Canadians Favours

From Gulf News

http://gulfnews.com/opinions/editorials/canada-isn-t-doing-favours-to-the-uae-1.699402

When Dubai Police Chief, Lieutenant-General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, revealed that Canadian authorities have arrested a suspect in the murder of Hamas commander Mahmoud Al Mabhouh, Ottawa pretended to have been caught off guard. It seems Canadian authorities wanted to keep the arrest secret, perhaps to avoid angering close ally Israel.

Some think the Canadians might have backtracked on this issue, by even trying to deny it ever happened, as a response to the beating the Canada-UAE ties have taken in the past few weeks, over a disagreement on airline landing rights. If that is the case, Canada will only be shooting itself in the foot. Security cooperation, especially in combating state-sponsored terrorism, like the assassination of Al Mabhouh in Dubai earlier this year, should not be affected by trade relations.

If Canada thinks it is doing the UAE a favour in arresting a wanted criminal, it surely is mistaken. Terrorism is a global threat and the UAE, according to United Nations reports, is at the forefront of international efforts aimed at eradicating this plague.

Security cooperation is not an option. With terror activities rising, transparent security cooperation is the only way to ensure global peace.


.....

How every interesting! Especially after I've read this news article below...

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/uae-considered-keeping-mabhouh-hit-under-wraps-wikileaks-cables-reveal-1.333793

Guys.. keep all your purchases private.. be they for weapons or DVD's before New Years... and stay safe!

Israel does it again - to the Rachel Corrie

Not satisfied with their performance last weekend, the Israelis have blocked yet another ship laden with aid to Gaza. The ship is named Rachel Corrie after the activist that was crushed to death by Israeli bulldozers a few years back.

Fortunately there was no violence this time. However, why does Israel insist on harrasing aid shipments to Gaza over waters which it no longer even occupies? Surely if the UAE starts blocking ships in Iranian waters then all hell will break loose.

Why does Israel continue to exist above the law?

Why is the Egyptian border with Gaza still closed?

More info:

http://gulfnews.com/news/region/palestinian-territories/aid-ship-rachel-corrie-intercepted-by-israeli-troops-gaza-committee-1.636962

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/10245176.stm

The excellent cartoon is kindly provided by Carlos Latuff: http://latuff2.deviantart.com/gallery/



Image: Swedish Demonstrators

Check out this most excellent gallery of pictures from demonstrations from around the world against the recent Israeli actions. It's scary how many countries are listed there.

http://andfaraway.net/blog/2010/06/05/palestine-%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86%E2%80%8E-palestina-palaistine/

Forgotten Floatilla

So it's only been a few days since the Israeli massacre aboard the peace floatilla.. so, the big question is have we already forgotten about it?

I hope not, and I leave you with this most excellent clip.



Found here:http://www.kabobfest.com/2010/06/israel-flotilla-raid-breakdown-of-whos-right-and-wrong.html

Peace.

Blue Waters - Jewish Piracy

As you know, the Israelis have have boarded an international aid ship heading for Gaza while it was in international waters and murdered 19 of its members. The ship was carrying the Turkish flag and Turkey as well as all Muslim and Arab nations are furious, the world is furious too at this act of state-sponsored barbaric piracy by the Middle East's "only democracy".

Democracy my ass...

Coming soon.. more stuff on this.. but until then I leave you with this excellent cartoon by my friend Carlos Latuff.

More info:

Carlos Latuff on Twitter
Carlos Latuff on Deviant Art
Ferroviasdobrazil.com

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/10203726.stm

http://gulfnews.com/news/region/palestinian-territories/palestinians-arabs-demand-probe-of-israeli-raid-on-gaza-aid-flotilla-1.635135

Is it OK to chant "down with Israel?"

I wouldn't mind also driving the Israeli state to the sea since they seem quite at home there.

IDF Internet Troll

Amazing!

http://www.kabobfest.com/2010/04/11-signs-of-an-idf-internet-troll.html

I won't copy/paste anything here except the hilarious troll picture.. so please click on the article and enjoy!

Thanks Abu al Kabab!

Sigma of posts equals ten

It's been busy lately, but here is my Sigma of posts.

I will try to keep it brief but these websites have been lurking on my browser for weeks, and here am I sharing them with you.


1- Sabbah History Lesson:

http://blip.tv/file/3467330

Click this link for a short video on the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

2- 21,000,000,000 Dhz is a lot of money:

This is actually very scary... to quote...

"Car crashes are robbing the country of as much as Dh21 billion a year, research has found...The Dh21bn (US$5.7bn) is equivalent to the value of one in eight barrels of oil the UAE exports, or almost half of Dubai’s tourism revenue each year."

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100403/NATIONAL/704029790/1182/enewsletter

3- Court asked to define ‘Israeli’

"A group of Jews and Arabs are fighting in the Israeli courts to be recognised as “Israelis”, a nationality currently denied them, in a case that officials fear may threaten the country’s self-declared status as a Jewish state...Israel refused to recognise an Israeli nationality at the country’s establishment in 1948, making an unusual distinction between “citizenship” and “nationality”. Although all Israelis qualify as “citizens of Israel”, the state is defined as belonging to the “Jewish nation”, meaning not only the 5.6 million Israeli Jews but also more than seven million Jews in the diaspora...The interior ministry has adopted more than 130 possible nationalities for Israeli citizens, most of them defined in religious or ethnic terms, with “Jewish” and “Arab” being the main categories..."

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100406/FOREIGN/704059795/1186/enewsletter Really merits reading!



Image Credit: Carlos Latuff http://latuff2.deviantart.com/gallery


4- Israeli Arabs urged to try 'reverse discrimination' against Jews:

The title kinda says it all..
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100410/FOREIGN/704099830/1183/enewsletter

5- Bedouin leave city for their desert roots:

"Abandoning this lifestyle, in which English is rarely spoken and neighbours know each other intimately in these wide open spaces, for the city is out of the question, said Mr al Harthi, a Saudi who works as a policeman in Abu Dhabi."

Amazing eh? No jokes about camels please.

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100415/NATIONAL/704149864/1184/enewsletter

6- Publish banned Gaza 'war crimes' report, says Arab Israeli MP:

Again, this is worrying news..

"The investigation by Uri Blau, who has been in hiding since December to avoid arrest, concerned Israeli preparations for the impending assault on Gaza, known as Operation Cast Lead. In a highly unusual move, according to reports in the Israeli media, the army ordered the Haaretz newspaper to destroy all copies of an edition that included Mr Blau’s investigation after it had already gone to press and been passed by the military censor. The article was never republished."

Surely, nothing is to be lost since Israel is the region's only democracy.

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100415/FOREIGN/704149932/1186/enewsletter




7- BBC News Audio slideshow: Classic cars in Gaza:

You really have to see and hear this to believe it.. plus what an amazing surname..Mahfouz Caberetti.. which derives from Kibreet or a form of Sulfur I believe..
BBC website, click here

8- Is this where the holy land is headed?

"Jerusalem, April 31, 2027: The final segment from what was known as the Security Wall was torn down yesterday as street signs in the holy city were changed in preparation of the upcoming Unification Day of Israel-Palestine, four years after the Great Middle Eastern war of 2023."

Riveting reading here...

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100411/OPINION/704109912/1080




9-Stranded leader runs country by iPad:

A big win for apple.. who by the way have delayed my new laptop by 3 weeks because of the iPad.. I want something with a keyboard that is touch-sensitive, and i can type with my eyes closed, so forget the iPad for now.. but until this.. read on..

"Running a country? There's an app for that.
When Norway's prime minister found himself stuck in New York as a volcanic cloud grounded flights to Europe, he fired up his new Apple iPad and did the job remotely."

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/ptech/04/16/volcano.ash.norway.ipad/index.html

10- Don't forget the children of Gaza:

This video makes me doubtful that any good is left on this earth, and specifically in countries like Israel and Egypt.

http://www.kalamullah.com/children-of-gaza.html

Notice how the occupiers are referred to by religion and not by nationality.

Really worth a watch, and a sob. The poor sods.

Peace. Salam.

Israeli sperm quality down and Israeli fish shows female characteristics

I read with interest the following article from the leading paper in Israel:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1084574.html

Last update - 10:03 11/05/2009



Study: Quality of Israeli sperm down 40% in past decade

By Ofri Ilani





The quality of Israeli sperm has declined alarmingly in the last decade, according to recent research conducted at Jerusalem's Hadassah University Hospital, Mount Scopus.

The cause for the decline is not known, but it's believed by some researchers to be connected to the exposure of children and pregnant women to hormones and other contaminants in food and water.

Conducted by Dr. Ronit Haimov-Kokhman, the study showed a 40-percent decline in the concentration of sperm cells among the country's sperm donors from 2004 to 2008, compared to those of donors from 1995 to 1999. Hadassah's sperm bank is now turning away two-thirds of potential donors because of low-quality sperm, as opposed to one-third in the past.
Advertisement

Haimov-Kokhman's research is to be presented today at a conference of the Israeli Society of Fertility Investigation in Tel Aviv.

Kokhman said the study was carried out to test the theory of the director of Hadassah Hospital's sperm bank, Ruth Har-Nir, that sperm quality was in decline.




The research confirmed that in 10 years, the average concentration of sperm among donors declined from 106 million cells per cubic centimeter to 67 million per cubic centimeter. The rate of sperm motility has also declined: from 79 to 67 percent, although the profile of donors did not change over that period; they are still young, healthy and do not smoke.

According to Haimov-Kokhman, the quality of sperm has declined in most Western countries, but in Israel it has been particularly rapid.

"If we keep going at this rate, a decline of 3 million cubic centimeters of sperm cells per year, we'll reach an average of 20 million in 2030. The World Heath Organization defines this as fertility impairment."

Studies showing a decline in sperm quality began to be published worldwide more than a decade ago, along with research indicating a rise in the rate of defects in the male reproductive system.

In Israel, too, a study was published about a year ago, showing an increase of about 30 percent in defects in the male reproductive system. In addition, in the past decade, the number of cases of testicular cancer has doubled.

A number of chemicals in the ground and in drinking water have been identified as impacting hormone levels and secondary sexual characteristics. These chemicals include plasticizers called phthalates, used in food wrappings, cosmetics and a various insecticides. Studies published in Britain have highlighted a clear connection between continual decline in sperm counts and chemicals in the environment.

"I would suggest that a concentration of estrogen in the water is a cause of change, Haimov-Kokhman says, noting that hormones in the ground come from both human and animal waste that reach the aquifer via sewage. "The ground is full of estrogen that produces estrogen-saturated fruits, vegetables and plants."

A study published in Israel two years ago revealed that the high level of female hormones in a stream near Beit She'an, apparently originating from women swimmers who were taking birth-control pills, caused fish to develop female characteristics. However, the researchers say that the level of hormones in the country's main waterways is negligible, and cannot be the source of impairment of the male reproductive system.

"While it's true that the evidence is only circumstantial, even the connection between smoking and lung cancer took a generation to prove," Haimov-Kokhman notes.


-----------------

Apparently if the trend continues to 2030 Israelis will be classified as "infertile" or needing "fertility impairment". I wonder if this will be an issue since by 2030 most of Israel's natural predators (cheifly Palestinians) will probably be exterminated or contained in foreign prisions.

That's what happens when you steal someone else's water!

Israel and UAE Women

I read this excellent article in The National the other day:

Don’t lecture UAE on women, Israel told

Mahmoud Habboush

* Last Updated: March 29. 2010 1:15AM UAE / March 28. 2010 9:15PM GMT

BANGKOK // An Israeli politician got more than he bargained for when he said UAE leaders should be talking about women’s rights in the country instead of lobbying against Israel’s actions in East Jerusalem.

Majalli Wahabi, Israel’s deputy foreign minister, was reminded by a female UAE official that according to UN data, the Emirates rank higher on the empowerment of women than his country.

Mr Wahabi spoke shortly after Abdul Aziz al Ghurair, Speaker of the FNC, addressed the annual meeting of the International Parliamentary Union meeting in the Thai capital.

Just before the meeting concluded, Amal al Qubaisi, the FNC’s only elected woman member, took the podium.

“Jerusalem is home to 220 historical sites with symbolic value not only to Islam but also to international heritage,” said Dr al Qubaisi, who wrote her doctorate dissertation on the preservation of architectural heritage.

She said Israeli practices in Jerusalem contravened the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit the destruction of cultural heritage by occupying powers in territories under their control.

As for women’s rights, Dr al Qubaisi noted the Emirates ranked 17th in the world for women empowerment, while Israel was 24th, according to the UN’s Human Development Report 2009.

She added that women occupy 23 per cent of the FNC’s seats, eight per cent of Cabinet positions, 33 per cent of leadership positions and 66 per cent of public positions.

“Women are empowered in the UAE at all political, social and economic levels,” Dr al Qubaisi said.

Her remarks were greeted with applause by many of the representatives of the 131 parliaments attending the conference.

The Israeli official had criticised the UAE’s insistence that Israeli actions in East Jerusalem be included on the meeting’s emergency agenda, saying that earthquake relief in Haiti was a more pressing matter.

“The Israeli practices in Jerusalem are not only a breach of Palestinian Arabs rights, but a violation and a threat to the feelings of Muslims around the world,” Mr al Ghurair said in his speech.

The Israeli government announced earlier this month plans to build 1,600 Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem while the US vice president, Joe Biden, was visiting Israel, triggering a rare row between the Jewish state and the US.

“I request the formation of an international parliamentary committee to look at what is happening in Jerusalem and report to the union’s conference next year,” Mr al Ghurair said.

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, warned on Saturday at the opening of the Arab League’s summit in Libya that the peace process was unlikely to move forward “as long as Israel maintains its settlement policy”.

Islamic and Arab states have repeatedly criticised Israel’s excavation works outside the Al Aqsa mosque. Many Palestinians believe that Israeli extremists want to destroy the mosque to rebuild the ancient Solomon’s Temple in its place.

Mr al Ghurair said that changing the Islamic features of Jerusalem “is an unambiguous violation of the international treaty signed by all countries with regard to protecting the cultural and natural heritage of humanity”.

“We, the Arabs, have tentatively listened to the calls by the international community for peace with Israel,” said Mr al Ghurair.

“And the Arab leaders have held on to the Arab peace initiative throughout their meetings and resolutions, but our calls have been ignored.”


mhabboush@thenational.ae http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100329/NATIONAL/703289866/1186/enewsletter

Also.. this video clip is EXCELLENT.. I suggest you view it.. another excellent piece of work by Dr Norman Finkelstein.
http://www.who-sane.com/2010/03/dr-norman-finkelstein-2/

Let’s Talk About Israeli Racism

An amazing post from a fellow blogger:

Just yesterday, I wondered to a friend if maybe Benjamin Netanyahu is disrespecting Barack Obama in part because he is black? And lo and behold, David Bromwich wrote today in the Huffington Post:

“Racism as much as fear drives the Israeli policy toward Palestinians. This has always been known. But who now will deny that there is also, in the Israeli distrust and visceral ridicule of Barack Obama, an undercurrent of racism?”
He goes on to point out the parallel between racism against Palestinians by the Israeli settler movement, and racism against blacks by their staunchest supporters in the U.S., the white evangelicals he calls Christian Zionists. It is almost as if, their segregationist fantasies defeated here at home, the religious right is projecting them onto the Holy Land by helping the settler movement to build an apartheid state.

“The operation of Israeli racism against a black American president is powerfully enforced by the settler movement and by its American allies, the Christian Zionists. … Settler racism and Christian Zionist racism (associated with the ‘birther movement’ in the U.S.) converge in a belief in the political and the social superiority of Israeli Jews over Palestinians — a superiority that for the Christian Zionists corresponds (in ways that need no comment) to the natural superiority of American whites to blacks.”
He calls on Americans to become aware of the racist nature of the Israeli settlement project, and its implications for American security interests.

“Will Americans now stop calling the annexation wall — which cuts off West-Bank Israeli colonists from their Palestinian inferiors — ‘the security fence’? It is a wall. Its function is only partly to secure. It is there also to separate, to mark off, and to overawe. … The separation produces…a condition of constant inequality. It seems too weak to call the result ’segregation.’ Ehud Barak, a solid authority one would have thought, has recently called it apartheid, and language that is accurate in the eyes of the defense minister of Israel should be good enough for Americans. …
“The existential threat in the vicinity of Israel is not extermination but expulsion. And Israel is the agent rather than victim of that threat. The project is being carried forward by legalized acts of dispossession, by harassment, by deprivation of useful work, and by the deliberate infliction of misery.”
Fortunately, he feels that Americans are starting to become aware of these ugly truths. Beginning with the war in Gaza, and continuing through the diplomatic crisis surrounding Joe Biden’s visit to Israel, forty years of self-imposed silence in the American media, which have prevented a frank discussion of Israel’s policies, are starting to fray.

“So the door to an honest discussion of Israel and Palestine has been opened wide. Too wide for AIPAC, and all its journalistic outlets, to close with their usual dispatch. We are in possession now of the realistic knowledge that Israel’s policies endanger American troops and American interests; that by creating new terrorists, those policies also threaten the security of the United States. …
“It is one thing to sacrifice yourself for a friend in the cause of justice; another to sacrifice yourself for a friend in the cause of injustice.”

http://www.eatbees.com/blog/2010/03/17/israeli-racism/

How will Israel spin this?

Thank you Ultra Blue

from the bbc:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8583041.stm

Date: 23 March 2010

Expulsion of diplomat sends a strong signal to Israel

By Jeremy Bowen
BBC Middle East Editor


Mr Miliband took the decision after an investigation by British Police
Britain's foreign secretary David Miliband has taken the decision to expel an Israeli diplomat after the UK's serious organised crime agency turned up evidence that Israel cloned British passports.
The Israeli diplomat is not the ambassador himself, but the expulsion sends a very strong signal to Israel of Britain's disapproval and anger.
The indications are that the person who will go will be the head of the London station of Mossad - Israel's secret intelligence service.
Diplomatic sources say Britain does not have evidence that Mossad murdered senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai.
However, the accusation was made by police in the United Arab Emirates.
They presented CCTV footage showing an alleged Israeli hit squad, some disguised with wigs and others wearing tennis gear, following Mr al-Mabhouh in the hours before he was killed.
Britain's relations with Israel have been difficult for some time.

Mr Mabhouh was murdered in a Dubai hotel room, police say
Israel resents Britain's support for greater clarity in the labelling of products from Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
And late last year the former Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni - now Israel's opposition leader - was forced to cancel a trip to Britain at short notice after a warrant was issued for her arrest on war crimes charges.
Worldwide, Israel is now under all-round diplomatic pressure from its allies.
The Americans, with the support of Britain among others, are pushing Israel to stop building for Jews on occupied land in Jerusalem, on the grounds that it makes negotiating peace with the Palestinians next to impossible.
Past attempts
If Israel is implicated in the murder of Mr al-Mabhouh, it won't be the first time.
During his first term as prime minister in 1997, Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the poisoning of another Hamas official, Khaled Meshaal in Jordan.
However the attempt was bungled after Mr Meshaal's bodyguard captured two of the Mossad hit team.
Mr Netanyahu was forced by a furious King Hussein to send the formula for the antidote to Jordan.
Mr Netanyahu also had to offer to release the Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin to Jordan to mollify the King, who had recently signed a peace treaty with Israel.
Sheikh Yassin was a thorn in Israel's side until he was killed in an air strike in Gaza in 2004.
Mr Meshaal survived and is now the leading political figure in Hamas, living in exile in Damascus.
The attempt to kill him was one factor that led to the Israeli public turning against Mr Netanyahu in elections in 1999.

Israel supermarket spoof parodies Dubai killing

From the famous BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8561247.stm

An Israeli supermarket chain is using a spoof of surveillance footage showing the alleged assassins of a Hamas commander in a television advert.

The advert's fake grainy surveillance footage shows actors wearing elaborate disguises.




Dubai police released footage they said showed the assassins of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, some dressed for tennis, as they followed him through his hotel.

Israel's secret service is widely suspected of being behind the killing.

But the government says there is not enough proof that its agents were involved.

In the advert for Mahsanei Kimat Hinam shops, disguised customers prowl the supermarket's aisles and an actress wearing a wide-brimmed hat says she: "cannot admit to anything". The final line is: "We offer killer prices."

Advertising executive Sefi Shaked said the campaign was inspired by the original footage.

"We were fascinated by the technique of using surveillance cameras instead of high-production cameras, and the latest events in Dubai have given us a great opportunity," he said.

"It's a parody, a take-off of what happened in Dubai. All the Israeli television comedy shows have done it, so why shouldn't we?" he added.



Can you spot the difference between both pictures?

Who said Israelis can't be funny?

PS: BBC bias is evident, they used the word "killing" instead of "assassination" in their headline. However, this is another matter altogether.

Israel anounces settlement expansion on eve of peace talks

RAMALLAH // Israel yesterday announced plans for a controversial settlement expansion just a day after a divided PLO Central Committee reluctantly agreed to endorse US-sponsored proximity talks.

The plans for 112 apartments in the ultra-Orthodox Beitar Illit settlement in the Bethlehem area were announced as an exception to the partial settlement construction freeze that Israel agreed to in November under US pressure.

It is unlikely to play well with US administration officials, as the announcement coincides with what is supposed to be the finalisation of preparations for indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians and on the morning of the visit of Joe Biden, the US vice president.

In an interview published yesterday in Yedioth Ahronot, an Israeli daily, Mr Biden said the partial settlement construction freeze had not come through agreement with the United States or the Palestinians and that it was “not everything that we wanted”.

for more...http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100309/FOREIGN/703089835/1185/enewsletter

Mabhouh gone quiet

Hasn't the media gone silent on the recent Dubai assassination?
Steps need to be taken to ensure that the UAE does not turn to a place where filthy monkeys do their filthy business.



Abed Al Raouf Al Mabhouh (centre), the son of Mahmoud Al Mabhouh, carries the coffin of his father along with Hamas members during his funeral procession at the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk, near Damascus, Syria on January 29, 2010.

Image Credit: AP

Sderot or Najd?

We've all been serenaded by Israel's stories of hurt and suffering from Sderot. That's the tiny village right next to the border with Gaza. They have been pelted by Qassam rockets from Gaza that were the only thing to fly out of Gaza after Israel's crippling blockade (Egypt hasn't helped much either).



I even met the prick of a mayor, Mr Eli Moyal of Sderot during a propaganda tour (the picture above is mine) trying to convince us that Israel is peaceful and they are suffering big time because of the rockets. I suppose it's hard to understand that hungry, poor, and humiliated people will do almost anything to get noticed and get even.

That was a pig of a talk, we were harrassed by Israeli security goons, but we still managed to get to the talk and be heard. It was fun. I hope to be able to ask people like Netinyahu some proper questions soon, mind you, compared to the big cheese, Moyal is just a small sardine.

Anyway, the purpose of this post is to shed the light on Sderot's history, which in fact was that it was called Najd, and was an Arab Palestinian town before the Israelis razed it to the ground and build Sderot on its ruins in 1951. How very convenient. I wonder what the Arab Mayor of Najd would say about this?

Hold that thought, and read what wiki has to say:

"Sderot was founded in 1951 (...) on the land of the former Palestinian village of Najd. Najd was a Palestinian Arab village, located 14 kilometers (9 mi) northeast of Gaza City. On 13 May 1948, Najd was occupied by Jewish soldiers from the Negev Brigade as part of Operation Barak. The inhabitants were expelled and fled to Gaza, and the village was then completely destroyed and leveled to the ground. In 1951, the town of Sderot was built over the village lands."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sderot

A typical shining example of brave Israeli history. The honour. The gallant bravery!

I'm a man of numbers, and I have been trying in vain to get some statistics on how many Sderot residents died because of these Gazan rockets, but I have found nothing. I found statistics however claiming that half of the village's residents are "casualties" of the attacks. Hmmm that means about 10,000 of 20,000 or so residents.

Ynet : Study: Over half of Sderot residents are Qassam casualties

So, 10,000 Israelis are casualties? What is the Israeli definition of a casualty? Ok.. let's look at nearby Gaza:

in 19 days of war, more than 1000 Gazans died, and 4800 were physically injured.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/14/gaza-city-fighiting-israel-un

That means physically hurt by an Israeli explosive device.

I still cannot find details of even one Sderot death from these painful rockets, even though there are 10,000 "casualties".

Amazing, that the propaganda machine managed to alert us to the plight of the modern Nadj residents (aka Sderot) while neglecting to mention the original resident's plight. The next step I guess is to find one of the original, pre 1948 residents of Sderot/Najd and capture their words on video.

Israel bullies British laws

Well, we've known Israel to bully and murder neighbouring Arabs, and to make a joke of the UN via successive vetos from the USA. Now it appears that they are trying to spin the previous arrest warrant in the UK against Tzipi Livni to their favour. All this because she was doing her job and "fighting terror", reminds me so much about what you read about the Nazi party and just following orders.



Now now, invading land you withdrew from years ago and murdering everything that moves doesn't really classify as terror fighting as much as it might look like xenophobic genocide, but that's just me...

More reporting from The National: Tzipi Livni: I’m coming to London, arrest me
Who knows, maybe Jack Straw will do just that...

Dubai assassination is latest of Mossad’s miscalculations

Dubai assassination is latest of Mossad’s miscalculations

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100219/OPINION/702189968/1080/foreign

Alan Philps

* Last Updated: February 19. 2010 12:29AM UAE / February 18. 2010 8:29PM GMT

It is said that the perfect spy is someone who cannot attract a waiter’s attention in a restaurant. This seems to be true of the hit team which murdered the Hamas military leader, Mahmoud al Mabhouh, in Dubai last month. The individuals revealed by the Dubai police are no Sean Connerys or Mata Haris, rather the type of people you would not remember if you bumped into them on the street.

The unforgiving camera angles of closed circuit TV footage and the dorky disguises they used only accentuate their grim ordinariness. Surely the ranks of young men and women wanting to join the world’s security services – many of them addicts of the BBC’s Spooks and similar glossy intelligence dramas – will now fall off.

The painstaking work of the Dubai police has proved one thing. The all-seeing surveillance camera has killed off the notion that a forgettable face, a wig and a moustache are enough to make a good sleuth. To the surprise and embarrassment of the Israelis, the Dubai police have been able to combine their surveillance footage with visual intelligence from different hotels, the airport and passport control, as well as cell phone information, to put together a timeline of the operation and a compelling movie, complete with cast list – an Ocean’s 11 stripped of glamour.

As the Israeli investigative journalist and expert on the Mossad, Ronen Bergman, has concluded: “This is the end of an era, the end of the assassination that leaves no trace, where you could perform such an operation with no marks. In the modern age it leaves a lot of marks, whatever way you perform it.”

Apart from that, there is much that remains murky in the operation. Reaction in Israel, initially quietly jubilant, is now tempered with unease over the political and diplomatic fallout. The standard Israeli government response to any accusation of assassination on foreign territory, the challenge of “Prove it!”, is pitifully threadbare in this case. The fact that the passports of British citizens who live in Israel were cloned to provide false papers points the finger unerringly at Mossad and makes the organisation look cavalier with the security of its own citizens.

According to security sources quoted by the BBC yesterday, the cloning of the passports was done to a very high degree of sophistication, beyond the capability of most intelligence services. This is further evidence of Israeli involvement, as Israel has a long record of faking British passports.

In the 1980s Israel promised to stop this practice after a courier taking a consignment of eight blank British passports to the Israeli embassy in Bonn – then the capital of West Germany – left them in a phone booth. The passports were picked up by the German police, and eventually traced to Israel.

The passport issue, as well as the revelation that the Israeli embassy in London was funding a Palestinian double agent who was hiding a big arms cache in the city of Hull, caused the British government to order a freeze in relations with Mossad and the expulsion of three operatives. The Mossad station in London was effectively closed down – but not for long. By 1998 there were five operatives back working in the London embassy, according to a standard history of the organisation.

The summoning of the Israeli ambassador to London, Ron Prosor, to the foreign office yesterday to explain the use of fake British passports should be seen in this light. While politics demands that the Israelis be reprimanded when they are caught out, normal co-operation between western intelligence services and Mossad tends to be restored fairly quickly. The key fact is that the Israelis are never caught cloning American documents. That would get the organisation into real trouble, whereas the wrath of European countries can be dismissed, or so it has proved in the past.

There are calls in the Israeli press for the current Mossad director general Meir Dagan to quit. But it seems unlikely he will go. He has a reputation for daring which pleases the Israeli public. He would have known that a murder in a five-star hotel would yield some embarrassing surveillance footage, but it was clearly considered a risk worth taking.

Israel wants the world to be repeatedly reminded that its arm is long. Mr Dagan is generally credited with the assassination of Imad Mughniyeh, the military commander of Hizbollah, in Damascus in 2008 – though there is always the possibility of several forces being involved together. With al Mabhouh, the aim would be to remove the stain of failure dating from the failed assassination by poisoning of the Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Amman in 1997.

Vengeance and doing what makes the spooks feel good is not a policy, however. It is hard to think of any strategic gains that Israel has acquired from its long history of assassinations. When dealing with broad-based movements such as the Palestinians, no man is irreplaceable. Indeed, the dead man is replaced in time by someone usually more ruthless, and sometimes more competent.

In 1988 Israeli commandos killed Abu Jihad, the Fatah military commander, in front of his wife in Tunis. If such a respected figure as Abu Jihad had been alive, it would surely have been easier for Israel to make a historic accommodation with the Palestinians over the past 15 years.

The tactical lesson of the impossibility of carrying out a clean murder in a five-star hotel with security cameras in every corridor has been learnt. The real question is: what strategic goal does Israel achieve by carrying out assassinations? Certainly not its proclaimed goal of peace.

aphilps@thenational.ae

هل تدفع غزة ثمن التوريث؟!

This is an excellent article by Alaa Al Aswany, a smart Egyptian journalist. The article is taken from his website and is about the situation in Gaza, Egypt and Pisrael.

http://alaaalaswany.maktoobblog.com/1618365/هل-تدفع-غزة-ثمن-التوريث؟/



مقاله علاء الاسوانى (( جملة إعتراضية ))
فى جريدة الشروق
29 ديسمبر 2009
هل تدفع غزة ثمن التوريث؟!

بعد أن نشرت الخبر جريدة «هاآرتس» الإسرائيلية وأكدته الإدارة الأمريكية، اعترفت الحكومة المصرية ــ أخيرا ــ بأنها تبنى جدارا فولاذيا تحت الأرض على طول الحدود مع غزة من أجل إغلاق الأنفاق التى يستعملها الفلسطينيون لتهريب الطعام والأدوية.. فى ظل حصار خانق قامت به إسرائيل منذ أكثر من عامين واشتركت فيه مصر بإغلاق معبر رفح أمام الفلسطينيين.. ولنا هنا بعض الملاحظات: :

أولا: الهدف من حصار غزة ــ كما أعلنت إسرائيل ــ هو القضاء على المقاومة الفلسطينية وتجويع أهل غزة حتى يركعوا أمام إسرائيل ويقبلوا بشروطها للتسوية النهائية التى سوف تضيع حقوق الفلسطينيين إلى الأبد.. لكن الصمود الأسطورى للفلسطينيين دفع إسرائيل إلى ارتكاب مذبحة وحشية، استعملت فيها الأسلحة المحرمة دوليا وراح ضحيتها أكثر من ألف وأربعمائة إنسان نصفهم على الأقل من النساء والأطفال.. وبرغم المذبحة والحصار لم يستسلم الفلسطينيون وظلوا يقاومون بشجاعة مما دفع إسرائيل إلى التفكير فى طريقة لخنقهم نهائيا.. والثابت أن الجدار الفولاذى تحت الأرض فكرة إسرائيلية أساسا ترددت الحكومة المصرية فى تنفيذها ثم وافقت مؤخرا وشرعت فى إقامة الجدار الذى تم تصنيعه بتمويل وإشراف الأمريكيين.. والغرض من هذا الجدار هو قتل الفلسطينيين بمعنى الكلمة، لأنه يقضى على آخر فرصة لهم فى الحصول على الطعام.

ثانيا: إن إغلاق الحكومة المصرية لمعبر رفح ومنع قوافل الإغاثة العربية والدولية من دخول غزة ثم إقامة الجدار الفولاذى لتجويع الفلسطينيين.. كل هذه جرائم مشينة من المحزن حقا أن يرتكبها النظام المصرى ضد إخوتنا فى العروبة والإنسانية. إن التضامن العربى والواجب المصرى نحو المسلمين والمسيحيين فى فلسطين، كل هذه اعتبارات لم تعد تعنى شيئا للمسئولين المصريين وهم يسخرون منها على الملأ. لكن النظام المصرى، فى خضم حماسه لإرضاء إسرائيل، لم يلتفت إلى أنه يشوه صورته أمام العالم أجمع.. إن مذبحة غزة الأخيرة قضت على ما تبقى من سمعة إسرائيل أمام العالم. لقد تزايدت أصوات الإدانة لإسرائيل فى الدول الغربية بطريقة غير مسبوقة. فى شهر أكتوبر الماضى ذهب رئيس وزراء الإسرائيلى السابق إيهود أولمرت لإلقاء كلمة فى جامعة شيكاجو، فوجد نفسه محاصرا بهتافات عدائية من الطلبة الذين أخذوا يصيحون فى وجهه «يا سفاح غزة.. يا قاتل الأطفال»، ولقد صدرت عدة أوامر قضائية غربية بملاحقة قادة إسرائيل بتهمة ارتكاب جرائم حرب فى غزة ولبنان. حدث ذلك فى بلجيكا والنرويج وأسبانيا وأخيرا فى بريطانيا حيث كادت الشرطة البريطانية أن تقبض على تسيبى ليفنى وزيرة الخارجية الإسرائيلية السابقة لولا هروبها فى اللحظة الأخيرة. صحيح أن معظم هذه الملاحقات القانونية تم إلغاؤها بفعل الضغوط الصهيونية الجبارة على الحكومات الغربية.. لكنها تدل بوضوح على حالة عالمية من إدانة إسرائيل لم تكن موجودة قط من قبل.. إن النظام المصرى ببنائه لهذا الجدار لا يغامر فقط بشعبيته المصرية والعربية (التى هى فى الحضيض) لكنه يلطخ سمعته الدولية تماما.

ثالثا: كل الحجج التى يسوقها النظام لتبرير بناء الجدار لا يمكن أن تقنع طفلا صغيرا.. يقولون إن مصر حرة فى إقامة الجدار مادام داخل حدودها ويتجاهلون أن حرية أية دولة وفقا للعرف والمنطق والقانون الدولى ليست مطلقة لكنها مقيدة بحقوق الآخرين.. فلا يمكن أن تتسبب مصر فى تجويع مليون ونصف مليون إنسان يعيشون بجوارها ثم تزعم أنها حرة فيما تفعله. يقولون إن الأنفاق تستعمل فى تهريب أسلحة إرهابية إلى مصر. ونحن نقول إن الأسلحة قد يتم تهريبها عن طريق ليبيا أو السودان، فهل تعتزم الحكومة المصرية إقامة جدران فولاذية على طول حدودها مع دول الجوار جميعا؟ واذا كانت وزارة الداخلية المصرية، بأجهزتها الأمنية العملاقة، عاجزة عن حماية الحدود فماذا تفعل بمبلغ 8 مليارات جنيه مصرى تنفقها سنويا كميزانية من أموال الشعب المصرى..؟!

إن النظام يرفع الآن شعار «الأمن القومى المصرى خط أحمر..».. ونحن نؤمن بهذا الشعار ولا نختلف عليه لكن الأمن القومى، فى رأينا، يبدأ بتحديد من عدو مصر..؟ هل هى إسرائيل أم أهل غزة..؟ واذا كانت إسرائيل عدوتنا وهذه هى الحقيقة ألا يكون من مصلحة مصر القومية دعم المقاومة الفلسطينية..؟!…. ألم يفكر أحد لماذا اضطر الفلسطينيون إلى حفر الأنفاق تحت الأرض..؟ لقد كانت الوسيلة الوحيدة لإبقائهم على قيد الحياة.. هل كان الفلسطينيون يحفرون الأنفاق لو كانت مصر تفتح معبر رفح وتسمح بدخول الطعام والأدوية إليهم..؟ وعندما تنشئ مصر هذا الجدار لتقتل الفلسطينيين جوعا هل نلومهم إذا منعوا إقامته بالقوة أو سعوا لتدميره..؟ ألا يعد ذلك دفاعا شرعيا عن النفس..؟ يتحدث المسئولون كثيرا عن الضابط المصرى الشهيد الذى قتله رصاص أطلق من غزة، ونحن نأسف بشدة من أجل هذا الشهيد لكننا نذكر أنه لا يوجد دليل واحد على أنه قتل برصاص حركة حماس، ونذكر أيضا أن إسرائيل قتلت باعترافها العديد من الضباط والجنود المصريين على الحدود..فلماذا لم تغضب حكومتنا من أجل الأمن القومى آنذاك..؟ وأين كان هذا الأمن القومى عندما اعترف الإسرائيليون بقتل مئات الأسرى المصريين ودفنهم فى مقابر جماعية أثناء الحرب ولم يتخذ المسئولون فى مصر إجراءا واحدا ضد مجرمى الحرب الإسرائيليين..؟.يقول المسئولون فى مصر إنهم يغلقون معبر رفح خوفا من هجرة جماعية فلسطينية إلى مصر.. وهذه حجة سخيفة وساذجة فالذى دفع الفلسطينيين إلى اجتياح المعبر هو احتياجهم الشديد إلى الطعام.. وقد اشتروا بأموالهم ما يحتاجونه من التجار المصريين ثم عادوا من حيث أتوا.. ثم ماذا نتوقع من الفلسطينيين بعد ما أغلقنا بالجدار الفولاذى آخر فرصة للحياة أمامهم ؟!..هل يلومهم أحد اذا اندفعوا بالألوف واجتاحوا معبر رفح بالقوة هربا من الموت جوعا..؟ إن هذا الجدار، بالإضافة إلى كونه فعلا مشينا ووصمة عار على جبين الحكومة المصرية لن تزول أبدا، يشكل خطرا حقيقيا على الأمن القومى المصرى.

أخيرا.. ما الذى يدفع النظام المصرى إلى كل هذا الخضوع للسياسة الإسرائيلية..؟

هناك سببان لذلك.. أولا أن النظام يعتبر أى انتصار لحركة حماس دعما للإخوان المسلمين مما يهدد الحكم فى مصر.. وهذا خطأ كبير لأن انتصار المقاومة أكبر تدعيم لمصر وليس خطرا عليها أبدا.. كما أن الإخوان المسلمين، بحكم حجمهم وتأثيرهم، لا يشكلون تهديدا حقيقيا للنظام المصرى الذى يشيع ذلك دائما من أجل تبرير الاستبداد أما السبب الثانى فهو أن النظام المصرى قد تعلم أن تنفيذ رغبات إسرائيل هو الطريق المضمون إلى الرضا الأمريكى.. لقد حصلت إسرائيل من مصر فى سنوات قليلة على ما لم تحصل عليه منذ توقيع اتفاقية كامب دافيد.. الإفراج عن الجاسوس عزام عزام واتفاقيات لبيع الغاز والأسمنت وحصار الفلسطينيين وأخيرا هذا الجدار المشين.. من هنا نفهم الرضا الأمريكى على نظام مبارك.. منذ أيام صرحت السفيرة الأمريكية فى القاهرة مارجريت سكوبى قائلة: «أعتقد أن الديمقراطية فى مصر على ما يرام..» هذا التصريح الغريب يوضح لنا إلى أى مدى يسيطر اللوبى الصهيونى على السياسة الأمريكية.. ستظل أمريكا راضية عن نظام الاستبداد فى مصر مادامت إسرائيل راضية عنه.. هل يمكن بعد ذلك للسيدة سكوبى أن تتساءل لماذا يكره المصريون السياسة الأمريكية ويتهمونها بالنفاق وازدواجية المعايير..؟.

أخيرا.. إن جريمة بناء الجدار لتجويع الفلسطينيين ليست بمعزل عن قضية الإصلاح الديمقراطى فى مصر فقد وافق النظام على بناء الجدار لأنه يحتاج إلى الدعم الأمريكى لمشروع توريث الحكم من الرئيس مبارك إلى ولده جمال.. وهنا نرى نموذجا خطيرا لعواقب الحكم الاستبدادى.. إن مصلحة النظام فى مصر صارت بالفعل مناقضة لمصلحة الشعب المصرى.. لو كان نظام مبارك ديمقراطيا لما جرؤ أبدا على الاشتراك فى حصار الفلسطينيين وتجويعهم. إن الأنظمة الديمقراطية، وحدها، هى التى تتوحد مصالحها مع مصلحة الشعب والوطن.

..الديمقراطية هى الحل..

Arrested Development

(image source: http://mundosonhos.wordpress.com/)


You might have heard about the UK warrant to arrest the former Israeli Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni (ציפורה מלכה לבני). This is interesting, so how does it work?

1- The legal concept is based on "universal jurisdiction" which states that some alleged crimes are so grave that they can be tried anywhere, regardless of where the offences were committed.
2- Current UK law supports this.
3- If Ms Livni travels to the UK, she could face arrest.
4- This is based on Ms Livni's involvement during Israel's war on Gaza.

The reactions from around the world are very interesting:

1- The BBC basically tries to argue that the UK laws are a joke and Palestinians are trying to sabotage "respectful" Israeli politicians.
2- No mention in two of the BBC's news reports about the Palestinian point of view, as if it was the Palestinians that waged war on Israel in the first place over Gaza and not vice versa. This type of journalism is clearly one-sided. Not even a name is mentioned. However all the big names are mentioned on the other side such as Netinyahu, Miliband and Ian Lewis.
3- Where was the UK (Israel's "strategic partner") when Gazans were being bombed by Israel's superior military (ironically called the Israeli Defence Force)?
4- Israel is playing the bully as usual, as if they were forced into this war. Reminds me so much of the Nazis really. "I'm only taking orders".
5- The UK bends over backwards to please Israel.

Here are some of what the BBC had to say:

1- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8413234.stm
Israel fury at UK attempt to arrest Tzipi Livni.
Ms Livni said the court had been "abused" by the Palestinian plaintiffs who requested the warrant.
"What needs to be put on trial here is the abuse of the British legal system," she told the BBC.

(BuJ: hmmm, so in Israel people can be put on trial for winning a legal battle in another country?)

2- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8415161.stm
UK ponders law change after Tzipi Livni arrest warrant
The government is "urgently" looking into reforming the law after a UK court issued an arrest warrant for former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni. Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Israel was a "close friend" of the UK's and stressed he was keen to "avoid this sort of situation arising again". UK Foreign Office Minister Ivan Lewis: "This can never ever happen again"

(BuJ: Seriously, the UK has been caught with its trousers down. Surely, the law needs to be reformed if these kinds of charges can be brought up against a respectable world leader. However, if the ONLY person successfully tried under this law is an Israeli, then surely one has to look at what the Israeli did before pointing the finger at the law. If the warrant was against the Foreign Minister of Iceland, the world will probably assume it's a typo of some sort!)

Perhaps the law will be changed in the UK. And perhaps Israel will stop killing innocent people. Soon.

Peace,
BuJ



Final quote: "Israeli government experts on international law have advised cabinet ministers with a security background and senior IDF officers not to visit Britain, Spain, Belgium or Norway because in these countries they risk being arrested on charges of alleged war crimes through “universal jurisdiction” laws." (Source: wiki)

Surely Spain, Belgium and Norway (in addition to the naughty UK) should look into reforming their laws against abuse by "terrorists".

Closed Zone - Gaza

A fantastic short clip by Gisha - Legal Center for Freedom of Movement calls on the State of Israel to fully open Gaza's crossings and to allow the real victims of the closure - 1.5 million human beings - the freedom of movement necessary to realize their dreams and aspirations.

http://www.closedzone.com/

This is actually an Israeli body, run mainly by Jews.

Jeff Gates – Will Israel Fall in Five Years? (Article Review)

I'd like to point your attention to this excellent article by Jeff Gates, published on Sabbah.biz

http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2009/09/22/jeff-gates-will-israel-fall-in-five-years/

I recommend you read the whole thing, but here are a few glimpses:

Online reports of a study by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency cast doubt over the survival of Israel beyond the next two decades. Regardless of the validity of the report, with what is now known about the costs in blood and treasure that the U.S.-Israeli relationship has imposed on the U.S., its key ally, Israel could fall within five years.

For more than six decades, American support for Israel has relied on the ability of pro-Israelis to dominate U.S. media, enabling Tel Aviv to put a positive spin on even its most extreme behavior, including its recent massacre in Gaza. With access to online news coverage, that Zionist bias is becoming apparent and the real facts transparent.

Though Americans seldom show a strong interest in foreign affairs, that too is changing. While few of them grasp the subtleties of one-state versus two-state proposals, many have seen online the impact of a murderous Israeli assault on Palestinian civilians that was timed between Christmas and the inauguration of Barack Obama.

SEE! The one-state solution should be given a chance!

I pray for peace.