I dream of roses

MLK - To Serve - This is Powerful

2012-01-15T13:38:00.000-08:00

On the path of a meaningful life...

2011-11-20T10:38:00.001-08:00

We have all engaged in behaviors and have entertained thoughts that are limiting. On the journey of self-discovery, we must be willing to let go of mentalities and other obstacles that inhibit us in order to grow. Every single one of us has something that is powerful and unique to offer in the greater scheme of things; it's just a matter of owning it.

People Power: Occupied Oakland heads towards port to shut it down

2011-11-04T12:20:00.000-07:00

Israeli militants board Gaza bound flotilla

2011-11-04T09:45:00.000-07:00

Israeli authorities on Friday boarded two ships, including a Canadian vessel, that were trying to bring supplies to Gaza in defiance of a years-long blockade on the region.

While a military source said nobody was injured in the operation, the high-seas boarding raised the spectre of a similar operation by Israeli forces last year against a Turkish vessel, which ended with the death of nine Turks, some of whom had been armed with clubs and knives.

"A short while ago, Israel navy soldiers boarded the vessels which were en-route to the Gaza Strip, attempting to break the maritime security blockade that is in place in accordance with international law," the Israeli Defense Forces said in a statement Friday morning.

"The boarding was carried out following numerous calls to the activists onboard and during different points at sea. Following their unwillingness to co-operate, and after ignoring calls to divert to the port of Ashdod, the decision was made to board the vessels and lead them there."

A statement from the group Canadian Boat to Gaza, which is involved in the mission, said on its website "Canadian and Irish ships sailing with Freedom Waves to Gaza are likely being illegally boarded and commandeered right now by the Israeli military in international waters — or they are about to be."

A Twitter posting from the group Friday morning said: "Estimated location of the Tahrir — now stopped and being boarded — was just 35 (nautical miles) from Gaza."

Citing the need to prevent weapons smuggling, Israel has blockaded Gaza since the Islamist group Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007.

Pro-Palestinian groups behind the latest sailing condemn the blockade as illegal and inhumane.

There are about 27 people on board the two vessels, including journalists and cameramen, according to the Freedom Waves activist group. Former Canadian Boat to Gaza campaign organizer Ehab Lotayef, of Montreal, and Ontario linguistics and French professor David Heap, are on board the vessels along with Americans, Australians and Irish citizens.

Carrying medical supplies, the Tahrir and Saoirse had set sail from Turkey on Wednesday.

The Canadian government has been vocal about its opposition of the activists' plan, calling the move "provocative" and "ultimately unhelpful to the people of Gaza."

Officials have said participants in this expedition are breaking the laws of Israel and Egypt, and Canada cannot intervene if citizens are prosecuted for their actions.

Israelis called the act an attempt "to create a provocation against the state of Israel, to break the maritime security blockade on Gaza, and to undermine Israel's security."

A United Nations report on Israel's interception of the 2010 Turkish ship said the blockade was a "legitimate security measure," adding that "its implementation complied with the requirements of international law".
link

Do you know the way, San Jose?

2011-10-14T10:33:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday, my daughter and I were eager to take a part in the "Occupy San Jose" protest. I was really impressed by the enthusiasm and the diversity of the crowd. The variety of ages, backgrounds and colors coming together for the common good actually had me teary-eyed with hope. But we know that it takes much more than hope and good will to effect change and I hope I'm wrong but my impression is that it might take years for momentum to build to any effective level. Do we have the perseverance, the passion the willingness to step outside of our comfort zone that is needed? Are we willing to be flexible and take dramatic risks?As I look forward to taking a more active part in these protests for some time to come, I thought it only fair that I was able to express my initial primary concern. Firstly I give tremendous props to those camping and sacrificing much of their time to make sure this movement keep afloat. I must admit, however, that I was a little discouraged by the excessive 'lets-bend-over-backward-to-profess-nonviolence' approach. Not because I'm against nonviolence as an informed and applied strategy, but because I felt it was there, solely, to appease the violent and oppressive ruling apparatus we are supposed to be ruffling the feathers of. Trying to appeal to SJPD and local politicians is a bit naive in the sense that true revolution (and it's premature to label this as such) is never non-violent, at least in terms of government response. As events intensify the law enforcement will resort to brutality and harmful crowd control measures. They not only will mock our approach but will use it against us. Why try to appease these groups?

Winds of Change

2011-10-02T05:22:00.000-07:00

Life is ever dynamic.There are but a few things that are set in stone or inconceivable.Consider the possibilities. Begin with what comes naturally and feels appropriate; expand upon that. If you work with whats around you and act even in small ways, there is a lot that can be achieved. Just be sure to keep moving forward. Creating a more just world takes awareness, persistence and above all, it's truly a process.

Now is the time.

2011-09-30T00:59:00.000-07:00

All causes worth fighting for are not only related but the root of these global struggles all seem to lead to the USA. These are pressing times. There are possibilities given the current climate. More and more people are beginning to rise up in protest not only against Wall Street but other injustices which stem from the ramifications of it's policies. When we look beyond our own realities for long enough, it's apparent that the consequences of disaster capitalism, war profiteering and the environmental devastation brought on by corporations devoid of liability have wreaked havoc around the globe in the form of poverty, warfare and pollution. This isn't just about US here but the entire web-of-life. It is up to "the 99%" to affect change and not those who benefit from maintaining destructive policies. Who can be sure what confronting this apparatus will achieve or what is even possible, but masses of people coming together to take a stand for the common good is a promising place to begin.

photo by Emmanuel Rosario23 September, 2011

The Battle for the Xingu in Brazil by Iara Lee

2011-09-29T22:34:00.000-07:00

This month, I would like to share a piece on the movement to prevent the construction of what would be the world's third-largest hydroelectric dam on Brazil's Xingu River. Our Cultures of Resistance film crew was there for a massive indigenous demonstration in 2008. Today, the Battle for the Xingu continues.In every corner of the world today, we see unfathomably huge hydroelectric dams being built in places that destroy entire ecosystems and indigenous livelihoods. The notorious Three Gorges Dam in China has its rivals on all other continents, from the proposed Grand Inga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the James Bay Project in Canada. In these examples and many others, the same tragedies are recurring: thousands are displaced from their homes, fish species are going extinct, fertile farmland is flooded and rendered useless, and the artificial reservoirs serve as a place for water-borne diseases to flourish. Despite the many smaller-scale, less-destructive alternatives to these mega-projects, not to mention the enormous improvements in energy efficiency that we can make, dams from the 20th century are only growing bigger and more popular in the 21st.A couple of years ago our film crew had the opportunity to travel to the Xingu River, a tributary of the Amazon, where the Brazilian government has for decades pushed for the construction of the so-called Belo Monte. If built, it would be the world's third largest dam. Our crew's visit coincided with a summit in the city of Altamira, where 1,000 people from various indigenous communities joined national and international supporters to express their unequivocal opposition to the project. The broad mobilization came as a response, in part, to credible estimates that 20,000 people would be displaced from their traditional territory; some experts say that 40,000 would be affected if the dam were built.

Cultures of Resistance: Battle for the Xingu from Cultures of Resistance on Vimeo.

Despite this firm resistance, and the diverse, respected voices that continue to point out the plan's economic, structural, and environmental infeasibility, in June 2011 the Brazilian government approved an installation license for a consortium of giant state-owned and private companies to build the dam. There are currently 12 lawsuits awaiting trial inside of Brazil, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights asked the government to stop the dam because of a lack of consultation with the affected indigenous people.Somehow, with the project's well-known technical and economic uncertainties and the guaranteed havoc it will wreak on indigenous communities and the Amazonian ecosystem, in the distorted minds of government and industry there is no other way forward. They refuse to acknowledge the cost-competitive, benign, truly renewable technologies -- like wind and solar projects -- that are growing more cost-effective every day, and never consider the enormous potential for improving energy efficiency.As horrific as the Belo Monte case may be, it is not unique: we see these same things happening all over the world. The Paquitzapango dam in Peru would forever change the Ashaninka people's way of life (and would, like Belo Monte, be built by Brazilian companies and funded by the Brazilian National Development Bank). In Ethiopia, the Gibe 3 dam threatens the food security and local economies of nearly half a million people, and even the Kenyan government just recommended that Ethiopia refrain from building it. The Tipaimukh High Dam in India threatens to flood 275 square kilometers of farmland and displace the indigenous Zeliangrong and Hmar communities.In every case, and in particular on the Xingu, the suffering to be unleashed on these communities will go to benefit the rich and -- well -- connected. After signing the Installation License for the Belo Monte project, President Dilma, with a completely straight face, announced, "I think this is a victory for Brazil's energy sector."But it is not only the energy sector that benefits: in most cases, a huge portion of the electricity goes to power heavy industrial projects like mining and mineral smelting, which have long been some of the worst culprits in destroying indigenous communities. With all these dynamics in place, it is hard not to think of the colonial projects of centuries ago that enriched European thrones at the expense of indigenous populations. When Brazil's energy minister referred to Belo Monte's opposition as "demoniac forces," in 2009, he made the colonial image nearly unavoidable.But the development of these disastrous mega-dams is not a foregone conclusion. Resistance to the Belo Monte project, which has been sustained for nearly two decades, continues to prosper. Indeed, on August 20th inside Brazil, there were massive protests in practically every major city in the country, and international protests took place in cities across the world on August 22nd. Having seen again and again the tragedies that come of these projects, indigenous communities are now more unified and better equipped than ever at opposing disruptive mega-dams.The Movimento Xingu Vivo Para Sempre, a local social movement on the Xingu River that includes indigenous, non-indigenous, rural, and urban affected people has made Belo Monte its prize-fight, and has drawn broad support from non-indigenous players throughout the country. And while Brazilians stand up for indigenous and environmental rights, the international community is still watching to see if that government, and others around the world, are willing to forever destroy the lives of thousands simply for the enrichment of a few.To find out how you can keep the pressure on, visit International Rivers and Amazon Watch for the latest action alerts.Iara Lee is an activist and filmaker and is frequently featured in the Huffington Posthttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/iara-lee/the-battle-for-the-xingu-_b_987265.html

And the lovers of justice all cheered...

2011-08-21T12:33:00.000-07:00

Bassem Tamimi's unjust imprisonment

2011-07-14T08:34:00.000-07:00

Huwaida Arraf هويدا عراف - Humanity Has No Nationality

2011-07-11T22:00:00.000-07:00

Srebrenica-613 razloga da ne zaboravimo!

2011-07-09T19:52:00.000-07:00

On the anniversary of 1995 Srebrenica massacre, 613 newly identified bodies travel to Potocari for burial. Bosniaks line the street and tearfully place flowers on the buses which slow down to accept them. There are few who know that I cry with them.

6 years old from Nabi Saleh

2011-07-09T18:48:00.000-07:00

Freedom for Palestine - OneWorld

2011-06-01T14:36:00.000-07:00

Gaza marks anniversary of Israel attack on Mavi Marmara

2011-05-30T10:48:00.000-07:00

Three Years Of Struggle In Ni'lin Town,And It Will Continue

2011-05-23T17:44:00.000-07:00

HISTORICAL Event: 50,000 Palestinians gate crash border!

2011-05-17T11:44:00.000-07:00

San Francisco Commemorates the Nakba (5-15-11)

2011-05-16T16:27:00.000-07:00

The On-Going Nakba of Palestine ... 63 Years Later

2011-05-14T17:09:00.000-07:00

Why We Refuse to Buy Sabra Hummus

2011-05-10T09:07:00.000-07:00

Leila Khaled: Where there is occupation there will always be resistance

2011-05-03T12:45:00.000-07:00

An Inspirational Voice

2011-05-01T02:06:00.000-07:00

Bella Ciao a Vittorio Arrigoni

2011-04-18T13:00:00.000-07:00

Flashmob (Paris)

2011-04-12T03:29:00.000-07:00

Silence is a War Crime

2011-04-10T18:04:00.000-07:00

Hoor Hussain, 6, holds a poster with other anti-government protesters at the Pearl roundabout on February 21, 2011 in Manama, Bahrain. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

Deir Yassin Remembered

2011-04-09T11:45:00.000-07:00

Women and elderly taken in the latest Awarta raids

2011-04-09T11:32:00.000-07:00

07 April 2011 | International Solidarity Movement
Nabil Awad and his wife - both arrested
At approximately 10.00pm last night the army once again entered the village of Awarta, throwing sound-bombs into the streets and declaring it a closed military zone, putting the residents under house arrest. This time the army arrested over 200 people, amongst them women and the elderly. The arrested were marched two kilometres out of the village before being tightly packed into buses and taken to Huwwara military base. Some of the villagers were in their pyjamas and without shoes when they were taken to the base and questioned, before having their fingerprints, DNA and photographs taken. Villagers were held until 4.00 in the morning; during this time those who were ill with conditions such as asthma were denied their medication. The oldest villager taken was 80 year old Nabil Awad who was arrested with his 70 year old wife. The soldiers entered his house by breaking the door, they hit his wife and his son and daughter who asked them not to take Nabil who is sick with heart failure. Nabil’s house had been searched in the previous weeks by the army who had destroyed many of his possessions and poured oil into his sugar supply.

Huda Quwariq in her home after the army raided it.
The Qawariq family whose son and nephew where killed in 2010 by the Israeli army have been especially targeted and last night had their house searched for the 9th time before the father was again taken away to the military base. Although he was later released with the other villagers, he received a phone call from the army later in the morning demanding that he return to the base. Two sons of the Qawariq family are still being held in prison since being arrested early on in the raids. Whilst searching the house, the army again destroyed the families’ belongings, making a hole in the bathroom wall, pulling clothes and blankets out of the cupboards and pulling apart the washing machine. The army also once again brought dogs into the house who contaminated the familes’ food making it inedible.

Today the village enters its 28th day of army incursions following the killing of the Fogal family in the nearby illegal settlement of Itamar. Since the 12th March, villagers have been at the mercy of the Israeli army who have subjected them to military curfews which have left them lacking food, water and gas and have prevented ambulances and press from entering the village. ISM activists have been present in the village during some of these curfew, including the first one lasting five days, and have witnessed the army brutality first-hand. The army has arrested hundreds of villagers in the past 28 days, with 41 still imprisoned in Israel. None of the arrested have yet been charged with any crime. They have conducted numerous house searches in which they have destroyed and stolen property, and evicted families from their homes and occupied them for military purposes. Villagers have been beaten and hospitalised in acts of army brutality from which now even women and the aged are not spared. Huda Qawariq, the mother of one of the young boys killed last year, today described her and her families’ fear at the soldier attacks, telling us: ‘Soldiers have dogs and guns; all we have is God’.

Another war on Gaza?

2011-04-09T11:28:00.000-07:00

Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 4 April 2011
In recent weeks an escalation in violence between Israel and Palestinian resistance factions in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip has claimed the lives of more than a dozen Palestinians, the youngest of them 10-year-old Mahmoud Jalal al-Hilu.

Does this escalation increase the likelihood of another large-scale assault on Gaza similar to "Operation Cast Lead" in winter 2008-2009 that killed more than 1,400 Palestinians? There are worrying signs Israel -- by its words and deeds -- could be laying the ground for an attack.

The ratchet of violence took another turn in the small hours of 2 April when Israel carried out an air attack on the Gaza Strip killing three members of Hamas' military wing.

Israel did not claim that the three Hamas men were engaged in any hostile activity at the time they were killed (riding in a car), but a statement from the Israeli army alleged that they were "planning to kidnap Israelis over the upcoming Jewish holiday of Passover" -- several weeks in the future.

Israel's latest attack constituted an extrajudicial killing, in which Israel, the occupying power, acted as judge, jury and executioner, issuing allegations for which it offered no evidence, after it had already carried out the death sentence. Under international law, this is a war crime.

Global media tend to report these events as Israeli "retaliation" for Palestinian attacks, but a close reading of Israeli media presents a very different picture: deliberate provocation and escalation by Israel.

On 23 March, Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel writing in the Israeli daily Haaretz reported that, "The current tensions began exactly a week ago when Israel launched an air attack on a Hamas base in the ruins of the settlement of Netzarim, killing two Hamas men. That attack came in response to a Qassam [rocket] fired from Gaza that landed in an open area." Palestinians responded with a barrage of 50 projectiles into Israel.

Israel then "launched a series of air attacks in which a number of Hamas militants were wounded." And on 22 March Israeli forces launched the shelling which killed Mahmoud al-Hilu and three other civilians, allegedly in response to mortar fire from an olive grove on the Gaza side ("A small war is starting along Gaza border").

On 24 March, Issacharoff and Harel observed, "Despite the escalation, Hamas does not seem to want large-scale clashes yet. The organization actually has good reasons to believe that Israel is the one heating up the southern front. It began with a bombardment a few weeks ago that disrupted the transfer of a large amount of money from Egypt to the Gaza Strip, continued with the interrogation of engineer and Hamas member Dirar Abu Sisi [whom Israeli agents kidnapped from Ukraine] in Israel, and ended with last week's bombing of a Hamas training base in which two Hamas militants were killed. It is noteworthy that Hamas has not fired at Israel over the past two days, even after four Palestinian civilians were killed by errant IDF [Israeli army] mortar fire on Tuesday [22 March]" ("Hamas not likely behind Jerusalem bombing").

Issacharoff and Harel added in a 25 March analysis that the Israeli attack on the Hamas outpost at Netzarim "is believed to have been authorized by the defense minister and the chief of staff, who should have known there would be people at the outpost during the day and that causing casualties would have different consequences than a routine attack on empty offices. Israel assumed -- mistakenly -- that Hamas would not respond to the bombing. In fact, Hamas responded by firing 50 mortar shells on Saturday morning" ("Escalation approaching").

It is difficult to believe, especially in light of the extrajudicial executions on 2 April, that Israeli leaders did not know that killing Palestinians would prompt further retaliation from the Palestinian side. It seems very likely this was their intention.

These events are worryingly similar to the sequence that preceded "Operation Cast Lead." After a bloody spring of 2008 in which hundreds of Palestinians were killed and injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza, Israel and Hamas negotiated a mutual ceasefire beginning on 19 June 2008. By Israel's own admission, this mutual truce resulted in a 97 percent reduction in rockets being fired from Gaza over the subsequent four months, and none of the handful of projectiles that were fired were launched by Hamas, nor did they cause any injuries to Israelis.

A mutually agreed ceasefire proved to be the most effective way to achieve the goal Israel claimed was most important: protecting Israeli civilians from rocket fire from Gaza. But on the night of 4-5 November 2008, Israel decided to end the truce. As The Guardian reported on 5 November 2008, "A four-month ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza was in jeopardy today after Israeli troops killed six Hamas gunmen in a raid into the territory" ("Gaza truce broken as Israeli raid kills six Hamas gunmen").

Then, just as it has with its latest attack, Israel justified the killings with the unverifiable claim that those it killed were involved in a plot to kidnap Israelis.

On 21 March, amid the escalating violence, Hamas' military wing itself stated that it would be willing to abide by another mutual truce if Israel agreed to one, but Israel showed no interest ("Gaza: Hamas calls for truce," Ma'an News Agency, 21 March 2011).

Israel's seemingly constant and deliberate provocation of violence along the border with Gaza comes against a backdrop of belligerent statements and propaganda exercises by Israeli leaders. On 15 March, Israel intercepted a ship en route from Turkey to Alexandria in Egypt, which it alleged without providing evidence, was carrying arms destined for Gaza.

Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom told Israel Radio on 23 March that Israel may have to carry out another large scale attack on Gaza to topple Hamas, adding, "I say this despite the fact that I know such a thing would, of course, bring the region to a far more combustible situation."

Culture minister Limor Livnat warned, according to Haaretz, Israel might have no choice but to carry out "Operation Cast Lead 2."

Shalom, reversing the facts and laying the blame for the escalating violence on the Palestinians, put the possibility of a renewed war on Gaza in an overtly political context. Hamas, the vice premier claimed, according to Haaretz, "might have opened a new front with Israel 'to stop any possibility of dialogue among the Palestinians or to come to the intra-Palestinian negotiation in a far stronger position'" ("Netanyahu: Israel will continue to operate against terrorists in Gaza," 23 March 2011).

In other words, according to Shalom, it is the continued strength of Hamas that prevents an intra-Palestinian reconciliation on terms favorable to the Israeli-backed Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) of Mahmoud Abbas.

Whether Israel is deliberately laying the ground for a new assault on Gaza, or stumbles into one -- if the current escalation does not stop -- any such attack must be understood in political terms. It would be an effort to finish the unfinished business of destroying Hamas and any other island of Palestinian resistance.

The commitment of any significant Palestinian group to resistance -- political or military -- remains a major obstacle to the full legitimation of the warm embrace between Israel and the Abbas-led PA, whose extent was recently laid bare in the Palestine Papers. Indeed the relationship is so friendly that last October the top echelons of the PA in Bethlehem received then Israeli Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi -- who commanded Operation Cast Lead -- as their honored guest, even providing him with a guided tour of the Church of the Nativity ("Israeli army chief visits Bethlehem," Ma'an News Agency, 3 October 2010).

Ironically, Hamas remains much less intransigent than Israel, as evidenced by the movement's repeated offers of ceasefires which Israel rejects or violates; its constant noises about "reconciliation" with Abbas without insisting that the latter terminate his "security" relationship with Israel; and its embrace of the defunct "two-state solution." Despite these unacknowledged political concessions, Hamas retains a military capability that Israel is unwilling to tolerate either as a challenge to itself, or to the PA.

Until now, there have been good reasons to believe Israel would hesitate to launch a new major military assault on Gaza. It is still suffering the diplomatic and political fallout of Cast Lead, including the UN-commissioned Goldstone report, as well as its massacre of nine activists aboard the Mavi Marmara during last spring's Gaza Freedom Flotilla.

Without exaggerating the risks, the constraints on Israel may be loosening. In the wake of the revolution in Egypt and amid the political upheaval in the Arab world, some Israelis may think they have a "last chance" to act in the interregnum before a new and less friendly government is seated in Cairo. Western and Saudi military interventions in Libya and Bahrain respectively have also provided new respectability to using military force for political ends.

International complicity also continues to send Israel a clear message that its impunity is guaranteed. The Obama administration's recent veto of a UN Security Council resolution that merely restated US policy on Israel's settlement construction in the West Bank was one sure sign that Israel still has a blank check from the United States.

Tragically, the biggest contributor to renewed confidence in Israel that it could once again get away with murder in Gaza, may be Judge Richard Goldstone himself. Israeli leaders have seized on his apologetic 1 April op-ed in The Washington Post as vindication and proof that Israel never committed war crimes in Gaza, and was the victim a "blood libel," as Jeffrey Goldberg, former Israeli occupation army volunteer and The Atlantic blogger put it.

While Goldstone was clearly trying to appease Zionists who subjected him to an intense campaign of personal vilification and ostracism his article did not in fact repudiate one single concrete finding in the report that bears his name ("Reconsidering the Goldstone Report on Israel and war crimes," 2 April 2011).

Two important analyses of Goldstone's op-ed, and how it is in no way a repudiation of the Goldstone report, appeared on Mondoweiss on 2 April: "What the Goldstone op-ed doesn't say" by Yaniv Reich, and "Goldstone op-ed praises Israeli investigation of Gaza war crimes, but UN committee paints a different picture," by Adam Horowitz. Goldstone's op-ed is the personal opinion of one person. The Goldstone report, an official UN document authored by a commission, remains a compendium of acts by Israel -- and indeed by Hamas -- uncontradicted by any new evidence, much less by Israel's self-serving "investigations."

Yet as we have sadly learned so many times, proper analysis and respect for basic facts have little bearing in the "fog of war," especially when Israel is that party that launches that war.

Ali Abunimah is co-founder of The Electronic Intifada, author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse and is a contributor to The Goldstone Report: The Legacy of the Landmark Investigation of the Gaza Conflict (Nation Books).

B. D. S. (Jackson 5) Chicago Flashmob

2011-04-02T09:44:00.000-07:00

via Mondoweiss
From a Palestine Solidarity Group - Chicago press release:

“In the lyrics to our song, we sing ‘apartheid and ethnic cleansing go on in Palestine every day, but without the help of you and your money, the occupation will go away.’ While the struggle to end Israel’s apartheid policies is not an easy one, it’s true that we in the United States can support justice and peace by refusing to support companies and institutions that support Israel and its occupation of Palestine,” said Joy Ellison, an activist with Palestine Solidarity Group-Chicago (PSG-Chicago). “We hope that this flash mob empowers our community to stand up against apartheid and challenges Chicago businesses and institutions that are actively supporting the oppression of the Palestinian people.”

Before this performance at “The Bean” in Millennium Park, the flash mob was held outside of Chicago Cultural Center, home of the Chicago Sister Cities International office. For the last two years, activists with PSG-Chicago have pressured the city of Chicago to end its relationship with its Israeli sister city, Petach Tikva. Petach Tikva, an officially segregated city, is the first Jewish-only settlement in historic Palestine and the site of the primary detention center where Israeli forces abuse and torture Palestinian political prisoners. Human Rights group Amnesty International dubbed Petach Tikva “Israel’s Guantanamo.”

You can listen to, and download, the song here.

Land Day - يوم الارض

2011-03-29T19:07:00.000-07:00

Global actions mark Palestine's Land Day
Report, The Electronic Intifada, 2 April 2011

Direct actions, rallies and protests took place across Palestine and in numerous cities across the world on 30 March to commemorate the 35th annual Land Day, an important day of remembrance for six Palestinians with Israeli citizenship gunned down by Israeli forces in 1976 during a general strike in protest of expanded land confiscation inside the state.

In addition to the six killed, hundreds were arrested, imprisoned and injured during the general strike and protests after the Israeli government announced plans to expropriate more land for Jewish-only settlements. Since then, annual events have been held to honor those killed while highlighting the struggle for Palestinian land rights inside Israel, the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem, and across the global refugee diaspora.

Many events incorporated boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) strategies and direct actions, as the ongoing Palestinian-led call for BDS grows in worldwide response to Israeli apartheid and ethnic cleansing practices. According to the BDS movement website, more than 60 cities across the globe commemorated Land Day by engaging in BDS actions.

Al-Araqib

Correspondents with The Electronic Intifada attended Land Day events in the Bedouin village of al-Araqib in the Naqab (Negev) desert, which has been demolished 20 times since July 2010 by the Israeli government in collaboration with the Jewish National Fund (JNF) (Keren Kayemet LeIsrael in Hebrew). After dispossessing the people of al-Araqib, the JNF plans to plant a forest on the village's land.

Approximately 1,000 persons attended the rally in al-Araqib, which featured speeches by Palestinian members of the Israeli parliament (Knesset) including Ahmed Tibi, Taleb al-Saneh, and Jamal Zahalka, as well as leading figures of the Palestinian community in Israel such as Sheikh Raed Salah. Salah said that Palestinian citizens of the state will continue to resist Israeli policies of dispossession.

Sheikh Siyah al-Toury, head of the Popular Committee to Defend al-Araqib, thanked the lawmakers and Knesset members in attendance "despite being battled at the Knesset by members of one of the most racist parliaments in the history of Israel," the International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) reported ("Thousands Mark Land Day In The Negev," 30 March 2011).

Several women leaders spoke as well, addressing the role of women in the ongoing struggle for Palestinian land rights across the region.

Arrabe and Sakhnin

Thousands marched in the northern Galilee cities of Arabbe and nearby Sakhnin, commemorating Land Day and denouncing Israeli governmental policies of racism and discrimination.

Israeli daily Haaretz reported that Mohammed Zeidan, chair of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee said during the protest that "Israel is regressing into dangerous directions in its treatment of its Arab citizens" ("Israeli Arabs decry state 'regression' as thousands march on Land Day," 30 March 2011).

Lydd

A massive Land Day protest was held in Lydd, on Tuesday, 29 March, as approximately 1,500 Palestinian citizens of Israel demonstrated against repression and discrimination in the city.

Protesters "raised Palestinian flags, carried signs reading 'Enough with the Ethnic Cleansing' and burned pictures of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman," Haaretz reported ("Some 1,500 Israeli Arabs take part in Land Day protest in Lod," 29 March 2011).

Protests have been held every Tuesday evening since the December 2010 demolition of seven Palestinian homes by Israeli forces.

West Bank

Land Day events took place across cities, towns and villages in the occupied West Bank, including Bethlehem, Ramallah, Jenin, Nablus and Tulkarem. Ma'an news reported that teachers across the West Bank including East Jerusalem "devoted their first class Wednesday to the history of Land Day, and the Palestinian struggle to prevent land confiscations" ("Palestinians commemorate Land Day," 30 March 2011).

Palestinians and international solidarity activists planted trees in the village of Husan, near Bethlehem. More than 50 people gathered to plant trees on village land that abuts the illegal Bittar Illit settlement, and were immediately surrounded by the Israeli military, according to the Alternative Information Center (AIC) ("Palestinians Commemorate the 35th anniversary of Land Day," 31 March 2011).

Gaza

University students marking Land Day marched in Gaza City, but the protest was "broken up" by Hamas security forces, according to a report by Agence France Presse ("Israeli Arabs, Bedouins protest discrimination," 30 March 2011).

United States

In the US, Land Day commemorations occurred in the form of direct actions in support of boycott, divestment and sanctions while activists challenged the land confiscation policies of the JNF.

San Francisco

Activists with the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) and American Muslims for Palestine in the San Francisco Bay Area held a protest outside the offices of the Internal Revenue Service in downtown San Francisco, demanding that the IRS withdraw charitable status of the JNF.

Protesters delivered a letter to the IRS that stated in part, "The JNF is neither a charitable nor an environmental organization and therefore does not qualify for tax-exempt status ... This mandate alone warrants the revocation of the JNF's tax-exempt status because it forms the basis for the JNF's discriminatory and racially motivated land-use restrictions that undermine the human and civil rights of indigenous Palestinians" ("Report Back: Jewish Activists Deliver Letter of Protest to IRS addressing racially motivated actions by non-profit Jewish National Fund," 30 March 2011).

New York City

Land Day commemorative events took place in several areas of Manhattan and Brooklyn, where solidarity activists staged protests in support of the boycott of Israeli products.

Activists with Adalah-NY: The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel and Code Pink held a rally outside a Ricky's department store in Brooklyn, where Israeli settlement-made Ahava cosmetics are sold ("Report Back: New York City Ahava Action," 1 April 2011).

On 26 March, activists led a "flash-mob" dancing routine at Grand Central Station in lower Manhattan, where participants sang "Don't stop boycottin'" to the tune of Journey's "Don't stop believin'" ("BDS Flash Mob in Grand Central Station, NYC," 26 March 2011).

Seattle

Activists in Seattle, Washington, staged a protest outside a Trader Joe's supermarket and urged the company to de-shelve Israeli-made Sabra and Tribe hummus brands, as well as other Israeli products. A photo montage was posted of the protest.

Chicago

Dancing and singing in front of "The Bean" sculpture, social justice activists held a "flash-mob" action in downtown Chicago on 30 March. Participants sang "BDS" to the tune of "ABC" by the Jackson 5 as part of the global BDS day of action on Land Day.

Joy Ellison, an activist with Palestine Solidarity Group-Chicago (PSG) stated in a press release that "[i]n the lyrics to our song, we sing 'apartheid and ethnic cleansing go on in Palestine every day, but without the help of you and your money, the occupation will go away.' While the struggle to end Israel's apartheid policies is not an easy one, it's true that we in the United States can support justice and peace by refusing to support companies and institutions that support Israel and its occupation of Palestine" ("Chicago Activists Mark Palestinian Land Day with Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Flash-Mob," 31 March 2011).

The flash-mob was also held earlier in the day, outside of the Chicago Cultural Center, home of the Chicago Sister Cities International office. PSG stated that for the last two years, activists "have pressured the city of Chicago to end its relationship with its Israeli sister city, Petach Tikva."

"Petach Tikva, an officially segregated city, is the first Jewish-only settlement in historic Palestine and the site of the primary detention center where Israeli forces abuse and torture Palestinian political prisoners. Human Rights group Amnesty International dubbed Petach Tikva 'Israel's Guantanamo,'" the press release added.

A video of the flash-mob action at The Bean can be viewed on YouTube.

Italy

A group of young Palestinians in Rome, Italy, protested outside the offices of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) mission office on Land Day with a list of demands directed at the Palestinian Authority (PA).

As part of the global call to action issued by the Palestinian Youth Network (PYN) on Land Day, the youth in Rome demanded that the PLO be restructured to include all sectors of Palestinian society, including diasporic communities, and that democratic elections be held guaranteeing one person-one vote representation of all members.

The PYN statement added: "All of these demands are not our end goals but rather first steps to strengthen the Palestinian popular movement against occupation, apartheid and the Zionist colonization of our homeland" ("Land Day: March 30, 2011").

Meanwhile, activists with the Rome Palestine Solidarity Network planted olive trees in various locations in the city in commemoration of Land Day. The March 30th BDS Day of Action website reported that four olive trees were planted "on the very land where some years ago the JNF, together with the Municipality of Rome, had planted trees" ("Report Back: Rome," 1 April 2011).

An olive tree was planted at the Colosseum, and another was planted next to a monument honoring American activist Rachel Corrie, who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in the Gaza strip in 2003.

UK

Solidarity activists held a civil disobedience protest inside the head office of the Veolia corporation in London on Land Day, demanding that the company stop providing services to illegal settlement colonies in the occupied West Bank.

Veolia is a French-owned transportation and urban planning corporation that has several contracts with the Israeli government to provide services to West Bank settlements.

The UK Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) reported that activists "handed a letter to a Veolia spokesperson explaining and specifying why Veolia's actions in aiding Israel's occupation constitute grave breaches of humanitarian and international laws. At the same time a protestor gave the spokesperson an oral summary of the contents of the letter" ("Protestors Pay A Visit To Veolia's London HQ On Palestine Land Day," 30 March 2011).

A video of the action was posted to YouTube.

Other boycott actions took place in Norway and in France, where activists held a "flash-mob" action in support of boycotts in front of the Eiffel tower ("Report Back: Flashmob in Paris "PalMob"," 1 April 2011).

BDS activists in Montreal, Canada, are holding a protest on 2 April to intensify their call for boycott and demand that Israel cease policies of apartheid against Palestinians ("Montreal (Quebec) action this Saturday," 1 April 2011).

Global anti-Zionist activists challenge the JNF on Land Day

Meanwhile, the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) launched a campaign on Land Day to stop JNF land confiscation and appropriation activities. In a press release, IJAN urged solidarity activists to incorporate strategic challenges to the JNF in their boycott and solidarity work ("Join the international campaign to Stop the Jewish National Fund," 27 March 2011).

"Land Day 2011 will welcome the launch of internationally coordinated campaigns to challenge the JNF-KKL," IJAN stated. "As part of the global movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS), in solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle, and until such time as the State of Israel respects and implements international law, the Palestinian BDS National Committee and many other organizations call on global civil society to join in a campaign to challenge the JNF."

IJAN posted an international call to stop the JNF at: www.stopthejnf.org/callforaction.html.

"If Americans Only Knew"

2011-03-28T12:02:00.000-07:00

Most US citizens know just enough about Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and even climate change not to care. Many even pride themselves in oblivious, self-centered ignorance and immediate gratification. They would rather cater to addictive indulgences than analyze the ethics of globalization and Israeli apartheid, consider the consequences of oil consumption and nuclear energy usage, or ponder the potential of becoming an environmental refugee due to the ensuing effects of climate change. Our privileges and profit in western society is tied up in others pain and poverty and that is among the gross disparities that make up the harsh realities of this world. Elite capitalists as well as mainstream Americans don't care as long as it's not "US". But it would serve US Americans well to realize that it IS us and our time WILL come. NO ONE is immune to disaster. WE ARE LIVING ON BORROWED TIME. The world, it's resources simply can't keep up with wanton consumption. After years of struggling from within the empire, I have come to a place where I have begun to welcome nature's inevitable wrath, temporarily constrained by the gates of time. What else is a girl (who cares about the world over her birth country) to do?

Artwork:
"Global WarNing" by Khalil Bendib

"Poppy from Palestine"

2011-03-27T21:36:00.001-07:00

When The Children Cry

2011-03-27T11:03:00.000-07:00

Hip Hop is Bigger Than the Occupation

2011-03-26T14:09:00.000-07:00

Nilin Demonstration In Solidarity With Tristan Anderson And Rachel Corrie

2011-03-21T08:06:00.000-07:00

Sami Yusuf - I'm Your Hope (Official Video)

2011-03-21T07:40:00.000-07:00

Thinking of Alex

2011-03-19T10:25:00.000-07:00

Escape life through artificial ways long enough then death is what happens.

Miss you big brother and so do your kids.
7 December 1993-19 March 2010

Release of Abdullah Abu Rahmah, March 14, 2011 By haithmkatib@gmail.com

2011-03-14T14:15:00.000-07:00

Suheir Hamad Poetry: On the Brink of...

2011-03-14T10:34:00.000-07:00

Who are you calling feminist?

2011-03-13T06:13:00.000-07:00

From a moral, political, practical standpoint we can't allow ourselves to identify with women’s rights while other women are being oppressed elsewhere.

By HANEEN ZOABI

In 1977, the UN General Assembly voted to adopt a resolution proclaiming a United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace.

Even back then, the UN recognized, rightfully, the link between the morals of peace and the rights of women, and the connection between the struggle for womens’ rights and the struggle for freedom and justice. If we were to adopt the UN decision to the reality here, we would reach the same conclusion.

Feminism is not a women’s movement, it is a movement of morals. From a moral, political, and practical standpoint we cannot allow ourselves to identify with women’s rights while other women are being oppressed elsewhere. We can’t call ourselves feminists if we occupy other women, demolish their homes, force them to live under a blockade, support settlement expansion, and then come home and talk about women’s rights.

It shouldn’t matter if a government that chooses to settle matters through force, and rejects my nationality or my rights, includes four women or 14. And it shouldn’t matter how many pilots who operated during Operation Cast Lead were female. These are certainly not the point of a feminist struggle.

The motto of the women’s movement which the UN has adopted is “women’s rights are human rights” and whoever demands rights for women cannot infringe upon the rights of other people. And by no means can they trample on the rights of other women.

In this country, Jews are, rightfully, convinced that in the Arab community, it is difficult to talk about women’s rights.

At the same time, they speak with an often condescending tone of the “suffering” of miserable Arab women within society. They are incapable of grasping how difficult it is to wage a feminist struggle within a militaristic society, and how difficult it is even for a Jewish woman to assimilate into the moral framework in which the army is not only a central institution, but also the body of utmost value. Feminism is indeed warped within this society.

Arab female employment stands at only 19 percent – less than a third of the rate among Jewish women, which stands at 65%.

Nearly 50% of women in Israel work, and the state, which is the largest employer of women in the country, doesn’t employ enough women: only 3% of all female state employees are Arab women. They make up only 1.8% of all state employees.

The authority for the advancement of women in the Prime Minister’s Office has stated that the Arab community is a traditional community in which the partriarchal family is of utmost importance. This social structure keeps the Arab woman within a traditional framework, which encourages her to pursue a role within the house.

But this view is pure Orientalism. It is also irresponsible. It’s not the tradition or the culture which keeps Arab women from working. There is no culture that rules that its people must live in poverty and lack dignity. How do we reconcile blaming Arab women for their low participation in the workforce with the fact that within Arab society, women pursue higher education degrees at a higher rate than men? Or that this society allows women to work far from home in mixed cities? Rest assured, education is of utmost importance in this traditional society.

In spite of the push for higher education and the encouragement to work, only 57% of Arab women with academic degrees are employed, as opposed to 74% of Jewish women. And a quarter of them earn the minimum wage.

A DECADE ago, “only” 36% of Arabs in Israel lived below the poverty line. Today, the figure stands at 56%. A Bank of Israel report stated that the poverty level between the two lowest social strata in Israel, the haredim and the Arab sector, rose in 2007.

At the same time, the haredi community reached a turning point. In spite of the sharp cuts in stipends, the chances of a haredi man joining the ranks of the poor continues to drop. The reason is the increased entry of haredim into the workforce, a phenomenon strengthened by special employment programs geared towards their community. By contrast, the chances of an Arab joining the poverty ranks in Israel have only risen.

Real feminism must acknowledge the discrimination against Arab women in this country, and real feminism must know to identify with and struggle alongside them, on the national, civil and social levels.

My parliamentary agenda is to protect Arab women in this society in each of her identities: as a woman, a Palestinian, and as a citizen of this country.

I, like most other Arab MKs, want to see an end to state policies which are hostile, both physically and symbolically. Incitement, by some members of Knesset, by some rabbis, and by some simple everyday citizens against Arabs, is a reality.

The political witch-hunt against me and my party (Balad), and the remainder of the Arab parliamentary members is also part of this reality. So is police hostility and violence (remember the October 2000 riots?), home demolitions and the expropriation of land.

Therefore, it is possible to sum up Israel’s relations with its Palestinian citizens in one sentence: We are not only a minority that is discriminated against, we are a minority at risk.

Over the past two years, the Knesset has brought forth dozens of laws designed to strengthen the Jewish character of the country at the expense of its democratic character.

I fight for my rights in my homeland. Perhaps this is news to many of you, but I did not choose to live in the State of Israel; Israel has chosen to live among my people and I.

The writer is a member of the Balad Party and the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women.

Tsunami hits Japan and my soul feels crushed

2011-03-13T06:06:00.000-07:00

Art & Justice In Palestine (PROMO)

2011-03-02T16:43:00.000-08:00

US Vetoes UN Settlement Resolution

2011-02-20T17:28:00.000-08:00

Egypt holds 'victory march' in Cairo

2011-02-18T12:33:00.000-08:00

Empire of US bases

2011-02-16T16:49:00.000-08:00

To Love and The Rise Of Hope: Arundhati Roy

2011-02-15T08:06:00.000-08:00

Palestine thoughts on a beach in Mexico

2011-01-13T19:54:00.000-08:00

Gaza, Gaza, Gaza...

2010-12-27T11:57:00.000-08:00

The 2nd Anniversary of the Operation: Cast Lead
Between 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009, over 1400 Palestinians were killed by Israeli Army in a brutal and illegal attack on the Gaza Strip, destroying lives and infrastructure. The Israeli campaign lunched the attacks as the “Operation: Cast Lead” during whi...ch Israeli Army used certain weapons such as white phosphorous and flechette missiles which are both proscribed under international law. On September 15, 2009, a 574 page report by United Nations Fact Finding Mission was released, officially titled "Human Rights in Palestine and Other Occupied Arab Territories: Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict". It concluded that the Israel Defence Force committed war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity. On October 16, 2009, the UN Human Rights Council endorsed the report.

BEIT LAHIA, GAZA STRIP - JANUARY 17: A homeless Palestinian girl stands in a burnt classroom at a United Nations school after it was hit by Israeli shelling on January 17, 2009 in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip. Israeli Troops carried out a further 50 air strikes in Gaza overnight. Reports suggest that Israeli artillery targeted another UN school in northern Gaza. (Photo by Abid Katib/Getty Images)

please see:
Activism roundup: world to commemorate Gaza massacre anniversary
The Gaza massacre and the struggle for justice
Two years after Gaza massacre, a demand for justice

Helping the children of Gaza two years on

2010-12-23T20:08:00.000-08:00

A good day in Bil'in! Adeeb is free!

2010-12-13T13:53:00.000-08:00

Alhamdulillah! Some news well worth celebrating!
see also:
http://972mag.com/palestinian-non-violent-leader-released-from-israeli-prision/

Drawings by John Lennon

2010-12-08T17:47:00.000-08:00

The fire unmaskes another abomination

2010-12-07T10:54:00.000-08:00

The Carmel fire is burning JNF trees planted over destroyed Palestinian villages
please see:
The Carmel Wildfire is burning all illusions in Israel
http://maxblumenthal.com/

LOWKEY - REVOLUTION MUSIC (ft FAITH SFX, REVEREND & THE MAKERS) - OFFICI...

2010-12-01T17:42:00.000-08:00

a very leaky wikileaks by Bendib

2010-11-30T07:47:00.000-08:00

The Best of Bilin

2010-11-28T21:42:00.001-08:00

Five fabulous videos exemplifying the creative style resistance Bil'in is popular for. All videos by Haitam Al Khatib of Bilin, Palestine.

AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh
see also:Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Mandela join Bil'in residents in their creative action against the Wall and settlements

see also:Bil'in weekly demonstration reenacts the Avatar film

photo by:Haitham Al Khatib please see:Two protestors injured and journalist arrested on the anniversary of the Nakba

please see:Santa Claus and Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki suffer from Tear Gas inhalation in Bil’in protest

Eight injured As Troops Attack Wall
Protests In The West Bank
photo by Haitham Al Khatib
June 6,2010 - 03:14
Ghassan Bannoura-PNN-Eight civilians were injured by Israeli military fire, among them three journalists, as troops attacked the weekly anti wal protests in different locations in the West Bank. This weeks nonviolent actions were organized at the villages of Bil'in and Nil'in, central West Bank in addition to Wad Rahal and Al Mas'ssra in southern West Bank. The protests were in solidarity with the Free Gaza aid Flotilla. On Monday, the Israeli military attacked the eight ship convoy while sailing to Gaza. The attack, which took place in international waters, left nine activists killed and 40 others injured. Eight Israeli soldiers were hurt in the attack. Today Israeli and international supporters joined the villagers at all four locations. In Bil'in four protesters and three journalists were injured after being shot by Israeli army rubber-coated steel bullets. Another three locals were arrested by the Israeli troops. Troops attacked the Bil'in protesters as soon as the reached the gate of the wall separating villagers from their lands. In the nearby village of Nil'in, troops injured one Palestinian as they fired tear gas and shot rubber-coated steel bullets and the weekly protest against the wall built on villagers lands. Many civilians suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation in Bil'in and Nil'in The protest in Nil'in ended with clashes between stone throwing local youth and the military. Both in Al Ma'ssra and Wad Rahal villagers marched towards their lands where Israel is trying to build the wall. Troops stopped the people from reaching the construction site. The march ended peacefully shortly after.

A town that seldom sleeps...

2010-11-11T08:19:00.000-08:00

Bil’in invaded for the fourth time in three days
by Hamde Abu Rahme

Today, November 10th, the village of Bi'lin was raided again. The Israeli Army entered at around 8 pm for the second time today. In the morning, at around 3.00 am, they entered the village with five jeeps and searched Ashraf al-Khatib's home. The soldiers also broke down the door of the neighbor's house, and went in. However, they were not able to find who they were looking for in either of the houses.

When people from the village arrived, the 20 soldiers pointed their guns directly in the face of the people, and acted very aggressively. They also broke down the door of al-Khatib's house when they entered.

Later, the same night, the army returned to the village, about 9 pm. Soldiers entered al-Khatib's house again, also this time failing to find him there. The soldiers then took off and left the village, for the second time that evening.

These two raids make it a total of four raids over the last three days. Ashraf al-Khatib is obviously a target these days. Earlier today, al-Khatib received a phone call from a captain in the Israeli intelligence (Shabak/Shin Bet), demanding to see him in Ofer Military Prison. It was made clear that until he shows up for interrogation the army will come to his house frequently. This is a well known tactic used by Israel, to terrorize the village and the families involved to make life unbearable for them.

Justice for Oscar Grant!

2010-11-06T17:37:00.000-07:00

Don't close your eyes to Apartheid!

2010-10-26T12:09:00.000-07:00

ISM activists protest the OECD conference in Al Quds

Lauren Booth (Tony Blair's sister-in-law) Shame on you Israel

2010-10-25T06:38:00.000-07:00

"Israel, shame on you!"

Subhan'allah...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgXedDnVbBs

To Palestine with Love

2010-10-18T01:24:00.000-07:00

Undercover Israeli Special Forces Attack a Palestinian Demonstration

2010-10-17T12:24:00.000-07:00

Interview with Salam Kanaan in Ni'lin

2010-10-17T06:42:00.000-07:00

Salam Kanaan is the 17 year old who filmed the shooting of Ashraf Abu Rahma, a bound and blindfolded Palestinian prisoner, in Ni'lin in July 2008.
javascript:void(0)

Angelina Jolie's Double Standards

2010-10-14T18:47:00.000-07:00

Not too long ago Angelina Jolie visited Bosnia hob-nobbing and sympathizing with Bosnian refugee women (August 21, 2010) and now she wants to play a Bosnian rape victim in love with her Serbian abuser?

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118025696.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

Rachel Corrie Trial

2010-10-13T17:16:00.000-07:00

On Saturday October 9, Rachel's parents Cindy and Craig and her sister Sara spoke at the AIC Cafe in Beit Sahour about the ongoing trial and their continued quest for justice for Rachel.

One Straight Truth Vs Millions of Lies !!!!

2010-10-09T17:24:00.000-07:00

"We have an obligation to every last victim of this illegal carnage because all of this carnage has been done in our name."

Palestinians mark anniversary of second Intifada

2010-09-29T17:29:00.000-07:00

Yonatan Shapira: Soldiers Tasered Activists onboard The Jewish Boat to ...

2010-09-29T12:18:00.000-07:00

Passengers onboard a Jewish aid boat, which was intercepted by Israeli warships en route to the Gaza Strip, refute Israel's claims of non-violent takeover.
On Tuesday, around 10 Israeli warships surrounded the aid vessel Irene nearly 20 miles (32 kilometers) off the Gaza coast, forcefully diverting it to the Israeli port of Ashdod.
Following the incident, Israeli army officials insisted that the takeover was carried out without any use of force, but the civilian activists onboard the vessel begged to differ.
"There are no words to describe what we went through," Israel's Ynet news website quoted passenger Yonatan Shapira as saying.
Shapira was one of the five Israelis aboard the Gaza-bound boat, who was interrogated by the Ashdod police before being released a day later.
A former Israel Air Force pilot, Shapira, said Israeli soldiers had resorted to violence while taking over the boat.
The Israeli army spokesperson "is trying to paint a picture as though the takeover was not violent, but the soldiers' actions were violent and disgusting," protested Shapira, charging he had been tasered by a soldier.
The 82-year-old Holocaust survivor Reuven Moskowitz, who was also aboard the vessel, backed Shapira's claim.
"We are people who came with a message of peace and we did not anticipate a burst of violence against us, but the officers acted violently," he said.

Dissecting Obama's UN speech

2010-09-27T15:36:00.000-07:00

The Narcicyst featuring Shadia Mansour "Hamdulillah" Official Music Video

2010-09-20T17:50:00.000-07:00

Israel shells Gaza again: 3 farm workers killed including a 91 year old and his grandson

2010-09-13T18:17:00.000-07:00

ISM GAZA
13 September 2010 | ISM Gaza

When 91 year old Ibrahim Abu Sayed left his home near Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, yesterday morning, in order to check on his land and his animals which graze next to the remains of his former home, he took with him his 17-year-old grandson Hossam and the young boy’s friend and neighbour, 16-year-old Ismail Abu Oda. His son, Hossam’s father, didn’t want to come because it was the final day of Eid ul-Fitr, the Muslim festival that follows the holy month of Ramadan.

Despite his age, Ibrahim Abu Sayed was still mobile enough to regularly check his 3 dunums of land, as he had done for decades. The last decade had been the hardest as his house was destroyed in 2000 by Israeli bulldozers and his rebuilt house destroyed in the 3-week Israeli war on Gaza over the New Year of 2009.

But early Saturday evening would be the last time Ibrahim, Hossam and Ismail would work their land. Seven hundred metres away from their land – north of Sharab Street – at the border with Israel, tanks made an incursion into Gaza. The old man, his grandson and the friend did not stand a chance when the tanks fired shells directly at them.

ISM activists met the family members at the hospital. The wife of Ibrahim was devastated, screaming in horror at the fate that had befallen her family.

“I was there half an hour before it happened”, said Mohammed Abu Oda, another relative. “I saw them by their sheep. I heard the shells from the Israeli tanks, the shells we learned soon afterwards had killed our relatives.”

They were killed instantly, and were dead on arrival at Beit Hanoun hospital, according to the doctor who examined them. Ibrahim suffered severe shrapnel injuries to his face, chest and stomach and his grandson Hossam had the back of his head blown away. ISM activists verified this immediately as they saw and photographed the mutilated bodies in the morgue. Ismail, Hossam’s friend, had arrived at the hospital 30 minutes after the others but had been buried before ISM arrived at the hospital; according to doctors much of his head was shot away.

The boys had been close friends, studying in the 9th and 10th grade respectively, and had expected to return to school after the end of Eid, the following day. But yesterday they still were on holidays, so they went to help Ibrahim, as they often would. Despite the struggle they endured after their house was destroyed and their land bulldozed, the family, who are Bedouins, had no other job except farming. Although they were obliged to farm their land close to the border, it was still far enough away to be outside the Israeli imposed “buffer zone”

“Israel claims that there’s a 300 meter buffer zone, but they were 700 meters away from the border”, said one of Ismail’s uncles, Majdy Abu Oda.

“The people there are farmers who’ve been living there for years. We, the people here, were never dangerous for the Israelis. They have photos of the people who live and work here, the area is full of observation cameras. So they knew them.”

Because of this the family considered themselves to be relatively safe, even though there were tanks at the border. It turned out they were mistaken to feel even slightly secure. While all the inhabitants of Gaza are victims of Israel’s ‘collective punishment’, a crime against humanity according to article 33 of the Geneva Convention (of which Israel is a signatory), they are the latest to be subjected to its worst manifestation and murdered with complete impunity.

If a 91 year old man, his grandson and young boy were killed while tending to their livestock on their own farm, 700 metres from a border, somewhere else in the world, there would likely be outcry. Where is the international outrage? Where is the clamour for justice? If equal standards were applied the media uproar should at least be comparable to the condemnation over the Israeli settlers shot two week ago - people who were living illegally on stolen land according to international law. Israeli armed forces have continued to wage a war against civilians in Gaza, long after the Israeli air and ground assault in the winter of 2008/2009 ended, yet condemnation of this state terrorism and its innocent civilian victims is rarely heard.

The family clearly posed no threat; they were known as long term residents of the area. But Israeli soldiers knew they could kill these three men with impunity, having previously almost entirely destroyed their livelihood.

Saber Zaneen, General Coordinator of the Beit Hanoun solidarity group, ‘Local Initiative’, released a statement following the killings, calling for justice.

“Today the occupation committed a new crime which will be added to its black list. Three martyrs now rest in heaven after the shelling and again we call on the international community and civil society to pressure the occupation forces to stop such crimes against Palestinian civilians and to start working on giving some protection to the local people in the Gaza strip,” he said.

They have also announced that tomorrow (Tuesday) morning at 10AM there will be a demonstration against the killings involving a march towards the fence, next to the Erez border. Four International Solidarity Movement activists will be there to accompany the protestors and document the likely violent repression which it may be subjected to – at the last non-violent demonstration in the area, live ammunition was used by Israeli border soldiers.

Divest from Israel--California Citizen initiative 10-0020

2010-09-12T14:45:00.000-07:00

US group says it plans to send plane to Gaza

2010-09-12T14:39:00.000-07:00

Maan News Agency: US group says it plans to send plane to Gaza

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A pro-Palestinian group based in the US will send a plane loaded with aid to the Gaza Strip in defiance of Israel's air and sea blockade, an official said Sunday.

"We intend to send an aircraft to Gaza in much the same way boats were used -- without going through Israeli or Egyptian airspace," said Paul Larudee, an organizer with the California-based Free Palestine Movement sponsoring the flight.

Authorities in Gaza are supportive of the initiative and are working to locate a landing site, Larudee said. Gaza's now-defunct Yasser Arafat International Airport is not being considered, he told Ma'an.

In the meantime, Free Palestine Movement officials will look for a plane designed for rough landings and takeoffs such as those used in Alaska and other locales lacking proper aviation facilities, Larudee said. The plan is to send a light aircraft equipped with material sometime in the spring of 2011, after the next sea voyage.

"Breaking the blockade by air may be even more feasible than by sea. An aircraft cannot be boarded while in flight, and the right aircraft can land almost anywhere in Gaza," a statement on the group's website says.

https://www.freepalestinemovement.org/index.php

Letter to Israel

2010-09-12T14:17:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Free Gaza

2010-08-29T20:32:00.000-07:00

Letter to Cordoba Center on behalf of a former slave by Mark Gonzales

2010-08-20T18:52:00.001-07:00

Prelude:

I. After the world trade center collapsed, the three century old remains of 20,000 African men, women, children, stolen as former slaves, were discovered underneath.

II. Between twenty and thirty percent of all stolen Africans brought to America as slaves were Muslim.

III. A Letter on behalf of Cordoba Center by one such “slave

Bismillah

Is an unspoken song on the tongues of the forgotten

ever wonder where will you pray when your skin has abandoned you

or what religion is your skeleton?

A note for Manhattan city residents & Mr. President:

if cemeteries have zip codes, air mail this poem to my mother

courtesy of a masjid’s wings holding my father’s tears

New York: have you forgotten cities are built not by steel but bones

that breath is turquoise colored accessory of skeletons

wearing mahogany skin as Friday prayer best

Bedstuy bones have a Project Runway dream - to runaway from the projects.

Tired of being told their shade is out of season by men in midnight blue suits

attempting to tie a two-thumb thick bow tie noose around their neck.

Strange Fruit is back.

The new and the old Black

in time for spring season.

Muslims again the designs

breathing chest heaving

swinging from government branch limbs.

Dear America: I interrupt your Tea Party

with reminders of ancestral legacy

that picked the very leafs you sip

They say thirty percent of all slaves stolen from Africa were Muslim

denied prayer on ships

lynched and mocked

whips for the worshipping

shot for salaat

slaves to the dollar enslaving slaves of Allah

When you built the World Trade Center over our cemeteries

did Senegalese mother’s hold drum circle protest at construction companies

for the steel saliva you layered on their children’s coffins?

New York City's living pretty luxurious brag

how little skin they own

that one can see their bones through rib cage as if Prada

fashioned design mannequins after auction block melanin.

While in 2002, twenty thousand African slaves were discovered

underneath the cat walk modeling states of decay

in basement of what is called the World Trade Center

Slaves. Models.

both

believe in God

One:

tolerated for invoking the name in anorexia’s reverse communion

practices Ramadan 365 days a year

stomach lining sacrifice offering to porcelains altars

in city subsidized stalls and clubs.

Other:

is child hiding with no one seeking

holding song of Quran In decomposed lungs for three centuries

the sum of Saladin’s sons and daughters under one hundred three steel exhales

separated from the ummah by a cracked twin tear

only homage to memory street cipher testimony

a windmill break dance spin cycles of seven

for circles never made around the ka’ba in Mecca.

Cordoba: thank you for daring to call adhan

in a den of lions illiterate to love.

They call our cemetary “Ground zero”

de facto nicknaming us en la tierra negative

below

absence of value

America: tell us

in this space moment century

as you stand over our grave

that 20,000 spirits of Muslim African

slaves still do not have a right

or a place to pray.

New York:

Your building zones built homes upon our bones

Must you again deny us in death our rights you denied us in life.

We, deserve after three centuries to finally say

Bismillahir rhaminir rahim

Know our prayers end as they always do.

assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah

assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah

(May Allah’s peace and blessings be upon ALL & you)

Sincerely signed:

x

x

x

x

x (+ 19,995 times)

sabreen music

2010-08-20T18:52:00.000-07:00

Boy, Five, Begs Soldiers Not To Take His Dad

2010-08-03T15:44:00.000-07:00

Live Video of Ethnic cleansing in the Negev

2010-08-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

Hypocrisy of Nonviolence

2010-07-19T14:52:00.000-07:00

A few issues I have been noticing lately is the non-violent vs. armed resistance camps of international Palestinian solidarity. Can't help but think if China wanted to establish a colony in California, would we not pick up arms to resist? Isn't the right to bare arms America's constitutional right? If you compare the Palestinian response to Israeli colonization to how Americans would behave if subjected to the same circumstances,the armed Palestinian camps have shown considerable restraint and Palestinians dedicated to non-violence are downright saints compared to how most human beings would respond.

Please see:
Amira Hass asks Obama to Imagine life as a Palestinian under occupation
Beyond Violence and Non-Violence: Resistance as a Culture by Ramzy Baroud
The Hypocrisy of Preaching Nonviolence to Palestinians by Ira Chernus

See also:
"They want us to be loyal to the occupation": Muhammad Totah interviewed by Max Blumenthal

and the old but still relevant:
Palestinians don't have the right to defend themselves, they've the right to die silently!by Salah Mansour

Thousands of Orthodox Jews protest Netanyahu and the State of Israel

2010-07-19T14:27:00.000-07:00

A Cry from the Grave

2010-07-12T14:25:00.000-07:00

UN PIllar of Shame Project

2010-07-10T13:47:00.000-07:00

http://www.pillarofshame.eu

The Pillar of Shame will serve as a metaphor for the immense betrayal of the United Nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and as a warning to all future co-workers of the United Nations. The plan: the 16,744 shoes (representing 8,372 victims) should form two gigantic letters measuring eight metres in height and coloured in shimmering white. The two letters (‘U’ and ‘N’) will be penetrated by three monumental bullet holes with real shoes found in mass graves embedded in them.

The actual location of the Pillar of Shame, and the names of western politicians and army generals whose names will be shamed by the Pillar will be selected by the mothers themselves. The Centre for Political Beauty and the Society for Threatened Peoples that together organised one of the biggest memorials for the genocide of Srebrenica in 2009, will also initiate a discussion about the responsibility of the United Nations that has been completely pushed aside in the West for the last
fifteen years.

The Pillar of Shame will serve as a metaphor for the immense betrayal of the United Nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and as a warning to all future co-workers of the United Nations. The plan: the 16,744 shoes (representing 8,372 victims) should form two gigantic letters measuring eight metres in height and coloured in shimmering white. The two letters (‘U’ and ‘N’) will be penetrated by three monumental bullet holes with real shoes found in mass graves embedded in them.
The Centre for Political Beauty reaches over to the mothers of Srebrenica and will erect the anticipated Pillar of Shame. The project aims to erect a permanent sculpture serving as a lasting reminder of the guilt of western politicians and military officials for the genocide of Srebrenica. – Against oblivion of Europe’s ‘Nights of shame’ (Bogdan Bogdanović).

Soldiers vs. Children in Nabi Saleh, 7-2-10

2010-07-06T10:02:00.000-07:00

TWO SPECIAL PEOPLE, ONE SPECIAL CAUSE

2010-06-26T20:26:00.000-07:00

PROFILES IN COURAGE , HUWAIDA ARRAF AND ADAM SHAPIRO
TWO SPECIAL PEOPLE, ONE SPECIAL CAUSE
by Steve Amsel of Desertpeace via Uruknet June 26,2010

The growth of this wonderful young couple is directly tied to the growth of the International Solidarity Movement. They met in Jerusalem while volunteering for an organisation called Seeds of Peace. He, Adam Shapiro, a 'nice Jewish boy’ from Brooklyn, she, Huwaida Arraf, A Palestinian-American from Detroit. They were wed shortly afterwards and have been busy raising their 'child’ over the past few years, The International Solidarity Movement.

ISM is not like other organisations that meet once a month to discuss a particular situation, they are out there 'in the field’ doing what has to be done. Obviously they are doing it right if the zionists despise them. As the old saying goes… "an enemy of my enemy is my friend"……

Just what exactly do these people do? Have you ever seen a woman stand up to armed Israeli soldiers and tell them to stop the shooting? You can see it in this video taken yesterday in Nabi Saleh, Huwaida Arraf vs the IDF……

Here she is again a few months ago….
TRUE PROFILES IN COURAGE!

Blockade 'Eased' as Gaza Starves more Slowly

2010-06-26T20:24:00.000-07:00

By Jonathan Cook - Nazareth
http://palestinechronicle.com

As Israel this week declared the 'easing' of the four-year blockade of Gaza, an official explained the new guiding principle: 'Civilian goods for civilian people.' The severe and apparently arbitrary restrictions on foodstuffs entering the enclave – coriander bad, cinnamon good – will finally end, we are told. Gaza's 1.5 million inhabitants will have all the coriander they want.

This “adjustment”, as the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu termed it, is aimed solely at damage limitation. With Israel responsible for killing nine civilians aboard a Gaza-bound aid flotilla three weeks ago, the world has finally begun to wonder what purpose the siege serves. Did those nine really need to die to stop coriander, chocolate and children’s toys from reaching Gaza? And, as Israel awaits other flotillas, will more need to be executed to enforce the policy?

Faced with this unwelcome scrutiny, Israel – as well as the United States and the European states that have been complicit in the siege – desperately wants to deflect attention away from demands for the blockade to be lifted entirely. Instead it prefers to argue that the more liberal blockade for Gaza will distinguish effectively between a necessary “security” measures and an unfair “civilian” blockade. Israel has cast itself as the surgeon who, faced with Siamese twins, is mastering the miraculous operation needed to decouple them.

The result, Mr Netanyahu told his cabinet, would be a “tightening of the security blockade because we have taken away Hamas’ ability to blame Israel for harming the civilian population”. Listen to Israeli officials and it sounds as if thousands of “civilian” items are ready to pour into Gaza. No Qassam rockets for Hamas but soon, if we are to believe them, Gaza’s shops will be as well-stocked as your average Wal-Mart.

Be sure, it won’t happen.

Even if many items are no longer banned, they still have to find their way into the enclave. Israel controls the crossing points and determines how many trucks are allowed in daily. Currently, only a quarter of the number once permitted are able to deliver their cargo, and that is unlikely to change to any significant degree. Moreover, as part of the “security” blockade, the ban is expected to remain on items such as cement and steel desperately needed to build and repair the thousands of homes devastated by Israel’s attack 18 months ago.

In any case, until Gaza’s borders, port and airspace are its own, its factories are rebuilt, and exports are again possible, the hobbled economy has no hope of recovering. For the overwhelming majority of Palestinians in Gaza, mired in poverty, the new list of permissible items – including coriander – will remain nothing more than an aspiration.

But more importantly for Israel, by concentrating our attention on the supposed ending of the “civilian” blockade, Israel hopes we will forget to ask a more pertinent question: what is the purpose of this refashioned “security” blockade?

Over the years Israelis have variously been told that the blockade was imposed to isolate Gaza’s “terrorist” rulers, Hamas; to serve as leverage to stop rocket attacks on nearby Israeli communities; to prevent arms smuggling into Gaza; and to force the return of the captured soldier Gilad Shalit.

None of the reasons stands up to minimal scrutiny. Hamas is more powerful than ever; the rocket attacks all but ceased long ago; arms smugglers use the plentiful tunnels under the Egyptian border, not Erez or Karni crossings; and Sgt Shalit would already be home had Israel seriously wanted to trade him for an end to the siege.

The real goal of the blockade was set out in blunt fashion at its inception, in early 2006, shortly after Hamas won the Palestinian elections. Dov Weisglass, the government’s chief adviser at the time, said it would put Palestinians in Gaza “on a diet, but not make them die of hunger”. Aid agencies can testify to the rampant malnutrition that followed. The ultimate aim, Mr Weisglass admitted, was to punish ordinary Gazans in the hope that they would overthrow Hamas.

Is Mr Weisglass a relic of the pre-Netanyahu era, his blockade-as-diet long ago superseded? Not a bit. Only last month, during a court case against the siege, Mr Netanyahu’s government justified the policy not as a security measure but as “economic warfare” against Gaza. One document even set out the minimum calories – or “red lines”, as they were also referred to – needed by Gazans according to their age and sex.

In truth, Israel’s “security” blockade is, in both its old and new incarnations, every bit a “civilian” blockade. It was designed and continues to be “collective punishment” of the people of Gaza for electing the wrong rulers. Helpfully, international law defines the status of Israel’s policy: it is a crime against humanity.

Easing the siege so that Gaza starves more slowly may be better than nothing. But breaking 1.5 million Palestinians out of the prison Israel has built for them is the real duty of the international community.

- Jonathan Cook is a writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. His latest books are “Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East” (Pluto Press) and “Disappearing Palestine: Israel's Experiments in Human Despair” (Zed Books). His website is www.jkcook.net.

ei: Ahava campaign comes to court

2010-06-17T10:01:00.000-07:00

ei: Ahava campaign comes to court

New Irish documentary on life in Gaza

2010-06-15T20:54:00.000-07:00

New Irish documentary on life in Gaza

Israeli Attack on the Mavi Marmara // Raw Footage

2010-06-14T07:48:00.000-07:00

Nasheed Hazatny | نشيد هزتني (Dedicated to the Freedom Flotilla)

2010-06-04T22:55:00.000-07:00

Full Text of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Speech! (English, Turkish, Italian) | Palestine Think Tank

2010-06-02T22:03:00.000-07:00

Full Text of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Speech! (English, Turkish, Italian) | Palestine Think Tank

The tide that changed my world

2010-06-02T21:33:00.000-07:00

An old friend and I were talking about the pirate assault on the freedom flotilla and I told him that the UN was powerless, that the best that can come from this is that more people will open their eyes and begin to ask questions. I come from the land where the pursuit of happiness at the expensive of the rest of the planet is given top priority. It is our inalienable right, no one bats an eye at the sufferings of Palestinians in Gaza. Then there she was: Huda Galia. I will never forget how she ensnared me in her heartstrings so completely. Hook line and sinker. A tidal wave entrenched me back in 2006, and since then there's been no neutrality, no conditions on my solidarity. Maybe today's pirate story, last years Gaza massacre will get more people to notice Palestine. Every new person tips to balance in the favor of freedom for Palestine and an end to the occupation. For me it was Huda, I will never forget her story.

Gaza Aid Flotilla Survivor Describes Israeli Attack, Huwaida Arraf

2010-06-02T18:33:00.000-07:00

World condemns Israel raid on Gaza aid convoy

2010-06-01T08:35:00.000-07:00

Nine Inch Nails "The Day The World Went Away (Quiet)"

2010-05-27T14:11:00.000-07:00

Some Acts Are Not Forgivable

2010-05-25T08:04:00.000-07:00

An 18-year-old Muslim woman in Bosnia recovers one day after aborting a pregnancy resulting from rape in September 1992. Rape was used systematically as an instrument of war in the Bosnian conflict. photo by Nina Berman, Sipa press

"I was sent to the special department for the pregnant women at Foca. I had one month to go. For one month nobody touched us, and then Chetnik soldiers visited us, and took all our gold and took two women from our room at 3 a.m. One of those women had given birth to a dead baby before that and the other was three months pregnant. They brought them back at 9 a.m. The next night they came back and took four women, the two from before and another two, who had newborn babies. It happened every night. They came and took those four women all the time. When I noticed someone was coming in the evening hours...I hid under a sink in a cupboard. Everything else was like normal. We got food for the children. A Serb doctor told us the soldiers wouldn't touch us...and we didn't tell them anything. I gave birth to my daughter Aida there. After some months, Munira and the other women were told they would be freed in a prisoner exchange. One evening some soldiers came with vehicles to take us. I thought we would be killed. Dr Cancar saved us. Don't worry, my children while I'm here nothing will happen to you. And at that moment one of the soldiers took away A,, the woman who had had the stillborn baby..." (personal testimony from "Safe Area Gorazde)

The women knew the rapes would begin when 'Mars na Drinu' was played over the loudspeaker of the main mosque. ('Mars na Drinu,' or 'March on the Drina', is reportedly a former Chetnik fighting song that was banned during the Tito years.) While 'Mars na Drinu' was playing, the women were ordered to strip and soldiers entered the homes taking the ones they wanted. The age of women taken ranged from 12 to 60. Frequently the soldiers would seek out mother and daughter combinations. Many of the women were severely beaten during the rapes.

One case had a Serb soldier telling a Bosnian woman he was raping, "You should have already left this town. We'll make you have Serbian babies who will be Christians."
(Seventh Report on War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia: Part II , US submission of information to the United Nations Security Council)

There were numerous rape camps in the town of Foča. "Karaman’s house" was one of the most notable rape camps. While kept in this house, girls were repeatedly raped. Among the women held in "Karaman's house" were minors as young as 15 years of age. In the findings of the Kunarac trial the appalling conditions of the detention centers being used for mass rape were described.

Women of Bosnia and Herzegovina:Whose Justice?
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) declared that systematic rape, and sexual enslavement in time of war was a crime against humanity, second only to the war crime of genocide. The Kunarac case was the first time in judicial history anyone had been found guilty of these crimes. (Wikepedia)

Letter to Obama: You've Sold Your Soul for Kosher Dollars>> Mohamed Khodr

2010-05-18T09:36:00.001-07:00

Letter to Obama: You've Sold Your Soul for Kosher Dollars | Palestine Think Tank

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Elvis Costello - Peace Love And Understanding

2010-05-18T09:33:00.000-07:00

Yay! Elvis Costello appeals to BDS calls, sometimes it's "impossible to simply look the other way!"

How's this for an apology?

2010-05-17T09:18:00.000-07:00

Serbs have erected a cross above the Srebrenica genocide memorial, two months before the 15th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide. The Cross was placed just above Potocari and in the vicinity of a recently excavated mass grave. Representatives of the returnees have expressed outrage about the Serb plans to built a Church near open graves and above a Muslim village of Potocari.

Imagine if a group of Muslims put up Bin Laden statue near where the World Trade Center once stood...that would go over well!

World's largest Keffiyeh

2010-05-17T08:54:00.000-07:00

via desserpeace

Can't Stop This!

2010-05-16T10:16:00.001-07:00

FGM: Israel’s Intimidation Tactics Won’t Stop Us, First Ship Sets Sail for Gaza!

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