Stay true to the dreams of thy youth

Series of videos portraying continued Israeli expropriation of Palestinian land in the West Bank. Incredibly well done films.

• KSA to stop wheat cultivation by 2016

  In a move to discourage the cultivation of water-intensive wheat crops, Saudi government will altogether stop buying wheat from local farmers by 2016, said Dr. Fahd Bin Abdulrahman Balghunaim, Minister of Agriculture.

• Qatar aims to invest billions of dollars in farm city - Industries - ArabianBusiness.com

  Qatar aims to invest billions of dollars in an agricultural city to house food growers and processers, in an effort to increase its food supply security and combat rising food prices, a government official said.

• Israel, Obama, and Abbas’s U.N. Challenge Over Palestinian Statehood - The Daily Beast

  U.S. policy in the Middle East has long boiled down to a squalid bargain: support for Arab dictators as long as they abstained from challenging the Israeli-Palestinian impasse. Now the Arab Spring offers America the chance—fragile, uncertain, but potentially the best opportunity in more than a generation—to break out of paralysis: to side with the future rather than the past. In Egypt, in Libya, in U.S. Ambassador Robert Ford’s courageous stand against the vicious crackdown in Damascus in Syria, America has shown a commitment to the future. But the Arab world sees Palestine as the test: the U.S. vote in the Security Council will be taken as proof of where America really stands. As the 2012 election approaches, domestic politics may prevent Obama from supporting Abbas’s resolution in the Security Council, but even a carefully explained abstention would send a powerful message. America’s Founding Fathers did not regard their independence as negotiable. How can President Obama demand that the Palestinians accept any less?

• Israel fears settlers in West Bank are using terror tactics - Middle East, World - The Independent

  ** Nothing new here, they've been doing this for years ** Shin Bet, Israel's domestic intelligence agency, says that Jewish extremists are forming new "terrorist" groups that are deliberately targeting Palestinians and Israeli peace activists, intelligence sources were quoted as saying yesterday. Israeli officials have watched with alarm a sudden spike in attacks by Jewish zealots, particularly West Bank settlers, on Palestinian and Israeli property and personnel following the Israeli army's demolition of several homes in Migron, an illegal Jewish outpost in the occupied West Bank, 10 days ago.

• Abu Dhabi fund improves rate of return - FT.com

  The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, last year sharply improved its annualised rate of return measured over a 20-year period. Adia said in its an annual review published on Tuesday that annualised rates of return increased to 7.6 per cent on the back of global economic growth, compared with 6.5 per cent in 2009, the first year the fund reported 20-year annualised rates of return.

• US poverty rate: Census report shows 15 percent below poverty line

  It’s official: The poor are getting poorer. A record 46 million Americans were living below the poverty line in 2010, according to a report released Tuesday by the US Census Bureau. That means a household income of $22,113 for a family of four. The national poverty rate of 15.1 percent was the highest it’s been since 1993.

• The Years of Shame - NYTimes.com

  ** Nice work Krugman, saying what needs to be said, as usual ** What happened after 9/11 — and I think even people on the right know this, whether they admit it or not — was deeply shameful. The atrocity should have been a unifying event, but instead it became a wedge issue. Fake heroes like Bernie Kerik, Rudy Giuliani, and, yes, George W. Bush raced to cash in on the horror. And then the attack was used to justify an unrelated war the neocons wanted to fight, for all the wrong reasons.

• Veto a State, Lose an Ally - NYTimes.com

  ** Turki Al-Faisal's op-eds are getting better and better ** The United States must support the Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations this month or risk losing the little credibility it has in the Arab world. If it does not, American influence will decline further, Israeli security will be undermined and Iran will be empowered, increasing the chances of another war in the region. Moreover, Saudi Arabia would no longer be able to cooperate with America in the same way it historically has.

• Was Marx Right? - Umair Haque - Harvard Business Review

  In case you've been on Mars (or even just on vacation), here's a surprising idea that's been making the rounds lately: there might have been something to Marx's critiques of capitalism after all.

• Saudi Arabia plans to build 4,000 new schools - Education - ArabianBusiness.com

  Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Education will spend SR32bn ($8.5bn) on constructing 4,000 new schools in the kingdom as part of its plan to overhaul the Gulf state’s education system, it was reported on Sunday. A total of 600 new schools have been built and 1,200 have been renovated so far this year, a Ministry of Education spokesperson told Saudi daily Arab News.

• Qatar's Al Jazeera says Egypt offices raided, staff held - Media - ArabianBusiness.com

  Security officers raided the offices of an Al Jazeera channel in Egypt and detained some of its staff, the Qatar-based broadcaster said on Sunday, describing the move as an attempt to drive the channel off the air. State news agency MENA said it had shut down a company that provided facilities to the channel Al Jazeera Mubasher (Live), which broadcasts live international events. MENA said the Al Jazeera unit did not have a proper licence.

• AUC students and workers launch strike against soaring fees and wage cuts | Al-Masry Al-Youm: Today's News from Egypt

  About two thousand students and workers at the American University in Cairo (AUC) began an open-ended strike Sunday in protest at the recent hike in tuition fees and continuing low salaries, amid silence from the university's administration. Protesting students stormed classrooms at the new AUC campus in New Cairo, urging all students to unite and ask for their rights, chanting, "Get out," and, "Why are you silent? Aren't you a student like us?" They then marched around the campus and stood in front of the administration building that houses the office of AUC President Lisa Anderson, chanting: "Lisa, where did our parents' money go?"

• The 9/11 Decade - Bill Keller’s Unfinished Business - NYTimes.com

  ** Nice to see some repentance by the Iraq War advocates ** Ten years after the attacks, we memorialize the loss and we mark the heroism, but there is no organized remembrance of the other feelings that day aroused: the bewilderment, the vulnerability, the impotence. It may be difficult to recall with our attention now turned inward upon a faltering economy, but the suddenly apparent menace of the world awakened a bellicose surge of mission and made hawks of many — including me — who had a lifelong wariness of the warrior reflex.

• Israel West Bank Annexations Considered

  Israel is considering annexing major West Bank settlement blocs if the Palestinians unilaterally seek world recognition of a state, an Israeli official said Tuesday – moves that would deal a grave blow to prospects for negotiating a peace deal between the two sides. Israel has refrained from taking such a diplomatically explosive step for four decades. The fact that it is considering doing so reflects how seriously it is concerned by the Palestinian campaign to win international recognition of a state in the absence of peacemaking.

• Saudi Arabia pledges to stamp out corruption - Politics & Economics - ArabianBusiness.com

  A senior Saudi Arabia minister on Monday said the kingdom would leave no stone unturned in its fight against corruption. Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz, Saudi's second deputy prime minister and minister of interior, made the pledge as he met with the man put in charge of a new anti-corruption unit.

• Abu Dhabi to pursue nuclear power, undeterred by Japan - Energy - ArabianBusiness.com

  Abu Dhabi will build a nuclear power plant even after an earthquake and tsunami in Japan damaged generators there and released radioactive material, the head of the Gulf emirate’s utility said today. “It’s a technology we should bring to the region,” Abdullah Saif al-Nuaimi, director general of Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority said. Newer technology than that used in Japan’s damaged plants would make Abu Dhabi’s reactors safer, he said.

• Kuwaiti student harnesses solar power in sprinkler system

  A Kuwaiti high school student has managed to harness solar power and use it to run an irrigation system using sprinklers. The application aimed at reducing power consumption of irrigation systems and at best managing water resources, Saleh Mahdi Bu Salha told Kuwait News Agency (Kuna) on Monday. The innovation stores solar power into batteries which in turn run a sprinkler irrigation system's units strategically placed across a farm or field, he said.

• Pressure mounts on Kuwaiti govt to resign

  Political developments in Kuwait took a new turn yesterday with two Shiite MPs vowing to submit two grillings against the foreign and information ministers amid mounting pressure on the government to resign. MP Faisal Al-Duwaisan said he will file to grill Information Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah today while his fellow Shiite MP Saleh Ashour said he will file to grill Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Sabah "within the next 48 hours".

• Syria lifting emergency law, official says - CNN.com

  Syria's emergency law, which has been in place nearly 50 years, is in the process of being lifted, a source close to the Syrian government said Sunday. The decision comes as the country grapples with deadly violence surrounding anti-government protests. Earlier, Reem Haddad, spokeswoman for the Syrian Information Ministry, told CNN that "it will be lifted." However, she could not say when.

• BBC News - Honduras drops arrest warrants for ousted Manuel Zelaya

  A Supreme Court judge in Honduras has dismissed three arrest warrants for former President Manuel Zelaya. The move allows Mr Zelaya to return without detention to Honduras, where he was ousted in a coup in June 2009. Judge Oscar Chincilla said Mr Zelaya still faced corruption charges over his plan while president to hold a vote on changing the constitution. Mr Zelaya has said the charges are politically motivated and he wanted them dropped.

• Did 'The Israel Lobby' Change Anything? - By Stephen M. Walt | Foreign Policy

  Five years ago this week, John Mearsheimer and I published The Israel Lobby in the London Review of Books. Our goal in writing the article (and subsequent book) was to break the taboo on discussions of the lobby's impact on U.S. foreign policy and to transform it into a topic that people could talk about openly and calmly. Because we believed the "special relationship" that the lobby had promoted was harmful to the United States and Israel (not to mention the Palestinians), we hoped that a more open discourse on this topic would move U.S. Middle East policy in a direction that would be better for almost everyone.

• Egypt tightens security for 'targeted' Al Baradei

  Cairo: Egyptian authorities have assigned a security guard for pro-reform campaigner Mohammad Al Baradei following reports that he faces the threat of assassination over his role in a popular revolt that toppled long-standing president Hosni Mubarak, an independent newspaper said on Monday.

• UAE cancels plans for Dubai, Abu Dhabi passenger rail link | Transport and Logistics | AMEinfo.com

  Richard Bowker, chief executive of Etihad Rail, has said that plans for a dedicated passenger link between Abu Dhabi and Dubai have been cancelled, The National has reported. "We may come back to it," Bowker said. Right now "it's all about priorities, it's all about focus." The company, formerly called Union Railway, said it is set to award the first construction contract for a freight line in the UAE's Western Region in the next two months.

• Shiite protesters rally in two Saudi villages

  Riyadh: Shiite protesters have staged rallies in two villages near Qatif in the oil-rich eastern province of Saudi Arabia, renewing demands for the release of prisoners and the withdrawal of Saudi forces in Bahrain in spite of requests from senior clerics to halt protests. About 400 people marched in Al Rabiya after Friday prayers, while 600 took to the streets of Al Awwamiya after mid-afternoon prayers carrying Saudi and Bahraini flags, residents said. The marches lasted for about one hour and the protesters demanded the release of nine prisoners held without trial since 1996 for their alleged role in the bombing of a US army complex in Al Khobar, an end to discrimination against the minority and the withdrawal of Saudi troops from Bahrain, said Fouad Ali, a resident of Al Awwamiya.

By AMY TEIBEL
The Associated Press
Wednesday, March 2, 2011; 5:54 AM

JERUSALEM -- Jerusalem officials approved new housing for Jews in the heart of an Arab neighborhood, officials said Wednesday, infuriating Palestinians who see the growing Jewish presence in the city's war-won eastern sector as undermining their aspirations to statehood.

The approval further complicates efforts to restart deadlocked negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

The municipality said the plan to build 14 apartments in the Ras al-Amud neighborhood met all the necessary conditions for approval.

Palestinians deplore any expansion of the Jewish presence in east Jerusalem because they hope to establish their future capital there.

The construction in Ras al-Amud will be another link in the chain of Jewish settlements around east Jerusalem's Old City, said Ziad Hamouri, head of the Palestinian Jerusalem Center for Socio-Economic Rights. He predicted it would create a new point of friction between settlers and longtime Arab residents of east Jerusalem.

"For the residents of Ras al-Amud, this will be very bad," Hamouri said. "They (the Jewish settlers) will expand. They attack residents, trying to create anger and anexiety and to push people to leave."

The fate of east Jerusalem, whose Old City is home to shrines sacred to Islam, Judaism and Christianity, is the most emotionally charged issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Palestinians, like the rest of the international community, do not recognize Israel's annexation of east Jerusalem after capturing it from Jordan in 1967.

Israel maintains the annexation gives it the right to build in east Jerusalem without restriction.

The new housing is to be erected at the site of a former Israeli police station just outside the Old City. The station was vacated several years ago after the headquarters relocated to another disputed site, just outside Jerusalem in the West Bank.

The hypocrisy of western liberals is breathtaking: they publicly supported democracy, and now, when the people revolt against the tyrants on behalf of secular freedom and justice, not on behalf of religion, they are all deeply concerned. Why concern, why not joy that freedom is given a chance? Today, more than ever, Mao Zedong's old motto is pertinent: "There is great chaos under heaven – the situation is excellent."

Where, then, should Mubarak go? Here, the answer is also clear: to the Hague. If there is a leader who deserves to sit there, it is him.

From "Why fear the Arab revolutionary spirit?"

We need a lot more Gideon Levy's in the United States and a lot fewer AIPAC wackos and their cohorts.

Israel is proud to present: The aggressor-victim
Israelis have always loved victimization, not only when we were real victims, as often was the case in our history, but also when we were the aggressors, occupiers and abusers.

By Gideon Levy

Once upon a time the staple piece of clothing was the blue shirt of the Labor Movement, and songwriter Mordechai Zeira sang about it: "And it's much better than all jewels." A new generation has arrived, and its shirt is darker. Today it's black and bears the legend: We are all the victims of Goldstone.

Dozens of friends of the two Givati Brigade soldiers arrived wearing these infuriating shirts at a military court a few days ago. Their friends had been convicted of overextending their authority while risking the life of an 11-year-old, and to be precise, of conduct unbecoming of soldiers. The soldiers received the scandalous support of senior officers, and the two convicted men have become heroes.

Israel is proud to present: The aggressor-vicitim. History has known crueler and even longer occupations than the Israeli one, and there have been much worse attacks on civilian populations than Operation Cast Lead. But there has never been an occupier who presented himself like that, as a victim.

From the days of Golda Meir, who said we will never forgive the Arabs for forcing us to hurt their children, to the combatants who shot and wept, we have set, courtesy of the Givati troops, a new record of Israeli chutzpah: We are all the victims of Goldstone.

The victimhood, it turns out, belongs not to an 11-year-old child whose life was put at risk and who has been suffering from insomnia ever since, but the soldiers who ordered him to check for explosives, in clear contradiction of a ruling by the Supreme Court.

Not the Samouni family, 21 of whose members were butchered when the same Givati Brigade, under the same commander, bombed the house into which the soldiers ordered the family, but the brigade commander, Ilan Malka, whose conduct is now being investigated, shamefully late. And certainly not the residents of Gaza, who experienced Cast Lead with its hardships, horrors, destruction and war crimes, but the soldiers, who share responsibility with the commanders and politicians.

We've always loved victimization, not only when we were real victims, as often was the case in our history, but also when we were the aggressors, occupiers and abusers. And we don't only cast ourselves as victims, but as the only victims. But observe our perception of our wrongdoing. It started with denial, then changed to suppression, then to shamelessness, then to dehumanization and demonization, until we arrived at the current stage: A pride parade.

The soldiers taking pictures of themselves dancing with prisoners and posing with corpses are proud of what they do. They upload the footage onto the Web, for all to see, and friends of the two Givati troops are equally proud of what their mates have done. They're proud of the conduct of people who broke the law. Their solidarity may be understandable, but it's much more difficult to understand the support of their brigade commander, Col. Moni Katz, and Maj. Gen. (res. ) Uzi Dayan.

What are they saying - that the soldiers acted correctly? That they should not be punished? That they are victims? In that case, we have little to claim from the soldiers, who were only acting according to the spirit emanating from their superiors. But most difficult to understand is the widespread public support for the two. Just like the Nahariya policeman convicted of placing bombs to injure suspected mobsters, they are local heroes and national victims to many.

Do we really want to be proud of the soldiers ordering children to risk their lives, in violation of the law? Is this how we want the army to behave? Will Israeli public opinion never accept that war has rules and that if Israeli soldiers break them, they must be punished? True, they may have been carrying out orders, they may have been jaded and exhausted after three weeks of the assault on Gaza, as the court has heard. But casting them as victims testifies to the chaos overtaking Israel.

So we should go back to basics. The victims of Cast Lead are the 1.5 million residents of Gaza. The "victims" of the Goldstone report are not the two convicts, but their own victims. The shirts worn by their friends in court are proof that these basic truths have been blurred and distorted beyond recognition.

Would you accept the label ‘anti-Zionist’ to characterise your views?

It depends what is ‘Zionism’. Because Zionism is a very fluid concept – who can define what is Zionism? If Zionism means the right of the Jews to have a state, I am a Zionist. If Zionism means occupation, I’m an anti-Zionist. So I never know how to answer this question. If Zionism means to have a Jewish state at the expense of being a democratic state, then I am anti-Zionist, because I truly believe those two definitions are contradictory – ‘Jewish’ and ‘democratic’. For me, Israel should be a democratic state.

A great interview with Gideon Levy of Haaretz. Well worth the read.

No Chance of Peace
September 1, 2010

Rashid Khalidi is the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University. He is the author of "Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness."

If the Obama administration accepts the myth that dismantling settlements is impossible for Israel, there are no prospects for peace. The settlements are illegal under international law. Yet settlers have been pampered for more than 40 years, and their violence against Palestinians is consistently tolerated. Peace depends on the Israeli government rectifying the problem they and their predecessors created.

So long as Netanyahu fails to break with settler leaders and the U.S. vacillates on this issue, a just peace is far away..The settler enterprise is a deliberate strategic creation of Israel, beginning with the occupation in 1967. This enterprise has been indulged and enlarged by every Israeli government since then.

From the outset, this was a project to colonize and control Palestinian land. It still is. As Ariel Sharon said in 1998: "Everybody has to move; run and grab as many hilltops as they can to enlarge the settlements, because everything we take now will stay ours. Everything we don't grab will go to them.”

Today, there are nearly 500,000 settlers living illegally in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The U.S. has only occasionally and timidly objected. This irresoluteness, coupled with millions in tax-exempt funding, amounts to complicity in the 40-fold expansion of settlements since 1972.

The U.S. and Israel demand that the Palestinians engage in everything short of civil war (including torture and repression) to protect Israel's security, and yet American leaders fail to demand that Israel confront its own Frankenstein. While a minority of settlers may resist a peace deal requiring their departure, many are there because of generous government subsidies. These settlers would leave if provided with suitable incentives. The U.S. could withhold some of the $3 billion given to Israel as military aid annually and divert it toward housing settlers within Israel's own borders.

But so long as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fails to break with settler leaders, including his own foreign minister, and the U.S. vacillates on this issue, a just peace is far away.

• Henry Siegman: Is Israel's Legitimacy Under Challenge?

  "There is therefore something bizarre in Israel's insistence that condemnations of its violations of international law are not intended to challenge the illegality of its settlements and continuing occupation but the legitimacy of its very existence. If Israel keeps it up, that insistence may well turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Perhaps Israel's right wing government believes that by accusing the international community of seeking to undermine its existence it will distract attention from an increasingly untenable claim that Israel is a model democracy that also enshrines Jewish values. Both claims have been undermined by its settlements policy and its determination to maintain the status quo, bringing into question the very foundation of America's "special relationship" with Israel."

• Work on 3rd Metro line causes sinkhole in Attaba | Al-Masry Al-Youm: Today's News from Egypt

  "A new digging machine--dubbed the "Nefertari"--has caused a 5-centimeter deep, 2.25-meter long sinkhole on al-Geish Street in the downtown Cairo district of Attaba. The machine had been in the process of digging a tunnel for Cairo's third subway line."

• Chris Christie warns GOP on mosque - Maggie Haberman - POLITICO.com

  **Finally, one (relatively) sane Republican** "New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a new national icon for the Republican Party thanks in part to his push for pension reforms, on Monday became the most prominent GOP figure to warn against "overreacting" to the threat of terror and painting "all of Islam" with the brush of terrorism amid the swirling controversy about the ground zero-area mosque. "

• Palin: Obama 'doesn't get' mosque - Andy Barr - POLITICO.com

  **No, Palin doesn't get it. She's a bigot** "“It sounds cliched to say that the president is disconnected from the American people on this issue, but how else do you describe it,” the former Alaska GOP governor said on Fox News. “He just doesn't get it, that this is an insensitive move on the part of those Muslims who want to build that mosque in this location. It feels like a stab in the heart to, collectively, Americans who still have that lingering pain from 9/11.” "

So according to the NYT, Haagen-Dazs donates to "charities" that help fund settlements and illegal outposts (the same thing in my mind) in the West Bank. Time to switch to Ben and Jerry's...

The donors to settlement charities represent a broad mix of Americans — from wealthy people like the hospital magnate Dr. Irving I. Moskowitz and the family behind Haagen-Dazs ice cream to bidders at kosher pizza auctions in Brooklyn and evangelicals at a recent Bible meeting in a Long Island basement. But they are unified in their belief that returning the West Bank — site of the ancient Jewish kingdoms — to full Jewish control is critical to Israeli security and fulfillment of biblical prophecies.

Below is an interesting piece from the Sabbah Report directly disproving the propaganda points put forth by the Israeli military following the attack on the Gaza flotilla. The article clearly shows that most if not all of the photos, videos and alleged "evidence" of the activists' violent intent, were falsified.

Judge for yourself, but if nothing else, you should at least begin questioning the validity of the propaganda spit out by the Israeli government.

Flouting international demands for an independent investigation of its deadly attack on a humanitarian aid flotilla in international waters, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has formed an internal commission composed of three Israelis and two, non-voting international observers. The commission chair, retired Israeli Supreme Court justice Jacob Turkel, expressed his hope that the panel would finish its work as "quickly" as possible. And Netanyahu has promised that the "Gaza flotilla probe will show the world Israel acted lawfully." Both comments leave many observers wondering how seriously the findings of a quick, internal investigation with a seemingly pre-determined outcome can be taken. Skepticism is heightened by the way in which Israel handled evidence of the incident and by what many see as its misinformation campaign designed to discredit the flotilla's humanitarian aid workers.

How did Israel handle evidence of its deadly raid in international waters?

According to Australian journalist and flotilla passenger Paul McGeough, "The systematic attempt and very deliberate first priority for the Israeli soldiers as they came on the ships was to shut down the story, to confiscate all cameras, to shut down satellites, to smash the CCTV cameras that were on the Mavi Marmara, to make sure that nothing was going out. They were hellbent on controlling the story."

After seizing all recordings of the event, Israeli authorities then began releasing highly-edited footage, including footage stolen from journalists and others on board the ships. The Committee to Protect Journalists denounced Israel's use of stolen footage. And the Foreign Press Association in Israel, representing hundreds of foreign correspondents, called the use a "clear violation of journalistic ethics and unacceptable" and warned news outlets to "treat the material with appropriate caution."

Israel claims its heavily-armed Navy commandos were "lynched" by the flotilla passengers and acted in self-defense. Do the facts support this claim?

CLAIM #1: The violence onboard the Mavi Marmara resulted from the surprising resistance the Israeli commandos encountered when they boarded the ship. According to an Israeli military spokesman, "We had in mind a sit-down, a linking of arms."

IN FACT:

• Testimony from passengers confirms that Israeli commandoes began firing before boarding the ship. According to Al-Jazeera correspondent and Mavi Marmara passenger Jamal El Shayyal, "Commandos on board the choppers joined the firing, using live ammunition, before any of the soldiers had descended onto the ship. Two unarmed civilians were killed just meters away from me. Dozens of unarmed civilians were injured right before my eyes"
• An Israeli soldier's testimony shows that "the commandos threw a number of stun grenades and fired warning shots before rappelling down onto the deck."
• Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren acknowledged that Israel considered the Mavi Marmara to be "simply too large to stop by nonviolent means."
• And Israel's Maariv newspaper documented the significant planning that went into the raid, including the approval of the use of force by senior government officials well ahead of the incident.

CLAIM #2: "when IDF forces tried to quietly carry out their mission to stop the flotilla, they unfortunately met violence, including from firearms on deck of the ship that were used against IDF soldiers." Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon

IN FACT: The IDF could provide no evidence of this claim. The boats and passengers were thoroughly searched before setting sail and were only cleared to sail because they were found to be free of weapons. IDF sources then changed their story claiming that firearms may have been thrown overboard. Mavi Marmara passengers confirm that firearms were in fact thrown overboard – firearms which passengers confiscated from the Israeli commandos in self defense. According to Swedish Mavi Marmara passenger and professor of religion Mattias Gardell, "An Uzi and a pistol were seized, emptied of ammunition and were thrown into the sea. We would by all means show that there was a peaceful campaign and that we did not have weapons….Then came the paratroopers in four helicopters and they shot sharply already from the time they were in the air."

CLAIM #3: When Israeli soldiers boarded the ship "they were going to be killed and they had to act in self-defense" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

IN FACT:

• As a result of the IDF's violence, which began prior to boarding the ship, nine passengers on the Mavi Marmara were killed, having been shot a total of 30 times. Five of the nine were shot in the head, some at close range, some from the back, and one, a 19 year old American citizen named Furkan Dogan, was shot in what can only be seen as execution-style: once in the chest and four times in the head from a range of less than 45 centimeters.
• Photographs from the incident show that, once they were disarmed, IDF soldiers had their wounds treated and were given water by passengers, further disproving the claim that they were intent on killing Israelis.
• The testimony of filmmaker Iara Lee who was onboard the Mavi Marmara shows that passengers called for medical help for the injured, "but [they] were ignored, and a lot of people who were injured actually ended up bleeding to death and died." Her testimony is supported by other eyewitness accounts.

What other claims did Israel make that were then retracted or proven false?

"GO BACK TO AUSCHWITZ"

The Israeli military released what it claimed were audio transmissions of flotilla passengers responding to radio calls from the IDF by telling the soldiers to "go back to Auschwitz" and to quot;remember 9/11."

IN FACT:

• Investigative journalists uncovered the fact that IDF had previously released what appeared to be identical video of the exchange between this Israeli sailor and the Mavi Marmara in which the only reply from the ship was "Negative, negative. Our destination is Gaza. Our destination is Gaza."
• One of the individuals whose voice appears on the IDF's tape, Huwaida Arraf, confirmed that she was not even on the Mavi Marmara, but on another ship altogether.
• The IDF then admitted that the audio transmission was edited and released what it claims was the full, unedited transmission. Though as New York Times reporter Robert Mackey points out, "since they are snippets of audio over a black screen, it is impossible to verify their authenticity."

IHH LINKS TO TERROR

Israel claims that groups participating in the flotilla, particularly the Turkish aid group , Insani Yardim Vakfi (IHH) "are non-governmental organizations that support terror and are affiliated with terror" and that the flotilla's organizers "have close, longstanding ties with agents of international terror, international Islam, Hamas, Al-Qaeda and others."

IN FACT:

• The Israeli government failed to provide evidence of individual claims of terrorist affiliations or intentions.
• The Israeli government edited its own websites to remove Al-Qaeda assertions after it could not substantiate claims that flotilla passengers had connections to Al-Qaeda.
• The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, a think tank with ties to Israel's Defense Ministry, concluded that there is "no known evidence of current links between IHH and 'global jihad elements."
• Not only does the IHH not appear on the US State Department's list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, the group played an active role in delivering humanitarian aid to Haiti after the devastating January earthquake while the US military directed relief efforts there.

What about Israel's claims regarding the humanitarian situation in Gaza?

Israel claims that it told the flotilla that if they docked in Ashdod, the Israeli government would "transfer their aid through the existing land crossings, in accordance with established procedures."

Did the flotilla passengers have reason to doubt that Israel would in fact let the humanitarian aid enter Gaza?

Yes. According to a guide produced by the BBC, for much of the last three years, Gaza's "1.5 million people have relied on less than a quarter of the volume of imported supplies they received in December 2005." This falls far short of the minimum required to avoid malnutrition, poverty, and prevent or treat a variety of illnesses. According to Amnesty International's recently-released annual report, the siege has resulted in "mass unemployment, extreme poverty, food insecurity and food price rises caused by shortages."

Israel claims that "there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza"

Consider the following statistics:

• 61 percent of households face food insecurity, defined as inadequate physical, social or economic access to food, and rely on assistance from aid agencies. An additional 16.2 percent are considered vulnerable to food insecurity.
• 65 percent of the food insecure are children under the age of 18.
• Unemployment is at 40 percent.
• 10 percent of children under five are stunted (low height for age, usually attributed to a chronic lack of protein and micronutrients, including iron and essential vitamins), a steadily increasing trend over recent years, according to UNICEF.
• More than 10 percent of children are chronically malnourished, according to the World Health Organization, a significant increase since siege began.
• The number of children under five suffering from acute malnutrition nearly doubled between 2006 and 2008 from 1.4 to 2.4 percent, according to UNICEF.
• 65 percent of children aged 9-12 months, and 35 percent of pregnant women are anemic.
• According to a recent poverty survey conducted by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the number of Palestinian refugees completely unable to secure access to food and lacking the means to purchase even the most basic items, such as soap, school stationery and safe drinking water ('abject poverty') has tripled since the imposition of the blockade in June 2007.

Israel claims that its blockade of Gaza is in response to rockets fired into Israel.

• As documented by the Israeli human rights organization Gisha, "Beginning in September 2007, Israel openly stated that it would restrict the movement of goods into and out of Gaza not in order to protect against security threats stemming from the transfer, but rather as part of a policy to apply "pressure" or "sanctions" on the Hamas regime." This amounts to collective punishment of Gaza's civilians, and as such is a violation of international humanitarian law (Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949). Further, as an occupying power, Israel is required under Articles 55, 59 and 60 of the Fourth Geneva Convention to ensure free, unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief and is prohibited from impeding the full realization of the occupied people's human rights. Israel's blockade impedes Gazans' rights to food, to an adequate standard of living, to work, and to the highest attainable standard of health.
• Further, according to Amnesty International, Hamas upheld its end of the 2008 cease-fire and halted rockets, yet Israel did not respond by lowering the blockade on Gaza. The cease-fire had been "the single most important factor in reducing civilian casualties and attacks on civilians to the lowest level since the outbreak of the uprising (intifada) more than eight years ago. The ceasefire [had] brought enormous improvements in the quality of life in Sderot… However, nearby in the Gaza Strip the Israeli blockade remains in place and the population has so far seen few dividends from the ceasefire."
• The cease-fire was unilaterally broken by Israel on November 4th, 2008 and led to an escalation of hostility and the eventual Operation Cast Lead.
• Those "22 days of death and destruction" resulted in the deaths of roughly 1,400 Palestinians, destroyed Gaza's infrastructure, schools, and hospitals, and left its citizens in even greater humanitarian crisis than before.
• The items blockaded by the Israeli government at various times include "light bulbs, candles, matches, books, musical instruments, crayons, clothing, shoes, mattresses, sheets, blankets, pasta, tea, coffee, chocolate, nuts, shampoo and conditioner." These items have no connection to Hamas rocket capacity and serve only to punish Gaza's civilian population , half of which is comprised of children.

***

For more information on the legal issues surrounding Israel's blockade of Gaza and attack on the flotilla: Israel's Siege of Gaza and Attacks on the Humanitarian Aid Flotilla – Legal Background

• Israel prevents delivery of oxygen to hospitals

  "Seven oxygen machines donated to the Palestinain Authority by a Norwegian development agency were seized by Israeli officials en route to hospitals in the West Bank and Gaza, the Ramallah-based health ministry said. The machines, the ministry said in a Thursday statement, were confiscated by Israeli officials who claimed that the generators attached "came under the category of possible use for non-medical purposes" if they were delivered to the southern Gaza governorates. "

• Jesus did not die on cross, says scholar - Telegraph

  "The legend of his execution is based on the traditions of the Christian church and artistic illustrations rather than antique texts, according to theologian Gunnar Samuelsson. He claims the Bible has been misinterpreted as there are no explicit references the use of nails or to crucifixion - only that Jesus bore a "staurus" towards Calvary which is not necessarily a cross but can also mean a "pole". "

• Israeli FM: No Palestinian state by 2012 - Yahoo! News

  **surprise surprise** "Israel's hard-line foreign minister said Tuesday that there was "no chance" a Palestinian state would be established by 2012 — a message that threatened to cloud the latest visit by President Barack Obama's Mideast envoy. The comments by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman drew swift Palestinian condemnations and could put Israel at odds with the international community, which has set a 2012 target for brokering a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians."

• Lebanon arrests 'Israeli spy' from mobile phone company - BBC
  

  "Lebanon has arrested a man accused of spying for Israel for more than 15 years, the country's Telecommunications Minister Charbel Nahhas has said. Mr Nahhas said the man was a technician with one of the country's two main mobile networks, and could have had access to sensitive information. Lebanon, which fought a war with Israel in 2006, has made a series of similar arrests in the last year, as part of an operation to dismantle spy networks."

• Inspectors find safety flaws where airline food is prepared - USATODAY.com

  ** I don't think I'll be eating airline food anymore** "Six months ago, Food and Drug Administration inspectors say, they found live roaches and dead roach carcasses "too numerous to count" inside the Denver facility of the world's largest airline caterer, LSG Sky Chefs. They also reported finding ants, flies and debris, and employees handling food with bare hands. Samples from a kitchen floor tested positive for Listeria, a bacteria that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems. It's also dangerous to pregnant women."

• Fareed Zakaria - The fantasy of an Iranian revolution

  "I have been deeply supportive of Iran's Green Movement. I wrote about it, highlighted it on television and showcased its advocates. But I do not think it was likely to overthrow the Iranian regime. To believe that, one has to believe the government in Tehran is deeply unpopular with a majority of Iranians, holds onto power through military force alone and is thus vulnerable to a movement that could mobilize the vast majority in Iran who despise it. None of this is entirely true. "

• Op-Ed Contributor - Let Jordan Enrich Its Own Uranium - NYTimes

  "QUIETLY and with barely any public confrontation, Israel is creating a new enemy for itself: the Kingdom of Jordan. In the situation that we justifiably or unjustifiably find ourselves now — boycotted and isolated — we do not need to lose the only Arab state with which we have peace-like relations. "

• Questions for Tzipi Livni - Israel's Opposition Leader - Interview - NYTimes

  "Your parents were among the country’s founders. They were the first couple to marry in Israel, the very first. Both of them were in the Irgun. They were freedom fighters, and they met while boarding a British train. When the British Mandate was here, they robbed a train to get the money in order to buy weapons. It was a more romantic era."

• Fareed Zakaria - The fantasy of an Iranian revolution

  "I have been deeply supportive of Iran's Green Movement. I wrote about it, highlighted it on television and showcased its advocates. But I do not think it was likely to overthrow the Iranian regime. To believe that, one has to believe the government in Tehran is deeply unpopular with a majority of Iranians, holds onto power through military force alone and is thus vulnerable to a movement that could mobilize the vast majority in Iran who despise it. None of this is entirely true. "

  "Ironically, those hoping to liberate Iranians are the same people urging punitive sanctions and even military force against Iran. Do they think that when the bombs hit, those who wear green will be spared?"

• Jerusalem revives plan to raze Palestinian homes

  How sweet, Israel "consulted" with the Palestinian residents whose houses they are going to destroy to find how they can "better their lives." Perhaps, they should not destroy their homes, that would help. "A Jerusalem planning body on Monday approved a plan to raze 22 Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem to make room for an Israeli tourist center, a decision that could raise tensions in the divided city and deepen the conflict with the Obama adminstration. "Now, after fine-tuning the plan and seeking more cooperation with the residents as far as their needs and improving the quality of their lives, the municipality is ready to submit the plans for the first stage of approval," said Barkat's spokesman, Stephan Miller, before the city's planning commission agreed to the plan. "

• Rahm Emanuel expected to quit White House - Telegraph

  "Washington insiders say he will quit within six to eight months in frustration at their unwillingness to "bang heads together" to get policy pushed through. Mr Emanuel, 50, enjoys a good working relationship with Mr Obama but they are understood to have reached an understanding that differences over style mean he will serve only half the full four-year term. "

• Israel warns Lebanon aid ships - Al Jazeera English

  "A group of Lebanese women activists joined by Europeans and journalists are planning to sail for Gaza in the latest bid to break Israel's blockade of the coastal enclave." Just one more attempt to break the inhumane and injust blockade of Gaza. Momentum is building and Israel is on the wrong side of justice and history

• Poll: Most Palestinians want peace with Israel - Haaretz
  

  "Fafo, a Norwegian based international multidisciplinary research foundation, found that 73 percent of Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza were in favor of peace negotiations with Israel, but stressed that a settlement freeze should be a precondition to talks. The poll also revealed a rise in Palestinian support for halting rocket attacks from Gaza against Israel, rising from 53 percent in favor of a halt in 2009 to 61 percent in 2010. "

• Non-violence is not a principle, it is a tactic

  "“The point is that even if they were – while terribly difficult – the passengers could have resisted nonviolently by refusing to comply with the soldiers’ demands without making any attempt to injure them,” is ridiculous. When someone is shooting at you and your friends, you must disarm them, and probably use violence to do so. If you can’t disarm them, you must use violence to stop them from shooting, one way or another. The demand a bullet entering your skull makes on you is for you to die, and if there is a way to “refuse to comply” with that demand, Taylor and Nagler should fess up quick."

• In the Face of Overwhelming Odds - P U L S E

  "Which recent siege-busting ship was more visible, the Mavi Marmara or the Rachel Corrie? The unarmed activists on the Mavi Marmara quite correctly and lawfully resisted the piratical hijacking by Israeli forces in international waters. (Does anyone remember the heroes of United Airlines Flight 93?) On the Mavi Marmara, nine activists were murdered. Their sacrifice was not in vain – in the following days Israeli criminality was exposed as never before, and even the White House and Downing Street were enabled to make anti-siege noises. The passengers on the Rachel Corrie, on the other hand, announced in advance that they would not resist. As a result, only keen observers noticed the ship at all. (Readers of Ha’aretz may remember a photograph of a middle-aged European lady smiling as a gallant stormtrooper helped her disembark in Ashdod.) Unwittingly, the ‘non-violent’ activists (whose commitment I salute) handed Israel ammunition for its propaganda – ‘when civilised, peaceful activists arrive we deal with them peacefully. When mad Islamist Turks attack us with sticks, we have no choice but to shoot them many times at close range in the back of the head.’"

• Does Israel suffer from 'Iranophobia'? - CSMonitor.com

  "Menashri says the analogy is a mistake. “Because if Ahmadinejad is Hitler, if Nasser was Hitler, Saddam was Hitler, Arafat was Hitler – what can I tell my children about the unique character of the Holocaust? If I want to keep the memory, I am downgrading the historical significance of the Holocaust by repeating that every crazy thing is Hitler.”"

Whether you agree of disagree with Helen Thomas' recent statements, the way she has been treated by the White House Press Corps, the Obama Administration (Gibbs) and the mainstream media is disgraceful. The only reason she has had to apologize and step down is because her comments upset those who must not be named. Several other public figures including Mike Huckabee and Dick Armey have made comments fully endorsing the ethnic cleansing of all Palestinians from the West Bank, Gaza and even Sinai. Yet they remain untouched and uncriticized, because it is fine, in fact it is encouraged, to talk about exiling 6 million Arabs.

This is the sick double standard we live with in the United States. Let's hope the recent flotilla massacre will start the redress of this grave injustice and racist policy.

Huckabee
Armey

** As a follow-up, a recent article I read pointed out that we have yet to see the full context of the video. In the original released clip. Helen does not specify whether she is referring to all of Palestine-Israel, or simply the West Bank/Gaza. If indeed she is referring to the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza, her statements, in my opinion, are valid, as many of the settlers are direct immigrants from the United States, Russia and Europe who are being implanted on land stolen from Palestinians who have lived there for over a thousand years. Therefore, the recent extremist Brooklyn Jew encouraged by tax breaks and cheap real estate who moved to a settlement in the West Bank, should go home, back to New York, or at least into pre-1967 Israel. **

The time has come to take off our hats to the prime minister. Benjamin Netanyahu's predictions have proved accurate, and his prophecies are coming true right before our eyes. Now we can proudly declare that our government is led by a man of vision, a statesman who has foretold the future. Even his greatest critics can't deny it; the facts speak for themselves.

Netanyahu said the whole world is against us. Wasn't he right? He also said we live under an existential threat. Isn't it beginning to look like that? Give it another minute and Turkey will be at war with us too. Netanyahu said there's no chance of reaching an agreement with the Arabs. Wasn't that spot on? Our prime minister, who saw danger lurking in every alleyway and enemies waiting around every corner, who has always taught that there is no hope, who has drummed into us that we shall forever live by the sword (just as his father the historian taught him ), knew what he was talking about.

We haven't had anyone like him since David Ben-Gurion. He's a genuine prophet whose every prediction comes true, one after the other - someone who can really be proud of his accomplishments. Enough mockery, enough ridicule. For Netanyahu is not only a prophet; his leadership has swept up the entire country. There is no longer anyone who can stop him from realizing his vision, and soon the pundits will be writing that Netanyahu was right.

This country now has a blind captain in the cockpit, flying his blindfolded passengers with exemplary precision toward the destination he envisioned. If there had still been any object of his scaremongering that had not yet been attained before this week, along came the outrageous seizure of the flotilla, and that goal too was in the bag.

If anyone was still entertaining a glimmer of hope that our pilot wasn't totally blind, that he had some special sight-enhancing gadget, along came his declaration that the blockade of Gaza would continue. Let the world and wisdom and Gaza all go to hell, and incidentally Israel too - and dash that glimmer of hope as well. After the saws and knives seized on the Marmara have been publicly exhibited, we will be able to convince ourselves once and for all that there is indeed a danger lurking in every alley, an Al-Qaida operative on every ship, weapons on every deck - and even that the Marmara was an existential threat, no less, just as our leader had foreseen.

Of course, no one will demand to see the guns that the activists are alleged to have fired, or the video footage in which Israeli soldiers are seen firing, or the confiscated photographs taken by journalists. For us, the pictures of the severe beatings that the IDF Spokesman's Office has released are enough.

Some 7 billion human beings (less about 5 million Israeli Jews ) are wrong. They haven't got a leader like Netanyahu, and that's why they go on thinking that seizing passenger ships in international waters is an act of piracy, no different from the deeds committed by the pirates of Somalia. They think (wrongly of course ) that Israel has no right to stop a fleet of boats; that the victims are the people of Gaza and the bleeding passengers, not the naval commandos who raided the ship and were beaten; and that the aggressors were the troops who were dropped onto the ship from a helicopter, killing nine civilians with live fire and wounding dozens.

The world is wrong and Netanyahu, with us in tow, is right. We will not lift the blockade. For four years it has yielded not an ounce of benefit, just damage, but what does that matter? Giddyup! Let's fulfill Netanyahu's vision. We'll become an even more despised country and won't have a single friend left in the world, not even the United States. True, it was Netanyahu's predecessor, Ehud Olmert, who began this terrible landslide with Operation Cast Lead, after which the world became intolerant of all violent behavior by Israel, but Netanyahu is following in his path.

Despite it all, his vision has not yet been realized in full. He gave rise to one hope: an "economic peace" that would bring prosperity to Palestinians and Israelis. But as yet there has been no greater saboteur of Israeli exports than Netanyahu, and soon everything produced here will have to be sold no further afield than Petah Tikva. Even prophets are entitled to err on occasion, but he had better not give rise to any more hopes.

About half of Israelis want a commission of inquiry, according to a poll published yesterday. It can be assumed that this is only because our soldiers were beaten and humiliated. Why, what else is there to investigate? After all, we have a prophet-statesman whose predictions are coming true, one after the other, and the redeemer is (not ) coming to Zion.

Press TV clip dispels Israeli propaganda that the peaceful Israeli soldiers were attacked by the violent civilians (including a Jewish Holocaust survivor and a Nobel Peace Prize winning laureate) before they fired upon them with live ammunition. The video shows that at least two civilians had already been shot, and 1 killed before the soldiers even boarded. The first clip is in Arabic, then English, then Arabic, and then I think Turkish.

Such a wonderful display of hypocrisy it is ridiculous. Tel Aviv is building a ''museum of tolerance'' upon a 14th century Muslim cemetary in West Jerusalem. Oh, the twisted irony.

May 18, 2010
Israel: Medieval Remains Said to Be Damaged in Excavation
By AP

Excavators clearing ground for a museum in Jerusalem dedicated to tolerance have
damaged many remains while exhuming more than 1,000 skeletons from a medieval
Muslim cemetery, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Tuesday. Israel’s
Antiquities Authority confirmed that skeletons had been removed from the
cemetery but denied that the remains were mistreated. Muslim groups have been
trying to halt construction of the Museum of Tolerance because it is to be built
on top of the cemetery, which dates at least from the 14th century. Haaretz
published photographs it said were from the excavations. They showed full human
skeletons and fractured human skulls.