Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Israeli soldiers rarely indicted for abuses

1 hour ago

JERUSALEM (AFP) — Only six percent of probes into offences allegedly committed by Israeli soldiers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank yield indictments, an Israeli rights group said on Wednesday.

The report came as the armed forces vowed to investigate the death of a 12-year-old boy Palestinian allegedly shot by Israeli troops during a protest on Tuesday against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank.

Of a total of 1,246 investigations by the military police into suspected offences against Palestinians or Palestinian property between 2000 and 2007, only 76 ended in indictments, the Yesh Din human rights group said.

A total of 132 people were charged, of whom 110 were found guilty of various offences, four were acquitted, eight indictments were annulled and the trials of 10 others are still under way, the report said.

"The figures on the low number of investigations and the minute number of indictments filed reveal that the army is shirking its duty to protect the civilian Palestinian population from offences committed by its soldiers," Yesh Din legal advisor Michael Sfadi said in a statement.

According to figures provided to Yesh Din by the army, only a few of the investigations followed complaints from within army ranks.

Out of 152 probes launched in 2006, only 14, or nine percent, were based on complaints filed within the military, the report said. In 2007, seven percent of the investigations emanated from the army.

"The minute number of indictments launched following reports by commanders to military police brings to light the army's conspiracy of silence over offences against Palestinians," Sfadi said.

In response, an army spokesman said it deploys "several methods to examine in a professional manner complaints over offences against Palestinians."

He said that 39 soldiers have been charged since a special military justice section was formed to deal with this kind of investigations.

Following Tuesday's death of a Palestinian boy during a protest in the West Bank village of Nilin, the army vowed to conduct "a serious inquiry" into the incident with "concerned officials on the Palestinian side."

Hammad Hossam Mussa, 12, was hit in the head by a live bullet fired by Israeli soldiers during a demonstration in the village of Nilin, said Salah Al Khawaja, a member of Nilin's Committee Against the Wall.

In a separate incident, the army on Tuesday suspended a commander for 10 days after he failed a lie-detection test over the shooting of a blindfolded and handcuffed Palestinian with a rubber-coated bullet.

A videotape of the July 7 incident shows the Palestinian -- detained during a protest in Nilin -- with an army officer holding his arm while a soldier next to him appears to aim at his leg.

Israeli soldiers shoot Palestinian boy

Caught on video: Israeli soldiers shoot Palestinian boy.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Playstation 2 component incites African war

Console war reaches past the couch and into the Congo, claims report.

Has the video game industry dug up its very own blood diamond?

By Ben Silverman

According to a report by activist site Toward Freedom, for the past decade the search for a rare metal necessary in the manufacturing of Sony's Playstation 2 game console has fueled a brutal conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

At the center of the conflict is the unrefined metallic ore, coltan. After processing, coltan turns into a powder called tantalum, which is used extensively in a wealth of western electronic devices including cell phones, computers and, of course, game consoles.

Allegedly, the demand for coltan prompted Rwandan military groups and western mining companies to plunder hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the rare metal, often by forcing prisoners-of-war and even children to work in the country's coltan mines.

"Kids in Congo were being sent down mines to die so that kids in Europe and America could kill imaginary aliens in their living rooms," said Ex-British Parliament Member Oona King.

So where's the connection to Sony? According to Toward Freedom, during the 2000 launch of the PS2, the electronics giant was having trouble meeting consumer demand. To pump out more units, Sony required a significant increase in the production of electric capacitors, which are primarily made with tantalum. This helped drive the world price of the powder from $49/pound to a whopping $275/pound, resulting in the frenzied scouring of the Congolese hills known for being ripe with coltan.

According to a report by activist site Toward Freedom, for the past decade the search for a rare metal necessary in the manufacturing of Sony's Playstation 2 game console has fueled a brutal conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

At the center of the conflict is the unrefined metallic ore, coltan. After processing, coltan turns into a powder called tantalum, which is used extensively in a wealth of western electronic devices including cell phones, computers and, of course, game consoles.

Allegedly, the demand for coltan prompted Rwandan military groups and western mining companies to plunder hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the rare metal, often by forcing prisoners-of-war and even children to work in the country's coltan mines.

"Kids in Congo were being sent down mines to die so that kids in Europe and America could kill imaginary aliens in their living rooms," said Ex-British Parliament Member Oona King.

Sony has since sworn off using tantalum acquired from the Congo, claiming that current builds of the PS2, PSP and PS3 consoles are sourced from a variety of mines in several different countries.

But according to researcher David Barouski, they're hardly off the hook.

"SONY's PlayStation 2 launch...was a big part of the huge increase in demand for coltan that began in early 1999," he explained. "SONY and other companies like it, have the benefit of plausible deniability, because the coltan ore trades hands so many times from when it is mined to when SONY gets a processed product, that a company often has no idea where the original coltan ore came from, and frankly don't care to know. But statistical analysis shows it to be nearly inconceivable that SONY made all its PlayStations without using Congolese coltan."

Currently, the Playstation 2 is the best-selling video game console of all-time, having sold through over 140 million units.

Israeli soldier shoots Palestinian prisoner

Man had already been detained, blindfolded and cuffed when he was shot in the foot with a rubber-coated bullet at close range

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Bilin news

1- Bilin continues its battle in the courts
2- Bil'in Canada call to action
3- One injured and dozens affected by tear gas at Bilin weekly non-violent protest against the apartheid wall.
1- Bilin continues its battle in the courts

FFJ- July 18, 2008 – Yesterday afternoon the village counsel and popular committee of Bilin met with their lawyers to discuss recent developments in two legal actions: the first, the lawsuit Bilin filed last Tuesday against two Canadian corporations, Green Park and Green Mount; the second, a follow up to a case they won last year, in which the High Court of Israel ruled that the fence in Bilin is illegal, and must be re-routed.

In the claim filed against Green Park and Green Mount International, Bilin's legal representation argues that by building Jewish settlements in Occupied West Bank, ones like the nearby Modi'in Illit and Mattityahu East, Israel is committing war crimes. Further, they argue that anyone assisting in this crime—by planning, building, and marketing residential units in these settlements, for instance—is by virtue of abetting these crimes violating international law (see the Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 49). "This is legal history," said one lawyer, "the first case ever to raise this argument. To some degree, we have already won just by filing it, since it will make other corporations think twice before supporting settlements. And if we succeed, we will set a huge, huge precedent."

The claim was filed in the Superior Court of Quebec, and both Green Park and Green Mount International have given notice that they will appear in court to defend themselves. Since receiving this notice, Bilin's legal team has been preparing for a big trial, anticipating that the defense will object to the trial itself, on the grounds that Canadian courts do not have proper jurisdiction to try this case. But Bilin intends to counter this argument, stressing that war crimes and violations of human rights concern all humanity, and hence all courts, where each and every court has a duty to try cases of this kind. If Bilin can overcome this initial objection, assert their lawyers, they will be on solid ground. The villagers of Bilin are putting out a call to their supporters to raise awareness about this groundbreaking trial. They are also putting out a call to each and every Palestinian, regardless of political party, to come together around this significant act of resistance. It's a national issue, after all.

The second update is less uplifting. In September 2007, after an arduous trial, Israel's High Court of Justice concluded that the section of the separation barrier that slices through Bilin's land, cutting villagers off from over sixty percent of it, is illegal. The court ordered the Ministry of Defense and the IDF to design a new route that satisfies a few essential criteria: (1) that the new route must be planned in a way that minimizes the suffering of the village, (2) that the new route should return as much cultivated land as possible to Bilin's side of the barrier, (3) that the planners must try to return the cultivated land of Wadi Dilib to Bilin, (4) that the new route should be placed, as much as possible, on state instead of private Palestinian land, and (5) that the new route should return a certain set of key enclaves designated by the court.

As of May 2008, Israel had yet to suggest a new route, and absolutely nothing had changed. So Bilin filed a claim against the State of Israel, contending that Israel is in contempt of its own court. One week later Israel replied that it would issue a new plan in three weeks time, and on July 6th the plan for a new route was submitted.

But this plan met none of the criteria. The new route ceded part of Wadi Dilib, but only a fraction, and nothing else. Further, the construction of the projected route will destroy 37 more acres, whereas the people of Bilin will only be allowed to recover 30.25 acres; not to mention that 17.5 of these acres have already been destroyed by the route of the previous fence. Not a hair of the proposed route will be built on state rather than Palestinian private land, not one of the key enclaves will be returned, and perhaps most strikingly: 545 of Bilin's 1,000 acres—some 54.5 percent—will still be lost to the fence. It is clear, of course, that the Ministry of Defense and the Israeli Defense Forces have done their very best to avoid implementing any of the criteria into the new route, not by negligence, but sheer calculation.

Bilin has once again claimed that Israel is in contempt of its own court, and that Israel has "treated the ruling as dust." Bilin has demanded that the court fine or arrest the Minister of Defense and the regional Israeli military commander. On the day this claim was filed, the court responded that it would hold a hearing on July 27th. Bilin is preparing for the hearing.
Related article: "Seeking Justice Abroad" posted July 10, 2008. http://www.bilin-ffj.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=68&Itemid=1

2- Bil'in Canada call to action
Dear Friends,

As you may already know, the village of Bil'in recently announced the launch of an unprecedented legal action against two Canadian companies, Green Park International Inc. and Green Mount International Inc., charging them with war crimes. The case has been filed in the Quebec Superior Court in Montreal, Canada.

Bil'in charges that these companies have violated both international law and Canadian domestic law by acting as agents of Israel, illegally constructing residences and other buildings in the West Bank, a territory internationally recognized as illegally occupied due to an act of war in 1967.
According to the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, an occupying power may not transfer its civilian population into territory that it has occupied as a result of war. Canada has similar prohibitions under its Canadian Geneva Conventions Act and its Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act. Moreover, the Canadian statutes have jurisdiction over all its citizens everywhere, regardless of where in the world the offence has been committed.

Bil'in is seeking an immediate Order from the Canadian Supreme Court that these companies halt their illegal construction and provide punitive damages to the village. Upon obtaining such an Order in Canada, Bil'in intends to petition the Israeli Court to enforce the Canadian Court Order in Israel and the West Bank.

This landmark court case aims to bring international companies active in illegal settlement construction to justice. Bil’in’s case is strong, and the lawsuit will foreground the political issue of settlement colonialism as well as the legal responsibility of perpetrators abroad, regardless of the case’s actual outcome. However, if the outcome of the case is positive, other companies in other countries could be dealt with in a similar manner.

What you can do to show your solidarity:

The village of Bil’in is calling on supporters from all over the world to join them in solidarity actions during the court case. Which will cost of approximately $50,000.
Please consider doing any one or more of the following:

• Circulate and publicize a petition of support for the village of Bil’in.
• Hold a fundraising party for the Bil’in case in your home or organization.
• Donate directly to the cause by clicking on this link: (if there isn’t one yet let’s make one!)
• Add this link to your blog, website, and organization website so visitors can donate to the fund.
• etc.

To obtain background information on Bil'in please visit www.bilin-village.org/english

3- One injured and dozens affected by tear gas at Bilin weekly non-violent protest against the apartheid wall.


Bilin – Friday 18th of July, 2008: As soon as Friday prayer finished, people of Bilin marched in their weekly protest against the apartheid wall and settlements, joined by the international and Israeli activists. The demonstrators carried banners against occupation, arrests, killings, closures and incursions against the Palestinians. They also carried posters of the martyr Dalal al Moghrabi and banners calling for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

The demonstration started at Bilin Mosque through Bilin Street and the demonstrators were chanting against the apartheid wall and for the release of prisoners. The walked towards the gate of the wall and soldiers started firing tear gas and rubber bullets resulting in the injury of Adeeb Abo Rahmah and dozens affected by the tear gas.


Today there were two delegations, one of European journalists and members from the left parties of the Greek parliament who visited the village observed the demonstration and were also affected by the tear gas and heard an account of the struggle of the people of the area from the Bilin Popular Committee.


Yesterday, the lawyer of the village, Michael Sfard, visited Bilin and had a meeting with local residents and explained to them the legal status of their legal action in Canada against Canadian companies who are building settlement of Mitatyaho East (the eastern side of Modi’in Elite) on their land and explained the status of cases pending in the Israeli Supreme Court about the new path of the wall which residents are objecting to.

Thank you for you continued support,

Iyad Burnat- Head of Popular Commitee in Bilin
Head of Friends of Freedom and Justice in Bilin

Email- ffj.bilin@yahoo.com
Mobile- (00972) (0) 547847942
Office- (00972) (2) 2489129
Fax-
(00972) (2) 2489129

www.bilin-ffj.org

Britain's Brown demands end to Israel settlements




By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH
Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 56 minutes ago

BETHLEHEM, West Bank - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown demanded Sunday that Israel cease settlement construction and promised more money to jump-start the battered Palestinian economy.

In his first trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories as Britain's leader, Brown repeatedly stressed that economics are key to Mideast peace, and said Israel should ease travel restrictions in the West Bank that have hindered commerce.

But his strongest comments were reserved for the settlements: "I think the whole European Union is very clear on this matter: We want to see a freeze on settlements."

"Settlement expansion has made peace harder to achieve. It erodes trust, it heightens Palestinian suffering, it makes the compromises Israel needs to make for peace more difficult," Brown said at a news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank town of Bethlehem.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said he would reserve comment on Brown's remarks until the British leader meets with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem later Sunday.

Abbas went further in his criticism of Israel's construction in disputed east Jerusalem and the adjacent West Bank, telling Brown that Israel lacks commitment to the "principles and spirit" of Mideast peace efforts. He singled out stepped-up construction of homes for Jews in areas of Jerusalem the Palestinians claim for their capital.

Israel and the Palestinians resumed peace talks late last year at a U.S.-backed conference in Annapolis, Md. Both sides had originally aspired to reach a final peace deal by the end of the year, but have backed away from that goal somewhat because of arguments over settlements and whether the Palestinians are capable of enforcing security in areas they control.

Under the first phase of the internationally backed "road map" peace plan, which forms the basis of the negotiations, Israel was to freeze all settlement construction and the Palestinians were to crack down on militant groups.

The international community is trying to bolster Abbas' moderate government, and Brown said Britain would donate $60 million on top of $500 million the British government has pledged to the Palestinians over the next three years. He spoke of the need to create jobs by building industrial parks, promoting small businesses and putting up desperately needed housing. He announced plans to host an international investment conference for the Palestinians in the fall, and promised to help the Palestinians train their security forces.

Peace efforts are also complicated by the fact that the Gaza Strip is ruled by militants from Hamas. Ismail Haniyeh, who heads the Hamas government in Gaza, said Sunday that Brown should visit Gaza to see the "humanitarian crisis" caused by Israel's blockade of the territory, "unfortunately with the participation of several countries, including European countries and the British themselves."

Israel imposed a partial blockade on Gaza in response to rocket fire from the territory on southern Israel. A cease-fire currently in effect has decreased the rocket fire and has led Israel to increase the trickle of goods entering Gaza.

Brown's two-day visit to the region has been overshadowed by a claim from a Shiite militia holding five British hostages in Iraq that one of the captives killed himself.

The British leader arrived in the region after visiting Iraq, where he met with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and discussed the plight of the British hostages kidnapped by a Shiite group a year ago. Shortly after his departure, he called the report that one of the men had committed suicide "a very distressing development" and demanded that the Shiite militia "immediately and unconditionally" release the Britons.

The British government has yet to authenticate the group's claim.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

This Weekend: Speak Out against War on Iran

The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, a member group of United for Peace and Justice, urges its member organizations and individual supporters to take part in this weekend of action to speak out against war on Iran.

This coming weekend -- July 19-21 -- people around the country will be participating in the Days of Local Action initiated by the UFPJ Iran Working Group.

Now, before any irreversible steps are taken, is the time for us to speak out against any U.S./Israeli military attack on Iran.

We urge you to take part in this important effort:

1) On Monday, July 21st, join the nationwide call-in day to make sure your member of Congress knows there is strong opposition to military action against Iran in his or her district.

Pressure on Congress is critical right now as it considers H.Con.Res. 362. 102 House Democrats and 117 Republicans have cosponsored a resolution against Iran that demands President Bush "initiate an international effort" to impose a land, sea, and air blockade on Iran to prevent it from importing gasoline and to inspect all cargo entering or leaving Iran. Imposing such a blockade without UN authority could be widely construed as an act of war.

We have already heard about 2 representatives who were convinced by their local anti-war groups to remove their names as co-sponsors of this dangerous resolution!
Click here to read more about the work of one of these groups.

2) Ask your mayor to sign on to a resolution urging the Bush administration to pursue diplomatic engagement with Iran. At least 36 mayors have already signed on -- now is the time to approach your mayor! For more information visit the
Cities for Peace website.

3)
Write letters to the editor of your local papers and to call into local radio talk shows, especially during the July 19- 21 Days of Action. Click here for a sample letter.

4)
Sign the open letter to presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama urging him to stand up for diplomacy.

5) You can organize a visible presence in a busy location in your town: a vigil, an afternoon of leafleting or tabling, a human billboard, etc. Be sure to pick a time and location that has a lot of pedestrian or vehicle traffic!

To find out what might be happening in your area, click here.If you plan an activity, please post it on the UFPJ calendar of actions.Many of this Friday's Iraq Moratorium events will be focusing on Iran as well.

Keep checking the
UFPJ website for new organizing and educational resources.

US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation

Friday, July 18, 2008

Mandela - He Who Has Laid the Foundation of Kindness


Former South African president and first living person to be made an honourary Canadian citizen, Nelson Mandela, smiles during an interview with the media at his house in Qunu, rural southeastern South Africa, Friday, July 18, 2008. (AP / Themba Hadebe)




A child stands in front of a cake made in honour of former South African President Nelson Mandela during his 90th birthday celebration on Robben Island, South Africa, Friday, July 18, 2008. (AP / Schalk van Zuydam)


18 July 2008
Kgalema Motlanthe
Cape Town
South Africa

Allow me to join the millions of our people and the people of the world who proclaim their respect and admiration for our leader and former President of South Africa, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.

His birthday is on 18 July and that is a special day in his life. And we wish him many happier returns as well as bountiful good health. But to us, every day of his life is very precious. Therefore we celebrate today, we will celebrate tomorrow, we will celebrate on 18 July, we will celebrate on 2 August, when the ANC hosts a rally in his honour, and of course, generations to come will celebrate his centenary and for ever thereafter.

Throughout his life, Mandela, has been in harness of the struggle for liberation from colonialism and national oppression. From his predecessors he learned about discipline, dedication, humility and sacrifice. He learned never to demand of others what he himself would not be prepared to do.

As a student he involved himself in the struggles of students and that resulted in his expulsion from Fort Hare University. He played an active part in the formation of the ANC youth league in 1944. He was instrumental in crafting and canvassing support for the adoption of the Programme of Action at the 35th National Conference of the ANC in 1949.

He became the volunteer in chief during the 1952 Defiance of Unjust Laws Campaign. He was among those charged for sedition. He was banned and debarred from participating in meetings and conferences of the ANC. He was one of 157 treason trialists in 1956. I say 157 because the Guardian newspaper was also an accused in that trial.

When time for armed struggle came he led from the front and was among the first of our militants to receive military training in Algeria. He became the commander in chief of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK). He was the first accused in the Rivonia Trial and was sentenced to life imprisonment which he served on Robben Island and Pollsmoor prison.

For all of the 27 years that he spent behind bars, his family was subjected to unrelenting persecution and harassment at the hands of the state security branch.

The movement waged the struggle under four pillars; the first being the international mobilisation and isolation of the apartheid regime and the second being the legal mass work, and the third being the underground organisation, and the fourth being the armed struggle.

It was once the regime banned the ANC that 48 years of peaceful forms of struggle came to an end. As Nelson Mandela put it, the leadership took the view that "there comes a time in the life of every nation when the choice is to surrender or to continue the struggle", and the choice they made was to continue the struggle.

Mandela participated in all those four pillars. That is why he is so special in our hearts, because he was the first to be sent by the movement to prepare the ground for those who would end up in exile. And he taught most of the African states that were on the eve of attaining their independence from colonisation about our struggle. He addressed the first meeting of PAFMECSA, which preceded the formation of the Organisation of African Unity.

His comrade, friend, brother and partner at law, Oliver Tambo, led the campaign for the isolation of the apartheid regime. Not once did Oliver Tambo accept an award in his own right and his own name because he understood the power and the symbolism of those who were behind bars. Everywhere he went all the awards were received in the name of Nelson Mandela.

It is those efforts by Oliver Tambo which made Nelson Mandela an international icon, a world-renowned struggle leader and revolutionary.

Nelson Mandela waded through his years in prison with fortitude and remained an inspiration to those of us who were young; remained an inspiration to our combatants in the camps; and remained an inspiration to our people, even in the remotest of villages.

It was from that same prison confinement that he initiated discussions with the regime. The first meeting was with Kobie Coetzee, who was Minister of Justice, to communicate to him the very important message that when all is said and done, the struggle of our people was surely going to triumph. That was the beginning of the talks about talks. So, Mandela, having played a leading role in the formation of Umkhonto we Sizwe, in the recruitment of combatants, took up arms not because he was a violent person; he took up arms because it was necessary to defeat the monster of apartheid.

Our historical obligation

In his poem, To Posterity, the world-renowned German poet Bertolt Brecht says, "To those who shall emerge from this flood into which we are sinking" remember that those who took up arms did so in order "to lay down the foundation of kindness". But they themselves could not be kind because they had to confront a brutal regime. Therefore, to the younger generations, to posterity, to those of us who have benefited from the efforts of the generation of Nelson Mandela, we have to choose very carefully our historical obligation, because we cannot take up arms when we have a democratic constitution and country.

Mandela led in efforts to attain the strategic objective of uniting our people and he bent backwards at certain times - even at the risk of being criticised by some among our own ranks. He bent backwards to reach out to the former ruling bloc, which oppressed us, which discriminated against us. He gave meaning to the preamble of the Freedom Charter when it says: South Africa belongs to all who live in it - black and white - and that no government can claim authority unless it is based on the will of the people. He gave meaning to that very, very important aspiration of our people articulated at the Congress of the People in 1955.

Every generation has to select for itself its own historical obligations. Our obligation is to build a united democratic, non-sexist, non-racist, and prosperous South Africa. If all of us put our efforts towards the attainment of this objective, our children will inherit a prosperous democratic, non-racial, non-sexist country.

Currently we are facing grinding poverty and unemployment. The continent and other parts of the world face wars and violent crimes, malnutrition and disease, HIV and AIDS, climate change and natural disasters, land hunger and homelessness, ignorance and lack of skills, inequality and discrimination, sexism and ethnic chauvinism, spiraling inflation and debts. These converge and conspire to produce an environment which is very similar to what Bertolt Brecht described in his poem when he said, "To those of you who shall emerge from this flood into which we are sinking", because it leaves many people with a sense that we are sinking into a flood of all of these negative happenings. It is the burden of leadership to wade through all of these challenges and remain positive in a way which inspires our people.

Nelson Mandela has had a very rich life. Even when he said he was retiring from government and the leadership of the movement, all he meant was that he was slowing down, because he did not retire. He continued to mobilise resources to build schools in remote villages where there are no schools; where children still learn under trees.

I cannot forget how, once, he took me with him to Zeerust where the community had only one high school and they were, therefore, compelled to resort to a platoon system of learning: two schools, in essence, with two sets of teachers, two principals who had to share one building.

Nelson Mandela showed his passion and I remember when the little aircraft that we were flying in landed on the landing strip outside of Zeerust. Because he was President of the Republic, the military was there to protect him and they had taken up positions behind the shrubs and the trees. As he emerged from the aircraft, in his own style he walked straight to one that he saw under a tree, shot out his hand and said: "How are you? How are you?" As he was shaking that hand, he saw the other one, went to him and said: "How are you? How are you?"

To the chagrin of the commanders of that platoon, he left them in complete disarray, but out of the power of love and compassion.

Kgalema Motlanthe is the Deputy President of the ANC. This is an edited extract from a speech in the National Assembly on the 90th birthday of Nelson Mandela.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Award Winning Journalist Tourtured By Israel

On June 26, 2008 Palestinian journalist and Washington Report on Middle East Affairs correspondent, Mohammed Omer was stopped by Israeli security agents while traveling from London to his home in Gaza. Omer was in London to receive the 2008 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism as a result of his courage in reporting the news, his commitment to an oppressed people, and his conviction, against violent retaliation.

Initially, Omer's chances of reaching London to accept the award had been unpromising. Israel refused to grant him an exit permit out of Gaza, and ultimately, diplomatic intervention was necessary to obtain the permit. On his way back home, Omer ran into the same problem. Though given permission to return (again, only through extensive and painstaking diplomatic intervention), Omer was stopped in Amman and refused entry into Rafah.

Finally, on June 26, he was told that arrangements had been made to get him across the border. Dutch diplomats would receive him at the Allenby crossing, and from there would escort him home to the Gaza Strip. Despite his diplomatic escort, Omer was detained by Israeli Shin Bet security agents.

The agents at first asked Omer for the stipend that came with his award. When he told them he did not have it with him, they proceeded to strip him down and beat him unconscious. Later, Omer would recall "one of them gouging, scraping and clawing with his nails at the tender flesh beneath my eyes. He scooped my head and dug his fingers in near the auditory nerves between my head and eardrum. The pain became sharper as he dug in two fingers at a time. Another man had his combat boot on my neck, pressing into the hard floor. I lay there for over an hour. The room became a menagerie of pain, sound and terror." Vomiting and going in and out of consciousness, he was dragged to a Palestinian ambulance, where the GSS agents tried to have him sign a contract indemnifying them from their actions.

The Palestinian medic in the ambulance refused, and, after threatening to contact the Dutch embassy escort waiting for Omer, the Israeli agents finally let them through. Omer woke up in a hospital in Jericho, from which he was released and escorted home to Gaza. The ordeal he had gone through, however, was not so easily dissipated. The next day, suffering from cracked ribs and other injuries, he was admitted to a hospital in Gaza, where he remains as of this writing.

Please join other CNI Foundation members concerned about the fate of Mohammed Omer and other journalists in signing a petition which will be delivered to Secretary of State Rice condemning Israel's attacks on journalists, both Palestinian and international. Add your voice to Mohammed Omer's on behalf of voiceless Gazans and all Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation-an occupation made possible by American tax dollars.

To Sign the Petition and find out more information please CLICK HERE

Council for the National Interest Foundation
1250 4th Street SW, Suite WG-1 · Washington, DC 20024
800.296.6958 · 202.863.2951 · Fax: 202.863.2952
http://cnifoundation.org/

Monday, July 14, 2008

Oil, oil, oil is behind America's and Europe's worries over Iran

India warns against any attack on Iran

NEW DELHI (AFP) — India is "gravely concerned" over reports suggesting the use of military force against Iran and is strongly against any such action, the foreign ministry said on Monday.

There has been concern an attack against Iran could be imminent after it emerged Israel had practised a strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.

"India is gravely concerned at these statements threatening the use of military force against Iran," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"India is against any such military attack, which constitutes unacceptable international behaviour. There is no military solution to the issues that are being discussed between Iran and the international community."

India's comments come after Iran intensified international tensions on the nuclear issue by conducting two days of tests, which included the firing of a missile that it says can reach Israel.

The United States and its regional ally Israel have never ruled out a military attack to end Iran's controversial nuclear work, which the West fears could be used to make weapons -- a charge vehemently denied by Tehran.

Energy-hungry India, which enjoys warm relations with Iran, expects to finalise a deal on a 7.5-billion-dollar pipeline that will transport gas from the Middle East to here via Pakistan.

New Delhi says Tehran has the right to peaceful use of nuclear energy but has asked it to cooperate with the United Nations nuclear watchdog.

India has previously rejected pressure from Washington not to do business with Iran, viewed in the US as a state sponsor of terrorism and seen as bent on acquiring nuclear weapons.

Earlier this year, New Delhi told the US not to interfere in its dealings with Iran after a State Department spokesman said Washington would like India to put pressure on Tehran over its nuclear programme.

"India calls upon all concerned Governments to exercise restraint and choose the peaceful path of persuasion and negotiations," the foreign ministry said."

* * *

Israel uses America's and Europe's oil dependency as back-up for their own ambitions to militarily rule the Near East and all its oil supplies in order to protect itself from its Arab neighbors and the Palestinian population it is at war with. Iran cannot be allowed to become a military power in the Near East just as Iraq could not either. Only Israel is allowed nukes and freedom to militarily intervene in other people's nations, even committing crimes against humanity as Israelis allowed their Phalange partners to do to Palestinians under Ariel Sharon' command in the Shatila and Sabra refugee camps in Lebanon.

No one in the West protests this geopolitical war being conducted by Israeli Jews against Arabs and Muslims in the Middle East because Islam is our new Communist Menace and boy, can Big Business make money off these wars with Arab Muslims! Meanwhile, no Muslim nation in the Near East can rise to prominent position amongst Muslim nations, lest it threaten Israel's security. One would think the U.N. would intervene but long ago the U.N., as a puppet of Western Powers after WW II, created the Israel problem in the first place.

Strange that the U.N. so often cited for lack of real political power has been allowed to create the monstrosity of the last European religious colonials escaping European persecution only to inflict the same on the indigenous population of another Third World country. But not so strange when one sees that Western Powers still very much run the U.N. their way at the expense of any other geopolitical group, especially Muslims.



Lawyers--who needs them?

Total_Package27 asks: “What is it like to defend someone who, in the eyes of the public, is guilty?”

Alan Dershowitz, O.J. Simpson lawyer.

That's my job. If the public ever believed somebody to be innocent, I probably wouldn't take the case. A good lawyer should want to take the hardest cases, the most unpopular defendants, and the least likely to succeed. Just as a good surgeon would more likely take a difficult operation, rather than a nose job. Statistically, most of my clients are guilty. Statistically, most people charged with crimes in America, are guilty. And thank God for that. Would we want to live in a country where most people charged are innocent? That might be true in Libya, or China, but not here.”

America has more lawyers per citizen than any other nation in the world. America has more people behind bars than any other nation in the world. Lawyers are one of the highest paid professionals in America and anyone who has watched public trials knows that money can and often does buy the judgments that come out of American courtrooms. Alan defended O.J. Simpson and Richard North Patterson defends Israel as both move in the moneyed circles beyond the reach of average Americans and beyond the reach of justice.


Mormon missionary calendar-maker excommunicated


Chad Hardy, 31, creator of the 'Men on a Mission' calendar featuring shirtless Mormon missionaries, is pictured at his home in Las Vegas on Thursday, July 10, 2008. Hardy has been summoned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints to appear before a council of elders.
(AP


Sun Jul 13, 11:09 PM ET

SALT LAKE CITY - The creator of a calendar that featured shirtless Mormon missionaries was excommunicated Sunday after a disciplinary meeting with local church leaders in Las Vegas. Chad Hardy said he bears no ill will toward the council of elders from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"I felt like I spoke my truth," the 31-year-old entertainment entrepreneur said. "Bottom-line, they still felt the calendar is inappropriate and not the image that the church wants to have."

"Men on a Mission," which has sold nearly 10,000 copies at $14.99 each, included pictures of 12 returned missionaries wearing black slacks, but not their trademark white shirts, in modest poses. The men also were photographed in traditional missionary garb and share their religious beliefs in biographical sketches.

Some of the 12 models have also been called to disciplinary meetings, but none were punished.

"I have no ill feelings toward any of those people," Hardy said of the church council. "They did what they believed was right and I really do feel it was the best decision for both of us."

Frank E. Davie, the senior leader over a group of Mormon congregations in the Las Vegas area, confirmed the 12-member council's decision in a telephone call to The Associated Press. He declined further comment.

Hardy said the purpose of the 2008 calendar was not to tear down the church or its 13 million members.

"The project is about stepping outside the stereotypes and stepping outside of the image," Hardy said. "Not everybody fits the image and I let them know we're not trying to portray an image for the entire church."

An excommunicated person is removed from official church rolls, but are still welcome at church services. Excommunicated members are prohibited from receiving the sacrament and can't perform church callings such as teaching or preaching during meetings. They also cannot enter church temples.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Exile--another killer goes free

a review of Richard North Patterson's book, Exile

by Steve Lewis

I've always had a mild love/hate reaction to author Richard North Patterson's books. Patterson is another one of the lawyers-turned-authors but unlike the others Patterson has moved into political thrillers from the inside, as an upwardly mobile political climber himself. Using well-written but still basically sycophantic odes to political leaders whom he continually pats on the back for their moral anguish at making the tough decisions, Richard North Patterson conveniently forgets these political rascals are the same ones that have dragged America onto the verge of another world war, this time with all of Islam.

Very much like one of his morally challenged main characters Richard himself has advanced in a calculated trajectory for higher public recognition than his work really deserves. From courtroom dramas to heading Common Cause and friendships with political shakers and movers at the highest levels of government, Richard has done all right for himself if not for political truth which is why I am writing this criticism after reading “Exile”, Richard North Patterson's thriller about an assassination of an Israeli Prime Minister on U.S. Soil.

My beef with Mr. Patterson's viewpoint as expressed in by his main character in Exile, a high-profile secular Jewish lawyer with political ambitions, is that he uses a veneer of ethical issues in his books without ever delving into the deeper morality of the political events he's now using as topics for creating popular novels, each well-written, no doubt about that, but also ones which politicians will read and move our ambitious lawyer's career ever forward. Scoping out the political landscape in America post-9-11 and seeing which way the political wind is blowing, Richard North Patterson has in his political wisdom allied himself to the Israeli/Jewish lobbies immense political power in America, especially in Washington D.C., the turf the main characters in Mr. Patterson's later books are all headed towards.

I don't like liberal hypocrisy that masks a political agenda that ends up killing innocent people, and I don't like Zionism and unfortunately for Richard North Patterson, I find he's mixed the two together in “Exile”. In a compelling read Exile makes his political deception all that much more irritating for this American who knows as one, like Richard, who's been there, but unlike Richard North Patterson, has come away with the only moral conclusion possible: Israel is a complete abomination as a supposedly religious state and total hypocrisy as a “democracy”. For Arabs in Israel and for Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, Israelis are another fascist oppressor in the same order now as Nazis and South Afrikaaners in their racist treatment of Palestinian Arabs, and like them, being Europeans and foreign invaders, Israelis enjoy Western nation support—at least until they go too far in the eyes of the world in fascist acts of violence towards their victims.

Exile is good for getting glimpses of what life is like for Palestinians living under the jackboot of Israel's occupation but one has to wonder where on earth Richard's ethics have disappeared to when his main character sees the appalling conditions most Palestinians are living under and yet sides with their oppressors, laying out the oppressor's false religious claims to their victim's land as if these were believable documents shoring up a contentious claim in court. No attempt is ever made by Mr. Patterson to question the logic of a religious mindset that cares nothing for historical truth, international laws, ecology, or morality when these things interfere with the Cult's religious objective of taking another people's land away from them and claiming it for themselves alone.

Zionism cares not about international laws that protect people from foreign invasion. Zionism cares not about racism in their doctrines that exclude non-Jews from land ownership and major decision-making in Israel. Zionism cares not about lying about history of Jews, covering up the Khazar Jewish conversion even today in order to sell the world the Jewish homeland concept of Israel. A tiny country in the Near East, Palestine, becomes the focus of Jewish immigration and the land soon is filled with millions of European and American Jews posing as “Semites”. Ecology be damned if it counters “Eretz Yisrael” as Israelis fill Palestine with European and American Jews and thus stack the “Right of Return” deck in their favor to exclude that right from the indigenous population. All this happens because the West turns a blind moral eye on what Jews do in Israel. Now Richard North Patterson's book aids the Zionist cause along its road to perdition.

Patterson dedicated Exile to Alan Dershowitz with the same false moral window dressing Dershowitz used defending O.J. Simpson, the same ethically-challenged rationale as all lawyers use, to defend the morally indefensible by hired intellectual guns who make money, large amounts of it, off of a very faulty criminal justice system where money spent on lawyers fees often decides justice or its lack. O.J. goes free in America and so does Israel in Patterson's book, but both are guilty when facts are objectively presented instead of a lawyer's propaganda to sell his case.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Dear Stephen,

Three years ago today, Palestinian civil society issued a call for the rest of the world to support them by boycotting, divesting from, and sanctioning Israel until it complies with international law and universal principles of human rights. This call for campaigns of boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) was issued on the one-year anniversary of the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion ruling Israel's apartheid wall illegal.

The US Campaign is proud to say that we've answered this call for BDS. In addition to our ongoing work to stop Caterpillar from selling the D-9 bulldozers to the Israeli military, we've launched a corporate accountability campaign focused on Motorola.

Last year, at our national conference, US Campaign member groups voted to launch our Hang Up on Motorola project to boycott Motorola, as it profits from Israeli occupation and human rights abuses by:

  • Selling Israel fuses for aerial munitions such as the kind of bombs dropped in its 2006 war with Lebanon.
  • Providing the "Mountain Rose" communication system that the Israeli military uses in the Occupied Territories.
  • Providing surveillance systems at 47 illegal Israeli settlements as well as along the illegal apartheid wall

Since our last conference the US Campaign, working with faith and corporate social responsibility groups, has begun a dialogue with Motorola. Click here to read our initial letter to Motorola CEO Greg Brown, Motorola's less-than-impressive response, and our rejoinder. Click here to send your own letter demanding accountability from Motorola!

We've also produced a factsheet that can be used to inform others about Motorola's support for Israeli apartheid. Click here to download a PDF of our Motorola factsheet.

Join us at this year's national conference as we lay the groundwork to escalate our Hang Up on Motorola project from polite corporate engagement to an all-out public boycott.

You can also get involved in our growing campaign to pressure our government to sanction Israel by cutting off aid for the human rights abuses it commits with our tax dollars. To learn more about our campaign to challenge U.S. military aid to Israel and get involved, please click here.

The US Campaign is excited to take part in the international response to Palestinian civil society's call for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions. As these tactics helped push South Africa to abandon apartheid, our hope is that they will do the same in Israel/Palestine.

Click here to support this important project by making your generous tax-deductible contribution today!

Hague High Court concluded that three parts of the apartheid wall are illegal--according to international law

On Wednesday, July 9th, villagers from Nilin emerged from a four-day house arrest, to
commemorate the fourth anniversary of the day the Hague High Court concluded that three parts
of the apartheid wall are illegal--according to international law--and must be re-routed.
Israel, however, has changed nothing. About 120 strong, the delegation included a number of
popular committees from the west Ramallah area, Israeli activists, internationals, and
Moheep Awwad of the Palestinian cabinet.

At 11am, the group advanced to the construction site and surrounded
the bulldozer. Clashes broke out and Israeli soldiers assaulted the crowd with tear-gas
and rubber-coated steel bullets. Two of the protesters, Mahmoud Khawaja and Salah Tayeh
Alkhawaja, were injured; and five were arrested, among them Hassan Yousef, Ahmed Wehebba,
and Wesam Wahebba.

There will be another demonstration tomorrow, Thursday July 10th, at 11am. For more
information call Ibrahim Amira at 054-7493831.
http://www.bilin-ffj.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=66&Itemid=1

http://www.bilin-ffj.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=128

PRESS RELEASE

(TO ALL MEDIA)

July 8, 2008

The Village of Bil’in, in the West Bank, Occupied Palestinian Territories, announced today that it has commenced legal proceedings in Canada against two Canadian Companies for committing war crimes. The case has been filed in the Quebec Superior Court sitting at Montreal, Canada. A full copy of the claim is attached.


Bil’in alleges that Green Park International Inc. and Green Mount International Inc., both registered corporations in the Province of Quebec, acting as agents for Israel, are illegally constructing residential and other buildings on lands under the municipal jurisdiction of the Village and are marketing and selling condominium units to the civilian population of the State of Israel. Bil’in further alleges in its claim that its land and the defendants are subject to the rules and obligations of international law because the West Bank is occupied territory arising from an act of war that took place in 1967.


Bil’in claims that Green Park International Inc. and Green Mount International Inc. have violated international law and Canadian domestic law. Bil’in claims protection under the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Those statutes both prohibit an occupying power from transferring its civilian population into territory that it has occupied as a result of war. Bil’in also relies on the Canadian Geneva Conventions Act and the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act which contain the same prohibition. These statutes have jurisdiction over Canadians regardless of where in the world the offence has taken place.


Bil’in is seeking an immediate Order from the Canadian court stopping the illegal construction, punitive damages and other relief as set out in the claim. Upon obtaining such an Order in Canada, Bil’in intends to petition the Israeli Court to enforce the Canadian Court Order in Israel and the West Bank.


A Quebec Registry search has revealed that the Green Park companies have appointed a single director who resides in the Montreal Region. It is believed that this director is likely a nominal director having no direct involvement with Green Park and at this time Bil'in has no direct evidence implicating or linking this director personally to any of the civil wrongs set out in the claim.

The legal claims of Bil’in are not related in any way to the business or undertakings of Greenpark International Inc., “Canada’s Largest Homebuilder”, located at 8700 Dufferin Street, Vaughan, Ontario or its affiliated companies.


The Village of Bil’in will be holding a Press Conference in Ramallah on Thursday, July 10, 2008 at 1:00 PM (Local Time) and at 10:00 AM (EST) at the offices of its Canadian legal counsel in Toronto, Canada. All media are invited to attend.


To obtain background information on Bil’in please visit www.bilin-village.org/english.


Michael Sfard – Attorney Mark H. Arnold – Barrister and Solicitor

Law Office Gardiner Miller Arnold LLP

49 Ahad Ha’am Street, 1202 – 390 Bay Street

Tel-Aviv – Jaffa, 65206 Toronto, Ontario, M5H2Y2

Israel Canada

Tel: +972-3-6206947 Tel: + 416 393-2614 Ext. 231

Cell: +972-54-4713930 Cell: + 416-705-3055

michael@jurists.co.ii mark.arnold@gmalaw.ca

Israeli Counsel to Bil’in Canadian Counsel to Bil’in



Thank you for you continued support,

Iyad Burnat- Head of Popular Commitee in Bilin
Head of Friends of Freedom and Justice in Bilin

Email- ffj.bilin@yahoo.com
Mobile- (00972) (0) 547847942
Office- (00972) (2) 2489129
Fax-
(00972) (2) 2489129

www.bilin-ffj.org

Monday, July 07, 2008

The world's best choreographers are birds

I saw blackbirds doing these kinds of aerial ballets right after the storm of 1998 cleared. They looked like they were celebrating the sunshine returning. It was one of the most incredible sights I have ever seen animals do. They literally formed moving three-dimensional solid sculptures in the sky with amazing coordinated flying that makes anything humans do look like child's play.

The birds in this video are doing the same thing I saw but the forms these birds are making weren't beautiful like the ones I saw above Broadway in Eureka. The forms our birds made were more complex that those in the video and the amazing part is that the three-dimensional forms had "edges" to them that were kept intact yet were in fast motion and changed constantly. How these birds can do such coordinated flying is astonishing.

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?cl=8704649

Animals do the most amazing things.

Why can't we make electric motorcycles?

Below is the story from the Eureka Reporter about Zero electric motorcycles which are great sounding alternatives EXCEPT they cost a small fortune. Electric auto and motorcycle companies are trying to cash in on our oil dilemma but it seems to me we could do better ourselves. Create cheaper electric motorcycles. The Chinese will do soon anyway. Just wait and see.





Dirt Rider Magazine calls them “the future of off-road motorcycle riding;” Forbes Magazine calls them a “leap of innovation;” and Blaine Bermers of Eureka calls them “really cool.”

Joining the ranks of alternative-fueled vehicles that are growing in popularity against the backdrop of ever-climbing gas prices, “Zero Motorcycles” are the newest addition to electric vehicle family.

“They’re not your normal motorcycle,” said Bermers — who is currently displaying two off-road models for sale now — one at the showroom of Bedliners Plus in Eureka, and one that was available for demonstration at Ruth Lake over the July 4 weekend.

Street-legal versions are expected to be available later this month.

Founded by former NASA project manager, Neal Saiki, the Zero Motorcycle, known as “Zero X,” has no tailpipe, making it noiseless and emission-free, weighs a mere 130 pounds, has no gears, no clutch, and accelerates from zero to 30 mph in less than two seconds, the Web site states at www.zeromotorcycles.com.

They run on “second-generation lithium-ion cells” to ensure against fire, and deliver 20 horsepower that has 100 percent torque at all times and reaches speeds up to 60 mph.

A slightly more expensive German-made motor option is also available that offers 10 percent more power, the Web site states.

“You just plug it into an outlet and it takes two hours to charge. Most of the cars take 10 to 12 hours,” Bermers said. Once charged, the street-legal model goes for 60 miles and the off-road goes for about 40, Bermers said. “They say it will only cost you less than one cent per mile to drive.”

“I rode it up in the mountains and all the animals just turned around and looked at me like ‘what’s this?’” said Bermers of the whisper-quietness of the bike.

Comparable to a 250cc motorcycle, the Zero X costs about $7,400 and can arrive on a doorstep in a UPS box.

“I’ve got one sitting here that just came out of the box and another one I could get within the month,” Bermers said. “There’s a high demand right now as you can imagine with the gas prices.”

“Get dirty while staying clean,” the Web site invites.

For more information, phone Bermers at 619-640-0173 or see the bike currently on display at 1326 Koster Lane off Broadway in Eureka.

Electrify this!


Saturday, July 05, 2008

Tablet Ignites Debate on Messiah and Resurrection

By ETHAN BRONNER

Published: July 6, 2008

JERUSALEM — A three-foot-tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew that scholars believe dates from the decades just before the birth of Jesus is causing a quiet stir in biblical and archaeological circles, especially because it may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days.

If such a messianic description really is there, it will contribute to a developing re-evaluation of both popular and scholarly views of Jesus, since it suggests that the story of his death and resurrection was not unique but part of a recognized Jewish tradition at the time.

The tablet, probably found near the Dead Sea in Jordan according to some scholars who have studied it, is a rare example of a stone with ink writings from that era — in essence, a Dead Sea Scroll on stone.

It is written, not engraved, across two neat columns, similar to columns in a Torah. But the stone is broken, and some of the text is faded, meaning that much of what it says is open to debate.

Still, its authenticity has so far faced no challenge, so its role in helping to understand the roots of Christianity in the devastating political crisis faced by the Jews of the time seems likely to increase.

Daniel Boyarin, a professor of Talmudic culture at the University of California at Berkeley, said that the stone was part of a growing body of evidence suggesting that Jesus could be best understood through a close reading of the Jewish history of his day.

“Some Christians will find it shocking — a challenge to the uniqueness of their theology — while others will be comforted by the idea of it being a traditional part of Judaism,” Mr. Boyarin said.

Given the highly charged atmosphere surrounding all Jesus-era artifacts and writings, both in the general public and in the fractured and fiercely competitive scholarly community, as well as the concern over forgery and charlatanism, it will probably be some time before the tablet’s contribution is fully assessed. It has been around 60 years since the Dead Sea Scrolls were uncovered, and they continue to generate enormous controversy regarding their authors and meaning.

The scrolls, documents found in the Qumran caves of the West Bank, contain some of the only known surviving copies of biblical writings from before the first century A.D. In addition to quoting from key books of the Bible, the scrolls describe a variety of practices and beliefs of a Jewish sect at the time of Jesus.

How representative the descriptions are and what they tell us about the era are still strongly debated. For example, a question that arises is whether the authors of the scrolls were members of a monastic sect or in fact mainstream. A conference marking 60 years since the discovery of the scrolls will begin on Sunday at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, where the stone, and the debate over whether it speaks of a resurrected messiah, as one iconoclastic scholar believes, also will be discussed.

Oddly, the stone is not really a new discovery. It was found about a decade ago and bought from a Jordanian antiquities dealer by an Israeli-Swiss collector who kept it in his Zurich home. When an Israeli scholar examined it closely a few years ago and wrote a paper on it last year, interest began to rise. There is now a spate of scholarly articles on the stone, with several due to be published in the coming months.

“I couldn’t make much out of it when I got it,” said David Jeselsohn, the owner, who is himself an expert in antiquities. “I didn’t realize how significant it was until I showed it to Ada Yardeni, who specializes in Hebrew writing, a few years ago. She was overwhelmed. ‘You have got a Dead Sea Scroll on stone,’ she told me.”

Much of the text, a vision of the apocalypse transmitted by the angel Gabriel, draws on the Old Testament, especially the prophets Daniel, Zechariah and Haggai.

Ms. Yardeni, who analyzed the stone along with Binyamin Elitzur, is an expert on Hebrew script, especially of the era of King Herod, who died in 4 B.C. The two of them published a long analysis of the stone more than a year ago in Cathedra, a Hebrew-language quarterly devoted to the history and archaeology of Israel, and said that, based on the shape of the script and the language, the text dated from the late first century B.C.A chemical examination by Yuval Goren, a professor of archaeology at Tel Aviv University who specializes in the verification of ancient artifacts, has been submitted to a peer-review journal. He declined to give details of his analysis until publication, but he said that he knew of no reason to doubt the stone’s authenticity.

It was in Cathedra that Israel Knohl, an iconoclastic professor of Bible studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, first heard of the stone, which Ms. Yardeni and Mr. Elitzur dubbed “Gabriel’s Revelation,” also the title of their article. Mr. Knohl posited in a book published in 2000 the idea of a suffering messiah before Jesus, using a variety of rabbinic and early apocalyptic literature as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls. But his theory did not shake the world of Christology as he had hoped, partly because he had no textual evidence from before Jesus.

When he read “Gabriel’s Revelation,” he said, he believed he saw what he needed to solidify his thesis, and he has published his argument in the latest issue of The Journal of Religion.

Mr. Knohl is part of a larger scholarly movement that focuses on the political atmosphere in Jesus’ day as an important explanation of that era’s messianic spirit. As he notes, after the death of Herod, Jewish rebels sought to throw off the yoke of the Rome-supported monarchy, so the rise of a major Jewish independence fighter could take on messianic overtones.

In Mr. Knohl’s interpretation, the specific messianic figure embodied on the stone could be a man named Simon who was slain by a commander in the Herodian army, according to the first-century historian Josephus. The writers of the stone’s passages were probably Simon’s followers, Mr. Knohl contends.

The slaying of Simon, or any case of the suffering messiah, is seen as a necessary step toward national salvation, he says, pointing to lines 19 through 21 of the tablet — “In three days you will know that evil will be defeated by justice” — and other lines that speak of blood and slaughter as pathways to justice.

To make his case about the importance of the stone, Mr. Knohl focuses especially on line 80, which begins clearly with the words “L’shloshet yamin,” meaning “in three days.” The next word of the line was deemed partially illegible by Ms. Yardeni and Mr. Elitzur, but Mr. Knohl, who is an expert on the language of the Bible and Talmud, says the word is “hayeh,” or “live” in the imperative. It has an unusual spelling, but it is one in keeping with the era.

Two more hard-to-read words come later, and Mr. Knohl said he believed that he had deciphered them as well, so that the line reads, “In three days you shall live, I, Gabriel, command you.”

To whom is the archangel speaking? The next line says “Sar hasarin,” or prince of princes. Since the Book of Daniel, one of the primary sources for the Gabriel text, speaks of Gabriel and of “a prince of princes,” Mr. Knohl contends that the stone’s writings are about the death of a leader of the Jews who will be resurrected in three days.

He says further that such a suffering messiah is very different from the traditional Jewish image of the messiah as a triumphal, powerful descendant of King David.

“This should shake our basic view of Christianity,” he said as he sat in his office of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem where he is a senior fellow in addition to being the Yehezkel Kaufman Professor of Biblical Studies at Hebrew University. “Resurrection after three days becomes a motif developed before Jesus, which runs contrary to nearly all scholarship. What happens in the New Testament was adopted by Jesus and his followers based on an earlier messiah story.”

Ms. Yardeni said she was impressed with the reading and considered it indeed likely that the key illegible word was “hayeh,” or “live.” Whether that means Simon is the messiah under discussion, she is less sure.

Moshe Bar-Asher, president of the Israeli Academy of Hebrew Language and emeritus professor of Hebrew and Aramaic at the Hebrew University, said he spent a long time studying the text and considered it authentic, dating from no later than the first century B.C. His 25-page paper on the stone will be published in the coming months.

Regarding Mr. Knohl’s thesis, Mr. Bar-Asher is also respectful but cautious. “There is one problem,” he said. “In crucial places of the text there is lack of text. I understand Knohl’s tendency to find there keys to the pre-Christian period, but in two to three crucial lines of text there are a lot of missing words.”

Moshe Idel, a professor of Jewish thought at Hebrew University, said that given the way every tiny fragment from that era yielded scores of articles and books, “Gabriel’s Revelation” and Mr. Knohl’s analysis deserved serious attention. “Here we have a real stone with a real text,” he said. “This is truly significant.”

Mr. Knohl said that it was less important whether Simon was the messiah of the stone than the fact that it strongly suggested that a savior who died and rose after three days was an established concept at the time of Jesus. He notes that in the Gospels, Jesus makes numerous predictions of his suffering and New Testament scholars say such predictions must have been written in by later followers because there was no such idea present in his day.

But there was, he said, and “Gabriel’s Revelation” shows it.

“His mission is that he has to be put to death by the Romans to suffer so his blood will be the sign for redemption to come,” Mr. Knohl said. “This is the sign of the son of Joseph. This is the conscious view of Jesus himself. This gives the Last Supper an absolutely different meaning. To shed blood is not for the sins of people but to bring redemption to Israel.”

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Prophesy bearer for four religious traditions, revealer of Christ's Sword, revealer of Josephine bearing the Spirit of Christ, revealer of the identity of God, revealer of the Celestial Torah astro-theological code within the Bible. Celestial Torah Christian Theologian, Climax Civilization theorist and activist, Eco-Village Organizer, Master Psychedelic Artist, Inventor of the Next Big Thing in wearable tech, and always your Prophet-At-Large.