Jews and Muslims Together's topics - tribe.net

a non-violent approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

~Majnun~ — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:11:20 GMT

Exclusive - Anna Baltzer & Mustafa Barghouti Extended Interview Pt. 1

Anna Baltzer and Mustafa Barghouti advocate a non-violent approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in this complete, unedited interview.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-october-28-2009/exclusive---anna-baltzer---mustafa-barghouti-extended-interview-pt--1

Tags: Anna Baltzer, Mustafa Barghouti, interview, exclusives, books, Middle East, Palestine, Israel, Jewish, peace, international affairs, history, human rights, violence, Christian, Islamic, audience interaction

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 4 replies

Thoughts on Some Possibilities for Muslim-Jewish Dialogue

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 15:21:03 GMT

This was a pamphlet that I found in my fathers library after he passed. I like it a lot.

Oh people of the Book
(Let us) come to an agreement between us and you
that we shall worship none but Allah and ascribe no partners to Him
and none of us shall take as lords other than Allah.
(Al 'Imran 3:64)

This verse or sign ('ayat) from the Qur'an is an injunction that is binding upon all Muslims. We are told- nay commanded- to try to reach an agreement with the People of the Book, who are otherwise defined as the followers of earlier revelation meaning Christians, Sabians, and Jews.

The use in the above text of the Name "Allah" means nothing more and nothing less than what may be understood as, "God".

However, since the English word "God" can also be spelled "god", it yields unfortunate derivatives such as gods, goddess, and goddesses. As such it is simply not the same at all as the word Allah, which has neither root nor derivative, gender nor number.

The Name Allah may appear strange to Jewish readers of this essay, so I have elected to spell it as G-d ~which is to say:

Hear oh Israel, YHVH, our G-d, YHVH (is) One

The word in the verse or, more correctly, sign ('ayat) which is translated into English as "an agreement" (kalimah) may be also understood to mean "an equitable word" or "a common tenet" or, even, "a shared revelation".

Certainly it is true that Muslims and Jews both share a belief in a book, and a "Book" moreoever in which the One from whom the revelation comes insists upon His Own Ultimate Singularity.

The desert dwellers (bedu) describe what is meant by that Naming of the Unnamable by telling this tale or one like it:

"A man and his wife were riding in the desert two days out from the last waterhole and three days forward to the next when a snake startled their camel, who shied and threw them.

The man hit the ground, broke his neck and died immedietly. Simultaneously the camel ran away with all of their baggage including the food and all the water.

The woman was left quite alone in the middle of the desert.

To Whom did she cry?

To Whom did she appeal?

Whom did she beg for mercy?

And Who was it that might even "hear" that plea?

Whoever and whatever that is, is what is meant by Allah"

Is that different than what is meant by G-d?

If either of us think that Being to whom she cried is somehow different for a Muslim and a Jew, then it would be hard to imagine that there was any real possibility of sincere dialogue between a Muslim and a Jew.

If we can agree that we are talking about more or less the same Being, then I would say that the surest basis on which dialogue between Muslim and Jew can best proceed is on our common belief in the same G-d; One without an other, totally indivisable.

Let me make clear that I, as a praciticing and, inshaAllah, sincere Muslim, firmly believe, without any doubt attached to that belief, that the woman left alone in the desert calling upon Allah and, let us say, a Jewish woman who fell off her sleigh in the snows somewhere on the Russian border fleeing, perhaps, a porgom and, alone in that frozen waste, calling upon Ha Shem must necessarily be calling on One and the Same Being.

For in Truth there is no other to whom any of us can call in our hour of need nor has there ever been nor ever be.

When a Muslim reads the Torah, he or she finds so many parallels that there can be no real question of our shared beliefs and, indeed, their common origin:

In Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 44:6 we find:
"I am the first and I am the last and beside Me there is no G-d"

In the Surah al-Hadid 57:3 we find:
He is the First and the Last, the Outer and the Inner, and He is the knower of all things.

(what follows is three pages of similarities in verses from the Torah and the Qur'an, which I am going to bypass right now, but may type out later if this thread becomes active)

Some orientalists hold that such parallels simply are a result of "borrowing", whilst particularists and exclusivists among jews, as well as many Christians, maintain that such correspondances or similarites are nothing but a form of plagerism.

As though G-d chose to speak with one side of the family and not the other.

However those who believe in, and are aware of the existance of revelation, prophecy and prophets know that it is not a question of borrowing or plagerism but rather that revelation is a reality. They know that since G-d is One, what comes from G-d through the agency of prophecy and revelation must necessarily bear witness to the same Divine origin.

Since most people who may be reading this essay may not be familiar with what Muslims actually believe, let me list a few of the basic beliefs that Muslims, regardless of region of origin or school (madhab), hold in common:

G-d is One.

G-d is the Creator of man and woman and all of creation.

Both man and woman have a unique purpose in that creation.

G-d has clarified that purpose over time through Revelation to Prophets which have recorded in various Books including, but not limited to, the Torah, Tehillim (Psalms), or the Zabur, the Injil or Evangels and the Qur'an or the Recital.

These Revelations have been brought to the people through Angels, who are beings of light, and through certain selected and chosen members of the human race formed of water, clay, and spirit, called Prophets or Awakeners (anbiya), and Messengers (rasul0, peace be upon them all.

These last ~ the Messengers or Rasul ~ have, besides the task of awakening the people around them from their deep unconscous sleep, the responsiblity of delivering a revealed message which contains the matrix of the specific religious way of life (din) which G-d has prescribed for human beings.

These are Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus, and Muhammad, peace be upon them.

What they brought is called the Law, otherwise known is Arabic as shari'ah, literally, "the broad path that leads to water".

To be continued as time permits, inshaAllah....

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 56 replies

On 'conspiracy' and the distinction between Hebrews, Jews and Zionists

Skeyeopener — Wed, 13 May 2009 19:48:16 GMT

The following excerpt is from a book('rule by secrecy' by Jim Marrs) that I feel offers a clear distinction between Hebrews, Jews and Zionists and the issue of anti-Semitism that often confuses the discussions we have in the Jews and Muslims Together tribe. It also offers a little insight into the nature of 'conspiracy' and the reason as to why there can be a shying away from its consideration. May this help to bridge and not distance.

~~~~~~~~~~~

It was also about the time of Nathan's arrival in London that Mayer Bauer changed his name to Rothschild (literally "red shield") taken from a red shield emblem on the ghetto home of his ancestors. This name change undoubtedly was an attempt to separate his family from the raging anti-Semitism prevalent in Germany at the time. To further insulate the family from such racism, the Rothschilds used a stable of registered agents and front men to operate their far-flung business dealings.

This may be a good point to dismiss claims that the modern secret societies, either wittingly or otherwise, are furthering the aims of an international Jewish conspiracy. While it is undoubtedly true that many of the world's wealthy elite have a Jewish heritage, one should not be sidetracked by the issue of race or religion. There is no evidence of substance to prove that Jews or Hebrews----or any other racial or religious group----are any more greedy or ambitious than anyone else.

Furthermore, any discussion of anti-Semitism is frequently lost in a misunderstanding of the distinction between Hebrews, Jews and Zionists.
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language describes a Hebrew as a member of the Semitic people, a race descended from Abraham of the Old Testament which, ironically enough, also includes most Arabs. A Jew, on the other hand, is a[n] adherent of Judaism, a religion handed down by the Israelites. A Zionist is a member of a political movement concerned with preserving and furthering the aims of the state of Israel. These constitute three separate issues: race, religion, and politics.

To lump these singular issues into one single conspiracy is both wrong headed and contrary to the historical evidence. Most people in modern America realize that it is wrong to judge a person on race, an attribute over which that person has no control. Likewise, it is considered bad manners by most to publicly attack another person's religion. Only one's politics are fair game for dissension and argument.

It is here, in the realm of politics,that much confusion has been sown. Supporters of Zionism for years have skillfully attacked their opponents as "anti-Semites" to the extent that many Americans, Jews and gentiles alike and especially the media, are loath to even question the policies of Israel no matter how odious.

Furthermore, the broad brush of anti-Semitism frequently has been used to besmirch anyone offering a conspiratorial view of history.

While it may be true that secret organizations in the past were built along both racial and religious grounds, attempting to bring race or religion into a discussion of modern secret societies and conspiracies only serves to confuse the issue and repel conscientious researchers. Although many international financiers are of Jewish descent, it is no more fair to accuse the Hebrew race of an international conspiracy than it would be to blame all Caucasians for the acts of Hitler's Nazis.

W. Cleon Skousen, a former FBI agent who served as police chief of Salt Lake City in the late 1950s, wrote about international conspiracies in several books, including The Naked Communist. He, too, came to understand that racial identification was "an oversimplified explanation for the rise of the global power structure which has snared mankind." He explained, "In studying the global conspiracy it is important to keep in mind that it was not any particular race or religion but the 'passion for money and power' which has drawn the tycoons of world finance into a tightly knit, mutual-aid society."

But such considered and reasoned understanding of anti-Semitism was not in vogue during Mayer Rothschild's time. So he built his financial empire while studiously attempting to avoid the racism of his day.

This is not to imply that the Rothschilds were not proud of their Jewish ancestry. By all accounts, family leaders have been most devout in their observance of Jewish traditions and customs. Over the years, the family has donated liberally to Jewish causes and may have even played a vital role in establishing the state of Israel, although some conspiracy writers claim that Rothschilds interest in Israel more concerns the control of oil than love of a homeland.

One method utilized to avoid racism was the enlistment of non-Jewish operatives as fronts for the Rothschild organization. At the time of the American Civil War, J. P. Morgan publicly made anti-Semitic remarks, yet he furthered the goals of the Rothschilds. "How much of Morgan's anti-Semitism was real and how much may have been a pragmatic a guise is, in the final analysis, of little importance....Regardless of one's interpretation of the nature of the relationship between the Houses of Morgan and Rothschild, the fact remains that it was close, it was ongoing, and it was profitable to both. If Morgan truly did harbor feelings of anti-Semitism, neither he nor the Rothschilds ever allowed them to get in their way of business," noted author griffin.

According to author Icke, Morgan and Rockefeller were wealthy "gofers" who used Rothschild financing to "build vast empires which controlled banking, business, oil, steel, etc., and ran the United States economy in the way the Oppenheimers do in South Africa."

~~~~~~~~~~~

(end of excerpt)

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 5 replies

peace or pieces

Yosef — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:01:22 GMT

Palestinians: 'Peace' just a means to a darker end

Those who believe the land-for-peace process will bring an end to the bloodshed between Arabs and Israelis are deluding themselves, explained a leading member of the ruling Palestinian faction in a televised interview last week.

It seems some Palestinians were becoming worried that increasingly active American involvement would bring the war against Israel to an end before they had a chance to destroy the Jewish state.

Speaking on Palestinian Authority TV, Kifah Radaydeh, deputy head of the Jerusalem chapter of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction, sought to reassure them:

"It has been said that we are negotiating for peace, but our goal has never been peace. Peace is a means; the goal is Palestine."

Radaydeh made clear that by "Palestine" she meant all of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea by admitting that when the time is right, Fatah will fully rejoin the campaign of violence against Israel.

Radaydeh's is by no means an isolated sentiment. In March, Mohammed Dahlan, a top advisor to Abbas and the former Fatah strongman in charge of Gaza, said on Palestinian Authority TV:

"I want to say for the thousandth time, in my own name and in the name of all of my fellow members of the Fatah movement: We do not demand that the Hamas movement recognize Israel. On the contrary, we demand of the Hamas movement not to recognize Israel, because the Fatah movement does not recognize Israel, even today."

Dahlan went on to explain that the Fatah-ruled Palestinian Authority only pays lip service to recognizing Israel in order to obtain assistance from the international community, both in the form of financial aid and political pressure on Israel.

Despite these very public acknowledgements that Fatah, like Hamas, still seeks Israel's ultimate destruction, the international community continues to insist on painting Abbas and his party as "moderates" and the antithesis of the Islamic radicals that fill Hamas' ranks.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 1 reply

how do you follow halakha or halal???

scott — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:41:36 GMT

The words halakhah & kehilla on the Hebrew side I had gotten confused with halal & ulema--for the Arabic. Usually, the dynamic is a way to assert Jewish ideas so that reflecting on an inordinary bridge to dialogue about, mainly, Abraham, has a brighter light shone on our scope in Jewish thought. Anyway, Rambam has something to say about how other monotheists & for that matter the somewhat obscure predeceased religions. either spoke about our prophets or merely had intercessors that brought G-d into human intentions.

Have you heard of Rabbi Moshe Chayyim Luzzato?
I believe he was an Italian rabbi, from the 1800s--as such from the oldest of European Jewry bce some time. I am reading about Messianic Consciousness, and it seems to have a conventional definition, that anticipation is leaving folks in a no-win, no-where dissolution. According to Talmud (Rabbi Zera), we should never speculate on the arrival of a messianic age. The allegory I see discussed here is just as we are to consider Bereshit--that creation's beginning is not some time in the distant past, but is before us--as on-going a narrative as life evolves and is creative. So, messianic consciousness is found when we jettison everything in order to be fully present. I see your midrashic tendencies as the same reprise of old world as we saw our background deliver us unto, as an equal attempt. The remote sense that you and I take certain ideals as definite and the other as indefinite, has only to do with integration to which we imagine only our own minds acceding... You are there with me in moments when you may not surmise the truth as evident, and likewise I am with you when I don't know I concord with this ecclesia...the Jewish halakhah. Study leads to precision (zhiruth) - precision leads to watchfulness - watchfulness leads to cleanliness - cleanliness leads to restraint - restraint leads to purity - purity leads to saintliness - saintliness leads to humility - humility leads to fear of sin - fear of sin leads to holiness - holiness leads to prophesy - holy spirit (prophesy) leads to life eternal: As told by Rabbi Phineas ben Jair. Then in response the author Rabbi David A. Cooper says, learning leads to respect, respect leads to generosity, generosity leads to acts of loving-kindness **chasidut**, chasidut/ seferdic pronounciation/ leads to moderation in living, moderation in living leads to purity in thought, purity of thought leads to joy, joy leads to selflessness, selflessness leads to awe, awe leads to equanimity, equanimity leads to extraordinary mind-states, extraordinary mind states leads to life eternal = G-d Consciousness.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 1 reply

Culture.

CCM — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 05:58:38 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jMz-_PVg5A&feature=channel

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 1 reply

looking for the 180 degree opposite

Yosef — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:11:36 GMT

Looking for a video that will share some radical viewpoint from the Jewish side anybody have one?

Here's a well-respected college professor from Kuwait:

http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=0861ff3eabea1ceb73e4

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 6 replies

Obama Endorses Two-State Solution

meliaarhrt — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 21:21:04 GMT

Comments? Opinions? Rants?

I have always valued this attempt at open dialog and respect the informed and counseled discussion of it's members. I recently read the book Sway, by the Bronfman brothers. The book surveys the literature about what makes us choose emotional rather than logical solutions to crisis. His thesis is that diagnosing, that is labeling and assigning blame, is not useful to the solution of the problem. This tribe is at it's very best when we discuss solutions, not a history no one can now change.

<<Obama Endorses Two-State Solution for Arab-Israeli Conflict
By Mohamed Elshinnawi
Washington
06 February 2009

Shortly after a Gaza ceasefire went into effect between Israel and the Islamic group Hamas, President Barack Obama sent his Middle East envoy to the region to kick-start a process to end the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Special envoy George Mitchell cautions that reaching a peace agreement will be very difficult
US special envoy George Mitchell cautions that reaching a peace agreement will be very difficult
The effort will focus on the so-called "two-state solution," which would establish a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip coexisting peacefully alongside the Jewish state.

"Lasting peace requires more than a long cease-fire, and that's why I will sustain an active commitment to seek two states living side by side in peace and security," Obama said.

Obama sent his special envoy, former Senator George Mitchell, to the region for talks with Arab and Israeli leaders. In Jerusalem, Mitchell said reaching a peace agreement will be tough.

"The tragic violence in Gaza and in southern Israel offers a sober reminder of the very serious and difficult challenges and, unfortunately, the setbacks that will come."

Attempts to evacuate small settlements in the West Bank have sparked violence between Israeli troops and settlers who refuse to leave
Attempts to evacuate small settlements in the West Bank have sparked violence between Israeli troops and Jewish settlers who refuse to leave
Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank constitute one of the toughest problems on the way to peace.

Some 200 thousand Jewish settlers live there. Most would have to be relocated in Israel proper, under the usual view of the two-state solution.

But Israeli attempts to evacuate some small settlements have sparked violence between Israeli troops and settlers who refuse to leave.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said Israel is willing to remove 60 thousand West Bank settlers for peace, a small fraction.

Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will not ask settlers to leave the West Bank
Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will not ask settlers to leave the West Bank
Israeli elections in February could make Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu the next prime minister. He says he will not ask any settlers to leave the West Bank. In November, he suggested he is not for a two-state solution.
"I think that rather than build peace exclusively from the top down with political agreements, we have to add to the political process building peace from the bottom up by making the lives of our Palestinian neighbors a lot better so they have a stake in peace," Netanyahu said.

James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute in Washington,says Obama must get tough with Israel on West Bank settlement
James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute in Washington, says Obama must get tough with Israel on West Bank settlement if peace is to be achieved
James Zogby is president of the Arab American Institute in Washington. He says Obama must be tough with Israel on West Bank settlement and the continuing occupation if a solution is to be found.

"Certainly, they [the Israelis] are not going to move unless they are moved, and they are not going to be moved unless the U.S. president says, 'This must end,'" Zogby said.

On the Palestinian side, there are also problems. Palestinians are divided between Fatah, the moderate faction running the West Bank, and Hamas, the militant group that rules in Gaza and refuses to renounce violence. Israel and the United States refuse to engage with Hamas.

Many Israelis and Palestinians are now questioning whether the two-state solution is still possible.

Palestinian author Ali Abu Minnah advocates one bi-national state as an alternative to the two-state solution
Palestinian author Ali Abu Minnah advocates one bi-national state as an alternative to the two-state solution
Ali Abu Minnah is a Palestinian author living in Chicago. He advocates a one-state solution, in other words, a bi-national state.

"The two-state solution is neither available nor stable nor just, and this is why we have opened the discussion," he said.

A one-state solution is rejected by Israel because Jews would soon become a minority.

William Quandt worked in the Carter administration in the 1970s and was involved in negotiations that led to the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty of 1979. He says the two-state solution is the only hope.

"I think the two-state solution comes back into focus for us because there is no good alternative in terms of a negotiated solution," the University of Virginia professor said.

Zogby says Arab states should help with reconstruction in the Gaza Strip and with Palestinian nation building, and also offer Israel incentives for peace.

As Mitchell himself made clear, the task will neither be easy, nor will progress happen overnight.

But the new U.S. administration seems engaged where the previous one was not.>>

http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-02-06-voa37.cfm

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 17 replies

Which language: are we being political, or bridging the noumenon?

scott — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 01:33:06 GMT

What to choose if the fulminate Semitic language would be learned w/a larger goal being entry to more understanding of the ones mutually arising? Which one would be or is your choice? You can see that this is not going to be political at the risk of being sociologically light. The hour is getting late--even as close as these words for Time are, in Aramaic, Hebrew & Arabic. Being so close etymologically that I seek the predeceased distances between our communities--meaning they remain in my sights Now in as much as I look back & leave pieces of me in all those historical contexts.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

Life on the ground in Gaza:

Thu, 22 May 2008 05:29:47 GMT

Occupation: the siege and health in Palestine

The Israeli occupation's closure policy began in the early 90s. Thousands of Palestinians were denied work in Israel and much of the Palestinian population of Gaza and the West Bank were denied permits, impeding their ability to move freely between Gaza and the West Bank. The Oslo peace process did nothing to prevent Israel from imposing collective punishment against the whole population of Gaza strip, as long as these measurements serve some "security" need.

The severe and harsh siege against the Gaza Strip started in January 2006. The physical siege was accompanied by a devastating economic embargo which was imposed as a collective punishment against the Palestinian people for their democratic choice. In the January 2006 elections, the Hamas party won the majority of seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council in a transparent and democratic election. The West--led by the US--imposed economic and political sanctions against the new Hamas government and 1.5 million people living in the Gaza Strip were put under collective punishment. This external siege was followed by severe Palestinian interclashes between the 2 major parties--Hamas and Fateh. Rhose interclashes were temporarily stopped many times and the political parties attempted to formulate a national unity government and bring about reconciliation between the 2 major parties. But the clear intervention of the US via supporting one party against another , ended with Hamas winning against Fateh and taking over the Gaza Strip in a bloody operation in June 2007. Another chapter of severe siege and closures were imposed against Gaza.

This siege and economic embargo affected the entire population. It affected each and every aspects of our lives. The isolation continues as well as the daily Israeli military operations against the Gaza Strip, which are a desperate attempt by Israel to stop the rockets attacks. But
while trying to stop these rockets attacks, Israel launched disproportional war and used excessive power against Gaza's population. The Israeli military didn't discriminate between civilians and guerrillas.

The power cut off was another type of punishment. The cut off of the fuel supplies, the complete sealing of the borders, and shortages of different commodities have become the norm in Gaza. The poverty of Gaza residents has reached unprecedented levels. 80% are living under the poverty line and they mainly dependent on international aid agencies. 35%of the population are severely impoverished.

I would like to explain for you the effect of the siege on the health of the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Electricity shortage and its effect on health
All hospitals and health facilities have no power at least 8 hours per day. Alternative electrical generators are used during these power cuts but this change in power source has caused many serious problems and many high tech, sophisticated equipment has gone out of order because of the unreliable power supply, e.g. CT machines, laboratory equipments and life saving machines etc. The Red Crescent Society's CT is one of many examples of expensive and crucial equipment that has been ruined by the change in current.

The electrical generators are not a substitute for normal power. They need fuel that is not readily available in Gaza. For example, I have 10 liters of fuel for my car that needs to last several weeks and I was able to get these 10 liters with great difficulty, after waiting in line for hours and hours.

The shortage of standard power and the use of electrical generators adds another burden to the health facilities' general expenditures. It also requires that they suspend many surgical operations in order to ensure emergency services like what happened in January 2008.

The shortage of electricity subsequently affects the water pumping systems, especially in high buildings and in the rural areas. During January 2008 half of the Gaza’s population had no access to clean drinking water. The sewage pumping system has also been affected, according to the UNRWA 22% of Gaza households don’t have proper sewage system, and sewage is released untreated into the sea. These combined problems will contribute to increasing health problems related to contaminated water amongst children who make up to 56% of Gaza population.

A limited and decreasing supply of electricity to Gaza strip has made the delivery of even basic services related to health, water and sanitation very difficult. The border restrictions on the supply of fuel and the banning on imports of health spare parts and machinery exacerbates an already overwhelmed health system. It will lead to further decline in the standard of living for the residents--especially health services standards--of the residents of the Gaza Strip.

Man-made poverty and its effects on health
Poverty has a direct impact on nutrition--especially children's nutrition--and that clearly explains clearly the prevalence of anemia amongst Palestinian children under the age of 5 which has reached as high as 63.4% of under 5 children in January 2008, compared to 57.5% in 2007.

The international aid organizations offer food staples but this is not adequate. Children need well balanced diets to grow in a healthy way. Additionally, whenever there is cash to purchase food, food prices are extremely high and some products are in shortage so families still can't get proper food items. Due to the difficulty of importing food into Gaza milk, cooking oil, and many other items are in shortage in the markets.

The psychological effect on the community
The continuous closure, economic siege, power cuts, and the ongoing military operations against Gaza's population are coupled with poverty and a complete lack of sources of entertainment. It is not strange that 64% of Palestinian kids suffer from post traumatic stress disorders. They exhibit signs such as nightmares, phobias, clinging to the mother, inability to focus, bed wetting and irritability.

The Palestinian community as a whole in the Gaza Strip is suffering from different sorts of psychological symptoms. Depression, anxiety, nightmares, insomnia, irritability and aggression amongst the families has increased remarkably.

Restrictions on movement
The population's right to health has been violated by the Israeli occupation. It is very difficult if not impossible for patients to access to medical care outside the Gaza Strip. There are hundreds of patients who need further treatment and referral to hospitals outside Gaza--especially cancer patients, neurosurgical operations, cardiovascular surgeries etc. These patients are routinely denied permits to leave Gaza for their medical emergencies. Many were even issued a referral and then prohibited from crossing the borders. The rate of referral was 67% in 2006 but it decreased to just 25% in 2008.

In some cases children were allowed to travel but the parents were denied permits to accompany their children. Since June 2007, 117 patients have died while waiting to be referred for treatment outside Gaza. Last October, 20 patients died. 5 of them were children.

Border closures are also impacting the quality of health available in Gaza. Our hospitals are lacking many essential medications and supplies such as anesthetics, x-ray films, laboratory kits, chronic diseases medications, spare parts for hospital beds, etc.

Emergency medical teams--while on duty and in uniform--were often prevented from doing their work during the military operations against Gaza Strip. Several human rights organizations, as well as eyewitnesses accounts by different hospitals staff, have documented these violations of the right to health. On many occasions ambulances were directly targeted by the Israeli army while trying to rescue the injured or were not allowed to reach the injured and the medical teams watched the injured bleed to death. There are countless lives that could have been saved. A few minutes or even a few seconds can make a difference for saving the lives of injured people.

The latest example is the Jabalia incursion when the Israeli army did not allow the ambulance to reach one of the injured children. The child, a girl aged 8, was heavily bleeding and when the ambulance was allowed to evacuate the child it was too late. This practice of the Israeli army during its military operations is a frank violation of human rights and of the fourth Geneva Convention regarding the protection of medical teams while on duty in war and peace. Since December 2000, 17 Palestinian health workers have been killed while on duty and 206 injured.

We are facing an impossible challenge. Gaza's health facilities have to cope with these extraordinary emergency needs with limited medical resources while at the same time trying hard to meet the routine health care needs of the population with scarce resources.

The siege of Gaza must end.

Mona El-Farra

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 15 replies

Stop the killing of Palestinians from Gaza

Yosef — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:20:20 GMT

Where are the human rights activists, where are the condemnation of these brutal murders, these are the beloved Palestinians that the world seems to love above any human decency and common sense, why are they not concerned aout these…..oh because they were killed by Hamass or the other terror groups that Rove the streets of Gaza.

No condemnation for those that would use their populace as human shields, that would call up innocent Palestinians and tell them to congregate at places they know will be bombed by the Israelis so the body count will be higher, who shoot first and ask questions later questions later, so the logic perverted leftists can blame Israel and not the real reason why the Palestinian people are suffering.

Because these “ innocent” citizens duly elected through the democratic process a government that is bent on death and destruction, and glorifies in senseless death, death of their own people death of the children and wifes for the noble cause of islam, and the belief that the annihilation of the Jewish people both in Israel and abroad is the future hope of Islam.

So please if you really care about Palestinians read each and every one of these Palestinians that were brutally killed. and stop this Senseless killing with protests and petitions

I’m sorry this list does not include the many thousands of Palestinians who mysteriously disappeared and we have no record of them,

but I’m sure we can blame that on Israel to ….
As your consciousness could not accept the facts, reality, or anything that is decent and right.
No the victim mentality from your own tortured life screams blame it on the Zionists.

So if you care you truly care about Palestinians read each and every name and how they were killed

Sharif Ass'ad Khdeir Hiles
17 year-old resident of Gaza city, injured on 02.08.2008 in Gaza city, by gunfire, and died on 15.08.2008. Additional information: Killed in an exchange of gunfire with Hamas policemen who came to arrest wanted persons in the family
Muhammad Faraj Hiles

34 year-old resident of Gaza city, injured on 02.08.2008 in Gaza city, by gunfire, and died on 10.08.2008. Additional information: Killed in an exchange of gunfire with Hamas policemen who came to arrest wanted persons in the family

Shehdeh Muhammad 'Abd al-Hai Hiles
63 year-old resident of Gaza city, injured on 02.08.2008 in Gaza city, by gunfire, and died on 06.08.2008. Additional information: Killed in an exchange of gunfire with Hamas policemen who came to arrest wanted persons in the family

Sameh Hamdi Hiles
22 year-old resident of Gaza city, injured on 02.08.2008 in Gaza city, by gunfire, and died on 04.08.2008. Additional information: Killed in an exchange of gunfire with Hamas policemen who came to arrest wanted persons in the family

Sameh Mansur Abu 'Aasi
22 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.08.2008 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Police officer. Killed in an exchange of gunfire with armed men who came to arrest him and other armed persons.

Khaled 'Omar Hiles
22 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.08.2008 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed in an exchange of gunfire with Hamas policemen who came to arrest wanted persons in the family

Ahmad Khalil a-Nakhaleh
30 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.08.2008 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Police officer. Killed in an exchange of gunfire with armed men who came to arrest him and other armed persons.

Muhannad Ziad Hiles
21 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.08.2008 in Gaza city, by gunfire.

Sharif Hamed Hiles
22 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.08.2008 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed in an exchange of gunfire with Hamas policemen who came to arrest wanted persons in the family

Muhammad 'Amer Hiles
18 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.08.2008 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed in an exchange of gunfire with Hamas policemen who came to arrest wanted persons in the family

'Abdallah Fadel Hiles
22 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.08.2008 in Gaza city, by gunfire.

Thabet Ass'ad Marshud
25 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.08.2008 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed in an exchange of gunfire with Hamas policemen who came to arrest wanted persons in the family

Sha'ban Fa'iq Hiles
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.08.2008 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed in an exchange of gunfire with Hamas policemen who came to arrest wanted persons in the family

Adham Bassam Hiles
19 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.08.2008 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed in an exchange of gunfire with Hamas policemen who came to arrest wanted persons in the family

'Assem Ibrahim Marshud
18 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.08.2008 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed in an exchange of gunfire with Hamas policemen who came to arrest wanted persons in the family

Bilal Dib Muhammad Baker
11 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, killed on 02.03.2008 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed by demonstrators at a-Shifa Hospital who fired into the air.

Malak Yunes 'Abd Rabo al-Kafarneh
3 year-old resident of Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, killed on 01.03.2008 in Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed by Qassam-rocket fragments which hit her house by mistake.

Sha'ban Salem Ma'sud Daghmash
39 year-old resident of Gaza city, injured on 11.01.2008 in Gaza city, by gunfire, and died on 12.01.2008. Additional information: Naval police officer, who was abducted and shot in the head by masked persons.

Mahmoud 'Abed Mustafa Daghmash
49 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 31.12.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.

'Omar 'Abd al-Hakim 'Abdallah 'Asfur
21 year-old resident of 'Abasan al-Kabira, Khan Yunis district, killed on 31.12.2007 in 'Abasan al-Kabira, Khan Yunis district, by gunfire. Additional information: Policeman. Shot when riding in a police car.

Mahmoud Shaker Mustafa Abu Taha
58 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 31.12.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed while walking on the street by gunfire of armed men.

Muhammad Ayman 'Ali Abu al-Wafa
11 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 31.12.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed while walking on the street by gunfire of armed men.

Thabet Baker Muhammad Halas
49 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 31.12.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire.

Ibrahim Muhammad Hassan Abu Dollakh
76 year-old resident of Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, killed on 31.12.2007 in Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed while in his house during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.

Suliman Salem Suliman a-Diri
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 31.12.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire.

'Alaa Anwar Ra'fat Harzallah
24 year-old resident of Gaza city, injured on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire, and died on 20.12.2007. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.

'Abd al-Hadi 'Abd al-Hai 'Abd al-Ghani Abo al-Jiben
30 year-old resident of Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, injured on 05.11.2007 in Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, by gunfire, and died on 26.11.2007. Additional information: Killed when an explosive charge was ignited.

Marwan Zuhdi Muhammad
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, injured on 12.11.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire, and died on 14.11.2007. Additional information: Killed during an assembly marking three years since Arafat's death.

Ibrahim Mahmoud Jebril Ahmad
12 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 12.11.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an assembly marking three years since Arafat's death.

Husam Bader 'Abdo Khalil al-'Awad
26 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 12.11.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an assembly marking three years since Arafat's death.

Yihya Khaled Zakaria
18 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 12.11.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an assembly marking three years since Arafat's death.

Kamel Muhammad Kamel Ziyarah
19 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 12.11.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an assembly marking three years since Arafat's death.

Muhammad Ahmad 'Awad al-Masri
67 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 12.11.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a demonstration in the city.

Tareq Mahmoud Muhammad a-Najar
27 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 12.11.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an assembly marking three years since Arafat's death.

Tahsin Khader Muhammad al-Buji
25 year-old resident of Rafah Refugee Camp, killed on 07.11.2007 in Rafah Refugee Camp, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a funeral in an exchange of gunfire between Islamic Jihad and Hamas.

Rami Zuheir Salamah al-Haj Ahmad
29 year-old resident of Rafah Refugee Camp, injured on 21.10.2007 in Rafah Refugee Camp, by gunfire, and died on 07.11.2007. Additional information: Killed in an exchange of gunfire between Islamic Jihad and Hamas.

Hamadah Mussa Mahmoud Bahlul
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 05.11.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Member of Hamas's executive force, killed in a clash between two families.

'Omar Khamis Muhammad Salmi
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, injured on 04.09.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire, and died on 02.11.2007. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.

Ahmad Yihya Muhammad Abu N'ameh
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, injured on 17.10.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire, and died on 26.10.2007. Additional information: Member of Hamas operational force. Killed during clashes between the operational force and the Hilis family, which refused to hand over weapons and a jeep.
Mahmoud Baker Muhammad 'Issa
21 year-old resident of Rafah, killed on 21.10.2007 in Rafah, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Muhammad Bakir Hussein Kware'a
33 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, injured on 04.10.2007 in Gaza city, and died on 20.10.2007.
Muhammad Fuad Ahmad a-Susi
13 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 20.10.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed on his way home from school, during clashes between the Hamas operational force and the Hiles family.
Hiyam Ahmad Ibrahim Saqer
51 year-old resident of Rafah, killed on 20.10.2007 in Rafah, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Muhammad Salem Hussein Hiles
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 20.10.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between the Hamas operational force and his family.
Husam 'Ali Mustafa Hiles
30 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 17.10.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between the Hamas operational force and the Hilis family, which refused to hand over weapons and a jeep.
Yusef Mustafa Muhammad Abu Tuhah
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 17.10.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Member of Hamas operational force. Killed during clashes between the operational force and the Hilis family, which refused to hand over weapons and a jeep.
Iyad 'Omar Khader Hiles
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 17.10.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between the Hamas operational force and the Hilis family, which refused to hand over weapons and a jeep.
Samer Rif'at 'Abd a-Rahman Hiles
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 17.10.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between the Hamas operational force and the Hilis family, which refused to hand over weapons and a jeep.

'Ali Sa'id Muhammad Matar
19 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, injured on 19.09.2007 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire, and died on 23.09.2007. Additional information: Member of Hamas operational force. Killed by masked people.
Nidal Khader Khamis al-'Ashrah
20 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, injured on 30.08.2007 in Khan Yunis, and died on 16.09.2007. Additional information: Killed during clashes between the Hamas operational force And armed people.
Tarazan Muhammad Taleb Daghmash
27 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 06.09.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Kidnapped and shot by masked men.
Mahmoud 'Abd a-Rahman 'Ali al-Majaydeh
25 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, injured on 26.08.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire, and died on 01.09.2007. Additional information: Member of the Hamas operational force. Killed during an exchange of gunfire with armed people.
Muhammad Fathi Ahmad Qdeih
16 year-old resident of 'Abasan al-Kabira, Khan Yunis district, killed on 01.09.2007 next to Rafah Crossing, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a demonstration near the Rafah crossing.

Muhammad Mussa Muhammad Jendiyeh
19 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 15.08.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: A member of the Hamas military force, he was killed during an army action to arrest suspicious in theft.
Khaled Khader Yunes Sa'ed
28 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 15.08.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: A member of the Hamas military force, he was killed during an army action to arrest militants in stolen.
Nidal Yihya Subhi a-Daiyah
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.08.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Islamic Jihad and Hamas.
Salah Muhammad 'Abd al-Hamid al-'Aamudi
39 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.08.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Hazem Kamel Mahmoud Abu al-Kheir
33 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 01.08.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Islamic Jihad and Hamas.

Bilal Dib Muhammad Baker
11 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, killed on 02.03.2008 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed by demonstrators at a-Shifa Hospital who fired into the air.
Malak Yunes 'Abd Rabo al-Kafarneh
3 year-old resident of Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, killed on 01.03.2008 in Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed by Qassam-rocket fragments which hit her house by mistake.

Sha'ban Salem Ma'sud Daghmash
39 year-old resident of Gaza city, injured on 11.01.2008 in Gaza city, by gunfire, and died on 12.01.2008. Additional information: Naval police officer, who was abducted and shot in the head by masked persons.

Mahmoud 'Abed Mustafa Daghmash
49 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 31.12.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
'Omar 'Abd al-Hakim 'Abdallah 'Asfur
21 year-old resident of 'Abasan al-Kabira, Khan Yunis district, killed on 31.12.2007 in 'Abasan al-Kabira, Khan Yunis district, by gunfire. Additional information: Policeman. Shot when riding in a police car.
Mahmoud Shaker Mustafa Abu Taha
58 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 31.12.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed while walking on the street by gunfire of armed men.
Muhammad Ayman 'Ali Abu al-Wafa
11 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 31.12.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed while walking on the street by gunfire of armed men.
Thabet Baker Muhammad Halas
49 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 31.12.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire.
Ibrahim Muhammad Hassan Abu Dollakh
76 year-old resident of Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, killed on 31.12.2007 in Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed while in his house during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Suliman Salem Suliman a-Diri
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 31.12.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire.
'Alaa Anwar Ra'fat Harzallah
24 year-old resident of Gaza city, injured on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire, and died on 20.12.2007. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.

'Abd al-Hadi 'Abd al-Hai 'Abd al-Ghani Abo al-Jiben
30 year-old resident of Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, injured on 05.11.2007 in Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, by gunfire, and died on 26.11.2007. Additional information: Killed when an explosive charge was ignited.
Marwan Zuhdi Muhammad
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, injured on 12.11.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire, and died on 14.11.2007. Additional information: Killed during an assembly marking three years since Arafat's death.
Ibrahim Mahmoud Jebril Ahmad
12 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 12.11.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an assembly marking three years since Arafat's death.
Husam Bader 'Abdo Khalil al-'Awad
26 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 12.11.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an assembly marking three years since Arafat's death.
Yihya Khaled Zakaria
18 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 12.11.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an assembly marking three years since Arafat's death.
Kamel Muhammad Kamel Ziyarah
19 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 12.11.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an assembly marking three years since Arafat's death.
Muhammad Ahmad 'Awad al-Masri
67 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 12.11.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a demonstration in the city.
Tareq Mahmoud Muhammad a-Najar
27 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 12.11.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an assembly marking three years since Arafat's death.
Tahsin Khader Muhammad al-Buji
25 year-old resident of Rafah Refugee Camp, killed on 07.11.2007 in Rafah Refugee Camp, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a funeral in an exchange of gunfire between Islamic Jihad and Hamas.
Rami Zuheir Salamah al-Haj Ahmad
29 year-old resident of Rafah Refugee Camp, injured on 21.10.2007 in Rafah Refugee Camp, by gunfire, and died on 07.11.2007. Additional information: Killed in an exchange of gunfire between Islamic Jihad and Hamas.
Hamadah Mussa Mahmoud Bahlul
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 05.11.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Member of Hamas's executive force, killed in a clash between two families.
'Omar Khamis Muhammad Salmi
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, injured on 04.09.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire, and died on 02.11.2007. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.

Ahmad Yihya Muhammad Abu N'ameh
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, injured on 17.10.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire, and died on 26.10.2007. Additional information: Member of Hamas operational force. Killed during clashes between the operational force and the Hilis family, which refused to hand over weapons and a jeep.
Mahmoud Baker Muhammad 'Issa
21 year-old resident of Rafah, killed on 21.10.2007 in Rafah, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Muhammad Bakir Hussein Kware'a
33 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, injured on 04.10.2007 in Gaza city, and died on 20.10.2007.
Muhammad Fuad Ahmad a-Susi
13 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 20.10.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed on his way home from school, during clashes between the Hamas operational force and the Hiles family.
Hiyam Ahmad Ibrahim Saqer
51 year-old resident of Rafah, killed on 20.10.2007 in Rafah, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Muhammad Salem Hussein Hiles
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 20.10.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between the Hamas operational force and his family.
Husam 'Ali Mustafa Hiles
30 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 17.10.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between the Hamas operational force and the Hilis family, which refused to hand over weapons and a jeep.
Yusef Mustafa Muhammad Abu Tuhah
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 17.10.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Member of Hamas operational force. Killed during clashes between the operational force and the Hilis family, which refused to hand over weapons and a jeep.
Iyad 'Omar Khader Hiles
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 17.10.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between the Hamas operational force and the Hilis family, which refused to hand over weapons and a jeep.
Samer Rif'at 'Abd a-Rahman Hiles
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 17.10.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between the Hamas operational force and the Hilis family, which refused to hand over weapons and a jeep.

'Ali Sa'id Muhammad Matar
19 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, injured on 19.09.2007 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire, and died on 23.09.2007. Additional information: Member of Hamas operational force. Killed by masked people.
Nidal Khader Khamis al-'Ashrah
20 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, injured on 30.08.2007 in Khan Yunis, and died on 16.09.2007. Additional information: Killed during clashes between the Hamas operational force And armed people.
Tarazan Muhammad Taleb Daghmash
27 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 06.09.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Kidnapped and shot by masked men.
Mahmoud 'Abd a-Rahman 'Ali al-Majaydeh
25 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, injured on 26.08.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire, and died on 01.09.2007. Additional information: Member of the Hamas operational force. Killed during an exchange of gunfire with armed people.
Muhammad Fathi Ahmad Qdeih
16 year-old resident of 'Abasan al-Kabira, Khan Yunis district, killed on 01.09.2007 next to Rafah Crossing, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a demonstration near the Rafah crossing.

Muhammad Mussa Muhammad Jendiyeh
19 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 15.08.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: A member of the Hamas military force, he was killed during an army action to arrest suspicious in theft.
Khaled Khader Yunes Sa'ed
28 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 15.08.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: A member of the Hamas military force, he was killed during an army action to arrest militants in stolen.
Nidal Yihya Subhi a-Daiyah
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.08.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Islamic Jihad and Hamas.
Salah Muhammad 'Abd al-Hamid al-'Aamudi
39 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.08.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Hazem Kamel Mahmoud Abu al-Kheir
33 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 01.08.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Islamic Jihad and Hamas.
Fawzi Khalil Salman Radwan
43 year-old resident of 'Abasan al-Kabira, Khan Yunis district, injured on 13.06.2007 in Bani Suheila, Khan Yunis district, by gunfire, and died on 21.07.2007. Additional information: Killed during clahses between Fatah and Hamas.
Walid Salman Khalil Abu Dalfeh
45 year-old resident of Gaza city, injured on 09.07.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire, and died on 15.07.2007. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Fadel Muhammad Salim Dahmash
31 year-old resident of Deir al-Balah, killed on 10.07.2007 in Gaza city. Additional information: Killed for suspected collaboration with Israel.
Mazen Nabil Sa'id al-Qasas
23 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 03.07.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.

Ahmad a-Sayed Khalil Daghmash
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 30.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
'Abd a-Razeq 'Ali Ahmad Madi
43 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, injured on 11.06.2007 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire, and died on 24.06.2007. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Munir Hamed Muhammad Daghmash
30 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 20.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Kidnapped and Killed by armed Palestinians.
'Aumran Sa'id Muhammad al-Jarbeh
23 year-old resident of Gaza city, injured on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire, and died on 18.06.2007. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Ibrahim Ahmad Abu Nar
29 year-old resident of a-Nuseirat Camp, Deir al-Balah district, killed on 16.06.2007 in a-Nuseirat Camp, Deir al-Balah district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Faiz Khader Abu Shab
24 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 16.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas while walking down the street.
Ahmad Ibrahim a-Sus
25 year-old resident of al-Bureij Refugee Camp, Deir al-Balah district, killed on 15.06.2007 in al-Bureij Refugee Camp, Deir al-Balah district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Nayef Ibrahim Abu Hassun
22 year-old resident of Rafah, injured on 13.06.2007 in Rafah, by gunfire, and died on 15.06.2007. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Maher al-Burno
26 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 15.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Kidnapped and killed by armed Palestinians
Sami 'Aumran
42 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 15.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhannad Sami Ahmad Qdeih
12 year-old resident of 'Abasan al-Kabira, Khan Yunis district, killed on 15.06.2007 in 'Abasan al-Kabira, Khan Yunis district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Hassan Ahmad Zakut
28 year-old resident of al-Burj, Hebron district, killed on 15.06.2007 in a-Nuseirat Camp, Deir al-Balah district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Yusef Muhammad Mahmoud Mesmeh
27 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 14.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Nasser 'Abd a-Rahman Abu Shawar
55 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Ahmad Fathi Marzuq Abu Tir
24 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 14.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Hussein Ibrahim Yusef al-Byuk
24 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 14.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Narmeen Rabi' al-Byuk
22 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 14.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed while in her home during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Nassar Na'im al-Astal
34 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 14.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed while walking down the street during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Ahmad Mahmoud Muhammad 'Abd a-Rahman
49 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, killed on 14.06.2007 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Salamah Khamis Zaki Barbakh
33 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 14.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Taher 'Abd al-Karim Rabah al-Yazji
35 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Jaber Muhammad Shahin
30 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 14.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad Hamadah Hussein
33 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 14.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Hassan Khalil Abu 'Odeh
22 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 14.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Kidnapped and killed by armed Palestinians.
Faiz Nafez al-Ja'el
25 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad Harb Abu Khusah
22 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Hani Muhammad a-Nahal
22 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Mustafa Ishaq Kadas
23 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in a-Nuseirat Camp, Deir al-Balah district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Jamal Abu Sawireh
23 year-old resident of a-Nuseirat Camp, Deir al-Balah district, killed on 14.06.2007 in a-Nuseirat Camp, Deir al-Balah district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
'Abd al-Qader Jebril Darabiyah
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire.
Mahmoud Da'ud Muhammad Miqdad
45 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange og gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Samih Ibrahim Salim al-Madhun
33 year-old resident of Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, killed on 14.06.2007 in a-Nuseirat Camp, Deir al-Balah district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhannad Sami Ahmad Qdeih
13 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 14.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed while walking down the street during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Hanin 'Izu Ibrahim Halas
9 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Zeid Mahmoud al-Bard'i
21 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Kidnapped and Killed by armed Palestinians.
'Abd a-Rahman Faiz Muhsein
24 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Mustafa Muhammad Abu 'Okal
21 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad Ibrahim Muhammad Abu Sleimat
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Rafah, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Ahmad 'Ata Jiha
22 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad 'Antar 'Omar al-Bayumi
27 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 14.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange og gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad Nayef al-Bahabsah
20 year-old resident of Rafah, killed on 14.06.2007 in Rafah, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Husam Nassim a-Najar
21 year-old resident of Rafah, injured on 11.06.2007 in Rafah, by gunfire, and died on 14.06.2007. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Hamid Muhammad Ibrahim Hamid
17 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashed between Fatah and Hamas.
Wael Muhammad Sa'id a-S'adi
39 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Husam Nassim a-Najar
21 year-old resident of Rafah, injured on 11.06.2007 in Rafah, by gunfire, and died on 14.06.2007. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Hamid Muhammad Ibrahim Hamid
17 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashed between Fatah and Hamas.
Wael Muhammad Sa'id a-S'adi
39 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Hamuda Hassan Madi
46 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Fadi al-'Okeh
24 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Kidnapped and Killed by atrmed Palestinians.
Wasim Muhammad 'Arafat
22 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad 'Antar Bayumi a-Najar
27 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 14.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Inas 'Ali 'Odeh
28 year-old resident of Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Fadi Fathi Muhammad Ekhrawat
21 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Mussa Ahmad 'Ali 'Odeh
10 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
'Issam 'Abd al-'Aziz Ekhrawat
30 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Sa'id al-Qasas
23 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Shauqi Kayed Abu Nadiah
24 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad 'Awani a-Talatini
23 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Ayman Shhadeh Abu Daqa
38 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
'Abd al-Hadi 'Abd al-Qader Hamad
45 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
'Awad Muhammad 'Awad al-Jujo
23 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Kidnapped and killed by armed Palestinians.
Iyad Ahmad 'Ashur
30 year-old resident of Rafah, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Kamal Sa'id 'Afaneh
18 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Ramadan Sa'id Ghiben
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire.
Ra'id Muhammad Abu 'Obeid
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Fadi Naser Jadallah al-Kafarneh
21 year-old resident of Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire.
Muhammad 'Awani a-Sarafiti
25 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Ahmad 'Arafat
25 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Jamal 'Ali Musbeh
23 year-old resident of Jabalya, North Gaza district, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
'Aishah Maher Ya'Kub a-Shawa
17 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed while on her way home back fron an exam during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Mahmoud Harun Mahmoud al-Khuli
23 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Salim Khdier
25 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Ahmad Basal
26 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad Jamal Abu Ras
21 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 13.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas while walking down the street.
'Abd al-Wahab 'Omar 'Abd al-Wahab a-Najar
33 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 13.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Adham Ayman al-Ghalban
20 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 13.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Ass'ad Kamel Abu Jazar
26 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 13.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire.
a-Sabe'a Rajab Baker
40 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 13.06.2007 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Suzan Hussein al-Qasas
23 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 13.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed while in her home during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Hamadah Samir Baker
18 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, killed on 13.06.2007 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire.
Muhammad Ahmad a-Najar
30 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 13.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Hani Zaid a-Raqab
27 year-old resident of Khan Yunis Refugee Camp, killed on 13.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Wael Hamdan 'Afaneh
35 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, killed on 13.06.2007 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire.
Muhammad 'Afaneh
31 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 13.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad Firas al-Astal
18 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 13.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire.
Muhammad Isma'il al-Aswad
22 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 13.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas while standing near her home.
Hamadah Nu'man Baker
22 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, killed on 13.06.2007 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Jihan Nayef Baker
28 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, killed on 13.06.2007 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed while near her house during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
'Abd a-Rahman Yusef a-Shami
25 year-old resident of Khan Yunis Refugee Camp, killed on 13.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Husam 'Abd al-Qader 'Ashur
22 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 13.06.2007 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Ahmad Hassan a-Laham
23 year-old resident of Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, killed on 13.06.2007 in Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Shadi Taysir al-'Ajleh
21 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 13.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a demonstration while clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
'Adel Salim Sharab
28 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 13.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire.
Muhammad Mahmoud 'Addas
19 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 13.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a demonstration while clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Hamed Ahmad al-'Aqad
26 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 13.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Hibah Subhi Baker
30 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, killed on 13.06.2007 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire.
Jamal Muhammad al-Jabur
30 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 13.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
'Alaa Ibrahim Wafi
30 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 13.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Alaa Hamdi Farwaneh
15 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 13.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed while in her house during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Mansur 'Omar Baker
47 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, killed on 13.06.2007 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Mahmoud while standing near his house.
Taghreed Salah Abu Ghali al-'Assaliyeh
31 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 13.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Saber Jawdat Zaki Barbakh
22 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 13.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
'Abd al-Fatah Hussein Abu Ghali
39 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 13.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Fadel Khaled Jarbo'a
12 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 13.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire.
Mahmoud Ahmad al-Agha
34 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 13.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire.
Muhammad Suliman Baker
28 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, killed on 13.06.2007 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas while standing near her home.
Harbi Salem a-Ras
22 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 12.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Mazen Salim al-'Aidy
22 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 12.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Ahmad Tawfiq 'Ashur
30 year-old resident of Rafah, killed on 12.06.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire.
Ahmad 'Abdallah al-Far
33 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 12.06.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire.
Munther Shaker Klab
38 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 12.06.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire.
'Amru Nabhan a-Rantisi
21 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 12.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Kidnapped and killed by armed Palestinians.
Ayman Tafesh
22 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 12.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muti'a Fuad Dawas
22 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 12.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Ahmad Marwan al-Habil
22 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 12.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Hamed Mahmoud Abu Hashem
22 year-old resident of Rafah, killed on 12.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
'Alaa Muhammad Abu Sharefah
30 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 12.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
'Abdallah Samir Miqdar
1024 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 12.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad 'Ali al-Hasi
27 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 12.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Jamil a-Zinati
51 year-old resident of Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, killed on 12.06.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire.
Bilal Yusef Shameyah
25 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, killed on 12.06.2007 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
'Imad Abu Qadus
27 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 12.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad 'Awani al-Maqeyd
24 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, killed on 12.06.2007 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
'Alaa a-Din Muhammad a-Za'nun
24 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 12.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Shauqi Rafiq Sa'ed
23 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 12.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Rani Zuheir a-Razaynah
22 year-old resident of Jabalya, North Gaza district, killed on 12.06.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire.
Hassan Muhammad a-Da'as
35 year-old resident of Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, killed on 12.06.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire.
Fallah 'Awad Halfallah
22 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 12.06.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Iyad Mahmoud al-Kafarneh
34 year-old resident of Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, killed on 12.06.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire.
'Abd al-Majid Hammad Ahmad Abu Lihyah
810 year-old resident of Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, killed on 12.06.2007 in Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad Bahjat Hammad
30 year-old resident of Jabalya, North Gaza district, killed on 12.06.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire.
Yusef Samir Mahdi
1025 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 12.06.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire.
Zakaria Sha'ban Sabah
20 year-old resident of Jabalya, North Gaza district, killed on 12.06.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire.
Nasha't Muhammad Yihya Talab
30 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 12.06.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire.
Ja'far Mustafa a-Shaf'i
30 year-old resident of Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, killed on 12.06.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire.
Jaber Hashem Abu al-Jidyan
23 year-old resident of Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, killed on 12.06.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire.
Muhammad Rizeq Safi
35 year-old resident of a-Nuseirat Camp, Deir al-Balah district, killed on 12.06.2007 in Deir al-Balah, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exhange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhatdi 'Ali al-Jadbah
30 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 12.06.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire.
Adham Nafez Mustafa al-'Abet
20 year-old resident of Deir al-Balah, killed on 12.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exhange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Isma'il Ahmad Hassan Abu Wadi
20 year-old resident of Khan Yunis Refugee Camp, killed on 12.06.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire.
Basel Da'ud Jaber al-Kafarneh
23 year-old resident of Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, killed on 11.06.2007 in Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas in the hospital.
Maysa Hassan Muhsein
15 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, killed on 11.06.2007 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire.
Mussa Muhammad Abu Zeinah
49 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, killed on 11.06.2007 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire.
Faraj Fadel Mahmoud al-Masri
22 year-old resident of Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, killed on 11.06.2007 in Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and hamas in the hospital.
Muhammad Ibrahim Mohjez
24 year-old resident of Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, killed on 11.06.2007 in Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exhange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad Na'im a-Dahduh
31 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, killed on 11.06.2007 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire.
Dalal Mahmoud Muhsein
19 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, killed on 11.06.2007 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire.
'Eid Mahmoud Muhammad al-Masri
51 year-old resident of Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, killed on 11.06.2007 in Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and hamas in the hospital.
Sadam Muhammad Baker
21 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, killed on 11.06.2007 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire.
Jamal 'Abd Rabo Mahmoud Abu al-Jidyan
50 year-old resident of Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, killed on 11.06.2007 in Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exhange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Majed 'Abd Rabo Mahmoud Abu al-Jidyan
37 year-old resident of Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, killed on 11.06.2007 in Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exhange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Rayyah Ahmad Muhsein
75 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, killed on 11.06.2007 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire.
Ibrahim 'Eid Mahmoud al-Masri
21 year-old resident of Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, killed on 11.06.2007 in Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas in the hospital.
Yasser Ghasub Baker
30 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, killed on 11.06.2007 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire.
Mazen Sa'di 'Ajur
36 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, killed on 11.06.2007 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire.
Muhammad 'Adel Muhammad a-Rafati
42 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 10.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad Salamah Fares a-Sawirki
29 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 10.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad 'Abd al-Muhsen Mahmoud al-baba
25 year-old resident of Rafah, injured on 07.06.2007 in Rafah Refugee Camp, by gunfire, and died on 10.06.2007. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Husam Muhammad Abu Qens
30 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 10.06.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Ayman Ahmad Muhammad Abu Shabab
23 year-old resident of Rafah, killed on 09.06.2007 in Rafah, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Ahmad Fuad Suliman Abu Harb
25 year-old resident of Rafah, killed on 09.06.2007 in Rafah, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Wael Muhammad 'Abd al-Qader Wahabeh
26 year-old resident of Rafah, killed on 07.06.2007 in Rafah, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.

May

'Ali Kamal Mansur a-Shamali
28 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 18.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
'Abdallah 'Abed Nadi Jarghon
13 year-old resident of Rafah, injured on 17.05.2007 in Rafah, by gunfire, and died on 18.05.2007. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Khaled Taysir Sayyed 'Abd a-Razeq
22 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 18.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
'A'id 'Abd al-Qader Hassan Abu Zeid
19 year-old resident of Rafah, killed on 17.05.2007 in Rafah, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Samir Mahmoud Suliman al-'Aamudi
42 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 17.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas while on his way home.
Wisam Ramadan Muhammad al-Masri
26 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 17.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Mahmoud Ramadan Radwan al-Bayed
23 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 17.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Fadwah 'Aish 'Abd al-Khaleq Yunes
23 year-old resident of Rafah, killed on 17.05.2007 in Rafah, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas while traveling in a car.
Mahmoud Hassan Ahmad M'amer
22 year-old resident of Rafah, killed on 17.05.2007 in Rafah, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas at a funeral.
Sami 'Abd Rabo Mteir Abu huli
23 year-old resident of Deir al-Balah, killed on 17.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Baha' Samih Muhammad al-Husseini
27 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 16.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muamen Ahmad Hassan a-Diri
23 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 16.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
'Abd al-Fatah 'Abdallah 'Abd al-Fatah Abu Sem'an
23 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 16.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Hassan Faiz Hassan Jiha
32 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 16.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Hani Muhammad Saleh Qabaha
34 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 16.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad Ahmad Shehdeh a-Dalu
28 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 16.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Ahmad Yusef Radwan Hamadah
26 year-old resident of al-Mughraqa (Abu Midein), Gaza district, killed on 16.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad Anwar 'Abd al-Karim
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 16.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
'Abdallah Muhammad 'Odeh S'adat
30 year-old resident of Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, killed on 16.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Najah Saleh Mustafa Kandil
56 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 16.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Hassan Marwan Hussein Sweidan
26 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 16.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
'Abd al-Karim 'Arafat Muhammad al-Masri
22 year-old resident of Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, killed on 16.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Karam Bracha Muhammad Abu Mgheiseb
37 year-old resident of Deir al-Balah, injured on 15.05.2007 in Deir al-Balah, by gunfire, and died on 16.05.2007. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad Salim 'Abed Au 'Amrah
22 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 16.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Maher Diab Ahmad Radi
37 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 16.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad Ibrahim Hamad Hamad
23 year-old resident of Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, killed on 16.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad 'Abdallah 'Abd al-Fatah Hasanein
31 year-old resident of Rafah, killed on 16.05.2007 in Rafah, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas while walking down the street.
Sa'id Taysir Sa'id Abu 'Amro
24 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 16.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Ra'id Yunes Muhammad Bashir
29 year-old resident of Deir al-Balah, killed on 16.05.2007 in Deir al-Balah, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Nuh 'Abd al-Karim Jum'ah al-Luah
20 year-old resident of a-Nuseirat Camp, Deir al-Balah district, killed on 15.05.2007 next to Karni Checkpoint, Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Wisam 'Abd al-Jawad Hussein Karsu'a
30 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 15.05.2007 next to Karni Checkpoint, Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Ibrahim Suliman Ahmad Ghanem
45 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 15.05.2007 next to Karni Checkpoint, Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Ahmad Khader Ibrahim Abu 'Iyada
25 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 15.05.2007 next to Karni Checkpoint, Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Hani Muhammad Kamal al-Ghazali
21 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 15.05.2007 next to Karni Checkpoint, Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Seif a-Din Salamah Msalam Abu Rashid
32 year-old resident of a-Zawayda, Deir al-Balah district, killed on 15.05.2007 next to Karni Checkpoint, Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Salim Shaher al-'Asli Daghmas
28 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 15.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas, while standing near his house.
Hussein Saber Hussein Abu Tawahniyeh
23 year-old resident of Deir al-Balah, killed on 15.05.2007 next to Karni Checkpoint, Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
'Issam Muhammad 'Awad al-Jujo
22 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 15.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Nahed Saleh Ibrahim a-Nimer
46 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 15.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas while walking down the street.
'Ali Taha 'Ali Sa'ed
25 year-old resident of Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, killed on 15.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Ibrahim Tawfiq Khalil Abu Ruq'ah
25 year-old resident of al-Bureij Refugee Camp, Deir al-Balah district, killed on 15.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed while walking in proximity to clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
'Adel Muhammad Hamidan Au 'Amrah
23 year-old resident of Deir al-Balah, killed on 15.05.2007 next to Karni Checkpoint, Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Yusef Hussein Ahmad al-Akhras
22 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 15.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad Mustafa Muhammad Abu Seif
17 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 15.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed while walking in proximity to clashes between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad Sweilem 'Abd al-Hamid al-'Absi
29 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
'Alaa Munir Sa'id Shbeir
22 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad Matar Salman 'Abdu
24 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Kidnapped and killed by armed Palestinians.
Anwar Saleh Salah a-Sha'er
27 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 14.05.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Suliman 'Abd a-Rahim Suliman al-'Ashi
23 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 14.05.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Kidnapped and killed by armed Palestinians.
Tawfiq Muhammad Mahmoud al-Budi
33 year-old resident of Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, killed on 13.05.2007 in Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed when armed Palestinians opened fire in response to the killing of Baha' Abu Jarad.
Baha' Mussa Muhammad Abu Jarad
34 year-old resident of Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, killed on 13.05.2007 in Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Suliman Suliman Muhammad a-Sha'er
27 year-old resident of Rafah, killed on 06.05.2007 in Rafah, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a conference held at an UNRWA school.

Hassan Muhammad Muhammad Siyam
23 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, injured on 04.02.2007 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire, and died on 25.04.2007. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.

March

Hassan Muhammad Hassan Abu Nada
2 year-old resident of Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, killed on 22.03.2007 in Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas while he and his father were standing at the entrance to his house.
Farid Yasin Khalil
22 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 22.03.2007 in Gaza city. Additional information: Killed during during a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas.
Khalil Muhammad 'Othman Halas
46 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 22.03.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Rami Yusef Hussein Sror
32 year-old resident of Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, killed on 21.03.2007 in Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Hussein Zuhdi Muhammad a-Sarhi
32 year-old resident of Deir al-Balah, killed on 16.03.2007 in Deir al-Balah, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during during a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad 'Abd al-Qader 'Abed Ta'imah
25 year-old resident of Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, killed on 14.03.2007 in Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
'Alaa 'Omar Salim al-Hadad
45 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 13.03.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad Hussein Jadallah al-Kafarneh
26 year-old resident of Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, killed on 10.03.2007 in Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Amin Muhammad Hassan a-Talbani
20 year-old resident of Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, injured on 01.02.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire, and died on 07.03.2007. Additional information: Killed during an exchnage of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.

Hazem 'Awad Muhammad Kware'a
30 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 24.02.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Ghadah Hussein Muhammad Kware'a
28 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 24.02.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during during a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas.
Isma'il 'Abed Mahmoud Subuh
73 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 24.02.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during during a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad 'Ali Muhammad al-Ghalban
27 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 23.02.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
'Imad Ahmad Muhammad Subho
32 year-old resident of Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, injured on 28.01.2007 in Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, by gunfire, and died on 12.02.2007. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Ahmad Naser 'Abd a-Rahman Abu 'Abdu
6 year-old resident of al-Bureij Refugee Camp, Deir al-Balah district, injured on 01.02.2007 in al-Bureij Refugee Camp, Deir al-Balah district, by gunfire, and died on 07.02.2007. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Iyad Hussein Khalil Abu al-Kheir
24 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 03.02.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
'Abd al-Qader Salim
55 year-old resident of Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, killed on 02.02.2007 in Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Mahmoud 'Issa Hussein Rajab
18 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.02.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed when taking part in training of Palestinian security forces.
Muhammad Suleiman Muhammad Bashir
24 year-old resident of Deir al-Balah, killed on 02.02.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed when taking part in training of Palestinian security forces.
Muamen 'Abd a-Nasser Rushdi Washah
20 year-old resident of al-Bureij Refugee Camp, Deir al-Balah district, killed on 02.02.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed when taking part in training of Palestinian security forces.
Hatem 'Abdallah Muhammad Shahab
22 year-old resident of Jabalya, North Gaza district, killed on 02.02.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed when taking part in training of Palestinian security forces.
'Azmi Wahbi 'Aref al-Wadiyah
21 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.02.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed when taking part in training of Palestinian security forces.
Muhammad Nafez 'Odeh Hasanein
21 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.02.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed when taking part in training of Palestinian security forces. Killed when taking part in training of Palestinian security forces.
Mussa 'Abd a-Rahim 'Ali a-Sawalha
21 year-old resident of Jabalya, North Gaza district, killed on 02.02.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed when taking part in training of Palestinian security forces.
Muhammad 'Abd al-Hai Mussa al-'Ajrami
22 year-old resident of Jabalya, North Gaza district, killed on 02.02.2007 in Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Ramzi Nahed Kahlil Abu 'Amsha
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.02.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed when taking part in training of Palestinian security forces.
Ayman Hassan Muhammad a-Najar
24 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 02.02.2007 in 'Abasan al-Kabira, Khan Yunis district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Medhat 'Abd al-Qader Hassan Daher
21 year-old resident of Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, killed on 02.02.2007 in Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Rana Ziad 'Abdallah Diab
29 year-old resident of Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, killed on 02.02.2007 in Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed when shot in the head while standing next to his house during a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas.
Munther Yunes Khalil Shabet
34 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.02.2007 in Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Mahmoud Ra'fat Bahjat al-Wahidi
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.02.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Khaled Muhammad 'Alian al-Masharawi
37 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.02.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
'Abd al-Qader Salem Mahmoud Salim
55 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.02.2007 in Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad Khalil Mahmoud 'Afaneh
20 year-old resident of Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, killed on 02.02.2007 in Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Tareq Mustafa Muhammad 'Abd al-'Aziz
34 year-old resident of Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, killed on 02.02.2007 in Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad Ibrahim Khalil Khatab
50 year-old resident of Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, killed on 01.02.2007 in al-Bureij Refugee Camp, Deir al-Balah district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Maha Ahmad Hamdan Abu Shamaleh
39 year-old resident of al-Bureij Refugee Camp, Deir al-Balah district, killed on 01.02.2007 in al-Bureij Refugee Camp, Deir al-Balah district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed while looking for her daughter during a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas.
'Arafat Khalil Ya'Kub al-Mshalah
24 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, killed on 01.02.2007 in al-Bureij Refugee Camp, Deir al-Balah district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad 'Anan Muhammad Bachar
16 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, killed on 01.02.2007 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas.
Murad Ibrahim Salamah a-Tala'a
27 year-old resident of a-Nuseirat Camp, Deir al-Balah district, killed on 01.02.2007 in al-Bureij Refugee Camp, Deir al-Balah district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Mahmoud Maher 'Abd a-Rahman a-Dahduh
16 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 01.02.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed while standing next to his house during a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas.
Hanan Muhammad 'Atallah al-Jarjawi
48 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 01.02.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad Ibrahim Jaber a-Diri
22 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 01.02.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Hazem Jamil Ma'sud al-Harazin
22 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 01.02.2007 in al-Bureij Refugee Camp, Deir al-Balah district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Walid Nahed Hassan Habush
7 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 01.02.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas.

Hussein Fakhri a-Shabasi
29 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 30.01.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas while waiting for a taxi.
'Atef 'Abd al-'Aal Hafez a-Najar
42 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, injured on 29.01.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire, and died on 30.01.2007. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Mahmoud 'Abd al-'Aziz Kadurah Mushtaha
27 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 29.01.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Tareq Rizeq Mahmoud Nasrallah
24 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 29.01.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
'Abdu Muhammad Saleh al-Afandi
56 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 29.01.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas while driving his son to school.
Muhammad Jaber Muhammad Abu Qasem
22 year-old resident of Deir al-Balah, killed on 29.01.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Wasfi Talal Wasfi Kardash
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 29.01.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas.
'Omar Muhammad Miqbal Shurab
1810 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 28.01.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Shauqi Muhammad 'Abd al-'Aziz Abu 'Alayan
19 year-old resident of 'Abasan al-Jadida (a-Saghira), Khan Yunis district, killed on 28.01.2007 in 'Abasan al-Jadida (a-Saghira), Khan Yunis district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas.
Ahmad Ahmad al-Ghandur Mahdi
39 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 28.01.2007 in Khan Yunis Refugee Camp, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas while on his way home.
Ahmad Muhammad Bahar Khader
24 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 27.01.2007 in Gaza city, by explosion. Additional information: Killed during a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas.
Mahmoud Khalil Muhammad al-Khatib
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 27.01.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas while standing near his house.
Ramzi Ghazi Ibrahim Abu 'Iyyasha
32 year-old resident of Jabalya, North Gaza district, killed on 27.01.2007 in Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad Khalil Muhammad al-Khatab
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 27.01.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Mu'az 'Omar Hussein Dweik
25 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 27.01.2007 in Gaza city, by explosion. Additional information: Killed during a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas.
Bader Mahmoud Ahmad Abu al-Qaraya
9 year-old resident of Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, killed on 27.01.2007 in Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas while was in his house.
Ibrahim Khalil Mahmoud el-Kahlut
21 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 27.01.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire.
Hamam Taha Hassan a-Sha'er
21 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 27.01.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Zuheir Mahmoud Muhammad al-Mansi
36 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 26.01.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas while praying in the mosque.
Jihad Nabil Hussein Shahin
16 year-old resident of Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, killed on 26.01.2007 in Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas.
Yihya Ibrahim Hamed Abu Bakrah
1 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 26.01.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas while playing near his house.
Kamal Hassan Khalil Khalil
42 year-old resident of Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, killed on 26.01.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas while driving in his car.
Fuad 'Abd al-Mahdi Radwan al-Khaldi
18 year-old resident of Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, killed on 26.01.2007 in Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas while on his way home.
Ra'fat Da'ud Mahmoud Tutah
42 year-old resident of Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, killed on 26.01.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchanfe of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Ziad Isma'il 'Abed Abu Zeid
25 year-old resident of Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, killed on 26.01.2007 in Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas on his way home.
Ihab 'Abd al-Karim Ass'ad Hamuda
19 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 26.01.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas while praying in the mosque.
Ahmad Saleh Ahmad Saleh
19 year-old resident of Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, killed on 26.01.2007 in Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and hamas.
Ra'id Rajab Muhammad Subuh
26 year-old resident of Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, killed on 26.01.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas while driving in his car.
Nabil Hassan Sha'ban al-Jarjeer
25 year-old resident of Jabalya, North Gaza district, killed on 26.01.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas while was in his house and grenade fired at him. (the house!!)
Ashraf Salamah Ibrahim Abu Wadi
21 year-old resident of Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, killed on 26.01.2007 in Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and hamas.
Muhammad Ghaleb Ragheb a-Sakani
37 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 26.01.2007 in Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Ma'sud Jamal Hasuna Shamalkh
22 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 26.01.2007 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas while praying in the mosque.
Mussa Taha Kamel 'Asaliyah
17 year-old resident of Jabalya, North Gaza district, killed on 25.01.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas while grenade fired at him.
Husam Na'im Muhammad Mteir
27 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 25.01.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah and Hamas while grenade fired at him.
Shadi Kamal Mustafa Abu 'Aser
20 year-old resident of Jabalya, North Gaza district, killed on 04.01.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad Khalil Da'ud a-Lidawi
17 year-old resident of Jabalya, North Gaza district, killed on 04.01.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Ayman 'Issam Suleiman Subuh
27 year-old resident of Jabalya, North Gaza district, killed on 04.01.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Shadi Jaber Hassan Khalil
23 year-old resident of Jabalya, North Gaza district, killed on 04.01.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Ihab Yusef Faraj al-Mabhuh
28 year-old resident of Jabalya, North Gaza district, killed on 04.01.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad Diab Hussein Ghureib
45 year-old resident of Jabalya, North Gaza district, killed on 04.01.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Wael Hussein Mesbah Ghureib
33 year-old resident of Jabalya, North Gaza district, killed on 04.01.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Hussein Ahmad Muhammad Abu Hleil
51 year-old resident of Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, killed on 04.01.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Ahmad Soheil Mahmoud a-Shurbaji
18 year-old resident of Jabalya, North Gaza district, killed on 04.01.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muna Saleh Ya'Kub Salahah
21 year-old resident of Jabalya, North Gaza district, killed on 03.01.2007 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas while standing in the roof in the fifth floor.
Anwar Ibrahim Bracha a-Najar
20 year-old resident of al-Maghazi Refugee Camp, Deir al-Balah district, killed on 03.01.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Osama 'Adnan Dib a-Shami
22 year-old resident of a-Nuseirat Camp, Deir al-Balah district, killed on 03.01.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Osama Yusef Isma'il Nassar
20 year-old resident of Deir al-Balah, killed on 03.01.2007 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Osama Hamed 'Odeh a-Shamali
24 year-old resident of Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, killed on 02.01.2007 in Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, by gunfire.

2006

December

Ashraf Khamis al-'Asli Daghmash
28 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 20.12.2006 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas in al-Basrah neighborhood.
Mahmoud Mansur Muhammad Daghmash
27 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 20.12.2006 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas in al-Basrah neighborhood.
'Omar Nader Damen al-Wahidi
24 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 19.12.2006 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed while traveling in a truck belonging to Palestinian Nationality Security.
Shadi Muhammad Mahmoud Daher
23 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 19.12.2006 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed while traveling in a truck belonging to Palestinian Nationality Security.
Ahmad Tawfiq 'Abd al-Jawad Ziyadah
21 year-old resident of Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, killed on 18.12.2006 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas. 12 people were injured in the incident.
'Adnan Rajab 'Odeh Rahmi
45 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 17.12.2006 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: A member of the Palestinian national security forces. Killed after being kidnapped by armed Palestinians.
Hibah Saqer Mustafa Musbeh
19 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 17.12.2006 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed on her way to the university during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Isma'il Talal 'Abdallah Mahmoud
19 year-old resident of Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, killed on 17.12.2006 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: A member of Force 17. Killed by armed Palestinians who attacked a training camp for Force 17, the presidential guard.

Riad 'Abd a-Rahman Jum'ah Abu Jame'
38 year-old resident of Bani Suheila, Khan Yunis district, injured on 08.05.2006 in 'Abasan al-Jadida (a-Saghira), Khan Yunis district, by gunfire, and died on 11.10.2006.
Osama Ahmad Suleiman a-Sheikh 'Eid
24 year-old resident of Rafah, injured on 02.10.2006 in Rafah, by gunfire, and died on 05.10.2006. Additional information: Killed during clashes between Fatah members and Hamas members.
Ahmad Mussa Ahmad al-Ghul
26 year-old resident of Rafah, killed on 02.10.2006 in Rafah, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas
Husam Salamah Hassan Abu Samhadaneh
37 year-old resident of Rafah, killed on 02.10.2006 in Rafah, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas
Muhammad Muhammad Rabi' Muhsein
21 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 01.10.2006 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas
Muhammad Kamal Muhammad al-Afghani
23 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 01.10.2006 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: A bystander who was killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas
Ramadan Muhammad Hassan Ramadan
24 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 01.10.2006 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas
Hassan Maher Hassan Abu al-Hattal
14 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 01.10.2006 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas
'Alaa Taysir Muhammad Jarras
36 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 01.10.2006 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: A bystander who was killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas
Ashraf 'Abdu Mahmoud Abu Dalal
30 year-old resident of a-Nuseirat Camp, Deir al-Balah district, killed on 01.10.2006 in al-Bureij Refugee Camp, Deir al-Balah district. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas

Wasim Nassim Salman al-Masri
18 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 28.08.2006 in al-Qarara, Rafah district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed while traveling with two friends in a car that didn't stop at a checkpoint.
Iman Ahmad 'Atiyyah Abu Khusah
11 year-old resident of Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, killed on 10.07.2006 in Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, by a Qassam rocket. Additional information: Killed accidentally during "Operation Summer Rains".
'Imad Hassan 'Abd al-Hamid Abu al-'Anin
22 year-old resident of Rafah, injured on 10.06.2006 in Rafah, by gunfire, and died on 14.06.2006. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Salah 'Abd al-Hai Ahmad al-Astal
21 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 14.06.2006 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Suleiman Khamis Jaber Zanun
36 year-old resident of Rafah, killed on 12.06.2006 in Rafah, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Hammad Hamad 'Abd al-Karim Abu Jazar
20 year-old resident of Rafah, killed on 12.06.2006 in Rafah, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Hasam 'Abd al-Hakim 'Abd al-'Aziz Abu 'Anza
25 year-old resident of Rafah, injured on 04.06.2006 in Rafah, by gunfire, and died on 11.06.2006. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Ibrahim Sa'id Muhammad a-Nabahin
21 year-old resident of al-Bureij Refugee Camp, Deir al-Balah district, injured on 10.06.2006 in Gaza city, by gunfire, and died on 11.06.2006. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Bassem Khalil Ibrahim Taleb
39 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 10.06.2006 in Gaza city, by gunfire.
'Atiyyah Ibrahim 'Atiyyah al-Ghalban
20 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 04.06.2006 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed when fire opend at the car she travelled on with her family.
Rim Shhadeh Muhammad al-Ghalban
28 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 04.06.2006 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed when fire opend at the car she travelled on with her family.
Muhammad Ma'sud Ahmad Ak-Qurdi
27 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 04.06.2006 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad Nabil 'Abed al-Bil'awi
31 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 04.06.2006 in a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Khader Muhammad Ahmad 'Afaneh
41 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 01.06.2006 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.

Salem Hamdan 'Abdallah Kdih
22 year-old resident of 'Abasan al-Kabira, Khan Yunis district, killed on 24.05.2006 in 'Abasan al-Kabira, Khan Yunis district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Mahmoud Barham 'Ali Abu Ta'imah
19 year-old resident of 'Abasan al-Jadida (a-Saghira), Khan Yunis district, killed on 21.05.2006 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas.
Bilal 'Abd al-Wahed Ahmad Qose'ah
25 year-old resident of Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, killed on 17.05.2006 in Jabalya, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during confrontations between Fatah and Hamas.
Muhammad Muhammad Salameh a-Tatr
25 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 16.05.2006 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed by gunfire from a passing vehicle while walking down on the street.
Wasfi Shaker Ahmad Shahawan
26 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 08.05.2006 in 'Abasan al-Jadida (a-Saghira), Khan Yunis district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas members.
Muhammad Ahmad Hassan a-Jaraf
22 year-old resident of 'Abasan al-Jadida (a-Saghira), Khan Yunis district, killed on 08.05.2006 in 'Abasan al-Jadida (a-Saghira), Khan Yunis district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas members.
'Abd a-Rahman Isma'il Muhammad a-Daghameh
25 year-old resident of 'Abasan al-Jadida (a-Saghira), Khan Yunis district, killed on 08.05.2006 in 'Abasan al-Jadida (a-Saghira), Khan Yunis district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between Fatah and Hamas members.

Hassan Ahmad Hassan al-Ma'suwabi
14 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 31.03.2006 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between members of the Popular Resistance Committees and members of the Palestinian security forces.
Hisham Kamal Kamel Abu Taha
26 year-old resident of Rafah, killed on 31.03.2006 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between members of the Popular Resistance Committees and members of the Palestinian security forces.
Seif a-Din Muhammad Ahmad al-Halis
38 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 31.03.2006 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire between members of the Popular Resistance Committees and members of the Palestinian security forces.

Nayef Mustafa Nayef al-Astal
18 year-old resident of al-Mawasi, Khan Yunis district, killed on 18.11.2005 in al-Mawasi, Khan Yunis district, by gunfire.

Hiyam Muhammad Nassar
30 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.10.2005 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed when she was watching from the patio of her house an exchange of gunfire between the police and armed men near the police station in the city
'Omar Muhammad a-Shanti
22 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, killed on 02.10.2005 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during an exchange of gunfire with armed men near the police station in the city. Was struck in the head.
'Ali Hassan Makawi
35 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.10.2005 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Police officer who was killed during an exchange of gunfire with armed men near the police station in the city.

'Adnan Mustafa Mussa al-Ashqar
46 year-old resident of Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, injured on 02.08.2005 in Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, by a Qassam rocket, and died on 03.08.2005. Additional information: Killed when a Qassam rocket fired to his house mistakenly.
Yasser 'Adnan Mustafa al-Ashqar
6 year-old resident of Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, killed on 02.08.2005 in Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, by a Qassam rocket. Additional information: Killed when a Qassam rocket fired to his house mistakenly.

Hafsah Khader Isma'il al-Qasas
16 year-old resident of Gaza city, injured on 15.07.2005 in Gaza city, by gunfire, and died on 16.07.2005. Additional information: Killed by gunfire when hit by a bullet in the head during clashes between Hamas activists and the Palestinian Authority security forces.
Muhammad Hassan Dib al-'Amrin
15 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 15.07.2005 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed by gunfire when hit by a bullet in the head during clashes between Hamas activists and the Palestinian Authority security forces

Muhammad Yusef Muhammad Jarghon
37 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 07.06.2005 in Ganei Tal, Gush Katif district, by a Qassam rocket. Additional information: Killed while he worked at a packing shed in Ganei Tal.
Saleh 'Ayash Salameh 'Aumran
57 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 07.06.2005 in Ganei Tal, Gush Katif district, by a Qassam rocket. Additional information: Killed while he worked at a packing shed in Ganei Tal.

Ibtehal Mithkal Daher
9 year-old resident of Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, killed on 01.01.2005 in Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed by fragments of a Qassam rocket that was fired at Israeli settlements.

Mahmoud a-Sa'id Muhammad Keshtah
16 year-old resident of Rafah, injured on 26.11.2004 in Rafah, by explosion, and died on 28.11.2004. Additional information: Killed while playing with an explosive charge that his brother hid in the house.
Muhammad Mus'ad Jum'ahn a-Samayri
8 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 06.11.2004 in Khan Yunis, by explosion. Additional information: Killed while playing by his house when an anti-tank mine exploded.
Ahmad Muhammad Jum'ah a-Samayri
7 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 06.11.2004 in Khan Yunis, by explosion. Additional information: Killed while playing by his house when an anti-tank mine exploded.

Hassan Muhammad Muslem
20 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 23.10.2004 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed for suspected collaboration with Israel.
Marzuq Muhammad Abu 'Adwan
50 year-old resident of Rafah Refugee Camp, killed on 08.10.2004 in Rafiah Yam, Gush Katif district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed while he worked at a packing shed in the settlement.
Walid Hamdiya
50 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.08.2004 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Shot and wounded in the jail where he was held for suspicion of collaborating with Israel. Killed by militants who shot him at the hospital where he was being treated.
Mussa 'Odeh
37 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 02.08.2004 in Gaza city, by explosion. Additional information: Injured by gunfire in the jail where he was held for suspicion of collaborating with Israel. Killed by militants who shot him at the hospital where he was being treated.
Mahmoud Muhammad 'Abd a-Salam a-Sharif
42 year-old resident of a-Shati' Camp, Gaza district, killed on 02.08.2004 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Injured by gunfire in the jail where he was held for suspicion of collaborating with Israel. Killed by militants who shot him at the hospital where he was being treated.

Hassan Jamil a-Z'anin
18 year-old resident of Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, killed on 23.07.2004 in Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed while trying to prevent armed men from planting anti-tank explosives near his house.

Isma'il Sa'id Salem Abu Mandil
25 year-old resident of al-Maghazi Refugee Camp, Deir al-Balah district, killed on 26.04.2004 in al-Maghazi Refugee Camp, Deir al-Balah district, by explosion. Additional information: Killed when a suicide bomber detonated himself on the way to carry out an attack in Israel.
Fadi Muhammad Hassan a-N'ami
21 year-old resident of al-Maghazi Refugee Camp, Deir al-Balah district, killed on 26.04.2004 in al-Maghazi Refugee Camp, Deir al-Balah district, by explosion. Additional information: Killed when a suicide bomber detonated himself on the way to carry out an attack in Israel.

Riad Muhammad 'Az Zo'arub
24 year-old resident of Khan Yunis, killed on 21.03.2004 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a demonstration.

Ahmad Saleh Kkar'a
19 year-old resident of Shu'afat RC, East Jerusalem district, killed on 15.04.2003 at the Karni Checkpoint, Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed by a Hamas militant who infiltrated the checkpoint and opened fire at the workers.

Killed by a Hamas militant who infiltrated the checkpoint and opened fire at the workers.

Killed by a Hamas militant who infiltrated the checkpoint and opened fire at the workers.

Zakaria a-Diri
35 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 20.03.2003 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed in an exchange of gunfire between him and Palestinian security forces.

Khaled Nasr
30 year-old resident of Beit Hanun, North Gaza district, killed on 02.12.2002 , North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed when a mortar shell aimed at IDF soldiers landed on a group of Palestinian workers.

Muhammad Abu a-Taima
18 year-old resident of a-Nuseirat Camp, Deir al-Balah district, killed on 07.10.2002 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed in an exchange of gunfire with Palestinian security forces.
Muhammad Hajazi
27 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 07.10.2002 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed in an exchange of gunfire with Palestinian security forces.
'Issa al-Ahul
Resident of al-Burj, Hebron district, killed on 07.10.2002 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed in an exchange of gunfire with Palestinian security forces.
Mahmoud al-Faruni
30 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 07.10.2002 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed in an exchange of gunfire with Palestinian security forces.

Akram Zatmeh
23 year-old resident of Rafah, killed on 23.09.2002 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed for suspected collaboration with Israel.

'Abd al-Hai Sababi
44 year-old, killed on 14.07.2002 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed while imprisoned, on suspicion of collaboration with Israel.
Bassam al-Hisi
Killed on 09.07.2002 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed in an attempt to escape from prison after being sentenced to death for collaborating with Israel.

Tal'at al-'Abd Muhammad al-Bitar
43 year-old, killed on 12.04.2002 in Khan Yunis, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed while he was under arrest for suspicion of collaborating with Israel.

Name unknown to B'Tselem
Killed on 11.03.2002 in Gaza city. Additional information: Killed for suspected collaboration with Israel.
Name unknown to B'Tselem
Killed on 11.03.2002 in Gaza city. Additional information: Killed for suspected collaboration with Israel.

Muhammad Salmi
19 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 05.12.2001 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed in an exchange of gunfire with the Palestinian police.

Muhammad Ahel
16 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 21.10.2001 in Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed in an exchange of gunfire with Palestinian security forces.
'Abd al-Karim 'Awani al-Ashqar
17 year-old resident of Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, killed on 21.10.2001 in Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed in an exchange of gunfire with Palestinian security forces.
Zakaria Hassan a-Nawajhah
15 year-old resident of Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district, killed on 21.10.2001 in Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed in an exchange of gunfire with Palestinian security forces.
'Abd al-'Aziz a-Sawirki
17 year-old resident of Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, killed on 21.10.2001 in Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed in an exchange of gunfire with Palestinian security forces.
Habib Na'if Radwan
14 year-old resident of Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, killed on 21.10.2001 in Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed in an exchange of gunfire with Palestinian security forces.
Khalil 'Abd a-Latif a-Sifi
17 year-old resident of Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, killed on 21.10.2001 in Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed in an exchange of gunfire with Palestinian security forces.
'Alaa a-Din Hassan Muhammad Wahabeh
41 year-old, killed on 18.10.2001 in Khan Yunis, by detention. Additional information: Killed by Palestinian security forces while he was in prison in Khan Yunis.
Mahmoud 'Abd a-Rahman al-Muqayed
17 year-old resident of Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, killed on 12.10.2001 in Jabalya Refugee Camp, North Gaza district, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed in an exchange of gunfire with Palestinian police officers.
'Abdallah al-Faranji
13 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 08.10.2001 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a demonstration.
Yusef 'Aqel
21 year-old resident of a-Nuseirat Camp, Deir al-Balah district, killed on 08.10.2001 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Killed during a demonstration.

Khaled Sa'adi al-'Okeh
24 year-old resident of Gaza city, killed on 09.09.2001 in Gaza city. Additional information: Convicted by the State Security Court in Gaza for collaborating with Israel and causing death of Palestinians.

Suleiman Au 'Amra
38 year-old resident of Deir al-Balah, killed on 14.08.2001 in Gaza city, by detention.

Hisham Maki
Resident of Gaza city, killed on 17.01.2001 in Gaza city, by gunfire. Additional information: Shot by masked men while was in a resturant for suspected collaboration with Israel.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 30 replies

hear no, see no, speak no....

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:02:57 GMT

BBC & Sky News Refuse to Broadcast Appeal for Victims of Gaza War

And in Britain, Sky News has joined the BBC in refusing to broadcast an emergency humanitarian appeal for victims of the war in Gaza. The appeal was organized by Oxfam, Save the Children, the Red Cross and other charities. The networks claim the two-minute appeal would compromise their impartiality. More than fifty British MPs have called on the BBC to reverse its decision. Critics of the BBC have included former parliamentarian Tony Benn.

Tony Benn: “If the BBC doesn’t broadcast it, people will die in Gaza, because they haven’t got the aid that would have come from an appeal…And the BBC will change. I have no doubt that will happen. And that’s what public pressure can do. Never, ever underestimate the power of determined people, if their cause is right.”

www.democracynow.org

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 2 replies

Victim Mentality......

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 15:55:44 GMT

...or, "I love the smell of white phosphorous in the morning..."

Israel Vows to Defend Soldiers Against War Crimes

The Israeli government is vowing to give legal protection to soldiers accused of committing war crimes during the twenty-two-day attack on Gaza which left over 1,300 Palestinians dead and more than 5,000 wounded. On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his cabinet the Israeli military would be safe from any war crime charges brought against them by the international community.

Ehud Olmert: “The commanders and soldiers sent to Gaza should know they are safe from various tribunals, and the state of Israel will assist them on this front and will protect them as they protected us with their bodies during the military operation in Gaza.”

Amnesty International has accused Israel of war crimes, including the use of white phosphorus in crowded civilian areas. For weeks, Israel has denied using white phosphorus, but over the weekend a Foreign Ministry spokesperson confirmed its use but claimed it was not used in an illegal manner. Eight Israeli human rights groups have called on the Israeli government to investigate the scale of the casualties, describing the number of dead Palestinian women and children as “terrifying.” UN humanitarian chief John Holmes called the casualty toll “shocking.”

John Holmes: “What I saw on the ground was even more shocking than I had expected in the extent and the nature of the destruction that there was there. Of course, it’s not universal, and it’s not the same in some areas as in others. There are some areas, for example, of Gaza City which are relatively—I say relatively—spared, with only the odd building destroyed or hit. But there are other areas I visited where most or all buildings had been destroyed and leveled.”

www.democracynow.org

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

Israel can defend itself by stopping its crimes

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 15:22:28 GMT

In a visit to the State Department Thursday, President Obama made his first substantive comments on the Middle East conflict since Israel’s attack on Gaza. Obama first mentioned his commitment to Israel’s security, without affirming his commitment to Palestinian security. He condemned Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israeli towns, but didn’t criticize the US-backed Israeli bombings of densely populated Gaza. But in a departure from the Bush administration, Obama acknowledged Palestinian suffering and said Gaza’s borders should be opened to aid. We speak with MIT professor, Noam Chomsky.

JUAN GONZALEZ: President Obama has made his first substantive remarks on the crisis in Gaza since being elected. Obama was speaking at the State Department, flanked by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as he named two key envoys. Retired Senate majority leader George Mitchell, who negotiated a lasting agreement in Northern Ireland, will be Middle East envoy. And Richard Holbrooke, who brokered a deal in the Balkans in the mid-1990s, will be envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In his remarks, Obama backed Israel’s three-week attack on Gaza as a defensive move against Hamas rocket fire but also said he was deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation for Palestinians in Gaza. The twenty-two-day assault killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, most of them civilians, at least a third children. More than 5,500 were injured. Thirteen Israelis were killed over the same period, ten of them soldiers, and four by friendly fire.

This is some of what President Obama had to say.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Let me be clear: America is committed to Israel’s security. And we will always support Israel’s right to defend itself against legitimate threats.

For years, Hamas has launched thousands of rockets at innocent Israeli citizens. No democracy can tolerate such danger to its people, nor should the international community, and neither should the Palestinian people themselves, whose interests are only set back by acts of terror.

To be a genuine party to peace, the Quartet has made it clear that Hamas must meet clear conditions: recognize Israel’s right to exist, renounce violence, and abide by past agreements. Going forward, the outline for a durable ceasefire is clear: Hamas must end its rocket fire; Israel will complete the withdrawal of its forces from Gaza; the United States and our partners will support a credible anti-smuggling and interdiction regime, so that Hamas cannot rearm.

Yesterday I spoke to President Mubarak and expressed my appreciation for the important role that Egypt played in achieving a ceasefire. And we look forward to Egypt’s continued leadership and partnership in laying a foundation for a broader peace through a commitment to end smuggling from within its borders.

Now, just as the terror of rocket fire aimed at innocent Israelis is intolerable, so, too, is a future without hope for the Palestinians. I was deeply concerned by the loss of Palestinian and Israeli life in recent days and by the substantial suffering and humanitarian needs in Gaza. Our hearts go out to Palestinian civilians who are in need of immediate food, clean water and basic medical care, and who’ve faced suffocating poverty for far too long.

Now we must extend a hand of opportunity to those who seek peace. As part of a lasting ceasefire, Gaza’s border crossings should be open to allow the flow of aid and commerce, with an appropriate monitoring regime, with the international and Palestinian Authority participating. Relief efforts must be able to reach innocent Palestinians who depend on them. The United States will fully support an international donor’s conference to seek short-term humanitarian assistance and long-term reconstruction for the Palestinian economy. This assistance will be provided to and guided by the Palestinian Authority.

Lasting peace requires more than a long ceasefire, and that’s why I will sustain an active commitment to seek two states living side by side in peace and security. Senator Mitchell will carry forward this commitment, as well as the effort to help Israel reach a broader peace with the Arab world that recognizes its rightful place in the community of nations.

I should add that the Arab peace initiative contains constructive elements that could help advance these efforts. Now is the time for
Arab states to act on the initiative’s promise by supporting the
Palestinian government under President Abbas and Prime Minister
Fayyad, taking steps towards normalizing relations with Israel, and by standing up to extremism that threatens us all. Jordan’s constructive role in training Palestinian security forces and nurturing its relations with Israel provide a model for these efforts. And going forward, we must make it clear to all countries in the region that external support for terrorist organizations must stop.

AMY GOODMAN: President Obama, speaking at the State Department yesterday. A Hamas spokesperson told Al Jazeera television Obama’s position toward the Palestinians doesn’t represent a change. Osama Hamdan said, “I think this is an unfortunate start for President Obama in the region and the Middle East issue. And it looks like the next four years, if it continues with the same tone, will be a total failure.”

Well, for more on this, we are joined by Noam Chomsky, professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for over half-a-century. He has written over a hundred books, including Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy.

Welcome to Democracy Now!, Noam.

NOAM CHOMSKY: Glad to be with you again.

AMY GOODMAN: It’s good to have you with us. Well, let’s start off by your response to President Obama’s statement and whether you think it represents a change.

NOAM CHOMSKY: It’s approximately the Bush position. He began by saying that Israel, like any democracy, has a right to defend itself. That’s true, but there’s a gap in the reasoning. It has a right to defend itself. It doesn’t follow that it has a right to defend itself by force. So we might agree, say, that, you know, the British army in the United States in the colonies in 1776 had a right to defend itself from the terror of George Washington’s armies, which was quite real, but it didn’t follow they had a right to defend themselves by force, because they had no right to be here. So, yes, they had a right to defend themselves, and they had a way to do it—namely, leave. Same with the Nazis defending themselves against the terror of the partisans. They have no right to do it by force. In the case of Israel, it’s exactly the same. They have a right to defend themselves, and they can easily do it. One, in a narrow sense, they could have done it by accepting the ceasefire that Hamas proposed right before the invasion—I won’t go through the details—a ceasefire that had been in place and that Israel violated and broke.

But in a broader sense—and this is a crucial omission in everything Obama said, and if you know who his advisers are, you understand why—Israel can defend itself by stopping its crimes. Gaza and the West Bank are a unit. Israel, with US backing, is carrying out constant crimes, not only in Gaza, but also in the West Bank, where it is moving systematically with US support to take over the parts of the West Bank that it wants and to leave Palestinians isolated in unviable cantons, Bantustans, as Sharon called them. Well, stop those crimes, and resistance to them will stop.

Now, Israel has been able pretty much to stop resistance in the Occupied Territories, thanks in large part to the training that Obama praised by Jordan, of course with US funding and monitoring control. So, yes, they’ve managed to. They, in fact, have been suppressing demonstrations, even demonstrations, peaceful demonstrations, that called for support for the people of Gaza. They have carried out lots of arrests. In fact, they’re a collaborationist force, which supports the US and Israel in their effort to take over the West Bank.

Now, that’s what Obama—if Israel—there’s no question that all of these acts are in total violation of the foundations of international humanitarian law. Israel knows it. Their own advisers have told each other—legal advisers have explained that to them back in ’67. The World Court ruled on it. So it’s all total criminality. But they want to be able to persist without any objection. And that’s the thrust of Obama’s remarks. Not a single word about US-backed Israeli crimes, settlement development, cantonization, a takeover in the West Bank. Rather, everyone should be quiet and let the United States and Israel continue with it.

He spoke about the constructive steps of the peace—of the Arab peace agreement very selectively. He said they should move forward towards normalization of relations with Israel. But that wasn’t the main theme of the Arab League peace proposal. It was that there should be a two-state settlement, which the US blocks. I mean, he said some words about a two-state settlement, but not where or when or how or anything else. He said nothing about the core of the problem: the US-backed criminal activities both in Gaza, which they attacked at will, and crucially in the West Bank. That’s the core of the problem.

And you can understand it when you look at his advisers. So, say, Dennis Ross wrote an 800-page book about—in which he blamed Arafat for everything that’s happening—barely mentions the word “settlement” over—which was increasing steadily during the period when he was Clinton’s adviser, in fact peaked, a sharp increase in Clinton’s last year, not a word about it.

So the thrust of his remarks, Obama’s remarks, is that Israel has a right to defend itself by force, even though it has peaceful means to defend itself, that the Arabs must—states must move constructively to normalize relations with Israel, but very carefully omitting the main part of their proposal was that Israel, which is Israel and the United States, should join the overwhelming international consensus for a two-state settlement. That’s missing.

AMY GOODMAN: Noam, we have to break, but we’re going to come back to this discussion. Noam Chomsky, joining us from Massachusetts, a professor of linguistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has written many books on the Middle East. We’ll be back with him in a moment.

[break]

AMY GOODMAN: Our guest is Professor Noam Chomsky, author of many books on the Middle East. Among his books are Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy, also Hegemony or Survival. Juan?

JUAN GONZALEZ: Noam Chomsky, I’d like to ask you about the enormous civilian casualties that have shocked the entire world in this last Israeli offensive. The Israelis claim, on the one hand, that it’s the unfortunate result of Hamas hiding among the civilian population, but you’ve said in a recent analysis that this has been Israeli policy almost from the founding of the state, the attack on civilian populations. Could you explain?

NOAM CHOMSKY: They say so. I was just quoting the chief of staff—this is thirty years ago, virtually no Palestinian terrorism in Israel, virtually. He said, “Our policy has been to attack civilians.” And the reason was explained—you know, villages, towns, so on. And it was explained by Abba Eban, the distinguished statesman, who said, “Yes, that’s what we’ve done, and we did it for a good reason. There was a rational prospect that if we attack the civilian population and cause it enough pain, they will press for a,” what he called, “a cessation of hostilities.” That’s a euphemism meaning cessation of resistance against Israel’s takeover of the—moves which were going on at the time to take over the Occupied Territories. So, sure, if they—“We’ll kill enough of them, so that they’ll press for quiet to permit us to continue what we’re doing.”

Actually, you know, Obama today didn’t put it in those words, but the meaning is approximately the same. That’s the meaning of his silence over the core issue of settling and takeover of the Occupied Territories and eliminating the possibility for any Palestinian meaningful independence, omission of this. But Eban [inaudible], who I was quoting, chief of staff, would have also said, you know, “And my heart bleeds for the civilians who are suffering. But what can we do? We have to pursue the rational prospect that if we cause them enough pain, they’ll call off any opposition to our takeover of their lands and resources.” But it was—I mean, I was just quoting it. They said it very frankly. That was thirty years ago, and there’s plenty more beside that.

JUAN GONZALEZ: And Obama’s call to open up Gaza, to end the blockade of Gaza on the Israelis, do you see that as any kind of a meaningful turn?

NOAM CHOMSKY: It would—those are nice words. And if he did it, that would be fine. But there isn’t any indication that he means it. In fact, this morning on the—Israel has already made it clear, stated explicitly, its foreign minister Tzipi Livni, that they’re not going to live up to the ceasefire until Gaza returns to them a captured soldier. Well, that avoids the fact that Israel is far in the lead, not in capturing soldiers, but in kidnapping civilians, hijacking ships, bringing them to Israel as hostages. In fact, one day before this Israeli soldier was captured at the border, Israeli forces entered Gaza and kidnapped two civilians and took them to Israel, where they were hidden away in the prison system sometime. So, and in fact, according to reports I just received from Israel—I can’t give you a source—they say that the radio news this morning has been reporting steadily that Amos Gilad, who’s the go-between between Israel and Egypt, notified the Egyptians that Israel is not interested in a ceasefire agreement, but rather an arrangement to stop the missiles and to free Gilad Shalit. OK, I presume that will be in the newspapers later. So, yes, it’s nice to say, “Let’s open the borders,” but not avoiding the conditions that are imposed, in fact, not even mentioning the fact that the borders have been closed for years because the United States has backed Israeli closure of them.

And again, his main point, which he started with, Israel, like any democracy, has a right to defend itself. That is true, but deceitful, because it has a right to defend itself, but not by force, especially when there are peaceful options that are completely open, the narrow one being a ceasefire, which the US and Israel would observe for the first time, and the second and the deeper one, by ending the crimes in the Occupied Territories.

AMY GOODMAN: Noam Chomsky, the timing of all of this—can you talk about Election Day here in the United States, November 4th, what exactly happened there, and then the fact that it went from Election Day to three days before the inauguration of Barack Obama, Israel’s announcement of the unilateral ceasefire?

NOAM CHOMSKY: On Election Day, November 4th, Israel violated—violently violated a ceasefire that had held, free will, in fact, a sharp reduction in rockets, probably not even from Hamas. It had been established in June or July. On November 4th, Election Day, presumably because the attention was shifted elsewhere, Israeli forces entered Gaza, killed half a dozen, what they call, militants, and the pretext was they found a tunnel in Gaza. Well, you know, from a military point of view, that’s an absurdity. If there was a tunnel and if it ever reached the Israeli border, they’d stop it right there. So this was obviously just a way to break the ceasefire, kill a couple of Hamas militants and ensure that the conflict would go on.

As for the bombing, it was very carefully timed. And, in fact, they’ve told us this. They’ve told us it was meticulously timed for months before the invasion, a very target-selected timing, everything. It began on a Saturday, timed at right before noon, when children were leaving schools, people milling in the streets of the densely populated city, perhaps the most densely in the world. That’s when it began. They killed a couple hundred people in the first few minutes.

And it ended—it was timed to end right before the inauguration. Now, presumably the reason was—Obama had kept silent about the atrocities and the killings, a horrible, horrible story, which you can see on Al Jazeera and little bits of it here. He had kept silent on the pretext that there’s only one president. Well, on Inauguration Day, that goes. There’s two—there’s a new president. And Israel surely wanted to make it—to ensure that he would not be in a position where he would have to say something about the ongoing atrocities. So they terminated it, probably temporarily, right before the inauguration. And then he could go on with what we heard today.

AMY GOODMAN: Noam Chomsky, I want to turn for a second to George Mitchell, who President Obama has tapped as the special envoy to the Middle East. Mitchell is the retired Senate majority leader, best known for helping to broker Northern Ireland’s landmark Good Friday Agreement in 1998, which ended decades of bloody conflict. In 2000, Mitchell was appointed by former president Bill Clinton to head a committee investigating ongoing Israeli-Palestinian violence. Sallai Meridor, Israel’s ambassador to Washington, welcomed Obama’s appointment of Mitchell, saying Israel holds him in, quote, "high regard.” This is some of what George Mitchell had to say yesterday.

GEORGE MITCHELL: The Secretary of State has just talked about our long-term objective, and the President himself has said that his administration—and I quote—“will make a sustained push, working with Israelis and Palestinians to achieve the goal of two states: a Jewish state in Israel and a Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security.”

This effort must be determined, persevering and patient. It must be backed up by political capital, economic resources, and focused attention at the highest levels of our government. And it must be firmly rooted in a shared vision of a peaceful future by the people who live in the region. At the direction of the President and the Secretary of State, and in pursuit of the President’s policies, I pledge my full effort in the search for peace and stability in the Middle East.

AMY GOODMAN: Obama’s new Middle East envoy, former senator George Mitchell. Noam Chomsky, your response?

NOAM CHOMSKY: In Ireland, Mitchell did quite a commendable job. But notice that in Ireland, there was an objective, and he helped realize that objective: peaceful reconciliation. Britain took into account for the first time the grievances of the population, and the terror stopped. OK? And the terror was quite real.

In Israel, again, you have to look at what he avoided. He says, “Yes, we want to have a Palestinian state.” Where? OK? He said not a word about—lots of pleasantries about everyone should live in peace, and so on, but where is the Palestinian state? Nothing said about the US-backed actions continuing every day, which are undermining any possibility for a viable Palestinian state: the takeover of the territory; the annexation wall, which is what it is; the takeover of the Jordan Valley; the salients that cut through the West Bank and effectively trisect it; the hundreds of mostly arbitrary checkpoints designed to make Palestinian life impossible—all going on, not a word about them.

So, OK, we can have—in fact, you know, the first Israeli government to talk about a Palestinian state, to even mention the words, was the ultra right-wing Netanyahu government that came in 1996. They were asked, “Could Palestinians have a state?” Peres, who had preceded them, said, “No, never.” And Netanyahu’s spokesman said, “Yeah, the fragments of territory that we leave to them, they can call it a state if they want. Or they can call it fried chicken.” Well, that’s basically the attitude.

And Mitchell had nothing to say about it. He carefully avoided what he knows for certain is the core problem: the illegal, totally illegal, the criminal US-backed actions, which are systematically taking over the West Bank, just as they did under Clinton, and are undermining the possibility for a viable state.

JUAN GONZALEZ: Noam Chomsky, for Americans who want to figure out how to move now with the new Obama administration to end these atrocities that are occurring in the Middle East, what do you suggest? And also, what’s your viewpoint of the divestment movement? Many young people are urging something similar to South Africa, to begin pressing increasingly for divestment from Israel.

NOAM CHOMSKY: The position that people who are interested in peace ought to take is very straightforward. I mean, a majority of the American population, considerable majority, already agree with the full Arab League peace plan, not the little sliver of it that Obama mentioned. The peace plan calls for a two-state settlement on the international border, maybe with minor modifications. That’s an overwhelming national consensus. The Hamas supports it. Iran has said, you know, they’ll go along with it.

AMY GOODMAN: Noam, we only have thirty seconds.

NOAM CHOMSKY: OK, so we should push for that.

Is divestment a proper tactic? Well, you know, if you look back at South Africa, divestment became a proper tactic after years, decades of education and organizing, to the point where Congress was legislating against trade, corporations were pulling out, and so on. That’s what’s missing: the education and organizing which makes it an understandable move. And, in fact, if we ever got to that point, you wouldn’t even need it, because the US could be brought in line with international opinion.

AMY GOODMAN: Noam Chomsky, we want to thank you very much for being with us. And from all of us at Democracy Now!, condolences on the death of Carol, your wife of more than half a century.

NOAM CHOMSKY: Thank you.

AMY GOODMAN: Thanks, Noam. Noam Chomsky, professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

guilt ridden souls

Yosef — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 11:06:31 GMT

George Bush’s vigorous defense of our national security and vocal pride in our values and goodness went a long way to getting rid of the “kick me” sign liberal America has hung on our collective back. You know, that reflex of guilt and shame about our society and history, that eager rush to apologize for our presumed sins, that willingness to blame ourselves for the world’s ills and take seriously the self-interested slanders of states whose record of dysfunction and crime outstrips ours by miles. But now here comes Barack Obama, who for all his obligatory praise of America––most of it predicated on the fact that he was elected––so far seems eager to don once again the hair shirt of American sin.

Take one of the reasons for closing down Guantanamo: that it will enhance our reputation in the world, sullied by George Bush and his regime of secret prisons, torture, and violation of international norms. The Muslim Middle East, so the argument goes, has been enraged by these practices, and this anger creates support for the jihadists. So according to this view, we’re supposed to take seriously the criticisms of peoples whose own governments regularly torture and abuse dissidents, provide money for terrorist murderers, and don’t even acknowledge such things as human rights? Or we’re supposed to credit the opinion of those Muslims––and there are millions of them, from Spain to Indonesia–– who regularly celebrate the murder of Jews and Americans and Indians, who danced in the streets after 9/11, and who name their sons Osama and pray for the destruction of the “Great Satan”?

Only a toxic self-loathing could put the views of such people ahead of our own security and belief in the justice of our cause. This same pathology explains why we take seriously charges of imperialistic aggression coming from practitioners of a faith that ignited one of the most aggressive and destructive imperial expansions in history. It explains the suicidal double-standard whereby Muslim attacks on Jews and Christians, or Muslim desecration of Jewish and Christian holy places, are ignored in the West, at the same time we wring our hands and apologize over innocuous cartoons whose publication expresses our cherished right to free speech. Behind this lunacy lies the notion that we have it coming, that we are guilty, that our motives are impure, that we are the arch-demons behind all global misery––when by any objective reading of history America has been, and still is, the greatest force for good in history.

We often hear from apologists that the jihadists hate our policies, not our values––another example of how we are to blame for jihadist violence rather than the warped beliefs of the enemy. The war in Iraq, our support for Israel, our propping up of autocratic regimes to ensure the oil supply, our mistreatment of Muslims all over the world––stop all these abuses, and terrorism will disappear. Yet history doesn’t support this view. Historically the greatest slaughterer of Muslims has been Russia, most recently in Chechnya, where by some estimates a 100,000 people were killed, torture and collective punishment freely employed, and the capital Grozny shelled into rubble. That’s how Russia solved its jihad problem. But that hasn’t kept Iran’s lunatic president Ahmadinejad from cheerily posing for the cameras alongside Vladimir Putin. But more important, you never hear criticism of Russia from most Muslim countries, for the simple reason that Russia doesn’t care what anyone thinks about its pursuit of its interests. Only we Westerners, so sensitive and guilty, are vulnerable to that sort of emotional blackmail.

This idea that criticizing your own culture and values is a sign of intellectual sophistication has many roots. The Enlightenment abandonment of faith and the rise of rationalism as the only road to truth unleashed a corrosive criticism that destroys everything but builds nothing. Communist dogma, of course, exploited this cultural tic in order to gain traction in the West and undermine the liberal democracy and free-market capitalism that stood in the way of the communist utopia. Though the Sixties popularized more widely these bad intellectual habits, they have been going on for over a century, and influenced the policies of appeasement in the Thirties that emboldened Hitler. Churchill noted the connection in a speech from 1933: “Our difficulties come from the mood of unwarrantable self-abasement into which we have been cast by a powerful section of our own intellectuals. They come from the acceptance of defeatist doctrines by a large proportion of our politicians. But what have they to offer by a vague internationalism, a squalid materialism, and the promise of impossible utopias?”

How much worse is our condition today, when this “self-abasement” has now hardened into banal clichés repeated in popular culture, school curricula, and the received wisdom of badly educated pundits. And we see its effects in the promises of the new Democratic regime that is eager, under the cover of “vigorous diplomacy,” to subject American interests to the strictures of a “vague internationalism,” which in reality is merely the camouflage other nations use to pursue their interests at the expense of our own. Yet this approach, whose failure is institutionalized in the U.N., will not deliver the promised boons. On the contrary, to the jihadists fired with faith in the righteousness of their own cause and beliefs, this eagerness to shoulder the blame for their dysfunctions, this desire to exchange flabby words for vigorous deeds will simply convince them that for all our wealth and power, we don’t really believe in our professed values and so are ripe for destruction.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

is Israel doomed By: Kenneth Levin

Yosef — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 15:19:51 GMT

Israel's enemies assert that its destruction is inevitable, and those who would destroy her are cheered on by many in the West. At the same time, Western mainstream media, particularly in Europe but also major media outlets in America, do puff pieces on Israel's genocidal adversaries, slant the news to conform to her enemies' propaganda, and support the delegimitization of the Jewish state.

The Gaza War, and the response to it across the world, have underscored the threats to the state's survival, Israel's often maladaptive and self-defeating reactions, and what is required of the state to counter those who challenge her existence.

The Threats

There are obviously those eager for Israel's demise. Since the Jewish state's creation, the Arab world has wanted it to disappear and this has not changed. Promotion of Arab supremacism, which accords little if any rights to non-Muslim or non-Arab groups in what the Arabs deem their proper domain, extends beyond Israel to abuse of Christians throughout that world as well as of Muslim but non-Arab peoples such as the Kurds of Iraq and Syria, the Muslim blacks of Darfur, the Berbers of Algeria. That abuse has repeatedly reached the level of genocidal campaigns, as reflected not only in the slaughter in Darfur, but also in the murder of some two hundred thousand Kurds in Iraq and some two million Christian and animist blacks in southern Sudan.

In terms of genocidal incitement against minority populations, none is as graphic and incessant as that purveyed in Arab media, mosques and schools - even in countries with which Israel is formally at peace - against the Jews and Israel. The existence of Israel is seen as an intolerable distortion of the proper order of things, according to which Jews should either be dead or, at best, subjugated members of society existing at the sufferance of their Arab betters.

In recent decades, enlistment in this genocidal hatred has widened to encompass many in the broader Muslim world. Obviously, the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the installation of a clerical regime that has sought to expand its influence by taking the lead in promoting Israel's destruction, has presented the Jewish state with a grave new threat. In terms of broader enmity in the Muslim world, however, the greatest factor has been aggressive Saudi export of Wahhabi fundamentalism, its preaching of virulent Jew-hatred (and hatred of other non-Muslims), and its ever increasing influence not only in once tolerant Islamic nations but also in Muslim communities in Europe, the Americas and elsewhere.

To the degree that some in the Arab world, such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt, feel threatened by Iran, its alliance with Syria, and their protege organizations such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian territories, those states have interests which converge with Israel's. But this offers only very limited relief from the surrounding hostility Israel faces. Noteworthy in this regard is that Saudi Arabia and Egypt, as well as Jordan, continue to promote Jew-hatred in their media and schools, the Saudis continue to finance many Islamist groups even as they fear and sanction others, and any constraint on Saudi hostility towards Israel inspired by fear of Iran would certainly be reversed were the Iranian threat to "moderate" Arab regimes to disappear.

In terms of Israel's Palestinian Arab neighbors, the PLO, and its dominant party Fatah, under Arafat and since his death, have been and continue to be committed to Israel's ultimate destruction. So, too, of course, are Hamas and the other Islamist parties. Whatever true moderates exist among the Palestinians have no political voice or influence.

In addition to the animosity of the Arab world, Israel is faced with much hostile sentiment in Europe, fed by traditional anti-Semitism, by leftist anti-Americanism and association of Israel with America, by perverse, ahistorical leftist twisting of the Israeli-Arab conflict into Israeli colonialists brutalizing the supposedly indigenous population, and by the European media being house organs for anti-Israel bigotry of all these pedigrees. The growing threat of radical Islam to European states, particularly as manifested within those states' immigrant Muslim populations, has in some quarters led to greater sympathy with Israel's predicament. But elsewhere, especially among the cadres of the Left, which include most of the media, this threat has had the opposite impact and inspired a wishful thinking that all would be well, Islamist hostility would be appeased, if only Israel would make sufficient amends or simply disappear.

Nor is America immune to these distortions of reality. As the Muslim population in the United States has grown, and as it has become more radicalized, largely by Saudi promotion of Wahhabi extremism, an alliance has emerged between the far Left in this country and the forces of genocidal Islamism. Their recent joint demonstrations against Israel have included explicitly anti-Semitic "cheers," such as calls for "Jews to the ovens." Regrettably, even less extreme elements of the Left, such as some within the so-called "liberal" churches, have signed on as fellow travelers with this alliance for Israel's defamation, delegitimization and ultimate demise.

Israel is also attacked, and its very existence challenged, in the United Nations, an institution that has largely become the monster it was created to fight. The UN Human Rights Council, whose present members include such paragons of domestic civil rights as Cuba, Saudi Arabia, China, Malaysia and Bangladesh, routinely excoriates Israel in terms that single out the Jewish national liberation movement as uniquely illegitimate. The UNWRA, which for six decades has been responsible for Palestinian refugees and their families, promotes genocide under the flag of the UN. UNWRA schools teach the glories of suicide bombing and martyrdom in the effort to destroy Israel, employ members of terrorist organizations on its staff, including as teachers, and serve as a conduit for recruiting children into terrorist cadres.

In addition to all these challenges to her existence, Israel faces a domestic enemy. This extends beyond those within the Israeli Arab community who identify with Israel's external enemies. In the face of living under constant siege, some among Israel's Jewish citizens, particularly within the nation's elites, choose to distance themselves from the national predicament. They choose to find fault with the state and side with her defamers and would-be destroyers, embracing her adversaries' indictments. They urge, at a minimum, territorial and other concessions to placate Israel's enemies, even at the cost of rendering the state more vulnerable, and some even argue for the dissolution of the state to mollify her enemies. Predictably, they cast their doing so not as a desire to separate themselves from their embattled fellow citizens or to appease those who would annihilate them but as embracing a higher morality.

The same hypocrisy is seen among many Diaspora Jews, who likewise endorse the indictments of those who would destroy Israel, join in defamation and delegitimization of the state, and do so while averring only the highest ethical motives. A list of American and European Jews of this ilk would fill many pages.

The widespread and implacable hatred faced by Israel is seen by some, and often characterized in the media, as virtually insurmountable. So too, according to various voices in the media, is the translation of this hatred into physical attack. If Israel has been able to prevail in the past in conventional wars, the present and growing challenge of unconventional assault - at one extreme, with weapons of mass destruction, most threateningly an Iranian nuclear arsenal; at the other extreme, incessant terror entailing rocket and mortar attacks from terrorist forces imbedded within dense civilian populations - may be, it is suggested, beyond solution.

In addition, Israel also confronts the challenge not only of the enmity of its neighbors but of their fertility as well. Palestinian population growth ranks among the highest in the world, fertility among Arab citizens of Israel is also high, and together, it is often argued, Israel faces a demographic challenge that it has no means of countering while preserving itself as both the Jewish state and a democracy.

Managing and Mismanaging the Threats

But despite all these various, serious challenges, Israel's fate remains largely in its own hands. Israel has peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan because it convinced both states that, however much its leaders or its citizens might like to see Israel gone, the price of pursuing that goal is prohibitive. There is no peace with Syria, but Syria has long refrained from direct hostile action against Israel for the same reason of not wanting to pay the likely price.

Some argue that Islamist states and parties cannot be dissuaded by such calculations because they are driven by religious zeal and are prepared to pay any price, and imply that such adversaries therefore cannot be defeated. But this thesis has not been tested.

Such regimes are immune neither to annihilation- that is, a weakening to the point where others in their societies are able to seize control from them - nor to a battering to the extent that, even if they retain control, they are rendered unable to act, at least for an extended time, on their genocidal agenda. The biggest challenge to Israel is an Iran close to achieving nuclear arms, and - while ending Iran's nuclear program by other means would be preferable - even this challenge is not without military answers.

In terms of smaller players such as Iranian proxies Hezbollah and Hamas, military dissuasion had hardly been tried prior to the current war in Gaza.

Israel, under Ehud Barak, left southern Lebanon in 2000 without assuring that Hezbollah would not fill the void there. Barak and many other Israelis were convinced that, in any case, Hezbollah would not pursue the war across the border. Despite many subsequent episodes of Hezbollah cross-border terror, including the murder of Israeli soldiers and civilians, Israel downplayed the threat and offered no serious response. When it did respond, in 2006, it was unprepared to do so. It then ended its campaign and acquiesced to creation of a UN force in southern Lebanon that has done nothing, despite its mandate, to prevent Hezbollah from reconstituting and greatly expanding its rocket and missile arsenal and from reestablishing itself in areas which are supposed to be prohibited to it.

Some in Israel now argue that the nation nevertheless inflicted enough damage in 2006 that Hezbollah is hesitant to restart hostilities. But it is far from clear whether Hezbollah is cowed or simply biding its time or awaiting marching orders from Tehran.

Vis-a-vis Gaza, many Israeli leaders, most notably its present prime minister, deluded themselves into believing that Israel's full evacuation of its communities and military from the territory in 2005 would be followed by quiet and would be a step towards a more general peace. The evacuation was followed instead by more rocket and mortar fire targeting Israeli towns and villages, and this assault dramatically increased when Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007. Israel's abandonment of the Philadelphi corridor in the context of its general withdrawal opened the way to large-scale smuggling of ever more powerful rockets and missiles and other armaments into Gaza, yet Israel barely responded to either the rocket and mortar attacks or the smuggling.

Now it has responded and has done so in an impressive manner. It has not destroyed Hamas, but it is far from clear that the organization's destruction at this point is desirable. Of course, the impact of weakening the organization has yet to be seen. If Hamas continues to fire its rockets, mortars and missiles, Israel can resume its attack and weaken it further. Israel's most significant mistake may be not retaking the Philadelphi corridor, as it is highly unlikely that Egypt is prepared to stop weapons smuggling into Gaza or that any role given to third parties such as European observers would do the job.

But if Israel will respond to further smuggling by seizing the corridor, then this issue too can be addressed. Israel should adopt a zero tolerance policy with regard both to smuggling of weaponry into Gaza and attacks from Gaza. If it has the will to do so, it certainly has the means to enforce such a policy.

Similarly, while Hezbollah offers greater challenges, renewed hostilities on the Lebanese front too are manageable, if Israel has the will to address them effectively.

In fact, what has exacerbated actual problems, and created an impression of some of those problems being intractable, has largely been Israel's failure over the last fifteen years to address the challenges it faces. Too many Israelis became psychologically exhausted by the siege and deluded themselves into thinking they could end it if they only made sufficient concessions. In the Oslo debacle, they brought people dedicated to their destruction into the territories as "peace partners," armed them, closed their eyes to their "peace partners'" engagement in genocidal incitement and vicious, wholesale terror, and convinced themselves that their dead were "sacrifices for peace."

Only when they pushed for an "end of conflict" final agreement, and Arafat, despite Israel's offering to return virtually to the pre-1967 ceasefire lines, launched a full-scale terror war, did Israel begin to wake from its delusions. Yet, while it largely pacified the West Bank, it still repeated self-destructive policies in its tolerance of terror from Lebanon and from Gaza.

In addition, Israeli policies and rhetoric concerning the West Bank likewise continue to reflect dangerous delusions. A national goal of reaching an arrangement in the West Bank that entails Israel's retaining defensible borders, including the areas where almost all the so-called "settlers" live, while separating itself from the vast majority of Palestinians, would be understandable and reasonable. What is neither understandable nor reasonable is the belief that Israel can forego defensible borders and can hand ceded areas to Mahmoud Abbas's PA and have peace.

Nor is there merit to alarmist arguments that Israel must play the supplicant and hand the territories to whomever will take them, however hostile the recipient, because of the demographic challenges to the state; that it moreover must forego retaining defensible borders because doing so would also mean adding Arab citizens in numbers that would undermine the state demographically. The latter is factually untrue; Israel could pursue defensible lines while still separating itself from the vast majority of Palestinian Arabs. Most of the areas it needs to retain are, in fact, sparsely populated. And it need not be the supplicant to find a recipient, however hostile, to take what it would cede. Various models have been presented by sensible, strategically astute, Israeli thinkers of ways to move forward to ultimate separation from areas of dense Palestinian Arab population without compromising the security of the state.

Self-defeating Israeli actions over the last two decades have entailed more than the grave errors in policy decisions. They have gone beyond Israel's embrace of "peace partners" who had no interest in peace and the adoption of delusions that, despite what the other side says and does, sufficient concessions and self-reform and demonstrations of good will would inevitably win relief from ongoing besiegement. Likewise of profound negative consequence has been Israel's failure to make its case forcefully to the world. This too has been largely motivated by the desire to propitiate its enemies, to see salvation in concessions and self-reform and to ignore the nature and the dimensions of the threat.

And so the nation's leaders, and its foreign service bureaucrats, have failed to point out and protest strongly Palestinian and wider Arab indoctrination, in media, mosques, and schools, to Jew-hatred and genocide. They have failed to emphasize, as they should indefatigably, in every forum in which the nature of the conflict is distorted and Israel is pressed for concessions, that there can be no peace as long as the Palestinian Authority and Hamas and virtually every other Palestinian group and the Arab world more broadly aspire to Israel's ultimate destruction and promote this goal among their people and educate their young to it.

The government, including the foreign service, are too often mute when confronted with the most bigoted and unconscionable anti-Israel libels, distortions of reality, by Arab spokespeople or media factotums or others, even though their silence in the face of defamatory lies, or their weak and almost apologetic rebuttals, serve only to lend credence to the defamations and legitimacy to their purveyors.

The repeated emphasis by Israeli spokespeople during the Gaza War of the provocations that triggered Israel's actions, of the months and years of rocket and mortar assault from Gaza on Israeli towns and villages, the repeated assertion of the obvious point that no other sovereign state would tolerate such assault or refrain from responding forcefully, has been a step forward from past performance. Likewise, the response to misinformation and disinformation during the war - the shift, for example, from knee-jerk apologies in the face of claims of indiscriminate force to investigation of the claims and a fact-based answer supported by video and other evidence - is certainly an improvement on what has been the typical handling of such situations during previous hostilities. But there is still far to go in Israel's responsibly making its case. It has yet to publicly challenge, with a force appropriate to the animus of Israel's accusers, the routine slanderous assaults by Palestinian and other Arab leaders, by NGO's, by UN officials, by various political figures on the world stage, and by so many in the media.

To argue that Israel's fate is essentially in her own hands, in the hands of her people, is hardly to make light of the problems Israel faces. But as long as the great majority of Israelis do not succumb to the bigotry of their enemies and their enemies' fellow travelers, domestic and worldwide, as long as they remain steadfast in the conviction of the rightness of their cause - a rightness evident to any informed and fairminded observer - then, just as they have overcome dire threats in the past and indeed built a society whose achievements have been far beyond the wildest dreams of the nation's founders, the odds are well in their favor of continuing to meet whatever challenges confront them.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

Pro war rally in NYC

John — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 05:37:59 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FABqq_jjRRo

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 8 replies

Anti war rally in Israel

John — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 05:36:55 GMT

http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/events/1231029668

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 1 reply

Question for Israeli members?

John — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 07:28:10 GMT

Do Israelis feel divided by what is happening in Gaza?

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 2 replies

Why Obama must be pushed and dragged to peace

John — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 06:55:36 GMT

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/4/11/2646/41085

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

Push Obama on Palestine

John — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 02:15:27 GMT

Gaza: Moving Beyond Political Activism

by Joe Mowrey / November 24th, 2008

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/11/gaza-moving-beyond-political-activism/

As conditions in the Gaza strip approach a catastrophic level of deprivation, the world media, and in particular the U.S. media, remain largely silent. The United Nations, whose truckloads of food and medical supplies continue to be denied entry into Gaza by Israel, appears to be one of the few international voices of dissent concerning the collective punishment of 1.5 million human beings. This, despite the fact that more than 50% of the population in Gaza is comprised of children under the age of 15.

Israel claims to be defending itself against the crude, often homemade rockets which militant factions in Gaza fire randomly into southern Israel. Though it may be considered politically incorrect, this writer refuses to precede his remarks with the requisite, “It’s wrong for militant Palestinians to be firing rockets into Israel.” The ethics of Palestinian resistance to the Zionist colonization of Palestine and the dispossession of the Palestinian people is a subject for another article. The issue at hand is one of collective punishment. Regardless of the actions of certain factions in Gaza, the fact remains that Israel (with the approval of the U.S.and the world community) is depriving an entire civilian population of food, medicine and clean drinking water in response to the violent actions of a few among that population. By any civilized standard this behavior is wrong and should be condemned vociferously. To paraphrase the words of an alien from another planet in a not-so-great Hollywood movie of some years ago, every sentient being knows the difference between right and wrong.

Apparently not. Israel’s Foreign Minister and likely future Prime Minister, Tzipi Livni, recently dismissed the notion that Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to collective punishment and claimed those actions were a justifiable response to the rocket attacks on Israel. She stated, “The international community must be more decisive in making itself heard and in using its influence in the face of these attacks.”

To suggest that the international community should condemn “these attacks” by militant Palestinian factions, yet ignore the humanitarian disaster being imposed on Gaza by the government of Israel demonstrates a nearly incomprehensible level of hypocrisy. But more importantly, the fact that Jews are the ones perpetrating these unconscionable actions in Gaza is a tragedy of historic proportions. The Geneva Conventions, particularly those articles addressing the collective punishment of civilian populations, were largely crafted in response to the treatment of Jews by the Nazis during World War II. Has the sense of exclusivity and entitlement created by the Zionist experiment in Israel become so great that people there no longer see themselves in the mirror of their own history? The irony of Jews, among the most egregiously persecuted and maligned people in history, denying food to hundreds of thousands of children in order, allegedly, to insure their own security, is breathtaking. Who could ever have imagined such a thing?

As people of Gaza suffer, here in the U.S., the vast majority of so-called progressives continue to revel in the recent election of the first Black man to the Presidency. While Obama has garnered a great deal of political and financial support by pledging his unconditional support for the Zionist regime in Israel, he remains completely silent on the plight of the children of Gaza. Our first Black President not only refuses to speak out against the collective punishment of an oppressed people, he actively supports and encourages the regime responsible for this behavior. This too is a tragedy of historic proportions. Have we come this far in the struggle against racism in our country only to see Barack Obama put a minority face on U.S. support for violations of international law and essential human dignity by Israel? Again, one has to say, who could ever have imagined such a thing?

Each morning I peruse the alternative media online and hope to see at least some minor degree of outrage at the situation in Gaza. A small but courageous handful of progressive web sites dare to criticize Israel and speak out against the abuse of the Palestinian people. But for the most part, the glorious and powerful “NetRoots” movement is too busy congratulating itself on the so-called victory it has achieved in the recent elections, too busy celebrating the illusion of change which Barack Obama represents, to admit the absence of any indication of substantive change in U.S. foreign policy in Palestine or the Middle East under his coming administration.

Does it ever occur to those who so blindly and passionately rallied ‘round their candidate for the Presidency that they might now use their voices to encourage him to oppose the human rights abuses being orchestrated in Gaza? The sad reality is, not even a chorus of such voices is likely to alter the course Obama appears to have taken. He has surrounded himself with a familiar cast of armchair militarists, corporatists and hard core pro-Zionist zealots who will continue to give their unconditional support to Israel regardless of what barbaric tactics the government there uses to advance the colonization of Palestine. He is choosing to turn his back on the men, women and children in Gaza and the West Bank who suffer chronic malnutrition, desperate poverty, dispossession and daily humiliation at the hands of the Israeli military.

We should stand up in opposition to instances of human rights abuses whenever and wherever they occur. The situation in Gaza is only one on an unfortunately long list, locally, nationally and internationally. And U.S. government (that means you and me) support for and complicity in many such instances is no secret. If each of us were to do just one thing per week to address these issues, the result might surprise us all. Take a minute out from the long and endless chatter of day to day living and speak to a friend about the idea of social equality. Write one letter to the editor of your local paper in support of human rights. Spend just one percent of your online hours learning the truth about our complicity as U.S. citizens in the exploitation and degradation of other people and their cultures. Turn off your television. Go stand on a corner with a sign to protest war. Wear a button promoting peace and justice. One small thing at a time.

To those who became politically active, possibly for the first time, and expended their valuable enthusiasm and energy in order to see Barack Obama elected: thank you for being a part of history. Now why not try on the mantel of social activism? Write our President-elect a letter and suggest that he at least acknowledge the suffering of the people in Gaza. It is doubtful it will change him or his policies, but it may change you. And that truly is “change we can believe in.”

Every sentient being knows the difference between right and wrong. The question is, why do so few of us act on that knowledge?

Joe Mowrey is a Palestinian rights and antiwar activist. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico with his equally traitorous spouse and their four canine co-conspirators. He can be contacted at: jmowrey@ix.netcom.com.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 8 replies

UN OFFICIAL SLAMS ISRAELI CRIMES

Lina — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 02:17:14 GMT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7774988.stm

UN official slams Israel 'crimes'

The UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories has said Israel's policies there amount to a crime against humanity.

Richard Falk's statement came as UN human rights delegates urged Israel to take nearly 100 measures including ending its blockade of the Gaza Strip.

He said the UN must act to protect the Palestinian population suffering what he called "collective punishment".

Israel says the blockade is a necessary security measure to stem rocket salvos.

The UN Human Rights Council has spent two days reviewing Israel's human rights record under a new mechanism called the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), in which the Council scrutinises the records of all UN member states every four years.

Israel is to report back in March on how it plans to follow-up on 99 recommendations made by the Council, which also include freeing thousands of Palestinian detainees.

Flurry of denunciation:

In his statement, Mr Falk called on the United Nations to make an "urgent effort" to "implement the agreed norm of a responsibility to protect a civilian population being collectively punished by policies that amount to a Crime Against Humanity".

He said the International Criminal Court should also investigate whether the Israeli civilian leaders and military commanders for the Gaza siege should be indicted and prosecuted for violations of international criminal law.

The last time there had been "such a flurry of denunciations by normally cautious UN officials" it was during the heyday of the apartheid government in South Africa, Mr Falk said.

"And still Israel maintains its Gaza siege in its full fury, allowing only barely enough food and fuel to enter to stave off mass famine and disease," Mr Falk said.

Israel allowed dozens of trucks filled with humanitarian supplies into Gaza on Tuesday, the fifth such shipment permitted to enter the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory in the past month.

Propaganda:

There were heated exchanges between Israel and some of its adversaries during the debate at the UN last week.

Israeli officials described Gaza as "a hotbed for terrorist preparations" and said more than 200 rockets and mortar shells had been fired from there in the past four weeks. Palestinian militants say their barrages are a response to Israeli violations of a ceasefire in the summer.

Late on Tuesday Israel's ambassador to the UN in Geneva said the country was committed to building on successes in human rights and dealing with any shortcomings, and he welcomed the "positive and productive" dialogue with the Human Rights Council.

However a foreign ministry spokesman dismissed Mr Falk's intervention as "more anti-Israeli propaganda than truth".

"The situation in Gaza is the direct result of the violence inflicted by Hamas, not only on Israeli civilians but the Palestinian population," said Yigal Palmor in an interview with AFP news agency.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 1 reply

Jews - Muslims and all - For peace

nareshlove — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:22:59 GMT

www.walkaboutlove.org/en
tribes.tribe.net/walkaboutlove

The “situation” as it’s referred to colloquially, the same “situation” that always exists in Israel, has brought a group of people to the insight that a journey of peace and love is preferable than a journey of war.
so...
The Travelers – There is a strong stream of travelers in the world who come from different countries and nations. People who travel together. We see the potential for change contained in these travelers.
”Walk About” - is an expression taken from the disappearing world of the ancient Australian Aboriginal Tribes. The phrase refers to the custom of walking to think and to find solutions. We think that the solution in our situation will come from love, and thus the name of the Walk is Walk About Love.
Walk About Love is a group that initiates projects with goals of building bridges between cultures and creating a reality of peace and love for each other and for the land in Israel. The group is unionized as a legally registered not-for-profit organization.The “situation” as it’s referred to colloquially, the same “situation” that always exists in Israel, has brought a group of people to the insight that a journey of peace and love is preferable than a journey of war.
so...
The Travelers – There is a strong stream of travelers in the world who come from different countries and nations. People who travel together. We see the potential for change contained in these travelers.
”Walk About” - is an expression taken from the disappearing world of the ancient Australian Aboriginal Tribes. The phrase refers to the custom of walking to think and to find solutions. We think that the solution in our situation will come from love, and thus the name of the Walk is Walk About Love.
Walk About Love is a group that initiates projects with goals of building bridges between cultures and creating a reality of peace and love for each other and for the land in Israel. The group is unionized as a legally registered not-for-profit organization.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 1 reply

Invitation to dream the new Mid East

nareshlove — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 12:39:35 GMT

http://tribes.tribe.net/walkaboutlove

We invite you to watch, smell and taste our dream!
From all over the world we need to come together and understand the common humanity that is in all of us, if we are to share life on this planet Earth.
People from everywhere are called upon to share a community experience, by walking together across a misunderstood land – Israel.
You are called upon to show the world how seeds of understanding and human brotherhood can be planted in the land of Israel, with all people living, working, walking and sharing as one.
Israel and the world need you, your love and your humanity more than ever. These are critical times – an emergency. Seeds of understanding are the way to make a better world.
We aim to walk the entire length of the land of Israel from south to north, to show the rest of the world that it is possible for people of different races, colors and nations to understand each other. Gathering together with all of our different cultures and languages, we will share a demanding challenge.
A One Thousand Kilometer Walk In Three Months
Our mission is to demonstrate that coming together in harmony is possible.
This protest is a heart felt cry for connection and unity. We are but tourists passing through this world for a short time. Lets not waste our time.
Come together and enjoy a true connection as one human family – living, working, walking, singing and dancing together. The sharing of our beautiful differences towards the common goal of Global Brotherhood will enrich us all.
Walk About Love is firstly a universal musical festival featuring artists and musicians from all over the world. This exchange of musical cultures, we believe, will create a universal understanding. Dancing together we will learn to love and accept each other.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

An activity for Jews & Muslims in the US!

CCM — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 06:42:08 GMT

Gay Marriage!

The President-Elect has said we are in for a change or 2. He is committed (as it says on his webpage below) that he is committed to civil rights in our nation. He is asking for you vision of America--he needs to know that this issue needs to be beyond the states. He needs to know that no rights for some of our citizens is a bad thing. He needs to know that we know moving it to the states is not really dealing with the issue.

Let him know, please:

www.change.gov/page/s/yourvision

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

Unifying efforts

Skeyeopener — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:54:59 GMT

As I am sure most here are at least somewhat aware of the unifying efforts of Muslims and Jews, thanks to Gita and others, but I felt to offer some examples of these efforts perhaps to inspire out Tribe in engaging in open questioning and attempts at resolution.

SalaamShalomPeace...

Jews, Christians, Muslims build Habitat together
http://www.njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/070308/njJewsChristians.html

Jews And Muslims Coming Together In Britain
http://kashmiri-nomad.blogspot.com/2007/02/jews-and-muslims-coming-together-in.html

Jews and Muslims set up big interfaith effort (and more below this article on the following page)
http://archives2007.ghazali.net/html/jews_and_muslims.html

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

Three Cups of Tea

Skeyeopener — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 01:50:43 GMT

I recently listened to this book on CD and was pleasantly surprised at how it was not about forwarding the 'official' story of 9/11 as it appeared to be at one part in the book, but rather it presented what he learned as it unfolded in his life. It didn't go too into that, which is fine, but it did give a bit more perspective from that region of the world without making anybody really the 'bad guys'. Just showing more the humanity of all and how true intentions and actions to help are respected and appreciated. I highly recommend this read/listen, it is a very engrossing and informative story.

http://www.threecupsoftea.com/

“Three Cups of Tea is one of the most remarkable adventure stories of our time. Greg Mortenson’s dangerous and difficult quest to build schools in the wildest parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan is not only a thrilling read, it’s proof that one ordinary person, with the right combination of character and determination, really can change the world.” -Tom Brokaw

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 3 replies

7th year of invasion of Afghanistan ~ and ~ surrendering the war

Skeyeopener — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:22:54 GMT

Posted this the other day and felt to post a link to it here:

http://california.tribe.net/template/pub%2Coc%2CDetail.vm?topicid=e32b2141-3f43-4863-a97d-1b519672d8f1&plugin=blog&inst=2309518

PeaceSalaamShalOmShanti...

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 1 reply

A must see film!

CCM — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 07:15:38 GMT

This just came out here--I saw it. IT WAS GREAT!

http://www.religulousmovie.net/

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

Happy 60th Israel!

Tue, 27 May 2008 17:52:13 GMT

May there be many many more 60th birthdays to celebrate in the comming centuries.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 6 replies

A piece on Hagee that speaks for me

Chrysanthe — Thu, 29 May 2008 22:29:32 GMT

http://www.forward.com/articles/13456/

By now, Pastor John Hagee has been revealed as a theological boor and John McCain has deftly, if belatedly, stepped away from the Hagee embrace he had earlier so assiduously sought and so gratefully welcomed.

“Boor” is a rough word, I know. So let Hagee speak for himself: “It was the disobedience and rebellion of the Jews, God’s chosen people, to their covenantal responsibility to serve only the one true God, Jehovah, that gave rise to the opposition and persecution that they experienced beginning in Canaan and continuing to this very day. How utterly repulsive, insulting, and heartbreaking to God for His chosen people to credit idols with bringing blessings He had showered upon the chosen people. Their own rebellion had birthed the seed of antisemitism that would arise and bring destruction to them for centuries to come…. it rises from the judgment of God upon his rebellious chosen people.”

What led to the McCain crisis was the discovery by Bruce Wilson and Talk to Action of a recording of a Hagee sermon from the late 1990s in which the pastor claims that the Holocaust was prophesied in the Bible:

How will God bring the Jews back to Israel? “The answer is given in Jeremiah 16, verse 15 and following. God says in Jeremiah 16: ‘Behold I will bring them the Jewish people again unto their land that I gave unto their fathers’ — that would be Abraham, Isaac and Jacob — ‘Behold I will send for many fishers and after will I send for many hunters.’ The fishers were the Zionists, men like Theodore Herzl who called for the Jews of Europe and the world to come to Palestine and establish the Jewish state. The Jews were encouraged to escape while there was still time.”

And the hunters? “A hunter is someone who comes with a gun and forces you. Hitler was a hunter. That will be offensive to some people. Well, dear heart, be offended: I didn’t write it. Jeremiah wrote it. It was the truth and it is the truth. How did it happen? Because God allowed it to happen. Why did it happen? Because God said, ‘My top priority for the Jewish people is to get them to come back to the Land of Israel.’”

So this self-proclaimed philosemite believes we brought all the centuries of persecution, culminating in the Holocaust, on ourselves. Or he believes that God created Hitler to inflict divine punishment upon us. That was the occasion for McCain’s “I am shocked, shocked” repudiation of Hagee’s endorsement.

End of story? Hardly. What happens to Hagee now?

Christians United for Israel, an organization founded by Hagee, is planning to hold its third annual “Washington-Israel Summit” toward the end of July. Among the currently scheduled speakers are not only Hagee and Gary Bauer, but also Daniel Pipes, former senator Rick Santorum, Charles Jacobs of the David Project, Dennis Prager, William Kristol, Senator Joe Lieberman and Sallai Meridor, Israel’s ambassador to the United States.

How many of these will now, in light of the new information about Hagee’s beliefs, cancel out? Or will they twist and turn to rationalize their continuing support for this false witness?

And: What if anything will the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, where Hagee was just last year a featured speaker at its annual Washington conference, say about the pastor? Talk about rapture: The assembled Aipac delegates last year responded to Hagee’s provocative rhetoric with nine standing ovations, as if they’d been on the brink of starvation until he tossed them his red meat.

My favorite? Hagee: “It is 1938. Iran is Germany. And Ahmadinejad is the new Hitler.” Audience: Standing ovation. “It is 1938” as an applause line? Go figure.

And: For 26 years now, Hagee has been sponsoring, in cities across the country, an event entitled “A Night to Stand for Israel.” Between January 8, 2007, and May 15, 2008, there have been 39 such evenings, typically attended by more than 1,000 Evangelical Christians and almost always a few Jewish jingoes, usually including the local federation executive and a nonplussed rabbi.

Think of it: Phoenix and Philadelphia, Madison and Miami and Minneapolis, Toronto and Tulsa, Anchorage, Des Moines and Charlotte and 29 more. And at every one, a check handed over from Christians United for Israel to the local Jewish federation for one form or another of welfare work in Israel. What more than we now have before us is required in order for us to refuse this walk-on part in another’s noxious melodrama?

“Jewish jingoes?” you might ask. Jingo, according to the American Heritage Dictionary: “One who vociferously supports one’s country, especially one who supports a belligerent foreign policy.”

Hagee, at the opening Christians United for Israel conference in 2006: “The United States must join Israel in a pre-emptive military strike against Iran to fulfill God’s plan for both Israel and the West… a biblically prophesied end-time confrontation with Iran, which will lead to the Rapture, Tribulation… and [the] Second Coming of Christ.”

For that matter, when will Israel stop rolling out the red carpet for Hagee and his followers? Other pastors have resigned their ministries in disgrace over lesser offenses — say, for example, for engaging the services of a male prostitute. Yet here is Hagee, busy making cheap whores out of as many Jews as he can snare — after all, we need all the friends we can get, right? — and so far, at least, only John McCain has pushed him away.

McCain’s Hagee problem has been resolved, even if there’s a sour aftertaste. Our Hagee problem has yet to be addressed, let alone resolved. For in addition to, and perhaps even prior to, “standing for Israel,” there is also, or ought to be, something called self-respect.

Oh yes: And when will his followers abandon him?

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

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 3 replies

~Freedom of Movement

Fri, 30 May 2008 14:51:28 GMT

In Israel and the Occupied Territories, the US State Department has withdrawn all Fulbright scholarships to Palestinian students in Gaza, because the Israeli blockade prevents them from leaving. The seven students would have used the money to pursue degrees at US schools this fall. But US officials say the grants will be re-directed so as to not go to waste if the students can’t leave Gaza. An Israeli parliamentary committee has asked the government to reconsider its travel ban on Palestinian students. But even if the policy is changed, the students won’t be able to apply for Fulbrights until next year.

Meanwhile, an award-winning American mathematician has donated all of his prize money to promote Palestinian freedom of movement. David Mumford received the 2008 Wolf Foundation Prize in Mathematics earlier this week. Mumford says he’s giving the entire $100,000 to Birzeit University in the West Bank and to Gisha, an Israeli group that campaigns for Palestinian rights. Mumford said, “I decided to donate my share of the Wolf Prize to enable the academic community in occupied Palestine to survive and thrive. I am very grateful for the prize, but I believe that Palestinian students should have an opportunity to go elsewhere to acquire an education.”

www.democracynow.org

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 1 reply

sadness

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 09:06:43 GMT

The fact that the Holocaust happened degrades all of humanity by demonstrating the depths to which a society can sink.

If our children learn of the Holocaust solely as an indictment of humanity, they may never understand what positive inner resources they have to do the right thing when they are confronted with evil.

Sadly, for me, Israel is rapidly descending into the pit of darkness. apart from a few courageous and outspoken critics little is being done to counter the draconian measures being taken against the Palestinians.

Wholesale punishment for the acts of the few was freely practiced by the German Army during WW2. such actions merely strengthened the resolve of the resistance groups. Ironic indeed that Israel ignores the lessons of history.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 107 replies

Jews and Muslims Together

Wed, 28 May 2008 17:48:15 GMT

Palestinians, Israelis Protest Expansion of Separation Wall

Meanwhile, on the West Bank, at least ten Palestinians were wounded when Israeli soldiers fired rubber bullets on a protest against Israel’s separation wall. Hundreds of Israelis and Palestinian protesters gathered near the West Bank village of Nillin trying to sabotage the wall. Israel continues the wall’s expansion despite a World Court ruling declaring it illegally built on occupied territory.

www.democracynow.org

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

The logic of the one-state solution

John — Sat, 24 May 2008 00:14:26 GMT

Dear colleagues,

George E. Bisharat, the author of the following article, thought you might enjoy reading it. You are invited to download the full text at no charge from our website; feel free to forward this along to any other colleagues you may be interested

Bisharat, George E. (2008) "Maximizing Rights: The One State Solution to the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict," Global Jurist: Vol. 8 : Iss. 2 (Frontiers), Article 1.
Available at: http://www.bepress.com/gj/vol8/iss2/art1

This article employs a `rights-based approach' in evaluating a `single state solution' to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. International human rights provide a necessary normative standard for the just resolution of this long-running dispute. A single state, as compared to the two-state solution that has been broadly supported by the international community since 1947, offers superior opportunities to maximize the legitimate rights, interests, and aspirations of the greatest number of Israelis and Palestinians. Yet Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs each enjoy internationally recognized rights of self-determination and sovereignty. Accordingly, there is no legal means by which a one-state solution could be directly imposed on the parties to the dispute without violating the respective rights of each people. As a matter of law, then, a one-state solution could only come about through the agreement of Palestinians and Israelis and as an exercise of their respective rights to self-determination. The inability to implement a one-state solution without consent of the parties requires consideration of the means by which such an agreement might be encouraged. There is no indication that states are likely to brook the current international consensus in support of a two-state solution. Thus it is necessary to examine whether international civil society is capable of playing a facilitating role analogous to the role it played in the demise of apartheid in South Africa. A variety of scenarios can be imagined, but in any of them, ultimately, broad Israeli Jewish opposition to a single state solution will have to be overcome. This suggests that a non-violent campaign, or at least one that scrupulously avoids attack on innocent civilians, is the most promising route to achieving a one-state solution. While such a shift appears farfetched at the moment, no other solution to the conflict currently seems imminent. The moral power of a single state, based on equal rights for all residents of Israel/Palestine, has transformative power that should not be underestimated.

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http://www.bepress.com/gj/announcements.html

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 14 replies

Doha Debate - Extremism

Lina — Tue, 20 May 2008 01:06:08 GMT

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 1 reply

As Israelis Celebrate Independence and Palestinians Mark the “Nakba,” a Debate with Benny Morris, Saree Makdisi and Norman Finkelstein

Sat, 17 May 2008 13:03:02 GMT

I found this to be interesting:

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/5/16/as_israelis_celebrate_independence_and_palestinians

Sixty years since the creation of Israel and displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, we host a debate on the legacy of 1948 and the possibility of a just future for both Israelis and Palestinians with three guests: Benny Morris, seen as one of the most important Israeli historians of the 1948 war and after; Saree Makdisi, UCLA professor and author of Palestine Inside Out; and Norman Finkelstein, author of several books, including Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict and Beyond Chutzpah.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

Poetry Thread

Fri, 02 May 2008 11:22:01 GMT

Taco has given me an idea. He recently posted two poems, one from Rabi'a and the other Rumi. Although these poets come from the rich lineage of Islamic Sufism, their words seem to have a universal appeal. I'm thinking that surely there must be poetry from the Judaic tradition, (perhaps even some of the tribe members here are poets!) but I am unaware of any of their work. It might be a nice way to learn more about eachother.... and ourselves.

Let us have a poetry thread~!
Since the Islamic vein is the one that I am familiar with, I shall start from here~ with Rabi'a again~!..

(The first of the stories of the holy people of Allah is that of Rabi`a al-Adawiyya, or Rabi`a al-Qaysiyya who was born in Basra, Iraq between the years 95 A.H. and 99 A.H. (about 717 C.E.). Apart from tradition, all we know is that Rabi'a lived in Basra, in the second half of the 700s, that she was probably a freed slave, and that she is considered one of the first practitioners of 'Tasawwuf' (Sufism).

"Since no one really knows anything about Allah,
those who think they do are just troublemakers."

and

"It acts like love~ music~
it reaches toward the face, touches it, and tries to let you know
God's promise: that all will be okay.

It acts like love~ music and,
tells the feet, "You don't have to be so burdened."

My body is covered with wounds
this world made,

but I longed to kiss God, even when He said,

"Could you also kiss the hand that caused
each scar,

for you will not find me until
you do."

It does that~ music~ helps us
to forgive."

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 10 replies

elation

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:51:13 GMT

well, if i could take it back i would... endeavor to find a more articulate and PC manner of expressing the same thing~

it feels like i did in the 7th grade, after taking abuse from the local bully for a year and a half, i finally "called him out" which meant agreed to fight him after school~ it was quick and he ended up conceding defeat with a bloody nose, tears, and a whine reminiscent of a childs plea for their mother~

now, violence begets violence, right? but this was just an afterschool spat, no?

at the very least myself and some of the other kids who had been terrorized in junior high realized we didn't need to be afraid anymore!~ and perhaps the bully thought twice.

well, obviously this little outburst of mine wont be as productive, but i feel.... elated... and yes a wee-bit ashamed~ but i gather that the shame is an after thought while the elation is a pure experiential rush~

im just writing to you all because i know that the language i used was inappropriate for this (and any) tribe and if i am asked to leave i will understand~

but here is the thing:

you aren't "kumbiya" and living in a fantasy if you believe that the heart of us all is universal and that people are people regardless of racial, religious, or national identifications.

anyone who tells you that you are is simply disconnected.

from their heart, that is.

Peace~ Shalom~ Salaam~

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 8 replies

Nationalism

CCM — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 05:47:41 GMT

http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/nationalism/

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

Islam and the West

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 14:26:45 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ttcA9Kto9M&feature=related

parts one and two total 20 minutes.

eloquent, passionate, thought provoking and worth your time.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 3 replies

Israel: 60 years of hope and dispair

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 07:51:52 GMT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/20/israelandthepalestinians

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

Scathing . . .

John — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 10:04:45 GMT

Overcoming Zionism
Creating a Single Democratic State
in Israel/Palestine

Revolution interviews
author Dr Joel Kovel

Revolution
6 April 2008
_______________________________________________________

Revolution: Many people today are familiar with the state of Israel. They
are also acquainted with Jewish people and know something about the Jewish
religion. But what is Zionism?

Joel Kovel: The word has a very long history, Zion being the land promised
to the Israelites in the Bible by their god. Once the Jews lost their temple
in the first century and scattered over the earth, the idea of returning to
some sort of homeland was always present. The modern history of Zionism
begins late in the 19th century when it took the form given to it by
Theodore Herzl: that the destiny of the Jewish people could only be
fulfilled in a nation-state, which, as it turned out, had to be in historic
Palestine. So Zionism is an ideology that supposes that notion, and ties it
to the well-being and fulfillment of Jews everywhere. It caused the Jews who
believe in it to embark upon state-building in historic Palestine. It still
is the organizing ideology of the state of Israel and of great portions of
the Jewish community in our country and elsewhere.

Revolution: In your book you make a major point that Zionism is a racist
ideology. Could you explain that?

Kovel: It is necessarily a racist ideology if you think about it, but most
people aren’t allowed to think about it thanks to powerful Zionist
repression. If you are building a state on land that is not yours, and the
land is habitable, then it’s going to have inhabitants, and these people are
not going to enjoy your presence and are not going to turn over their land
voluntarily to you. So the state-building for the Zionists is a question of
conquest of indigenous peoples, which parallels in many ways the entire
imperial-colonial movement of Western civilization. And typically, when you
gain such a state through violence and illegal means, you then have to make
it seem legitimate. And the best way of doing that is to claim that you are
conquering an inferior people who weren’t entitled to full human rights, or
who are barbarians, who are not civilized, or who are terrorists by nature.
In any event, it involves imposing a kind of degraded human nature to the
people you are displacing and conquering, and that’s the essence of racism.
Racism plays out in the entire history of the state of Israel, which entails
a continuous project of ethic cleansing and the racist reaction to that,
which seeps throughout Israeli society as a whole.

Revolution: What about critics who say that criticism of the state of Israel
is anti-Jewish or anti-Semitic?

Kovel: There is no a priori reason for equating the two. I’m by no means the
only person of Jewish extraction who dislikes the state of Israel. In fact,
it’s been odious to many, many Jews, including many highly religious Jews.
I’m not one of them, of course; nevertheless many orthodox Jews feel the
state of Israel is an abomination for various reasons that I don’t
necessarily share. The point is that you don’t have to be non-Jewish to be
against Israel. The charge of anti-Semitism derives from the Zionist belief
that Israel is the only real fulfillment of being Jewish; yet that’s a very
dubious proposition, and to go against it is has nothing to do with the
existential hatred of Jewishness (“Judaeophobia”) which underlies real
anti-Semitism.

Anti-Semitism, like all racisms, removes people from their history. Yet real
criticism of Israel is a method of adding history, of looking at Israel
historically, of looking at the Jewish people historically. So it’s
non-racist at the core to criticize Israel if you do so in the spirit of
open inquiry. Of course, anti-Semites will criticize Israel also, but not in
the spirit of an open, historically grounded critique.

Revolution: What do you say to people who say that because of their own
history of persecution, Jews need a state to which they can go and live in
safety?

Kovel: Well, I think it’s a terrible idea. Even if it was a reasonable idea
at one time, sixty years of the state of Israel have certainly demolished
it. You just have to look at the history of Israel and the sixty years of
blood and fire it has brought about. It’s the only part of the earth where
Jews are actually in danger now--a direct result of the necessity of
conquest and ethnic cleansing and the reaction on the part of those
conquered. Zionism can never have any moral legitimacy, simply because it
requires taking somebody else’s country for the purposes of your so-called
“god-given space.” Jews have indeed often been traumatized, and the trauma
reached a crescendo in the great Holocaust, but there is no moral
justification for treating somebody else badly just because you yourself
have been treated badly, especially when the party you are treating badly is
innocent of any history of hurting you, which has certainly been the case
with the Palestinians. It may be understandable, especially after the
Holocaust, that the Jewish people would arrive at the idea about needing a
state for security purposes and a haven against persecution. It’s
understandable, but that doesn’t mean that it’s right, intellectually,
historically, or morally. It’s not.

Revolution: You have made the charge that Israel treats Holocaust survivors
living there worse than almost any other country in the world. Can you
amplify on that?

Kovel: It’s not in Overcoming Zionism because I only learned of it since
publication. Last summer charges were made by Holocaust survivors, almost
250,000 of them in Israel, that they have been treated abominably by the
Jewish state. This despite the fact that the state of Israel legitimates
itself on the grounds that it is a place where Jewish victims of persecution
can live safely and happily in their later years. But one of the things that
marks Israel is an increasing neo-liberalization, which translates into a
widening of the gap between rich and poor, with an accompanying increased
heartlessness. The Holocaust survivors do not contribute to what Israel
needs, which is military power and technical prowess: they are just useless
old people. Israeli society is deeply indicted by the neglect of these
people, whose survival was the occasion for the establishment of Jewish
state in the first place.

Another level of irony is that as Israeli Holocaust survivors protest their
own government, they find reason to praise Germany. Many have stated that
they prefer to go back to Germany to finish their years in a country that
would at least recognize their human rights. Furthermore, Germany gave
Israel about $80 billion to take care of its Holocaust survivors—guilt
money—and apparently Israel has siphoned off a lot of that and used it for
military purposes. They took the money that was supposed to be for Auschwitz
survivors and built their weapons systems. It’s a phenomenally corrupt
place.

Revolution: Do you see any relationship between Zionism and the rise of
Islamic fundamentalism?

Kovel: If you take those two phenomena, you can see that Zionism preceded
Islamic fundamentalism, but it doesn’t explain Islamic fundamentalism. There
is no doubt that it is a major contributing factor in the growth of Islamic
Fundamentalism, probably the leading factor in that it generated widespread
hatred and distrust across the great swath of people who comprise the
Islamic world—over a billion people in all of whose countries—there is this
burning resentment first at Israel and second at the United States for being
Israel’s patron. People like Osama bin Laden, he is very explicit in saying
that what he is doing is to punish the U.S. and Israel for what they have
done to the Arab world. It’s a very abiding emotion, quite understandable,
and the emotion itself is quite legitimate, although it doesn’t excuse
violent behavior, but it’s perfectly understandable to feel this way.
Understandable to try to build your own purified society, Islamic
fundamentalist society, since the Western model has been proven to be
treacherous and destructive to their form of life. Yes, it’s not that
Zionism caused Islamic fundamentalism, but of the factors that did cause it,
I would give Zionism primary place.

Revolution: The United States government has taken enormous interest in the
development and protection of Israel and spent enormous amounts of money in
its support. How do you see that? Is this something that is caused
fundamentally by what’s known as the Zionist lobby in the United States? Or
is it also something that relates to the fundamental interests of the United
States in the Middle East? How do those things fit together in your view?

Kovel: It’s a very difficult, complex question. It’s a complex question that
has no clear-cut, clean answer. It’s the interaction of many factors,
including mistakes that were made. In the early years of the state of
Israel, there was a certain amount of sympathy for it, to be sure, but also
great opposition to the state as a cat’s paw of the U.S. because it’s made
American imperialism’s job in that part of the world with its great oil
wells very, very difficult. We just discussed how Israel inflamed the Arab
masses and the Arab nation states.

This also was a component of the cold war, where the U.S. and Russia were
vying for favor in that part of the world. It should be pointed out that the
Soviet bloc was also a supporter of Israel in its first years, so there was
some competition on that ground. Later Israel was seen as a counterpoise to
Soviet power in the region and began to achieve legitimacy on that account.
Also, when the war of 1967 revealed Israel to be by far the dominant
military power in the region, U.S. security elites decided that this would a
very useful partnership on many different levels.

Throughout all of this, you had the operations of what is roughly called the
Israeli lobby or the Zionist lobby, but it’s no simple organization. It is a
network of organizations with very powerful currents flowing through the
base of U.S. society, which consider the Jews and Israel to be one of the
“us,” because the U.S. was actually founded on the same Old Testament mode.
At the same time there was very little sympathy for the Arab world. The
antagonisms between Europe and the Arab world that go back at least to the
Crusades had by no means diminished and Israel became a rallying point for
going that antagonism yet further.

And throughout all this you find these extremely powerful Zionist groups
that are growing by leaps and bounds in this country, taking a tremendous
role in manipulation and invasion of the U.S. state apparatus, and many
levels of civil society including the media and entertainment industry,
academia, and the like. It’s highly, highly organized, but it’s not the case
that they are determining U.S. foreign policy. That kind of policy is
determined by the basic strategic interests of the U.S. ruling class. But it
is the case that they are a very important component in the mixture that
determines that foreign policy, including in the composition of the U.S.
ruling class, which over the last 15 years, and certainly during the second
Bush administration, has itself become increasingly Zionist.

So you have a very intricate issue. There is no question that there is a
huge interpenetration of the security elites of both Israel and the United
States—people who serve across the lines. The actual formulation of foreign
policy is made at a level where geo-strategic necessities are very much
subject to patterns of belief and ideology. A ruling class doesn’t simply
act on a materialist foundation, they also believe in certain things. And
the things they belief in in this case are highly determined by the affinity
between Zionism in general and Zionism in Israel, and also the fundamental
ethos of the United States.

Revolution: You referred to the growing Zionism of the Bush administration.
One phenomenon we have seen recently is the development of Christian Zionism
in this country. Can you comment on the relationship between Zionism and the
whole Christian fascist movement in the U.S.?

Kovel: The right has become increasingly driven by religious themes. This
was not the case with the traditional “paleo-conservatives,” who were
hostile to evangelical movements and often anti-Semitic. But for complex
socio-political reasons, this has become greatly changed. There is no
question that the Bush II administration rests on a political basis of
hard-core Christian fundamentalists, exemplified by Mike Huckabee, prancing
around the country talking about creationism and the literal truth of the
Bible. Fundamentalists have played a major role in U.S. politics since 1980.
And they play a huge role in the George W. Bush administration partly
because the second Bush shares fundamentalist beliefs. He himself is very
sympathetic to that point of view and has surrounded himself with people of
like mind.

As the present Bush regime embarked upon its policy of aggressive preventive
wars, it needed a cadre within the administration who saw things the same
way. After all, Bush and Cheney can’t implement their policy if their
immediate underlings don’t have the same opinion. So they recruited a
network of so-called neo-conservatives, some of whom are Christians, many of
whom are Jewish, and all of whom are ultra-Zionists. Zionism is the glue
that holds together the infrastructure of the U.S. foreign policy elites,
and has been a necessary factor in the planning and execution of the Iraq
war. There is no question about it. Now we are seeing the coming decline of
that Christian fundamentalist movement in the United States, and it will be
interesting to see how and whether this reverberates within Jewish Zionism
itself.

Revolution: The news around Israel and Palestine recently has been dominated
by speculation over the creation of a Palestinian mini-state. Your book,
Overcoming Zionism, opposes any two-state solution. Why?

Kovel: First of all, this is a matter that has ultimately to be resolved by
the people on the ground, the Palestinians and Jewish Israelis themselves.
But in my view, the two-state solution is politically wrong and morally
wrong, and in any case, impossible. The alternative, which is the
transformation of Israel along the lines of what befell apartheid South
Africa, is extremely difficult, and not on the immediate horizon. But
interest in a “single democratic state” is growing, and the goal is quite
feasible if there is enough arousal around the world.

The two-state solution is unworkable in the first place because Israel has
destroyed the physical and political possibilities of building a coherent
state for the Palestinian people, thanks to its brutal occupation. This has
entailed the invasion of Palestinian land by 450,000 Israeli settlers, along
with putting up monstrous walls and Jews-only roads that simply reduce the
ever-diminishing Palestinian lands to fragments. To build a viable
Palestinian state on such a basis is impossible; or, from another angle,
would require dismantling Israel.

In addition, the logic of the two-state solution proposed by ruling powers
is not one in which the Palestinians get a genuine state with sovereignty
and its own foreign policy. It is better seen along the lines of the
“Bantustans” such as South Africa installed during its apartheid era, which
were reservations where the indigenous people could live in relative quiet
as a controllable labor force. This of course would be better than the
present occupation; for all its awfulness, South African apartheid was less
inhuman than Israeli Zionism, whose goal is the annihilation of the
Palestinian people. Nevertheless, the indigenous would live a life of
extreme poverty and powerlessness in the given two-state proposals. Israel
is already very much in the category of apartheid South Africa; and if it
gets its two-state solution, it will go even further in that direction. The
two-state solution that is proposed is along the lines of a Bantustan
solution that merely raises Israel to an approximation of the South African
apartheid regime.

What’s basically wrong to my view is preserving the state of Israel in the
Jewish-Zionist form that has evolved over the last 60 years. As I have tried
to explore in my book, this is an inherently contradictory formation that
can only survive by attacking its neighbors, and through an expanding
racism. So a two-state solution which retains the Jewish state as it is now
may well become a prelude to the transfer of the Palestinian Arabs out of
Israel proper into the Palestinian state, a horrific situation.

The one-state solution poses many difficult problems, and nobody knows
exactly how to bring it about. But it has one huge advantage over the
two-state solution, namely, that it builds the notion of universal human
rights and democracy into the foundation, so that you can place ends and
means into a logical connection to each other. The one-state solution
demands, however, that the state of Israel be transformed into a state that
is no longer of, by, and for the Jewish people, but for all its citizens.
And I think this is a very good thing. I think it would be good for the
Jewish people themselves, who have been harmed by years of Zionist triumph.
This has turned them into brutal conquerors who have lost a great deal of
the civilizing values acquired over the centuries as a persecuted minority
in Europe. At least there were great accomplishments and achievements among
the European Jews, especially after emancipation in the early nineteenth
century. The main accomplishments of the state of Israel, however, have been
militarism, conquest, and racism. This is as bad for everyone.

I want to emphasize that for me the one-state solution should be a
transition to a no-state solution. The example of apartheid South Africa’s
transformation is a very cogent one and poses serious questions. South
Africans overcame a racist form of society in good measure through a pact
with transnational capital, especially the International Monetary Fund, with
ruinous aftereffects. So the larger question I want to pose is this: In
building a single state, we must work to make sure that state has a
socialist content. It needs to be a state beyond capitalism, which means it
will be a state beyond class, and therefore will ultimately cease to be a
state. We understand that such a development is not around the corner, but
it has to be the kind of thinking that animates us as we plan ahead for a
society worthy of human beings in Palestine and Israel.

Revolution: What’s been the reception to your book, Overcoming Zionism? Both
the positive and the attempts to censor it.

Kovel: The “official reception,” including that of the left press and
left-liberal press, has been to ignore it. As of this date, Overcoming
Zionism has not had any kind of review in any publication with a widespread
circulation. This exclusion was aggravated last summer when the book was
overtly attacked by the Zionist lobbies in Michigan, where it is distributed
by the University of Michigan Press. As a result of that attack, the book
was actually taken out of circulation, in other words, banned. This provoked
a highly successful campaign from people on the left. Through pressure from
the Committee for Open Discussion of Zionism [codz.org] we succeeded in
getting the book restored, and also securing the contract with the actual
publisher, Pluto Press of London, though this threat is ongoing. On the
whole, this proved a good development. It meant my book was dangerous to
people I wanted it to be dangerous to—namely Zionists and the Zionist
lobby—and they took it seriously enough to try to ban it, most likely
because they thought that simply ignoring it wouldn’t work.

It should be said also that the book has been widely read. People are
constantly coming up to me saying that they like it, and that it has made a
difference in their lives. It has appealed emotionally to them and it gives
a chance to become conscious of certain thoughts that had been tabooed,
namely, that Israel does not have the right to exist—because no state has an
inherent right to exist—or that Zionism is a racist doctrine. These are two
ideas that are not supposed to be thought, much less talked about. There are
serious consequences to say that Zionism is racism or that Israel doesn’t
have a right to exist. But now people are increasingly able to talk about
that. To help bring these ideas forward is a big advance, and so I’m quite
happy with the book’s reception.

Revolution: What further do you think needs to be done to put an end to this
outlawing of any critique aimed at getting at the truth? How can people work
together to break through this climate of repression?

Kovel: You need a widespread network of groups in civil society, local
groups that challenge the local suppression, send speakers into high
schools, and then, when as often happens when someone in the local Zionist,
pro-Israeli community tries to stop, then you protest it. It’s a constant
fight. It’s a very worthwhile fight that’s now getting to the point where we
are beginning to win these issues. It’s a very widespread fight. I just
learned the other day that at a school called McMaster University, the
student union has banned the use the word apartheid in connection with
Israel. It’s like the Middle Ages out there. You can’t talk about the devil.
It’s fantastic, the extent to which repression is mobilized in the defense
of the fundamentally illegitimate, in my view crumbling, Zionist consensus.

Each instance has to be met by resolute counterattacks. By protesting out in
the streets, by writing letters, holding public meetings, using community
radio stations, the Internet, a lot of powerful tools. There is a great deal
that can be done, and it’s already having an effect. I spoke recently in
Berkeley, California, to a really large audience that was extremely
enthusiastic. There were no Zionist protesters anywhere. Of course, this was
Berkeley, but they couldn’t have done that a couple years ago. So the more
you do it, the more it can be done.

On top of that, we have to begin to introduce the suppressed question of
boycotts, divestments, and sanctions against Israel, to make Israel suffer
for its persecutions of Palestinians. Build a court of public opinion on an
international basis that brings Israel to heel concerning injustices and
criminal activities. This requires the internationalization of the struggle.
So the first point is that the struggle should be done locally. Then there
should be connection across national boundaries. There should be a growing
movement that leaps across national boundaries and connects people,
particularly with the UK and Canada, and increasingly elsewhere. There is a
movement in India starting to form. The internationalization of a movement
against Israel that takes the form of boycotts, divestments, and sanctions.

And the last thing you need, is you have to support UN Resolution 194, which
is to insist on the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their
homeland, which is a very basic principle of international law, something
the powers-that-be, Israel and the United States, would never contemplate;
the Zionists fight every inch of the way. But, again, it’s something that
can be fought for. If you fight on all these fronts, you can begin to see a
change.

Revolution: Looking ahead now to the future, and from the standpoint of the
liberation of all humankind, what do you think would actually need to happen
in Israel in order to bring about the possibility of a secular democratic
state?

Kovel: First of all, the situation at this moment is not favorable to that
within Israel. The Israeli left is weaker than it has been. One reason is
that increasing numbers of progressive people are emigrating from Israel,
leaving behind a more backward section of the population. There are quite a
few in-migrants from Russia, many of whom are not even Jewish, about 300,000
non-Jewish Russians, some of whom have started anti-Semitic activities. The
basic point is that Israel has a very weak left. But I think links have to
be kept to that left. There are still a lot of very good people, and very
good movements among younger people in Israel, who are taking a great deal
of action into their own hands in solidarity with the persecuted
Palestinians in the territories, especially the West Bank.

There is a great deal of movement of Israeli youth. Not tightly organized,
but nonetheless expressing a better human sympathy, going out there and
helping Palestinians with their olive harvest—the settlers try to tear that
down—helping Palestinian kids to school or setting up alternative schools,
or building cultural organizations. That’s the saving remnant in Israel. I
think that as the worldwide movement against Zionism grows and takes on an
increasingly organized form, it will induce changes within Israel. It’s
tough to say what these will be, because it’s a very, very right-wing
militarized state. But one thing is for sure. There is a sense of tremendous
crisis in Israeli society. They don’t really know where they are heading.
They have all the power and strength in the world, but they are a
spiritually barren, brutalized society, riddled with racism.

It’s an open question: can this very, very backward, confused people somehow
be rallied to take on its own liberation? The situation in South Africa, for
instance, featured a much more highly organized left during the
anti-apartheid struggle than we see now in Israel. Nothing of the sort of
the ANC, nothing of the sort of Communist Party, trade union movements which
were very powerful. There is a peace movement, but it’s very weak. However,
I think it is safe to say that there will be major changes ahead and if we
work faithfully, we will induce those changes in a good direction.

_________________________________________________________________________

Joel Kovel is both a scholar and an activist. In the former capacity he has
published nine books and over a hundred articles and reviews. His books
include White Racism, which was nominated for a National Book Award in 1972;
A Complete Guide to Therapy; The Age of Desire (in which his work in the
psychiatric-psychoanalytic system is detailed); Against the State of Nuclear
Terror; In Nicaragua; The Radical Spirit; History and Spirit (1991); Red
Hunting in the Promised Land (1994), a study of anticommunist repression in
America; and The Enemy of Nature: The End of Capitalism or the End of the
World (Zed, 2002). Since 2003 he has been Editor-in-Chief of the quarterly
journal Capitalism Nature Socialism. His most recent book, Overcoming
Zionism, created a censorship struggle when the University of Michigan Press
temporarily banned its distribution.

http://revcom.us/a/125/kovel-interview-en.html

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

Democracy??

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 20:15:36 GMT

In Israel, extreme conservatives receive many special privileges in Israel that distort the entire political mechanism. For example, their rabbis decide the rules governing who is accepted as a Jew or what are acceptable religious, and religiously-approved social, practices. The students in the fundamentalist religious schools traditionally have been exempt from the army. In effect, they are exempt from the violent results of the very policies they advocate.

These parties generally believe in a greater Israel, that is, an Israel that includes what little is left of Palestine, the West Bank and Gaza, minus its current undesirable inhabitants. It has been the view of Israeli government after Israeli government over the last half century to consider Jordan as the Palestinian's proper home. Thus, when Israeli governments talked of peace, it meant something entirely different than what Palestinians meant.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 11 replies

Mohammed was Jewish?

Aziz — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 05:05:42 GMT

Mohammed was Jewish?

"The Prophet Mohammed, a Jewish pseudo-Messiah"

http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~jkatz/theprophet.html

What's up with that?

;

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 11 replies

Fitna the Movie: Geert Wilders’ film about the Quran

Aziz — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 21:29:28 GMT

Fitna the Movie: Geert Wilders’ film about the Quran

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2949546475561399959&q=fitna&total=2283&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=6

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 5 replies

Russian muslims

John — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 07:02:21 GMT

http://windowoneurasia.blogspot.com/2007/11/window-on-eurasia-russias-muslim.html

Very curious. Central Asia is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places on Earth, and the most remote. Like China's muslims.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

Happy New Year

Gita — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:58:16 GMT

Dear friends,
Wishing You All A Blessed, Peaceful and Blissful 2008

With Love and Gratitude,

Gita.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 2 replies

a little light in a dark time?

frogfarley — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:17:46 GMT

or will this only bring more problems of internecine conflict

Turkey in radical revision of Islamic texts ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7264903.stm

I dont' know if that's a good headlline really - the revision seems to be seeking the most 'pure' re-rendering of the Hadith

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

Politeness versus kosher/halal food restrictions?

John — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 09:42:45 GMT

I was unexpectedly invited to a latino friend's home for Christmas lunch. They will be serving pozole which has shredded pork in it. I like pozole and do eat pork, although I don't like the taste of ham anymore.

I thought: suppose I ate only according to kosher or halal food standards and my friend invited me with great generosity to break bread -- so to speak -- by sharing pozole for Christmas. What should I do?

I googled jewish + guest + etiquette + kosher:

http://www.mazornet.com/jewishcl/Kosher/kosheretiquette.htm
http://www.aish.com/family/heart/Guest_Etiquette.asp
http://www.slate.com/id/2125225/

and muslim + guest + etiquette + halal + food + exemptions:

http://muslim-canada.org/letters2.html#14
http://72.14.253.104/search?
q=cache:siwTFLdiyNEJ:www.premiers.qld.gov.au/library/scripts/objectifyMedia.asp%3Ffile%3Dpdf/3227/60.pdf%26str_title%3DUnderstanding%2BMuslim%2BStudents%2BWorkbook.pdf+muslim+%2B+guest+%2B+etiquette+%2B+halal+%2B+exemptions&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=11&gl=us&client=safari
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/007289.html

None of them answer my question. But what questions do they lead one to ask?

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 18 replies

the band's visit (bikur ha-tizmoret)

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 09:51:12 GMT

it's showing in san francisco now. i'm looking forward to seeing this.
http://www.thebandsvisit.com

<<Once, not long ago, a small Egyptian Police band arrived in Israel. They came to play at an initiation ceremony but, due to bureaucracy, bad luck, or for whatever reason, they were left stranded at the airport. They tried to manage on their own, only to find themselves in a desolate, almost forgotten, small Israeli town, somewhere in the heart of the desert. A lost band in a lost town. Not many people remember this. It wasn’t that important.>>

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

The Last Secret of the Temple by Paul Sussman

Rachel — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 06:48:43 GMT

The Last Secret of the Temple by Paul Sussman

Has anyone else read this book? I would love to hear your opinions.

I thought it was very good, although there were a few things which irked me a lttle. I liked how it showed many perspectives around the peace process and the history of Jews and Muslims.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 1 reply

Sharia law in UK is 'unavoidable'

feiruz_al-bnefsagia — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:06:52 GMT

Here's an interesting article from the BBC that mentions how Jewish courts already operate in the UK and how Sharia courts may function there, as well. Frankly, I don't see anything wrong with this as long as the underlying human rights are not violated. I just wonder whether this type of self-governing Muslim legal structure already exists anywhere in the US. Let me know if you have an answer...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7232661.stm

The Archbishop of Canterbury says the adoption of certain aspects of Sharia law in the UK "seems unavoidable".

Dr Rowan Williams told Radio 4's World at One that the UK has to "face up to the fact" that some of its citizens do not relate to the British legal system.

Dr Williams argues that adopting parts of Islamic Sharia law would help maintain social cohesion.

For example, Muslims could choose to have marital disputes or financial matters dealt with in a Sharia court.

He says Muslims should not have to choose between "the stark alternatives of cultural loyalty or state loyalty".

'Sensational reporting'

In an exclusive interview with BBC correspondent Christopher Landau, ahead of a lecture to lawyers in London on Monday, Dr Williams argues this relies on Sharia law being better understood.

At the moment, he says "sensational reporting of opinion polls" clouds the issue.

He stresses that "nobody in their right mind would want to see in this country the kind of inhumanity that's sometimes been associated with the practice of the law in some Islamic states; the extreme punishments, the attitudes to women as well".

But Dr Williams said an approach to law which simply said "there's one law for everybody and that's all there is to be said, and anything else that commands your loyalty or allegiance is completely irrelevant in the processes of the courts - I think that's a bit of a danger".

"There's a place for finding what would be a constructive accommodation with some aspects of Muslim law, as we already do with some other aspects of religious law."

'Other loyalties'

Dr Williams added: "What we don't want either, is I think, a stand-off, where the law squares up to people's religious consciences."

HAVE YOUR SAY There is, and should only be, one law which covers all people and to suggest it can be otherwise is to seriously damage our rights Patricia London, UK

"We don't either want a situation where, because there's no way of legally monitoring what communities do... people do what they like in private in such a way that that becomes another way of intensifying oppression inside a community."

The issue of whether Catholic adoption agencies would be forced to accept gay parents under equality laws showed the potential for legal confusion, he said.

"That principle that there is only one law for everybody is an important pillar of our social identity as a western democracy," he said.

"But I think it is a misunderstanding to suppose that means people don't have other affiliations, other loyalties which shape and dictate how they behave in society and that the law needs to take some account of that."

'Custom and community'

Dr Williams noted that Orthodox Jewish courts already operated, and that the law accommodated the anti-abortion views of some Christians.

"The whole idea that there are perfectly proper ways the law of the land pays respect to custom and community, that's already there," he said.

People may legally devise their own way to settle a dispute in front of an agreed third party as long as both sides agree to the process.

Muslim Sharia courts and the Jewish Beth Din which already exist in the UK come into this category.

The country's main Beth Din at Finchley in north London oversees a wide range of cases including divorce settlements, contractual rows between traders and tenancy disputes.

Dr Williams' comments are likely to fuel the debate over multiculturalism in the UK.

Last month, the Bishop of Rochester, the Right Reverend Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, said some places in the UK were no-go areas for non-Muslims.

Dr Williams said it was "not at all the case that we have absolute social exclusion".

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 1 reply

Are you all mad?

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:13:40 GMT

The Israel Air Force has been conducting an increasing number of training missions outside of Israel, over the Mediterranean, in the United States, Canada, Italy and other countries.

According to a senior IAF officer who spoke to Maariv/NRG this week, one of the reasons for this training policy is the Iranian threat: "The IAF's fighter jets need to train for missions against very distant targets, like Iran, and they therefore require long operational ranges," the officer explained. In addition, he said, the IAF fighters use long range radar guided missiles, and therefore need to practice over larger areas, such as the sea.

There are other considerations for conducting training abroad, as well, he said: Israel's skies are cluttered with civilian traffic; there are experiments by security industries which hamper flight, and environmental factors, among others.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert scolded cabinet ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting Sunday for making statements about a US intelligence report released last week that said Iran had ceased its nuclear weapons development in 2003.

"I ask the ministers to stop making statements about Iran and the American Intelligence Estimate," he said. "I wish to remind you that the cabinet discussed the matter and stated the Israeli position on the Iranian issue."

Olmert's remarks were seen as a specific rebuke in response to Public Security Minister and former General Security Service (Shin Bet) chief Avi Dichter's blunt criticism of the Americans' intelligence assessment of the Iranian threat, which he called a "misconception."

Speaking at an event Saturday in Holon, Dichter said, "Something went wrong in the 'software' the Americans used to analyze the severity of the threat of a nuclear Iran. Let us hope the United States knows how to fix that."

The Public Security Minister said part of the blame fell on Israel as well. "We did not succeed in convincing the US about how real and close the Iranian nuclear threat is. The size of the region that is threatened by Iran is [determined by] the range of its missiles," he said. "That includes all of the countries of Europe and North Africa."

Dichter added, "A mistaken conception by the world's leading power is not just an internal American issue. It has to alarm Israel and many other countries."

Olmert made it clear at Sunday's meeting that no further statements on the Iranian threat, the American understanding of that threat and its scope should be made.

"There is no place for private announcements by every single minister on this sensitive and complex subject," said the Prime Minister. "These statements do not help us manage the struggle against the Iranian nuclear project and do not improve our relationship with the US. This matter needs to be handled with great care. I request ministers not to make statements on the subject if it is not within their ministry's purview."

Global Research Articles by Hana Levi Julian

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 6 replies

Help jews help gaza -- now!

John — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 08:27:22 GMT

Media Monitors: Help Jews Break Gaza Siege

Now is a good time to support our friends the Jewish Peace activists taking supplies to Gaza.
I sent $200 to the CA address today and urge you to make whatever contribution. It would be great if they got so many funds that they had to take a few 18 wheeler trucks of water and water filters and food. They would have funds to get better coverage on Israeli TV, more trucks with Israeli supporters and media and the US peace group would be heros for standing in solidarity with them. Let us show our peace friends what we can do.
Send their article below to you biggest list and urge your media to cover their efforts on Jan 25, the day we are rallying at the Israeli Consulate.
Call Israeli Embassies (202) 364-5500 , consulates and US representatives (below)and say we want sanctions, boycott and war crimes cases brought against Israel tomorrow in the UN special meeting. No to the usual US veto of action against Israel. Calling Pres, VP Sec of Defense and Congress took less that 12 minutes, its worth your time.
Send a Letter to three newspaper editors or reader reps demanding coverage of the UN special session, war Crimes of Israel and the Humanitarian crisis. Send the email daily with changes to the first two sentences to personalize. Add a different email such as the 3 attached below to your email to the media substantiating it the call for end of Israeli War Crimes each time.
UN Sec. General Ban Ki Moon Call for world Court actions sanctions and boycott of Israel
Fax 1212 963 2155
sgcentral@un.org
Join International Answers rally in support of Gaza. We will have local TV News channels email and phone for you tomorrow so all can call requesting advance coverage of the UN Special session Wednesday as well as the Anti War Crimes rallies across the US.
You may want to just print page 1,2 since the following emails are to be included with media letters.
Thanks for your support of Palestine

Jewish Peace Appeal
As most of you already know, this is a time of tremendous humanitarian and medical crisis for the 1.5 million Palestinian inhabitants of the Gaza Strip. A group of Israeli organizations is planning a major action for Saturday, January 26, to bring a relief convoy of desperately needed water filters to be distributed in Gaza by their Palestinian partner there, the End the Siege Campaign. To date, the Israeli organizations include Gush Shalom, Coalition of Women for Peace, Combatants for Peace, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, New Profile, Hadash, Balad, Adalah, Tarabut/Hitahbrut, Alternative Information Center, Bat Shalom, Anarchists Against the Wall, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, Follow-Up Committee of the Arab Population in Israel, and Psychoactive.

The sharp restrictions on fuel and electricity have severely damaged the provision of safe drinking water, forcing people to make do with extremely poor quality water which is dangerous to their health. For more information on the water problem resulting from Israel's blockade, see Amira Hass article attached and pasted in at bottom. It was written over two months ago, and the problem has only worsened since then. Most recently, the Israeli High Court has rejected a petition by human rights groups for an injunction against fuel cuts to the Gaza Strip.

The groups sponsoring the convoy are looking for contributions from international donors to purchase as many water filters as possible in order to make this humanitarian and political action a successful one.

By going to Gaza on January 26 with truckloads of such a basic necessity as water filters AND many Israeli citizens AND (hopefully) a lot of media AND with Palestinian partners waiting on the other side of the checkpoint -- the groups think they have a good chance of being let in. If not, however, they will continue to campaign, with the hope that all international donors will then protest—by phone and fax and regular mail and through embassies worldwide—until the convoy is let through. And in the meantime, they will have raised awareness about the Gaza plight. For this they need and deserve our help.

For tax deductible contributions in the U.S.:

Checks should be written to "Eschaton/Gush Shalom," with “Gaza Convoy” in the memo section, and mailed to Eschaton Foundation, 515 Broadway, Santa Cruz, CA 95060. At the same time an e-mail should be sent to Gush Shalom at correspondence@gush-shalom.org indicating that a check has been sent to Eschaton for the Gaza convoy and including the amount. That way your donation can be used to make purchases for the action even before the funds arrive in Israel.
Thank you for whatever you are able to do to help, and please pass this urgent request on to your friends and political colleagues.
With appreciation,

Hilda Silverman and Ava Cheloff
Boston, MA

Following Emails to send to the readers reps of newspapers

One hour before it's dark

Israeli military establishment decided to stop power supply and fuel to Gaza. Since Thursday, food and humanitarian aid are not allowed in. Very soon life will come to a standstill. Water will not be pumped for a even drink. My step son is on ventilator for asthma every night. What will happen to him when our generator is not running any more? What will happen to hospitals, vaccines and blood banks? What will happen to patients on dialysis machines, and to babies in incubators?

Before it is dark and when there is no communication with the world, I want to tell you that current Israeli policy of squeezing on has the aim of pushing Egypt to open its borders with Gaza and bring the situation to prior 1967. Israel will then close its borders with Gaza, separates the Strip from the West bank and destroys the peace proposals of one state or two states. In short Israel is fulfilling the Sharon unilateral withdrawal strategy. If Egypt fails to open its borders with Gaza, Israel will push us through Rafah towards the Sinai desert. Wait for the exodus.

Eyad El Sarraj

Medical Director
Gaza Community Mental Health Programme

Gaza medical crisis
www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2008/21-01-2008.html
The situation in Gaza, already drastic, has become desperate. Below are two reports.

The first is a brief assessment of the cause from the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

The second is an account of the effects of this action from within Gaza put out by the Popular Committee Against the Siege, entitles “Death and Darkness in Gaza, People are dying, Help us!”

Three days after killing at least 20 Palestinians in helicopter and tank attacks on the Gaza Strip—and just one week after President George W. Bush met in Israel with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other top officials—Israel on Friday, Jan. 18 ordered all border crossings into Gaza temporarily closed as it continued its deadly attacks on more than 1.5 million Palestinians already denied food, clean water, electricity and medical supplies. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced that the transfer of medicines and humanitarian aid into Gaza now will be allowed “only in exceptional circumstances.”

Dear All
Gaza Strip (Palestine) is on the brink of one of the greatest humanitarian catastrophes of our time. Since the beginning of 2006, the European Union, America and most of the world have been part of those who have imposed sanctions on Gaza.

Yesterday (21/01/2008 17.46 GMT) There has been o power to Gaza . Since last morning, Israel has not allowed fuel to enter Gaza. This may seem trivial, but below are just some of the things which the innocent citizens of Gaza Strip will have to live with (those who are lucky enough to stay alive through this strangulation):

No fuel for cars
No fuel for generators
Hospitals will have no more electricity. This means that anyone who is attatched to a machine will no longer be able to use it. THIS MEANS THEY WILL DIE!
400 Kidney patients will no longer be able to use dialysis which means that they will also die
Children who are born will have no heating ( the temperature in Gaza now is -3 degrees Centigrade)
Everyone in gaza will have no heating
There will be no way to sterilize hospital equipment, so disease will spread.
The list can go on for ever, just think now, if we had no electricity, no petrol, no diesel, and electricity generators which are made to work for a couple of hours before they overheat, what would happen to us.

All of the above is in addition to there being no food entering gaza, and hardly any local produce, since the Israelis have been known to bulldoze most farmland in Gaza.

Also, since imports into Gaza is prohibited, there is no cement, not to build houses, BUT TO MAKE THE GRAVES FOR THOSE WHO DIE. So they die in despair, and dont have a proper grave. This again will; lead to the spread of disease in Gaza.

This is a very quick picture of what Gaza is going through as we type this letter.

So what to do? TELL EVERYONE YOU CAN. FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO EVERYONE ON YOUR LISTS. TV stations in gaza will have to close because of the power cut, so only God knows what the Israelis will do to Gaza tonight.

I urge everyone to contact your local MP, and anyone in authority to put what little pressure we can on them to try to make a change.

Mohamed Bazza

Death and Darkness in Gaza, People are dying, Help us!

A humanitarian crisis is underway as the Gaza Strip's only power plant began to shut down on Sunday, and the tiny coastal territory entered its third full day without shipments of vital food and fuel supplies due to Israel's punitive sanctions.
The Gaza Strip's power plant has completely shut down on Sunday because it no longer has the fuel needed to keep running. One of the plant's two electricity-generating turbines had already shut down by noon.
This will drastically reduce output to 25 or 30 megawatts, down from the 65 megawatts the plant produces under normal conditions. By Sunday evening the plant will shut down completely, leaving large swaths of the Gaza Strip in darkness.
Omar Kittaneh, the head of the Palestine Energy Authority in Ramallah, confirmed that by tonight, the one remaining operating turbine will be powered down, and the Gaza power plant will no longer be generating any electricity at all.
“We have asked the Israeli government to reverse its decision and to supply fuel to operate the power plant”, Dr. Kittaneh said. “We have talked to the Israeli humanitarian coordination in their Ministry of Energy [National Infrastructure]. We say this is totally Israel’s responsibility, and that reducing the fuel supplies until the plant had to shut down will affect not only the electrical system but the water supply, and the entire infrastructure in Gaza – everything.”
After months of increasingly harsh sanctions, Israel imposed a total closure on the Strip's border crossings, even preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid. The Israeli government says the closure is punishment for an ongoing barrage of Palestinian homemade projectiles fired from the Gaza Strip.

"Famine"

180 fuel stations have shut down after Gaza residents to buy gas for cooking.

A Palestinian economist Hasan Abu Ramadan said the current humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip will be deepened by the blockade on fuel and food supplies. He warned that Gaza Strip could go from a situation of deep poverty to all out famine, disease, and malnutrition.

Abu Ramadan said that more than 80% of the Strip's 1.5 million residents have been surviving with the help of food aid from international organizations such as UNRWA for Palestinian refugees.

International condemnation

Most international actors in the region believe there already is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, including the UN's Emergency Relief Coordinator, the Undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs John Holmes, who said at a press conference at UNHQ in New York on Friday that "This kind of action against the people in Gaza cannot be justified, even by those rocket attacks".
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon expressed particular concern, in a statement issued later on Friday through his spokesperson, about the "decision by Israel to close the crossing points in between Gaza and Israel used for the delivery of humanitarian assistance. Such action cuts off the population from much-needed fuel supplies used to pump water and generate electricity to homes and hospitals".
The UN Human Rights Council's Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied territories, John Dugard, also issued a much sharper statement on Friday, saying that Israel must have foreseen the loss of life and injury to many nearby civilians when it targeted the Ministry of Interior building in Gaza City.
This, and the killings of other Palestinians during the week, plus the closures, "raise very serious questions about Israel's respect for international law and its Commitment to the peace process", Dugard said. He said it violates the strict prohibition on collective punishment contained in the Fourth Geneva Convention, and one of the basic principles of international humanitarian law: that military action must distinguish between military targets and civilian targets.
WRITE OR TELEPHONE THOSE WORKING FOR YOU IN WASHINGTON AND DEMAND THAT THIS CARNAGE STOP—AND THAT YOUR TAX DOLLARS NO LONGER BE USED TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE:

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20500
(202) 456-1414
White House Comment Line: (202) 456-1111
Fax: (202) 456-2461

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Department of State
Washington, DC 20520
State Department Public Information Line:
(202) 647-6575

Any Senator
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-3121

Any Representative
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-3121

E-Mail Congress and the White House:

Congress: visit <www.congress.org> for
President Bush: <president@whitehouse.gov>
Vice President Cheney: vice.president@whitehouse.gov

CONTACT THE EMBASSY OF ISRAEL TO DEMAND THAT IT STOP ESCALATING THE DEADLY CYCLE OF VIOLENCE:

Embassy of Israel
3514 International Dr., NW
Washington, DC 20008
(202) 364-5500

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

I cry for Gaza...I cry for Israel...

John — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 08:19:43 GMT

What an asshole!

PRIME MINISTER EHUD OLMERT: [translated] We will not allow a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but we have no intention of making their lives easy. As long as these hardships are greater, providing there are no humanitarian blows, not in hospitals, not in clinics, not with young children, not with helpless people, we will not allow it. But in no way will we let them live comfortable and pleasant lives. As far as I’m concerned, all the residents of Gaza can go on foot and have no fuel for cars, because they have a murderous terrorist regime that doesn’t allow people in the south of Israel to live in peace.

So sad!

BASSAM ARAMIN: Actually, yeah. To be honest, they opened an investigation after three days, and they closed it after three weeks, because they haven’t any evidence that they are involved in this incident. And before they declared that they closed the file, I have interview with Israeli Channel Two. I told them that they will close the file, like the 971 Palestinian kids which have been killed since 2000. It’s not a unique case. But because it’s my life aim, I will bring this killer to the justice. It’s not political. My daughter go to school, and someone came to kill her and escaped. I want the criminal to stand in front of the justice.

This sums it up for me.

YONATAN SHAPIRA: Exactly, and the weapons industry. And I don’t think that you have to be a military expert or have a Ph.D. in political science and to be one of these fancy scholars in Washington institutions to know that the results of this scientific experiment that we have in Gaza, for example, locking millions of people—million-and-a-half people without food, electricity, medicine—no one can go out, no one can go in—that’s a military—you don’t have to know anything about history. It’s obvious that you’re going to have people that are going to resist. And I grew up, you know, learning the history of my people and how they resisted in Warsaw Ghetto, where they didn’t have any choice.
AMY GOODMAN: In the Warsaw Ghetto in World War II in Poland.
YONATAN SHAPIRA: Yeah, they knew that they are going to be killed sooner or later.
AMY GOODMAN: By the Nazis.
YONATAN SHAPIRA: And the last thing that they could do is to fight back. And I’m against what the Hamas is doing. I’m completely against the Kassam rocket. And people are getting killed sometime and harmed in the Israeli side. I’m aware of that, and I’m against that. And all of us in our group, in our organization, are against that. But what can you expect from people when you treat them like that, in such a brutal occupation, such a brutal situation? What do you want them to do?

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/1/22/as_gaza_plunges_into_darkness

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

BRIDGE OF PEACE

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 09:33:34 GMT

"They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree,
and none shall make them afraid." (The Bible, Micah 4.4)

"He who walks in peace, walk with him." (The Koran, Sura 48)

My Arab sister, daughter of Abraham,
Let us build a sturdy bridge
From my orange world to yours,
Above the boiling pain of acid rain -
And hold human hands high
Full of free stars of twinkling peace.

I do not want to be your oppressor
You do not want to be my oppressor,
Or your jailer, or my jailer,
We do not want to make each other afraid
Under our vines and under our fig trees
Blossoming on a silvered horizon
Above the bruising and the bleeding
Of poisoned gases and scuds.

So, my Arab sister, let's build a strong
Bridge of jasmine understanding
Where each shall sit with her baby
Under her vine and under her fig tree -
And none shall make them afraid.

And none shall make them afraid!

Ada Aharoni

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 1 reply

LISTEN !!!

John — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 08:13:17 GMT

"it is not enough to remember . . ."

Honor the dead by listening to what they have paid such a terrible price to teach us. They have suffered enough to demand our attention!

"What is the lesson
to be learned
from the Holocaust?"

http://www.informat ionclearinghouse .info/article190 44.htm

An interview with Hedy Epstein
By Silvia Cattori

11/01/08 "ICH " -- - Hedy Epstein, is a German Jewish Holocaust survivor, born in 1924, whose parents were sent to Auschwitz in 1942, where they perished. In 1948, Hedy Epstein went to live in United States. In 2003, she decided to make a trip to Palestine. Shocked by the oppression that the Israeli government is imposing on the Palestinians, she is, since then, devoting herself to make it known to the world. In the interview she gave to the Swiss journalist Silvia Cattori, Hedy Epstein speaks, with her gentle and mild voice, about her last travel to Palestine after a moving visit to one of several concentration camps to which her parents were deported. And she said: "I would like to dedicate this interview to the children of Gaza, whose parents cannot protect them or send them away to safety as my parents did when they sent me to England in May 1939 on a Kindertransport” (1)

Silvia Cattori: In 2004, after the humiliating and dehumanizing abuse you had to undergo at Tel Aviv airport, where you had to get undressed and were internally searched as you explained it to me in our first conversation (2), you were very upset and you declared: "I will never return to Israel". But since then you have been back four more times. Last summer you were there again. How was it possible?

Hedy Epstein: I have never felt such anger after what happened to me and the friend travelling with me at the Ben Gurion airport in January 2004.

While on the plane, still full of rage, I wrote on every page in the magazines provided by the airline "I am a Holocaust survivor and I will 'never again' return to Israel." I sometimes pressed so hard on the paper with my pen, that I tore the page. It was one small way to vent some of my anger.

After I returned home, still very angry, traumatized, I decided to get some counselling, which helped me to work through my anger and allowed me to plan my next trip back to the West Bank just a few months later, in the summer of 2004. I have been back every year since then, a total of five times since 2003. I have gone back because it is the right thing for me to do; to witness and to let the Palestinians know there are some people who care enough to come back and stand with them in their struggle against Israel's occupation. Palestinians have asked me upon my return home, to tell the American people what I have seen and experienced, because the American people don't know what is happening, because the media does not inform them. I made a commitment to do so and have taken every opportunity to honour this commitment.

Silvia Cattori: What was your interpretation of the fact that the Israeli officers treated you in such a brutal way?

Hedy Epstein: They tried to intimidate me, to silence me, hoping I would never come back. Though momentarily they may have succeeded, ultimately they did not. To quote General McArthur, an American army general, who said "I shall return", I have returned four times since the January 2004, event at the Tel Aviv airport, on my way back from Israeli occupied territory, and will continue to return. They will not be able to stop me. And, so, I plan to aboard ship to Gaza in a few months.

Silvia Cattori: Was it not too traumatic for a sensitive person like you to go back to the West Bank and see the Isreali soldiers humiliating, threatening, killing, and destroying Palestinians lives and properties?

Hedy Epstein: As an American I am a privileged person. I am very much aware of this and feel uncomfortable wearing this cloak, especially when I am in Palestine, conscious of the fact that I can come and go any time I want to, a privilege denied the Palestinians, who have great difficulty in moving from one place to another, restricted by road blocks, check points, the imprisoning 25 foot high wall, by young Israeli soldiers who can decide who can pass and who cannot, who can go to school, to the hospital, to work, to visit family and friends.

I have seen the long lines of Palestinians at the Bethlehem checkpoint. I spoke to a 41 year old man, who told me he works three days a week; in order to get to work on time, he gets up at 2:30 A.M. and arrives at the checkpoint at 3:15 A.M. to wait in line, a long line, with others, for the checkpoint to open around 5:30 A.M. He has to come this early because many people line up. Sometimes the Israeli soldiers allow no one to go through. He would like to work full time, but there are no jobs in Bethlehem.

During each of my five visits I have spent some time in Jerusalem. I have been painfully aware how increasingly its current size and boundaries share very little with the city's historic parameters, Israeli only settlements, such as Har Homa and Gilo are referred to as Jerusalem neighbourhoods. East Jerusalem is dotted with Israeli flags flying from homes from which Palestinians were "removed," thus judaizing the area more and more.

During my last visit, in August 2007, I only had time for a brief visit with my dear Palestinian friend, and her husband in Ramallah. During prior visits, I and some of my American travel companions were their houseguests for several days, basking in their hospitality, typical Palestinian hospitality, which is unlike any other I have ever experienced anywhere. The wife, ever cheerful in the past, seemed downcast, though she did not complain, simply stating "Life is more difficult since my husband is no longer working." In a conversation later, alone with her husband, he stated that he left his job in order to go to school and study. There is truth in both statements, but the husband's comments reflect an effort to salvage and maintain some of his dignity.

I also visited and stayed overnight with my Palestinians friends and their children in Bethlehem. The TV, which is always on, at one point caught our attention. There was a story about Jews from all over the world, immigrating to Israel. There were many small Israeli flags waving and welcoming the new citizens of Israel arriving at the Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. A big banner in the background spelled out in English and Hebrew "Welcome Home".

As the story continued, we all stared at the TV, silently. Then one of us, I don't remember who, broke the heavy silence, asking no one in particular "What about the return of the Palestinians?"

At the regular weekly non-violent demonstration in Bi'lin, as the teargas tossed at us by young Israeli soldiers, choking us, as we all ran to get away from it, I overheard a conversation between two Palestinian boys, one saying to the other "I don't want to die" "Nor do I" said the other. Their fear has stayed with me. What will happen to them? What is their future?
And yet, despite the almost hopelessness of the situation that might never change, Palestinian people are amazingly strong. Even though the Israeli oppression goes on, and gets worse, with new types of military oppression, the Palestinians have not given up; they are going on living there.

They are an amazing, resilient people. They will never give up. The Israeli may kill many of them, destroy their homes, destroy their lives, but they will never be able to destroy their hope for a different way of existence, for a better way of living together.

No matter what the Israelis do, they cannot take away the hope and the dignity of the Palestinian people. The Israelis have the power, the Palestinian people have dignity and despite all odds, still have hope. The Israelis have the airplanes from which they drop bombs in Gaza, they have bulldozers made here in the United States, not far from my home, they can do all those things, but despite this imbalance of power, the Israelis will never be able to destroy Palestinians' hope and dignity.

Silvia Cattori: For the Palestinians in Hebron or Nablus, to see a Holocaust survivor travelling in such precarious conditions to express to them her love and solidarity, is it not something very unusual and touching?

Hedy Epstein: I feel it is important for the Palestinians who are not allowed to leave Palestine, who are living under the Israelis military occupation, in such horrendous conditions, to know that there are people in other parts of the world who condemn the Israeli oppression, who care enough to come there, and to share their difficulties and sufferings, even if it is for a very short time.

I am impressed again and again to discover that Palestinians know so much more about what is going on in the world. They are better informed than the American people.

Most Palestinians I have met have asked me to tell the American people what I have seen and experienced, because the American people do not know, because the media does not inform them. I have made a commitment to do that. I have given talks at high schools, universities, churches, community groups, in the United States, as well as in Germany (in German). I urge people to go to Palestine to see and experience life there. It is a life changing experience. They will come back a different person, more aware, more sensitive and hopefully challenged to make a difference.

Though I am not a religious Jew (I consider myself a secular humanist), I know a little bit about Jewish tradition, which teaches that: "We're permitted neither to give up hope, nor to abandon the work we've started, even if we cannot complete the task ourselves".

And so, the situation, especially in Gaza, is so awful, I feel I must continue to be a moral voice, must continue to have the courage to take a public stand against Israel's crimes against humanity and the misinterpretations provided by the media. Israel would not be able to carry out its crimes against humanity without the United States, the world, permitting it to do so and the mass media, which, with few exceptions, dehumanizes Palestinians and instills fear, ignorance and loathing of them and their culture.

Having met Palestinians, experienced their hospitality, warmth, dignity and even humor, it is incumbent upon me to bring their voices, their experiences to anyone who will listen to me, to bear witness about the Wall, the land confiscations, the demolished homes, the violation of water rights, the restrictions of freedom of movement. The future of peace cannot be awaited passively, but rather from commitments and struggles for justice. There is no peace without justice.

Nadav Tamir, the Israeli Consul General in Boston, wrote in the Boston Globe newspaper in November 2007 "This is no longer an issue of being pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli, but rather a confrontation between those who prefer peace and those who prefer bloodshed. It is time to choose sides."

Silvia Cattori: You said that you plan to be aboard ship to Gaza in a few months (3)?

Hedy Epstein: Oh yes, definitely. There is nothing which can stop me. I am determined to go and I am going to take swimming lessons, just in case. The "Free Gaza" boat could not go last summer for different reasons. I think it is important for all of the people who are invited on the boat, to take that chance to show to the world what Israel is really doing in Gaza and to express their intention to break the illegal siege.

The Media is so controlled - probably by Israel as well – that, whatever the power that be in United State or in Europe, they never convey what is really happening every day on the ground; how much suffering is caused by the extreme oppression, what is happening to the people, not only in Gaza, but to a lesser extent maybe to the people in the West Bank. The world needs to know, and if we can be that medium, to let the world finally know what is happening, then it is important for us to play that role.

Silvia Cattori: While most countries are isolating the Hamas authorities in the Gaza strip, and cutting them off from the most essential humanitarian aid, the Hamas takeover in Gaza does it not represent an obstacle for you to go there?

Hedy Epstein: No. Hamas was elected in a democratic way, there were neutral observers there and they did not find anything wrong with these elections. They have been democratically elected. As you know, Israel and the United States wanted this election but they where hoping for a different outcome. They did not like the fact that Hamas won the election. For that reason, they are attacking Hamas and do not want to recognize it and they are carrying out a sort of collective punishment against the 1.5 million people in Gaza. There is a huge humanitarian crisis. The Israeli army controls all the exit points from Gaza to Israel, to Jordan, to Egypt. In fact they control the air, the sea and the land.

Almost nothing is allowed to come in, and nothing is allowed to go out. Gaza is essentially an agricultural community. Farmers in Gaza, who grow flowers, strawberries and tomatoes for instance, spend a lot of time and energy and money to grow these products and cannot sell them! And so the flowers wilt and the strawberries and tomatoes spoil.

The Israeli government pretends that it no longer occupies Gaza. But that is not true.

Silvia Cattori: For those people who do not know, or do not want to know, what the Israeli government is really doing, your voice is of utmost importance. Indeed, a person like you, who can give testimony about the Nazi oppression and about the present Zionist oppression, able to look at the facts with a very honest spirit, is very rare!

Hedy Epstein: I do not make comparisons between Nazi oppression and Zionist oppression; though, I have been accused of doing that. Instead I speak of the lessons learned from the Holocaust. I credit my experiences as a Holocaust survivor as the leading influence behind my efforts to promote human rights and social justice. For me "remembering is not enough", which is the title of my autobiography, published in German, in Germany in 1999, under the title "Erinnern ist nicht genug." (4) Remembering also has to have a present and a future perspective.

What is the lesson to be learned from the Holocaust? I know what it is to be oppressed. Nobody can do everything, but I feel that it is incombent upon me to do as much as I can, to do the right thing, to, in this case, stand with the Palestinians in their struggle against Israeli oppression, under which they exist and suffer every day and night.

Why did I survive? To just sit here and say: yes, the situation is bad, somebody shsould do something about it. I firmly believe that each and every one of us, including me, has to be that someone, who tries to improve the situation.

And this is not to say that the sufferings of the Palestinians are more or less important than the sufferings of the people in some other places. But I have only so much energy and so much time each day. Rather than dispersing my energy here and there, I decided just to concentrate it on the Israeli and Palestinian issue.

Silvia Cattori: On your way to Palestine, you went first to France to visit one of the concentration camps to wich your parents were deported? Was it your first visit?

Hedy Epstein: Let my clarify. In 1940, on 22 October, all the Jews from the area of South West Germany, where I come from, were deported to the concentration camp, Camp de Gurs, located in the foothills of the Pyrenaen Mountains, in what was then Vichy France, which collaborated with the Germans. Men and women were separated by barbed wire. In late March 1941, my father was transferred to Camp les Milles, near Marseille. In July 1942, my mother was transferred to Camp de Rivesaltes, near Perpignan.

In September 1980, I visited Camp de Gurs, the Dachau concentration camp (my father was there for four weeks after Crystal Night or the Night of the Broken Glass in 1938) and Auschwitz. In 1990, I visited Camp les Milles, where my father was until his deportation to Auschwitz via Drancy (a transit camp near Paris).

Until August 2007, I was not able to visit Camp de Rivesaltes, where my mother was, for about two months in 1942, until her deportation, via Drancy, to Auschwitz. And, last summer, with friends, I went to visit Camp de Rivesaltes for the first time.

In a letter, dated August 9, 1942, my father told me: "Tomorrow I am being deported to an unknown destination. It may be a long time before you hear from me again..." In a letter, dated September 1, 1942, my mother told me exactly the same. And, then, I received another postcard from my mother, dated September 4, 1942, in which she writes: "I am travelling to the East and sending you a final goodbye..." These were the last communications from my parents.

When, in 1956, I learned that my parents were sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp, in Poland, I could only assume that, after they had spent almost two years in the concentration camps in France, they were physically in a very bad condition, and that they were probably sent straight to the gas chamber upon their arrival there.

Silvia Cattori: What was your feeling?

Hedy Epstein: I was amazed at the immense size of the camp, which could house 30,000 people, and its deplorable condition. Some of the barracks no longer exist; others are falling apart, roofs missing, walls falling down, and wild vegetation everywhere. Desolation everywhere. Wind turbines nearby stood like sentinels, watching over the demise of what was once home to a hapless people, to my mother.

From correspondence with my mother at the time she was there, I knew in wich two barracks she was housed. One barrack I never found; it probably does not exist anymore. The other one, barrack number 21, I found it.

The entrance to the barracks is elevated, making entry difficult. But, as though to invite me to enter barrack Nr, 21, a wooden board was leaning up to the entry. With the help of my friends I was able to maintain my balance as I tip-toed, like a ballet dancer, into the barrack. I touched the walls, maybe where my mother might have touched it, I picked up some of the debris to take home with me, tried to imagine what it must have been like for my mother. Later, I left the barrack at the opposite end, jumping out and into an overgrown area, stopped by thorny growth, holding me in place. One of my friends poignantly remarked "The building doesn't want you to go away".

Silvia Cattori: Was the visit of Camp de Rivesaltes beneficial to you, since it made you closer to the soul of your beloved mother?

Hedy Epstein: I felt very close to my mother when I was there; I imagined how she moved around in the camp, what it was like for her. She was there from July to September 1942, a time when it is very hot. I remembered that my mother suffered from the summer heat when we were still living together in Kippenheim. It was very hot when I visited this camp. As so often in my life, I was reminded of the "unearned privileged" life I lead. Thanks to my parents' great unselfish love, I escaped what they had to endure. By sending me to England on a Kindertransport in May 1939, my parents literally gave me life a second time.

Silvia Cattori: It was a very moving visit for you, wasn't it? A come back to a very sad period of your life, away from your parents!

Hedy Epstein: Before I left Germany on a Kindertransport to England, my parents gave me many admonitions, to be good, to be honest, always ending with "We will see each other again soon." I believed that we would see each other again soon, whether my parents believed that, I will never know. My parents and I corresponded directly with each other until England declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939. Then it was no longer possible to correspond directly with each other. Instead we exchanged 25 word messages through the Red Cross.

After my parents were sent to the camps in Vichy France, we could correspond directly with each other again. However, my parents were allowed only to write one page, per person, per week. I could write as much and as often as I wanted to. My parents never wrote about the horrible conditions under which they were forced to "exist," I learned about that only after the war was over.

Thinking back on that time in England, I was a very sad little girl, not allowing myself to really get in touch with my feelings and fears. As I told you, each of my parents in their last letters to me before their final deportation (to Auschwitz), each of them wrote: "It will probably be a long time before you hear from me again"

How long is a long time? A week, a month, a year, ten years! Since I wanted so very much to be reunited with my parents again, I kept on telling myself: "A long time is not over yet, I have to wait some more". I was in denial. I was not able to accept the inevitable, my parents' demise. That was really a psychological game I played with myself, it was a way for me to survive, a self-preservation mechanism.

It was not until September 1980, when I visited Auschwitz and stood on the place, called "Die Rampe" (The ramp), where the cattle cars arrived in the 1940s, the people were forced to get out and Dr. Mengele and his cohorts made a selection as to who will live and who will die (in the gas chambers), that I was able to accept the fact that my parents and other family members did not survive. That is a very long time to be in denial. Perhaps the denial was in lieu of the usual mourning process.

Silvia Cattori: Thanks for this moving interview.

1) http://www.kindertr ansport.org/ history.html
2) About Hedy Epstein's abuse by Israeli security officers:
http://www.jkcook. net/Articles2/ 0165.htm http://www.counterp unch.org/ cattori06072007. html
3) http://www.counterp unch.org/ cattori06072007. html
http://www.voltaire net.org/article1 50755.html
4) http://www.unrast- verlag.de/ unrast,2, 18,5.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~
R E C O N C I L I A T I O N C O N F ER E N C E L I S T

since 1994 by the
Jewish People’s Liberation Organization

Against Zionism and anti-Jewish racism
Abraham Weizfeld moderator-founder
saalaha@fokus. name
JPLO-OLPJ-subscribe @yahoogroups. com

Please see political declaration JPLO
http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/JPLO- OLPJ
and the books
Sabra-Shatila, 1984
The End of Zionism
and the liberation of the Jewish People, 1989
http://www.bookmast ers.com/clarity/ b0006.htm
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Do not say, that if the people do good to us, we will do good to them;
and if the people oppress us, we will oppress them;
but determine that if people do you good, you will do good to them;
and if they oppress you, you will not oppress them: Muhammad

JUNITY-Canada news&discussion:
JUNITY-Canada- subscribe@ yahoogroups. com
Montréal Solidarité/y:
J-P_Solidarite- y-subscribe@ yahoogroups. com
J-P_Solidarity_ Action-subscribe @yahoogroups. com
Montréal Jewish anti-occupation news:
Jewish_Non-Zionist_ Forum-subscribe@ yahoogroups. com
Jewish_Non-Zionist_ Action-subscribe @yahoogroups. com

~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 2 replies

if iran is attacked it will be the most sad tragedy!

John — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 08:09:23 GMT

We Are Iran: The Persian Blogs (Paperback)

http://www.amazon.com/We-Are-Iran-Persian-Blogs/dp/1933368055/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200384526&sr=1-1

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

personanl experiences

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 19:36:10 GMT

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6608111

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 1 reply

personal experiences 1

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 19:40:57 GMT

plates/story/story.php?storyId=15237115

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 2 replies

One Million Voices

Marc Roller — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 14:13:14 GMT

621,501VOICES
SUPPORT AN END TO CONFLICT.
309,646 ISRAELIS
294,986 PALESTINIANS
16,869 INTERNATIONAL SUPPORTERS

Learn more about the One Million Voices Campaign
Help to get one million voices for
Respect, Peace & Prosperity for both sides.

http://www.onemillionvoices.org/

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 1 reply

Are you all mad? 2

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:21:16 GMT

An attack on Iran using its nuclear energy program as a pretext would be illegal and criminal. While Iran has no intentions to develop nuclear weapons in any way, shape, or form, as confirmed by the IAEA and the US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), the Israeli government is raising in very explicit terms the possibility of air strikes against Iran.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 4 replies

highway 433

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 23:00:29 GMT

Can anybody explain the reasoning behind prohibition of Palestinians on highwy433?

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 1 reply

Do you feel this optimistic?

John — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 08:06:08 GMT

The End Of Israel?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18939.htm
<http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18939.htm> By Hannah
Mermelstein

12/22/07 "Electronic Intifada" -- - - I am feeling optimistic about
Palestine.

I know it sounds crazy. How can I use "optimistic" and "Palestine" in the
same sentence when conditions on the ground only seem to get worse? Israeli
settlements continue to expand on a daily basis, the checkpoints and
segregated road system are becoming more and more institutionalized, more
than 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners are being held in Israeli jails,
Gaza is under heavy attack and the borders are entirely controlled by
Israel, preventing people from getting their most basic human needs met.

We can never forget these things and the daily suffering of the people, and
yet I dare to say that I am optimistic. Why? Ehud Olmert. Let me clarify.
Better yet, let's let him clarify:

"The day will come when the two-state solution collapses, and we face a
South African-style struggle for equal voting rights. As soon as that
happens, the state of Israel is finished."

That's right, the Prime Minister of Israel is currently trying to negotiate
a "two-state solution" specifically because he realizes that if he doesn't,
Palestinians might begin to demand, en masse, equal rights to Israelis.
Furthermore, he worries, the world might begin to see Israel as an apartheid
state. In actuality, most of the world already sees Israel this way, but
Olmert is worried that even Israel's most ardent supporters will begin to
catch up with the rest of the world.

"The Jewish organizations, which were our power base in America, will be the
first to come out against us," he told Haaretz, "because they will say they
cannot support a state that does not support democracy and equal voting
rights for all its residents."

Perhaps Olmert is giving American Jews too much credit here, but he does
expose a basic contradiction in the minds of most American people, Jewish
and not: most of us -- at least in theory -- support equal rights for all
residents of a country. Most of us do not support rights given on the basis
of ethnicity and religion, especially when the ethnicity/religion being
prioritized is one that excludes the vast majority of the country's
indigenous population. We cannot, of course, forget the history of ethnic
cleansing of indigenous people on the American continent. But we must not
use the existence of past atrocities to justify present ones.

I am optimistic not because I think the process of ethnic cleansing and
apartheid in Israel/Palestine is going to end tomorrow, but because I can
feel the ideology behind these policies beginning to collapse. For years the
true meaning of political Zionism has been as ignored as its effects on
Palestinian daily life. And suddenly it is beginning to break open. Olmert's
comments last week are reminiscent of those of early Zionist leaders who
talked openly of transfer and ethnic cleansing in order to create an
artificial Jewish majority in historic Palestine.

We must expel the Arabs and take their places and if we have to use force to
guarantee our own right to settle in those places -- then we have force at
our disposal. - David Ben-Gurion, Israel's "founding father" and first prime
minister, 1937

So this idea of a "two-state solution" a la Olmert -- which I would argue
provides neither a "state" nor a "solution" for the Palestinian people -- is
the new transfer. It is no longer popular in the world to openly discuss
expulsion (though there are political parties in Israel that advocate this),
but Olmert hopes that by creating a Palestinian "state" on a tiny portion of
historic Palestine, he can accomplish the same goal: maintaining an
ethno-religious state exclusively for the Jewish people in most of historic
Palestine. His plan, as all other plans Israeli leaders have tried to
"negotiate," ignores the basic rights of the two-thirds of the Palestinian
population who are refugees. They, like all other refugees in the world,
have the internationally recognized right to return to their lands and
receive compensation for loss and damages. This should not be up for
negotiation.

So why am I optimistic? Why do I think Olmert will fail, if not in the short
term, at least in the long term? There are many signs.

The first and most important is that Palestinian people are holding on.
Sometimes by a thread, but holding on nonetheless. Despite the hope of many
in Israel, Palestinians will not disappear. They engage in daily acts of
nonviolent resistance, from demonstrations against the wall and land
confiscation, to simply remaining in their homes against all odds. Young
people are joining organizations designed to preserve their culture and
identity. Older Palestinians have said to me, "We lived through the Ottoman
Empire, we lived through the British Mandate, we lived through Jordanian
rule, and we will live through Israeli occupation." This too shall pass.

In Israel, it seems that within the traditional "Zionist left," Jewish
Israelis are beginning to have open conversations about the exclusivity of
Zionism as a political ideology, and are questioning it more and more.

In the US, I have been traveling around speaking to groups about Palestine,
and they get it. Even those whose prior information has come only from US
mainstream media, when they hear what is actually happening, they get it.
When we explain the difference between being Jewish (a religion or
ethnicity), Israeli (a citizenship), and Zionist (an ideology), people
understand.

"Does Israel have a right to exist?" people ask. What does that mean? Do
countries really have rights, or do people have rights? The Jewish people
have a right to exist, the Israeli people have a right to exist, but what
does "Israel" mean? Israel defines itself as the state of the Jewish people.
It is not a state of its citizens. It is a state of many people who are not
its citizens, like myself, and is not the state of many people who are its
citizens, like the 20 percent of its population that is Palestinian. So if
we ask a Palestinian person, "Do you recognize the right for there to be a
country on your historic homeland that explicitly excludes you?" what kind
of response should we expect?

So when Olmert warns that we will "face a South African-style struggle for
equal voting rights" and that "the state of Israel [will be] finished," I
get a little flutter of excitement. I think of the 171 Palestinian
organizations who have called on the international community to begin
campaigns of boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel until Israel
complies with international law. This is already a South African-style
struggle, and we outside of Palestine need to do our part. Especially those
of us who live in the US, the country that gives Israel more than $10
million every single day, must take responsibility for the atrocities
committed in our name and with our money.

Ultimately, this is our role as Americans. It is to begin campaigns in our
churches, synagogues, mosques, universities, cities, unions, etc. It is not
to broker false negotiations between occupier and occupied, and it is not to
muse over solutions the way I have above. But one can dream. And as a
Jewish-American, I know that while it might be scary to some, while it will
require a lot of imagination, the end of Israel as a Jewish state could mean
the beginning of democracy, human rights, and some semblance of justice in a
land that has almost forgotten what that means.

Hannah Mermelstein is co-founder and co-director of Birthright Unplugged,
which takes mostly Jewish North American people into the West Bank to meet
with Palestinian people and to equip them to return to their own communities
and work for justice; and takes Palestinian children from refugee camps to
Jerusalem, the sea, and the villages their grandparents fled in 1948, and
supports them to document their experiences and create photography exhibits
to share with their communities and with the world. Anna Baltzer helped
contribute to this article.
====================================================

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

A jordanian blogger speaks out

John — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 09:51:28 GMT

http://andfaraway.net/blog/2007/12/02/what-i-love-about-amman-and-what-i-love-less/

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

Ali Eteraz & Keith Ellison & muslims & muslim reform movement?

John — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 07:47:20 GMT

Ali Eteraz on Keith Ellison and muslims in America: http://www.alternet.org/rights/69575/?page=entire

Interesting article, especially the last few paragraphs. Is there an agenda here? What might it be?

And the by the Ali Eteraz author: http://www.alternet.org/story/65350/?page=entire

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 2 replies

A people's peace in the Middle East?

Gita — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 00:10:53 GMT

"Dear friends,

This week in Annapolis, US President George W Bush announced a fresh Middle East peace process. Israel and the Palestinian Authority will "make all efforts" to reach a final agreement by the end of 2008. More meetings are planned in Paris, Moscow and the region. But are these talks a major advance toward peace, or a dangerous smokescreen?

Today, we're launching a global interactive poll -- to see if we, citizens around the world, can do any better. Together we will decide the direction of a powerful global campaign on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over the coming months, pressing leaders on all sides to make the changes necessary for peace. Just click below to participate in the poll (it should take around 3 minutes), or to view other people's responses:

http://avaaz-annapolis.questionpro.com

This poll will decide Avaaz's course on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- an urgent global crisis where hope may soon run out. Many diplomats are warning of "devastating consequences" if this peace process is not genuine. But each of us has the chance to make our voice heard, and to act.

There are already over one and a half million people in the Avaaz network. Coming together in this interactive poll, many thousands of us around the world can share our views and look for consensus on the way forward. Some discussions can be difficult. But it's important to have them, and to listen to each other, because then our campaigning together will become all the stronger.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an old problem -- but we are a new global force for democracy. If we can no longer rely on the politicians, generals and diplomats, maybe people power can help tackle the dynamics that have undermined peace before. We can hold our leaders accountable for doing better. And if we agree a way forward, our campaigning could achieve a lot more.

It all starts with this interactive poll -- so click below to share what you think, and find out what others have said:

http://avaaz-annapolis.questionpro.com

With hope and determination,

Paul, Galit, Ricken, Graziela, Pascal and the rest of the Avaaz team"

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 15 replies

Jews and Palestinians talk peace under NorCal pines

Marc Roller — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 18:08:04 GMT

By Alexandra J. Wall

From www.jewishjournal.com
7 November 2007

When Suleiman al-Khatib told his story at Tawonga's Peacemakers Camp two years ago, the fact that he had spent 10 years in prison for stabbing an Israeli soldier made him stand out among the participants. He pledged at that time to stay involved with Tawonga, and bring back many more like him.

He didn't disappoint. Al-Khatib has been Tawonga's Palestinian representative for the past two years now, and thanks to his efforts, the camp this year hosted many others like him.

The fifth annual Oseh Shalom-Sanea al-Salam Peacemakers Camp is an outgrowth of the Bay Area's many Jewish-Palestinian dialogue groups founded by Len and Libby Traubman of San Mateo. It was held Oct. 5-8, this year with an emphasis on youth and those already working in numerous peace and coexistence organizations. Groups like Combatants for Peace sent representatives, as did the village Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, which consists of equal numbers of Arabs and Jews.

The 140 participants also included some Arabs and Jews from the Bay Area, though Jalal Ghazi, a San Franciscan of Palestinian origin, tried unsuccessfully to recruit Arab students from local universities.

"It's easier bringing Palestinians from over there than from here," he said.

As in previous years, participants gathered in San Francisco the night after camp ended, this year at St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco, to tell their stories to the public and each other. And while sharing their stories came fairly easily to those on the podium, it was emphasized that the weekend was not without its difficult moments.

For Israeli Deddy Paz, it served as a reminder that much work needs to be done when he returns home.

For a while, he said, he had abandoned his efforts of working toward peace because more pressing matters were on his mind, mainly paying his mortgage and supporting his family.

But the weekend near Yosemite National Park reminded him "there isn't another side," he said.

"The consequences of what's happening will affect my children just as much as they will affect Raya's children," he said, referring to Raya Ziada, a Palestinian woman sitting next to him. "If we keep having Israelis and Palestinians meeting each other for the first time at a checkpoint, we'll never have a solution. They need to meet each other when they are 4 years old."

Ziada said her first meeting with Israelis was when soldiers barged into her house in the middle of the night to arrest her father. Her brother is dying in an Israeli jail, she said, and she meets with the other side because "that may be the only chance I have to help save his life."

Leah Lublin moved to Israel from Toronto 12 years ago. She described herself as a member of a very right-wing organization when she got there, but she had an awakening when friends of her children were killed in a terrorist attack. The mother of five heard about an interfaith dialogue group and mustered up the courage to go.

"The first time I sat with 25 Palestinians, all the misconceptions I had about them flew out the window," she said. "I became a peace addict."

Mohammed Atwa, the son of a high-ranking official under Yasser Arafat in the Palestine Liberation Organization, somehow found his way to the Arava Institute in Israel, where he worked on environmental issues with his fellow Arabs and Jews. When he first arrived, he was astonished to learn that his roommate was Jewish. They didn't speak for the whole first week, and even in that first month, they could only muster up a "good morning."

"I couldn't get used to a Jew sleeping next to my bed," he said.

Now studying for his doctorate in Kansas, Atwa said he believes his mission is to convince anyone who will listen that dialogue and peace is the answer.

"Israel is a fact, you can't fight it," he said. "Palestine is a fact, you can't fight it."

For more information, visit Peacemaker's Weekend:
http://www.tawonga.org/weekend-programs/peacemaker.php

Alexandra J. Wall is a correspondent for j., The Jewish News Weekly of Northern California.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 1 reply

Interesting view of right of return

John — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 20:32:40 GMT

NOTE: interesting statements passages first.

< Some people may tire of hearing such stories from the past. "Don't cry over spilled milk" is one of the first sayings I learned in English. But for me, the line between past and present is not so easily broken. I raise this story today because it remains profoundly relevant to the Middle East peace process -- and to help convey the deep-seated fears of Palestinian refugees that we will be asked to exonerate Israel for its actions and to relinquish our right to return home. >

I found the term exonerating Israel for its actions very curious. I never considered that in the wordings of Oslo and later agreements, the Palestinians are essentially, by agreeing that the terms of the treaties can never be renegotiated or future claims being made -- in other words writ in stone for perpetuity -- it forces the Palestinians to exonerate Israel for any actions individual Palestinians consider unjust. This is very extreme. Look at the text of the Geneva Accords. This insurance against future claims or changes in *final status* are just that: FINAL. As consumer, I would never sign a contract that gave away advocating against future grievances in any form forever. That would be stupid.

< That cannot be allowed to happen. All refugees have the right to return. This is an individual right, long recognized in international law, that cannot be negotiated away. Palestinian refugees -- and there are more than 4 million of us registered with the United Nations today -- hold this right no less than Kosovar or Rwandan or any other refugees. >

I never thought of Palestinian refugees like those in Kosovo, Rwanda, and other places. International law GRANTS the palestinians a right to return which cannot be given up as a concession by their leaders. Perhaps a lot of us need to shift our awareness around the issue of the right to return for Palestinians and why might it is absolutely reasonable for them to never allow their leaders to negotiate it away -- because International law trumps negotiations between states.

Will peace cost me my home?
Any Mideast pact must give Palestinians the right to return home.
By Ghada Ageel

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-ageel1dec01,0,7237674.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail

December 1, 2007

Sixty years ago, my grandparents lived in the beautiful village of Beit Daras , a few kilometers north of Gaza . They were farmers and owned hundreds of acres of land.

But in 1948, in the first Arab-Israeli war, many people lost their lives defending our village from the Zionist militias. In the end, with their crops and homes burning, the villagers fled. My family eventually made its way to what became the refugee camp of Khan Yunis in Gaza . We were hit hard by poverty, humiliation and disease. We became refugees, queuing for tents, food and assistance, while the state of Israel was established on the ruins of my family's property and on the ruins of hundreds of other Palestinian villages.

Some people may tire of hearing such stories from the past. "Don't cry over spilled milk" is one of the first sayings I learned in English. But for me, the line between past and present is not so easily broken. I raise this story today because it remains profoundly relevant to the Middle East peace process -- and to help convey the deep-seated fears of Palestinian refugees that we will be asked to exonerate Israel for its actions and to relinquish our right to return home.

That cannot be allowed to happen. All refugees have the right to return. This is an individual right, long recognized in international law, that cannot be negotiated away. Palestinian refugees -- and there are more than 4 million of us registered with the United Nations today -- hold this right no less than Kosovar or Rwandan or any other refugees.

Of course, I understand that the clock cannot be turned back. Most of the Palestinian villages inside what is now Israel no longer exist. And experience shows that when the rights of refugees are recognized and backed by international communities, only a small portion opt to return.

But the option should be open to us. If a refugee decides to return, he or she should not be hindered. Anything less would be unacceptable to Palestinians, two-thirds of whom are refugees. Those who choose not to return must be fairly compensated for their losses.

My fear is that in the months ahead, enormous financial and political pressure may be brought against our fractured leadership to concede the rights of refugees.

In 2000, Yasser Arafat was castigated internationally for his refusal to accept what was perversely termed a "generous offer" from then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, even though it made no provision whatsoever for the return of refugees. However, Arafat was greeted as a hero by Palestinians for his principled unwillingness to sanctify ethnic cleansing.

Seven years later, we will perhaps be confronted with another "generous offer" aiming to formalize our dispossession. Tragically, world powers have little stomach to battle Israel for what they view as bygone peccadilloes.

There are real consequences for being stateless and weak. For two years, I have been unable to return to my home in Gaza . In 2006, I was stranded in the Sinai with my two small children, unable to get through the closed border from Egypt into Gaza . It is perhaps madness to want to enter such a prison, but it is where my family and loved ones live. I eventually gave up. Last summer, I tried and failed again.

Yet my ultimate destination is not Khan Yunis but Beit Daras. It is fundamentally unjust -- even all these years later -- that the world stands by and countenances the Israeli decision to expropriate my family's land.

And it is fundamentally racist to believe that I would pose a threat to Israel if I were to move back to my family's village (which I would do if I were given the option). The notion of a Jewish state that must always retain a Jewish character -- so that people of other ethnicities can be barred from living in their ancestral homes and minorities groups are treated as second-class citizens -- is frighteningly similar to the apartheid state of South Africa , where different ethnic groups were treated unequally under law.

If black and white South Africans could resolve their differences on the basis of equality, why is it inappropriate to insist that Israelis and Palestinians do the same? Surely all modern conceptions of justice and equality must decry a system that places Jews above Palestinians.

Both peoples have suffered enormously over the last several decades. Resolution, however, will not come by the powerful dictating to the weak, but only through insistence on equality between the two peoples.

Ghada Ageel is a third-generation Palestinian refugee. She grew up in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in Gaza and teaches Middle Eastern politics at the University of Exeter in Britain .

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

RYS comes to Jerusalem

Gita — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 00:18:44 GMT

http://www.religiousyouthservice.org/projects/details/2007/israel.html

Watch video to learn more about RYS's inspirational work:
http://www.religiousyouthservice.org/home.php

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 1 reply

Noam Chomsky on Israel/Palestine -- groundwork not been laid

John — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:10:29 GMT

Not Through Annapolis: Noam Chomsky Says Path to Mideast Peace Lies in Popular Organizing Against U.S.-Israeli “Rejectionism”

Tuesday, November 27th, 2007

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/27/1547221
As the U.S. convenes a Mideast summit in Annapolis, Maryland today, we spend the hour on the Israeli-Palestine conflict with two of the world’s leading thinkers: former South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and world-renowned linguist Noam Chomsky. Chomsky says U.S. backing of continued Israeli occupation and annexation of Palestinian land is the biggest obstacle to peace. He says: “The crimes against Palestinians… are so shocking that the only emotionally valid reaction is rage and a call for extreme actions. But that does not help the victims. And, in fact, it’s likely to harm them. We have to face the reality that our actions have consequences, and they have to be adapted to real-world circumstances, difficult as it may be to stay calm in the face of shameful crimes in which we are directly and crucially implicated.” [includes rush transcript]

Leaders from around the world are gathering in Annapolis, Maryland today to take part in a U.S.-sponsored summit on the Middle East. President Bush met separately with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House on Monday. More than 40 organisations and countries, including Saudi Arabia and Syria, are attending the conference today. Hamas was not invited.
A final agenda has not yet been drawn up, but a draft of a joint document was leaked to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. It makes no mention of the situation in Gaza or of core issues like the status of Jerusalem, settlements, borders, the separation wall and Palestinian refugees.

Today, we spend the hour on the Israeli-Palestine conflict with two of the world’s leading thinkers: former South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and world-renowned linguist Noam Chomsky. They recently spoke at a conference in Boston, sponsored by Sabeel, a Palestinian Christian organization. The conference was titled “The Apartheid Paradigm in Palestine-Israel: Highlighting Issues of Justice and Equality.”

We begin with Noam Chomsky. A professor of linguistics at MIT for over half a century, Chomsky is the author of dozens of books on US foreign policy. His most recent is called “Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy.” Chomsky spoke before a packed audience at Boston’s historic Old South Church.

Noam Chomsky. Professor of linguistics at MIT for over half a century, Chomsky is the author of dozens of books on US foreign policy. His most recent is called “Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy.”
RUSH TRANSCRIPT
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AMY GOODMAN: Leaders from around the world are gathering in Annapolis, Maryland today to take part in a US-sponsored summit on the Middle East. President Bush met separately with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House Monday. More than forty organizations and countries, including Saudi Arabia and Syria, are attending the conference today. Hamas was not invited.

A final agenda has not yet been drawn up, but a draft of a joint document was leaked to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. It makes no mention of the situation in Gaza or of core issues like the status of Jerusalem, settlements, borders, the separation wall and Palestinian refugees.

Today, we spend the hour on the Israel-Palestine conflict with two of the world's leading thinkers: former South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and world-renowned linguist and author Noam Chomsky. They recently spoke at a conference in Boston sponsored by Sabeel, a Palestinian Christian organization. The conference was called “The Apartheid Paradigm in Palestine-Israel: Highlighting Issues of Justice and Equality.”

We begin today with Noam Chomsky, professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for over a half-century. Chomsky is the author of dozens of books on US foreign policy. His most recent is called Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy. Noam Chomsky spoke before a packed audience at Boston's historic Old South Church.

NOAM CHOMSKY: Before saying a word, I’d like to express some severe personal discomfort, because anything I say will be abstract and dry and restrained. The crimes against Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and elsewhere, particularly Lebanon, are so shocking that the only emotionally valid reaction is rage and a call for extreme actions. But that does not help the victims. And, in fact, it’s likely to harm them. We have to face the reality that our actions have consequences, and they have to be adapted to real-world circumstances, difficult as it may be to stay calm in the face of shameful crimes in which we are directly and crucially implicated.

Well, I’ve been asked to talk about the apartheid paradigm and the proper response here, so I’ll do that, though not without some additional reservations. We have to recognize that there will be no clear answer as to the question of whether the apartheid paradigm applies in Israel or in Boston, right here, or elsewhere. The genre has, after all, only one example: South Africa. And there are similarities elsewhere in many dimensions, and it’s fair enough to bring them up, but there's very little point debating whether they are close enough in one or another case to count as apartheid, because that will never be settled, we know that in advance.

I’ve brought up similarities in the past, when I thought that they were appropriate. Actually, the one time I recall clearly was exactly ten years ago. That was at a conference at Ben Gurion University in Be’er Sheva. It was on the anniversary of the thirtieth year of the military occupation. And in the talk there, I quoted from a standard history of South Africa on elections in the Bantustans, which I’ll read; and just change a few words, and you'll know what it’s about.

“South African retention of effective power, through its officials in the Bantustans, its overwhelming economic influence and security arrangements, gave to this initiative of elections elements of a farce. However, unlikely candidates as were the Bantustans for any meaningful independent existence, their expanding bureaucracies provided jobs for new strata of educated Africans tied to the system in a new way and a basis for accumulation for a small number of Africans with access to loans and political influence. Repression, too, could be indigenized through developing homeland policy and army personnel. On the fringe of the Bantustans, border industry growth centers were planned as a means of freeing capital from some of the restraints imposed on industrial expansion elsewhere and to take advantage of virtually captive and particularly cheap labor. Within the homelands, economic development was more a matter of advertising brochures than actual practical activity, though some officials in South Africa understood the needs from their own perspective for some kind of revitalization of the homelands to prevent their economies from collapsing even further.”

Well, I won’t waste time expressing the similarities to the Occupied Territories, but you can do that quite easily. Ten years ago, that was the optimistic prospect for the Occupied Territories. By now, even that’s remote, and reality is far more grim than it was then. There’s no time and, I presume, no need to review the harrowing details.

We’re now approaching George Bush's historic Annapolis conference, as it’s called, on Israel-Palestine, so we can anticipate a flood of deceit and distortions to set the proper framework. And we should be prepared to counter the propaganda assault, which has already begun. Just to pick a couple of examples, Bostonians could read in the Boston Globe a few days ago that at the Taba Conference in January 2001 -- now quoting -- “Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak accepted ideas floated by President Bill Clinton that would have produced a Palestinian state in 97 percent of the West Bank and 100 percent of Gaza,” but these forthcoming gestures failed. The evil Palestinians refused Israel's generous offers, keeping to their time-honored insistence on seizing defeat from the jaws of victory and proving they’re not partners for negotiation.

Well, there’s one fragment of truth in this conventional fabrication: there was a conference in Taba. And, in fact, it did come close to a possible settlement, but the rest is pure invention. In particular, the conference was terminated abruptly by Prime Minister Barak. The truth is completely unacceptable, so the facts are either suppressed, as they generally are, or, as in this case, just inverted. And we can expect a good deal more of that. Actually, the truth about the Taba Conference merits attention. That week, in one week in January 2001, that was the one moment in thirty years when the United States and Israel abandoned the rejectionist stance that they have maintained in virtual isolation until the present.

And that may suggest some thoughts about another familiar fairytale that you could read about a couple of days earlier in the New York Times, where the respected policy analyst and former high government official, Leslie Gelb, wrote that every US administration since 1967 has privately favored returning almost all of the territory to the Palestinians for the purposes of creating a separate Palestinian state. Note the word "privately." Crucial. We know what the administrations have said publicly. Publicly they have rejected adamantly anything remotely of the sort ever since 1967 -- ’76, when the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution calling for a two-state settlement on the international border, incorporating all the relevant wording of UN 242 -- it’s the basic diplomatic document to which Washington appeals when it’s convenient. The US veto -- it’s worth bearing in mind -- is a double veto. One part of the veto is that the actions are barred, of course. And it’s also vetoed from history, as in this case, so you’ll work really hard to find it, even in the scholarly literature.

AMY GOODMAN: We’ll come back to Professor Noam Chomsky’s address in Boston, and then we’ll go on to South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu. They were both speaking at the Sabeel conference.

[break]

AMY GOODMAN: We return to MIT professor and author Noam Chomsky speaking recently in Boston at the Old South Church at a conference called the Apartheid Paradigm in Palestine-Israel.

NOAM CHOMSKY: Sometimes the public rejection of a separate Palestinian state is more articulate and considerably more extreme, so it takes a George Bush no. 1, who is reputed to be the most hostile to Israel of US presidents. In 1988, as you know, the Palestinian National Council formally accepted a two-state settlement, and the Israeli government responded. This was the coalition government of Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Shamir. They responded by issuing a formal declaration that there can be no additional Palestinian state between Jordan and Palestine -- “additional” because for Shimon Peres and his Labor coalition, Jordan already was a Palestinian state. It’s a view that’s attributed to the right wing, but that’s mistaken. This is Shimon Peres. The United States reacted to that with what was called the Baker Plan -- James Baker, Secretary of State. The Bush Baker Plan endorsed Israel's position without qualification and went on to add that any Palestinian negotiators would have to accept that framework, namely no second Palestinian state in addition to Jordan. That’s Bush no. 1, the alleged critic of Israel, and the respected diplomat James Baker. Again, the truth is inconvenient, so virtually none of this was reported, and you’ll have to work -- search hard to extricate it from the web of self-serving propaganda that dominates commentary and reporting, of which Leslie Gelb's article in the New York Times is a typical, but not unusual, example.

Well, I’m not going to go on with that, but the diplomatic record is one of uniform rejectionism, apart from the week in Taba, and unilateral rejectionism, increasingly so. By now, virtually the entire world agrees on the two-state international consensus of the past thirty years, pretty much along the lines that were almost agreed upon at Taba. That includes all the Arab States, who actually go beyond to call for full normalization of relations with Israel. It includes Iran, although you won’t find that published here, which accepts the Arab League position. It includes Hamas; its leaders have repeatedly endorsed, called for a two-state settlement, even in articles in the US press. That also includes Hamas's most militant figure, Khaled Meshaal, who’s in exile in Syria. And it includes the rest of the world. Israel rejects it, and the United States backs that rejection fully, not in words just, but in actions.

Bush no. 2 has gone to new extremes in rejectionism. He’s declared the illegal West Bank settlements must remain part of Israel. That’s in accord with the Clinton position, expressed by his negotiator Dennis Ross, who explained that what he called “Israel's needs” take precedence over Palestinian wants. That’s Clinton. But the party line remains undisturbed. Facts don’t matter. Bush, Rice and the rest are yearning to realize Bush's vision of a Palestinian state -- somewhere, someplace -- persisting in the noble endeavor of the longtime honest broker.

Well, what’s happened in the past is -- of course, rejectionism goes far beyond words. It includes settlement programs, the annexation wall, closures, checkpoints, and so on. Settlements increased steadily right through the Oslo years, peaking actually in Clinton's last year, the year 2000, right before the Camp David Accords. And the story is now being repeated before our eyes -- shouldn’t surprise us.

So to take just one example, with the Annapolis conference approaching, Israel has just confiscated more Arab land to build a bypass road from Palestinians -- I’m quoting now -- “in order to push the Palestinian traffic between Bethlehem and Ramallah deep into the desert and effectively bar Palestinians from the central part of the West Bank." That’s part of the so-called E1 project, which is designed to incorporate the town of Ma’ale Adumim within Israel and effectively to bisect the West Bank. “With such policies” -- continuing to quote -- "With such policies enacted by the government, the famous Annapolis conference is emptied of all meaning long before it convenes." This is quotes from the Israeli peace organization Gush Shalom. All of this is backed by the honest brokers in Washington and paid for by US taxpayers, who, incidentally, overwhelmingly join the international consensus, in opposition to their own government. But that’s not what we’re going to hear.

Well, in fairness, it should be added that there is occasional public criticism of the settlement programs. So in the New York Times a couple of weeks ago, there was a favorable review of a very important study, which has just been translated into English, Lords of the Land by Idith Zertal and Akiva Eldar, which bitterly condemns the US-backed Israeli programs in the West Bank and the takeover of Israeli political life by their advocates. It’s a strong and important book.

The review, however, goes on with conventional fairytales. Among them, it tells us that within the Green Line in Israel itself, Israel is what it calls a “vibrant democracy” in which non-Jews have equal rights and, unlike the West Bank, there are no Arab villages made inaccessible, because their roads have been dug up by army bulldozers. Well, again, there’s a fragment of truth in the description. So take, for example, the village Dar al-Hanoun in the so-called Triangle, Wadi Ara, it’s older than the state of Israel, but it’s one of the innumerable unrecognized villages in Israel. So it’s true that there’s no road dug up by bulldozers, and the reason is that there’s no road. No road is permitted by the state authorities, and no construction is permitted. No services are provided. That’s not an unusual situation for Palestinian citizens, who are also effectively barred from over 90% of the land by a complex and intricate web of laws and administrative arrangements. Technically, that was overruled by the high court seven years ago, but, as far as I can determine, only technically. And we may recall that in the United States it took over a century for even formal implementation of the Fourteenth Amendment, guaranteeing equal rights to all persons, and actual implementation of it is still remote a century-and-a-half later.

Well, let’s turn briefly to the important question, the most important question: what can we do about it? Here, it’s useful to think about the apartheid analogy, and it’s useful to remember a little history.

In 1963, the UN Security Council declared a voluntary arms embargo on South Africa. That was extended to a mandatory embargo in 1977. And that was followed by economic sanctions and other measures -- sometimes officials, countries, cities, towns -- some organized by popular movements. Now, not all countries participated. In the United States, the US Congress did impose sanctions over Reagan's veto, but US trade with South Africa then increased by various evasions, along with concealed support for South African terrorist atrocities in Mozambique and Angola, which took a horrendous toll. It’s about 1.5 million killed and over $60 billion in damage during the Reagan years, the Reagan years of constructive engagement, according to UN analysis. In 1988, the Reagan administration declared Mandela's African National Congress to be one of the world's most notorious terrorist groups -- that’s 1988 -- while it described RENAMO in Mozambique merely as an indigenous insurgent group. That was after it had just killed about 100,000 people, according to the State Department, with, of course, US-backed African support. Thatcher's record was similar or maybe worse. But most of this was in secret. There was just too much popular opposition.

And the popular opposition made a difference. There was a very significant anti-apartheid movement decades after the global decision of the Security Council to bring apartheid to an end. In 1965, boycotts and other measures would not have been effective. Twenty years later, they were effective, but that was after the groundwork had been laid by activist, educational and organizing efforts, including within the powerful states, which is what matters in an ugly world.

Well, in the case of Israel-Palestine, the groundwork has not been laid. The quotes that I just gave are perfectly representative examples; you can fill them out in books, yeah. The kind of popular measures that were effective against apartheid by the late 1980s are not only ineffective in the case of Israel-Palestine today, but in fact sometimes backfire in harming the victims. We’ve seen that over and over. It’s going to continue until the organizing and educational efforts make real progress. It’s not just the United States; the European Union is hardly different. So, for example, the European Union does not bar arms deliveries to Israel. It joined the United States in vicious punishment of Palestinians, because they committed the grave crime of voting the wrong way in a free election. And there was very little internal protest in Europe. Populations support the international consensus, but they don’t react when their governments undermine any hope for its realization.

Well, in the coming weeks and the longer term, there's plenty of educational and organizational activity that will have to be carried out among an American population that happens to be largely receptive, though deluged with propaganda and deceit. And it’s not going to be easy. It’s never been easy. But much harder tasks have been accomplished with dedicated and persistent effort.

AMY GOODMAN: MIT Professor Noam Chomsky, speaking recently in Boston at a conference called “The Apartheid Paradigm in Palestine-Israel,” sponsored by the Palestinian Christian organization Sabeel.

www.democracynow.org

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

Darkness descends on the Middle East

John — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:48:24 GMT

Darkness falls on the Middle East
by Robert Fisk

So where do we go from here? I am talking into blackness because there is no electricity in Beirut. And everyone, of course, is frightened. A president was supposed to be elected today. He was not elected. The corniche outside my home is empty. No one wants to walk beside the sea.

When I went to get my usual breakfast cheese manouche there were no other guests in the café. We are all afraid. My driver, Abed, who has loyally traveled with me across all the war zones of Lebanon, is frightened to drive by night. I was supposed to go to Rome yesterday. I spared him the journey to the airport.

It’s difficult to describe what it’s like to be in a country that sits on plate glass. It is impossible to be certain if the glass will break. When a constitution breaks – as it is beginning to break in Lebanon – you never know when the glass will give way.

People are moving out of their homes, just as they have moved out of their homes in Baghdad. I may not be frightened, because I’m a foreigner. But the Lebanese are frightened. I was not in Lebanon in 1975 when the civil war began, but I was in Lebanon in 1976 when it was under way. I see many young Lebanese who want to invest their lives in this country, who are frightened, and they are right to frightened. What can we do?

Last week, I had lunch at Giovanni’s, one of the best restaurants in Beirut, and took out as my companion Sherif Samaha, who is the owner of the Mayflower Hotel. Many of the guests I’ve had over the past 31 years I have sent to the Mayflower. But Sherif was worried because I suggested that his guests had included militia working for Saad Hariri, who is the son of the former prime minister, murdered – if you believe most Lebanese – by the Syrians on 14 February 2005.

Poor Sherif. He never had the militia men in his hotel. They were in a neighboring building. But so Lebanese is Sherif that he even offered to pick me up in his car to have lunch. He is right to be worried.

A woman friend of mine, married to a doctor at the American University Hospital, called me two days before. “Robert, come and see the building they are making next to us,” she said. And I took Abed and we went to see this awful building. It has almost no windows. All its installations are plumbing. It is virtually a militia prison. And I’m sure that’s what it is meant to be. This evening I sit on my balcony, in a power cut, as I dictate this column. And there is no one in the street. Because they are all frightened.

So what can a Middle East correspondent write on a Saturday morning except that the world in the Middle East is growing darker and darker by the hour. Pakistan. Afghanistan. Iraq. “Palestine”. Lebanon. From the borders of Hindu Kush to the Mediterranean, we – we Westerners that is – are creating (as I have said before) a hell disaster. Next week, we are supposed to believe in peace in Annapolis, between the colourless American apparatchik and Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister who has no more interest in a Palestinian state than his predecessor Ariel Sharon.

And what hell disasters are we creating? Let me quote a letter from a reader in Bristol. She asks me to quote a professor at Baghdad University, a respected man in his community who tells a story of real hell; you should read it. Here are his own words:

“‘A’adhamiya Knights’ is a new force that has started its task with the Americans to lead them to al-Qa’ida and Tawheed and Jihad militants. This 300-fighter force started their raids very early at dawn wearing their black uniform and black masks to hide their faces. Their tours started three days ago, arresting about 150 citizens from A’adhamiya. The ‘Knight’ leads the Americans to a citizen who might be one of his colleagues who used to fight the Americans with him. These acts resulted in violent reactions of al-Qa’ida. Its militants and the militants of Tawheed and Jihad distributed banners on mosques’ walls, especially on Imam Abu Hanifa mosque, threatening the Islamic Party, al-Ishreen revolution groups and Sunni endowment Diwan with death because these three groups took part in establishing ‘A’adhamiya Knights’. Some crimes happened accordingly, targeting two from Sunni Diwan staff and one from the Islamic Party.

“Al-Qa’ida militants are distributed through the streets, stopping the people and asking about their IDs … they carry lists of names. Anyone whose name is on these lists is kidnapped and taken to an unknown place. Eleven persons have been kidnapped up to now from Omar Bin Abdul Aziz Street.”

The writer describes how her professor friend was kidnapped and taken to a prison. “They helped me sit on a chair (I was blindfolded) and someone came and held my hand saying, ‘We are Muhajeen, we know you but we don’t know where you are from.’ They did not take my wallet nor did they search me. They only asked me if I have a gun. An hour or so later, one of them came and asked me to come with them. They drove me towards where my car was in the street and they said no more.” So who are the A’adhamiya Knights? Who is paying them? What are we doing in the Middle East?

And how can we even conceive of a moral stand in the Middle East when we still we refuse to accept the fact – reiterated by Winston Churchill, Lloyd George, and all the details of US diplomats in the First World War – that the Armenian genocide occurred in 1915? Here is the official British government position on the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915. “Officially, the Government acknowledges the strength of feeling [note, reader, the ’strength of feeling’] about what it describes as a terrible episode of history and recognizes the massacres of 1915-16 as a tragedy. However, neither the current Government nor previous British governments have judged that the evidence is sufficiently unequivocal to be persuaded that these events should be categorized as genocide as it is defined by the 1948 UN Convention on Genocide.” When we can’t get the First World War right, how in God’s name can we get World War III right?

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Paris burns again

John — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 08:14:10 GMT

Sarkozy urges calm as riots return to Paris

Emilie Boyer King in Paris
Tuesday November 27, 2007
Guardian

Police fired teargas and rubber bullets at rioters armed with molotov cocktails and firecrackers last night, in the second day of violence after two youths died in a motorcycle accident involving a police car.
President Nicolas Sarkozy, visiting China, called for calm, while police braced themselves for more unrest after hours of running street battles. The riots broke out on Sunday, hours after the two teenagers collided with a patrol car.

The accident resembled the event that triggered suburban riots in France in 2005, sparking fears of more violence to come. Two years ago the death of two boys allegedly fleeing the police in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois sparked weeks of violence in France's rundown estates.

Dozens of youths descended on Villiers-le-Bel on Sunday evening, torching the police station, looting shops and setting cars and dustbins on fire. The police station in neighbouring Arnouville was ransacked, as well as at least one petrol station, in more than six hours of violence.

Nine people were arrested yesterday morning, according to police.

The crash that sparked the riots occurred at around 5pm on Sunday, when a mini-motorcycle and a police car on patrol collided, killing a 15-year-old, Moushin, and his friend, Larami, 16. Police said the teenagers were driving an unregistered vehicle and were not wearing helmets.

"We are sorry about the death of these young people, but it appears that they were unfortunately the victims of a traffic accident," said Francis Debuire, of the Force Ouvrière police union.

However, residents said police fled the scene and failed to help the youths. "They hit them from behind," Calbo, a rapper and local resident, told Reuters. "They saw they were in pain [but] they didn't help. The police tried to drive off by starting their car. They couldn't start their car because it was damaged, so they ran away."

An investigation on suspicion of possible manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident has been opened by police.

Last night, during an official visit to Beijing, Sarkozy said: "I call on everyone to calm down and let the justice system decide who was responsible."

Shortly after the riots broke out the local mayor and a police chief arrived, but were forced to turn back after the policeman was hit in the face and his car set on fire. Riot police were then brought in.

The mayor, Didier Vaillant, urged local people not to resort to violence. "We must make sure this doesn't happen again ... I am calling all the men and women of Villiers-le-Bel to help me do this."

Omar Sehhouli, the brother of one of the victims, said the police involved should be convicted. "Everyone knew the two boys here," he told French radio. "What happened, that's not violence, it's rage."

The Socialist head of the opposition, François Hollande, condemned the violence but said it revealed a "social and political crisis", and blamed the government for not improving the situation in destitute suburbs since the 2005 riots.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007

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This speaks volumes about Annapolis

John — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 08:10:56 GMT

McClatchy Washington Bureau
Posted on Mon, Nov. 26, 2007

Bush to open Mideast conference, but won't stay for discussion

Warren P. Strobel and David Lightman | McClatchy Newspapers

last updated: November 26, 2007 07:28:44 PM

WASHINGTON — President Bush, who's largely ignored the risky business of Middle East peacemaking throughout his nearly seven years in office, will take center stage Tuesday at the international peace conference he's hosting in Annapolis, Md.

He won't remain there for long, however. Bush plans to head back to the White House after delivering his opening speech to the diplomats and dignitaries at the U.S. Naval Academy, and while surprises are always possible, White House aides said he wasn't planning to offer new American proposals to resolve the conflict.

Nor is Bush expected to jump into extended post-Annapolis negotiations or head off to the Middle East to pursue peace in the waning days of his tenure.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the president's speech would include "a little more detail." But when she was asked to describe his message, she replied: "I would describe it as 'encourage.' "

Barring sustained presidential involvement, however, it remains doubtful that Israeli and Palestinian leaders — even with generous supplies of good will — can reach a deal over an independent Palestinian state. That will require painful compromises on emotional issues such as the future of Jerusalem, the borders of a Palestinian states and the right of Palestinian refugees to return to homes in what's now Israel.

"Almost everything they want to do requires a level of involvement that is just qualitatively different than anything we've seen before" from this president, said Dennis Ross, who had a leading role in Middle East negotiations under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

This late in the day, administrations don't tend to change their sociology," said Ross, who's now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a research center on Middle East affairs.

Bush kicked off the diplomacy Monday, welcoming Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas separately to the Oval Office. On Monday evening, he was traveling to the State Department to attend a dinner for the nearly 50 foreign delegations attending the Annapolis meeting.

Bush told Olmert that he was "optimistic" about the conference. Olmert seemed more cautious, focusing on the fact that Arab countries that don't recognize Israel have agreed to attend. "We are going to have lots of participants in what I hope will launch a serious process of negotiations between us and the Palestinians," he said.

Bush made it clear to Abbas that he anticipated a limited role for himself.

"The United States cannot impose our vision, but we can help facilitate," he said.

Bush took office in 2001 harshly critical of Clinton's eleventh-hour efforts to forge a peace deal at Camp David, which collapsed amid a new wave of Israel-Palestinian violence.

Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice maintain that conditions have changed, citing Abbas' opposition to violence, the engagement of Arab powers such as Saudi Arabia and Sunni Muslim Arabs' fear of an assertive Iran.

But there were reminders Monday of entrenched opposition to compromise in the Middle East.

"The Annapolis conference is of no use, and any decisions taken at the conference are not binding on the Palestinian people, but only binding on those who signed them," Ismail Haniyeh, the prime minister of Hamas' government in the Gaza Strip, told Al Jazeera television.

Iran also predicted defeat for the conference, while thousands of Israelis opposed to the talks gathered at Jerusalem's Western Wall to protest.

The Annapolis conference isn't meant to reach any agreements. Rather, it's supposed to launch renewed negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, with the ambitious goal of reaching a historic deal within a year.

Negotiators from both sides, with an assist from Rice, were racing to complete a joint declaration to guide future negotiations.

Palestinians had hoped that the document would delve in detail into thorny issues such as borders and refugees. But now it seems certain to be vague, reaffirming the sides' commitment to an independent Palestinian state and to the 2003 "road map" for peace.

In his speech, Bush is expected to say that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be a priority in his remaining months in office, and he'll pledge full support for the negotiations.

The United States also will help referee Israeli and Palestinian compliance with the road map, at both sides' request. There have been rumors that Bush will appoint a senior U.S. general to that role.

(Hannah Allam and McClatchy Newspapers special correspondent Miret el Naggar contributed to this article from Cairo.)

McClatchy Newspapers 2007

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Demands of a thief --- Gideon Levy

John — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 23:50:24 GMT

Demands of a thief

By Gideon Levy
Ha'aretz -- Sunday - November 25, 2007

The public discourse in Israel has momentarily awoken from its slumber. "To give or not to give," that is the Shakespearean question - "to make concessions" or "not to make concessions." It is good that initial signs of life in the Israeli public have emerged. It was worth going to Annapolis if only for this reason - but this discourse is baseless and distorted. Israel is not being asked "to give" anything to the Palestinians; it is only being asked to return - to return their stolen land and restore their trampled self-respect, along with their fundamental human rights and humanity. This is the primary core issue, the only one worthy of the title, and no one talks about it anymore.

No one is talking about morality anymore. Justice is also an archaic concept, a taboo that has deliberately been erased from all negotiations. Two and a half million people - farmers, merchants, lawyers, drivers, daydreaming teenage girls, love-smitten men, old people, women, children and combatants using violent means for a just cause - have all been living under a brutal boot for 40 years. Meanwhile, in our cafes and living rooms the conversation is over giving or not giving.

Lawyers, philosophers, writers, lecturers, intellectuals and rabbis, who are looked upon for basic knowledge about moral precepts, participate in this distorted discourse. What will they tell their children - after the occupation finally becomes a nightmare of the past - about the period in which they wielded influence? What will they say about their role in this? Israeli students stand at checkpoints as part of their army reserve duty, brutally deciding the fate of people, and then some rush off to lectures on ethics at university, forgetting what they did the previous day and what is being done in their names every single day. Intellectuals publish petitions, "to make concessions" or "not to make concessions," diverting attention from the core issue. There are stormy debates about corruption - whether Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is corrupt and how the Supreme Court is being undermined. But there is no discussion of the ultimate question: Isn't the occupation the greatest and most terrible corruption to have taken root here, overshadowing everything else?

Security officials are terrified about what would happen if we removed a checkpoint or released prisoners, like the whites in South Africa who whipped up a frenzy of fear about the "great slaughter" that would ensue if blacks were granted their rights. But these are not legitimate questions: The incarceration must be ended and the myriad of political prisoners should be released unconditionally. Just as a thief cannot present demands - neither preconditions nor any other terms - to the owner of the property he has robbed, Israel cannot present demands to the other side as long as the situation remains as it is.

Security? We must defend ourselves by defensive means. Those who do not believe that the only security we will enjoy will come from ending the occupation and from peace can entrench themselves in the army, and behind walls and fences. But we have no right to do what we are doing: Just as no one would conceive of killing the residents of an entire neighborhood, to harass and incarcerate it because of a few criminals living there, there is no justification for abusing an entire people in the name of our security. The question of whether ending the occupation would threaten or strengthen Israel's security is irrelevant. There are not, and cannot be, any preconditions for restoring justice.

No one will discuss this at Annapolis. Even if the real core issues were raised, they would focus on secondary questions - borders, Jerusalem and even refugees. But that would be escaping the main issue. After 40 years, one might have expected that the real core issue would finally be raised for honest and bold discussion: Does Israel have the moral right to continue the occupation? The world should have asked this long ago. The Palestinians should have focused only on this. And above all, we, who bear the guilt, should have been terribly troubled by the answer to this question.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/927531.html

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Assassinating Annapolis

John — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 04:47:53 GMT

This explains why I couldn't sign the petition. Just like the Road Map, Annapolis is a farce, a theatrical production.

w w w . h a a r e t z . c o m

Last update - 21:02 15/11/2007
Assassinating Annapolis

By Yossi Verter

"So," someone said to Avigdor Lieberman this week as it became increasingly clear that the Annapolis summit had been shrunk, shredded and emptied of any meaningful core issues, "you were able to bend the prime minister to your will."

"I did no such thing," Lieberman protested with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "I merely helped him clarify his ideas." This "clarification" process, to which Ehud Olmert has been subjected in the past couple of months by two of his coalition partners, Yisrael Beiteinu's Lieberman and Shas' Eli Yishai, has been intensive, unyielding, partially coordinated and apparently very effective. This week, both were celebrating their victory, each in his own way.

Paradoxically, for them, the "Annapolis declaration" that will eventually be made will be a double blessing: It will leave them in their cabinet seats, with all the goodies that go with that, and will also allow them to boast to their voters about their targeted assassination of the summit - to which, by the time of this writing, official invitations had yet to be issued. (The joke making the rounds in right-wing circles these days is: "Why haven't invitations been issued for the summit yet? Because you send out wedding invitations two months ahead of time, but invites to a funeral only go out the day before.")

People who have spoken with Lieberman, the minister of strategic affairs, during the last few days got the impression that he is taking most of the credit himself for transforming Annapolis from a formative event in the history of the Middle East to a "get-together" lasting just a few hours, which is supposed to "restart" lengthy negotiations on a final status accord. In private meetings, Lieberman describes his original plan of action, from the time the idea for this summit first debuted amid great fanfare: He was the one who insisted, both in talks with Olmert, EU envoy Tony Blair, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her associate David Welch, and in cabinet meetings, that Israel must make any move contingent upon implementation of the first stage of the road map, which calls for the Palestinian Authority to eliminate the terror infrastructure.

Yes, indeed, the man who once voted against the road map now considers it a "great asset," because he understands that the first stage will never be implemented, the Palestinians will never combat terror and thus Israel will be relieved of the obligation to make any move of its own. He was also the one who prevented Olmert from committing himself to evacuating the illegal settler outposts, arguing that it would "hurt national strength." He was the one who first brought up the demand that the PA recognize Israel as a Jewish state, a difficult thing to agree to. And he was the one who foiled Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's clever idea of holding "conditional negotiations" - i.e., the concept that Israel and the Palestinians would conduct negotiations and reach agreements, but their implementation would be conditional on the Palestinians' fulfillment of the road map's first stage. No way that's going to happen, said Lieberman. The moment we reach an agreement, the world will be pressing us to start evacuating settlements.

A year after Lieberman's surprising entry into the Olmert government, which was battered and limping then, following the Second Lebanon War, it seems that the main strategic threat being fought by the minister for strategic affairs is the Annapolis summit. Now Lieberman is preparing for "the final battle": He hopes to get a decision passed at next week's cabinet meeting, the last one before Annapolis, which states that no negotiations may begin before the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state. This is the final shackle with which Lieberman wishes to restrain and weigh down Olmert before his departure. With this kind of excess baggage, the prime minister's plane might not even make it off the ground. There may be no point to a summit that is already starting to look like a farce. "Let him (Olmert) go," say people in Lieberman's circle.

Night riders

On Monday evening, Shas leader Eli Yishai was a panelist at an event held in Kfar Sava in honor of the publication of journalist Amir Rappaport's book "Esh 'al kohoteinu" ("Fire on our Forces") about the Second Lebanon War. At around 10 P.M., a gray Mazda 6 pulled up next to Yishai's government van. Yishai exited the building where the event was held and got into his vehicle. Then the Mazda's doors opened. Likud faction chairman MK Gideon Sa'ar got out, slipped into Yishai's vehicle and the two sped off into the darkness, with only a driver and bodyguard.

It was this drive that gave rise to the cooperation between Shas and the Likud, as became evident two days ago when the Knesset plenum voted on Sa'ar's bill, stipulating that any change in Jerusalem's boundaries must be supported by a majority of 80 MKs. But this night ride may not even have been necessary. Olmert and his coalition didn't stand a chance on the matter anyway. In this Knesset, as was true for its predecessors, any bill, initiative or petition relating to "Jerusalem" immediately wins a passionate parliamentary majority and the singing of "Hatikva." Thus, Sa'ar's bill, whose entire purpose was to show up "the emperor" Olmert, in all his coalition nakedness, on the eve of Annapolis, was eagerly supported by Yisrael Beiteinu and MKs from Kadima and the Pensioners' Party, too.

Yishai chose to adopt the quiet approach. He declined to establish an opposition front with Lieberman. Instead, he conveyed his threatening messages to Olmert in one-on-one conversations and through the ultra-Orthodox press, usually in the name of "Shas officials." And when Vice Prime Minister Haim Ramon informed the media of his audacious plan concerning the core issues, Yishai gave the green light for a renewal of meetings between Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and Benjamin Netanyahu. This was a typical Shas-style move - designed to signal to Olmert that he had better cool it, and that Shas has other options.

Now that Shas is confident that the Annapolis danger has passed, it also wishes to gain something from the whole business: Close associates of Yishai relate that he informed Olmert in a private conversation, a few weeks ago, that if Annapolis were to result in "agreements or even partial agreements on the matter of Jerusalem, the Council of Torah Sages will convene immediately upon the prime minister's return and decide that the party should resign from the coalition." In fact, say some in Yishai's circle, a month ago, when Yishai was about to meet with Secretary Rice, Olmert sent him a note at the cabinet meeting: "Eli," Olmert wrote, "I know you have a meeting with Rice. I'm telling you that at the summit only frameworks will be discussed, not content." It was signed "E." But Yishai was not reassured. Quite the contrary: During the past month, his comments have become more pointed and he also arranged another meeting between Netanyahu and Rabbi Yosef (which was held this past Monday).

Annapolis is not really the problem, says Shas. The problem is the budget. Children's allowances are the problem and Shas will not be satisfied with "no cuts to the allowances." It will demand an increase.

Actually, the past week has seen an interesting phenomenon in the Knesset: Olmert's coalition, which in the first five weeks of the winter session notched a number of achievements and victories, has begun a process of rearrangement into sub-coalitions: a political coalition, as shown in the vote on the proposed amendment to the Basic Law on Jerusalem, and a social-economic coalition, comprised of three parties (Labor, Shas and the Pensioners), which is poised to make life miserable for Olmert and Finance Minister Roni Bar-On in the budget debates. The supportive reactions brought on by the prime minister's diagnosis of prostate cancer are fast fading from memory.

Barak's commitment

The prevailing feeling on Wednesday in the High Court of Justice, where petitions against the Winograd Committee were being heard, was that this saga is nearing its end and that the full report will be submitted in early January, 2008, without any personal findings or conclusions. Attention will then focus on Defense Minister and Labor Party Chairman Ehud Barak, who promised during his primaries campaign "to end the partnership with Olmert" if the prime minister does not resign from his post by the time the full Winograd report is published. This commitment, which was recorded on tape and film, will soon come back to haunt Barak.

How ironic: For many months during that campaign Barak was careful to keep quiet. The only time he opened his mouth and made that declaration, to secure the support of Ophir Pines-Paz, he tied a rope around his neck. Is it any wonder that Barak, the bold and most highly decorated fighter in the IDF, is afraid to step into a TV studio these days?

All the excuses and all the explanations won't spare him the agony that awaits him in the media, which will repeatedly replay his remarks from that fateful June, 2007 press conference. "Wait a minute," says MK Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, a loyal member of the Barak camp, who is opposed to leaving the government. "That's not the only thing Barak said. Check what else he said." We checked. As it happens, Barak also said that Labor under his leadership "would act to establish a new government in the present Knesset, or alternatively, act to set a date for early elections." "Exactly," says Ben-Eliezer. "We'll call on Kadima to replace Olmert with someone else."

And if Kadima does not comply? "Then we'll carry out the third part of Barak's declaration," says Ben-Eliezer. "And we'll begin making contacts in anticipation of early elections. We'll talk with the factions." But in the Knesset there is no majority for early elections. "True," Ben-Eliezer admits with a sigh. Then what will you do? "We'll have to stay in the government," he replies. "Until we decide that it's right for us to resign. There won't be any elections in 2008."

Ben-Eliezer's view appears to be shared by many others in Labor. The main question, though, concerns Barak's position. Apparently, he himself doesn't know yet. He's preoccupied with the affairs of his ministry and the occasional dustups with Olmert. He'll decide once the Winograd report is released. Lately, when people have asked him what he'll do when the day of reckoning arrives, he says: "I'll honor my commitments." The question is - which one of them?

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Muslim headscarf hysteria in France

John — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 08:49:10 GMT

A Look into the Muslim Headscarf Hysteria in France
By Laila Lalami, The Nation
Posted on November 24, 2007, Printed on November 24, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/68719/

"A kind of aggression." "A successor to the Berlin Wall." "A lever in the long power struggle between democratic values and fundamentalism." "An insult to education." "A terrorist operation." These descriptions -- by former French President Jacques Chirac; economist Jacques Attali; and philosophers Bernard-Henri Lévy, Alain Finkielkraut and André Glucksmann -- do not refer to the next great menace to human civilization but rather to the Muslim woman's headscarf, which covers the hair and neck, or, as it is known in France, the foulard islamique.

In her keenly observed book The Politics of the Veil, historian Joan Wallach Scott examines the particular French obsession with the foulard, which culminated in March 2004 with the adoption of a law that made it illegal for students to display any "conspicuous signs" of religious affiliation. The law further specified that the Muslim headscarf, the Jewish skullcap and large crosses were not to be worn but that "medallions, small crosses, stars of David, hands of Fatima, and small Korans" were permitted. Despite the multireligious contortions, it was very clear, of course, that the law was primarily aimed at Muslim schoolgirls.

The decade-long debate in France over the foulard was marked by three specific controversies. The first erupted in October 1989, when Ernest Chénière, the principal of a high school in Creil, north of Paris, expelled three students: Samira Saidani and Leila and Fatima Achaboun. The reason for the expulsion, Chénière claimed, was that he had to enforce laïcité, the French notion of secularism, in the school. The national debate that followed took place within the context of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie and the West's confrontation with Iran, on the one hand, and the celebration of the bicentennial of the French Republic, on the other.

At the time that France's attention was focused on three teenage girls with headscarves, the country had more than 3 million Muslims. French-Algerian novelist Leïla Sebbar, writing in Le Monde, qualified the controversy as "grotesque." In the end, the Socialist Lionel Jospin, who at that time was minister of education, chose to let the courts decide the case. The Conseil d'État eventually ruled that students could not be refused admission simply for wearing headscarves, but it also gave teachers and principals the power to decide, on a case-by-case basis, whether such signs of religious affiliation were permissible.

The second foulard controversy ignited in 1994 with the same Ernest Chénière. He was no longer a high school principal, having capitalized on his earlier fame and won a Parliament seat as a deputy for the center-right party Rassemblement pour la République, representing the department of Oise. In this new capacity, he sponsored a bill to ban all "ostentatious" signs of religious affiliations in schools. The same arguments were offered up as in 1989, but the political context this time was supplied by the civil war in Algeria. For Chénière and his large and diverse number of supporters, the fight against Islamic fundamentalism in Algeria and elsewhere mandated a strengthening of the secularist state at home.

The third and most recent foulard controversy occurred in 2003, when two teenage sisters, Alma and Lila Lévy, were expelled from their high school in the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers for refusing to take off their headscarves. The Lévy sisters are the daughters of a lawyer who considers himself "a Jew without God" and a Kabyle teacher who had been baptized a Catholic during the Algerian war. The girls had converted to Islam after their parents' separation and had donned the scarves as part of that process. In an interview with Le Monde, the girls' father declared, "I am not in favor of the headscarf, but I defend the right of my children to go to school. In the course of this business I've discovered the hysterical madness of certain ayatollahs of secularism who have lost all their common sense."

That year, a commission led by former government minister Bernard Stasi, which had been formed to study the feasibility of a law on religious displays, held interviews with various specialists. It later issued a report that reaffirmed the importance of secularism to the Republic and suggested a law on "conspicuous" religious signs but also made some recommendations to acknowledge the plurality of religions in France. (For example, the commission suggested the recognition of Yom Kippur and Eid-al-Adha as national holidays.) The sole recommendation that Jacques Chirac took from the Stasi commission was the law banning the headscarf. Wallach Scott writes:

There was to be no room for the compromises that had been negotiated in years past (scarves on shoulders, "lite" scarves, bandanas); the law was designed to dispel the tensions these compromises had embodied. It became the law of the land in March 2004, and its enforcement began the following October. Without the softening effect of the other recommendations, the headscarf ban became a definitive pronouncement: there would no longer be compromises or mediation -- it was either Islam or the republic.

In order to understand how a small piece of cloth became a national obsession (compared, by philosophers no less, to terrorism), one must go back quite a few years in French history, to the era that current French President Nicolas Sarkozy recently told his compatriots they must stop repenting for: colonization. Indeed, Wallach Scott argues, it is impossible to understand modern-day attitudes in France toward the foulard without delving into the history of racism in that country, because the headscarf has played a "significant part as a continuing sign of the irreducible difference between Islam and France" and is perceived to express "not only religious incompatibilities but also ethnic/cultural ones."

When the French government invaded Algeria, in 1830, it started a vast campaign of military "pacification," which was quickly followed by the imposition of French laws deemed necessary for the civilizing mission to succeed. Women were crucial to that enterprise. In articles, stories and novels of the day, Algerian women were universally depicted as oppressed, and so in order for civilization truly to penetrate Algeria, the argument went, the women had to cast off their veils. General Bugeaud, who was charged with administering the territory in the 1840s, declared, "The Arabs elude us because they conceal their women from our gaze." Algerian men, meanwhile, were perceived to be sexual predators who could not control their urges unless their womenfolk were draped in veils. Colonization would solve this by bringing the light of European civilization to Arab males, who, after a few generations of French rule, would learn to control their urges. The governor-general of Algeria remarked in 1898 that "the Arab man's, the native Jew's and the Arab woman's physiology, as well as tolerance for pederasty, and typically oriental ways of procreating and relating to one another are so different from the European man's that it is necessary to take appropriate measures." As late as 1958, French wives of military officers, desperate to stop support for the FLN, which spearheaded the war of liberation against France, staged a symbolic "unveiling" of Algerian women at a pro-France rally in the capital of Algiers.

Decades later, millions of French citizens with ancestral roots in North Africa are being told much the same thing: in order to be French, they must "integrate" by giving up that which makes them different -- Islam. The religion, however, is not regarded as a set of beliefs that adherents can adjust to suit the demands of their everyday lives but rather as an innate and unbridgeable attribute. It is easy to see how racism can take hold in such a context. During the foulard controversies, it did not appear to matter that 95 percent of French Muslims do not attend mosque, that more than 80 percent of Muslim women in France do not wear the headscarf or even that the number of schoolgirls in headscarves has never been more than a few hundred. The racist notion of innate differences between French citizens of North African origin and those of European origin defined the debate. For instance, the Lévy sisters were sometimes referred to in the press as Alma and Lila Lévy-Omari, thus making their ancestral link to North Africa (on their mother's side) clearer to the reader.

If racism has been the subtext of the foulard controversy in France, Wallach Scott argues, then laïcité was its expression. Those who supported the ban on headscarves argued that laïcité was not simply secularism but a universal notion that was also unique to France. They called it une singularité française. Upon closer scrutiny, however, this particular notion seemed to be quite accommodating to Catholics and rather intransigent to others. For instance, the 1905 law that separated church and state allowed students to have Sundays off to attend church and gave them an additional weekday for religious instruction in the church. The French government currently contributes 10 percent of the budgets of private Christian schools. The school calendar observes Catholic holidays only. Still, despite the discrepancies with which laïcité is applied in schools, those who opposed the foulard fervently claimed their attachment to laïcité and its necessity for the survival of the Republic. Laïcité was what made France unique. Therefore, to support the freedom of girls to dress as they please could only mean being an apologist for the oppression of women and an enemy of laïcité, and to uphold laïcité meant being in favor of a ban on the foulard.

At the height of the controversy, everyone seemed to have an opinion about the law. More than sixty public personalities -- including actresses Emmanuelle Béart and Isabelle Adjani, philosopher Élisabeth Badinter, former government ministers Corinne Lepage and Yvette Roudy, and activist Fadela Amara -- appealed to Chirac in the pages of Elle magazine to pass a law banning the foulard. Few voices were heard in defense of both laïcité and Muslim girls' civil right to attend school. Among these were comic book artist Marjane Satrapi, who wrote in the Guardian that to forbid schoolgirls to wear the veil was as repressive as forcing them to wear it, and philosopher Pierre Tévanian, who argued that laïcité applied to institutions, not people.

In The Politics of the Veil, Wallach Scott does a good job of conveying the hysteria that surrounded the foulard debate in France, although the book could have used some copy-editing. For instance, Ernest Chénière, the high school principal who started the 1989 controversy, gets rebaptized, becoming Eugène Chenière. In addition, Wallach Scott neglects to mention an important postscript to the affaires des foulards: the kidnapping, in August 2004, of French journalists Georges Malbrunot and Christian Chesnot by an obscure Islamist group in Iraq, and the group's demand that the law be repealed. (French citizens, Muslim and otherwise, rejected the intrusion into their internal affairs.) But Wallach Scott's broad and exhaustive research makes for a bracing account of the debate.

Aside from prevalent racism and a rigid understanding of laïcité, a third reason for the focus on the foulard is a narrow conception of individualism. Wallach Scott demonstrates that French Muslim girls, who were primarily affected by the law on the foulard, were "strikingly absent from the debates." The Stasi commission interviewed just a few girls, and in private sessions only, so that their voices and opinions were never part of the larger public discussion. While acknowledging that some girls may have worn the foulard for reasons other than pressure by fathers or brothers, commentators viewed it simply as a symbol of "the alienation of women." However much the girls or opponents of the law insisted that the foulard was "an expression of individual conviction," the state and supporters of the law declared that "this could not logically be the case," because the headscarf could only mean "an abandonment of individuality and a declaration of one's primary allegiance to communal standards and obligations." In order to be truly French, therefore, Muslim girls had to renounce the foulard, since in this view it was a signal that they were neither loyal to France nor individuals capable of free thought.

The last, and perhaps most disturbing, reason for the focus on the foulard is its sexual connotation. Commentators often contrasted Islamic tradition, which advocates the headscarf as a means of curbing women's "dangerous sexuality," and French culture, which "celebrates sex and sexuality as free of social and political risk." In reality, both Islamic Sharia and strict French laïcité produced gender systems that essentially deprived women of the right to dispose of their bodies as they wished. Indeed, in Islamic tradition, women are urged to be modest and to steer clear of tabarruj. This Arabic noun has its roots in the verb baraja, which means "to display" or "to show off," and the noun can be translated as something like "affectation." In A Season in Mecca, his narrative book about the pilgrimage, Moroccan anthropologist Abdellah Hammoudi uses the term "ostentation" to translate tabarruj, "the invariable term for a bearing that is deemed immodest or conspicuous, a hieratic stance." Similarly, the French law born out of strict definitions of laïcité warned schoolgirls about displaying "conspicuous" signs of religious affiliation. In short, the battle between the two modes of thinking was played out in women's bodies.

The sexual argument against the foulard was common in France in 2003, although by that point the word "foulard" had all but disappeared from public discourse and was replaced by voile, or veil, which covers the entire face except for the eyes. This was erroneous but not entirely innocent, of course, because it made it possible for commentators to talk in terms of more general stereotypes of Muslim women in places like Yemen, where the veil is prevalent, rather than the reality of suburban Paris, where it is not. More recently, in an interview with a London-based newspaper, Bernard-Henri Lévy went as far as to say that "the veil is an invitation to rape." It is perverse to suggest that a woman is inviting rape by the way she dresses, but such is the extreme that Lévy will go to in order to preserve the idea of a homogeneous female European identity. In this view, a European woman is uncovered, and that signifies both her availability to the male gaze as well as her liberation.

It is interesting, too, that Lévy demands for himself that which he is not willing to give others. In 2004 he hired the designer Andrée Putman to renovate his vacation home in Tangier. The home lies next to the famous Café Hafa, whose regulars once included Paul Bowles, Tennessee Williams and Jean Genet, and which has unparalleled views of the Mediterranean. Patrons of the cafe can no longer enjoy an unobstructed view, however, because during the renovations Lévy constructed a wall around his terrace, where his wife, the actress and singer Arielle Dombasle, likes to sunbathe. Lévy reportedly wanted to protect her from the eyes of the men at the Café Hafa. Unveiling only goes one way, it seems.

There is in France today a pervading hypocrisy that invokes freedom of expression when cartoonists from Charlie Hebdo or France Soir offend Muslim sensibilities but remains stubbornly quiet when a Muslim woman's right to dispose of her body as she wishes is denied. This is the same hypocrisy that calls soccer star Zinedine Zidane a French citizen without any qualifications but refers to Zacarias Moussaoui as a French citizen of Moroccan origin. It is the same hypocrisy that organizes support committees for teachers in Flers who refuse to teach girls wearing the foulard but does not appear to care that 40 percent of French youths living in the largely impoverished and North African banlieues are unemployed. It is the same hypocrisy that celebrates the work of North African soldiers in the fight against the Nazis in World War II but until last year refused them the same army pensions as their French counterparts. It is the same hypocrisy that condemns humorist Dieudonné for his abhorrently racist remarks on Jews but condones former Le Point editor Claude Imbert when he says, "I am something of an Islamophobe and I'm not embarrassed to say so."

It is the same hypocrisy, finally, that expends boundless intellectual energy and enormous state resources on a small number of schoolgirls in headscarves but does next to nothing to ensure that these schoolgirls -- most of whom are stuck in low-performing high schools designated as ZEPs (or zones d'éducation prioritaires) -- gain access to the same educational and employment opportunities as their white compatriots. In the end, the successive controversies in France have served as fantastic distractions from real problems and have provided comfort and support to Islamic fundamentalists, who recruit Muslim youngsters by telling them that France does not want them. The foulard in France, therefore, is nothing more than a fig leaf; however long one stares at it, the eye will eventually have to face the nakedness of racism and discrimination.

To paraphrase another French philosopher: I do not approve of the headscarf, but I will defend to the death the right of women to wear it.

Laila Lalami, the author of Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, is an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

Terror doesn't spring from the womb -- break the cycle

John — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 01:45:03 GMT

Occupation breeds terror

Seth Freedman

November 19, 2007 7:00 AM

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/seth_freedman/2007/11/occupation_breeds_terror.html

When I first moved to this country, I was prepared to play my part by enlisting in the IDF and serving in the West Bank. While there, I saw for myself the effect my mere uniformed presence had on the Palestinians I encountered on a daily basis. Every interaction took place with me holding all the cards - it was me with the loaded gun in my hands; it was me barking instructions to "stop or I'll shoot", "lift up your shirt", "don't come another step closer"; it was me playing with my quarry as though they were puppets on the end of short, taut strings.

However, I still believed that we "did what we had to do", since it was a case of us or them, and we could never ease up in our actions for fear that the next Palestinian we encountered was the one with a bomb strapped to his chest. And so it continued, bursting into buildings to round up the residents and lock them in their own basement, so that we could take over the house and grab a few hours' sleep in the middle of a mission - and all perfectly acceptable in the context of war.

But that was when I saw the wide, silent eyes of the families' children as we screamed at their father - their hero, their protector - and wrested from him the reins of power inside his own house. And that's when it started to dawn on me just what kind of effect our actions were having on the next generation, who were guaranteed to end up hating us when all they saw was us herding them like cattle and imposing our will on them through the sights of our guns.

Once I left the army, my forays into the West Bank were on more equal terms, as I sought to meet the very people whose towns I'd previously patrolled, to hear their stories about life under military rule. From Jenin to Bethlehem to Ramallah and beyond, the extent of the suffering and the depth of the torment was exposed to me time and again. There was no doubt in my mind that our mere presence in their daily routines was twisting the knife every time they encountered a soldier - and breeding extremism and radicalism all the while.

The unspoken truth that every Israeli knows, uncomfortable as it may be to admit, is that occupation breeds terror. Every incursion, every raid, every curfew and collective punishment, drives the moderates into the welcoming arms of the militants, who promise to return their honour and their wounded pride by fighting the oppressors' fire with fire of their own. And that fact alone should be enough to shake Israelis awake and realise that the occupation has to end, as much for our own security as for the sake of the Palestinians that we're subjugating.

Even those who only care about the safety of the Israeli people, and to hell with the Palestinians, should be backing the withdrawal of troops to the Green Line. They should know that the labyrinthine network of checkpoints is not actually making them safer, but is there just to make the Palestinians' lives a misery, thus endangering Israeli lives further in the end. And they should recognise that while Israel's presence continues to fester in the Palestinian territories like an open sore, there is little to no chance that the Palestinians will seek rapprochement and dialogue with their neighbours.

And that means that any coexistence projects - such as those promoted by OneVoice, the Clubhouse network, and so on - are doomed to fail while the occupiers refuse to acknowledge the plight of the occupied. Israel has the upper hand whichever way you look at it, and to treat the situation as somehow balanced is to overlook totally the sheer injustice of it all.

Of course, the Israelis have suffered decades of terrorism at the hands of extremist Palestinian groups, and as such have every right to demand their government protects them from similar atrocities in the future. But, for all that Israelis have had it bad, they haven't seen every facet of their lives systematically destroyed at the hands of an uncaring occupying force. They haven't seen their economy run into the ground by crippling border closures and sanctions, they haven't been denied freedom of movement between their homes and farmlands, and they haven't had to beg soldiers to let their wives through checkpoints in order to give birth in hospital.

At the same time, the settlements are as much of a problem to a viable Palestinian state as anything, thanks to the watertight security their presence demands from the army, restricting Palestinian movement and cutting the West Bank into tiny ribbon-like strips. As one Palestinian said, in Emma Williams' essential book on the region, "thanks to the settlers and their infrastructure, we're locked so tight into the State of Israel we're like a bug in concrete."

But still the expansion continues, and still the stranglehold on the Palestinians persists. While the Israeli public stays silent, while their taxes swell the government's coffers, they are tacitly aiding and abetting slow torture on a national scale. On top of the sporadic killing that the occupation inevitably causes, the killing of an entire people's hopes and dreams takes place 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

And it has to stop. Even though it's no doubt too late to pull many of the current generation back from the brink of hate and enmity, there's still time to ensure that today's resentment doesn't have to be instilled into the children of tomorrow. Playing the "fighting terror" card might win Knesset votes, but it doesn't push things forward nor work out how to pave the way towards long-lasting future peace.

Israel must leave the territories, and they must do it soon - whether accompanied by concessions on the Palestinian side or not. The occupation is illegal, it is abhorrent, and it is utterly counterproductive if its aim is to bring security to Israelis. Anyone who ventures into the Palestinian towns and cities, who witnesses the devastation for themselves and hears the tragic tales from the horse's mouth, knows this. And anyone who prefers to cover their ears or avert their eyes is only doing damage to both sides in the long run. Israel will never have peace whilst it crushes Palestinian aspirations - and both sides deserve far better lives than those they are being forced to endure at present.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

Iqbal

CCM — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 02:07:17 GMT

Please, have a listen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvBd_F-Fn3w&eurl=http://apps.facebook.com/superwall/view.php?id=133412866&owner_id=519096206

More on Iqbal:

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

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 7 replies

What should Arab governments do to end the conflict?

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 06:10:07 GMT

...

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 2 replies

Demand Peace in Israel/Palestine - Please sign our petition and pass it on.

Gita — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 22:09:17 GMT

"The Annapolis conference is an amazing opportunity for a just peace in Israel/Palestine.
However, many are concerned by the possible consequences should the attendees lack the strength of will to seize this opportunity.

We believe that another handshake, another photo opportunity accompanied by words of peace that are not matched by actions will mean that Annapolis has failed.

We fear the consequences if Annapolis fails. We fear for the Palestinian and Israeli peoples, for the stability of the Middle East region and for world peace.

We demand peace!

Please join us in demanding peace by signing our petition which we will deliver, prior to the start of Annapolis to The Whitehouse, The Prime Minister of Israel's Office, the Office of the President of the Palestinian Authority and Downing Street.

Click on the link below, to access the petition. And please tell everyone."

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/support-peace-in-israel-palestine

Peace....

Gita.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 7 replies

progress?

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 22:40:58 GMT

http://askothernews.myway.com/article//20071119/B20963041195486499A0.html

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 1 reply

3 Cities Against the Wall

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 02:28:59 GMT

Picked up a book on this the other day:

http://www.3citiesagainstthewall.net/

"Three Cities Against the Wall brings together Palestinian, Israeli, American and European artists in a unique and historic 3-city exhibition to protest the "Separation Wall" Israel is building in the Occupied Territories. Each artist is represented by works in all three cities."

Contains some good action-oriented links:

Direct Action Palestine
DAP is a New York-based group that works in solidarity with Palestinian non-violent resistance to end the Israeli occupation. We mobilize, train, support and fund activists to travel to Israel/Palestine and to bring their stories home.
http://www.dapnyc.org/

International Solidarity Movement
International Solidarity Movement, (ISM), a Palestinian-led movement of Palestinian and International activists working to raise awareness of the struggle for Palestinian freedom and an end to Israeli occupation. ISM utilizes nonviolent, direct-action methods of resistance to confront and challenge the Israeli occupation.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/

International Women's Peace Service
IWPS Palestine is an international team of 16 women based in Hares, a village in the Salfit Governorate of Occupied Palestine's West Bank. IWPS joins Palestinians in acts of non-violent direct action to oppose human rights abuses and the confiscation and destruction of land and property of Palestinian people.
http://www.womenspeacepalestine.org/wall_campaign.htm

Jews Against the Occupation
JATO is an organization of progressive, secular and religious Jews of all ages throughout the New York City area advocating peace through justice for Palestine and Israel.
http://www.jatonyc.org/

Middle East Children's Alliance
MECA is a non-governmental organization, working for peace and justice in the Middle East; focusing on Palestine, Israel, Lebanon and Iraq. Its programs emphasize the need to educate North Americans about the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy, and to support projects that aid and empower communities.
http://www.mecaforpeace.org/

The Palestine Children's Welfare Fund
PCWF was established by individuals whose goals are to improve the living standards of the children of Palestine in the refugee camps inside Palestine. The group aims to provide the children of the refugee camps with better educational opportunities, health facilities and a bright future without violence, hatred and discrimination.
http://www.pcwf.org/index.html

Al-Awda - The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
Fact sheets on the Wall
http://www.al-awda.org/apartheidwall/

Electronic Intifada: News and views on the Wall
http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/apartheidwall.shtml

Gush Shalom - The Israeli Peace Bloc
Maps and other materials on the "Separation Wall"
http://www.gush-shalom.org/thewall/index.html

Indymedia Israel
https://israel.indymedia.org/

Palestine News Network
http://www.palestinenet.org/english/

The Palestinian Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PENGON)
http://www.pengon.org/wall/wall.html

Stop the Wall: The Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign
http://www.stopthewall.org/

Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
http://www.wrmea.com/

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 26 replies

Can we ban the use of "P's" for Palestinians, please?

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 06:08:41 GMT

Can we ban the use of "P's" for Palestinians, please?

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 36 replies

thuoghts on interventionism

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 23:16:09 GMT

It is my belief that growth amongst Western states in relation to global human rights, and their new willingness to intervene to uphold them, is not indicative of an attitudinal sea-change but rather an awareness of the systemic political benefits to be derived from adopting a rhetorical determination to intervene for humanitarian reasons.

The development of the consensus that humanitarian interventions are to be welcomed, if not encouraged, signifies the West’s successful appropriation of the human rights agenda. Through the work of heavily financed NGOs and selective media reportage, Western publics, academics and human rights advocates have become convinced of the need for a more interventionist Western outlook.

The reluctance to cede the power over when and where to intervene to a transnational body, signifies the US’s perception of the present unregulated situation as beneficial to its national interests and specifically its foreign policy.

The template established in Kosovo was used extensively to justify the intervention in Afghanistan in 2003 and the invasion of Iraq was similarly heralded as a humanitarian crusade, albeit with an attendant security agenda.

As the security threat posed by Saddam and the links with Al Qaeda have proven spurious, the remaining justification has been humanitarian., Once it became clear that the UN Security Council was not going to authorise the use of force against Iraq, the leaders of all three main interveners began to emphasise the humanitarian necessity of war

US Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld argued that the invasion of Iraq was consistent with the example set in Kosovo as it was prosecuted, for the purpose of denying hostile regimes the opportunity to oppress their own people

The use of humanitarian rhetoric to legitimise the invasion of Iraq confirms the fear my reservations with respect to the growing acceptance of humanitarian interventions.

The danger is that US policy makers will come to believe that they can use force without legal or moral censure as long as they couple force with token humanitarianism that will nullify dissent at home.

The invasion of Iraq never received the support the intervention in Kosovo was afforded but opposition to the war was largely based on the security claims rather than the merits of intervening for humanitarian reasons.

During the Cold War US-led Western intervention was legitimised to both domestic publics and international allies on the basis of the threat of communist encroachment and the domino theory.

Today these imperatives to intervene have been replaced by the humanitarian imperative and, since September 11th, the war on terror.

The globalisation of human rights is, therefore, less indicative of the emergence in the West of an awareness of the inviolability of basic humanitarian standards regardless of where one lives; rather it has become a means by which hegemony has been legitimised and consolidated and intervention endorsed.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 1 reply

E. J'lem family gives homeless Jewish family shelter

Marc Roller — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 10:10:36 GMT

Hi good people of this tribe,
here is some good news : a living proof that we are founded to hope for better.
One blessed Love Everytime.
M.

E. J'lem family gives homeless Jewish family shelter after authorities fail to help

By Haaretz staff and Channel 10

tags: Israeli Arabs, East Jerusalem
Haaretz.com/Channel 10 daily feature for November 11, 2007.

Ilanit and her four children were evicted from an apartment they had illegally occupied for lack of any other place to stay.

After the family members found themselves and all their belongings out on the street on a cold Jerusalem night, only one person offered assistance.

Khader Ramadan Dabash of East Jerusalem took the five into his home, where they have been living for the last two weeks.

live report :
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/922719.html

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 2 replies

What must Israel do to get its act together?

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 06:38:36 GMT

Just a simple question. Everyone always has opinions on what Arabs should do. So what should Israel do so its people can live in peace?

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 9 replies

Has the Israeli government decided to attack Iran?

John — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 08:01:28 GMT

Published on Thursday, November 8, 2007 by The Times Online/UK
US Fears Israeli Strike Against Iran Over Latest Nuclear Claim
by Tom Baldwin, James Hider and Francis Elliott

A claim by President Ahmadinejad that Iran has 3,000 working uranium-enriching centrifuges sent a tremor across the world yesterday amid fears that Israel would respond by bombing the country’s nuclear facilities.

Military sources in Washington said that the existence of such a large number could be a “tipping point”, triggering an Israeli air strike. The Pentagon is reluctant to take military action against Iran, but officials say that Israel is a “different matter”. Amid the international uproar, British MPs who were to have toured the nuclear facility were backing out of their Iran trip.

Even before President Ahmadinejad’s announcement, a US defence official told The Times yesterday: “Israel could do something when they get to around 3,000 working centrifuges. The Pentagon is minded to wait a little longer.” US experts say 3,000 machines running for long periods could make enough enriched uranium for an atomic bomb within a year.

Israel responded by serving notice that it would not tolerate a nuclear Iran. “Talks never did, and never will, stop rockets,” said Ehud Barak, the Defence Minister, after talks with the security cabinet.

The US and Western allies believe that Iran is using its civilian nuclear programme as a cover for weapon development. Tehran says that it merely wants to generate electricity.

Concern about Israel’s intentions has been heightened by its recent air strike on a suspected nuclear plant in Syria. In 1981 Israel destroyed Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi nuclear reactor, and as the sole - if undeclared - nuclear power in the region, it now considers Iran the most serious threat to its security. Mr Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be “wiped off the map”.

Efraim Inbar, of the Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies in Tel Aviv, said that the figure of 3,000 centrifuges would signal the ability of Israel’s arch-foe to produce the nuclear material needed for a warhead. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we do something if the international community leaves us alone,” he said. “I think we [Israel] are preparing for it. For Israel this is a critical technological moment.”

Tehran says it plans to expand its enrichment programme to up to 54,000 centrifuges at Natanz in central Iran, which would amount to industrial-scale uranium enrichment.

Mr Ahmadinejad, speaking yesterday at a rally, said that UN sanctions had failed to halt uranium enrichment. “The world must know that this nation will not give up one iota of its nuclear rights . . . if they think they can get concessions from this nation, they are badly mistaken,” he said. He has in the past claimed that Iran succeeded in installing the 3,000 centrifuges at its uranium enrichment facility but yesterday’s speech was the first time he had said all of them were now operational.

The International Atomic Energy Authority recently put the figure at closer to 2,000, with another 650 being tested. The IAEA said yesterday: “We will be publishing a report next week. We will not make any comment about this until then.” Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, is shortly to report on Iran’s willingness to give up uranium enrichment in exchange for political and trade incentives.

In London, at least five members of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee were refusing to take part in the planned trip to Iran, arguing that it would hand the regime a propaganda coup. The visit, to begin on Sunday, would be the first by a select committee since 15 British Service personnel were held in March. That incident and evidence that the regime is supporting insurgencies in Afghanistan and Iraq and planning to build a nuclear bomb has strained relations with Britain.

About eight MPs, from all three main parties, are still planning to spend four days in Iran next week.

Eric Illsley, a Labour MP who is one of those to have pulled out, said: “I really don’t fancy having pictures of me next to an Iranian nuclear facility beamed around the world.”

- Intelligence agencies have begun to vet all foreign postgraduates applying to study sensitive scientific subjects in Britain. The aim is to prevent Iranian students getting expertise in fields related to producing weapons of mass destruction. Sixty Iranians have been refused university places this year.

© 2007 The Times Company

Article printed from www.CommonDreams.org
URL to article: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/11/08/5099/

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

Hudna?

John — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 03:24:21 GMT

While attempting to research the meaning and origins of the term hudna, I found that the Internet is deluged with non-Islamic *experts* on Islam who clearly have an anti-Islamic agenda and slant. Of course their explanation of hudna is quite brief and seems to be intended to invalidate the acceptance of a hudna.

I would appreciate if *muslims* and *arabs*, from whose religion and culture the practice of hudna originated, to explain what it means.

NOTE: This means I am NOT interested in non-muslims and non-arabs replying! Thank you.

Ira Chernus
PROFESSOR OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER

ANOTHER HAMAS PEACE PLAN IGNORED

If you want to understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a nutshell, just look at the New York Times editorial pages of November 1, 2006. Amazingly enough, the Times ran a full op-ed column by a top official of the Hamas party, Ahmed Yousef, a senior adviser to Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniyeh. Yousef repeated the same offer Hamas has been making for years. In Arabic it’s called a “hudna.”
As Yousef explained, a hudna is “a period of nonwar but only partial resolution of a conflict.” It “extends beyond the Western concept of a cease-fire and obliges the parties to use the period to seek a permanent, nonviolent resolution to their differences.” A hudna “affords the opportunity to humanize one’s opponents and understand their position with the goal of resolving the intertribal or international dispute.”
“This offer of hudna is no ruse, as some assert, to strengthen our military machine,” Yousef pleaded. And he offered several reasons to believe it: “A hudna is recognized in Islamic jurisprudence as a legitimate and binding contract. … It goes back to the Koran itself. … When Hamas gives its word to an international agreement, it does so in the name of God and will therefore keep its word. Hamas has honored its previous cease-fires, as Israelis grudgingly note with the oft-heard words, ‘At least with Hamas they mean what they say.’”
But what do they say and mean? In Israel, opinions differ.
To offset its radical move of giving op-ed space to Hamas, the Times published, on the very same day, a letter from the rising star of Israel’s far right, Minister of Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman. He claimed to know what Hamas says and means: Their declared aim is “to eradicate all Jews from Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem” — in other words, to destroy the Jewish State — “and until they achieve that goal, they will not lay down their arms.”
At the other end of Israel’s political spectrum, there are Israelis who have been urging their government for years to accept the long-standing Hamas offer of hudna. They are outraged to see a superhawk like Lieberman get the portfolio of Minister of Strategic Affairs. Zehava Galon, a leader of the left wing bloc in Israel’s parliament, called the appointment “a terrorist attack on democracy."
So the Times gave space to both ends of the political spectrum. That seems balanced. But the next day, in its letters column, the Times ran four letters in response. Though one applauded the Hamas offered, three denounced it, following Lieberman’s lead, as bald-faced lying propaganda from a group dedicated to destroying Israel.
For those who think actions speak louder than words, the Times also ran a news story about a major Israeli assault on Gaza that day, killing 8 and wounding over 40. And it reported on a cabinet meeting that would consider Lieberman’s plea much harsher measures against the Palestinians.
For now, the Israeli cabinet has decided to hold off on harsher treatment, sticking to the present course, which has killed some 250 Gazans in the last four months (while losing only three of their own soldiers). But they can count on the present course scuttling any chance for hudna and peace talks.
This whole scenario has been played out before. Back in June Hamas leaders offered a hudna. On the same day, the Israelis began the renewed military action in Gaza which continues to this very day. Israeli leaders surely understood then what they still know now. Their policy has an absolutely predictable outcome. The angry Palestinian public will reject its own leaders’ plans for peace.
Indeed, the Hamas leaders have had to trim back their offer. In June, they offered a hudna that would automatically be renewed for an indefinite time. Now they are limiting it to 10 years. But in Middle Eastern politics, 10 years is close to an eternity.
And Hamas leaders cannot say publicly the most important fact: In Muslim law, a hudna is offered only to a non-Muslim party that controls its own non-Muslim land. In other words (as I have noted in a previous column) by using the word “hudna,” Hamas leaders are implicitly recognizing the permanent existence of Israel. Ahmed Yousef himself wrote that the hudna would involve “an immediate end to the occupation and to initiate a period of peaceful coexistence.” That sounds like a veiled promise of a two-state solution.
As Yousef told the British newspaper, The Guardian, Hamas leaders can’t say that publicly because “there is no support in Gaza and the West Bank for recognition of Israel, and he could not propose such a change at present. ‘If I did, I would end up like Michael Collins,’ he said, referring to the Irish republican leader assassinated in 1922 for accepting an Irish two-state solution. ‘We need to change people's minds on how they look at the conflict, and it will take time. The climate will change if we have a period of peace.’"
But right-wing Israelis, who get most of the space in the Times’ letters to the editor, simply won’t believe that. They won’t recognize the risk that Hamas leaders are taking by getting ahead of their own public on the path to peace. They would rather hold on to their unshakable faith that Jews are surrounded by anti-semitic enemies bent only on destroying them.
Sadly, opinion polls show that fear-based right-wing view growing among Israeli Jews. They would rather hold on to their self-image as helpless victims than take any meaningful step toward peace.
And the Israeli public relations machinery is working as effectively as ever to shape U.S. public opinion, too. The latest Hamas offer of hudna, like the ones before it, have been totally ignored in the U.S. media. If Israel had offered a radical new peace plan for the Middle East, it would have been headline news everywhere. But Ahmed Yousef’s proposal got absolutely zero coverage. So very few Americans are even aware that the Palestinians have once again tried to push open the door to peace, only to have the Israelis slam it shut again.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

How do Israelis feel about this?

John — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 01:27:17 GMT

Two articles. One from Ynet and the other from Al-Jazeera. I believed after Hamas gained control of Gaza the Israeli leadership would eventually decide to re-invade Gaza. The declaration of it as an "enemy entity" reinforced that view. I fear that this will not only include large-scale casualties (especially of civilians) and (intentionally) create more refugees, but will be one of the last acts which precludes a negotiated peace.

Barak: Gaza operation near

Defense minister says in radio interview that clock is ticking on extensive operation in Strip, but adds 'such an operation is not easy in terms of forces, time frame or challenges to be met'
Ynet

"We will use all our diplomatic means to weaken the Hamas leadership and its effectiveness, but the truth must be told, we are nearing an extensive operation in Gaza," Defense Minister Ehud Barak told army radio Wednesday morning.

The minister explained there were many reasons why the operation was not carried out in the past few weeks, and added that an operation in Gaza "is not easy in terms of forces, the amount of time that the IDF would have to stay there, or in terms of the operational challenges the fighters will be met with.
Defense
Barak: Israel wants peace but knows how to fight wars / Yonit Atlas
Defense minister says during commemoration ceremony for fallen paratroopers, ' We want peace even when voices of war arise in Syria and swords are being readied in Iran'
Full Story

"We know that in Sderot life is still far from normal like in central Israel. Very extensive intelligence and operational activity is taking place in Sedort and the Gaza vicinity. The Shin Bet and IDF fighters, along with the Israel Air Force, are trying to minimize as much as possible the Qassam attacks. Unfortunately, we are still unable to do that."

The minister praised IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi's activity, saying, "I think that what Ashkenazi has done in the IDF over the past six months is really divine work. They are going back to the basics: Training under live fire, long-term planning and back up. All the credit for this sense of security should go to Chief of Staff Ashkenazi, to the IDF commanders and the soldiers."

Barak said that while other countries had more reasons to feel safe than Israel, the state's sense of security is being restored, thanks to "an army that stands on its feet and gets the job done right, and is backed by reserves who can at any minute show up and give from themselves".

Israel threatens Gaza invasion

Barak with soldiers in the the
Northern Command base [AFP]

Israel has escalated threats to invade the Gaza Strip over Palestinian rocket fire after planned economic sanctions drew objections from legal experts and foreign powers.

Since occupation forces withdrew from Gaza in 2005, Israel has mounted regular raids and air strikes on the territory, but has failed to stop rocket fire over the border.
And Hamas's de facto rule of the strip since June, following infighting with rival Fatah, has only stoked calls in the Jewish state for a big military sweep.

Late on Tuesday, Israeli aircraft bombed a police station in southern Gaza, killing at least four Hamas policemen, hospital officials said.
In video
John Dugard on Israel's fuel-cut plan

The Israeli military confirmed its forces carried out the shelling in Abasan village, near the city of Khan Younis. An earlier air attack on the Jabalya refugee camp wounded six civilians, according to hospital sources.

Speaking to reporters earlier, Ehud Barak, Israel's defence minister, said: "Every passing day brings us closer to a broad operation in Gaza.

We are not looking forward to it [and] we would be happy if circumstances prevented it."

'Collective punishment'

Israel, which controls official Gazan border crossings, began reducing the amount of fuel pumped to Gaza this week. It also wants to reduce power supplies, but has put that on hold.

The sanctions, which were put together by Barak, prompted UN and EU delegates to urge Israel not to impose "collective punishment", illegal under international law, on Gaza's 1.5 million residents.

"The question is will Fatah be strong enough to contain such a powerful 'partner' or will it be just exploited and eroded over time?

Israel's attorney-general also opposes cutting electricity supplies to Gaza on humanitarian grounds.

Britain said on Tuesday it was "deeply concerned" by reports that Israel had reduced Gaza's fuel supply and was considering electricity cuts, and had spoken to the Israeli government about the matter.

Makeshift Palestinian rockets have killed two Israelis this year.

Hamas has not claimed recent attacks, but Israel's military says Hamas is carrying out an arms build-up that will make it a serious fighting force.

Weighed against an invasion of Gaza is a US-organised peace conference in November between Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, who affectively only rules the occupied West Bank.

While Olmert may want calm, he is also under pressure from right-wing coalition partners to hit Hamas hard.

Haim Ramon, Israel's vice prime minister, when asked about a possible Gaza invasion, said: "The present situation will not last."

"I prefer that we use sanctions. I believe that the implementation of sanctions will be effective. But we have our doubts about it."

In the interview with Reuters news agency, he added: "If they stop sending rockets over, our need for the weapons of sanctions, or other weapons, will not be an issue."

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 13 replies

imagine

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 08:06:29 GMT

http://www.liel.net/Liel-ClintonVideo2.wmv

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 1 reply

Jewish-Arab circus

Gita — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 12:01:07 GMT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/07/middle_east_jewish_arab_circus/html/1.stm

Love it! :)

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 4 replies

Toward Action.

CCM — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 16:40:41 GMT

To get away from endless rehashing of historical and/or sociological based guesses on our tribe member’s mindsets, maybe the more action minded tribe members here could get together and brainstorm a bit toward more active means. Anything is better than this passive hobby of complaints day in and day out.

So given that there are many components to the conflict at hand and with our diverse backgrounds maybe we can come up with a way of being more proactive together.

The way I see it there are some areas we can get at to be more proactive:

*(conflict agent) Israel

*(conflict agent) The Palestinians

+(outside influences) Western states

+(outside influences) Arab as well as other Muslim states

+(outside influences) multinational corporations

+(outside passive influences--due to inaction) The UN

+(outside passive influences--due to inaction) other states

+(outside passive influences--due to inaction) multinational corporations & organizations

So, if the goal is toward less human suffering, more peace & dignity of the active agents involved in the conflict (for Israelis and the Palestinians), then how to we proceed toward a way of encouraging more humane action on the part of all involved?

Letters?

Other groups we could join?

Boycotts?

Organize protests?

Organize groups from all angles of the conflict to work together in peace?

Articles to newspapers and internet websites?

Ideas?

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 52 replies

Africa, Middle east and the US.

Gita — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:25:42 GMT

http://www.hd.net/drr235.html

An important video to see.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 0 replies

The Hard Truth About Israel’s Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 22:08:50 GMT

The Hard Truth About Israel’s Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert

By Steve K. Walz
The Jewish Press, October 19, 2007

According to Israeli newspaper and TV reports, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is the only leader in the state’s 59-year history who has been suspected of being involved in so many alleged wrongdoings that the police and attorney general have been forced to open three criminal files against him. It makes no difference whether Olmert will be exonerated in even one of the investigations. The fact remains that Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, who has shown a great lack of fortitude in prosecuting a growing list of corrupt officials, is being forced to lower the boom on Olmert due to a growing mountain of evidence against him and his closest political crony, former finance minister Avraham Hirchson.

It has been reported repeatedly that former prime minister Ariel Sharon concocted the Gaza withdrawal “peace offering” (together with Olmert) in order to deflect several criminal investigations against Sharon and his sons. Omri Sharon was forced to resign from the Knesset after his indictment on criminal charges, but has yet to serve one day in jail — claiming that his father’s irreparable coma has had a deleterious affect on his family. That hasn’t prevented him from attending many social functions, where he’s been greeted with admiring hugs from business and political associates.

When Olmert rose to power after Sharon’s second stroke, he personally took credit for creating the Gaza withdrawal concept and convincing Sharon to execute it. This is Olmert’s vision of peace, along with his disastrous adventure in Lebanon. Understand that there are two sets of laws in Israel, one for the public and one for the powerful political elite. The only politicians who have served significant jail time are former Shas leader Aryeh Deri, who, according to many media and legal pundits, was railroaded, and ex-Likud Member of Knesset (MK) Naomi Blumenthal, who was caught red-handed trying to buy off Likud Party committee members.

The Israeli police and attorney general have so far failed to nail Olmert because of his strong ties to Israel’s business and political elite. Additionally, Olmert controls the Justice Ministry through his own appointments. The Labor Party, which has threatened to bolt the government due to Olmert’s legal troubles, doesn’t have the guts to do so because they have nowhere to go. Labor leader Ehud Barak and other senior party members have also been mentioned as possible future criminal investigation targets.

Last week, not one newspaper or TV poll supported Olmert’s latest “peace efforts” with the Palestinians vis-à-vis the Annapolis Summit. The Yesha Council has initiated a new bus poster and sticker campaign against the summit, calling it the “Olmert-Abu Mazen Bluff’ conference. The country wants Olmert to resign and stop the current negotiations with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Olmert has also provoked Lithuanian haredi sage Ray Elyashiv, by actually having the unmitigated gall to discuss dividing Jerusalem and relinquishing control of the Temple Mount. In a rare display of bipartisanship, Sephardic and Ashkenazic sages from the religious Zionist and haredi movements are now mobilizing a street effort to loudly protest Olmert’s potentially fatal peace efforts. Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu would be wise to bring the government down now, before Olmert makes any commitments to Abbas and/or Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

For his part, Olmert and his circle of powerful associates have positively laughed in the faces of the police, attorney general and public, claiming that the criminal investigations are not only a nuisance, but are also getting in the way of “governing the nation at this critical juncture. Just as Sharon tried to deflect attention away from his troubles by entering into the Gaza withdrawal nightmare, Olmert is determined to try and win the Nobel “Peace” Prize with the Palestinians — before the scales of justice finally catch up with him.

Of course, we all know how much peace the Oslo Accords brought to Israel. Two of the three signers (Yitzhak Rabin and Yasir Arafat) who won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize for their “achievements” are no longer with us to see the love that has broken out between Israel and the Palestinians. And the third architect of Oslo - Israel’s current president, Shimon Peres, cut a deal with his close confidante Olmert to support his current efforts with Abbas in return for buying him his current job. This allows for Peres to continue promoting his utopian vision of a “new” Middle East. Is it any wonder why Syria’s Assad and Iran’s Ahmadinejad are laughing their heads off?

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 5 replies

This is why I came to this tribe

John — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 01:16:08 GMT

I came to this tribe, called Jews and Muslims, because I wanted to hear Muslim voices about Islam and about their personal experiences. What I have found reminds me of an incident that occurred at the San Francisco Arab American Film Festival in 2004. The film ending the festival was a documentary about the last year of Eduard Said's life. He spoke very frankly about many things. At the end of the film, the festival organizer asked for a moment of silence for Eduard Said. A women angrily jumped up and asked what about all the other victims of violence in the Mideast, which at the time clearly meant Israelis. The organizer kindly amended her request.

As I was driving home that night that incident troubled me. I found the outburst very disrespectful and the mindset which it revealed is part of what I see on this tribe. Consider if one went to a Gay and Lesbian themed film festival, and in a similar outburst demanded that the moment of silence honor heterosexuals too. It would be ludicrous.

I was told by another about the interesting conversations occurring between Jews and Muslims on this tribe. This enticed me to join. I didn't join to argue about Israel/Palestine. And I didn't join to have arguments with other Jews about this. I found when I arrived that entire threads were being hijacked by certain people demanding that Muslims apologize for the defects and historical errors of their religion. This seemed not only to stifle discussion, but also seemed ludicrous to me. How can one treat anyone respectfully and ask them to atone for the perceived sins of their religion. It is like asking every present-day German you meet, whatever their inclination, to apologize for the Holocaust. I saw discussions morph as Muslim posters were put in the position of justifying their religious beliefs and even their religion against those who could never be convinced of anything other than which they already believed.

There are approximately 5-8 million Muslims in the USA. There are even more in Europe.

Now, why I ask, does a tribe titled Jews and Muslims Together not reflect that in its discussions? There are numerous topics of interest to discuss beyond Israel/Palestine and the nature of the expansion of the Islamic empires, or how Jews were treated in these Islamic empires. Why does discussion seem to almost always gravitate to Israel/Palestine and these two other issues? And why do most of the posters appear to be Jewish?

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 53 replies

the ex vicar of downing street

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 21:14:43 GMT

The recently-ascended artist formerly known as the Vicar of Downing Street has declared himself shocked by conditions in his new parish. He didn't know about them before. There are no atheists in foxholes, there are no Socialists in New Labour, and there are no Bee Gees in Palestine. Tony can hardly be expected to know things about places where there are no Bee Gees.

Still, Tony has learned a thing or two. "I have learnt the depth of Israel's concern for security, and I have learnt the depth of the Palestinians' distress caused by the occupation," Tony says. That makes two things which Tony has learned. Apparently he didn't know those things before, either. Nevertheless, despite the intimidating steepness of the learning curve, he still "accepts Israel's view that Palestinians should not have a state until it can reasonably guarantee its neighbour's security", much as the independent, sovereign Iraqi government should not have a state unless it can reasonably guarantee the security of Iran, I suppose.

Tony is privately dismissive of "the argument by some Israelis that security comes first, with economics and a political deal well behind it", informing diplomats that "all three have to happen together" and that a "stepping stone" towards full negotiations for a final resolution of the Palestinian problem is "do-able". He "accepts in private that settlement expansion will soon make a Palestinian state unrealisable", while at the same time supposedly believing that Olmert bar Sharon "sees a two-state solution as necessary in Israel's interests". Hamas, as the legitimately elected government of the Palestinian people, will be "totally excluded". Tony does not appear to have professed shock at this fact; but then, perhaps he doesn't know about it yet.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 3 replies

Untitled

John — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 23:48:16 GMT

The Mother of all Pretexts

By: Uri Avnery

13/10/07

WHEN I hear mention of the "Clash of Civilizations" I don't know whether to laugh or to cry.

To laugh, because it is such a silly notion.

To cry, because it is liable to cause untold disasters.

To cry even more, because our leaders are exploiting this slogan as a pretext for sabotaging any possibility of an Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation. It is just one more in a long line of pretexts.

WHY WAS the Zionist movement in need of excuses to justify the way it treated the Palestinian people?

At its birth, it was an idealistic movement. It laid great weight on its moral basis. Not just in order to convince the world, but above all in order to set its own conscience at rest.

From early childhood we learned about the pioneers, many of them sons and daughters of well-to-do and well-educated families, who left behind a comfortable life in Europe in order to start a new life in a far-away and - by the standards of the time - primitive country. Here, in a savage climate they were not used to, often hungry and sick, they performed bone-breaking physical labor under a brutal sun.

For that, they needed an absolute belief in the rightness of their cause. Not only did they believe in the need to save the Jews of Europe from persecution and pogroms, but also in the creation of a society so just as never seen before, an egalitarian society that would be a model for the entire world. Leo Tolstoy was no less important for them than Theodor Herzl. The kibbutz and the moshav were symbols of the whole enterprise.

But this idealistic movement aimed at settling in a country inhabited by another people. How to bridge this contradiction between its sublime ideals and the fact that their realization necessitated the expulsion of the people of the land?

The easiest way was to repress the problem altogether, ignoring its very existence: the land, we told ourselves, was empty, there was no people living here at all. That was the justification that served as a bridge over the moral abyss.

Only one of the Founding Fathers of the Zionist movement was courageous enough to call a spade a spade. Ze'ev Jabotinsky wrote as early as 80 years ago that it was impossible to deceive the Palestinian people (whose existence he recognized) and to buy their consent to the Zionist aspirations. We are white settlers colonizing the land of the native people, he said, and there is no chance whatsoever that the natives will resign themselves to this voluntarily. They will resist violently, like all the native peoples in the European colonies. Therefore we need an "Iron Wall" to protect the Zionist enterprise.

When Jabotinsky was told that his approach was immoral, he replied that the Jews were trying to save themselves from the disaster threatening them in Europe, and, therefore, their morality trumped the morality of the Arabs in Palestine.

Most Zionists were not prepared to accept this force-oriented approach. They searched fervently for a moral justification they could live with.

Thus started the long quest for justifications - with each pretext supplanting the previous one, according to the changing spiritual fashions in the world.

THE FIRST justification was precisely the one mocked by Jabotinsky: we were actually coming to benefit the Arabs. We shall redeem them from their primitive living conditions, from ignorance and disease. We shall teach them modern methods of agriculture and bring them advanced medicine. Everything - except employment, because we needed every job for the Jews we were bringing here, which we were transforming from ghetto-Jews into a people of workers and tillers of the soil.

When the ungrateful Arabs went on to resist our grand project, in spite of all the benefits we were supposedly bringing them, we found a Marxist justification: It's not the Arabs who oppose us, but only the "effendis". The rich Arabs, the great landowners, are afraid that the glowing example of the egalitarian Hebrew community would attract the exploited Arab proletariat and cause them to rise against their oppressors.

That, too, did not work for long, perhaps because the Arabs saw how the Zionists bought the land from those very same "effendis" and drove out the tenants who had been cultivating it for generations.

The rise of the Nazis in Europe brought masses of Jews to the country. The Arab public saw how the land was being withdrawn from under their feet, and started a rebellion against the British and the Jews in 1936. Why, the Arabs asked, should they pay for the persecution of the Jews by the Europeans? But the Arab Revolt gave us a new justification: the Arabs support the Nazis. And indeed, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husseini, was photographed sitting next to Hitler. Some people "discovered" that the Mufti was the real instigator of the Holocaust. (Years later it was revealed that Hitler had detested the Mufti, who had no influence whatsoever over the Nazis.)

World War II came to an end, to be followed by the 1948 war. Half of the vanquished Palestinian people became refugees. That did not trouble the Zionist conscience, because everybody knew: They ran away of their own free will. Their leaders had called upon them to leave their homes, to return later with the victorious Arab armies. True, no evidence was ever found to support this absurd claim, but it has sufficed to soothe our conscience to this day.

It may be asked: why were the refugees not allowed to come back to their homes once the war was over? Well, it was they who in 1947 rejected the UN partition plan and started the war. If because of this they lost 78% of their country, they have only themselves to blame.

Then came the Cold War. We were, of course, on the side of the "Free World", while the great Arab leader, Gamal Abd-al-Nasser, got his weapons from the Soviet bloc. (True, in the 1948 war the Soviet arms flowed to us, but that's not important.) It was quite clear: No use talking with the Arabs, because they support Communist tyranny.

But the Soviet bloc collapsed. "The terrorist organization called PLO", as Menachem Begin used to call it, recognized Israel and signed the Oslo agreement. A new justification had to be found for our unwillingness to give back the occupied territories to the Palestinian people.

The salvation came from America: a professor named Samuel Huntington wrote a book about the "Clash of Civilizations". And so we found the mother of all pretexts.

THE ARCH-ENEMY, according to this theory, is Islam. Western Civilization, Judeo-Christian, liberal, democratic, tolerant, is under attacked from the Islamic monster, fanatical, terrorist, murderous.

Islam is murderous by nature. Actually, "Muslim" and "terrorist" are synonymous. Every Muslim is a terrorist, every terrorist a Muslim.

A sceptic might ask: How did it happen that the wonderful Western culture gave birth to the Inquisition, the pogroms, the burning of witches, the annihilation of the Native Americans, the Holocaust, the ethnic cleansings and other atrocities without number - but that was in the past. Now Western culture is the embodiment of freedom and progress.

Professor Huntington was not thinking about us in particular. His task was to satisfy a peculiar American craving: the American empire always needs a virtual, world-embracing enemy, a single enemy which includes all the opponents of the United States around the world. The Communists delivered the goods - the whole world was divided between Good Guys (the Americans and their supporters) and Bad Guys (the Commies). Everybody who opposed American interests was automatically a Communist - Nelson Mandela in South Africa, Salvador Allende in Chile, Fidel Castro in Cuba, while the masters of Apartheid, the death squads of Augusto Pinochet and the secret police of the Shah of Iran belonged, like us, to the Free World.

When the Communist empire collapsed, America was suddenly left without a world-wide enemy. This vacuum has now been filled by the Muslims-Terrorists. Not only Osama bin Laden, but also the Chechnyan freedom fighters, the angry North-African youth of the Paris banlieus, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the insurgents in the Philippines.

Thus the American world view rearranged itself: a good world (Western Civilization) and a bad world (Islamic civilization). Diplomats still take care to make a distinction between "radical Islamists" and "moderate Muslims", but that is only for appearances' sake. Between ourselves, we know of course that they are all Osama bin Ladens. They are all the same.

This way, a huge part of the world, composed of manifold and very different countries, and a great religion, with many different and even opposing tendencies (like Christianity, like Judaism), which has given the world unmatched scientific and cultural treasures, is thrown into one and the same pot.

THIS WORLD VIEW is tailored for us. Indeed, the world of the clashing civilizations is, for us, the best of all possible worlds.

The struggle between Israel and the Palestinians is no longer a conflict between the Zionist movement, which came to settle in this country, and the Palestinian people, which inhabited it. No, it has been from the very beginning a part of a world-wide struggle which does not stem from our aspirations and actions. The assault of terrorist Islam on the Western world did not start because of us. Our conscience can be entirely clean - we are among the good guys of this world.

This is now the line of argument of official Israel: the Palestinians elected Hamas, a murderous Islamic movement. (If it didn't exist, it would have to be invented - and indeed, some people assert it was created from the start by our secret service.) Hamas is terroristic, and so is Hizbullah. Perhaps Mahmoud Abbas is not a terrorist himself, but he is weak and Hamas is about to take sole control over all Palestinian territories. So we cannot talk with them. We have no partner. Actually, we cannot possibly have a partner, because we belong to Western Civilization, which Islam wants to eradicate.

IN HIS book "Der Judenstaat", Theodor Herzl, the official Israeli "Prophet of the State", prophesied this development, too.

This is what he wrote in 1896: "For Europe we shall constitute (in Palestine) a part of the wall against Asia, we shall serve as a vanguard of culture against barbarism."

Herzl was thinking of a metaphoric wall, but in the meantime we have put up a very real one. For many, this is not just a Separation Wall between Israel and Palestine. It is a part of the world-wide wall between the West and Islam, the front-line of the Clash of Civilizations. Beyond the wall there are not men, women and children, not a conquered and oppressed Palestinian population, not choked towns and villages like Abu-Dis, a-Ram, Bil'in and Qalqilia. No, beyond the wall there are a billion terrorists, multitudes of blood-thirsty Muslims, who have only one desire in life: to throw us into the sea, simply because we are Jews, part of Judeo-Christian Civilization.

With an official position like that - who is there to talk to? What is there to talk about? What is the point of meeting in Annapolis or anywhere else?

And what is left to us to do - to cry or to laugh?

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 1 reply

Dear Friends

Gita — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 22:18:49 GMT

I'll be off with no internet connection for a week, it's the end of summer here and there're still some rays of sunshine to be taken in, so i'm off to Sinai-Egypt YeY! :)

Sending my blessings to you all and wishing you to have a good time here and everywhere.

See you soon,

PeaceSalaamShalom......

Gita.

posted in Jews and Muslims Together - 4 replies