Victory - Illustration by Carlos Latuff

Long live the revolution

By Christopher King * | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

Congratulations to the people of Europe in forcing their despotic ruler out. There is some distance to go but they are on the road to form a genuine democracy. Their army has done what is right and in fact it always hinted that it would remain neutral. It is acting in the fine tradition of Gamal Abdel Nasser.

It would be easy to contrast the Egyptian army’s identification with its people with those of Europe but this is not the time to do so. Suffice to say that the people’s achievement will send tremors through the ruling classes of Europe and America. As for the countries of the Middle East one can expect a considerable outflow of funds from their rulers to their Swiss bank accounts.

The French revolution sent shivers through every crowned head in Europe and drove a wave of reform everywhere of which Britain was unfortunately on the periphery. Let us see whether the people of Britain can learn from Egypt.

It is unfortunate that the United States, the self-proclaimed champion of freedom and democracy, can claim no credit in this case. Nor can the European Union. I shall say no more on such a happy occasion when Egypt has been an example to both the United States and Europe.

Those of us who believe in freedom and democracy share Egypt’s happiness. We again congratulate the people of Egypt not only on their extraordinary achievement, but also on the dignified and peaceful manner in which it was achieved. They will, with pride, tell their children and grandchildren of what they did on the streets and rightly so.

* Christopher King is a retired consultant and lecturer in management and marketing. He lives in London, UK.

Related posts:

• Egypt Approves Gaza Freedom March Passage, Viva Palestina Blunders Paperwork and Blames Egypt
• Egypt: The Groupthink Problem
• The US arms industry and the people’s revolt in Egypt

By Laila El-Haddad* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

Palestinians in Gaza don't want handouts and uncertainty and despair; they want their dignity and their freedom. (Ahmed Ghabayen/MaanImages)

I needed to regain perspective. So I walked and I talked and I listened. I went to the beach where women -- skinny jeans and all -- were smoking water pipes, swimming and generally having a good time, irrespective of the purported Hamas ban on women smoking sheesha.

During the eight hours of electricity we get each day, I logged on to the Internet and browsed the English-language papers. It seemed like suddenly everyone was an expert on Gaza, claiming they knew what it's really like. Zionist sympathizers and their ilk have been providing us with the same "evidence" that Gaza is burgeoning: the markets are full of produce, fancy restaurants abound, there are pools and parks and malls ... all is well in the most isolated place on earth -- Gaza, the "prison camp" that is not.

If you take things at face value, and set aside for a moment the bizarre idea that the availability of such amenities precludes the existence of hardship, you'll be inclined to believe what you read.

So, is there a humanitarian crisis or not? That seems to be the question of the hour. But it is the wrong one to be asking.

The message I've been hearing over and over again since I returned to Gaza is this: the siege is not a siege on foods; it is a siege on freedoms -- freedom to move in and out of Gaza, freedom to fish more than three miles out at sea, freedom to learn, to work, to farm, to build, to live, to prosper.

Gaza was never a place with a quantitative food shortage; it is a place where many people lack the means to buy food and other goods because of a closure policy whose tenets are "no development, no prosperity, and no humanitarian crisis," Gisha, the Legal Centre for the Freedom of Movement, explained in a press release.

The move from a "white list" of allowable imports to a "black list" might sound in good in theory (ie everything is banned except xyz, to only the following things are banned) but in practice only 40 percent of Gaza's supply needs are being met, according to Gisha. The Palestinian Federation of Industries estimates that only a few hundred of Gaza's 3,900 factories and workshops will be able to start up again under present conditions.

Sure, there are a handful of fancy restaurants in Gaza. And yes, there is a new mall (infinitely smaller and less glamorous than it has been portrayed).

As for food, it is in good supply, having found its way here either through Israeli crossings or the vast network of tunnels between Gaza and Egypt. Of course, this leaves aside the question of who in Gaza's largely impoverished population (the overwhelming majority of whose income is less than $2 a day, 61 percent of whom are food insecure) can really afford mangoes at $4 a kilo or grapes at $8 a kilo. A recent trip to the grocery store revealed that meat has risen to $13 a kilo. Fish, once a cheap source of protein, goes for $15 to $35 a kilo. And so on.

Prices are on par with those of a developed country, except we are not in a developed country. We are a de-developed occupied territory.

All of the above adds up to the erasure of the market economy and its replacement with a system where everyone is turned into some kind of welfare recipient. But people don't want handouts and uncertainty and despair; they want their dignity and their freedom, employment and prosperity and possibility.

Perhaps most significantly, they want to be able to move freely -- something they still cannot do.

Let's take the case of Fadi. His father recently had heart surgery. He wanted to seek followup care abroad, at his own expense, but he doesn't fall into the specified categories allowed out of Gaza for travel, whether through Egypt or Israel. "He's not considered a level-one priority," Fadi explained. "Can you please tell me why I can't decide when I want to travel and what hospital I can take him to?"

Even the cream of Gaza high-school students must lobby the Israeli authorities long and hard to be allowed out to complete their studies. They literally have to start a campaign in conjunction with human rights groups to raise enough awareness about their plight, and then look for local individuals to blog about their progress, explained Ibrahim, who was approached by one organization to "sponsor a student."

I have no doubt that if journalists Stephanie Gutmann and Melanie Phillips -- who devoted recent columns to disputing British Prime Minister David Cameron's description of Gaza as a "prison camp" -- lived in Gaza their principle worry would not be about "what parts of their bodies they can display," it would be the fact that they would not be allowed out again. It would be because everything from the kind of food they would have on their plate to when they can turn on the lights to what they can clothe those bodies with and whether or not they can obtain a degree is determined by an occupying power.

Using the phrase "prison camp" to describe Gaza is not vile rhetoric. It is an understatement and even a misnomer. Prisoners are guilty of a crime, yet they are guaranteed access to certain things -- electricity and water, even education -- where Gazans are not. What crime did Gazans commit, except, to quote my late grandmother, "being born Palestinian?"

Ketchup and cookies may be flowing to Gaza in slightly greater quantities than before. But so bloody what? Goods for export are not flowing out. Nor, for that matter, are people. So while there may be some semblance of civil life and stability in Gaza, there is absolutely no political horizon or true markers of freedom to speak of.

And as long as freedom of movement is stifled, whether by Israel or Egypt, and export-quality goods, which account for a large portion of Gaza's manufacturing output, are forbidden from leaving Gaza, all the malls and mangoes in the world won't make a bit of difference.

* Laila El-Haddad is a Palestinian freelance journalist, photographer and blogger (www.gazamom.com) who divides her time between Gaza and the United States. This article was originally published in the Guardian's Comment is Free.

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• Narratives Under Siege: We Could not Even Bury our Daughter
• Gaza: The Siege [Video]
• Gaza Freedom March is Determined to Break the Siege

by ISM Palestine

By Mohamed Khodr* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

[Author's Note: I urge all worldwide citizens who read this petition to please consider signing it to provide a voice for the voiceless Palestinians and to disseminate it as widely as possible urging others to do the same. Thank you for your humanity.]

This Petition will be presented to the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki- Moon, Members of the U.N. Security Council and Governments and Organizations in respective nations of Signers.

PLEASE SIGN PETITION AT:

http://www.petitiononline.com/pal0610/petition.html

"Brothers in suffering, brothers in resistance, brothers in ideals and conviction. It is now our duty to further strengthen this bond in order to secure this hard-won freedom for future generations."
--Guy Verhofstadt , former Prime Minister of Belgium

We The People, citizens of the world sharing a common planet, sharing the fate and destiny of life and death, sharing a globe decorated by the gifts of air, land, and sea, sharing the joys and sorrows of our fellow man and woman, hereby declare our freedom from fear, our freedom from all greedy, subjugating, occupying, and oppressive forces, our freedom to declare, resist, and fight by all means necessary man's evil toward fellow man without fear of consequences.

"I have no country to fight for; my country is the earth, and I am a citizen of the world."
Eugene Debs

Thus we unite in words, but more importantly in actions, to solemnly declare our full commitment to the liberty, freedom, equality, and most importantly, justice and peace for all mankind. We will not rest until every child is born free, lives free, and dies free.

We commit ourselves to the democratic principle that all men, women, and children are created equal in the eyes of God and humanity and are endowed with the inalienable rights to life, liberty, freedom, justice, honor, dignity, and respect. No people or nation shall be permitted to live arrogantly and act with impunity, denying freedom and justice to others and defying the will and laws accepted by all mankind.

We The People of the world reject and will resist any political, economic, or military power that seeks to oppress peoples while thieving their lands and resources to the benefit of the few, the elites, the greedily corrupt corporate dominated governments who utilize their military might to declare their right to the lands and wealth of weaker nations.

History is replete with powerful empires invading and enslaving peoples with an arrogance and sense of supremacy that the lives of the subjugated people are expendable and subordinate to their goals of economic thievery. But history has always shown that all empires crumble when the masses rise up in rebellion and resistance to reclaim their freedom from oppression.

As Napoleon stated:
"There are only two forces in the world, the sword and the spirit. In the long run the sword will always be conquered by the spirit."

We The People, in total recognition that the most catastrophic tragedy in modern history inflicted upon innocent natives is the illegal theft of a land, Palestine, and the forceful ethnic cleansing of two thirds of its people and destruction of hundreds of their villages to establish the State of Israel allegedly as a safe haven for the persecuted European Jews.

England gifted Palestine, a land it did not own or occupy, to Jews in a simple 68 worded letter, the Balfour Declaration, sent to a rich English Jewish banker, Lord Rothschild, in 1917. President Truman in 1948 recognized the newly established State of Israel within 6 minutes of its declaration of "independence" (from whom?).

"It is the duty of Israeli leaders to explain to public opinion, clearly and courageously, a certain number of facts that are forgotten with time. The first of these is that there is no Zionism colonialization or Jewish State without the eviction of the Arabs and the expropriation of their lands."
--Yoram Bar Porath, Yediot Aahronot (Israeli Newspaper), July 14, 1972 (Cited in Nur Masalha's "A land Without A People" 1997, p98).

Millions of Palestinians are now the largest refugee population in the world living in refugee camps run by the United Nation Organization, UNRWA, as dispossessed refugees in their own land and in a Diaspora in neighboring Arab countries and around the world. They have been refugees for 62 years while the world remains silent as Israel continues to expropriate and settle their remaining lands in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, all with the aid and protection of the United States, a superpower shackled by the powerful Pro Israeli lobbies and media.

World Governments maybe silent but we citizens of the world will "never again" be silent as Israel, the most condemned nation on earth by hundreds of U.N. Resolutions, the International Criminal Court, and Human Rights Organizations, continues to commit war crimes against Palestinian civilians, acting with total impunity and protection from its hostage supporter, the United States.

We The People, the signers of this petition from around the world today declare that words and silence are no longer an option, no longer a policy or behavior worthy of our humanity and our beloved values of brotherhood, justice and equality for all mankind.

We will join each other with dedicated courageous hearts and hands in an unrelenting worldwide massive movement and resistance against any government that adopts a direct or indirect policy of supporting Israel's illegal occupation due to domestic or international pressures.

We will unite and coordinate our actions through world wide organizations supporting humanity's goal to finally end Israel's Occupation and establish the Free State of Palestine within the 1967 borders. We will work through all means of communication, primarily through the Internet: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and websites.

This will be the first peaceful Internet Revolution and overthrow of a colonial power in history.

We should begin by educating ourselves on the Palestinian issue then launch massive educational campaigns in our respective communities and countries.

In democratic nations we must launch a voter registration campaign to ensure that politicians are held accountable for any action supportive of Israel.

In the United States most minorities are not registered to vote or don't vote. Given that minorities will become the majority of the American population in 40 years, their votes and future political clout will impact America's support of Israel and its foreign policy based on militarism. Voter registration, not money, is the key to free all humanity from the industrial-military-media complex that has whittled our intellect and replaced it with Pavlovian consumerism.

All of us must match if not surpass Israel's massive and well coordinated public relations machine that quickly feeds the lies and propaganda to its supportive western media. In every nation Pro Peace and Pro Palestinians organizations and activist websites must develop massive email lists to rapidly disseminate information requiring a rapid response from its listserves with emails, phone numbers, and faxes on whom to contact. Israel kills with bullets and supports its massacres with powerful media sound byres and talking points.

We must not allow our governments or institutions to serve Israel's interests above our own national interests. In the U.S., Congress eagerly sends billions of dollars to Israel while denying unemployment benefits, preventing the loss of hundreds of thousands of teachers, and feeding America's hungry children.

We will educate our peoples to totally boycott and divest from companies, corporations and their subsidiaries, academic institutions, labor unions, or any organization that directly or indirectly invests or does business with Israel, especially in the Arab and Muslim world.

We shall commit ourselves to participate and strengthen the already existing Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions campaigns against Israel.

(see: http://bdsmovement.net/, http://www.bigcampaign.org/, http://www.jai-pal.org/content.php?page=173, http://boycottisrael.info/, among many other campaigns)

We shall boycott and cancel all paid subscriptions to any and all media that is biased against the Palestinians and Pro Israel in its reporting and editorials. News is easily accessible through television, radio, and the internet.

We the People, vow to establish November 29 as an annual worldwide day of protest against Israel's illegal theft and occupation of Palestinian and Syrian land. This November 29 will be the 63rd anniversary of the war crime known as U.N. General Assembly Resolution 181 passed November 29, 1947, that illegally partitioned Palestine, giving European Jews 55% of Palestine although they constituted one third of Palestine's population, and 45% to Palestinians who comprised two thirds of Palestine's population, notwithstanding that all of Palestine, except 6%, was their land in 1947.

Contrary to western governmental lies and propaganda the Palestinians in 1988 agreed to recognize Israel's right to exist and to accept a Palestinian nation along the 1967 borders, a mere 22% of their previous homeland (now they own less than 14% of Palestine due to illegal settlements, military bases, the Apartheid Wall, and military buffer zones.)

Hamas on several occasions has repeatedly stated it will accept a Palestine state along the 1967 borders, including in a letter carried to President George W. Bush.

See: http://sabbah.in/bnx691
and
http://sabbah.in/bHkqi9
and
http://sabbah.in/buHrLH

The Arab League's Peace Proposal of 2002, reiterated in 2007, offered Israel a Pan Arab peace proposal that recognizes and normalizes all relations with Israel in exchange for Israel's withdrawal from all occupied Arab lands. Israel has never been interested in Peace thus rejecting this extraordinary plan.

For 2,600 years whenever Jews were given an opportunity to return to Palestine, the vast majority preferred living outside the "Promised Land".

Between 1880 and 1925, about 2,378,000 European Jews preferred immigrating to the United States while less than 40,000 Jews chose Palestine. Jobs and wealth have always surpassed their claim to Palestine. The situation exists till this day where more Jews live outside of Israel than inside with the greatest majority being in the United States.

[See: http://sabbah.in/92Clvx ; 'Encyclopedia Judaica]

We the People, in truth and courage will never stop our words and actions until a Palestinian child can enjoy all the freedoms, rights, privileges, and citizenship conferred upon him/her by his/her own independent State of Palestine with its capitol in East Jerusalem.

Palestinians will for the first time in 100 years learn to smile again, to laugh, to play, and finally to sleep in peace without fear and nightmares.

Our journey is long, difficult, and faces many obstacles, but it shall begin with a first step, your caring signature on this petition.

God bless all who sign this petition who love freedom for themselves and for all humanity.

Dr. Mohamed Khodr
U.S.A.

"Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience. Therefore, (individual citizens) have the duty to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring."
~ Nuremberg War Crime Tribunal, 1950 ~

(Please visit this site: http://sabbah.in/cUUvVh to read Zionist's deliberate policy of ethnically cleansing Palestinians.)

* Mohamed Khodr is a political activist who frequently writes on the plight of Palestinians living under the brutal occupation of Israel, U.S. Foreign Policy, Islam, and Arab politics.

Related posts:

• Mohamed Khodr – How Zionists Occupy Two Nations: America and Palestine
• Mohamed Khodr – The Hanukkah Massacre in Gaza: The Sacrificial Lamb to Israeli-American-Arab Interests
• Mohamed Khodr – Arab Impotence Empowers Israel’s Gaza Genocide

Sent from Emily Schaeffer, human right lawyer in Israel/Palestine, who asked Archbishop Tutu to write the letter.

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Roger Waters

My name is Roger Waters. I am an English musician living in the USA. I am writing to express my great admiration for and solidarity with the 1360 men and women from 42 different countries around the World who are gathering in Egypt, preparing for The Gaza Freedom March. We all watched, aghast, the vicious attack made a year ago on the people of Gaza by Israeli armed forces and the ongoing illegal siege.

The suffering wrought on the population of Gaza by both the invasion and the siege is unimaginable to us outside the walls. The aim of The Freedom March is to focus world attention on the plight of the Palestinian people in Gaza in the hope that the scales will fall from the eyes of all, ordinary, decent people round the world, that they may see the enormity of the crimes that have been committed, and demand that their governments bring all possible pressure to bear on Israel to lift the siege.

I use the word crimes advisedly, as both the siege and the invasion have been declared unlawful by United Nations bodies and leading human rights organizations. If we do not all observe international law, if some governments think themselves above it, it is but a few short, dark, steps to barbarism and anarchy.

The Gaza Freedom March is a beacon to all those of us who believe that under the skin, we are all brothers and sisters, who must stand shoulder to shoulder, if we are to make a future where all have recourse to law and universal human rights. Where life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is not just the preserve of the few. All the oil in The Middle East is not worth one childs life. So to those of you who march, I tip my hat. It is a brave and noble thing you do, and when you reach your goal please tell our Palestinian brothers and sisters, that out here, beyond the Walls of their Prison, stand hundreds of thousands of us in solidarity with them.

Today, hundreds of thousands, tomorrow, millions, soon, hundreds of millions.
We Shall Overcome.

Roger Waters

Related posts:

• Gaza Freedom March is Determined to Break the Siege
• OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT MUBARAK FROM THE GAZA FREEDOM MARCH
• Gaza Freedom March Set for Minneapolis on Dec. 30 and for Gaza on Dec. 31

December 26, 2009

Dear President Mubarak;

We, representing 1,362 individuals from 43 countries arriving in Cairo to participate in the Gaza Freedom March, are pleading to the Egyptians and your reputation for hospitality.

We are peacemakers. We have not come to Egypt to create trouble or cause conflict. On the contrary. We have come because we believe that all people -- including the Palestinians of Gaza -- should have access to the resources they need to live in dignity. We have gathered in Egypt because we believed that you would welcome and support our noble goal and help us reach Gaza through your land.

As individuals who believe in justice and human rights, we have spent our hard-earned, and sometimes scarce, resources to buy plane tickets, book hotel rooms and secure transportation only to stand in solidarity with the Palestinians of Gaza living under a crushing Israeli blockade.

We are doctors, lawyers, students, academics, poets and musicians. We are young and old. We are Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists and secular. We represent civil society groups in many countries who coordinated this large project with the civil society in Gaza.

We have raised tens of thousands of dollars for medical aid, school supplies and winter clothing for the children of Gaza. But we realize that in addition to material aid, the Palestinians of Gaza need moral support. We came to offer that support on the difficult anniversary of an invasion that brought them so much suffering.

The idea of the Gaza Freedom March-a nonviolent march to the Israeli Erez crossing-- emerged during one of our trips to Gaza in May, a trip that was kindly facilitated by the Egyptian government. Ever since the idea emerged, we have been talking to your government through your embassies overseas and directly with your Foreign Ministries. Your representatives have been kind and supportive. We were asked to furnish information about all the participants-passports, dates of birth, occupations-which we have done in good faith. We have answered every question, met every request. For months we have been working under the assumption that your government would facilitate our passage, as it has done on so many other occasions. We waited and waited for an answer.

Meanwhile, time was getting short and we had to start organizing. Travel over the Christmas season is not easy in the countries where many of us live. Tickets have to be purchased weeks, if not months, in advance. This is what all 1,362 individuals did. They spent their own funds or raised money from their communities to pay their way. Add to this the priceless time, effort and sacrifice by all these people to be away from their homes and loved ones during their festive season.

In Gaza, civil society groups--students, unions, women, farmers, refugee groups--have been working nonstop for months to organize the march. They have organized workshops, concerts, press conferences, endless meetings--all of this with their own scarce resources. They have been buoyed by the anticipated presence of so many global citizens coming to support their just cause.

If the Egyptian government decides to prevent the Gaza Freedom March, all this work and cost is lost.

And that's not all. It is practically impossible, this late in the game, to stop all these people from travelling to Egypt, even if we wanted to. Moreover, most have no plans in Egypt other than to arrive at a predetermined meeting point to head together to the Gaza border. If these plans are cancelled there will be a lot of unjustified suffering for the Palestinians of Gaza and over a thousand internationals who had nothing in mind but noble intentions.

We plead to you to let the Gaza Freedom March continue so that we can join the Palestinians of Gaza to march together on December 31, 2009.

We are truly hopeful that we will receive a positive response from you and thank you for your assistance.

Tighe Barry, Gaza Freedom March coordinator
Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK, USA
Olivia Zemor, Euro-Palestine, France
David Torres, ECCP, Belgium
Germano Monti, Forum Palestine, Italy
Ziyaad Lunat, Gaza Freedom March, Europe
Ehab Lotayef, Gaza Freedom March, Canada
Alessandra Mecozzi, Action for Peace-Italy
Ann Wright, Gaza Freedom March coordinator
Kawthar Guediri, Collectif National pour une Paix Juste et Durable entre Palestinens et Israeliens, France
Mark Johnson, Fellowship of Reconciliation
Thomas Sommer, Focus on The Global South, India

Related posts:

• Gaza Freedom March is Determined to Break the Siege
• The Gaza Freedom March
• Letter to President Obama: Why Are We Supporting Israel’s War Crimes in Gaza?

Press release: Government of Egypt changes policy to allow humanitarian group Viva Palestina to enter Gaza December 27, 2009

Gaza Freedom March congratulates the Government of Egypt on its change of policy to allow international missions into Gaza during December with the decision to allow the Viva Palestina convoy to go into Gaza on December 27, 2009.

Organizers of Gaza Freedom March were told on December 20, 2009 by Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials that no international missions would be allowed to enter Gaza during December, including the Gaza Freedom March, because of serious security conditions at the border.

Today, December 23, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson told Gaza Freedom March organizers that the decision had been made to alter its policy because of the “humanitarian assistance” nature of Viva Palestina.

Since the Gaza Freedom March is also bringing in humanitarian assistance items valued at tens of thousands of dollars and the border is now considered safe, Gaza Freedom March will make a formal request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on December 24, that that Government of Egypt reconsider the request of the Gaza Freedom March for entry of its 1360 delegates from 42 countries into Gaza through the Rafah crossing on December 27.

Marchers and their friends have been flooding Egyptian embassies throughout the world with calls and emails. Embassies throughout Europe, the United States and Canada have told callers that they have been flooded with telephone calls from persons asking that the Gaza Freedom March be allowed into Gaza. Members of the Canadian, German, Swiss, French, Greek and Filipino Parliaments have written letters, as well as the Irish Minister of Defense, asking the Egyptian government to allow the march to proceed.

The Gaza Freedom March has families of three generations, doctors, lawyers, diplomats, 100 students, an interfaith group that includes rabbis, priests and imams, a women's delegation, a Jewish contingent, a veterans group and Palestinians born overseas who have never seen their families in Gaza.

We have large delegations from the U.S., France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Greece, Australia, South Africa, the Netherlands and Japan. We also have delegations from Sweden, Turkey, India, Ireland, Switzerland, Jordan, Morocco, Denmark, Lebanon, Austria, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Tunisia, Algeria, Philippines, South Korea, Bahrain, Bosnia, Israel, New Zealand, Slovenia, Saudi Arabia, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Indonesia, Libya, Mexico, Mauritius, Romania and Serbia.

For more information see www.gazafreedommarch.org , especially Questions and Answers section, or contact:

In Cairo: Ann Wright 019 508 1493 microann@yahoo.com
In Canada: Sandra Ruch 416-716-4010 miriamswell@hotmail.com
In the US: Medea Benjamin 415-235-6517 medea@globalexchange.org
In Gaza: Haider Eid 970 599 441 766 haidareid@yahoo.com
In Europe (Portugal): Ziyaad Lunat +351938349206 z.lunat@googlemail.com

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Citing escalating tensions on the Gaza-Egypt border, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry informed us on December 20 that the Rafah border will be closed over the coming weeks, into January. We responded that there is always tension at the border because of the siege and that if there are any risks, they are risks we are willing to take. We also said that it was too late for over 1,360 delegates coming from over 42 countries to change their plans now.

Although we consider this as a setback, it is something we’ve encountered—and overcome--before. No delegation, large or small, that has entered Gaza over the past 12 months has received a final OK before arriving at the Rafah border. Most delegations were discouraged from even heading out of Cairo to Rafah. Some had their buses stopped on the way. Some have been told outright that they could not go into Gaza. But after public and political pressure, the Egyptian government changed its position and let them pass.

Our efforts and plans will not be altered at this point. We have set out to break the siege of Gaza and to march in Gaza on December 31 against the international blockade. We are continuing the journey.

Egyptian embassies and missions all over the world will be hearing by phone, fax and email from delegates and the supporters of the Gaza Freedom March over the coming crucial days, with the clear message: Let the international delegation enter Gaza and let the Gaza Freedom March proceed.

Many delegates are already in Cairo and more are arriving daily. Delegates cancelled holiday plans months ago to come on the Gaza Freedom march and air tickets were purchased. We anticipate that virtually all of the 1,360 delegates will come to Cairo.

Because of the incredible humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by the Israeli attack on Gaza a year ago and by the international siege on Gaza, we feel morally obligated to continue our mission to bring more international attention to the plight of the 1.5 million people imprisoned in Gaza.

For more information:
Ann Wright: microann@yahoo.com
019 508 1493 (cairo)

Medea Benjamin: medea@globalexchange.org
US +1.415-235-6517, Cairo 0189561919

Ehab Lotayef : lotayef@gmail.com
Canada +1.514.941.9792 Cairo 017 638-2628

Haidar Eid: haidareid@yahoo.com
Gaza +972 599 441 766

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A Palestinian in Gaza receiving humanitarian aid (MaanImages)

Palestinian refugee Yusif Barakat will return to Palestine with 1,000 international delegates of the Gaza Freedom March set for 31 December, the event's organizers said on Monday.

Yusif Barakat, 74, was born in Haifa, Palestine under the British Mandate. Barakat’s family was compelled to leave their home when Jewish immigrants were settled in Palestine after World War II.

In August 1947, as a 12-year-old shepherd boy, he landed at Ellis Island in the US with his family, not speaking a word of English. Four years later, his father died, leaving Barakat to take care of his mother and three sisters.

"He has been taking care of the needy ever since," the statement said. Now a retired psychotherapist, Barakat has devoted himself to working with the juvenile justice system, helping the youth develop trust and relationships through his treatment and rehabilitation program.

He also has deep emotional ties to his native Palestine and is deeply saddened that the US government is facilitating the suffering of Palestinians, the march's organizers wrote.

“I am appalled at the billions of US tax dollars that have gone to the Israeli government, which continues a 60-year-long occupation of Palestinian homelands. And when I saw all the death and destruction from the invasion of Gaza, I knew I had to do something. That’s why I’m joining the Gaza Freedom March.”

Departing for Egypt, Barakat and 1,000 other international activists will caravan into Gaza to witness the still remaining devastation of last year's attacks and on 31 December, will join local Palestinians in a nonviolent march from northern Gaza to the Erez border crossing into Israel. On the Israeli side of the Erez border Palestinians and Israelis will also call on the Israeli government to open the border.

Following Hamas' takeover in 2007, Israel closed off the Erez border crossing to the majority of Palestinians living in Gaza, which was used by Palestinians to enter Israel for work, study and medical treatment. Now only a handful of Palestinians with the required permits are allowed to transit via this crossing.

The statement added that other participants include Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker, leading Syrian comedian Duraid Lahham, South African anti-apartheid leader Ronnie Kasrils, French Senator Alima Boumediene–Thiery, author and Filipino Parliament member Walden Bello, former European Parliamentarian Luisa Morgantini from Italy, President of the US Center for Constitutional Rights attorney Michael Ratner, Japanese former Ambassador to Lebanon Naoto Amaki, French hip-hop artists Ministere des Affaires Populaires, among many others.

Families of three generations, doctors, lawyers, diplomats, 70 students, an interfaith group that includes rabbis, priests and imams, a women's delegation, a Jewish contingent, a veterans group and Palestinians born overseas who have never seen their families in Gaza will also join the march.

It is expected that 50,000 Palestinians will also participate in the event, spanning all segments of society and work, including NGOs, professors and students, and women's rights groups.

The march, set to take place in Gaza on 31 December, is described by the organizers as "an historic initiative to break the siege that has imprisoned the 1.5 million Palestinians who live there. Conceived in the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and nonviolent resistance to injustice worldwide, the march will gather people from all over the world to demand that the Israeli government open the borders."

In addition to the march, many events will take place, including performances by Palestinian rappers, hip-hop bands and Dabkeh dancers.

Source: Ma'an News

More on Gaza March: http://www.gazafreedommarch.org/

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• Refugee Number xxxxxx Million
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When celebrating Christmas, it would be a good idea to think about the birthplace of Jesus. What is like in the Holy Land under the Israeli occupation, injustice and racism? How does Christmas feel when the Holy Land is under siege?

Help bring joy to the Holy Land.
Help break the siege.
Support the Freedom March to Gaza, Holy Land (Palestine).
http://www.gazafreedommarch.org/

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9esPiCxLDZk

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On December 31, 2009, up to one-thousand citizens from across the world will gather in Gaza to march from the neighborhood of Iazbat Abu Drabo, a community in which nearly every building was completely destroyed during Israel’s attack on Gaza one year ago, to the Erez border crossing into Israel. The international marchers will be joined by an estimated 50,000 Palestinians from Gaza. At the same time, Israeli and Palestinian activists will be marching through Israel, also toward the Erez crossing. Upon reaching the border, participants on both sides will release balloons, fly kites and wave flags to demonstrate their solidarity with one another. They will do so to "show the residents of Gaza that the international community of citizens has not forgotten them" and to "call worldwide attention to the ongoing humanitarian crisis." Through the march and other activities, organizers "hope to force the leaders of our governments to tell Israel 'enough is enough; open the borders!’" This innovative and powerful expression of nonviolent resistance to the blockade of Gaza is known as the Gaza Freedom March.

According to Madea Benjamin, an organizer of the Gaza Freedom March and co-founder of CodePink, "The response to this march has been incredible. We put out a call, and people all over the world responded. We now have over 1,000 people coming from 42 countries-from Austria to Yemen. We have students and seniors, judges and doctors, businesspeople and union reps. We have imams, rabbis and priests. And inside Gaza, this march has helped galvanize civil society. We are grateful that on the one year anniversary of the Israeli invasion, we will be in Gaza to show the people that we have not forgotten them-that we will continue to struggle with them, until they achieve their basic rights."

The Gaza Freedom March has been endorsed by such notables as author Alice Walker, film director Oliver Stone, Dr. Patch Adams and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd. Walker and Adams have themselves visited the Gaza Strip in the last year. In her blog, Walker explained her motivation for going to Gaza: "[In the days following the assault,] I waited to hear some word of regret, of grief, of compassion, from our leaders in Washington, who had sent the money, the earnings of American taxpayers, to buy the bombs destroying [their] world. What little concern voiced from our 'leaders’ was faint, arrived late, was delivered without much feeling, and was soon overshadowed by an indifference to the value of Palestinian life that has corrupted our children’s sense of right and wrong for generations."

Participants in the Gaza Freedom March are adding their voices to those who have gone before. Attorney Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, said, "For too long, and I do not exempt myself, most of us have stood silently by or made only marginal protests about the massive violations of Palestinian rights carried out by Israel." Mike Hearington, a member of Veterans for Peace from Georgia, told March organizers, "By my presence I hope to demonstrate to the people of Gaza my concern and compassion for their plight. As a U.S. citizen, I’m appalled that we provide the military support to Israel that results in such death and destruction in Palestine. As a Veterans for Peace member, I have the responsibility to serve the cause of world peace."

But Gael Murphy, a longtime activist with CodePink and a member of the Gaza Freedom March Policy Committee, explains that the march is more than a singular act of solidarity. She told AAPER, "Organizing for the march has helped to raise the visibility of the unjust situation in Gaza. In promoting the march we've created new opportunities for education and activism. Recruitment for the march has brought in new activists and deeper commitment to the Palestinian cause. Americans marching with Palestinians in Gaza on December 31 can only expand our possibilities for achieving greater wisdom and fairness in U.S. policy, including demanding greater accountability from Israel. People to people delegations like this serve to energize the struggle, moving us that much closer to ending the blockade."

*Organizations and individuals around the world are planning solidarity actions and events in their towns throughout the week of December 27th, as communities commemorate the one year anniversary of the assault on Gaza. To find or organize an event in your area, please visit http://www.gazafreedommarch.org

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By Dr. Elias Akleh *

Election is a political tool that helps people to democratically elect their political representatives. Like any tool the benefits of election are determined by its use. Lately election has been employed to oppress people rather than serving them. Palestinian election is such a clear example.

We have seen elections being manipulated to install and impose in a government a certain group of people, who would enslave rather than serve the people. This happens even in the so-called most democratic country such as the U.S., where at least the last three elections had been manipulated for such a purpose.

Part of the American "War on Global Terror" has been the toppling, in one way or the other, of present political regimes in the Greater Middle East, as referred to by the administration, and the installation of new pro-American puppet regimes through manipulation of election. The American administration claimed that it is spreading freedom and democracy to other countries; and what is a better way of spreading democracy other than election.

The American administration accused Afghanistan of harboring Al-Qaeda terrorist group. So the G.I. boys were sent to topple down Afghanistan's regime and to install UNOCAL's Hamid Karzai as President in December 2004. Evidence of widespread fraud in last month's (September 09) Afghanistan election has been broadcasted all over the news media.

Similar events took place in Iraq. Under the false claims of developing WMD and supporting terrorism, the US attacked Iraq abolishing Saddam's Baath regime. American supervised election in Iraq in December 15, 2005 installed the pro-American Nouri al-Maliki puppet regime. Under the pretence of giving all Iraqi citizens, especially those living in Europe and the US, the opportunity to vote, special designated voting centers were built for those Iraqis to cast their votes. These votes, whether casted by real Iraqis or were fraudulent, had no doubt swayed the election into the pro-American direction.

War is only one way of imposing pre-arranged election onto a nation. Political pressure, propaganda, and financing the opposition to cause velvet revolutions are other ways of changing the result of an election. James Baker was sent to Georgia to arrange for a velvet revolution resulting in the election of Mikkhail Saakashvili in January 2004. In Lebanon the American Ambassador Michele Sison was more active than any Lebanese politician in supporting the March 14th Alliance financially and politically in the June 2009 election resulting in the appointment of the politically inexperienced pro-Western Saad Hariri as Prime Minister. Up till today the American meddling in the Lebanese affairs had caused the failure of forming a national-unity cabinet. This failure is aimed at giving the US, as well as France, the opportunity to offer their help to form the Lebanese cabinet.

Palestinian election is not different than the previously mentioned elections. In January 2005 a mockery election was played on the Palestinians through which Mahmoud Abbas was "elected" as the president. Tired and exhausted by the corruption and treachery of Abbas and his gang, Palestinians decided to play the election game and voted in January 2006 for Hamas to form the Legislative Council and the government. This came as an unexpected surprise to Abbas, Israel, and the US, who later on conspired to sabotage Hamas government and to topple it down (see Vanity Fair's "The Gaza Bombshell"). The democratically elected Hamas was declared a terrorist group, Israel imposed a siege on Gaza, and eventually perpetrated war crimes and crimes against humanity during its onslaught on Gaza last December 2008 to finish off Hamas government but unsuccessful.

The self-proclaimed democratic US, EU, and the fake only-democratic country; Israel, in the Middle East did not like the result of the democratically elected Palestinian government. So they opposed it.

After three years of violent opposition Hamas government survived and gained more popularity and support within occupied Palestine and in the rest of the Arab and Moslem World.

With the encouragement of the US, Israel, and some Arab regimes, Abbas decreed to hold presidential and legislative elections on 24th of January 2010. It is important to remember that according to the Palestinian constitution Abbas' presidency had expired last January 2009, and that he should be replaced by the head of the Legislative Council until new presidential election takes place. For the last ten months Abbas had violated the laws and the constitution by forcing himself into the presidency. All his decisions during this period including the election are unconstitutional and illegal.

Abbas' calling for election came in the wrong time and has served to draw attention away from Goldstone's report and from Israeli war crimes. Instead of concentrating efforts to take Israel to the International Criminal Court for its crimes, Abbas' call is sidetracking these efforts and attention towards illusive election. Instead of working on national reconciliation and unity Abbas is increasing Palestinian division.

Such election is aimed at neutralizing Hamas, and installing a new Palestinian government under the possible leadership of Muhammad Dahlan, who has been thrown back onto the political stage, and is been prepped for presidency. The new government is to give more concessions to Israel.

Election is meant to punish, to illegitimize, and to further isolate Hamas government for not signing the Egyptian sponsored reconciliation agreement after it was changed to give Abbas absolute power.

To guarantee the defeat of Hamas in any future election Abbas' security forces as well as the Israeli army have been arresting Hamas leaders in the West Bank and closing all its charitable institutions. Starving and murdering Palestinians in Gaza has been pointed to as the fate of West Bank Palestinians if they elect Hamas.

Election is a tool used to suppress Palestinian national interests. Palestinians in occupied Palestine are under occupation and under threat of violence and starvation. They do not have real freedom to elect representatives. There is no guarantee that election would not be manipulated by Israel and Abbas' Palestinian Authority. There are no guarantees that the results of election would be recognized and respected by Israel, US and EU. Previous experience; the fate of elected Hamas government, justifies such fears.

One important point that is purposely ignored is the fact that the Palestinian Authority should represent ALL Palestinians not just those under occupation. Palestinians in refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Europe and the US also have the right to elect their representative. These Palestinians should have the opportunity to vote similar to the opportunity given to Iraqis in Diaspora to vote in 2005. Such opportunity is denied for the knowledge that Abbas' Fatah gang would certainly lose.

Palestinian election under the Israeli occupation is a big joke. It is meant to give the illusion of Palestinian freedom and autonomy, and to keep the people busy with something other than their legitimate resistance to the occupation. Palestinians can regain their country and assert their rights only by resisting the Israeli occupation and not by fake elections.

* Dr. Elias Akleh is an Arab writer from a Palestinian descent born in the town of Beit Jala. His family was first evicted from Haifa after the "Nakba" of 1948, then from Beit Jala after the "Nakseh" of 1967. He lives now in the US, and publishes his articles on the web in both English and Arabic.

Related posts:

• Israeli Democracy: Bans Arab from coming election
• West chooses Fatah, but Palestinians don’t
• Democracy: The American Way

Gaza Freedom March promo:

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUYA78E-WtY

For more info: http://www.gazafreedommarch.org/

Embed the video at your blog (copy code):

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yUYA78E-WtY&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed>

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Image by Carlos Latuff

Is Big Brother at your mosque?

On the first Friday of each month, Mohammed Elsisy, an Egyptian-born software engineer, usually drives from his home in Irvine, Calif., to the King Fahad mosque in Culver City, Calif., to deliver the khutba, or sermon.

Elsisy thought the first Friday of this past June would be no different.

But little did he know something totally unexpected was about to happen that would make this particular Friday the most memorable for years to come.

Elsisy had two passengers in his car at the time.

In the back seat sat Ahmed Niazi, 33, a language teacher and a friend, while in the passenger seat sat a man who converted to Islam almost a year ago.

The man was 44-year-old Craig Monteilh, but he went by the name "Farouk Aziz."

"Monteilh started talking about the Iraq war," Niazi said. "He went off on a rant against U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East."

But then, out of the blue, Monteilh said something that sent chills down the spines of his companions.

He asked Elsisy and Niazi if they knew of an "operation" he could be part of.

Pin-drop silence followed. Elsisy's eyes bounced over to the rearview mirror and traded a horrified glance with Niazi.

"Blood froze up in our veins," Elsisy recalls.

Exactly a year earlier, Monteilh had walked into the Islamic Center of Irvine and declared his intention to embrace Islam.

Issa Edah-Tally, president of the center, said Monteilh, known only as Farouk then, was just another convert among many who took Shahada, or declaration of faith, at the center and became regulars at the mosque.

"We don't ask people for their real names and don't keep track of who attends prayer service," Edah-Tally said.

Monteilh started attending regularly and enrolled in the weekly adult Arabic class taught by Niazi.

"Farouk told me his real name was Frederick Jordon," Niazi recalled. Monteilh also told Niazi that he was of French and Moroccan descent.

However, when Monteilh joined the Berlitz Language Institute's Costa Mesa branch – where Niazi works – to learn Arabic, he filled out a form and wrote his name as Craig Monteilh.

"I don't know why he lied about his real name," Niazi said. "And I don't know why he chose to write down his real name knowing I worked at the Berlitz."

A few months after his conversion, Monteilh was able to make several friends at the mosque. Some recalled how he often went on anti-American tirades, blasting U.S. foreign policy and decrying the suffering of Muslims throughout the world.

But then he started talking about something else.

Ashruf Zied, a software engineer from Irvine, Calif., said Monteilh approached him one day claiming to have access to weapons and asking if he wanted to join him in "waging jihad."

Zied was floored. "I was completely taken aback by what he said," Zied said. "I said, hold it there. What are you talking about?"

Zied said he tried to give Monteilh advice, but found him argumentative and set in his ways.

As his call for armed war became more aggressive, some frightened worshippers stopped attending the prayers altogether.

Board members at the center felt compelled to take action.

They contacted the southern California office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, known as CAIR.

Hussam Ayloush, the council's executive director, recommended they immediately report the incident to the Irvine Police Department (Irvine PD) and to the FBI.

"There was no question about what they were supposed to do next," Ayloush said.

Detective Frough Jahid from the Irvine PD and Special Agent Ellis Kuppferman from the FBI ended up interviewing Edah-Tally, Elsisy, Niazi and Zied, among others.

Elsisy, Niazi and Zied were shocked to find out through Jahid that Monteilh had a criminal record.

Monteilh had told the three he worked as a fitness trainer and was a former pastor.

However, a routine search on the Internet revealed that Monteilh had an extensive criminal record dating as far back as 1987.

The charges included the following: separate charges of grand theft in 1987, 2002 and 2003; burglary in 2002 and forgery in 2003.

There were also several reports against Monteilh on ripoffreport.com, accusing him of scams, fraud and grand theft.

As the fuzzy picture of Monteilh started to come into focus, rumors spread within a community in jitters about agent provocateurs and informants who were infiltrating mosques in order to trick Muslims into false "terror confessions."

A recent case in New Jersey involved a new immigrant from Pakistan named Shahawar Matin Siraj, 24, who was befriended by a fellow Muslim named Osama Eldawoody at a local mosque. Siraj was later talked into a conspiracy to bomb Manhattan's 34th street subway station.

FBI agents arrested Siraj based on a taped confession he made to Eldawoody that the latter recorded in his car.

A similar incident almost repeated itself inside Elsisy's car on that fateful Friday as he rode with Monteilh.

Elsisy recalled how Monteilh always touched his Blackberry before he talked. "I thought he was getting calls," Elsisy said. "Now that I think about it, I believe he was recording our conversations."

The Washington Post published an extensive article on May 29 about confessed FBI informant Eldawoody, who was accused by Siraj's family and supporters of goading his victim into a terror plot Siraj had neither the means nor the know-how to carry out.

The article further said, "The case in New York isn't the only one. Two informers played a role in the recent case of the young Muslim men accused of plotting to kill soldiers at Fort Dix, N.J. One of the young men was recorded telling the informer he was at his service. Later the informer volunteered to obtain machine guns and heavier arms. In Miami, an FBI informer posing as a member of al-Qaeda gave a group of men military boots and cell phones, promised weapons and suggested their first target be a Miami FBI office. In Lodi, Calif., a federal informer who lied about seeing an al-Qaeda leader in the area helped to convict a 23-year-old of training at a terrorism camp."

Defense lawyers in a number of other terrorism suspect cases accused informants of solely seeking financial boon by creating so-called terrorists that did not exist.

According to court records, Eldawoody was paid $100,000 over a period of 3 years.

Since Siraj's conviction, Eldawoody has his rent covered and receives a monthly stipend of $3,200.

According to The Washington Post, a police spokesman indicated the direct payments to Eldawoody would likely continue "indefinitely."

With such incentives, critics argue, informants are likely to be created out of thin air to join the "inform-and-cash" industry.

Meanwhile, the Muslim community across the country is feeling the heat of being closely watched.

"This is creating mistrust between our community and law enforcement officials," Ayloush said.

In light of their extensive criminal records, Ayloush added, these individuals would neither qualify as police officers nor as FBI agents, yet they are on the payroll of law enforcement agencies and are allowed to do law enforcement work.

"We all respect hardworking law enforcement agents," Ayloush said. "But mercenary informants? Hardly."

Laura Eimiller, spokeswoman for the FBI Los Angeles office, told InFocus the bureau could not confirm nor deny an investigation.

"However, individuals are encouraged to come forward to report any suspicious activity to law enforcement officials," she said.

But Ayloush argued this case sends mixed messages to the Muslim community.

"On one hand, they are asked to report suspicious activity, but on the other hand, they are left without any protection once the suspected terrorist or informant gets angry and chooses to retaliate against those who reported him," he said. "How is this going to encourage people to do the right thing?"

Niazi said an angry Monteilh visited him at the Berlitz office and verbally threatened him shortly before he was supposed to appear in court to testify against him.

Niazi later received a provocative e-mail from Monteilh, a copy of which was made available to InFocus.

In the e-mail, Monteilh wrote, "…there is a restraining order against me. And now I'm hearing you are a part of this whole thing... The F.B.I. has contacted me. They want to interview me about certain rumors. What's funny is these rumors cannot be proven. There's no proof of me doing or saying anything. This is why I'm somewhat laughing. But Ahmad, I have evidence of things we discussed. I have proof. And lots of proof. Now it's my turn. I'm very sorry it had to come to this."

The incident was reported to law enforcement officials in the first week of June, but the FBI waited three weeks to contact Monteilh.

Moreover, Monteilh was reportedly seen attending evening prayers at the Omar Al Farouk mosque in Anaheim.

"Why did they wait so long to contact him? Why wasn't he arrested?" some community members asked. "What if this individual acted on his words?"

These were legitimate questions, they said, which were not addressed by any of the law enforcement officials involved.

Human intelligence

A July 25 article on an ABC News blog reported that, following a directive from President Bush in 2004, the FBI was ordered to boost its human intelligence capabilities by recruiting informants.

According to a recent unclassified document, the FBI plans to "overhaul its database system, so it can manage records and verify the accuracy of information from more than 15,000 informants."

The document, which was made available to Congress, goes on to state, "While many of the recruited informants will apparently be U.S. residents, some informants may be overseas, recruited by FBI agents in foreign offices."

The cost to taxpayers is expected to top $22 million, according to the document.

"The question is: Are we genuinely monitoring would-be terrorists to protect the public, or are we in the business of creating terrorists so we can justify use of the funds appropriated to fight domestic terrorism?" Ayloush said.

Many argue the problem is that informants are people who are usually ex-cons and criminals who choose this path to buy their freedom.

As was the case with Eldawoody, they say informants feel forced to create something if necessary to exonerate themselves in the eyes of the law and justify receiving money for information they feel compelled to collect.

Ayloush said these so-called informants are oftentimes rapists, drug dealers or people who have broken the law in different ways.

"How can you put national security in the hands of crooks and criminals who have no respect for the law to begin with?" he said.

Other critics maintain that individuals like Eldawoody and Monteilh are not acting as informants, but rather as agent provocateurs.

They pressure and brainwash people who otherwise would not engage in violence and extremism, and always choose their victims among the most vulnerable, such as disenchanted youth, the unemployed and the angry who exist in every community.

"They are creating terrorists in a way that no actual terrorist recruiter would have been able to," Ayloush said.

Edah-Tally believes all Islamic centers should be vigilant and pay attention to what is going on in their mosques.

"Community members should be encouraged and not be afraid to come forward to report incidents as they occur," he said.

The Friday following the incident, Elsisy gave a sermon in which he made reference to his traumatic experience.

He told his congregation that American Muslims are patriots who love their country and would not hesitate to protect it from anyone who wants to harm it.

"We, as American Muslims, should never hesitate at all to report any kind of suspicious activity," Elsisy said.

Via: InFocus

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This is headline of the news story by those who call themselves "Free" journalists" (Edmund L. Andrews and John Kifner) who work for a "Free Press House" called "The New York Times".

According to them, George Habash is a terrorist! Wonder why?

The title "George Habash, Palestinian Terrorism Tactician, Dies at 82" published on Sunday the 27th of January 2008 makes it seem that the NY Times definition of terrorism depends on a persons nationality (Palestinian) or perhaps on the nationality of those he kills (Israeli).

No doubt that the NY Times would describe Ariel Sharon or ex-Israeli chief of staff - Dan Halutz - who presided over operations in the Palestinian Occupied Territories and in Lebanon in which hundreds of Civilians were killed, in many cases several family members at a time, as an "Israeli Terrorism Tactician". Or are they? Are they??? [h/t: Neta Golan]

F**king "Free Press"!

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