Galileo and Bruno trial moves closer: Vatican rejects bishop's apology

Bishop Williamson in the UK
The bishop said he did not mean to cause offence

The Vatican has rejected an apology by a British bishop who denied the full extent of the Holocaust.

It said the bishop needed to "unequivocally and publicly" withdraw his comments.

Earlier, Jewish leaders said the bishop had failed to address the issue of whether he believed that the Holocaust was a lie.

Richard Williamson said if he had known the full harm his comments would cause, he would not have made them.

'Ambiguous' apology

The bishop said that his opinions had been formed "20 years ago on the basis of evidence then available".

But Vatican spokesman Rev Federico Lombardi said the bishop "does not seem to respect the conditions" it set after he had made the comments.

Meanwhile Renzo Gattegna, the president of Italy's Jewish Communities, described the apology as "absolutely ambiguous".

Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, said the statement "is not the kind of an apology that would end this matter" because it failed to address the central issue.

The row began after Bishop Williamson was reinstated into the Church.

The Vatican has been embroiled in an international row after Pope Benedict XVI lifted an excommunication order on the British bishop in January.

Church leaders said the Pope had not been aware at the time of an interview given by the bishop, a member of the traditionalist Society of St Pius X (SSPX), to a Swedish TV programme last November.

In it, he disputed that six million Jews had been killed by the Nazis, and said that none had died in gas chambers.

The Pope has since called on Bishop Williamson to recant his views.


The one thing he doesn't say, and the main thing, is that the Holocaust occurred, that it is not a fabrication, that it is not a lie
Rabbi Marvin Hier

In a statement published on the SSPX website, the bishop says his superior, Bishop Bernard Fellay, and the Pope "requested that I reconsider the remarks I made on Swedish television four months ago, because their consequences have been so heavy".

"Observing these consequences I can truthfully say that I regret having made such remarks, and that if I had known beforehand the full harm and hurt to which they would give rise, especially to the Church, but also to survivors and relatives of victims of injustice under the Third Reich, I would not have made them."

He added: "On Swedish television I gave only the opinion… of a non-historian, an opinion formed 20 years ago on the basis of evidence then available and rarely expressed in public since.

"However, the events of recent weeks and the advice of senior members of the Society of St Pius X have persuaded me of my responsibility for much distress caused. To all souls that took honest scandal from what I said before God I apologise."

The BBC's religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott says the apology stops short of fully recanting the bishop's earlier statements.

The bishop was one of four ultraconservative SSPX bishops whose excommunications were lifted by Pope Benedict XVI on an unrelated matter.

He is back in the UK after being expelled from Argentina earlier this week for concealing "the true motive for his stay in the country".

Bishop Williamson had been the director of a seminary in La Reja, but had said he was an employee of a non-governmental group rather than declaring "his true activity", Argentina's interior ministry said.

U.S. will not attend U.N. conference on racism

Fri Feb 27, 2009 2:15pm EST

Latest report from Mazim Qumsiyeh

[People asked about how to write to thank the President of the UN General Assembly for identifying the etiology of our problems in the Middle East. Here is the link

http://www.un.org/ga/president/63/contactus.asp]

Yesterday we had dinner with a family from the old city of Jerusalem who visited us here in Beit Sahour. They can visit us (for now), but we can’t visit them. They explained how the Israeli authorities have been increasing the pressures to empty Jerusalem of its non-Jewish residents through a myriad of regulations, laws, harassment, attempts to buy them out and far more. For example regulations make it impossible for native Palestinian to build or improve anything in their homes but Israel issues thousands of building permits for Jews in Arab East Jerusalem (annexed illegally by Israel contrary to International law). There are even neighborhoods in the old city that cannot get visitors from other parts of the city (their own relatives even) and are essentially living in prison like conditions. The Palestinians and all International and Israeli human rights groups are now frantically trying to prevent the demolition of homes that house over 1500 Palestinians in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. The Israeli authorities laid their hands on buildings in the old city and confiscated lands near the old city and built colonial settlement outposts throughout Arab East Jerusalem. These scattered colonial settlements are now being “connected” via underground tunnels under Arab owned houses or directly above ground by demolishing these houses. The rest of the occupied West Bank is also similarly effected. For an example of how Israel’s “master plans of development” are really master plans of ethnic cleansing, read this report

http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=1679

(warning: this will make you angry)

But it is not just humans that are the victims of Zionist masterplans. Nature is also. With a huge network of military bases, industrial zones, new infrastructure (for Jewish settlers so as not to use or improve Palestinian roads), massive apartheid walls, and disregard for environmental protection, the West Bank has become an environmental disaster area. The loss of village lands (to land confiscation, walls,, etc) around Bethlehem area for example made many villagers come live in Bethlehem which makes it a very crowded area and there are few open areas (some of which receive sewage and trash from Jewish settlements). The extent of the environmental damage is more noticeable to me as a biologist.

I know this since I studied animals here for three decades and places that I used to be able to catch and study many animals representing many species now yield nothing or at best one or two lonely animals of one ubiquitous species. The toads in the valley near my house are all gone (an early spring sound and image that remains only in my memory). The Israeli water authority steals West Bank water and gives it subsidized to settlers while selling it to us the natives. Even they just reported increased pollutants that make the water from several springs not fit for human consumption (I would not be surprised if they now decide to segregate waters: safe for settlers, polluted for native Palestinians).

The racist destruction is going on here relentlessly and methodically of anything that is not Jewish. It is hard to describe the extent of the damage to someone from outside via email. You really have to visit and witness and see for yourself. The results of the recent Israeli elections merely consolidate and accelerate the inevitable. Those who enable this rogue state to continue doing what it is doing are like those who enable drug/alcohol addicts by supplying them with what they need to continue their self-destructive habits. The Zionist movement is frantically trying to attack the Durban II conference (to be held in Geneva) and ask the Obama administration to apply more pressure to stop this conference from issuing an even milder version of the document of the meeting released in Durban seven years ago about Israeli racism (the US here is the enabler). I found it amazing that according to Haaretz “Senior State Department officials contacted Israeli diplomats and asked them to take swift action to block the Durban initiative.” (http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1064159.html ). These unnamed officials are people like Dennis Ross who worked for the Israeli lobby before working for the state Department. Would this not be considered treason in any other country to put yourself at the services of a foreign country than your own country and your own employer?

Ofcourse Israel is not only a racist state but is a uniquely racist state (see http://www.qumsiyeh.org/isisraelunique/).

History will not be kind to this movement. History will also not be kind to those who were silent and did not act.

Action reminder: Join the Global BDS Action Day, March 30th! (launched at the WSF 2009 in Belém) http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/314

Action: Sign petition to call upon the UN General Assembly to create a special international
tribunal to try Israel, its political and military leaders, for such crimes in violation of international law, human rights law and international humanitarian law in the Palestinian Occupied Territory of which they may be charged.

http://www.petitiononline.com/EAFORD09/petition.html

To the President of the State of Israel and the Director of the Yad Vashem Memorial
Remove Our Grandmother' s Name from the Wall at Yad Vashem
By MICHAEL NEUMANN and OSHA NEUMANN

http://www.uruknet. de/?s1=1& p=52005&s2= 22

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

A bedouin in cyberspace, a villager/fallah at home

Gandhi by Ali Sina

There is no particular reason for this page to be here except that when I look at the picture of Gandhi I am filled with joy and a feeling of serenity surrounds me.
Sometimes when my heart aches because of the injustice that I witness in the world, when I lose my faith in humanity, feel lonely, battered and betrayed by my fellow humans for what they do to their fellow humans I look at Gandhi's face and I regain my faith. I know good exists. And I know that eventually good will prevail.
One day sun will shine, love will reign and there won't be any more injustice.
One day no one will shed tears for the loss of a loved one whose life was cut short because someone thought that his or her religion was not right.
One day no one will be humiliated or discriminated for having the wrong color of skin, wrong caste or wrong gender.
One day no woman will be beaten, stoned, raped or killed to save someone's honor.
One day no one will be cruel to others, cheat them, hurt them or oppress them.
One day we will all feel the pain of each other as if we were members of one body.
Even though this may never happen, I want to believe that it will.
Even though it appears that injustice is the foundation of this universe, I want to believe that justice is.
Even though this may be a lie, I want to believe in this sweet little lie.

The real Israel-Palestine story is in the West Bank

Israel's targeting of civilian resistance to the separation wall proves
the two-state solution is now just a meaningless slogan

Ben White, guardian.co.uk, Friday 20 February 2009 , 14.00 GMT

It is quite likely that you have not heard of the most important
developments this week in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In the
West Bank, while it has been "occupation as normal", there have been
some events that together should be overshadowing Gaza, Gilad Shalit
and Avigdor Lieberman.

First, there have been a large number of Israeli raids on Palestinian
villages, with dozens of Palestinians abducted. These kinds of raids
are, of course, commonplace for the occupied West Bank, but in recent
days it appears the Israeli military has targeted sites of particularly
strong Palestinian civil resistance to the separation wall.

For three consecutive days this week, Israeli forces invaded Jayyous, a
village battling for survival as their agricultural land is
lost to the wall and neighbouring Jewish colony. The soldiers occupied
homes, detained residents, blocked off access roads, vandalised
property, beat protestors, and raised the Israeli flag at the top of
several buildings.

Jayyous is one of the Palestinian villages in the West Bank that has
been non-violently resisting the separation wall for several years now.
It was clear to the villagers that this latest assault was an attempt
to intimidate the protest movement.

Also earlier this week, Israel tightened still further the restrictions
on Palestinian movement and residency rights in East Jerusalem, closing
the remaining passage in the wall in the Ar-Ram neighbourhood of the
city. This means that tens of thousands of Palestinians are now cut off
from the city and those with the right permit will now have to enter
the city by first heading north and using the Qalandiya checkpoint.

Finally - and this time, there was some modest media coverage - it was
revealed that the Efrat settlement near Bethlehem would be expanded by
the appropriation of around 420 acres land as "state land". According
to Efrat's mayor, the plan is to triple the number of residents in the
colony.

Looked at together, these events in the West Bank are of far more
significance than issues being afforded a lot of attention
currently, such as the truce talks with Hamas, or the discussions about
a possible prisoner-exchange deal. Hamas itself has become such a
focus, whether by those who urge talks and cooption or those who
advocate the group's total destruction, that the wider context is
forgotten.

Hamas is not the beginning or the end of this conflict, a movement that
has been around for just the last third of Israel's 60 years. The Hamas
Charter is not a Palestinian national manifesto, and nor is it even
particularly central to today's organisation. Before Hamas existed,
Israel was colonising the occupied territories, and maintaining an
ethnic exclusivist regime; if Hamas disappeared tomorrow, Israeli
colonisation certainly would not.

Recognising what is happening in the West Bank also contextualises the
discussion about Israel's domestic politics, and the ongoing question
about the makeup of a ruling coalition. For the Palestinians, it does
not make much difference who is eventually sitting around the Israeli
cabinet table, since there is a consensus among the parties on one
thing: a firm rejectionist stance with regards to Palestinian
self-determination and sovereignty.

During the coverage of the Israeli elections, while it was clear that
Palestinians mostly did not care which of the candidates for PM won,
the reason for this apathy was not explained. Labor, Likud and Kadima
alike, Israeli governments without fail have continued or intensified
the colonisation of the occupied territories, entrenching Israel's
separate-and-unequal rule, a reality belied by the false "dove"/"hawk"
dichotomy.

Which brings us to the third reason why news from the West Bank is more
significant than the Gaza truce talks or the Netanyahu-Livni rivalry -
it is a further reminder that the two-state solution has completed its
progression from worthy (and often disingenuous) aim to meaningless
slogan, concealing Israel's absorption of all Palestine/Israel and
confinement of the Palestinians into enclaves.

The fact that the West Bank reality means the end of the two-state
paradigm has started to be picked up by mainstream, liberal
commentators in the US, in the wake of the Israeli elections. Juan
Cole, the history professor and blogger, recently pointed out that
there are now only three options left for Palestine/Israel:
"apartheid", "expulsion", or "one state".

The path of the wall, and the number of Palestinians it directly and
indirectly affects, continues to make a mockery of any plan for
Palestinian statehood. Jayyous is just one example of the way in which
the Israeli-planned, fenced-in Palestinian "state-lets" are at odds
with the stated intention of the quartet and so many others, of two
viable states, "side by side". As the World Bank pointed out,
land colonisation is not conducive to economic prosperity or basic
independence.

In occupied East Jerusalem meanwhile, Israel has continued its process
of Judaisation, enforced through bureaucracy and
bulldozers. The latest tightening of the noose in Ar-Ram is one example
of where Palestinian Jerusalemites are at risk of losing their
residency status, victims of what is politely known as the "demographic
battle".

It is impossible to imagine Palestinians accepting a "state" shaped by
the contours of Israel's wall, disconnected not only from East
Jerusalem but even from parts of itself. Yet this is the essence of the
"solution" being advanced by Israeli leaders across party lines. For a
real sense of where the conflict is heading, look to the West Bank, not
just Gaza.

The Question of Palestine United Nations, New York, 24 November 2008 (excerpts):

First a part of a Statement of H.E. Father Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann, President of the UN General Assembly, 57th plenary meeting on agenda item 16, The Question of Palestine
United Nations, New York, 24 November 2008 (excerpts):

I spoke this morning about apartheid and how Israeli policies in the Occupied
Palestinian Territories appear so similar to the apartheid of an earlier era, a
continent away.
I believe it is very important that we in the United Nations use this term. We must not be afraid to call something what it is. It is the United Nations, after all, that passed the International Convention against the Crime of Apartheid, making clear to all the world that such practices of official discrimination must be outlawed wherever they occur.
We heard today from a representative of South African civil society. We know that all around the world, civil society organizations are working to defend Palestinian rights, and are trying to protect the Palestinian population that we, the United Nations, are failing to protect.
More than twenty years ago we in the United Nations took the lead from civil
society when we agreed that sanctions were required to provide a nonviolent means of pressuring South Africa to end its violations.
Today, perhaps we in the United Nations should consider following the lead of a
new generation of civil society, who are calling for a similar non-violent campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions to pressure Israel to end its violations.

Action 1: Everyone is encouraged to have Israel apartheid events March 1-8 (part of an international campaign) http://apartheidweek.org

Action 2: Boycott, divest, sanction: Israeli Coalition of Women for Peace sets up a data base of who profits from the occupatiobn http://www.whoprofits.org

Action 3: Carleton University banned a poster that they claim is offensive (a reality that happened hundreds of times in Palestine is depicted by this Carlos Latuff cartoon)
View the poster here
http://www.apartheidweek.org/sites/apartheidweek.org/files/Israeli%20Apartheid%20Week%202009%20poster.jpg
Then email the Carleton University President, Roseanne Runte, at presidents_office@ carleton. ca demanding that she immediately restore the Charter rights of Carleton students and send a copy of your message of support to Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA Carleton) at saia.carleton@ gmail.com

Action 4: Amnesty International urges freeze on arms sales to Israel (write to them and thank them) http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1066231.html

Action 5: Donate to the Gaza University Reconstruction campaign.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10308.shtml

Action 6: President Obama to Sanction Israel? Write to the US government (also protest the appointment of an Israeli lobbyist as senior advisor on Iran, Dennis Ross who worked for AIPAC offshoot WINEP)

http://endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=1867

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

Bethlehem University

A Bedouin in cyberspace, a villager at home

http://qumsiyeh.org

Palestinian officials obstruct dialogue- Zahar

Tue Feb 24, 2009 10:42am GMT

By Yusri Mohamed

ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - Leading Hamas member Mahmoud Zahar said Tuesday some Palestinian officials, backed by the United States, were obstructing the dialogue due to open between Palestinian groups in Cairo Wednesday.

"There are people who want this dialogue not to take place because they will lose their positions and their privileges," he told Reuters in an interview in the Egyptian town of Ismailia, where he was visiting his wife's Egyptian relatives.

Zahar repeated Hamas complaints that the Fatah movement, which dominates the Palestinian Authority, has detained dozens of Hamas members in the West Bank in the past week. "These matters (the arrests) do not serve dialogue," he added.

The arrests have added to the tension between the two largest Palestinian groups during preparations for the dialogue.

Zahar, who was Palestinian foreign minister in the government Hamas formed after winning elections in 2006, said U.S. intervention was behind the tension. "There are U.S. (intelligence) agencies working in the West Bank," he added.

He also rejected Fatah complaints about arrests by Hamas in Gaza, where the Islamist movement is in control.

"We have published pictures of what they call political detainees in Gaza. These are people who have confessed that they provided the enemy (Israel) with information about where fighters were stationed and the tunnels (to Egypt) and the type of weaponry," he said.

Zahar said Hamas had asked the Egyptian government to let it import 1,000 containers into Gaza for use as temporary housing for Palestinians displaced during Israel's three-week assault on the coastal strip, which ended in mid-January.
A group of Hamas engineers arrived in Cairo Monday to study the purchase of the 1,000 containers.

Hamas has also asked Egypt to press Israel to let wood, glass, aluminium, steel and electrical supplies into Gaza to rebuild what was destroyed in the offensive, he said.

Israel has restricted supplies of building materials to Gaza, saying some of them might help Hamas rearm and earn the movement credit with Palestinians living in Gaza.

Zahar declined to give any commitment that Hamas would cooperate with U.S. and Israeli attempts to stop the movement receiving money and weapons from abroad.

"It's our right to bring in everything -- money and arms. We will not give anyone any commitment on this subject," he said.

(Writing by Jonathan Wright; Editing by Charles Dick)

Support A.B. 390!

This morning, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) introduced groundbreaking legislation that would remove state-level penalties for responsible marijuana use in California. The bill, A.B. 390, would not only allow personal use and cultivation of marijuana but would also set up a legal system to tax and regulate it similarly to alcohol.

Urge your state legislators to support this bold legislation!

Using MPP’s online action center, writing your state representatives is easy. Just visit the site, enter your contact information, and send your e-mails to your state assembly member and state senator. You can use one of our pre-written messages, or you can write your own.

Just last week, the legislature approved a budget that significantly increases taxes for almost every Californian and makes deep cuts across many vital services. With the state’s imperiled economy, the need to end the costly and ineffective policy of arresting marijuana users and to instead begin taxing California’s largest cash crop is extraordinarily obvious.

This is the first time that legislation calling for marijuana regulation and taxation has been introduced in California’s state capitol. Don’t miss this opportunity to be a part of California history by supporting A.B. 390!

You can read more about this bill on our blog. Please forward this alert to as many like-minded Californians as you can so that they too can take action. Thank you for supporting MPP and sensible marijuana policy in California.

Sincerely,

F. Aaron Smith
California Policy Director
Marijuana Policy Project

Amnesty International: Urge Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to immediately call for an investigation into Israel's use of U.S. arms in Gaza.

	Our research team recently found evidence of U.S.-made weapons in Gaza, including the misuse of white phosphorus munitions. Urge Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to immediately call for an investigation into Israel's use of U.S. arms in Gaza. Investigate potential war crimes in Gaza. Palestinian Louai Sobeh, 10, is treated for burns at Shifa hospital in Gaza City on January 12, 2009. © YASSER SAYMEH/AFP/Getty Images) Dear Stephen, A new report released just hours ago reveals that U.S.-made white phosphorus artillery shells among other U.S. weapons were found throughout Gaza. When white phosphorus munitions are used in densely-populated civilian areas as Israel has, it violates international humanitarian laws prohibition on indiscriminate attacks and amounts to a war crime. In light of this new finding, we are urging Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to immediately call for: an investigation into Israel's use of U.S. arms in Gaza a suspension of U.S. military aid to Israel and to urge the United Nations to impose an arms embargo on all parties in the conflict Samia Salman Al-Manay'a, 16 years old, was asleep in her home in the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza, when a phosphorus shell landed on the first floor of the house on January10th. Ten days later, from her hospital bed, she spoke to our delegation. "The pain is piercing. It's as though a fire is burning in my body. It's too much for me to bear. In spite of all the medicine they are giving me the pain is still so strong." Since 2001, the U.S. has been the largest supplier of arms to Israel. The U.S. has also provided considerable funding each year for Israel to buy arms despite U.S. legislation that restricts such aid to consistently gross human rights violators. Since 2002 Israel received over $21 billion in U.S. military and security assistance. Put simply, Israel's military intervention in the Gaza Strip has been equipped to a large extent by US-supplied weapons, munitions and military equipment paid for with U.S. taxpayers money. Even after the start of the current conflict and reports of serious violations of international humanitarian law by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Gaza, U.S. authorities continued to authorize large shipments of U.S. munitions, including white phosphorus munitions, to Israel. In January, Amnesty called for a suspension of all arms transfers to Israel, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups until there is no longer a serious risk that such equipment will be used for violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses. The Department of State should lead the call for accountability. If we suspect our weapons are being used in attacks that are indiscriminately killing civilians, we must act. Urge Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to immediately call for an investigation into Israel's use of U.S. arms in Gaza and a suspension of military aid. Last month you called for an independent investigation into all parties involved in the conflict in Gaza. We are happy to report that your voice was heard. Over 45,000 messages were sent to Secretary Clinton and UN Representative Susan Rice, who highlighted the importance of an investigation. Additionally, three Members of Congress, including the highest ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, visited Gaza and witnessed firsthand the humanitarian devastation. Sincerely, Larry Cox Executive Director Amnesty International USA PS. Visit our blog to read more about the conflict in Gaza and the effects of white phosphorous munitions

President Obama to Sanction Israel?

Take Action: President Obama to Sanction Israel? February 23, 2009 Learn more about the Obama Administration's deliberations to cut aid to Israel and find out how to take action to hold Israel accountable for its misuses of U.S. weapons against Palestinians. Read More »

Watch Our Commercial on the U.S. Role in Israel's War on Gaza and Take Action Feb. 17, 2009 Watch our 30-second commercial on the U.S. role in Israel's recent war on the occupied Gaza Strip, which was censored by DIRECTV. Find out more about U.S. military and diplomatic support for Israel's human rights abuses of Palestinians, and take action to ask the President not to request additional military aid for Israel in his upcoming budget. Read More »

Keep the Movement Moving Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions initiatives are winning all around the world, read about recent successes and opportunities for you to take action! Read More »

Armed and Dangerous: Weapons Transfers to Israel during the Bush Administration Feb. 2, 2009 Capitol Hill Policy Briefing Watch a video and download educational materials from our Capitol Hill policy briefing held in conjunction with a grassroots lobby day we organized with Interfaith Peace-Builders. The briefing features testimony from Rep. Dennis Kucinich, National Advocacy Director Josh Ruebner, and Amr Shurrab, a young Palestinian man from the Gaza Strip whose two brothers were killed in Jan. 2009. Read More »

DIRECTV Censors Our Gaza Strip TV Ad! February 3, 2009 Watch the commercial we produced on the U.S. role in Israel's war on and siege of the Gaza Strip and take action to protest DIRECTV's censorship. Read More »

Thank CBS for Telling the Truth about Israeli Apartheid January 28, 2009 View the 60 Minutes segment "Is Peace Out of Reach?" and send a letter to CBS thanking them for its hard-hitting coverage of Israeli apartheid. Read More »

Take Action: Pres. Obama Calls for Lifting Gaza Siege; Rep. Olver for Gaza Aid January 26, 2009 Find out action steps you can take to support President Obama's call for lifting the siege of Gaza and Representative Olver's letter urging U.S. humanitarian aid to Gaza. Read More »

Tell President Obama Your Views on Gaza: Call or Write Beginning Today January 21, 2009 Find out how to tell President Obama your views on Palestine/Israel policy and on the current situation in Gaza. Read More »

Mark Your Calendars: 8th Annual National Organizers' Conference, September 12-13, 2009 in Chicago, IL The 8th Annual National Organizers' Conference will be held during the weekend of September 12th - 13th, 2009 in Chicago, IL. We will be sending out all necessary information for you to plan and book your flights in the upcoming months. Read More »

Separate is Never Equal Speaking Tour Success! November 2008 National Speaking Tour w/ Diana Buttu and Rev. Eddie Makue Thanks to the support of over 50 allied organizations. Our first national speaking tour was a success. We reached thousands of individuals and got dozens of media hits. Read More »

UPDATED--110th Congressional Report Card (2007-2008) Check our updated report card for the 110th Congress (2007-2008). Find out how your Members of Congress vote on policy issues related to Israel/Palestine and see whether they made our Hall of Fame or Hall of Shame. Read More »

New Book for Sale: Occupied Voices: Stories of Everyday Life From the Second Intifada As the Middle East peace process disintegrates and the second Palestinian Intifada begins, Wendy Pearlman, a young Jewish woman from the American Midwest travels to the West Bank and Gaza Strip in a quest to talk to ordinary Palestinians. A remarkable narrative emerges from her conversations with doctors, artists, school kids, and families who have lost loved ones or watched their homes destroyed. Their stories, ranging from the humorous to the tragic, paint a profile of the Palestinians that is as honest as it is uncommon in the Western media: that of ordinary people who simply want to live ordinary lives. Read More » US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation

Amnesty calls on US to suspend arms sales to Israel

Hellfire missiles and white phosphorus artillery shells among weapons used in 'indiscriminate' attacks on civilians, says human rights group

• Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem
• guardian.co.uk, Monday 23 February 2009 09.14 GMT
• Article history

A Palestinian woman surveys her destroyed house after an Israeli air strike in Jabalya in northern Gaza. Photograph: Mohammed Salem/Reuters

Detailed evidence has emerged of Israel's extensive use of US-made weaponry during its war in Gaza last month, including white phosphorus artillery shells, 500lb bombs and Hellfire missiles.

In a report released today, Amnesty International listed the weapons used and called for an immediate arms embargo on Israel and all Palestinian armed groups. It called on the US president, Barack Obama, to suspend military aid to Israel.

The human rights group said those arming both sides in the conflict "will have been well aware of a pattern of repeated misuse of weapons by both parties and must therefore take responsibility for the violations perpetrated".

The US has long been the largest arms supplier to Israel; under a 10-year agreement negotiated by the Bush administration the US will provide $30bn (£21bn) in military aid to Israel.

"As the major supplier of weapons to Israel, the USA has a particular obligation to stop any supply that contributes to gross violations of the laws of war and of human rights," said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa programme director. "To a large extent, Israel's military offensive in Gaza was carried out with weapons, munitions and military equipment supplied by the USA and paid for with US taxpayers' money."

For their part, Palestinian militants in Gaza were arming themselves with "unsophisticated weapons" including rockets made in Russia, Iran and China and bought from "clandestine sources", it said. About 1,300 Palestinians were killed and more than 4,000 injured during the three-week conflict. On the Israeli side 13 were killed, including three civilians. Amnesty said Israel's armed forces carried out "direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects in Gaza, and attacks which were disproportionate or indiscriminate".

Israeli officials criticised the report, saying the military only used weapons that were legal under international law and did not intentionally target civilians. Israel's foreign ministry said it was "inappropriate" to compare the supply of weapons to Israel and to Hamas.

"Every effort is made to avoid having innocent civilians caught up in the crossfire between us and Hamas," said Mark Regev, spokesman for the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert. "The report ignores the fact Hamas deliberately used the Palestinian civilian population as a human shield."

Palestinian militants also fired "indiscriminate rockets" at civilians, Amnesty said. It called for an independent investigation into violations of international humanitarian law by both sides.

A Hamas spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, called the report "unfair", saying there was no comparison between the Israeli military and Palestinian "people who defend themselves with some rifles and other primitive means".

Amnesty researchers in Gaza found several weapon fragments after the fighting. One came from a 500lb (227kg) Mark-82 fin-guided bomb, which had markings indicating parts were made by the US company Raytheon. They also found fragments of US-made white phosphorus artillery shells, marked M825 A1.

On 15 January, several white phosphorus shells fired by the Israeli military hit the headquarters of the UN Relief and Works Agency in Gaza City, destroying medicine, food and aid. One fragment found at the scene had markings indicating it was made by the Pine Bluff Arsenal, based in Arkansas, in October 1991.

The human rights group said the Israeli military had used white phosphorus in densely populated civilian areas, which it said was an indiscriminate form of attack and a war crime. Its researchers found white phosphorus still burning in residential areas days after the ceasefire.

At the scene of an Israeli attack that killed three Palestinian paramedics and a boy in Gaza City on 4 January, Amnesty found fragments of an AGM114 Hellfire missile, made by Hellfire Systems of Orlando, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing. The missile is often fired from Apache helicopters.

Amnesty said it also found evidence of a new type of missile, apparently fired from unmanned drones, which exploded into many pieces of shrapnel that were "tiny sharp-edged metal cubes, each between 2 and 4mm square in size".

"They appear designed to cause maximum injury," Amnesty said. Many civilians were killed by this weapon, including several children, it said.

Rockets fired by Palestinian militants were either 122mm Grad missiles or short-range Qassam rockets, a locally made, improvised artillery weapon. Warheads were either smuggled in or made from fertiliser.

The arsenal of weapons was on a "very small scale compared to Israel", it said, adding that the scale of rocket arsenal deployed by Hizbullah in the 2006 Lebanese war was "beyond the reach of Palestinian militant groups".

Armed for war

Israelis Missiles launched from helicopters and unmanned drones, including 20mm cannon and Hellfire missiles. Larger laser-guided and other bombs dropped by F-16 warplanes. Extensive use of US-made 155mm white phosphorus artillery shells and Israeli-made 155mm illuminating shells that eject phosphorus canisters by parachute. Several deaths caused by flechettes, 4cm-long metal darts packed into 120mm tank shells, and fragments of US-made 120mm tank shells.

Palestinians Militants fired rockets into southern Israel including 122mm Grad rockets of either Russian, Chinese or Iranian manufacture, and smaller, improvised Qassam rockets often made inside Gaza and usually holding 5kg of explosives and shrapnel.

Israeli Zionists have no intention of peace, only expansion of Eretz Yisrael

PA hails EU stance on Israeli settlements
Sat, 21 Feb 2009 18:01:25 GMT

Israeli settlements in the West Bank

A Palestinian Authority official has saluted an EU statement condemning Israel's plans for expanding illegal West Bank settlements.

The PA on Saturday welcomed overnight remarks made by the European Union's Czech presidency that strongly urged Israel to reconsider its settlement plans, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The continuation of the settlement buildings…is not only a strike to the Arab Peace Initiative and Annapolis understandings, they also undermine the Arab and international efforts to reach the two state solution," the agency quoted as saying Nabil Abu Rdineh, a spokesman for acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas.

The 27-member bloc called on Israel in the statement to stop construction in the vicinity of the Adam settlement in the West Bank, as it would violate both the international law and Israel's commitments made to the Palestinians in the Annapolis peace talks.

"Settlement activity undermines all the efforts of Arab partners committed to a peaceful resolution of the conflict and calls into question the seriousness of Israel's commitment to the two-state solution," the EU said in a statement on Friday, adding that the issue was "a major obstacle to peace in the Middle East."

Abbas has said talk with Israel were "meaningless" if settlement construction did not stop.

ZHD/MD