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A quick survey in Amman reveals some exciting but (not)surprising strong opinions on subjects such as Palestine, Israel, Iraq, Water, Oil, Economy, Nuclear Energy, Tourism, Honour Killing, Women and Tribal System.
Part 1/2:
Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvWEvCl2iVA
Updating Resistance projects
By Franklin Lamb* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz
Dahiyeh, South Beirut – Like many liberation and resistant movement 'Manifestos' 'Charters' or 'Declarations' issued to the public early in its founding – the African National Congress, Palestine Liberation Organization , Hamas, Algerian FLN, and various "Sons of Liberty" groups during the American Revolution, come to mind-Hezbollah has been criticized by its detractors over the years for some language in its 1985 "Open Letter" manifesto. Some have urged Hezbollah to remove 'controversial language" such as the call for an Islamic Republic in Lebanon- even though the Party has made clear that establishing an Islamic Republic of Lebanon is no longer a priority and emphasizing that Lebanon's diversity is respected, valued and permanent. Others have called Hezbollah's 1985 manifesto 'too religious" and too dogmatic for a broad international appeal political document.
Background to Hezbollah's issuing yesterday's "rebirth" Manifesto
Ideas for Hezbollah's original 1985 Manifesto evolved over 30 months following the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, during which the new resistance movement worked to establish itself in the turbulent period of military invasions, occupations and numerous internal and external conspiracies against it. Many secret discussions were held concerning all manner of subjects including what the new organization would be called. Many favored the name "The Islamic Movement of Lebanon" but before the matter came up for a vote, another of the more than 20 new local resistance groups preempted that name. Others thought the name "Nation (Umma) of Hezbollah" was more inclusive. Under time pressure to agree on a name before the "Open Letter" was to be issued, the name "Hezbollah", ("Party of God") found in the Quran was agreed upon.
Marwan Barghouti with former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat
Analysis by Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz
Occupied Jerusalem, Nov 30 – The fate of one prisoner locked in an Israeli jail could release the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process from its own jail – provided the timing is right.
The political timing is definitely ripe.
This week a major residual source of tension between Israelis and Palestinians may just be about to be resolved – if German mediation finally overcomes last-minute hitches to the long-awaited exchange – a thousand Palestinian prisoners for the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
It's not yet certain that the prisoner exchange will go through. Nor is it clear who among the 10,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails will be part of the deal.
And, it's certainly not definite that that Marwan Barghouti, the leader of the Fatah military forces who was sentenced to life imprisonment by an Israeli court five years ago at the height of the Palestinian Intifadah, will be among them.
If the swap goes through without Barghouti, it's unlikely to have much impact on furthering peace between the two peoples; the political impact would be restricted to domestic Palestinian affairs, the bolstering of Hamas at the expense of the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas.
Dear President Obama,
Do you really want to be the new "war president"? If you go to West Point tomorrow night (Tuesday, 8pm) and announce that you are increasing, rather than withdrawing, the troops in Afghanistan, you are the new war president. Pure and simple. And with that you will do the worst possible thing you could do — destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics. You will teach them what they've always heard is true — that all politicians are alike. I simply can't believe you're about to do what they say you are going to do. Please say it isn't so.
It is not your job to do what the generals tell you to do. We are a civilian-run government. WE tell the Joint Chiefs what to do, not the other way around. That's the way General Washington insisted it must be. That's what President Truman told General MacArthur when MacArthur wanted to invade China. "You're fired!," said Truman, and that was that. And you should have fired Gen. McChrystal when he went to the press to preempt you, telling the press what YOU had to do. Let me be blunt: We love our kids in the armed services, but we f*#&in' hate these generals, from Westmoreland in Vietnam to, yes, even Colin Powell for lying to the UN with his made-up drawings of WMD (he has since sought redemption).
The Archbishop of Canterbury
By Stuart Littlewood* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz
OPEN LETTER to
The Most Rev. and the Rt. Hon. the Archbishop of Canterbury
Spiritual leader of the Anglican Church
Dear Archbishop,
Two years ago, on returning from Gaza and the West Bank, I wrote about the dire conditions and the British government's complicity in the crippling blockade, and reminded prime minister Gordon Brown that Gaza was formerly entrusted to Britain under mandate, which was reason for us to feel a special responsibility.
I urged him: "Go see for yourselves the misery, the human tragedy and the devastation you have heaped on these nice people. Feel the pain and weep.
"Then amaze us. Do something courageous for once. Lift the cruel siege. End the 90 years of betrayal that has so shamed Britain."
That was before the horrific blitzkrieg launched by Israel last December/January, in which at least 350 children were murdered and thousands more maimed or made homeless. Gazans have to exist in circumstances that are simply indescribable. You know that the Strip is still under daily bombardment, the promised reconstruction has still not begun, all borders remain sealed to form a vast concentration camp and marauding Israeli warships machine-gun Gaza fishermen in their own waters.
In several events filmed by B'Tselem during October, settlers are seen hampering Palestinians from harvesting olives and stealing their crops. We also hear from the settlers who are involved in these actions.
Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfHCqkbv1gU
Khamis Fathi Abu Rahmah after being shot with a tear gas canister by Israeli forces near Bilin. (Haitham al-Katib)
Jody McIntyre* writing from Bilin, occupied West Bank | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz
Earlier this year, Khamis Fathi Abu Rahmah, 27, was shot in the head with a high-velocity tear gas canister while participating in a nonviolent demonstration against Israel's wall in the occupied West Bank near the village of Bilin. Israeli soldiers used the same weapon a few months later and killed his cousin, Bassem Abu Rahme. The Electronic Intifada contributor Jody McIntyre spoke to Khamis Fathi Abu Rahmah about his life in Bilin.
Jody McIntyre: Tell me about the time you were injured at the wall.
Khamis Fathi Abu Rahmah: On Friday 23 January 2009, I went to participate in our weekly nonviolent demonstration against the wall. The Israeli soldiers immediately started throwing a huge amount of tear gas, so we were making our way back toward the village. The soldiers followed us in two jeeps, and started to shoot more gas at us. I was standing alone in the field, and my friend Bassem was crouched behind a rock nearby. They shot one tear gas canister at me, so I put my arms in the air to show that I was unarmed and clearly posing no threat. Then the soldiers shot me again — this time, the high-velocity canister hit me directly in the head.
Illustration By Carlos Latuff
By, Bianca Zammit* and Fadi Skaik** | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz
There are currently approximately 11,000 Palestinian prisoners being held captive in Israeli jails across Israel. Whilst their imprisonment is of itself in direct contravention of international law, the whole arrest, judiciary and imprisonment process compromises their basic human rights. In Gaza, the families of prisoners in Israeli jails meet every Monday at the premises of the International Committee of the Red Cross to hold a weekly vigil asking for the release of Palestinian prisoners. The demonstration also takes place at the ICRC building in order to send out a message to the international community, asking it to uphold international law and put pressure on Israel for the release of all prisoners.
Palestinians taken captive are held in one of the 24 prisons across Israel. The Fourth Geneva Convention through Article 76 prohibits an occupying power, in this case Israel, from imprisoning prisoners outside the territory it occupies and Article 47 of the same Convention clearly outlines that convicted prisoners should serve their sentence within the occupied territory.
By Grant Smith* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz
US Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell was highly enthusiastic about Israel's partial, temporary illegal settlement freeze stating "it is more than any Israeli government has done before and can help move toward agreement between the parties." In fact, Israel has done more. In 2005 Israel reversed settlement construction and its overt occupation of Gaza. Palestinians situation worsened under a strangulating economic blockade and total Israeli control of borders, airspace and maritime access. Ironically, those Americans seeking a permanent end to Israeli settlement activities face a predicament similar to the Palestinians. Peace in the Middle East depends on reversing a peculiar manifestation of illegal Israeli settlements right here at home. These US settlements were built not on stolen land, but the strategic territory of US governance through violations of the 1938 Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
Among Israel's first international efforts as a state was establishing an "Israel Office of Information" (IOI) in the United States in the fall of 1948. The IOI registered as a foreign agent with the US Department of Justice which required it not only to file activity reports about its efforts on behalf of Israel every six months, but also place a stamp on pamphlets and other materials circulating in the US that their true origin was the Israeli government.
By Uri Avnery* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz
The fourth largest powerful military.
It goes like this: The US will turn its back on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The entire world will follow. Everybody is fed up with this conflict. Let the Israelis and the Palestinians sort out their problems by themselves.
Sounds sensible. Why must the world be bothered with these two unruly children? Let them kick each other as much as they like. The adults should not interfere.
But in reality this is an outrageous suggestion. Because these two children are not of equal strength. When an adult sees a 14-year old mercilessly mistreating a 6-year old, can he just look on?
Israel is materially a hundredfold, indeed a thousandfold, stronger than the Palestinians. The fourth strongest army in the world (by its own estimate) dominates the life of a helpless people. The Israeli economy, with some of the most advanced technologies in the world, dominates a people whose resources are next to nil. A 42-year old occupation dominates every single corner of occupied Palestine.
This did not come about by a miracle. The huge gap between the strength of the two peoples has also been created by the support of the US for Israel. Israel would not be where it is today without this political, economic and military underpinning. Billions of dollars in annual aid, access to the most advanced weaponry in the world, the political immunity assured by the US veto in the Security Council and all the other forms of assistance have helped successive Israeli governments to maintain and intensify the occupation.
By Alastair Crooke* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Most significantly, Turkey has finally shrugged off the straightjacket of a tight US alliance, grown virtually indifferent to EU membership and turned its focus toward its former Ottoman neighbours in Asia and the Middle East.
Though not primarily meant as a snub to the West, this shift does nonetheless reflect growing discomfort and frustration with US and EU policy, from the support of Israel's action in Gaza to Iran to the frustrated impasse of the European accession process. It also resonates more closely with the Islamic renaissance that has been taking place within Turkey.
If Turkey continues successfully down this path, it will be as strategically significant for the balance of power in the region as the emergence of Iran as a pre-eminent power thanks to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the later destruction of Sunni dominance in Iraq by the US invasion.
In recent months, a spate of new agreements have been signed by Turkey with Iraq, Iran and Syria that suggest a nascent commonality of political vision. A new treaty with Armenia further signals how seriously Ankara means its "zero problem" good neighbour policy.
Fatah strongman, expected to win Palestinian election if freed in Shalit deal, declares intention to run.
Fatah strongman Marwan Barghouti
Shalit was kidnapped in a cross border raid in 2006, and has been held prisoner by Hamas for over three years. Recent reports suggest that Israel and Hamas are closer than ever to reaching an agreement on a deal that would see hundreds of Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for Shalit's freedom. It is unclear whether Barghouti will be among those prisoners, as he is currently serving five consecutive life sentences in an Israeli prison for his role in murderous terror attacks.
"Maybe Israel will finally understand that Hamas' demands cannot be ignored," Barghouti told the Milan-based Corriere Della Sera, adding that the main issue topping his agenda currently is achieving unity between rival Palestinian factions.
The UN has sent an official request to Israel to admit the existence of secret prison camp 1391, dubbed in the press "Israel's Guantanamo Bay," according to the Palestinian Authority minister of prisoners affairs.
Photo: Ma'an Images
Minister Issa Qaraqe told a news conference in Ramallah on Saturday that the UN had asked the Israeli government in a letter to officially acknowledge that the facility exists.
Human rights experts with the United Nations Committee Against Torture questioned Israeli officials about the facility in may when the country came up for a regular review under a treaty obligation, Reuters reported.
Although Israel declined the UN's request to discuss 1391 earlier this year, Israeli officials have indirectly confirmed the facility's existence. Former Israeli Justice Minister Dan Merridor told the Haaretz newspaper that he was aware of the site but never visited it.
By Stuart Littlewood* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz
The UK is now in the grip of festive fever as the nation prepares for the customary annual binge called Christmas. Despite the recession families are being urged to spend, spend, spend on an excess of food and alcohol and extravagant presents. For them there is also the luxury of unrestricted travel to see relatives or take a foreign holiday.
A far cry from the kind of Christmas that's possible in the illegally occupied and blockaded territories of the Holy Land…
Two years ago, in the run-up to Christmas 2007, I had just returned from Gaza and the West Bank. With tears of rage in my eyes I addressed these remarks to Britain's prime minister, Gordon Brown:
Lebanon 'Accepts' Hezbollah's Weapons
Shebaa farms
By Franklin Lamb | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz
"It is the right of the Lebanese people, Army and the (Hezbollah led-ed.) Resistance to liberate the Shebaa Farms, the Kfar Shuba Hills and the northern part of the village of Ghajar as well as to defend Lebanon and its territorial waters in the face of any enemy by all available and legal means."
So reads the Policy Declaration of the new Government of the Republic of Lebanon, issued on November 26,2009, four days after the celebration of Lebanon's 66 years of independence from the French colonial power, achieved in 1943.
Legally, constitutionally, and politically, Lebanon's new National Unity Government policy legitimizes, embraces, and incorporates by reference, the National Lebanese Resistance.
For the US-Israel axis, the 52 words signal that Hezbollah – which since 2006 has enjoyed majority popular support – and the State of Lebanon are inseparable and indivisible with respect to defending this country from foreign interference and occupation. It affixes the governmental imprimatur for liberating Lebanese lands still occupied by Israeli forces.
Imagine life for Palestinians behind Israeli checkpoints and the Palestinian experience in a totally different land.
No Way Through highlights Israeli checkpoints imposed in the West Bank, that are limiting its habitants access to health care, thus violating a fundamental human right.
Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcYcw-uWqzk
Take Action to help people in the Occupied Palestinian Territories get justice.
By Jeff Gates* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz
Why we're broke
Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OT5uw1Fb_0
3 trillion dollars down the drain
Though brilliant in its simplicity and the ability to convey the scope and scale of this ongoing disaster, the presentation understates the long-term costs of this latest war.
By Alan Hart* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu described his offer to temporarily restrict construction of all-new Jewish settlements on the West Bank excluding Arab East Jerusalem as a "far-reaching and painful step", which was part of a policy he hoped would give a new impetus to peace talks.
Netanyahu is not stupid. He knows that some of us know he is not remotely interested in peace on terms the Palestinians could accept. So what then is his real game plan of the moment? Simple. He is seeking to make peace with the Obama administration. And its response suggests that with the help of the Zionist lobby and its stooges in Congress he's got that matter firmly under control.
On 18 November President Obama himself expressed his dismay at Israel's decision to approve 900 more housing units in East Jerusalem. He said it could lead to a "dangerous situation" because it made it harder for Israel to make peace in the region and "embitters the Palestinians."
Eight days later the Obama administration says Netanyahu's new offer, which stresses that there will be no restrictions, not even temporary ones, on new settlement development in East Jerusalem, will help "move forward" peace efforts.
What nonsense. It seems to me that the Obama administration doesn't know whether it's coming or going on the matter of how to deal with Netanyahu.
The response of senior Palestinian legislator Mustafa Barghouti was much more in tune with reality. "What Netanyahu announced today is one of his biggest attempts at deception in his history."
Lifta, a most picturesque Palestinian village, lies on the slopes of West Jerusalem below the highway linking it to Tel-Aviv. It has been abandoned since the invading Hagana underground forces backed by the Stern Gang drove the last of its Palestinian inhabitants in 1948 during the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.
It was the one single event which changed the nature of the place and the whole region. Although dozens of houses were destroyed, many of them still remain poised on the landscape.
Lifta is considered by many as a rare and fine example of Palestinian rural architecture with narrow streets aligned with the slopes of the mountains around it. Its cubist forms are a wonderful manifestation of the mastery of the Palestinian stone masons who were the indigenous owners and builders of these houses.
Today Lifta is more or less a ghost town suspended in space and remains deserted despite the fact that most of its original Palestinian inhabitants live in the surrounding communities. The Israeli authorities refuse to allow them to return.
By Jim Holstun and Irene Morrison* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz
Colonel Efraim (Fein) Eitam was only following orders when he told his troops to beat Ayyad Aqel in 1988. They beat him to death.
Eitam, who since then has held several senior posts in the Israeli government, has recently toured the US as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "Special Emissary" to the "Caravan for Democracy" program of the Jewish National Fund (JNF). This is a marriage made in heaven. Since Israel was founded, the JNF has organized the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and the settlement of Jews on their expropriated land; Eitam sees himself as the messianic soldier-prophet directing future expulsions of Palestinians from Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Hillel of Buffalo, New York, invited Eitam to speak at our campus, the University at Buffalo (UB), on the recommendation of UB Professor Ernest Sternberg, a board member of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East and a founder of its local campus chapter.
In February 1988, Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin discreetly told the Israeli army to break the bones of Palestinians rising up during the first Palestinian intifada. According to the testimony of Israeli soldiers, Colonel Eitam relayed the message to his Givati Brigade, then occupying Gaza. On 7 February, he ordered four of them to break the bones of two brothers from al-Bureij refugee camp. They cuffed and blindfolded them, beat them for a while in their own home, then took them to a secluded olive grove, where they kicked and beat them for 20 minutes. Khalid Aqel survived; his 21-year-old brother Ayyad died. In 1990, an Israeli court martial convicted these soldiers of assault, reduced their ranks, gave suspended sentences to three, and sentenced the fourth to two months ("Soldier jailed for intifada killing will sue Rabin," Guardian, 2 November 1990).
Smith Once Again Exposes Israel Lobby's Danger to America's Security and Economy
By Andrew Burroughs | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz
This is perhaps Smith's most important work exposing the deleterious and dangerous influences of the Israeli lobby on both U.S. economic and national security. Smith has devoted several years objectively and thoroughly examining the history of the Israel lobby.
He earlier exposed how domestic political considerations undermined the Justice Department's valiant efforts to define the lobby as an agent of a foreign power (See Deadly Dogma, Foreign Agents and America's Defense Line).
As is his practice, Smith is thorough in his research. This latest work is 178 pages, contains more than 300 footnotes, citing more than hundred specific sources including files the FBI only recently declassified.
Ali Abunimah, co-founder of Electronic Intifada and author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse
Part 1/6:
By Dave Lindorff* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz
Most Americans are blissfully in the dark about it, but across the Atlantic in the UK, a commission reluctantly established by Prime Minister Gordon Brown under pressure from anti-war activists in Britain is beginning hearings into the actions and statements of British leaders that led to the country's joining the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Even before testimony began in hearings that started yesterday, news began to leak out from documents obtained by the commission that the government of former PM Tony Blair had lied to Parliament and the public about the country's involvement in war planning.
Britain's Telegraph newspaper over the weekend published documents from British military leaders, including a memo from British special forces head Maj. Gen. Graeme Lamb, saying that he had been instructed to begin "working the war up since early 2002."
By Stuart Littlewood* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz
The recent Channel 4 TV Dispatches programme, which probed the antics of the pro-Israel lobby in British politics, has opened up this hitherto forbidden subject to public debate.
Basic questions now need answering – for example, why are agents of a foreign military power allowed to meddle in our democratic and parliamentary processes?
That was the concern of a group of citizens nearly two years ago. They decided to press the Committee on Standards in Public Life to examine whether there was undue Israeli influence at the heart of British government.
The Standards Committee, chaired by newly-appointed Sir Christopher Kelly (the same Kelly who is currently making heavy weather of investigating the way MPs have been fiddling expenses), refused to look into it. His reply, sent in a note from a member of his office staff, said: "I regret that the Committee on Standards in Public Life has no remit to help you in this matter."
A documentary on Gaza Genocide.
The film begins with the entry of the fifth and last Free Gaza Movement boat to make it to Gaza before covering the impact of the siege and harrowing events during the 22-day assault including attacks on Civil Defence centres, paramedics, children, and the UN HQ.
Part 1/6:
Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aU1H-knuSw
