A few days old, but I just read it now.  Here’s part of an article by Amira Hass that appeared in Haaretz.com:

The Goldstone Commission’s findings are in line with what anyone who didn’t shut his or her eyes and ears to witness testimony already knows.

There is only thing worse than denial – the admission that the IDF indeed acted as has been described, but that these actions are both normal and appropriate.

By: Rami G. Khoury

BEIRUT – Is the Israeli lobby in the United States in panic mode?

The Obama administration hit the ground running when it took office in January, quickly appointing George Mitchell as a special envoy to Arab-Israeli peace-making, and making it clear that President Obama himself would devote time and energy to the goal of a comprehensive peace plan.

Not surprisingly, an American-Israeli disagreement on Israel’s settlements in occupied Arab lands materialized quickly, and may well expand into a full-blown showdown. The United States says it is making equal demands of Arabs and Israelis. But Israel and its zealot-like allies and proxies in the United States argue that Washington is putting undue pressure on Israel alone.

The unknown wild card in this is “The Lobby” — the pro-Israel lobby in the United States — a combination of American formal organizations and individual politicians who argue Israel’s case so strongly that they are often seen as putting Israeli interests ahead of their own American interests. It remains unclear how the pro-Israel lobby will kick into action to shield Israel from the increasingly vocal demands in the United States that Jewish settlements and the Zionist colonization enterprise in occupied Arab lands must stop in order to allow the peace negotiations to start.

When it used its immense firepower to stop the nomination of Chas Freeman for a senior US intelligence post a few months ago, the pro-Israel lobby showed how it can achieve its ends by a combination of public character assassination and some behind the scenes subtle blackmail of certain Congressmen and women — those who would expect to lose their position in the next election if they did not go along with the pro-Israel line. That was probably a warning signal that the pro-Israel groups remain strong, and will flex their muscles again and continue to assert their traditional control of American policy in the Middle East whenever they feel the time is right.

Then, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Washington recently, he was apparently shocked by the strong consensus in Congress supporting Obama’s demand for Israel to freeze its settlements and colonies. Congress is the key instrument and victim of the Israeli lobby, which is mostly handled by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Other pro-Israel groups in Washington, like the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, also play a role in promoting a pro-Israeli position by the US government and in the public debate.

These and other groups that comprise the pro-Israeli lobby are successful because most American public officials are too fearful to fight back — for they know from experience that they would be likely to lose their positions were they to do so. But when the American president asserts that a certain policy is in the strategic national interest of the United States, the pro-Israel lobbyists tend to lose their firepower, and find it difficult to oppose official US policy.

This may be happening now in Washington, as Obama’s team pushes ahead with its insistence on a total colonization freeze by Israel, and the traditional pro-Israeli Congressional voices are heard to be supporting the president. It is difficult for pro-Israeli forces to oppose a very popular president who defines his Middle East policy in terms of promoting a fair peace between Arabs and Israelis because this is good for both parties and is also in the national interest of the United States.

An interesting new case suggests that some pro-Israeli maniacs in Washington are losing their cool — this comes in the form of their opposition to Barack Obama bestowing the Presidential Medal of Honor on Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland and a widely respected international human rights advocate. Some Jewish groups and members of Congress feel that Robinson has shown a persistent anti-Israel bias in her work as a human rights advocate. US Representatives Eliot Engel and Shelley Berkley, among others, feel that during her days as UN human rights commissioner she was one-sided in her criticism of Israel and allowed the global debate on human rights to include anti-Israeli sentiments (such as at an anti-racism conference in Durban, South Africa, in 2001, which included widespread criticism of Israel by national delegations, causing the American and Israeli delegations to walk out).

The Anti-Defamation League and AIPAC have also criticized the award to Robinson. She told an Israeli newspaper this week that she was “surprised and dismayed” by the protests, which she called “old, recycled, untrue stuff.”

She is universally admired for her commitment to universal human rights, and her criticisms of Israelis and Arabs alike reflect her sense of an obligation to speak out whenever fundamental norms of law and decency are broken by states or non-state groups. For key elements in the pro-Israel lobby in the United States to attack such an internationally respected individual as Mary Robinson is a pretty strong sign of panic.

Source:  Agence Global – Article

Rami George Khoury is director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs (IFI) at the American University of Beirut. His journalistic work includes writing books and an internationally syndicated column by progressive commentary agency called Agence Global. Rami also serves as editor at large of the Beirut-based Daily Star newspaper, published throughout the Middle East with the International Herald Tribune. In recent years he hosted “Encounter”, a weekly current affairs talk show on Jordan Television, and “Jordan Ancient Cultures”, a weekly archaeology program on Radio Jordan.He also wrote for many years from Amman, Jordan for leading international publications, including the Financial Times, the Boston Globe and the Washington Post. For 18 years he was general manager of Al Kutba, Publishers, in Amman.. He often comments on Mideast issues in the international media, and lectures frequently at conferences and universities throughout the world.
Mr. Khouri was the 2004 winner of the Eliav-Sartawi Awards for Middle East Journalism in the Arab Press category In November 2006, he was the co-recipient of the Pax Christi International Peace Award for his efforts to bring peace and reconciliation to the Middle East.

Some 50, 800 people are Homeless – UN source

400,000 without running water – UN source

“Israel says it will allow 143 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid into Gaza plus 60,000 litres of fuel. ” (BBC source)

More than 4000 buildings destroyed (BBC)

More than 20,000 buildings severyly damadged (BBC)

50,000 sheltering in schools (UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa))

23 days of fighting

More than 1,300 palestinians killed

13 Israeli’s killed

“According to the Gaza-based Palestinian center for human rights, only 95 resistance fighters were among the casualties of the 23-day war. ” (press TV http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=82951&sectionid=351020202)

Just goes to show how the extent of killed civilians and the amount that are injured. But because of lacking medical supplies, injured people may be doomed to die because of injuries, and nothing to treat them with.

We need to act in order to educate because without general awareness of the current conflict people will take whatever crap mainstream media churns out.

 But one of the biggest reasons is that because we are not acting, we are being left behind and overshadowed by those ho are acting, but are on the opposite side. The Israeli’s have a “Jewish internet defence team”, which has hacked into some pro-Palestinian Facebook accounts and taken charge and closed down the groups. Now we Muslims don’t have a internet defence team do we? You just have to go onto their website to see the extent their going

to in order to allow Zionist media to flood the internet whilst they protest and close down websites etc that talk truth. They are even campaigning to Google to take of the markings of destroyed Palestinian settlements that can be seen on Google earth. This is the extent they are going to in order to cover the truth! But we have truth and what lengths are we going to educate ourselves then to educate others? We’re not going very far.

The reason i am writing this is that straight after the aftermath of this 23 day extermination of Gaza’s population, Israel is recruiting bloggers to represent Zionist propaganda and the Zionist viewpoint and promote it on the web!

“We turned to this enormous reservoir of more than a million people with a second mother tongue” to contribute to this campaign”  Israel’s Immigrant Absorption ministry’s director general, Erez Halfon said. I.E. more than a million immigrated Israelis that can speak and write various languages are going to help Israel spread Israeli/Zionist propaganda on the web using blogs and what are we going to do? Carry on with our daily lives and do nothing. This should be a wake-up call that says everybody can contribute weather it be financially of by using blogs to educate. If Zionists can go to these lengths to propagate lies, then we should be going even further to propagate truth.

source:(press TV)

This video clip of a american news channel report shows the immense pro-israeli attitude the media protrays thereby indoctrinating and conditioning the masses to accept the israeli occupation. Notice the amount of coverage it gives to the pro-israeli demonstration and the amount of time it devotes to telling about the huge anti-israel demonstrations, then going onto saying that there have been huge anti-semetic incidents basically dismissing the huge impact demonstrations is having on the world and giving the whole pro-palestinian people a shoadow of basically bad influence that muslims are having. Notice how the pro-palestinian protest clip only shows muslims, basically making them out to be the bad ones, showing them in a bad light and notice how the reporter says israel is “rooting out” terrorists from gaza when in fact it is enduling in large scale murder. Also noticehow it makes Hamas out to be terrorists when in reality they are a democratically elected party that had a majority vote.

This video just shows how stupidly indoctrinated the US population is and how they blindly support israel because they believe the lies that the US media feeds them. This is why we need to educate.

It is well past the time for the American people to treat all the people of ancient Palestine, both Israeli and Palestinian alike, with fairness and equity.

Educate Yourself!

Barack Obama, Israel Must Remain a Jewish State:
“The right of return is something that is not an option in a literal sense.”

“The outlines of any agreement would involve ensuring that Israel remains a Jewish state.”

- The Jerusalem Post, January, 29, 2008

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1201523779464&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

To find me you must stop the noise
Silence the guns, tanks
The shouts of defiance
Screaming, violence
And listen

My voice is very soft
You must try to hear it
You will have to come close
Pick away the the tumbled stones
Carefully, gently

When you find me, lift me up
Help me to breathe
Set my broken limbs
But do not think it is enough
To give me back a fragile existence

I need food, water
I need a home that will last
Health, hope, justice
I need Love

You must embrace me
Take me into your heart…
- My name is Peace -

No, the headline doesn’t refer to the Harry Anderson Sitcom of the 80’s (as seen recently on 30 Rock). It has to do with punkeys! They’re disrupting the judicial system!! From the Times of India:

The threat of marauding monkeys in Delhi has forced the authorities to avoid holding evening courts at Tis Hazari (Occupied Territory).

According to court officials, the authorities had selected Tis Hazari court as one of the sites for holding evening courts in the capital.

“The proposal was turned down as several cases of monkey menace have been reported from the premises and the animals might create problems in working of the evening courts,” said an official.

After final discussions, the Patiala House court and Karkardooma court were finally selected for holding evening courts, the official said.

“The monkey menace is not new in the Tis Hazari court premises and several orders have been issued to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to check it,” he added.

Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan Wednesday inaugurated the evening courts. These courts will function for two hours from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. daily and initially take up cases of dishonored checks of up to Rs.25,000 where the complainant is a financial institution.

Evening courts were first mooted in the 125th report of the Law Commission and again recommended during the Conference of Chief Justices held in April 2007 as one of the means to deal with pending cases.

They are trying to take down society in small increments. It looks like nothing now…but chaos is coming. Without justice, we are no better than they are. And they know it!

A letter to the president-elect
By BARRY RUBIN

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1225910076169&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

<SNIP>

TRANSLATION:
I am a Zionist-Jew named Barry, and I want you to worry about Zionist-Jew things – dear to Zionist-Jew hearts, over good unbiased common sense regarding foreign policy with Israel and the Middle East.

I want you too watch out for Zionist-Jew interests over all others, because we are Zionist-Jews and we like to whine about such things until we get what we want.

Hail Israel, Hail Zion, Hail Mammon, Hail our real deity Satan – whose spawns we all are – Hail Beelzebub, Hail Baal and Hail the Golden Calf, because it’s gold and land that we all really worship anyway.

Signed… Barry Rubin

Not satisfied with just stealing and sabotage, the punkeys in Mumbai (Occupied Territory) have started a psychological campaign against us too. From the Times of India:

Two monkeys who have made the Bandra skywalk their home have been causing havoc and indulging in inappropriate behaviour. Not only have they nipped at pedestrians and snatched their bags, they have even been seen mating on the skywalk.

There is nothing more psychologically damaging than seeing monkeys mate!

In the last month, at least 30 people have been bitten, one of them a security guard, J R Dubey, who has been posted there by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority. The MMRDA has constructed the zigzagging yellow 1.3 km walkway, which became operational two months ago.

Not a single security official can explain where the simians have leapt from. One of them has a iron ring around its neck. Dubey said, “I have seen at least five people being attacked. I’ve been bitten twice. It’s terrifying to work here. In the night, the monkeys sleep behind the hoardings on the Western Express highway, and at other times, when they tired of the skywalk, they hide in the rain trees near Bandra station.”

Poonam Shah, 22, said she and her friends were happily strolling down the skywalk when a monkey bit her and snatched a cellphone from her friend’s hand. “I had to take five injections to avoid rabies. It’s really scary to walk here, but I do not have any other option,” she said.

While this correspondent was trying to get a picture of the monkeys, one of them obliged by snatching at the bag of an elderly woman, only to drop it after discovering that it contained fish.

Okay, you can’t blame them for dropping the bag if it’s full of fish. At least they have some taste.

TOI phoned MMRDA bosses Ratnakar Gaikwad, Milind Mhaiskar and Ashwini Bhide and told them about the untoward activity on their otherwise pedestrian-friendly bridge. Spokesperson Dilip Kawathkar said he would ask the security officers to do the needful. Range forest officer Rajendra Magdum, whose job profile includes tackling stray monkeys, said, “I will deploy two men on Saturday to trap them.”

MMRDA guards plan to light firecrackers to scare the duo away, but this will not be a permanent solution. Environmentalist Debi Goenka said the MMRDA should ask the forest department to help capture and translocate them in a forest outside Mumbai. Sanctuary Magazine editor Bittu Sehgal said, “They should be captured. In all probability, they are hungry and must have escaped from a madariwalla.”

It was past eight and the night was fully upon us as we unknowingly passed our exit to Birzeit. I think The Doors were playing through the speakers of the little Chevy and it sucked all three of us into a trance after two days spent traversing boar country north of Qalqillia. I drove on mental auto-pilot. As the empty road carved its pristine route down into a right hand curve and past a new military watch-tower, David was the first to notice that none of this seemed familiar.

Away in the pitch black, beyond the obscuring glare of motorway lights, we could see the cabins of a new settler outpost and a small factory further off. A road sign to Ramallah directed us into the area, turning hard right down a narrow road that would eventually lead to a larger settlement and a lesser-used route to Jerusalem.

Despite so many signs of habitation, we saw no one. Having passed well beyond our destination, we had also lost any clear sense of our location in relation to landmarks like Aatara check-point, Ramallah and Beit El settlement. The darkness was oppressive and the area felt abandoned.

We slowed to a creep and decided that the chances of this road actually leading us to Ramallah were slim to none. If road signs are accurate they are never consistent; ceasing suddenly to leave you guessing the way. We’d already given up on them, having realised they often only apply to cars with yellow Israeli plates, a possibility kept hidden until a barrier or checkpoint appears, miles down the road from the original sign.

This time we only got a few hundred yards before having to stop. Turning left, metal fencing enclosing us on both sides and nothing but silhouetted shapes of buildings ahead, we were faced with a mysterious clash of warning signs and instructions. Still no one appeared, not even a solider from the half lit watch-tower further along. We decided it was almost certainly un-manned.

The road was split – as is customary at ‘flying checkpoints’ (those that spring into action without warning but are otherwise unattended) – into three lanes by fat, concrete dividers. A blue sign explained that the left lane was for diplomats, NGO workers, consular staff and VIPs. The middle lane was for internationals and taxis, while the right lane was reserved for “green ID holders” (Palestinian West Bank citizens) and “Those on The List”. This last category was mystifying and seemed laden with Hitchcockian connotations of doom.

An inordinate number of other signs added their menace with demands to ‘Stop!’ and ‘Go Dead Slow!’ or ‘Approach When Signaled!’ None of this would have confused us so, were it not for the total absence of life. Signs like these go together with soldiers carrying guns and queues of Palestinian vehicles. Without a human presence the instructions lose their purpose, their rationale and thus, ones ability to act accordingly. Furthermore, the checkpoint was completely open. A more hardened driver would probably have driven on.

Craning about from our seats we spotted two signs offering more relevant information. The first stated checkpoint opening times – from 8am to 8pm, although it was written in a scrawl and there seemed to be contradictory information directly below. Nothing however, suggested it should open now. And yet, the way was technically available for us to pass. Closed apparently didn’t mean closed.

The second announcement served to both confuse and provide a little comfort. A large red placard, partially obscured but familiar from other urban entry-points, warned Israeli citizens to stop and turn back, for beyond here lay Palestinian territory*. Suddenly it felt like home lay beyond that invisible barrier, past twenty feet of limbo. Through there, faces would be friendlier and unsuspicious. On the Israeli artery roads that connect illegal West Bank settlements with greater Israel, the sense pervades that your presence is being merely tolerated. Speed limits for instance, are kept dangerously low to ensure that the police always have an excuse to pull you over, regardless of their genuine motives.

In the end it wasn’t any of the signs, but knowing through experience that these checkpoints, the military and the system it protects, work in unpredictable and volatile ways. We may have continued without disturbing a thing, if there was indeed anything to disturb. Or, and it truly is not an exaggeration, we might have been fired on. With Palestinian plates and having technically passed illegally and in darkness through a military check-point, any aggressor would have been justified many times over.

At the last second I realized I’d been sitting with the lights off. When a check-point is a check-point, the soldiers insist they are off so the glare doesn’t blind them as you approach. But in this instance it suddenly seemed the most suspicious thing I could have done. I made the final decision with my feet and hands, instantly putting the car in reverse and backing away to turn. The very action of moving felt like a provocation, perhaps more alarming to anyone watching us than seeing us continue on, if indeed the area beyond was Palestinian.

Perhaps stupidly, the act of turning around weighed heavy like defeat. This land, ancient and historically vital, was arbitrarily being reconfigured like a ‘snakes and ladders’ board before our eyes. At that point we felt manipulated; struck dumb by the sheer irrationality, and we saw in that moment how none of this protects anyone, or is really even meant to.

* The sign itself posits an interesting dilemma, legally and politically speaking, seeing as the 1967 Green Line border defining the limit of Palestinian territory already lay kilometers behind us. If we weren’t already in a Palestinian area, then where were we?

When will humankind wake up and smell the monkey poop? It’s obvious that the monkey menace is testing us and with each incident, their information base grows. But as the people in Ahmedabad (Occupied Territory) believe, it’s just some cute, fuzzy monkey scared and stranded. From the Times of India:

It was a strange moment for Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Services (AFES) officials when they got a call from Bapunagar stating that a monkey has made its way on the top of a cell phone tower. Officials rescued the monkey after an operation of half-an-hour on Saturday. According to officials, the incident took place at Yogeshwar Park Society where a private mobile service providers tower is located. According to some eye witnesses, a group of monkeys came to the place, out of which one climbed the ladder and reached on the top of the tower.

“The monkey was so scared by the group gathered near him that he could not come down on his own. We extended a ladder to him, but it hesitated. After some time he used the ladder to come down and ran in the opposite direction,” a fire brigade official said.

Officials used 20-ft ladder used for rescue operations in the times of calamities and fire incidents.

This monkey wasn’t scared to come down; he was scared to get caught! Like any terrorist organization, the group convinces some poor soul to commit the act against their target. That way only one person is caught and the rest can flee into the woods to plot again!