Goodman: Tutu, Obama and silent conflict in the Middle East

By: Amy Goodman

Friday, November 28, 2008 11:50 PM EST

As President-elect Barack Obama focuses on the meltdown of the U.S. economy, another fire is burning: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

You may not have heard much lately about the disaster in the Gaza Strip. That silence is intentional: The Israeli government has barred international journalists from entering the occupied territory.

Last week, executives from the Associated Press, New York Times, Reuters, CNN, BBC and other news organizations sent a letter of protest to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert criticizing his government's decision to bar journalists from entering Gaza. Israel has virtually sealed off the Gaza Strip and cut off aid and fuel shipments. A spokesman for Israel's Defense Ministry said Israel was displeased with international media coverage, which he said inflated Palestinian suffering and did not make clear that Israel's measures were in response to Palestinian violence.

A cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, the group that won Palestinian elections nearly three years ago and controls Gaza, broke down after an Israeli raid killed six Hamas militants two weeks ago. More Israeli raids have followed, killing approximately 17 Hamas members, and Palestinian militants have fired dozens of rockets into southern Israel, injuring several people.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has criticized Israel over its blockade of the overcrowded Gaza, home to close to 1.5 million Palestinians. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency is warning that Gaza faces a humanitarian “catastrophe” if Israel continues to blockade aid from reaching the territory.

The sharply divided landscape of Israel and the occupied territories is familiar ground for South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for his opposition to apartheid in South Africa. Tutu was in New York last week to receive the Global Citizens Circle award. I sat down with him at the residence of the South African vice consul. Tutu reflected on the Israeli occupation: “Coming from South Africa ... and looking at the checkpoints ... when you humiliate a people to the extent that they are being - and, yes, one remembers the kind of experience we had when we were being humiliated - when you do that, you're not contributing to your own security.”

Tutu said the embargo must be lifted. “The suffering is unacceptable. It doesn't promote the security of Israel or any other part of that very volatile region,” he said. “There are very, very many in Israel who are opposed to what is happening.”

Tutu points to the outgoing Israeli prime minister. In September, Olmert made a stunning declaration to Yedioth Ahronoth, the largest Israeli newspaper. He said that Israel should withdraw from nearly all territory captured in the 1967 Middle East war in return for peace with the Palestinians and Syria: “I am saying what no previous Israeli leader has ever said: We should withdraw from almost all of the territories, including in East Jerusalem and in the Golan Heights.”

Olmert said that traditional Israeli defense strategists had learned nothing from past experiences and that they seemed stuck in the considerations of the 1948 War of Independence. He said: “With them, it is all about tanks and land and controlling territories and controlled territories and this hilltop and that hilltop. All these things are worthless.”

Olmert appears to have come closer to his daughter's point of view. In 2006, Dana Olmert was among 200 people who gathered outside the home of the Israeli army chief of staff and chanted “murderer” as they protested Israeli killings of Palestinians (Archbishop Tutu was blocked from entering Gaza in his U.N.-backed attempts to investigate those killings). Ehud Olmert recently resigned over corruption allegations, but remains prime minister until a new government is approved by parliament.

Israel is a top recipient of U.S. military aid. Archbishop Tutu says of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, “When that is resolved, what we will find (is) that the tensions between the West and ... a large part of the Muslim world ... evaporates.” He said of Obama, “I pray that this new president will have the capacity to see we've got to do something here ... for the sake of our children.”

Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column.

Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

So thankful, Holy One, for being alive and well.

O Holy Spirit, we love You
We know who You are
You are our Father,
Our Mother,
Our Sister,
Our Brother.

And we are Holy One with You.

Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People

Dear friends:

I am in Cyprus till Saturday and then in the US for a week starting Sunday then back to Palestine. The hospitality and generosity of Palestinians, people who visit Palestine, and people who care everywhere are inspiring acts of universal humanity. In this belated message we focus on the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement between People (PCR, a pioneer in bridging cultural differences, empowering Palestinians, and bringing people to support Palestine, actions that led to formation of the International Solidarity Movement). I also would like to tell you about the biggest projects we are involved in now and seek your support (material and otherwise). Below are the mission, the goals, a call to join us for Nights of the Shepherds (and/or support in other ways), a history of previous activities of PCR, and a list of current activities. The exciting new project Nights of the Shepherds is cosponsored by PCR and the Joint Advocacy Initiative of the YMCA/YWCA and will bring community and visitors together to protect the land and the people of the Shepherds field (the Bethlehem rural areas) that are under threat by colonial settlers. Last week and unsolicited, USAID offered to fund the project with $20,000 from but the aid was unanimously rejected on principle (USAID requires groups to adhere to a US policy made and produced in Tel Aviv). Instead, we rely on people of good will (like you) to support our functions. Please read the following and consider making a donation (or provide other kind of support).

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People

http://www.pcr.ps/

Mission: The Palestinian Centre for Rapprochement between People was founded in April 1988 with the mission of bridging the gap between Palestinians and peoples from all around the world, informing the public about the reality in Palestine, and empower the community through nonviolent direct action for peace.

Goals:

- Organize activities that enhance the chances for a just and peaceful solution to the Palestinian cause

- Challenge stereotypes and prejudice on all sides by bringing people together for example through the alternative tourism program that allows Internationals and Palestinians to live and work together

- Engage in media campaigns that provide accurate and first hand information Palesine and life in the occupied territories,

- Organize functions that enhance civic duty and civic responsibility in a safe atmosphere for youth, women, and for marginalized segments of our society.

NEXT ACTIVITY TO SUPPORT: Join us for Nights of the Shepherds: Community and people connections to protect the land and the people of the Shepherds field.

Cosponsored by PCR and the Joint Advocacy Initiative of the YMCA/YWCA

Thousands of pilgrims and locals come to Bethlehem and Beit Sahour during the Christmas season to celebrate the momentous events and connect to biblical sites like the Shepherds field and the Church of Nativity.

The Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People (http://www.pcr.ps) and its tourist division the Siraj center in Collaboration with the Joint Advocacy Initiative of the YMCA/YWCA invite you to join us:

- The First night, 24 Dec 2008: Palestinian art consisting of music, folkloric dances, music, choires, theater groups, marching bands, art exhibits, other artistic expressions. The location is be the YMCA grounds in Beit Sahour

- The Second day, 25 Dec 2008: Tourists and locals are invited to joint programs and celebrations ranging from home visits to visits to impoverished areas to bring the Christmas spirit to the needy etc. More afternoon programs at the location of the first evening will include Children’s program and Christmas Carols. In the evening at 4 PM, a “candle light procession” from Shepherds Field will commence.

The Shepherds’ fields are endangered by settlement activities. We are now surrounded by colonial settlements on three sides and the fourth is being targeted by settler groups (Ush Ghrab to the East of Beit Sahour). There is some emigration of people from our communities (Christian and Muslim) because of the depressed economic situation and other pressures of the occupation. Yet there is a tremendous amount of good activism and community work. The idea of the Shepherds night will add to this empowerment and steadfastness (sumud) in our communities as well as provide a tangible benefit to the tourism sector.

To support this project send donations to PCR (PCR ). For tax deductible donations from the US, please send you check or wire transfer with a note to indicate it is for the Rapprochement Center to The Biblical Studies Fund, 661 Massachusetts Avenue Suite 40, Arlington, MA 02476

http://www.pcr.ps/

Wire: ABA/Routing # 211371120 (there is no SWIFT code)

Bank Name: Cambridge Savings Bank, 1374 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138

Acct #: 535716139 Account Title: The Biblical Studies Fund

Please email me at qumsi001@hotmail.com to indicate you have sent any money through this appeal so that I can forward to George and the staff the good news of your forthcoming support and to keep track of funding sent through our fiscal sponsor.

Previous activities of PCR:

PCR had a very rich and productive 20 years. They can be divided into these periods:

1988-1994

During the first uprising, PCR pioneered nonviolent resistance that involved large segments of the society with support of internationals. We provided training to locals in conflict resolution management, peaceful resistance, and cross-cultural dialogue. We were the first group in the West Bank to have a formal and periodic (monthly) dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians. This dialogue continued on a regular pace for 12 years even as the uprising and the violence escalated. It kept the hope alive of coexistance and peace.

PCR played an important role in organizing the 1989 tax resistace (No Taxation without Representation) that gained the admiration of people of good will around the world including our Israeli colleagues and dozens of international visitors who visited even during siege and curfew. We carried dozens of direct actions in the years 1989-1994 that generated significant media and public attention. That experience also taught us to learn to disseminate information to an outside world hungry for real information and was a prelude to our accelerated media efforts during the second uprising.

1994-2000

The decrease in violence during the Oslo years did not decrease our commitment and interest in peace making and direct action. PCR with support from the Israeli members of the dialogue group supported the land defense committees that challenged the building of settlements on Palestinian lands. The most prominent case, PCR was involved in was Jabal Abu Ghneim where we kept a protest tent in operation with Israelis and internationals for four months 24 hours a day. We challenged the settlement activities in Israeli courts including this case that moved for nearly four years (a good delay for us) until the Israeli Supreme court ruled in favor of the State and in violation of International law.

PCR did not feel defeated. To protect Beit Sahour Land threatened by the Har Homa settlement on Jabal Abu Ghneim, we worked with a number of groups and land owners to encourage buildings on their lands as close as is feasible to the settlement. These threatened lands we knew would be protected if we had people living there. This included a housing project in the area of Mazmouria. The land belongs to people from Beit Sahour, however, as residents of the West Bank, we can not build houses there, because that land was identified within the borders of Jerusalem. Therefore Jerusalemites were the perfect candidates for such a project.

A housing committee was founded that included people from Jerusalem who need to build houses, but do not have land in Jerusalem. One land owner with an area of around 40 dunams agreed to include his land in this project. The idea was to plan a housing project on that land, apply for building permits from the municipality of Jerusalem and if permits were granted, the members of the housing committee will buy lots in this land. In this case, the land owner is selling his land to people from Jerusalem to build houses.

A Palestinian famous architect who lives in Jordan, volunteers most of his effort and time in planning the area and designed houses with Arabic architecture. The municipality of Jerusalem refused to allow the housing society to officially submit the full application and kept asking for modifications. In October 2000, shortly after the second intifada started, the Israeli army built a military road to connect the settlement on Abu Ghneim with the military base in Beit Sahour, and with other settlements. This road went right through the project’s land, which was the last nail in the coffin for this project. But the experience was worthwhile and the citizens of Beit Sahour developed housing projects very near the Har Homa settlement (but outside of the illegally expanded and illegally annexed East Jerusalem lands).

In those years, PCR also developed programs for training youth and women in leadership positions, expanded its activities in community development and education, and hosted many international delegations on fact finding and solidarity trips.

2000-2008

Our community service program was expanded and made a formal division of PCR. We engaged more youth with nonviolent resistance. In one capacity building program 70 young Palestinians received training in advocacy, communication skills, conflict resolution and democracy. When trained and empowered these young advocates became the backbone of other PCR and community activities.

One project we pioneered and led by the young people was the Displaced Shepherd project which aimed at renovating homes damaged as a result of the Israeli shelling of the Eastern neighborhood of Beit Sahour from the military base in Ush Ghrab.

The young activists of PCR visited all families and documented damages and recorded stories. They uploaded all this information as family profiles on the internet. This information was used a fund raising campaign in which raided $400,000 dollars raised with the municipality of Beit Sahour as a joint effort. As a result, almost all families managed to return to their homes in few months.

In 2000, we mobilized our dialogue group and international friends for actions to reclaim the military base that was located on town land and was a major issue in the community. We successfully held nonviolent protests at the base (even getting inside the base by the hundreds) and this success led to the formation of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). PCR was heavily involved in ISM for five years, during which it had employed around ninety percent of its efforts and finances to support ISM. PCR hosted ISM headquarters until 2005 when the headquarters was moved to Ramallah (this followed a raid by the Occupation soldiers on our offices in Beit Sahour).

Current Activities

Currently PCR has three departments, Alternative Travel Department, Community Service Department, and the Media Department that complement each other and help Palestine concurrent with helping Internationals connect better with Palestine.

The Alternative Travel department includes Siraj Center for Holy Land Studies. [www.sirajcenter.org]

Siraj organizes an annual summer program, known as Palestine Summer Celebration. This extremely successful project gives participants have an opportunity to live with Palestinian Families, learn Arabic, volunteer at Palestinian NGOs, learn Palestinian culture (e.g. folklore dancing), and eat and cook Arabic food. These individuals also visit remote areas, tour the wall, the seam line, visit with Palestians and Israelis inside and outside the Green Line. Siraj brings Palestinians and Internationals in its unique way at other times of the years and sometimes in unconventional tourism. One Peace Cycle projects brought European cyclists on a tour of the West Bank and another one for hikers.

The Community Service Department includes two projects, the “Education for All Program” (EFAP) and the “Young Advocates Program” (YAP). EFAP provids free-of-charge support classes for student of less fortunate families who need support to enhance their academic performance including classes in Arabic and English. We also trained youth in extracurricular activities including arts and drama. The program trained boys and girls, Christians and Muslims from the five schools in the town of Beit Sahour. The program is currently funded by “A La Calle”, an Italian organization working for social change.

YAP is a capacity building program that aims at preparing young Palestinians form more involvement in their society and in the civil based nonviolent resistance in Palestine. The program is a continuation of the community program launched in 1997. Around 30 young people from Bethlehem area received basic and advanced training in Human Rights, Communication Skills, Media and Web Design and Advocacy skills.

Currently the department is actively working on the Nights of the Shepherds described above and for which we seek your support (participation, financial, publicity, donations in kind etc).

The Media Department includes the International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC). a Palestinian-International collaborative effort, IMEMC to provide accurate reporting that helps increase understanding of the context, history, and the socio-political developments in Palestine. We provide news in English, Italian, Spanish, and Arabic languages all edited and produced by volunteers in places like Rome, Barcelona, Bethlehem and the US. IMEMC also provide News in Arabic through the Palestine News Network (PNN) website, [http://arabic.pnn.ps] as a cooperation between IMEMC & PNN. IMEMC is a founding member of the Network of United Radio and TV Stations (NUR Media) [http://english.nurmedia.org]. NUR became member of Palestine News Network-United a coalition of Radio, TV and Website groups. IMEMC provides a daily news cast in English and Italian languages, which provides nearly five minutes featuring main incidents of the day. IMEMC field reporters cover actions and events usually misrepresented or not covered in Western Media.

A video production training project is being implemented to provide young Palestinians with skills needed to produce short videos, skills that will be expanded to create job opportunities. The IMEMC production unit produces documentaries that highlight issues of critical importance in Palestine (e.g. the plight of remote villages) but that do not receive adequate media coverage.

Current Needs:

The achievements of the past twenty years and current projects (highlighted above) contributed tremendously in bridging the gap between the Palestinians and grassroots people from many countries around the globe and all were done .All were done with shoestring budgets and maximizing the use of volunteers and the few amazingly inspiring and hardworking staff who are paid little and work extremely hard. It is amazing to think that we could do all the above with an annual budget of $95000 for PCR. But with a current budget deficit of $12,000 and demands on our services constantly increasing, we need your support for any and all projects above. For tax deductible donations from the US, please send you check or wire transfer with a note to indicate it is for the Rapprochement Center to The Biblical Studies Fund, 661 Massachusetts Avenue Suite 40, Arlington, MA 02476

http://www.pcr.ps/

Wire: ABA/Routing # 211371120 (there is no SWIFT code)

Bank Name: Cambridge Savings Bank, 1374 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138

Acct #: 535716139 Account Title: The Biblical Studies Fund

Please email me at qumsi001@hotmail.com to indicate you have sent any money through this appeal so that I can forward to George and the staff the good news of your forthcoming support and to keep track of funding sent through our fiscal sponsor.

We also always need volunteers in the different departments/activities so contact us and let us know what skills and/or time you have to offer.

http://www.pcr.ps/

ffj.Bilin-20-11-2008

Israeli Occupation forces arrested Iyad Burnat. President of the Popular Committee in Bil'in. The Army was arrested Mr. Iyad Burnat early today At nine am . After he was with a group of Americans tried to visit the village of Naalin. Were prevented soldiers stationed at the entrance to the village from entering. Pretext of a closed military Area. Also detained Mr. Burnat for several hours and then abandoned him.

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

www.bilin-ffj.org
____________________________________________________________________

Dear all,

Emad Burnat from Bil'in is still in a serious condition in hospital. We will keep everyone updated when there is any more news.

In solidarity,

ISM Palestine


Bi'lin: Israel's Wall puts Palestinian farmer and his children in hospital.

At 5:20 pm on Saturday Bi'lin Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements member, Emad Burnat, was admitted to hospital in very serious condition after his tractor flipped over against Israel's Wall. The wall – which in Bil'in is composed of metal fence and barbed-wire – cuts through the village's farmland.


The video documenter of the Bi'lin's anti-wall struggle was returning with his children from plowing his fields when he was forced to detour down a steep hill in order to return to the village because the wall separates his home from his land. Loosing control of the tractor on the sharp decline, it overturned directly into the metal mesh and razor wire.


While his children were taken to hospital in Ramallah, the army medic who treated Burnat decided to send him to the Tel Aviv hospital out of fear that he wouldn't make to Ramallah alive. None-the-less, it still took the ambulance an hour to arrive at the checkpoint and Burnat had to be transferred from a Red Crescent to an Israeli ambulance before being taken to Tel Aviv.


"While this is a tragic accident, the blame can be laid directly at the feet of Israel's occupation and land confiscation by the wall, which forces a dangerous burden and risk on Palestinian farmers," says popular committee chairperson and Brother of Emad, Iyad Burnat.


"Israel's checkpoint system only adds to this hardship by preventing the speedy medical attention to Palestinians when necessary," he added.


At present Burnat's spleen has been removed and doctors have yet to stitch up his wounds because his liver is still bleeding. Doctors are exercising cautious optimism, reporting that he arrived at the hospital in time and was a healthy man. Burnat's children were treated for mild injuries.


Thank you for you continued support,

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

Supporters of Holy Land defendants accuse government of preying on fear

'This is not over,' said Noor Elashi, daughter of Holy Land defendant Ghassan Elashi, after the verdict was read on Monday. Ms. Elashi, an outspoken critic of the prosecution, said she was proud of her father.

12:00 AM CST on Tuesday, November 25, 2008

By TANYA EISERER and JASON TRAHAN / The Dallas Morning News

The verdicts came down slowly and cast a pall over an already somber courtroom. "Guilty" was heard over and over again.

Most family members and friends of the five defendants in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial remained stoic Monday as justice was meted out, but one person sobbed: "My dad is not a criminal. He's a human!"

For the roughly 150 supporters at the Earle Cabell Federal Building in downtown Dallas, that may best summarize their take on the outcome of one of the nation's biggest and most important terrorism financing trials.

Supporters say the government's case was built on fear-mongering, and they stand by long-held assertions that Holy Land was a legitimate charity concerned only with providing relief to Palestinians living in poverty and hardship under the decades-long Israeli occupation.

Some supporters cried quietly after the verdicts were read. Some looked in shock, disbelief registering on their faces. Tension filled the air.

As people began to quietly file out of the courtroom, many supporters shouted words of encouragement to the defendants. Some of the defendants defiantly flashed victory signs.

Defense attorneys did not talk to The Dallas Morning News, but are already discussing appeals.

The subdued reaction to the verdicts was in cold contrast to the jubilation they felt 13 months ago as the first Holy Land trial ended mostly in a mistrial when a confused and beleaguered jury deadlocked after 19 days of deliberations.

The second jury wrestled just eight days with the massive and complex case.

The journey for supporters has been far longer: Holy Land and its leadership had been investigated since the early 1990s. President George W. Bush announced that the foundation had been shut down in 2001. Indictments came in 2004.

John Wolf, a friend and member of the Hungry for Justice coalition, said he'd known the defendants for 12 years.

"I'm not surprised," he said of the verdicts. "I think the government had their do-over and they learned from their mistakes. It's hard to accept because I don't believe the gentlemen are guilty. These guys are the sweetest, clean-hearted people."

During the trial, defense attorneys accused the government of bending to Israeli pressure to prosecute the charity, and of relying on old evidence. But jurors agreed with the government's contention that at least $12 million raised in the U.S. had been illegally funneled to Hamas after that organization was banned as a terrorist group by the federal government in 1995.

In light of the crimes and the likely length of their sentences, which will come later, the judge ordered that all five defendants be immediately taken into custody. One, Ghassan Elashi, is already serving a 6 ½ -year sentence in federal prison for export law violations.

His daughter, an outspoken critic of the prosecution, read a statement calling the verdicts a low point for the United States of America.

"My dad is a law-abiding citizen," said Noor Elashi. "My dad was persecuted for his political beliefs and his humanitarian work in Palestine. ... He saved lives and now he's paying the price. I'm very proud of him."

Ms. Elashi, visibly angry, said she had not shed any tears over the verdicts because she knew that her father was being persecuted "because he saved lives."

"I feel heartbroken that a group of my fellow Americans fell for the prosecution's fear-mongering," she said.

"This is not over," she added.

Some supporters have said that the defendants, even if convicted, would be considered freedom fighters or folk heroes.

Peter Margulies, a Roger Williams University law professor who studies terrorism financing cases, said the government has won the case, but has work to do for American Muslims.

"Going forward ... the government must be more pro-active about furnishing guidance to Muslim-Americans who merely wish to fulfill their religious obligations," he said.

That may be too little, too late for some.

Mohammed Wafa Yaish, Holy Land's former accountant and a witness of the trial, said after the verdicts were read that he is angry that the prosecution brought up the Taliban and al-Qaeda during the trial.

"What does giving charity to the Palestinians in the refugee camps have to do with this?" he said. "They scared the jurors. Fear is the No. 1 government tactic."

Staff writer Diane Jennings contributed to this report.

teiserer@dallasnews.com; jtrahan@dallasnews.com

Five Convicted in Terrorism Financing Trial

New York Times

GRETEL C. KOVACH
Published: November 24, 2008

DALLAS — On their second try, federal prosecutors won sweeping convictions Monday against five leaders of a Muslim charity in a retrial of the largest terrorism-financing case in the United States since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The five defendants, all leaders of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, based in Richardson, a Dallas suburb, were convicted on all 108 criminal counts against them, including support of terrorism, money laundering and tax fraud. The group was accused of funneling millions of dollars to the Palestinian militant group Hamas, an Islamist organization the government declared to be a terrorist group in 1995.

The defendants argued that the Holy Land Foundation, once the largest Muslim charity in the United States, was engaged in legitimate humanitarian aid for community welfare programs and Palestinian orphans.

The jury, which deliberated for eight days, reached a starkly different result than the jury in the first trial, which ended in a mistrial on most charges in October 2007, after nearly two months of testimony and 19 days of deliberations.

The government shuttered the Holy Land Foundation in December 2001 and seized its assets, a move President Bush heralded at the time as “another step in the war on terrorism.”

The charity’s leaders — Ghassan Elashi, Shukri Abu-Baker, Mufid Abdulqader, Abdulrahman Odeh and Mohammad El-Mezain — were not accused in the 2004 indictment of directly financing suicide bombings or terrorist violence. Instead, they were indicted on charges of illegally contributing to Hamas after the United States designated it a terrorist group.

The defendants could be sentenced to 15 years on each count of supporting a terrorist group, and 20 years on each count of money laundering. Leaders of the foundation, which is now defunct, might also have to forfeit millions of dollars.

Khalil Meek, a longtime spokesman for the Muslim community in North Texas and for a coalition of Holy Land Foundation supporters called Hungry for Justice, which includes national Muslim and civil rights groups, said supporters were “devastated” by the verdict.

“We respect the jury’s decision, but we disagree and we think the defendants are completely innocent,” Mr. Meek said. “For the last two years we’ve watched this trial unfold, and we have yet to see any evidence of a criminal act introduced to a jury. This jury found that humanitarian aid is a crime.”

He added, “We intend to appeal the verdict, and we remain convinced that we will win.”

The prosecutor, Barry Jonas, told jurors in closing arguments last week that they should not be deceived by the foundation’s cover of humanitarian work, describing the charities it financed as terrorist recruitment centers that were part of a “womb to the tomb” cycle.

After the mistrial last year, critics said the government had offered a weak, complicated case and had failed to recognize that juries were not as quick to convict Muslim defendants accused of supporting terrorism as they had once been. Prosecutors spent more time in the second trial explaining the complexities of the case and painting a clearer picture of the money trail. They also dropped many of the original charges.

“Today’s verdicts are important milestones in America’s efforts against financiers of terrorism,” Patrick Rowan, assistant attorney general for national security, said in a statement. “For many years, the Holy Land Foundation used the guise of charity to raise and funnel millions of dollars to the infrastructure of the Hamas terror organization. This prosecution demonstrates our resolve to ensure that humanitarian relief efforts are not used as a mechanism to disguise and enable support for terrorist groups.”

Nancy Hollander, a lawyer from Albuquerque who represented Mr. Abu-Baker, said the defendants would appeal based on a number of issues, including the anonymous testimony of an expert, which she said was a first.

“Our clients were not even allowed to review their own statements because they were classified — statements that they made over the course of many years that the government wiretapped,” Ms. Hollander said. “They were not allowed to go back and review them. There were statements from alleged co-conspirators that included handwritten notes. Nobody knew who wrote them; nobody knew when they were written. There are a plethora of issues.”

Noor Elashi, a 23-year-old writer who is the daughter of Ghassan Elashi, said she was “heartbroken” that jurors had accepted what she called the fear-mongering of the prosecution.

“I am utterly shocked at this outcome,” Ms. Elashi said. “This is a truly low point for the United States of America.”

She said supporters of the group would not rest until the verdict was overturned.

“My dad is a law-abiding citizen who was persecuted for his humanitarian work in Palestine and his political beliefs,” Ms. Elashi said. “Today I did not shed a single tear. My dad’s smile was radiant. That’s because he saved lives, and now he’s paying the price.”

According to freedomtogive .com, a Web site that calls itself the voice of the defendants’ relatives and friends, the foundation “simply provided food, clothes, shelter, medical supplies and education to the suffering people in Palestine and other countries.”

Antiwar groups fear Barack Obama may create hawkish Cabinet

Activists note that most of the candidates for top security posts voted for the 2002 resolution authorizing President Bush to invade Iraq or otherwise supported launching the war.

By Paul Richter
November 20, 2008

Reporting from Washington -- Antiwar groups and other liberal activists are increasingly concerned at signs that Barack Obama's national security team will be dominated by appointees who favored the Iraq invasion and hold hawkish views on other important foreign policy issues.

The activists are uneasy not only about signs that both Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates could be in the Obama Cabinet, but at reports suggesting that several other short-list candidates for top security posts backed the decision to go to war.

• 

"Obama ran his campaign around the idea the war was not legitimate, but it sends a very different message when you bring in people who supported the war from the beginning," said Kelly Dougherty, executive director of the 54-chapter Iraq Veterans Against the War.

The activists -- key members of the coalition that propelled Obama to the White House -- fear he is drifting from the antiwar moorings of his once-longshot presidential candidacy. Obama has eased the rigid timetable he had set for withdrawing troops from Iraq, and he appears to be leaning toward the center in his candidates to fill key national security posts.

The president-elect has told some Democrats that he expects to take heat from parts of his political base but will not be deterred by it.

Aside from Clinton and Gates, the roster of possible Cabinet secretaries has included Sens. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), who both voted in 2002 for the resolution authorizing President Bush to invade Iraq, though Lugar has since said he regretted it.

"It's astonishing that not one of the 23 senators or 133 House members who voted against the war is in the mix," said Sam Husseini of the liberal group Institute for Public Accuracy.

Clinton, who was Obama's chief opponent during the Democratic presidential primaries, appears to be the top candidate for secretary of State in his administration. Speculation about Clinton has dismayed some liberal activists but has cheered some conservatives such as former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and editor William Kristol of the Weekly Standard.

Clinton voted in favor of the Iraq war resolution, and despite pressure, she never said during the primary campaign that she regretted that vote. She also favored legislation last year to support the designation of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, another decision that pleased conservatives.

In a move to advance her candidacy, Clinton's husband, former President Clinton, has agreed to take steps to avoid conflicts of interest posed by his far-flung financial dealings, Democrats close to the discussions said Wednesday.

Bill Clinton has agreed to check with the Obama administration before giving a paid speech. He also has agreed to disclose the sources of new contributions to his charitable enterprise, the William J. Clinton Foundation, those close to the matter said on condition of anonymity.

He also is trying to devise a way to share the identity of past donors, a touchy matter because some contributors do not want their identities divulged, said one Democrat.

Knowledgeable Democrats say that Gates is under consideration to remain in his post for at least several months even though he frequently has said he wants to return to private life when the Bush administration leaves office.

Activists note that Vice President-elect Joe Biden, also expected to be a leading voice in the new administration's foreign policy, voted for the 2002 war resolution.

Another possible contender for the diplomatic post, former U.S. diplomat Richard C. Holbrooke, also backed the Iraq invasion.

Kevin Martin, executive director of the group Peace Action, said that although Obama had campaigned as an agent of change, the president-elect is "a fairly centrist guy" who appears to be choosing from the Democratic foreign policy establishment -- "and nobody from outside it."

"So, in the short term, we're going to be disappointed," he said. "They may turn out to be all pro-war, or at least people who were pro-war in the beginning."

Martin said that his group was concerned about Gates and Clinton as well as Rahm Emanuel, Obama's choice for White House chief of staff. He also said his group was trying to mobilize its grass-roots supporters with e-mail alerts, but recognized that it must approach the subject delicately because of public euphoria over Obama's historic victory.

"There's so much Obama hero worship, we're having to walk this line where we can't directly criticize him," he said. "But we are expressing concern."

Peace Action urged in a letter for its members to speak up because "we can be sure that the Obama team is under pressure to dial back plans to withdraw from Iraq."

Despite concerns, some groups are trying to remain conciliatory.

Tom Andrews, national director of Win Without War, said that although he finds Sen. Clinton's views "very troubling," Obama should be given the benefit of the doubt.

"I take him at his word that he is committed to ending the occupation of Iraq in 16 months and that he's going to assemble a team that's committed to that goal," Andrews said.

Obama campaigned on a promise to remove all combat troops from Iraq in 16 months, or roughly one brigade a month.

Since winning the White House, Obama has affirmed his pledge to remove the troops but has left himself some flexibility on the withdrawal timetable.

In an appearance on CBS' "60 Minutes" on Sunday, Obama promised a troop pullback but described it in broad terms.

"I've said during the campaign, and I've stuck to this commitment, that as soon as I take office, I will call in the Joint Chiefs of Staff, my national security apparatus, and we will start executing a plan that draws down our troops," the president-elect said.

Richter is a writer in our Washington bureau.

paul.richter@latimes.com

Times staff writer Peter Nicholas in Washington contributed to this article.

Israel spurns UN plea to ease Gaza blockade

By AMY TEIBEL – 5 hours ago

AP

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel stood fast Wednesday by its decision to clamp shut cargo crossings at the Gaza Strip, brushing off pleas to ease the blockade from United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon.

Israel sealed the passages two weeks ago after a 5-month-old truce between Israel and Gaza militants started unraveling in an effort to halt rocket and mortar fire at Israeli border towns.

The crossings, a main source of imports to Gaza, have been cracked open occasionally to allow in fuel and vital supplies. But the closures have drastically reduced the amount of goods entering the already impoverished seaside territory of 1.4 million people, causing shortages of many basic goods.

On Tuesday, Ban called Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "to express his deep concern over the consequences of the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza," the U.N. said in a statement.

"He strongly urged the prime minister to facilitate the freer movement of urgently needed humanitarian supplies and of concerned United Nations personnel into Gaza," the statement said.

Olmert said Israel was not to blame for the deterioration of conditions in Gaza, according to the prime minister's office. "Gazans have only Hamas' regime of terror to blame," he said.

Hamas, an Islamic militant group committed to Israel's destruction, has ruled Gaza since violently overrunning the territory in June 2007.

On Tuesday, the U.N.'s top human rights official, Navi Pillay, called for an immediate end to the blockade, saying Gazans "have been forcibly deprived of their most basic human rights for months."

Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Army Radio on Wednesday that "there has to be quiet for the crossings to open."

Israel and Hamas have been observing a truce since June. The cease-fire has largely held until Israeli troops entered Gaza early this month to destroy a tunnel they said militants had dug to attack Israel. At least 17 militants have been killed since, and militants have fired about 150 rockets and mortars at Israel, by the military's count.

The June 19 cease-fire is to expire in December. The fighting might be an attempt by both sides to dictate more favorable terms for renewing the truce.

There were tenuous indications, however, that the violence might be subsiding. No major clashes were reported on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Barak said "it's possible" there are signs militants were holding their fire.

"If the other side decides after all to go toward a truce, then there will be a truce," he said. But if militants escalate the violence, then Israel will launch a large-scale military operation, he said.

Israel has so far balked at such a campaign, concerned it would generate heavy casualties without effectively suppressing rocket fire. Israel also could be reluctant to invade Gaza ahead of Feb. 10 parliamentary elections.

Hamas leaders also have said they would like the calm to be restored.

Before the truce was reached, militants barraged Israel with near-daily rocket attacks, provoking sometimes harsh military retaliation that killed hundreds of Palestinians, including many civilians.

The installation of the new commander of Israel's Gaza division had been put off last week because of the tension along the border. But defense officials said Brig. Gen. Eyal Eisenberg would take over the Gaza command on Wednesday, replacing Brig. Gen. Moshe Tamir, who had commanded the division for two years.

Hamas seized power of Gaza by ousting security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who now controls only the West Bank. The rift has complicated Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which resumed last year after a seven-year breakdown. Israel says it won't implement any peace accord as long as Hamas controls the territory.

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama called Abbas on Tuesday to tell him he would spare no effort to facilitate a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Wednesday.

In the West Bank, meanwhile, a court-ordered deadline expired for Jewish settlers to leave a four-story building in the volatile city of Hebron.

On Sunday, Israel's Supreme Court gave the settlers until noon Wednesday to leave the house. The settlers ignored the ruling, which also said they must be evicted within 30 days if they don't leave voluntarily. Barak said the government would comply with the court order, but added defense officials would first try to persuade the settlers to leave on their own.

About 500 of the most extreme Israeli settlers live in Hebron in heavily guarded enclaves among 170,000 Palestinians. If Israeli security forces evict them from the building, violent clashes are likely.

Settlers moved in early last year after claiming they bought the building from a Palestinian. The Palestinian denies the claim and Israeli authorities have not recognized the sale as legal. The court ruled that the settlers must turn the house over to the state until a lower court decides who the legal owner is.

Texas grand jury indicts Cheney, Gonzales of crime

Reuters
Wed Nov 19, 2008 2:49am EST

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A grand jury in South Texas indicted U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and former attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Tuesday for "organized criminal activity" related to alleged abuse of inmates in private prisons.

The indictment has not been seen by a judge, who could dismiss it.

The grand jury in Willacy County, in the Rio Grande Valley near the U.S.-Mexico border, said Cheney is "profiteering from depriving human beings of their liberty," according to a copy of the indictment obtained by Reuters.

The indictment cites a "money trail" of Cheney's ownership in prison-related enterprises including the Vanguard Group, which owns an interest in private prisons in south Texas.

Former attorney general Gonzales used his position to "stop the investigations as to the wrong doings" into assaults in county prisons, the indictment said.

Cheney's office declined comment. "We have not received any indictments. I can't comment on something we have not received," said Cheney's spokeswoman Megan Mitchell.

The indictment, overseen by county District Attorney Juan Guerra, cites the case of Gregorio De La Rosa, who died on April 26, 2001, inside a private prison in Willacy County.

The grand jury wrote it made its decision "with great sadness," but said they had no other choice but to indict Cheney and Gonzales "because we love our country."

Texas is the home state of U.S. President George W. Bush.

Bush and his Republican administration, which first took office in January 2001, leave the White House on January 20 after the November presidential elections won by Democrat Barack Obama. Gonzales was attorney general from 2005 to 2007.

(Reporting by Chris Baltimore and JoAnne Allen, Editing by Frances Kerry)

Challenging Corporate Control of Water

No! to Privatization, Yes! to Community Control of Water

Date: Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Time: 7:00 – 9:30 PM
Venue: Mission Cultural Center, 2868 Mission Street, San Francisco

On December 2nd and 3rd, global corporations will meet in San Francisco at a conference called "Corporate Water Footprinting: Towards a Sustainable Water Strategy," to discuss their use of water, and ostensibly, outline water conservation strategies.

A conference geared towards sustainable use of water is indeed welcome, but having the largest water abusers in charge is not.

Given the central role of water-intensive companies in the conference – Coca-Cola, Pepsico, Nestlé Waters, MillerCoors, Intel, Dean Foods, General Electric, ConAgra Foods – and the glaring absence of perspectives from those without access to water – it is clear that the conference is designed primarily to greenwash the practices of these very companies that have, in many cases, led to water scarcity and water contamination resulting in the denial of people's access to water.

Access to water is a fundamental human right. With more than a billion people – about one in six – lacking access to safe drinking water, it is imperative that the international community act urgently to meet the growing challenge of providing access to water to everyone.

Join us to challenge the corporate agenda of privatization of water and place the focus on strengthening public institutions so that they do what they are supposed to do – deliver a public good to the public at large.

Speakers will include:

• Maude Barlow, Blue Planet Project, Council of Canadians, Special Advisor on Water to the United Nations
• Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director, Food and Water Watch
• Caleen Sisk-Franco, Chief, Winnemum Wintu Tribe
• Amit Srivastava, Coordinator, International Campaign Against Coca-Cola and India Resource Center

Sponsored by: Blue Planet Project/Council of Canadians, Food and Water Watch, India Resource Center, Indigenous Environmental Network, International Campaign Against Coca-Cola

Initial endorsers include: Alliance for Democracy, Center for Political Education, Design Action, Environmental Justice Coalition for Water, Global Exchange, Movement Generation, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, International Forum on Globalization, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, International Rivers, Oakland Institute, Other Worlds, The Public Trust Alliance, Peoples Health Movement.

For more info or to endorse, contact Jeff at jconant@fwwatch.org or Amit at info@indiaresource.org

See our position paper at http://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2008/challengecorporatecontrol.html

Foreign Reporters Fight Israeli Bar on Entering Gaza

New York Times

By ISABEL KERSHNER
Published: November 18, 2008

JERUSALEM — An association representing international news organizations is campaigning for an end to an unusual Israeli ban on foreign reporters’ entering to Gaza that has lasted for almost two weeks.

The local Foreign Press Association, which represents reporters working for foreign news companies in Israel and the Palestinian territories, asked presidents of major news organizations on Tuesday to sign a letter to the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, protesting the ban. The association said it was also enlisting the help of a number of foreign governments and was consulting with lawyers regarding possible court proceedings.

Israel has almost entirely sealed the crossing points along its border with Gaza since a five-month cease-fire with Hamas, which controls the strip, began to unravel on Nov. 4. At least 15 Palestinian militants have been killed in clashes with Israeli forces since, and about 140 rockets and mortar shells have been fired from Gaza into southern Israel, according to the Israeli military.

Although Israel has often closed the border crossings and halted deliveries of goods and fuel into Gaza in response to rocket fire, foreign journalists have usually been allowed to cross in and out to report.

This time, according to Shlomo Dror, a spokesman for the Israeli Defense Ministry, all movement in and out of Gaza is being halted, except for essential humanitarian cases.

“The decision is not directed against journalists,” Mr. Dror said. “The situation in Gaza is clear — there is daily firing, we have information about possible attacks on the crossings, and we are limiting our activity there as much as possible.”

With that, Mr. Dror added that he was not “shedding tears” over the journalists’ frustration, saying that Israel in any case considered much of their previous coverage from Gaza unfair.

Last week, 20 European consuls who were scheduled to meet with business leaders and human rights activists in Gaza were denied entry, on grounds that their mission was not strictly humanitarian.

On Monday Israel allowed 33 trucks of basic food and medical supplies in, as international aid organizations warned that their operations in Gaza were being jeopardized. Israel has also allowed one limited delivery of fuel, and Mr. Dror said that a number of Gazans in need of medical treatment had been allowed to leave.

He denied that there was any food or fuel crisis in Gaza, and said that the crossings would reopen after the Palestinians stopped their fire.

The truce broke down after an Israeli force entered Gaza to destroy a tunnel the military feared Hamas might use to abduct soldiers in a cross-border raid. The Islamic group took control of Gaza in 2007.

On Tuesday, Israeli forces carried out what the military described as a “routine operation” along the border fence in southern Gaza, searching for explosives, and three rockets were fired from Gaza into southern Israel.

Fifteen Palestinian fishermen and 3 internationals abducted from Palestinian waters off the coast of Gaza

November 18th, 2008 | Posted in Press Releases, Gaza Region |

Gaza City, 10 a.m.-

Fifteen Palestinian fishermen and 3 international Human Rights Observers (HRO's) were surrounded by the Israeli Navy and taken from their boats 7 miles off the coast of Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip.

The fishermen and the HRO's were transferred from 3 separate boats to the Israeli warships. Other Palestinian fishermen reported that the 3 boats were seen being taken north by the Israeli Navy.

The Human Rights Observers are Andrew Muncie, a Scottish British citizen, Vittorio Arrigoni, an Italian citizen, and Darlene Wallach, an American citizen. They have been volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) since they entered Gaza on ships with the first Free Gaza Movement voyage on the 23rd August 2008. All internationals have previous experience working with the ISM in the West Bank.

Fellow activists have been unable to establish contact with the HRO's or with the fishermen since they were abducted.

Since their arrival, the ISM volunteers have been regularly accompanying Palestinian fishermen who are regularly attacked by Israeli navy vessels from as little as 3km from shore. They have regularly filmed Israeli forces using live ammunition, shells and water cannons against unarmed fishermen.

When confronted by the Israeli Navy, the boats were 7 nautical miles from the shore of Deir al Balah, well within the fishing limit detailed in the Oslo Accords of 1994.

With regular claims that from the Israeli government that it has 'disengaged' from Gaza, these patrols and attacks from the Israeli navy, regularly occuring from as little as 3 miles from shore, represent a clear signal of the continuation of occupation of Gazan territory as well as regular breaches of the current cease-fire.

Over 40,000 people in Gaza make a living from the fishing industry, yet this community has been decimated by Israeli restrictions on fishing rights and the prevention of fuel from reaching the Gaza Strip.

According to the Fishing Syndicate in Gaza, fishermen need 40,000 litres of fuel and 40,000 litres of natural gas each day to operate throughout the high fishing season.

Starting in April each year, there is a migration of fish from the Nile Delta to Turkish waters which Palestinian fishermen have traditionally relied upon. Yet Israel limits fishing 6 miles from the Gaza shore and regularly attacks those who venture further than 3 miles - over 70 fishermen were arrested last year by the Israeli forces. The large schools that form the migration are usually found 10 miles from shore. The average catch of fish was over 3000 tons a year in the 1990's, now it is around 500 tons directly due to the Israeli siege of Gaza.

Also, the water in which the fishermen of Gaza sail in is now receiving 50 million litres of sewage per day because the people of Gaza have no alternative due to the lack of power supplies to sewage treatment facilities.

Holocaust's unholy hold

Opinion
Los Angeles Times

The deeper we are stuck in our Auschwitz past, the more difficult it becomes to be free of it.
By Avraham Burg
November 16, 2008

Reporting from Nataf, Israel -- Even today, when economic storms are shaking markets around the world, posing a threat to the stability of entire countries and societies, Israel continues to conduct its business far from the turmoil, as if swimming in a private ocean of its own. True, the headlines are alerting the public here about the crisis, and the politicians are hastily recalculating their budgets. But none of this is dramatically changing the way we think about ourselves.

To Israelis, these issues are mundane. What really matters here is the all-important spirit of Trauma, the true basis for so many of our country's life principles. In Israel, the darkest period in human history is always present. Regardless of whether the question at hand is of the future relations between Israel and our Palestinian neighbors in specific and the Arab world in general, or of the Iranian atomic threat and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, it always comes down to the same conversation. Every threat or grievance of major or minor importance is dealt with automatically by raising the biggest argument of them all -- the Shoah -- and from that moment onward, every discussion is disrupted.

The constant presence of the Shoah is like a buzz in my ear. In Israel, children are always, it seems, preparing for their rite-of-passage "Auschwitz trip" to Poland. Not a day passes without a mention of the Holocaust in the only newspaper I read, Haaretz. The Shoah is like a hole in the ozone layer: unseen yet present, abstract yet powerful. It's more present in our lives than God.

It is the founding experience not just of our national consciousness but of more than that. Army generals discuss Israeli security doctrine as "Shoah-proof." Politicians use it as a central argument for their ethical manipulations.

The Shoah is so pervasive that a study conducted a few years ago in a Tel Aviv school for teachers found that more than 90% of those questioned view it as the most important experience of Jewish history. That means it is more important than the creation of the world, the exodus from Egypt, the delivering of the Torah on Mt. Sinai, the ruin of both Holy Temples, the exile, the birth of Zionism, the founding of the state or the 1967 Six-Day War.

The Shoah is woven, to varying degrees, into almost all of Israel's political arguments; over time, we have taken the Shoah from its position of sanctity and turned it into an instrument of common and even trite politics. It represents a past that is present, maintained, monitored, heard and represented. Our dead do not rest in peace. They are busy, active, always a part of our sad lives.

Of course, memory is essential to any nation's mental health. The Shoah must always have an important place in the nation's memorial mosaic. But the way things are done today -- the absolute monopoly and the dominance of the Shoah on every aspect of our lives -- transforms this holy memory into a ridiculous sacrilege and converts piercing pain into hollowness and kitsch. As time passes, the deeper we are stuck in our Auschwitz past, the more difficult it becomes to be free of it.

What does the primacy of the Shoah mean in terms of our politics and policy? For one thing, it becomes virtually impossible to find a conversation carried out with reason, patience, self-control or restraint. Take Iran as an example. With regard to Iran, as with any other security matter that has potentially existential consequences, we have no thoughts at all -- only instincts and trauma-driven impulses. Who has ever heard of alternative approaches to the Iranian issue, of strategic arguments underlying the passionate emotions, the old fears and violent rhetoric?

Few people in Israel are willing to try to perceive reality through a different set of conceptual lenses other than those of extermination and defensive isolation. Few are willing to try on the glasses of understanding and of hope for dialogue. Instead, the question is always: Is a second Shoah on the way?

This is one of the strongest reasons why I voluntarily withdrew from political life in Israel. I couldn't help feeling that Israel has become a kingdom lacking in vision and without a prophetic horizon. On the surface, everything is in order; decisions are carried out, life moves on, the ship sails along. But where is this movement heading? No one knows. The sailors are rowing without seeing anything; the lower-ranking officers are holding their eyes up to the leadership, but the leaders are not capable of seeing past each coming, rising, tumbling wave. No one is looking ahead, searching for a new continent. Instead, we are looking backward, held hostage by memory.

I cannot be an accomplice in such a way of life, with no spiritual compass or moral direction. Never -- or so I've been taught from infancy -- have the Jewish people existed only for the sake of existence; never have we survived only in order to survive; never have we carried on for the sole purpose of carrying on by itself.

The Jewish existence was always directed upward. Not only toward our king and father in the heavens, but also our gaze upward was an answer to the great call of humanity; an answer of liberty in the times of enslavement in Egypt, an answer to the need of a righteous and egalitarian law in the days of Sinai when we wandered through the desert, an answer to the call of human universalism manifest in the Scriptures of the great prophets, and finally, an answer to the cry opposing unjust and imperial occupation throughout late antiquity.

Even the Zionist idea was not merely an attempt to rescue the Jews from violent anti-Semitic prosecutors, but rather was a heroic attempt to establish a model society. Zionism meant to create a society that avoided any form of discrimination or oppressive policy toward non-Jews, of the kind under which Jews had suffered for more than two millenniums.

This utopian vision has fallen silent in Israel. Concerns for personal survival and well-being, as well as fear about the ongoing bloodshed and security emergencies, about Gaza and Iran and the realities of demographics and population, have silenced the moral debate and blocked the horizons of vision and creative thinking.

I believe Israel must move away from trauma to trust, that we must abandon the "everything is Auschwitz" mentality and substitute for it an impulse toward liberty and democracy.

I fully understand that this will require a slow process of change. It will take more than one or two years for a new Jewish humanism to be accepted, allowing Israel to become a less traumatic place, a country in which school trips do not only present Israel's high school students with extermination camps. Israel must rethink its strict law of return (which defines Jewishness the same way Hitler did), its relationship with Germany, and it must reaffirm its commitment to being a democratic state of the Jewish people, a state that belongs to all of its citizens, in which the majority decides on its character and essence, with the utmost sensitivity to all the "others" -- and especially the Arab non-Jewish minority.

I have a vision of Israel as the driving force behind a global peace process and worldwide reconciliation and as a society guided by a deep sense of responsibility to world justice, but it's difficult to accept this vision when we are confronted every day with the hardship and perpetual bloodshed reflected in our newspapers. My hope is for a Jewish people that insists "never again" -- not only for Jewish victims but for anyone who suffers around the globe today.

Avraham Burg, former speaker of the Israeli parliament, is a businessman and author, most recently, of "The Holocaust Is Over; We Must Rise From Its Ashes," published this month by Palgrave Macmillan.

Barack Obama links Israel peace plan to 1967 borders deal

November 16, 2008

Uzi Mahnaimi in Tel Aviv and Sarah Baxter

Barack Obama is to pursue an ambitious peace plan in the Middle East involving the recognition of Israel by the Arab world in exchange for its withdrawal to pre-1967 borders, according to sources close to America’s president-elect.

Obama intends to throw his support behind a 2002 Saudi peace initiative endorsed by the Arab League and backed by Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister and leader of the ruling Kadima party.

The proposal gives Israel an effective veto on the return of Arab refugees expelled in 1948 while requiring it to restore the Golan Heights to Syria and allow the Palestinians to establish a state capital in east Jerusalem.

On a visit to the Middle East last July, the president-elect said privately it would be “crazy” for Israel to refuse a deal that could “give them peace with the Muslim world”, according to a senior Obama adviser.

The Arab peace plan received a boost last week when President Shimon Peres, a Nobel peace laureate and leading Israeli dove, commended the initiative at a Saudi-sponsored United Nations conference in New York.

Peres was loudly applauded for telling King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who was behind the original initiative: “I wish that your voice will become the prevailing voice of the whole region, of all people.”

A bipartisan group of senior foreign policy advisers urged Obama to give the Arab plan top priority immediately after his election victory. They included Lee Hamilton, the former co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group, and Zbigniew Brzezinski, a Democrat former national security adviser. Brzezinski will give an address tomorrow at Chatham House, the international relations think tank, in London.

Brent Scowcroft, a Republican former national security adviser, joined in the appeal. He said last week that the Middle East was the most troublesome area in the world and that an early start to the Palestinian peace process was “a way to psychologically change the mood of the region”.

Advisers believe the diplomatic climate favours a deal as Arab League countries are under pressure from radical Islamic movements and a potentially nuclear Iran. Polls show that Palestinians and Israelis are in a mood to compromise.

The advisers have told Obama he should lose no time in pursuing the policy in the first six to 12 months in office while he enjoys maximum goodwill.

Obama is also looking to break a diplomatic deadlock over Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons technology. A possible way forward, suggested last spring by Dennis Ross, a senior Obama adviser and former Middle East envoy, would be to persuade Russia to join in tough economic sanctions against Iran by offering to modify the US plan for a “missile shield” in eastern Europe.

President Dmitry Medvedev signalled that Russia could cancel a tit-for-tat deployment of missiles close to the Polish border if America gave up its proposed missile defences in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Ross argued in a paper on How to Talk to Iran that “if the Iranian threat goes away, so does the principal need to deploy these [antimissile] forces. [Vladimir] Putin [the Russian prime minister] has made this such a symbolic issue that this trade-off could be portrayed as a great victory for him”.

Ross and Daniel Kurtzer, a former American ambassador to Israel, accompanied Obama on a visit to Israel last July. They also travelled to Ramallah, where Obama questioned Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, about the prospects for the Arab plan.

According to a Washington source Obama told Abbas: “The Israelis would be crazy not to accept this initiative. It would give them peace with the Muslim world from Indonesia to Morocco.”

Kurtzer submitted a paper to Obama on the question before this month’s presidential elections. He argued that trying to reach bilateral peace agreements between Israel and individual countries in the Middle East, was a recipe for failure as the record of Bill Clinton and George W Bush showed. In contrast, the broader Arab plan “had a lot of appeal”. A leading Democratic expert on the Middle East said: “There’s not a lot of meat on the bones yet, but it offers recognition of Israel across the Arab world.”

Livni, the leader of Kadima, which favours the plan, is the front-runner in Israeli elections due in February. Her rival, Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of Likud, is adamantly against withdrawing to borders that predate the Six Day war in 1967.

Ehud Olmert, the prime minister, last week expressed his support for Israel’s withdrawal from the West Bank Golan and east Jerusalem.

Blockaded Gaza 'faces disaster'

Israel has blamed rocket attacks by militants for the blockade

The UK-based aid agency Oxfam has warned of catastrophe for Gaza and nearby areas of Israel if a truce agreed last June is not maintained.

Oxfam called on world leaders to do everything they could to break Israel's blockade of Gaza and urged Israel to resume supplies without delay.

Israel has shut border crossings in response to rocket attacks from Palestinian militants in Gaza.

Earlier Israel fired missiles at targets in northern Gaza.

Two Palestinian militants were injured in the attacks, while one Israeli was injured in militant attacks on the town of Sderot.

Palestinian rockets also hit near the Israeli town of Ashkelon, 15km (nine miles) from Gaza. No injuries were reported.

'Peace endangered'

Oxfam said both sides would suffer if fighting continued.

"If Israelis and Palestinians alike don't exert every effort now to maintain the truce which has held since last June, the result could be catastrophic for civilians both in Gaza and in nearby Israeli towns," the agency's executive director, Jeremy Hobbs, said in a statement.

Gaza shut to fuel and journalists Guide: Gaza blockade

He said Gazans had been routinely denied unhindered access to fuel, medicines and essential goods for the last year-and-a-half.

"Failure of the international community to act decisively will only exacerbate human suffering and could further endanger chances for peace," Mr Hobbs added.

On Thursday, UN officials said aid for 750,000 Gazans would have to be suspended until Saturday at the earliest.

Israel earlier denied entry to a convoy carrying humanitarian supplies. It has prevented the transfer of all goods into Gaza for nearly a week, blaming continuing rocket attacks by Palestinian militants.

The current round of clashes and rocket fire began on 5 November when Israeli troops entered Gaza to destroy what Israel said was a tunnel dug by militants to abduct its troops.

Hamas responded with a barrage of rockets fired into Israel. There has been intermittent rocket fire since.

A truce between the two sides declared on 19 June had largely held. Both sides have accused the other of violating the truce, but maintain that they remain committed to it.

Eric's at it again- Censoring criticizism of Zionist Judaism

Eric's is afraid to debate me about Judaism. He's censoring my posts criticizing Judaism. Eric's becoming another Heraldo who cannot face criticism of very bad political ideology in action. Rose tells me this is typical of your Lefties when cornered on abuse of power. They just won't answer to the community for their actions.

I want all of you reading Eric's blog daily to stop and really think about my criticism of Judaism and how it somehow cannot be criticized like Christianity or Islam or Scientology or Mormonism or Santeria with these self-appointed defenders of the Jewish faith screaming "anti-semitism" and using anything they can lay their hands on to shut the critic up. And as all who have followed the careers of prominent anti-Zionist critics know, Jewish defense organizations are very capable of doing serious damage to people's careers and social reputations.

That blog followers here allow Eric to act the Zionist enforcer of this type of religious bigotry, (and it is bigotry against a Christian critic because Eric has allowed severe criticism of Islam to go on quite unabated on his blog even going the extra mile to host anti-Islamic speakers like his fellow lawyer Andy Stunich) Does Eric call Andy an "anti-Semite"? No, even though Andy seriously attacks Semitic people's religion. That is because Eric is a self-appointed Jewish defender here, defending the faith of his wife, boss, and Leftist ideological roots with the same anti-democracy tactics used by political thugs in power--Censorship of critics.

How many times to I have to say this to the community to have it heard? If it were not for Israel and our US support for this rogue state that continually violates human rights of Palestinians, I wouldn't be really any more concerned with Jewish stuff than I am of Scientologists or Hindus. There's a ton of wacky organized religions out there and Judaism is only one of them. But Scientologists don't have Washington's foreign policy wrapped around their little fingers while Zionist Jews do and so, as a patriot I warn Americans against this abuse of Separation of Church and State in favor of one religion that has all the earmarks of that word Eric won't let me post but you all know what I'm talking about regardless of our self-appointed Zionist guardian making sure you don't think too hard about a religion that is opposed to the spirituality of the majority of humankind.

Posts criticizing Zionism and Judaism deleted by Eric:

"Overly sensitive", oh yes I am "overly sensitive" to seeing religious fanatics from Europe invade and steal another people's land as if they never learned their lesson from doing the same thing in the Americas, Australia and Africa. And as we all know all too well, European racism was a prime motivator for genociding local indigenous populations to make way for the superior beings.

There is no "nuance" for blatant racism, anon 10:05, and I am sorry that I have to point this fact out again and again. Ashkenazi Jews, who all stem from Jewish conversion of the Khazar kingdom in order to avoid war with Roman Catholic armies on their West, Byzantine Catholic armies to their east, and Muslim armies to their south. In 1961 Ashkenazi Jewish converts comprised 92% of ALL Jews worldwide, and led by Ashkenazi Hertz's Zionist call, these Ashkenazi Jews from Europe and America primarily invaded Palestine and at once began a systematic program of ethnic cleansing of Gentile Arab Palestinians.

This horrible invasion was orchestrated by American and European world powers controlling the UN vote to pass this atrocity to Palestinian human rights through their Security Council role and the West accepted it as a done deal, with gratitude, because they didn't have to bear the physical consequences of their own genocide of Jews in Europe. They made Palestinians pay for the European holocaust and continue to pay and pay and pay with their lives, with their land stolen, and this is why Israel will not last and cannot. It is a European cancer placed in Arab Middle East and has befouled every human right mandate there is for oppressed peoples besides blaspheming the name of God in exactly the same manner as Catholics, Protestants, and Muslims before them, all racists in action (not Muslims though-just intolerant religious fanatics) until Greek-derived democratic rights overturned Abrahamic religious bigotry. Judaism is the world's oldest paranoid cult and has no place in modern society except as a museum relic.


If any Jews are interested in deprogramming from their cult indoctrination please let me know as I can furnish them more than enough historical reasons for dropping the Cult as a racist organization.


Btw, I would be offering the same to Spanish Catholics and English Protestants were these the 1800's, 1700's, 1600's, 1500's, all of whom used God for cover for blatant racist genocidal attack on non-Christian peoples.

Eric, our local Zionist blog enforcer won't allow me to tell Jews if they want to deprogram from their religious (oh I can't print the actual word or Eric deletes it) K K K U U U L L L T T T, let me know and I will provide all the necessary historical information showing how this Brahmin racial caste ideology made its way into the Jewish religion. Eric the wannabe Jew feels necessary to censor such negative racial warfare information about the K K K U U U L L L T T T just like an Aryan Nation white supremist censoring their racial warfare agenda. But the racial warfare truth neither white supremists can ever cover up, nor Eric or Zionists either because the Zionist racial purification program so easily shows up all over the news coming out of Palestine for the last 60 years. If Eric deletes this post, look for it on mine or Rose's under the Heraldo censored posts.