisoner rights group.
They join 10 Palestinian prisoners already on
hunger strike, including two hospitalised after
refusing food for over 40 days, Ms Francis says.
Thousands in the occupied territories on Tuesday
held up framed pictures of their loved ones in
prison at a mass rally.
At a military prison outside Jerusalem, youths
threw stones at Israeli forces, who fired tear
gas cannisters & pellets. No injuries reported.
Their rallies and protests coincided with the
release of Khader Adnan, who didn't eat for 66
days, and was freed that afternoon, as part of
an agreement reached with Israel.
Mr Adnan refused to eat in protest at Israel's
policy of administrative detention.
"He began the first step for the rest of the
prisoners," says his wife today.
4,699 Palestinians are in Israel's gaols,
and 319 are in administrative detention.
Their alleged crimes range from throwing
stones, to deadly militant attacks
***********************************************
ISRAEL PRODUCING MARTYRS
The banning of a generation of young men from
Al Aqsa is creating a generation of martyrs.
This is what is happening in Gaza. The 36th
anniversary of Land Day has come and gone.
Israeli soldiers shot two young men, armed
only with a flag, from point blank range.
Over the course of the day, they shot dozens
of young men, all armed with nothing more
than stones. At Erez Crossing, no tear gas or
other methods of crowd dispersal were employed.
No warning shots were fired. Every shot hit
flesh. The US media does not find the story
newsworthy. Nakba Day, “The Catastrophe”,
is next, on May the 15th. The youth will
return to Erez. How many will be shot?
Will the world take note?
************************************************
ON LAND DAY ISRAEL ATTACKS GAZA
Israel has launched an air and ground assault
on the southern Gaza Strip, as it continues
to step up its attacks on the besieged
Palestinian territory, Press TV reports.
A Press TV correspondent said on Thursday that
Israeli troops entered the eastern part of the
town of Rafah with tanks and bulldozers.
Israeli helicopters also opened fire there.
Over the past few months, Tel Aviv has
increased its attacks on the besieged
coastal strip, killing tens of Palestinian
people and injuring many more.
The Israeli military frequently attacks
the Gaza Strip, saying the actions are
being conducted for defensive purposes.
However, disproportionate force is always
used, in violation of international law
, and civilians are often killed or injured.
Gaza has been blockaded since 2007, a situation
which has caused a decline in the standards of
living, and has triggered unprecedented levels
of unemployment and unrelenting poverty.
************************************************
POWER TO THE GAZA PEOPLE - FROM EGYPT
The Egyptian Ambassador to the Occupied
Palestinian Territories, Yasser Othman,
has announced that the Israel-blockaded
Gaza Strip will be connected to Egypt's
power grid within the next 4 to 5 months.
In an interview with the Saudi Arabian newspaper,
Al-Sharq, Othman says that Egypt and Gaza will
start work on connecting their power grids
within a few weeks.
"This will lead to real relief for the deepening
crisis in the Gaza Strip," he says. He explains
that the plan to end Gaza's power crisis is a
two-phased one.
During the first phase, Egypt will supply diesel
to Gaza’s sole power plant and in the next one,
which will take 18 months to complete, Gaza will
be connected to a regional power grid in Egypt.
Gaza has been blockaded since 2007, causing a
decline in the standard of living, unprecedented
levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty.
The full-scale land, aerial, and naval siege has
turned Gaza into the world's largest open-air prison.
In mid-February, Egypt blocked the flow of diesel
through the tunnels lying beneath its border
with Gaza, which are used to transfer supplies
into the beseiged, impoverished coastal sliver.
That stoppage forced the territory's only
electricity power plant to close, causing
Gaza to experience blackouts of up to 18hrs a day.
*************************************************
THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL HEARS THE TRUTH
Last month the UN Security Council received
convincing proof that supports the world's
demand for action against Israel.
Despite US reluctance to discuss the issue in
that body, the UN Undersecretary General for
Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos, appeared
before the 15 members of the Security Council
to analyze the anti-Israel information.
Amos, who is also coordinator of UN emergency
assistance, began her account by stating that
Israel's unilateral annexation of East Jerusalem
and parts of the West Bank violates international law.
It is also not recognized by the international
community, which states that the city belongs
to the occupied Palestinian territories, said
the official, according to a document presented
to the Security Council & distributed to the press.
Since 1967, Israel's measures have altered the
status of that sector of Jerusalem, and have
affected Palestinians' residential status,
their access to basic services, and their
ability to plan or develop their communities.
All this puts pressure on, and increases the
vulnerability of, Palestinians, and threatens
their presence in that area, the text notes.
The document submitted to the Security Council
reaffirms that those settlements are illegal
and grow at the expense of land and building
construction development for Palestinians.
During her speech at the Security Council,
Amos also warned about the increased violence
now being unleashed by Israeli settlers against
the local population.
***********************************************
ISRAELI PRISONS WORSE THAN NAZI CAMPS
A Palestinian official says Palestinian
prisoners are subjected to the most inhumane
treatment and are tortured in Israeli prisons,
which are more gruesome than Nazi concentration camps.
In an interview with Iran's Fars News Agency on
Sunday, Palestinian Minister for Captives
Affairs Ataollah Abu Sabah says that of the
44,000 Palestinian inmates currently languishing
in Israeli prisons, seven are women and 23 are
members of the Palestinian Legislative Council.
Abu Sabah describes the desert prison of Naqab
(Negev), where the detainees are kept in tents,
as the Israeli regime's worst prison.
Last year, an Israeli TV station released video
footage of Palestinian detainees being tortured
by Israeli troops in the notorious Naqab prison
in 2008, as a result of which one Palestinian
died and several others sustained injuries.
The Palestinian official confirms reports that
the relatives of the inmates, and sometimes even
their lawyers, are stripped and interrogated.
In late December 2010, a human rights group
called Public Committee against Torture in
Israel revealed that Palestinian detainees
are systematically denied the right to meet
a lawyer during interrogations.
Being shackled to chairs for long periods,
sleep deprivation, intimidation, torture
and excruciating detention conditions are
documented by the rights group in its report.
Abu Sabah adds that stripping captives in the
subzero cold in the winter is one of the most
common torture methods of the Israeli regime.
Ill captives, he says, are deprived of even the
most basic medical treatment, and inmates
suffering from medical conditions are not few
in number & face a slow death in the regime's prison.
Israel also has secret prisons where it keeps
some of the first captives of the Resistance
Movement, Abu Sabah says, adding that the
regime has even abducted activists from other
Arab countries, whose fate is unknown.
Israel Prison Service (IPS) Director Aharon
Franco announced in October that there are
several prisons in Israel, including Damon
prison, Ramle's Neve Tirza prison, and the
Ma'asiyahu prison, that are no longer fit for inmates.
Franco says the standard in the US is to give
eight metres of space for each inmate and the
standard is six metres in Europe. In Israel,
just four metres are allocated per inmate.
**********************************************
SUFFERING IN ISRAELI PRISONS "UNIMAGINABLE"
Thousands of people have celebrated at the Rafah
border crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip,
where they welcomed 550 Palestinians recently
freed from Israeli prisons.
Israel released the detainees on Sunday in line
with the second phase of a prisoner exchange
with the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas.
The prisoners were freed from Israel's Ofer
Prison in the West Bank. They were then
transported to a crossing near Beitunia,
a town in the centre of occupied territory.
Six women were among the freed inmates.
Released prisoner Omar Qaraqra says celebrations
are “not complete,” because there are still
“brothers and comrades in Israeli prisons that
we have lived with for years.”
“I ask Abu Mazen (Abbas) and the Palestinian
factions to increase efforts in order to free
our brothers as soon as possible and without
exceptions,” Qaraqra adds.
Hamas has declared today (Monday) a national
holiday to honour the occasion.
Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum in Gaza:
"We are proud of this great achievement.
We are happy for our return, but we would be
much happier if all the prisoners were freed.
The main priority for our leadership should be
the freedom of all prisoners because their
suffering inside the prisons is unimaginable,”
says Mahmoud Tayyem, another freed prisoner.
Palestinian prisoners are being freed from
Israel's jails as the second part of a deal to
release 1,027 Palestinian inmates in exchange
for Hamas-captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Shalit was captured in June 2006 after he
infiltrated into the Gaza Strip.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of
Statistics, before the release of the 1,027
prisoners, about 6,000 Palestinian detainees
were held in Israeli prisons.
Almost all prisoners released have already
served two thirds of their sentences, and
many fear that the Israeli regime will now
trawl the occupied territories to replace them.
***********************************************
ABBAS AND MESHAAL TO MEET IN CAIRO
Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmud Abbas
and Hamas Political Chief Khalid Meshaal
reportedly plan to meet in Cairo as part of a
new round of reconciliation talks.
"There is agreement on the date of November 24"
for the high-level meeting in Egypt, said a
member of Abbas' entourage in Tunis... on
condition of anonymity, AFP reports.
Azzam al-Ahmad, an official in Abbas' Fatah
movement, also on Thursday confirmed that
Abbas & Meshaal will meet before the end of November.
The talks will focus on "Palestinian unity,
future Palestinian strategy, the Palestine
Liberation Organization and future prospects,"
al-Ahmad says.
The two factions have been at odds since the
Islamic resistance movement Hamas came to power
in 2007. Hamas currently controls the besieged
Gaza Strip & Fatah is in control of the West Bank.
Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation deal
in May, under which they agreed to set up a
caretaker government of independents to
prepare for elections within a year.
*************************************************
SHALIT SWAP IMPRESSES GAZANS
The Israeli cabinet approved a prisoner swap
with Gaza's governing Hamas movement,
prompting celebratory street parties in
both Israel and Palestine.
Egyptian officials mediated a deal in which
Israel agrees to release 1,027 Palestinians
in exchange for the return of Gilad Shalit, a
soldier captured by Hamas in a 2006 cross-border
raid following a similar act by Israeli forces.
As the news was announced hundreds of Israelis
began dancing in the road outside Israeli
PM Benjamin Netanyahu's Jerusalem residence,
where Mr Shalit's family have a protest tent.
In the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza,
Palestinians poured onto the streets,
firing in the air to celebrate.
Mr Netanyahu says Mr Shalit will be home "in a
few days" while Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal says
the Palestinian prisoners will be released in
two groups - firstly, 450, including all women
inmates, in a week; the rest two months later.
Mr Meshaal says it's "a national achievement for
the Palestinian people" and that Hamas had
negotiated hard for the release to include
"prisoners from different categories, different
age groups, from the West Bank and Gaza, from
Jerusalem and the Golan Heights."
It had prioritised those who had been in jail
for over 20 years, he said.
Most inmates will return to their former homes
but 203 will be deported, with 40 subject to an
Israeli ban on entering Israel and Palestine.
Fatah organiser Marwan Barghouti, Ahmed Saadat
of the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine and Hamas militant Abdullah Barghouti
were among those Israel refused to release.
But most Gazans appear impressed:
"Israel wouldn't agree to free that many
prisoners unless it was forced to," says
shopkeeper Akram Nimr in Jabaliyah.
Israeli Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau of
the far-right Yisrael Beiteinu party says the
agreement is "a huge victory for terror."
************************************************
UNESCO RECOGNITION BID BREAKTHROUGH
Palestinians have gained a breakthrough in their
efforts to win UN recognition now that UNESCO's
executive board agrees to submit the Palestinian
bid for membership to its states for approval.
On Wednesday, Palestinians pressed ahead,
defying fierce opposition by the US and
France, AFP reports.
The board passed the motion by 40 votes in favour
to four votes against, and 14 abstentions, and
is sending the Palestinians' request to a final
vote in the 193-member UNESCO general assembly
on October 25th.
The Palestinian delegation has held observer
status at UNESCO since 1974. Two-thirds of
the member states now need to approve the
request to enable Palestine's full membership.
US Republican lawmaker, Kay Granger, who chairs
the key subcommittee that disburses US sums for
diplomatic purposes, has threatened to back the
"suspension" of all UNESCO-headed funds, if the
body admits Palestine as a full member state.
Full UNESCO membership will not only serve as a
diplomatic achievement for the Palestinians,
but will also allow them to apply to classify
their monuments as World Heritage Sites.
*************************************************
MORE SETTLEMENTS, LESS TREES, LESS PEACE
As the US under Obama says defence of Israel is
a "red line", settlements continue all over the
West Bank, and in both parts of Jerusalem.
Today, Israeli settlers have once again targeted
the Palestinian economy, by uprooting about 200
olive trees near Hawara and Ein Nabus.
The Saturday attack comes after another incident
this Wednesday, when Israeli settlers destroyed
40 olive trees near Hebron, AFP reports.
Israeli settlers target Palestinian olive trees, as
olive oil is the backbone of the Palestinian economy.
Palestinian farmers plant 10,000 olive trees in
the occupied territories every year.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) released a report
on Thursday, revealing the devastating economic
effect that Israel's illegal occupation has had
on both the West Bank and Gaza.
The report showes that the Palestinian economy
has been deprived of nearly USD 4.4 billion
for every year of the occupation.
“No matter what the Palestinian people achieve
by our own efforts, the occupation prevents us
from achieving our potential as a free people
in our own country,” says Hasan Abu Libdeh, the
Palestinian Authority's Minister of the Economy.
Acting PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas officially submitted
his bid for UN recognition of a Palestinian state
to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on September 23rd.
************************************************
FRIGHTENED ISRAELI REGIME LASHES OUT
Israeli troops have reportedly launched a new
attack into northeastern Gaza, as Palestinians
start to take their bid for statehood to the UN.
Israeli forces abduct at least nine Palestinians
in various parts of the West Bank, as Tel Aviv
steps up its campaign of terror ahead of the
planned Palestinian UN statehood bid.
The civilians were arrested on Monday during
operations in Jenin, al-Khalil and Bethlehem.
Also, a Hamas member is reported as captured.
Witnesses say some Palestinians are taken away
from their homes during the overnight raids.
Despite a security agreement with the PA, the
Israeli army frequently raids Palestinian homes
in the West Bank and arrests Palestinians. The
recent arrests come ahead of the Palestinian
Authority's planned statehood bid at the UN on
September 20th. The israeli regime is scared.
*************************************************
SOD THE US AND ITS THREATS, SAYS PA
Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas
says the Palestinians won't stop their struggle
for UN membership, despite threats by the US.
"We will go to the UN to obtain international
recognition for the state of Palestine, despite
the obstacles and dangers, including US threats
to halt $470 million in annual assistance," he
says in an interview with Jordan's al-Rai today.
The Palestinian Authority declares September 20th
as the date when it applies for UN recognition
of Palestine as an independent state.
The US cannot block the UN General Assembly
vote for the change of Palestine's status
in the world body from entity to state, but
it can veto the move at the Security Council.
"If Washington uses a veto against us, we will
take a suitable decision in line with developments,"
says Abbas, knowing that a two-thirds majority
in the General Assembly can overturn a US veto.
************************************************
BAN KI MOON SAYS "YES" TO PALESTINE
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
has announced his support for an independent
and sovereign state of Palestine, emphasizing
that a Palestinian state is “long overdue.”
“But... the recognition of a state is something
to be determined by the member states,” AFP
quotes Ban as saying today (Friday).
“It is not [determined] by the secretary general
so I leave it to the member states to decide to
recognize or not to recognize,” he adds.
Ban Ki Moon's statement comes the day after
Palestinians launch their “National Campaign
for Palestine: State 194”.
Scores of Palestinians on Thursday gathered in
front of the UN building in the West Bank city
of Ramallah, where they handed a letter
addressed to Ban, urging him to add his “moral
voice of support of the Palestinian people.”
************************************************
PALESTINIANS LAUNCH STATEHOOD BID NOW
Palestinians have launched their campaign to
join the UN as a full member state by marching
on the UN office in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Scores of Palestinian officials and activists
gather at the UN building on Thursday, the 8th
of September, saying they will stage peaceful
events ahead of the UN General Assembly's
annual meeting later this month, AP reports.
They hand a letter addressed to UN Secretary
General Ban Ki moon, urging him to add his
“moral voice in support of the Palestinian people.”
The document is delivered by Latifa Abu Hmeid, a
70-year-old woman who Palestinian officials say
symbolizes the plight of oppressed Palestinians.
Abu Hmeid has lost a son to Israeli aggression
and has seven others held in Israeli prisons.
A resident of a West Bank refugee camp, she
has seen her house demolished twice by Israeli forces.
“Families of the tens of thousands of victims of
Israeli occupation, including those martyred,
wounded and imprisoned, and countless others
who were expelled from their homes or lost
their homes and their property, hope that you
will exert all possible efforts toward the
achievement of the Palestinian people's just
demands,” the letter reads.
The executive committee of the Palestinian
Authority has met for the last time before
going to the UN for a vote on full sovereignty.
The PA decided to seek recognition of an
independent state after Israel refused
negotiations & kept constructing settlements
in most of the occupied territories.
*************************************************
PEACE COMES ONLY WITH JUSTICE
Pro-Palestinian activists chant 'Free Palestine'
during a Proms concert by the Israel
Philharmonic Orchestra in London, disrupting
the BBC's live coverage of the event.
The orchestra was scheduled to perform at
London's Royal Albert Hall on Thursday to
be broadcast at the BBC Proms, but it is
now cancelled after boos & shouts erupted,
UK media report.
Gil Shaham was about to play Bruch's violin
concerto conducted by Zubin Mehta when boos
and shouts began, say the reports.
Radio 3 interrupted its live broadcast at 7.45pm
before returning later. Coverage was cut off
again an hour later after more loud protests.
Pro-Palestinian group The Palestine Solidarity
Campaign had called for the BBC to cancel the
concert and urged people to boycott the event.
One of the protesters, Professor Jonathan
Rosenhead, of the London School of Economics:
“The orchestra is intimately connected with
the Israeli regime. We are saying not to forget
the denial of human rights in the occupied
territories of Palestine.”
***********************************************
PALESTINE SONG REACHES FOR THE ETHER
The British band Coldplay has endorsed promotion
of the song "Freedom for Palestine", released
jointly by the pro-Palestinian organizations
OneWorld and War on Want.
"Some of our friends are involved in OneWorld's
new 'Freedom for Palestine' single - find out
more at www.waronwant.org, a statement on the
band's Facebook page says, Ynet reports.
The single, which is supported as a collaboration
by pro-Palestine groups; including Jews for
Justice for Palestine, the Palestine Solidarity
Campaign, and Just Peace for Palestine, features
famous British musicians such as Dave Randall
and Maxi Jazz of Faithless and Jamie Catto of
1 Giant Leap.
The Coldplay invitation has attracted thousands
of fans to the song and is expected to boost
the popular welcome it will potentially receive
after official release in early July.
"Freedom for Palestine" calls, among other things,
for Israel to tear down the apartheid wall in the
West Bank, and to begin respecting the
fundamental human rights of the Palestinians.
************************************************
TASERS BEING USED AGAINST THE LEFT BY ISRAEL
The International Solidarity Movement has filed
a complaint against Israeli police, accusing
the force of using excessive violence against protesters.
ISM activists say the Israeli police has beaten
and shocked peaceful anti-settlement protesters
with taser guns in Sheikh Jarrah, East al-Quds
(Jerusalem), on Friday and arrested at least six
protesters for 'irrational reasons'.
ISM, which is a Palestinian-led movement committed
to resisting the Israeli apartheid in Palestine
by using nonviolent, direct-action methods and
principles, has also accused the Israeli police
of allowing Jewish settlers to abuse detained activists.
"They electrocuted me after they already had me
pinned down on the floor. It was very painful
& caused a burn," Haaretz quotes a demonstrator saying.
"I heard one policeman tell another, let him have
it a little," another protester said, adding that
"He put the thing to the lower part of my leg.
It lasted for four or five seconds. I felt I was
being electrocuted. All my muscles were jumping.
I was left with blisters."
The movement says it has called on the attorney general
and the Justice Ministry to investigate the case.
Taser guns can deliver a 50,000-volt shock
and can cause serious injury and even death.
Under Tony Blair and 'New Labour', UK police
were equipped with taser guns. Many UK police
disagree with this trend to a police state.
*************************************************
THIS YEAR's NAKBA WAS DIFFERENT
Israel killed dozens this year, because - for
the first time ever, the Palestinians marched up
to Israel demanding the right of return.
The Israeli troops became scared & trigger-happy.
*************************************************
ISRAEL "RESTRICTS" AL AQSA MOSQUE
Israel restricts access to the al-Aqsa Mosque
compound for the 63rd anniversary of the
occupation of Palestine by the Israeli army,
also known as the Day of Nakba (Catastrophe).
Shmulik Ben Rubi, an Israeli police spokesperson,
says only men over 45 and women holding Israeli-
issued identity cards are allowed to enter the
mosque compound on Friday, AFP reports.
Israeli police are deployed around the site in
East al-Quds (Jerusalem) to "enforce" restrictions.
The event marks the anniversary of a 1948 event,
when Israeli forces displaced some 700,000
Palestinians, forcing them to flee to several
different neighbouring countries.
The soldiers wiped 500+ Palestinian villages and
towns off the map, leaving an estimated total of
4.7 million refugees dreaming of an eventual
return to their homeland ... six decades later.
The Israeli regime laid economic siege to the
Gaza Strip in June 2007, after the democratically
elected Hamas government took over administration
of the impoverished strip.
The blockade has had a disastrous impact on the
humanitarian and economic situation there.
Some 1.5 million people are being denied their
basic rights, including freedom of movement
and the right to appropriate living conditions,
work, health and education.
***********************************************
EGYPT TO FREE GAZA FROM SIEGE?
Thousands of Egyptians tried to cross into Gaza
on the day, in solidarity with Palestine.
They demand that the Israeli siege be lifted.
*************************************************
AND WHAT OF PALESTINE?
Obama and Israel are making last gasp efforts to
restart "peace talks" with Palestinians, and
Obama makes a speech about it this week, but
the Palestinians are holding out for what they
call their "September dues", because, in
September, the one-year dead-line for the peace
process will be over, and September is also
when President Obama promises that Palestine
will be a full member of the UN General Assembly.
Sameh Shbeib, a West Bank-based political analyst
says the Palestinians are feeling relaxed about
their diplomatic moves: "they are certain that
it will lead to the international recognition
of a Palestinian state, but at the same time,
the atmosphere is now open for all options."
*************************************************
ISRAEL POUNDS GAZA TO KILL AND MAIM
Israel is intensifying its attacks on the Gaza
Strip, leaving at least 5 Palestinians dead and
dozens injured in fresh slaughter, reports say.
Israeli tanks, gunboats and fighter jets
all target the Gaza Strip.
Two are killed & 25 injured in Gaza City.
Another 2 are killed & 14 wounded in Rafah.
An Israeli helicopter gunship flying over Gaza
machine-guns a 17-year-old collecting scrap
from a derelict airport & kills him.
The Israeli army confirms that its planes and
ground forces attacked the Gaza Strip and
"killed five Palestinians".
Palestinian medics say at least 30 people are
injured after three hours of attacks by Israeli
forces. Among the injured is a 4-year-old
Palestinian girl in the Gaza Strip.
The Tel Aviv regime has been bombarding Gaza
ever since its 22-day war on the tiny enclave
in December 2008 and January 2009, which killed
over 1,400 Palestinians & inflicted $1.6 billion
of damage to Gaza's already-stagnant economy.
The offensives are always launched on the pretext
of "responding to the firing of projectiles".
Israeli hostility rages on while Tel Aviv refuses
to lift the all-out blockade it imposed on Gaza
in mid-June, almost four years ago, in 2007.
The siege is depriving the Gaza population of
food, fuel and medicine; triggering stunted
growth and malnutrition among most children.
************************************************
TIME TO BUILD - NO SAYS ISRAEL !!!
The organization in charge of reconstruction in Gaza
placed orders for construction materials to
international bodies to help break the siege.
After the massacre of Gazans in operation Cast Lead,
the international community pledged millions of dollars
to restore Gaza. But just a fraction of that money
has genuinely been delivered.
Thousands are still living in tents while Gaza
remains subject to an Israeli-Egyptian blockade.
The Palestinian side of the Egypt-Gaza border
remains closed to the free flow of people &
goods. This means that the Palestinians are
forced to gain essential items through tunnels.
But now there's a new Palestinian-international
initiative to lift the siege for all time...
“This the first time we're doing this experiment.
Up until now, all the cement that has entered
Gaza has not been through official channels.
But now we want the cement to come in officially,”
says Kanan Obaid, chair of Gaza Engineers Union.
"By doing this, we can break the siege of Gaza.
Gaza will be free once again!"
At a meeting between Palestinian engineers and
international humanitarian organizations, the
Palestinians insisted that they did not want
to rely solely on handouts. So they agreed to
pay for 10 tons of cement to enter Gaza via
the Rafah border with Egypt.
The Gazans hoped to test whether Egypt had
really changed after last month's fall of ex-
President Hosni Mubarak's regime.
A lorry loaded with cement left Cairo for the
Rafah border a few weeks ago. Palestinians said
that if the cargo could be allowed through, they
would order a much more substantial amount to
seriously rebuild their ruined homes.
Over several weeks, Gazans have been giving
food to Egyptian soldiers isolated on the Gaza
border since the popular revolution started.
Underground tunnels, which were used to bring
basic goods from Egypt into the Gaza Strip,
are now working in the opposite direction.
Egyptian soldiers, who have been isolated on
the Gaza border for the past 10 days, due to
the internal upheaval, are getting bread,
canned food and other supplies from the
impoverished enclave, through the tunnels.
Gaza's merchants have also been sending eggs,
vegetables, and other staples into Egypt,
where store owners have run out of stock
because normal supplies are cut off.
Since 2006, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip
have resorted to the so-called feeding tubes
to deliver their basic needs to the enclave
which is sealed off by an Israeli blockade.
Rafah is the main entry and exit post
between Egypt and the coastal enclave.
************************************************
PA - "A REGIME NOT A LIBERATION MOVEMENT" NOW
Why isn’t the PA Supporting the Egypt Uprising?
The Palestinian leadership has been careful not
to support the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia,
and has banned demonstrations in solidarity with
the rebelling peoples. Palestinian television
has virtually ignored the events in Egypt.
*************************************************
GAZA PREPARED FOR WAR
Palestinian factions say they are ready to face
a possible Israeli aggression, following the
recent flare up of violence along the so-called
Israeli-Gaza buffer zone.
In separate statements, Palestinian resistance
movements each reiterate their firm resolve
to wage resistance against an Israeli attack.
Israeli military officials recently threatened
to launch a new war on the besieged Gaza Strip.
Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri slams the war-
mongering remarks as "empty words", stressing
that Palestinians aren't afraid of intimidation.
Meanwhile, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad
Movement in Palestine warns that armed Palestinian
groups will confront Israel if attacks on Gaza continue.
The remark is made by Abu Ahmed,
an Al-Quds Brigades spokesperson.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
also lends its voice to the resistance, stressing
that the group is prepared to defend the Gaza
Strip against any possible Israeli aggression.
The warnings come after members of Hamas, the
Islamic Jihad & the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine, hold a meeting
to discuss security for the Gaza Strip.
During the meeting, the Palestinian factions vow
to do "their best" to foil any attempt by Israel
"to carry out an aggression on their people."
According to Palestinians, Israel is attempting
to provoke violence in the region by stepping up
attacks along the so-called Israeli-Gaza buffer zone.
Over the past months, Israel has intensified its
attacks on the Gaza Strip, killing a number of
Palestinians and leaving many more injured.
*************************************************
MORE & MORE OF WORLD RECOGNIZES FREE PALESTINE
Paraguay Peru & Guyana join the Latin Americans
recognizing Palestine as an independent state,
showing their commitment to Palestinians.
"It is Guyana's hope that the increasing
recognition of the state of Palestine will
contribute to a resolution of the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict and the creation of lasting
peace and stability in the region," the ministry
says in a statement.
The decision "is in keeping with Guyana's long-
standing and unwavering solidarity with, and
commitment to, the just & legitimate aspirations
of the people of Palestine for the exercise of
their right to self-determination and to achieve
a homeland of their own: independent, free,
prosperous and at peace," the statement says.
Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay and Ecuador
have all recognized Palestinian statehood within
the borders that existed before the Israeli
regime occupied the West Bank, including East al-
Quds(Jerusalem) & the Gaza Strip in the 1967 war.
Paraguay and Peru now join Chile on that list.
************************************************
EGYPT LETS LORRIES WITH AID THROUGH RAFAH
Ten lorry loads of aid and more to come - that's
the message from Egypt as their ban breaks, and
some cheer is given to a people abandoned to the
US/Israel axis, which is determined to crush them.
*************************************************
JETS ATTACK GAZA's "OPEN PRISON"
More acts of inhumanity are endured by the people
of Gaza as Israeli warplanes pound positions in
the central & northern Gaza Strip, leaving at
least two people injured.
Israeli fighters bombard the northern city of
Jebaliya as well as areas in central Gaza.
The overnight attacks leave two people wounded
and panic Palestinians in the targeted areas.
Israeli forces kill a Palestinian man and wound
five others in tank shelling and gunfire attack
on the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis.
Will we do NOTHING?
The Israeli military is repeatedly waging attacks
on Gaza, and has done so ever since its massive
war on the territory at the turn of 2009. That
22-day criminal offensive, using phosphorous,
left over 1,400 Palestinians in the densely
populated area - described by the United Nations
representative as "an open prison" - dead.
**********************************************
EU STATES UPGRADE PALESTINIAN MISSIONS TO EMBASSIES
European countries have agreed to upgrade
Palestinian missions as embassies, trying
to push for a Palestinian state, the chief
Palestinian Authority negotiator says.
Saeb Erakat says that PLO missions abroad are
a step closer towards becoming embassies of
an "occupied state with defined borders."
Many countries around the world have recognized
an independent, sovereign Palestinian state, as
they have seen that the Middle East talks have
amounted to nothing.
Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay & two others, have
announced their recognition of a Palestinian
state based on the 1967 borders, the boundaries
that existed before Israel occupied East al-Quds
(Jerusalem), & the West Bank. Bolivia has now
joined, in open defiance of the US/Israeli axis.
Ten EU countries are now to upgrade the status of
the Palestinian representative offices in their
capitals in the near future, a step where the
staff can enjoy full diplomatic immunity, Erakat
tells The Jerusalem Post.
Norway has upgraded the standing of Palestinian
representation in Oslo from "general delegation"
to "diplomatic delegation," Erakat states.
The decision to seek international recognition of
a Palestinian state is designed to shift the
conflict from one over the "occupied Palestinian
territories" to one over an "occupied state with
defined borders," Erakat says.
"We urge the international community to salvage
the two-state solution by recognizing a
Palestinian state on the 1967 borders,” Erakat
says, without identifying which EU countries
are expected to upgrade the status of the
Palestinian representative missions.
The official says that while the Palestinians
don't expect recognition to end the Israeli
"occupation," it will increase international
support for the Palestinians and their cause.
*************************************************
ITALY TO SEND MORE CONVOY AID
Italy's Palestine Forum group is planning a
second convoy of aid to Gaza and the West
Bank in support of Palestinians.
Earlier in 2010, the group organized and sent
five lorry-loads of medical and agricultural
goods contributed by 38 countries.
In previous trips there have been issues over
whether the boats could arrive in Gaza's ports,
but the belief is that this is increasingly unlikely.
The group's goal is to get more European nations
regularly involved with Italy's forum group.
They wish to gather their aid in northern
Italy, and then drive southward before loading
the convoy materials onto boats in Turkey.
“Since we don't have anyone to defend us,
especially as the Italian government doesn't
particularly appreciate our activities, our
security derives from the number of people we
are able to involve. So, in addition to
publicizing the situation of Palestine, it is
also very important for us to protect the
activists on the boats," an Italian Palestine
Forum representative, Francesco Giordano, says.
***********************************************
BOLIVIA RECOGNIZES FREE PALESTINE ON '67 BORDERS
Bolivia joins Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay by
announcing it recognizes Palestine as a sovereign
state within the 1967 borders, Palestinian news
agency Ma'an reports. President Evo Morales makes
the announcement during the South American trade
block Mercosur's summit in Brazil. Hurrah!
**********************************************
HAMAS "WE WILL NEVER RECOGNISE ISRAEL".
On its anniversary, Hamas says it is steadfast,
and asks what purpose is served by hiding behind
any talks with Israel - as it grabs land at will.
***********************************************
ISRAEL DESTROYING WEST BANK & USING TANKS IN GAZA
Israel now stands accused of destroying a school,
help centre and houses in the West Bank, because
"they didn't have building permits" - from Israel!
Meanwhile, in Gaza, three civilians are wounded
by tank shells fired by an Israeli tank.
(And the EU expresses "regret" at Israel's refusal
to "freeze" settlement building... !?!)
France says "it will" recognise a Palestine
based on the '67 borders as free and independent.
Former UK MP George Galloway says that aircraft
are now to take humanitarian aid to the Israeli-
blockaded Gaza Strip, to aid the relief effort.
He says humanitarian campaigners will attempt
to reach Gaza by land, sea and air, the Int'l
Middle East Media Centre reports.
The Israeli-imposed land, aerial and naval
restrictions have been depriving Gaza's 1.5-
million-strong population of food, fuel and
other necessities since mid-June 2007.
Galloway regrets what he calls, the Arab nations'
"negative position and weak commitment" to pro-
Palestinian causes and urges them to contribute.
Israel's military killed nine Turkish activists
aboard the Ankara-backed humanitarian convoy,
Freedom Flotilla, on May the 31st this year.
Tel Aviv then deported the activists & diverted
their supplies to the Israeli port of Ashdod,
just south of Tel Aviv.
Meanwhile The Israeli Air Force has attacked the
southern Gaza Strip, using military aircraft and
unmanned spy planes, a report says.
The warplanes carried out airstrikes near the
city of Khan Younis in the south, bombarding
a chicken farm, Press TV reports, saying
aircraft continue to fly over the city.
Israeli planes also attacked the city of Rafah,
also in the south, targeting the smugglers'
tunnels beneath Gaza's border with Egypt.
There are reports of injured gravel collectors
yet the Israeli military refuses to confirm or
deny the airstrikes.
Tunnels are used to bring in direly needed supplies
as Tel Aviv keeps up its siege, depriving 1.5-
million Gazans of food, fuel & other necessities.
Tel Aviv repeatedly pounds Gaza since it took the
strip in an all-out onslaughts in Operation Cast
Lead at the turn of 2009, killing over 1,400
Palestinians and inflicting damage of above $1.6
billion on the tiny enclave's economy.
*************************************************
ISRAELI JETS POUND GAZA
Today the people of Gaza suffer more attacks by
Israeli ground jets, after a top militant is
assassinated in a "strike", militants fire home
made rockets inside southern Israel.
No damage is caused, but the Israeli response?
The bombing of most tunnels next to Egypt and
a massive airstrike on Gaza which collapses
buildings and injures six civilians, including
two women and a child.
The main Palestinian negotiator, meanwhile, says
that the US is now blocking all Palestinian moves
to achieve independent statehood through the UN.
On Friday Israeli soldiers beat up a small child
in Gaza and demolished a mosque in the West Bank.
Last week they fired gas and plastic tipped shells
at West Bank demonstrators demanding that Israeli
settlements stop at Bil'in, Ni'lin & an-Nabi Saleh.
*************************************************
HAMAS AND FATAH FAIL THEIR PEOPLE
Rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah reach
agreement on security issues and end their
stand off, officials say.
The Hamas-Fatah standoff, which turned to warfare
in 2007, damaged their declared cause of
regaining occupied land.
************************************************
ISRAELI GROUND TROOPS INVADE GAZA
Israel launches a ground incursion into the
Gaza Strip with its occupation troops entering
the south of the long-blockaded coastal sliver.
Israeli forces advance hundreds of metres into
the east of the southern city of Khan Younis.
They also open fire on a group of Gazans who
are collecting gravel nearby. One of the Gazans
sustains injuries in the attack & is taken to
a local hospital to receive medical treatment.
This incursion comes hard on the heels of flights
which Israeli fighter jets conduct over Gaza in
the evening. 5 Israeli jets invade Lebanese air
space for "hours", Press TV reports.
************************************************
EREKAT CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION
The chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat says
that Israel's plan to build more new homes in
occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank, should be
countered by international recognition NOW,
of a Palestinian state.
*************************************************
ISRAEL WANTS PALESTINIANS TO BECOME ZIONISTS
Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat equates
Israel's request for recognition as a “Jewish
state” with a request to join the "Zionist
movement," army radio reports.
Erekat makes the remark on his visit to the US
where he meets with US Middle East envoy George
Mitchell & senior State Department officials:
"They want me to join the Zionist movement.
I will not."
Instead, he says, Netanyahu must choose between
settlements and peace. Palestinians now demand
a resumption of the freeze as a condition for
rejoining any direct talks.
The Arab League on October the 9th, gave the US
just 30 days to find a way to continue the talks.
Erekat says the Palestinians are willing to give
the US "the time it needs".
*************************************************
PLO SAYS "NO" TO TRANSITIONAL TALKS
The Palestine Liberation Organization says
Saturday that it rejects any transitional
negotiations with Israel.
"We completely reject any temporary or long-term
transitional solutions that Israel promotes,"
says Ahmed Majdalani of the PLO's Executive Committee.
Majdalani is responding to remarks by Israeli
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, who said
an agreement between the two sides on key issues
is difficult to reach, & Ayalon instead suggests
a provisional solution, states Israel Radio.
But Majdalani says temporary solutions "are
unacceptable at all," adding that the Israeli
government's agenda remains focused on building
Jewish settlements "and the occupation, rather
than on having a peace program."
The Palestinians suspended peace talks with
Israel when it allowed a partial moratorium on
West Bank settlement construction to expire.
************************************************
LAUGHTER AS UK DANCERS THRILL GAZA CHILDREN
Gazan boys and girls laughed and laughed as
they gathered at al-Qattan Cultural Centre
for Children, watching acrobatic performances.
They hadn't seen such entertainment, since
the Israeli military offensive 22 months ago.
The UK's small troupe, of just three women and
two men, arrived in the Gaza Strip on October
the 21st with campaigners of the " Lifeline 5"
aid convoy - through the Rafah crossing between
the strip and Egypt. They attracted a houseful
of excited children and parents, for whom, the
common entertainment was an unique experience.
Eight-year-old Ahmed was amazed by the show which
he described as beautiful and enjoyable, saying
he had only seen performances like it before on
TV, but that now he was watching it live & real.
He said - with a big smile on his face - that
the show made him forget about the scenes of
destruction, the wars & the sounds of explosions.
One of the mothers said the performance "had
brought a smile and happiness to our kids."
She added that such kinds of entertainment
help to ease the pain of Gazan children, who
have gone through such war and destruction.
A father, after seeing the performance, thanked
the UK troupe, saying the performers "came from
a very far-away country, not only to delight the
children of Palestine, but also to delight the
Palestinian people and get them out of the bad
mood they had passed through due to the Israeli
measures and the unfair siege imposed on Gaza."
Reith, member of the acrobatic troupe, said "we
are an independent group not linked to any NGO.
We agreed to go to the Gaza Strip together, in
a bid to draw smiles on the faces of children
living in regions of conflict."
She said the troupe was stopped by Israel from
entering the Gaza Strip several times. "But we
insisted on going to the Gaza Strip at our own
expense with the help of some officials, to prove
to the world that the Gaza Strip is a safe area,
and because the children of the Gaza Strip have
been deprived of happiness & joy for a long time
because of the siege and war."
************************************************
ON MONDAY ISRAELIS BULLDOZE GAZA TOWN
Accompanied by tanks, Israeli bulldozers drive
deep into the Gaza Strip before proceeding to
flatten areas within a town, say eyewitnesses.
The vehicles advanced hundreds of metres into
the agricultural town of Wadi as-Salqa. They
then began to rove around and destroy whatever
lay before them on the ground.
The Israeli military also targeted civilians,
including minors searching the areas of former
Israeli settlements for collectable debris.
***********************************************
IT'S COMING - A UNITED PALESTINE!
As the present Zionist state of Israel rejects
the 2 state "solution" pushed by "our" government,
a group of top activists from all over the world
pass a declaration in favour of creating a single
democratic state in all of occupied Palestine.
The One Democratic State in Palestine Declaration
emphasizes the only possible solution short of
all out war. It enables the people of Palestine
to create a new life for themselves & for those
who once lived with them as brothers & sisters:
the Jewish people.
“We, the people of Palestine, call on all who
value justice and peace to join us in a movement
to establish one democratic state in Palestine
that can serve all its people equally.”
The ODS conference in Dallas, Texas, includes
Jews, Muslims, Christians, Agnostics & Atheists.
They assemble to affirm the Declaration of the
Movement for One Democratic State in Palestine
and to debate and agree on a plan of action.
One Democratic State in Palestine Movement objectives:
● The creation of one unified
democratic state in Mandate Palestine.
● Repudiate Zionism, & eliminate all forms
of discrimination and segregation,
ending violence, militarism, and warfare.
● Unify Jewish Israelis and Palestinians in a
shared non-ethnic democratic state in Palestine.
● Restore Palestinian inalienable rights in Palestine
& compensate Palestinians for their pain & suffering.
● Establish an international solidarity movement,
composed of individuals and organizations, to
organize & spearhead efforts to realize the
objectives of one democratic state in Palestine.
Speakers include: Dr.Mazin Qumsiyeh, Palestinian
author and expert on Palestinian refugee rights,
who spoke via video from occupied Palestine.
Lenni Brenner, Jewish anti-Zionist author of
Zionism in the Age of the Dictators.
Gilad Atzmon, Israeli-born British jazz musician
and anti-Zionist political activist and writer,
who spoke from the UK.
Paul Hershfield, co-founding member of the Campaign
to End Israeli Apartheid, Southern California.
Richard Falk, professor of international law
at Princeton University.
Virginia Tilley, professor of political science,
author of The One-State Solution: A Breakthrough
for Peace in the Israeli-Palestinian Deadlock,
who spoke from South Africa.
The conference talks of what is best for the
Palestinians; of what can be done to help them
live in their ancestral land as they once did;
then goes much further, to discuss how best to
abolish middle-man diplomacy, most commonly
associated with the US led ‘peace-talks’.
Haitham Zabri, head of the Palestine Online Store,
says it was “...inspiring and uplifting to be
around this small group of committed activists
who are determined to push the cause of one
democratic state with equal rights for all.
"This conference is the cornerstone of a movement
that will inevitably snowball, to build a
universal consensus that all humans are entitled
to equal rights and that one democratic state is
the only durable solution for Palestine.”
The conference successfully met three objectives:
● Adopted the Declaration of the Movement
for One Democratic State in Palestine.
● Established and launched the Movement
for One Democratic State in Palestine.
● Approved a 5 year Action Plan for the Movement.
As the Declaration states:
"On this platform, with our international friends
and allies, we commit ourselves to restore justice
to the people by establishing a unitary democratic
state in Palestine, in which all citizens can live
in security, peace, equality and freedom.
We firmly believe that this great accomplishment
will stand as a monument to humanity’s capacity
to overcome the legacy of bitter strife;
move all peoples of the world to reject
beliefs of ethnic supremacy & separation;
and inspire people everywhere to work with
new hope & energy to create societies, nations
& states that defend & secure equality, dignity
and human rights for all."
************************************************
FIGHT OR EXPERIENCE MORE CATASTROPHE
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement calls for
an end to peace talks with Israel and celebrates
armed struggle at a rally in Gaza City, attended
by tens of thousands of supporters.
"Today we sound the alarm and warn that there
will be a third Nakba (Catastrophe) because
of the determination to pursue the path of
negotiations with the enemy," the group's leader
Ramadan Shalah, tells the crowd.
The situation "demands the complete withdrawal
from the negotiations with the enemy, ending
the Palestinian divide and uniting behind jihad
and resistance," Shalah says by telephone from
his base in Damascus.
Supporters waving Palestinian flags & the black
banners of the Resistance group, pack Gaza City's
Kuteiba Square, as senior officials give speeches
beneath massive portraits of slain Palestinian
leaders from different groups.
Senior officials from Hamas and other factions
walk across a large Israeli flag on the way to
their seats at the rally, in which supporters
chant: "Death, death to the US!
Death, death to Israel!"
The rally comes days after the 15th anniversary
of the assassination of Islamic Jihad's founder
Fathi Shiqaqi, who was martyred in Malta in an
attack blamed on Israel's Mossad spy agency.
*************************************************
WHO ARE THE IMMORAL ONES?
In many western countries today, you only have to
mention the word 'Muslim', & people launch into a
rant about "prayer book in one hand", and bomb
in the other. We've been successfully conditioned
to react in this way, making reasoned arguments
or appeals to 'fair play', almost impossible.
Such is the criticism of the Resistance movement
Hamas, over the way it governs the Palestinian
territory of the Gaza Strip, Hamas official
Mahmoud Al-Zahar says, adding that the West
should be "ashamed of supporting Israel."
"You CANNOT support the foundation of Israel.
Don't you care about the assassination of people
here?" Zahar tells Reuters. He says that Islamic
traditions deserve respect and he accuses Europe
of promoting promiscuity & political hypocrisy.
"We have the right to control our life according
to our religion, not according to your religion.
You have no religion. You are secular," says
Zahar, one of Hamas' most influential & respected voices.
"Is it a crime to Islamize the people? I am a
Muslim living here according to our tradition.
Why should I live under your tradition?" says
Zahar, who served as Hamas foreign minister
between 2006-2007 and is under constant, heavy
protection. "We understand you very well. You
are poor people. Morally poor. Don't criticize
us because of what we are."
Zahar, a surgeon who taught medicine at Gaza's
Islamic University, says he is particularly
incensed that Western nations denounce Hamas
but at the same time enjoy extremely close
relations with the Israeli enemy.
I suppose that's what Justice means...
applying the same standards to others,
as you do to yourself.
If Muslims are to be judged so harshly
by the West, aren't they entitled to
the same judgement being applied to all ?
************************************************
RIVER OF SH..
Thousands of olive trees in a northern West Bank
village are ruined after being flooded with sewage
from a nearby Israeli settlement, residents tell AFP.
The discovery is made when villagers from Deir al-
Hatab just west of Nablus, go to harvest their
olives, in a grove which lies close to the Elon
Moreh settlement, the head of the village council says.
Abdel Karim Hussein says the army does not allow
villagers regular access to their trees, for
"security reasons", & so it's their first visit
to the grove, since last year.
"They were allowed to go to their fields this
morning & when they arrived, the farmer could
hardly see his land - it was flooded with sewage
and chemicals," he says.
"More than 2,000 of the trees have died and they
cannot pick from the rest."
Since the start of the olive harvest this month,
there have been scores of Palestinian complaints
about settlers cutting down trees, stealing
olives, or preventing farmers from harvesting
their crops, human rights groups and police say.
*************************************************
ISRAEL KILLS & SETTLERS BURN
Hundreds of olive trees are set on fire in the
West bank near Nablus. There have been at least
TEN attacks by increasingly aggressive settlers
in the last week alone! Israeli forces in Gaza
are reported to have killed another small child.
Resistence is so often a matter of absorbing
pain, it's GREAT to know that the aid convoys
are all coming with their "drops of honey".
*************************************************
ELDERS IN GAZA PRESS END OF SIEGE
A delegation from the Elders group of retired
prominent world figures was in the Gaza Strip
to press for the easing of Israeli restrictions.
Former Irish president and UN high commissioner
for human rights Mary Robinson, Indian women's
rights campaigner Ela Bhatt and former Algerian
foreign minister and UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi
entered Gaza from Egypt through the Rafah border
crossing, an AFP correspondent says.
"The aim of their visit is to draw attention to
the ongoing impact of the Gaza's isolation
and to call for the immediate lifting of the
blockade," the Elders said in a statement.
The delegation met officials of the UN Relief
and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA),
local authorities, business people & activists.
Ahead of their visit, the Elders met Arab League
chief Amr Mussa in Cairo.
The delegation, joined by former US president
Jimmy Carter in Cairo, who describes the siege
as the worst human rights outrage in the world,
also visited Syria, Jordan, all the occupied
Palestinian territories, Gaza, & the West Bank.
Former Irish President Mary Robinson, calls the
situation in the territory "shocking" to see,
as the Elders begin their visit to Gaza.
“I was last here in 2008, just before the Gaza
war. The situation has deteriorated to a shocking
extent since then," the Irish Times reports her saying.
The delegation met Palestinian PM Ismail Haniya.
After the meeting, Robinson said that Hamas
should not be excluded from the Palestinian-
Israeli talks... (but it is!)
The Elders strongly criticize the Israeli siege
of the Gaza Strip... in place since 2007.
“It is unconscionable and unacceptable that
Israel and the international community have
not lifted the blockade fully to allow Gazans
to rebuild their lives and be part of the
interconnected world that we take for granted."
The Elders is an independent group of prominent
world leaders founded by Nelson Mandela in 2007
to support peace building and help address major
causes of human suffering.
"The aim of their visit is to encourage support
across the region for the current final status
negotiations," an Elders statement says.
************************************************
WORLD MOVING AGAINST ISRAEL
As news comes in that Israeli forces have shot
yet another Palestinian teenager near the Gaza
Strip's border with Israel for collecting rubble,
which is often used as building material,
the whole world looks, and doesn't like what
it sees. Justice is now moving to change this!
The PA says Israel is "closing all doors on
attempts to revive the direct talks" after
Tel Aviv approves an expansion of new units
in the Palestinian territories.
Despite global opposition to Israel's settlement
projects, Tel Aviv has invited tenders to build
238 new settlement units in occupied Palestine,
including in East Jerusalem.
Acting PA chief Mahmoud Abbas, has repeated his
call on Israel to extend its partial moratorium
on these illegal settlement activities.
Speaking of illegal activities and Justice;
Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Israel
will "remain isolated" if Tel Aviv fails to
apologize for killing Turkish human rights
activists. The families of the victims of
Israel's maritime attack on a Gaza aid convoy
in May, are set to take the case to the
International Criminal Court (ICC).
A senior Palestinian lawmaker is calling for
an immediate declaration of an independent
Palestinian state in response to failed talks.
This could be done through the UN, since the
territories are presently occupied by force.
***********************************************
WARPLANES DIVE-BOMB OPEN-AIR PRISON OF GAZA
Israeli warplanes attack the Gaza Strip, bombing
a police station in the north of the besieged
territory, a Press TV correspondent says.
Three civilian Palestinians are injured as three
Israeli aircraft strike the station.
The report adds that a large explosion after the
strike panics people, damaging nearby houses.
The reporter adds that the warplanes after, keep
flying at a low altitude over the attacked area.
The incident takes place hours after Israeli
warplanes violate the Gaza Strip's airspace,
staging a mock raid over the besieged territory.
************************************************
ISRAELI SETTLERS BURN MOSQUE & DESECRATE KORANS
A group of Israeli settlers attack a mosque near
the West Bank city of Bethelem, ransacking the
holy site and burning copies of the holy Koran.
A group of Israeli extremists storm the mosque in
the town of Beit Fajjar overnight, burning copies
of the Muslim holy book & setting fire to carpets
in the building, locals say.
Palestinian residents who arrive at the scene
reportedly "clash" with the settler extremists.
Witnesses blame the attack on a group of Israeli
settlers from the nearby Kfar Etsyon settlement.
The settlers desecrate the holy site by spraying
graffiti and hate messages on the walls inside
the mosque in Hebrew.
************************************************
P.A. WITHDRAWS FROM TALKS
A spokesperson says that the PA will keep lines
open with the Arab Union and the US, etc, but
that talks are not going to go on, since Israel
"obviously does not want peace".
*************************************************
FATAH, PFLP AND PLO SAY "WITHDRAW FROM TALKS"
Fatah demonstrated in the streets and the PFLP
withdrew from PLO sessions: and, after a special
meeting, the PLO restated through its chief
spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeina, that "our
position has not changed. We will not hold
negotiations while settlement activity continues."
Direct negotiations were renewed in September,
after being stopped at the turn of 2009, when
Israel attacked the Gaza Strip, killing over
1,400 Palestinians and wounding many more.
The renewal of talks followed pressure applied
by the US, which threatened to sever ties with
the PA if it raised objections to the re-launch.
Tel Aviv is refusing to renew the September 26th
moratorium on illegal settlement activities on
occupied Palestinian lands, and many Palestinian
groups express opposition to negotiations now,
arguing that Washington is biased toward Tel Aviv
and saying that acting PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas -
whose term ended on January 9, 2009 - does not
truly represent Palestinians.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
(PFLP), suspended its membership to protest at
the talks' apparent continuation.
*************************************************
HUGE DEMONSTRATIONS IN GAZA AT ISRAEL KILLINGS
Thousands in Gaza demonstrate over the illegal
airstrikes which keep killing Gazans.
*************************************************
ISRAEL MUST PAY FOR AID CONVOY MASSACRE
On May 31st, a Turkish-backed aid convoy,
Freedom Flotilla, was stormed by Israeli commandos.
The assault, which took place in international waters,
claimed the lives of 9 Turkish human rights activists.
"When the vicious attack on the Marmara happened,
it opened up the eyes of people right around the
world, even on the other side of the world, and
many of us felt... we had to be there," leader
of the Kia Ora Gaza group, Roger Fowler, says.
Gaza's 1.5 million residents have been living
under Israeli siege since 2006, depriving them
of food, fuel, and other basic necessities.
*************************************************
THERE WAS NO FREEZE, EVEN DURING "THE FREEZE"!!!
A new report by an Israeli body shows that Tel Aviv
hasn't frozen its settlement expansion, let alone
considerably halted it in the occupied Palestinian
territories, during its self-declared "freeze".
The number of homes built during the nearly 10-
month "halt", declined by about 10%, AP reports.
Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics says there
were 2,790 settlement units in various stages of
construction in the third quarter of 2009, before
the "restrictions" were imposed last November.
The number rose to 2,955 in the last quarter
of last year, indicating a last-minute surge
of starts, in days leading up to the freeze.
In the first quarter of this year, the number
stood at 2,517 with the freeze in full effect.
Israeli peace activists say there has been no
appreciable decline in settlement expansion
since the declaration of a 10-month moratorium by Tel Aviv.
According to activists, the situation is largely
the same in non-residential construction, such
as commercial buildings, small factories & schools.
************************************************
GAZA CONTINUALLY BEING BOMBED BY ISRAELIS
Israeli warplanes launch more airstrikes against
the Gaza Strip, pounding the city of Khan Younis.
Israeli jets carry out air raids that Israel
claims are a response to a rocket fired
by Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip.
Earlier in the day, one Palestinian is killed
and two others injured, after Israeli planes
target a tunnel in the southern city of Rafah.
The tunnels, which pass under the Egypt-Gaza
border, are continuously bombarded by Israeli
air force jets. Egyptian authorities also
regularly fill the diggings with water or gas,
contributing to even more Palestinian casualties.
The Israeli regime accuses Palestinians of using
the tunnels to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip.
But the Palestinians dismiss these accusations,
arguing that the passages are the only way of
importing basic needs into the blockaded Gaza
Strip - home to nearly 1.5 million people.
US TRIES TO WARN AGAINST IAEA MOVE ON ISRAEL
The US is protesting at a report by the IAEA that
voices concern over Israel's clandestine nuclear
program and its potential capabilities.
"Israel has fully cooperated with the IAEA,"
State Department spokesperson Philip Crowley
claims on Wednesday.
He further notes that Washington believes that
the agency is "not the forum" to discuss Israel's
accession to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
"We believe there is really no basis for a debate
at the IAEA," the spokesperson insists.
Crowley says that Israeli nuclear arsenals have
already been discussed at the NPT Review Conference
held in New York earlier in the year and that a
meeting on a nuclear-free Middle East is set for 2012.
In a surprisingly strong move, IAEA Director
General Yukiya Amano traveled to Jerusalem
in August to call on the Israeli regime to
sign the treaty... good for him!
In his report to the IAEA board of governors last
Friday, Amano said he had conveyed to Israeli
leaders the agency's "concern about Israeli nuclear
capabilities and has invited Israel to consider
acceding to the NPT and placing all its nuclear
facilities under comprehensive IAEA safeguards."
But Crowley says that in Washington's view,
such an IAEA step is unnecessary since it could
"interrupt the progress that we think is possible
now that we're back at direct negotiations"
between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
What the US might be forgetting is that all states
in the world and all in the Middle East also want
Israel in the NPT, & a nuclear-free Middle East.
On Tuesday, the Egyptian government, on behalf of
all the Non-Alignment Movement member states,
demanded that Amano hand in an exhaustive report
on Israel's nuclear arsenals.
The Tel Aviv regime has been refusing to confirm
or deny possessing nuclear weapons but is widely
believed to possess over 200 nuclear warheads.
Having endorsed Israel's policy of "nuclear
ambiguity" for 40 years, the US is warning
the Arab states against renewing efforts to
focus on Israel, at the next IAEA meeting.
PHOTO: Juvenal Balán
Fidel Castro called on young people to fight -
to prevent a nuclear war - & confirmed that
it is possible to win the great battle
to save the world from a nuclear war that would
destroy it completely;- & to defend the right
of all human beings to live.
The time available is incredibly limited, warned
Fidel, referring to the real and imminent danger
of another war in the Middle East...
Fidel's message was also a call to fight against
those who have imposed on the world a system
that is currently threatening the very survival
of the planet and of the entire human race:
"We are here to convince, persuade and prevent
a war that would bring an end to hope, and
in order to demonstrate that love for life
is the commitment of all of us," said Maydel
Gómez Lago, president of the Cuban Federation
of University Students (FEU).
"Right up until the end, we will be demanding
the right to life. We do not want to die in
this absurd way, we want to fulfill our dreams,"
the young woman emphasized. Barack Obama, she
insisted, could use his power to prevent war
from becoming a tragedy for all of us.
"We have the right to fight for our future,
we have a duty to build it. We still have time.
We will fight for peace, we could not forgive
ourselves for doing anything less."
But the exact deadline date, was left unclear.
The last UN resolution on Iran, gave a deadline
of THE BEGINNING OF SEPTEMBER, for Iran to either
agree to having all its ships boarded by the US
and Israelis, or bear the consequences of "further action".
Now Fidel takes this extra-ordinary message
a stage further... "We are at an exceptional
moment in the history of the human race", he says.
"These days see the end of the time periods given
by the UN Security Council for Iran to comply
with the demands drawn up by the US related to
its nuclear research & enriched uranium program
for medical purposes & the production of electrical energy.
"That is the only thing that can be proven.
"The fear that it is seeking to produce a
nuclear weapon is merely a supposition.
"In the context of the delicate problem, the US
& its Western allies, among them two of the five
nuclear powers with the right to a veto, France
& the UK, backed by the richest & most developed
capitalist powers in the world, have promoted an
increasing number of sanctions against Iran, a
country rich in oil and of Muslim religion.
"Now, the measures passed include the inspection
of its merchant ships & extremely harsh economic
sanctions that are leading to the strangulation
of its economy.
"I have closely followed the grave dangers
contained in that situation, given that
if a military outbreak should come at that
point, the war would rapidly become nuclear
& lethal for the rest of the world in its consequences.
"I was not seeking publicity or sensationalism by
pointing out those dangers. Simply alerting world
opinion in the hope that, warned of such a grave
danger, it might contribute to avoiding it.
"At least it has been possible to draw attention
to a problem that was not even being mentioned
in the major media outlets of world opinion."
So perhaps Fidel's intervention has done the trick?
Fidel says the 7th of September was one of the
possible deadline dates & the 9th was the other..
"The former was the end of the 90-day period
given by the Security Council to know if Iran
had complied with the requisite to authorize
the inspection of its merchant fleet. The other
date was the end of the three-month period noted
in the June 9 Resolution, possibly that time
period was the Council’s intention."
The Director General of the IAEA COULD have
clarified these dates, and SHOULD have, but:-
"To date, we only have the unwonted statement by
the director general of the IAEA (International
Atomic Energy Agency), Japanese Yukiya Amano, a
yankis’ man. He fuelled the flames even further
and, like Pontius Pilate, washed his hands of it.
"A spokesman from the Iranian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs commented with merited contempt on his
statement. A cable from the EFE agency noted it
and affirmed that "’Our friends shouldn’t concern
themselves, given that we do not believe that
our region is in a position for new military
adventures,’ and that ‘Iran is totally prepared
to respond to any military invasion...’"
So perhaps the West and Israel have been huffing
and puffing as usual! The bravery of Iran is now
incontrovertible; the danger of letting Israel off
the leash firmly established, and the entire world
alerted to the consequence of further travel along
the road of smashing Muslims & human mass suicide.
Yet... is this why France's strange leader is now
picking on the Gypsies? A case of "kicking the cat?"
Truly, the world is going through immensely
dangerous times, and we all need to be alert.
Thank you Fidel, and may your vision of a US
Empire falling and flailing its arms in distress,
draw all good people to move & think with love.
US KILLERS IN AFGHANISTAN FACE TRIAL
At least 12 US soldiers are facing charges of
forming part of a "killer team" that allegedly
randomly fired on Afghani civilians & collected
their fingers as trophies, Europa Press reports.
One of them has now admitted killing civilians
for "fun" and out of sheer hatred.
The accused, aged from 19-25, face a death sentence
or life imprisonment, if they are found guilty.
5 of the soldiers are accused of killing 3
Afghanis, presumably for sport, in different
attacks with firearms or grenades this year.
Another 7 are accused of covering up the murders
and attacking a recruit when he reported these
& other abuses, including the smoking of hashish
stolen by them, from the civilians they killed.
According to the legal documents, Sergeant Calvin
Gibbs, aged 25, cooked up a plan with another
soldier, Jeremy Morlock, aged 22, and other
members of his unit, to form a killer team
within the Ramrod operations base.
The Army Times magazine notes that at least one
of the soldiers took fingers from the victims
as "mementoes" and that some of them posed for
"victory" photographs with the civilian corpses.
Antoine Fesnell prays as his daughters Nicole, 9
and Antoine, 6, look on during mass in the rubble
of Notre Dame in Port-au-Prince. AP Photo.
HAITIANS BURN DOWN RULING PARTY HQ
After the military invasion by the US, earthquakes
and a cholera epidemic controlled by Cuban doctors
you might forgive Haitians for showing the world
how angry they feel about being the objects of a
racist campaign by a US empire verging on genocide.
************************************************
HAITIANS STILL LIVING IN RUBBLE
The US has yet to deliver on the 1.15-billion-
dollar fund it promised Haiti for reconstruction
after it was hit by a devastating earthquake.
Almost NINE months have passed since the 7.0-
magnitude earthquake hit, killing an estimated
250,000 people and making one million homeless,
yet Haitians haven't received ANY of the funding
pledged in March by US Sec of State H. Clinton
for rebuilding needs, AP reports.
While about USD 1.1bn has been spent on aid
to Haiti by the US, reconstruction has been
overlooked and the country has not received
a single penny of the promised rebuilding
aid earmarked by Congress.
Just 2% of the 33 million cubic yards of rubble
have been cleared, and the death toll continues
to rise in Port-au-Prince because of inadequate
shelter and a lack of food.
The UN & 50 other nations, including the US,
pledged in March a total of USD 5.3 billion
for Haiti's reconstruction over 2 year period.
But since then, only 15% of the total sum for
2010-11, has reached Haiti.
CHF International, the primary US funded group
assigned to remove debris and build temporary
shelters, has asked the US government for USD
16.5 million to continue its work, which has
halted due to all the funding running out.
"It's just a matter of one phone call and the
trucks are out again. We have contractors ready
to continue removing rubble. ... We have local
suppliers and international suppliers ready to
ship the amount of wood & construction materials
we need," says CHF director Alberto Wilde.
"It's just a matter of money."
Last week a storm hit Port-au-Prince, blowing
roofs off houses, uprooting trees, cutting power
lines and destroying makeshift tent cities where
most earthquake survivors have been living. Five
were reportedly killed and dozens injured.
So many gods, so many creeds,
so many paths that wind and wind
While just the art of being kind
is all the sad world needs.
- Edith Wheeler Wilcox
It was an old, heavy, galvanized bucket. I
remember it clearly. The man tried to resist
arrest; several Israeli troops handled him
roughly. The man was from Gaza and had a small
boy with him – his son. As the military van sped
quickly away, the child was left behind in the
road wailing pitifully. The crime was stealing
a bucket of Israeli water.
Water is a resource of nature. Like the land, the
air and the seas it belongs to no-one. The water
is not Israeli. It is mine and yours to share for
the slaking of our thirst and for the enrichment
of our communities. Gaza has no rivers, and its
underground aquifer has not been adequate since
1967. In a conflict ridden zone such as
Palestine, water is just another weapon.
I've left London for Gaza on the Viva Palestine
Convoy and our numbers will swell to 500 vehicles
as we collect from France, Italy, Turkey & Syria.
These convoys to highlight the dire political
situation in Gaza are rarely reported in the
mainstream news. This convoy will be the 5th
of its kind. Another leaves in October.
The Lebanese women’s flotilla is currently held
up in Cyprus. Europe and the US want to keep
news coverage to a minimum.
The Israeli and Palestinian position is never
presented to us clearly. News riddled with
propagandist manipulation, secrets untold,
deaths, murders and politics fudge the situation,
but one thing is clear: the people living in
Gaza are fenced in, denied everything but enough
food to keep them just above malnutrition
levels, and subject to ever changing sadistic
laws which the Jewish population would find
intolerable. In short Gazans are kept in a prison
by the state of Israel, aided and abetted by
the US and Europe.
Gaza holds roughly 2 million people and is 139
square miles in area. That is less than twice
the size of Newport (South Wales) – which has
a population of 140,000. In this tiny scrap of
rubble people are expected to live, work, farm,
rear children and educate themselves. The
children learn hardship and dislike of their
neighbours, and each new generation grows to
maturity in abject poverty, nursing revenge.
The blockade of Gaza is a medieval siege.
It prevents imports and exports, it prevents
the rebuilding of demolished houses and
infrastructure and obstructs the movement of
all those living behind the Wall. This is not
a natural disaster. It is political vengeance.
One discreet nod from the US could bring it to an end.
It is not about religion, nor about race. It is
about defending basic human rights. The citizens
of Gaza deserve the thoughts of all free-thinking
people, and my contribution to their plight is
to draw attention to the moral decay of those
who perpetuate this inhumanity.
Breaking this blockade is an act to support the
rights of the human being. Few attempt it, few
achieve it, and I, along with those brave fellows
of the Viva Palestina Convoy will play my part
in highlighting the injustice of the blockade
by driving up to the gates of Rafah with my van
packed full of medical aid & asking to be let in.
Donations towards humanitarian aid for Gaza can
STILL be made here:
COEXIST is an ever growing group of people and
organisations who believe that true and lasting
Peace can only be sustained when economic, social
and environmental justice have been achieved.
Our membership is open and free. All we ask
is that you pass this on to people in your
network who share our values and who would
like to be part of the construction of a
more just and sustainable future.
To join all you have to do is send us an email at
coexist@pippa-bartolotti.co.uk
Press Release
Trident will cause defence job losses: new report
A new report shows the net impact of going ahead
with the replacement of the Trident nuclear
weapons system will be to cause an overall
reduction in defence employment, due to the need
to scrap more labour-intensive conventional
defence activities to pay for the system...
designed for the Cold War.
The report, 'Trident, jobs and the UK economy'
is launched at the TUC Congress. It includes
a comprehensive analysis of jobs dependent on
Trident, and of the other defence programmes
that are put at risk to pay for its £76bn cost.
Using official figures, the authors show that
the cancellation of surface ships, aircraft,
armoured vehicles and RAF bases will endanger
far more jobs than the relatively small numbers
that would go if Trident replacement was cancelled.
Kate Hudson, General Secretary of the Campaign
for Nuclear Disarmament, says "The Chancellor
is demanding up to 20% cuts from the MoD and has
stated that the cost of Trident replacement will
come from the main defence budget. So going ahead
with Trident will have a devastating impact on
non-nuclear defence manufacturing.
"Trident is cash-hungry whilst providing
relatively few jobs. Hundreds of millions are to
be spent with US-based contractors, providing
nothing for the UK economy. Other areas of
defence spending at risk from Trident generate
far more employment per pound spent. Closing RAF
bases and scrapping surface-ship programmes will
cause significant job losses in the coming years,
whereas cutting Trident would have little impact
... until at least 2016.
"The report makes clear that with relatively
small investment the key facility dependent on
Trident work - BAE Systems shipyard in Barrow -
could be re-aligned towards the rapidly growing
needs of the low-carbon economy. Precision
marine engineering skills are perfect for
developing wave and tidal energy systems, where
Britain could be a world leader. Diversifying
into a market with strong domestic demand as
well as huge export potential would provide
much greater job security for shipyard workers.
Relying almost entirely on a few MoD orders,
will always be a precarious formula."
The report, including an executive summary,
is available at www.cnduk.org/tridentjobs
plus a short version at www.cnduk.org/tridentjobs2
The report is launched at a TUC fringe meeting
'Time to Scrap Trident: The Cuts & Jobs Questions'
with report author Professor John Foster,
Heather Wakefield (UNISON), Tony Kearns (CWU)
and Kate Hudson (CND) on Tuesday 14th Sept.
The report was prepared for CND by:
Professor John Foster (Emeritus Professor,
University of Paisley), Dr. Alan Mackinnon
and Revd. John Ainslie.
AND THE GOOD NEWS?
Senegal revokes the licences of foreign fishing
trawlers and demands that 29 ships offload their
catches before leaving its territorial waters
Local industry leaders in west Africa say small-
scale, inshore fishing has been decimated in the
past 10 years because of commercial overfishing.
Now Senegal's new government has cancelled the
licences of 29 foreign fishing trawlers, and
demanded that they offload their catches in the
capital, Dakar, before leaving.
The move by fisheries minister Pape Diouf
follows growing resentment at overfishing.
Senegal's 52,000 inshore fishermen were
threatening to take direct action against
the owners of foreign trawlers.
In 2006, Senegal cancelled its licencing
agreements with the heavily subsidised EU
fleet, but dozens of huge 10,000-tonne
factory ships registered in Russia, Lithuania,
Morocco, Ukraine, Mauritius, Saint Vincent
and the Grenadines, China, Belize and elsewhere
still managed to acquire new licences. They've
been taking hundreds of tonnes of fish a day.
In contrast, local fishermen's tiny 30-foot
"pirogues" are able to catch only a few
tonnes of fish a year from near-shore waters.
The decline in fish stocks due to industrial
fishing has forced them to fish further and
further out to sea.
Although poverty and hunger are growing in
Senegal and neighbouring countries, much of
the catch by foreign fleets ends up in the UK
(and the rest of the EU) after being exported
from ports like Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.
"Senegal's only resource is the sea," says Abdou
Karim Sall, president of the Fishermen's
Association of Joal and the Committee of Marine
Reserves in West Africa. "Unless something changes
there will be a catastrophe for livelihoods,
employment and food security."
"This decision is a good start to managing
Senegal's fishing better. Hopefully, the
government will decree a moratorium on the
allocation of new fishing authorisations,"
says Raoul Monsembula, oceans campaigner for
Greenpeace Africa, which has been pressing for
an end to overfishing in west African waters.
**********************************************
EUROPE TURNS LEFT
Slovakia’s left-wing Smear-Social Democracy
Party wins a majority in the country’s
parliamentary elections by securing almost
45 percent of the votes.
Near-final results of the polling stations show
that the party of the former Prime Minister
Robert Fico is top in the polls and has gained
84 seats in the 150-seat parliament.
Fico, a populist leader, who was Slovak prime
minister from 2006 to 2010, has promised to
preserve the welfare system while raising taxes
on corporations and the rich.
************************************************
DENMARK LEADS EUROPE MOVE TO LEFT
Helle Thorning-Schmidt of the Social Democrat
Party has won Denmark's general elections.
Helle Thorning-Schmidt is the European country's
first woman prime minister.
With all votes counted, the center-left party
has gained 89 seats in Denmark's 179-seat
parliament against the 86 seats secured by the
country's center-right bloc.
"We did it ... today we've written history,"
Thorning-Schmidt says to a gathering of
euphoric supporters.
The European country's rightist PM Lars Lokke
Rasmussen concedes defeat:
"Tonight I hand over the keys to the prime
minister's office to Helle Thorning-Schmidt;
and, dear Helle, take good care of them.
You're only borrowing them," Rasmussen smiles.
The centre-left candidate appealed to voters
by promising to raise taxes, increase public
spending, and ease strict immigration laws
advocated by the conservative "Blue Bloc" party
that has held power in Denmark for 10 years.
"Denmark needs change, Denmark needs to move on
and Denmark needs my leadership," she laughs.
***********************************************
Peru's presidential runoff vote gives victory to
the leftist former army Lt Col Ollanta Humala.
***********************************************
ZELAYA AND SUPPORTERS RETURN TO HONDURAS
Former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was
overthrown in a US-sponsored military coup
in 2009.The current Honduran President and
the country's ousted ex-president Manuel Zelaya
have signed an agreement securing the return
of the exiled leader.
The deal was brokered by the Venezuelan and
Colombian governments, and signed in Cartagena.
According to the deal, Zelaya and his supporters
are allowed to return to the country and restart
participation in the country's political affairs
for the first time since his 2009 ouster.
“This agreement is great news to Latin Americans
because it normalizes the situation in the Inter-
American system," Colombian President Santos says.
The agreement also calls for the country's re-
entry to the Organization of American States.
***********************************************
ZIMBABWE TO BE ENRICHED UNDER MUGABE
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi says China
is committed to further bolstering bilateral
relations with Zimbabwe.
The US and UK, motivated by hatred and racism,
nearly destroyed Zimbabwe through currency and
trade wars, but now China is helping, all is well.
Yang, leading an 11-member delegation, arrived in
Zimbabwe on the 10th of February, to begin a two-
day visit expected to yield lucrative investment
agreements between the two countries.
In a statement, Yang says his country considers
Zimbabwe as a strategic partner in Africa.
"Zimbabwe is an important country in Southern Africa.
It has a beautiful landscape & rich natural resources.
Its people are industrious and talented."
"China is ready to work with Zimbabwe to further
enhance political mutual trust, expand mutually
beneficial cooperation and steadily elevate our
friendship and cooperation."
During Yang's stay, China and Zimbabwe are to
sign various investment deals which will add
impetus to its efforts to enrich its economy.
************************************************
Bolivia has access to the Pacific Ocean for the
first time since the Pacific war 126 years ago,
following an agreement reached with Peru.
This "opens the door for Bolivians to have an
international port, to use the ocean for global
trade and for Bolivian products to have better
access to global markets," the state-funded BBC
quotes Morales as saying.
Bolivia can now use a three-mile long strip of
land in the port of Ilo to export its products
- mainly silver, tin, and zinc - and to dock
its naval ships.
"It is unjust that Bolivia has no sovereign
outlet to the ocean," Merco Press news agency
quotes Garcia as saying.
"Bolivia will have a place for these young people
who have sworn to defend the sovereignty of their
country; to study, live and teach their zeal and
patriotism," he adds. "This is a country that
needs the backing of its brothers, to build a
common front in defense of inalienable rights,"
Garcia goes on to say.
In the 1879-84 War of the Pacific, Chile defeated
Peru and Bolivia, to gain control of the mineral-
rich lands of both countries. The conflict also
blocked Bolivia's access to the sea.
This is still an unresolved issue - and UK hands
are ALL over it ! Read the Granma article here:
The Czech Statistical Office announces that the
left-wing Social Democrats have won 12 out of
the 29 contested seats, in the runoff vote.
This grants the party, which has promised to
delay unpopular austerity plans and stop the
expansion of the country's presence in war-torn
Afghanistan, a 41-seat majority in the 81-seat Senate.
Necas' Civic Democratic Party now has a total of 25 seats.
The parliament's lower house controls the
legislative process, but the Senate is the
major player in electing the president and
passing constitutional amendments.
The victory gives the opposition power to stop
Prague's plan to increase the number of Czech
troops in Afghanistan from 520 to 720 next year, AP reports.
Social Democrats can now also delay the
government's austerity plans, such as
10% cuts in state employees' salaries.
*************************************************
BRAZIL KEEPS LEFT WITH ROUSSEFF
Dilma Rousseff finally makes it as President,
after being officially declared winner of the
runoff in Brazil's elections.
Rousseff, 62, born to a middle class immigrant
family, faced the military coup in 1964, by
joining the armed resistance known as Colina
(acronym for Command of National Liberation)
and VAR-Palmares (Armed Revolutionary Vanguard),
fighting and being tortured and imprisoned by
the US-backed military junta.
Rousseff was jailed in November 1970 and spent
about three years behind bars. It took her
several years to recover her health.
In the late 1980s, she became secretary of mines
and energy in Rio Grande do Sul state, and made
herself famous, by increasing the state's power
supply by nearly 50% in a very short time.
Decisive and capable, Rousseff was promoted by
Lula, shortly after she joined the PT in 2001.
Minister of energy, then the country's Chief of
Staff, she has launched many programmes to help
the working class and poor of Brazil under Lula.
Rousseff is obviously Lula's choice as successor,
and says she will maintain the main economic and
foreign policies of the current administration
& try to further Brazil's influence in the world.
She vows in her victory speech in Brasilia, to
completely eradicate poverty in her nation.
Rousseff became a grandmother in September, and
voters were moved as she showed in her election
campaign, the tender feelings and happiness of
being a mother and a grandmother.
"I will pay attention and take care of the
country as a kind mother," she says.
FREE POLITICAL PRISONER LEONARD PELTIER NOW!!!
Indigenous rights activist Leonard Peltier, who
has been in prison in the US for 35 years, has
received the first international human rights
prize of Uruguay's Mario Benedetti Foundation.
At a ceremony in Montevideo where the winner was
announced, the human rights group calls Peltier
the longest-serving political prisoner in the
Americas, AFP reports.
Peltier, a Native American activist who was a
member of the American Indian Movement (AIM),
was convicted in 1977 for the alleged murder of
two US FBI agents during a 1975 shootout on the
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
He was sentenced to 2 consecutive terms of life imprisonment.
"Leonard Peltier, who on September 12th, 2011,
will turn 67, has spent more than half his life
in prison. He is a symbol of resistance to
repressive state policies by the US, where
there are people in jail for ethnic, racial,
ideological and religious reasons," the
foundation's statement says.
Ricardo Elena, a member of the foundation's
honorary board, says Peltier's case "is one
that is repeated over and over: violation (of
rights), persecution, eviction, invasion and
expropriation of the indigenous people from
the time it was 'discovered', until now.
"It does not just happen in the United States;
it is happening in southern South America with
the (indigenous) Mapuche people, and with
indigenous people in North America," he states.
Elena says the United States "likes to think it
is the seat of democracy, but it has political
prisoners just like a dictatorship might have."
The Mario Benedetti Foundation was established
to support human rights and cultural causes
in line with the work of the Uruguayan writer
after whom it was named, and who died in 2009.
Peltier is incarcerated at the United States
Penitentiary, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
James Swan, the head of the Black Hills chapter
of the United Urban Warrior Society - a nonprofit
group that helps Native Americans fight racial
discrimination and injustice - describes Peltier
as a political prisoner whose case needs to be
reviewed by an independent body.
"What we want people to realize is that this
is an injustice," AP quotes Swan as saying.
Peltier, 66, was sentenced to two life sentences
in '77, on false charges of killing 2 FBI agents.
Peltier asserts that he is innocent and that the
FBI framed him for political reasons, especially
for his activities as a member of the Native
American Movement. He has lodged numerous appeals
against the conviction - but all unsuccessfully.
He has been denied parole again and again, and
will not be eligible for it again until 2024,
when he turns 79.
According to Peltier's relatives, he suffers a
number of health problems such as diabetes,
arthritis, and the loss of vision in one eye
following a minor stroke.
Many activists say Leonard Peltier is the most
important political prisoner in the US.
In a review of the human rights record of the US
at the UN Human Rights Council UPR conference in
Geneva, one group called for a new trial for him.
The US Human Rights Network filed a 423-page
submission to the Geneva meeting about him.
One item, entitled “Political Repression-
Political Prisoners,” about cases in the '70s,
indicts the FBI, accusing COINTELPRO of “maiming,
murdering, false prosecutions and frame-ups,
destruction and mayhem throughout the country.”
It cites the FBI for targeting the Puerto Rican
Independence Front, the Black Panther Party,
the Weather Underground, the American Indian
Movement, the Black Liberation Army, as well
as “peace activists and everyone in between,”
& says that “many of today's political prisoners”
in the US were jailed indefinitely as a result.
Repression has increased since 9/11, it says.
The political repression paper demands an
“immediate criminal investigation into the
conspiracy,” and also new trials for two
now-aged activists jailed on murder charges,
Mumia Abu Jamal and Leonard Peltier.
