For more click here.

 30/10/07

Late eighties the same rhetoric. Netanyaho is still a main player in Israeli politics and could possibly be the next prime minister.  Well, who cares about Netanyahu if their chief rabbi talks the same.
 
 

“It is forbidden to sell apartments in the land of Israel to Gentiles.”
--Mordecai Eliayahu, the Israeli chief Rabbi, commenting on an attempt by a Palestinian to buy an apartment owned by the Jewish national fund in East Jerusalem.
Haaretz 17 January 1986.

 
 

“Israel should have exploited the repression of the demonstrations in China when world attention focused on that country, to carry out mass explosions among the Arab Territories.”
--Benjamin Netanyahu, then Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister later became Prime Minister tells students at Barilan University, from the Israeli journal Hotam, 24 Nov 1989.

 

 

The Palestinians "would be crushed like grasshoppers ... heads smashed against the boulders and walls."
--Israeli Prime Minister (at the time) in a speech to Jewish settlers.
New York Times, 1 April 1988.

 30/10/07

The illusion of peace: Let us forget the past, the wars, occupations and all that. It is the end of 20th century and the start of the 21st.  We have had the Oslo agreement, peace with Jordan. Barak the champion of peace withdrew from Lebanon in May 2000.  Sharon is a man of peace (according to Bush).  It was a great mistake; Israel and the USA have decided to give Palestinians and Arabs their rights.  We are dreaming of eternal peace and justice.
This is an illusion. Sharon calls for land grabing, which means displacing people.
Barak calls us crocodiles and the president thinks we are not fit to live next to them.
By the way Barak, who is currently the defence minister, has drawn a plan to attack Lebanon soon, to avenge July 2006. He has also decided to reduce the amount of fuel entering Gaza.  Peace is an illusion! Here are their words:
  
"Everybody has to move, run and grab as many hilltops as they can to
enlarge the settlements because everything we take now will stay ours...
Everything we don't grab will go to them."
--Ariel Sharon, Israeli Foreign Minister, addressing a meeting of militants
from the extreme right-wing Tsomet Party, Agence France Presse, November
15, 1998.

"The Palestinians are like crocodiles, the more you give them meat, they
want more"....
--Ehud Barak, Prime Minister of Israel at the time - August 28, 2000.
Reported in the Jerusalem Post August 30, 2000

"There is a huge gap between us (Jews) and our enemies –not just in
ability but in morality, culture, sanctity of life, and conscience. They
are our neighbours here, but it seems as if at a distance of a few hundred
meters away, there are people who do not belong to our continent, to our
world, but actually belong to a different galaxy."
--Israeli president Moshe Katsav. The Jerusalem Post, May 10, 2001

For more click here.

 10/11/07

“Meet the Lebanese Press: Consensus or chaos?”  by Hicham Safieddine, Electronic Lebanon, 6 November 2007: “As the constitutional deadline of 24 November to elect a president looms large over Lebanon, the presidential race and the marathon rounds of meetings of political actors remained the overarching concern and topic of discussion in the Lebanese press.”  http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9083.shtml

 10/11/07

Peace in the Middle East and Beyond—a challenging debate:

 

Does Iran Pose a Serious Threat to the World?  The Cambridge Union Society concludes that it does not.  On November 1, 2007, the Cambridge Union Society debated the proposition “This House Believes that Iran Poses a Serious Threat to the World”. After two hours of debate with the participation of over four hundred students, the proposition defended by a leading UK neo-conservative and opposed by CASMII was defeated by a majority vote.

 

Established in 1805 by the merging of a three debating societies, the Cambridge Union is well-known for thought provoking debates on controversial issues. In the course of over two hundred years of its history, it has become a national institution which has inspired the formation of other debating societies.

 

The Union's latest debate on “This House Believes that Iran Poses a Serious Threat to the World” took place with Matthew Jarvis, Senior Union Officer, Gideon Mailer of the Henry Jackson Society and Douglas Murray, author of "Neoconservatism: Why We Need It", on the proposition panel, and Ghayasuddin Siddiqui leader of the Muslim Parliament, Adam Bott Cambridge debating director and Abbas Edalat, Professor of Computer Science and Mathematics at Imperial College London and CASMII's founder was on the opposition panel.

 

The motion was then defeated by a vote of 125 Ayes and 137 of Noes. Given the generally conservative nature of the Cambridge Union Society, this result amounts to a major victory for the antiwar movement and CASMII. Over twenty Iranian students of Cambridge University were present in the debate, who all supported CASMII and celebrated the result, pledging to continue the campaign to stand united against the demonization of Iran.

 

An audio file of this debate will be posted on CASMII's website soon.  For more information or to contact CASMII please visit http://www.campaigniran.org.

 10/11/07

Friends

I am sure most of you know this story, but it is worth remembering it on the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration.

 

Western medicine

http://21stcenturysocialism.com/article/western_medicine_01506.html

 

"… The inclusiveness of our new model of citizenship is of a particular kind. If the assertion that tolerance, fairness etc are specifically British 'values' has any meaning, it is only through the implication that other significant nations have been somewhat lacking in these characteristics. Which nations would these be? Our prejudices and our media can no doubt supply the answers.”

 12/11/07

I don’t know about you but I’m getting a little perturbed about the continual use of the Iranian President’s alleged ‘Israel should be wiped off the map’ (non) quote. For example, Israeli Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Tipzi Livni met Tuesday (30 October) with the major figures of the Chinese leadership and said: "The international community cannot afford a nuclear Iran. It is not only the express threat to Israel . When Iran 's leader talks about wiping a country off the map,”

And now my Yahoo News alerts present me with things like this first thing in the morning, I mean, the author couldn’t wait to get it in, in the first sentence no less:
“Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may want to see Israel wiped off the map and its Jews sent to Europe or Alaska. . . ” http://tinyurl.com/2uakcf

Meanwhile, back in sane quarters, thanks to the below articles and listeners of George Galloway’s radio show, it is becoming more readily accepted that it is a mistranslation. Are the people who perpetrate this trash so intent on bringing about (as the article below suggests) another Nakba?

Recommended: "Wiped Off The Map" - The Rumour of the Century by Arash Norouzi: Across the world, a dangerous rumour has spread that could have catastrophic implications. According to legend, Iran's President has threatened to destroy Israel, or, to quote the misquote, "Israel must be wiped off the map". Contrary to popular belief, this statement was never made, as the following article will prove.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=4527
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16218.htm

 12/11/07

Bilkent University, Ankara Turkey, Presents Shimon Peres with an Honorary Doctorate

12 November 2007: Israeli President Simon Peres, who arrived in capital Ankara to hold a series of talks, attended a conference at Bilkent University, where he was also decorated with an honorary doctorate. As the media hails Peres as a peacemaker in this ‘historic visit,’ Peres casually comments during the Turkish conference that there are “currently two schools in the Middle East, one of which was Iran as a source of terrorism and the other Turkey, with its pacifist stance.” Sounds more like choosing up sides for WWIII.

 (http://www.worldbulletin.net/news_detail.php?id=13385, http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=126840)

 

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) reminds us that there should be no rush to honour the dishonourable:

http://www.pacbi.org/letters_more.php?id=629_0_3_0_C

(Open Letter to Professor Ali Dogramaci, Rector of Bilkent University, Ankara, November 9, 2007)

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) views with grave concern your university's intention to honor Shimon Peres with an Honorary Doctorate. We feel certain that you do so without the knowledge of his personal history and his history as President of a state that practices the most pernicious form of colonialism and apartheid. Bear with us as we recount the most salient points of his career and life which directly point to a record of war crimes which will immeasurably tarnish the image of Bilkent University , should you confer an Honorary Degree upon him. Those who have received this prestigious degree from your university will be tainted by being in the company of such a notorious personality.

 

On April 18, 1996, when Israel still occupied southern Lebanon, Shimon Peres was Prime Minister. He was in the midst of an election campaign, so he took a decision to do something to change his "dovish" image because doves are not respected in Israel. He launched "Operation Grapes of Wrath" causing 400,000 Lebanese to flee their homes, with almost 800 of them fleeing to a UN base in Qana, South Lebanon.

On April 18 the Israeli army shelled the UN shelter in Qana, killing 102 civilians, mainly women, children and the elderly. Many more were injured. Human Rights Watch, the UN and Amnesty International subsequently disproved the myth that the Israeli army did not deliberately intend to shell the UN base. Shimon Peres said at the time, "In my opinion, everything was done according to clear logic and in a responsible way. I am at peace."

The Qana massacre led to Shimon Peres being denied the job he coveted at the time: that of UN Secretary-General. He should have been denied it anyway for being the architect of Israel's nuclear programme - one which remains outside the scrutiny of the world even as Israel bays for the cessation of Iran's pursuit of nuclear energy for civilian purposes.

Peres is on record for being responsible for other war crimes, from building colonies on occupied Arab land to endorsing a policy of extra-judicial killings, which murders Palestinians and other Arabs without the benefit of a trial or, in fact, any proof other than that provided by Israeli Intelligence, the Shin Bet. He also supports the siege on Gaza, the destruction of the airport, and the elaborate system of checkpoints all across the West Bank. He defends the demolition of Palestinian homes, and he justified the atrocities committed by the Israeli army in its recent war on Lebanon in 2006.

Peres is also on record for defending land gained during war, claiming that Israel has the right to the Golan Heights because it was gained during war. All this makes him wholly unsuitable for consideration for any Honorary Degree - let alone actually being awarded one!

We, like all other Palestinians and international supporters of human rights and international law, expect from Bilkent University to uphold the highest standard of respect for the human rights of the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip, which has been under a hermetic siege imposed by Israel for almost two years. Difficult and brave decisions need to be taken in support of Palestinians exactly like South Africa was supported long before it became fashionable to do so. Israeli war criminals should be boycotted, not rewarded.

Turkish people have always shown strong support for the struggle of the victims of both Apartheid and Zionism, and they will continue to do so. We hope that your university will remain within the Turkish consensus and refrain from honoring a dishonorable man.

PACBI
Ramallah, Palestine
www.Pacbi.org

 15/11/07

Israel admits phosphorous bombs used in Lebanon by Helen McCormack

“Speaking on behalf of the Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz, Mr Edery said: ‘The Israeli army holds phosphorous munitions in different forms. The Israeli army made use of phosphorous shells during the war against Hizbollah in attacks against military targets in open ground.’”

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1919396.ece