Enter the Spoof Moto Video Contest--Moto Meets Our First Demand!

Today, on the Global Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) Action Day, we are proud to announce that our Hang Up On Motorola campaign has grown by leaps and bounds - with almost 300 supporters organizing the campaign locally from Bellingham, WA to Boston, MA and West Palm Beach, FL to Warroad, MN. We plan to build on this momentum by organizing a public presence outside of Motorola's upcoming shareholder meeting and by announcing the launch of our Hang Up On Motorola video contest!

Celebrate Global BDS Action Day by joining us in
Hanging Up On Motorola!

1) Enter a Video in Our Spoof Moto Contest

Click here to submit your 30 second - 2 minute video.

The rules are simple!
Your video should spoof a Motorola advertisement, changing the message from Moto's usual sleek, sexy, sophisticated image to a more accurate account of Moto's support for occupation and apartheid in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Click here to learn more about the apartheid situation in the Occupied Territories and click here to view some Motorola commercials to spoof. Read the official contest rules by clicking here.

First prize is $500 + the opportunity for your video to be featured in a national advertising campaign.
Second prize is $250

Entries will be accepted until May 30th and winners will be announced on June 6, 2009 - the 42nd anniversary of the military occupation of the East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

2) Publicize the Contest

Join our Hang Up On Motorola group by clicking here or become our friend on YouTube by clicking here. Tell a friend about the contest by clicking here.

3) Attend a Local Action for the Global Day of BDS Action

Click here to find an action in your area.

4) Become a local Hang Up On Motorola Organizer

Sign up to become a local Moto organizer and we'll send you everything you need to establish the Motorola boycott in your area. Click here to sign up.

5) Send an Email to Moto's Leadership

Let those who profit most from Motorola's contracts with the Israeli military know that you're not buying their support for the occupation. Click here to send an email to Motorola's CEO, Greg Brown. Click here to send an email to Dean Lindroth, Moto's Vice President of Investor Relations.

6) Support Hang Up On Motorola

Even if you can't organize a local boycott or submit a spoof video to our contest you can still ensure that the Hang Up On Motorola campaign continues. Make a tax-deductible donation to support this organizing.

* $10 will pay for us to send an organizing packet to a boycott organizer anywhere in the country. Click here to donate
* $50 will pay for one 30 second commercial to air. Click here to donate.
* $200 will help us organize a protest outside of Motorola's shareholder meeting in Chicago by providing airfare for our national organizer. Click here to donate.
* $500 will sponsor one stop on our Fall 2009 National Campus BDS Organizing Tour. Click here to donate!

Learn more about the Hang Up On Motorola campaign at www.HangUpOnMotorola.org.

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


Last week Motorola Israel, Ltd. sold its Government Electronics Department to Israeli military contractor Aeronautics Defense Systems. This means that Motorola will no longer be selling bomb fuses to the Israeli military. The first demand of our boycott has been met!

While this first victory is sweet, it's far from the end of Hang Up On Motorola! Motorola Israel (which is wholly owned by Motorola USA) still produces a number of products that support Israel's military occupation and entrench its apartheid system in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. Support Hang Up On Motorola now and ensure that we will stay steadfast until Motorola stops profiting from Israel's human rights abuses and violations of international law. Make a $30 or greater contribution and we'll send you a poster featuring Parachutes Falling, the winning design from our Expressions of Nakba art competition. Make a $50 or greater donation and receive a DVD of Occupation 101*. Make a $100 or greater contribution and we'll send you both Parachutes Falling and Occupation 101*.

What does this sale mean for Hang Up On Motorola?

1) We have Moto on the run - we can win this boycott! The only stated motivation for this sale is that it "would enable Aeronautics to provide more comprehensive solutions to its customers," and, on its part, Motorola has declined to comment. Of course, we expect Motorola will be reticent to admit that our pressure had anything to do with this sale. Read more about how pressure from international boycott & divestment campaigns are affecting Israeli businesses here. Click here to demand divestment from occupation - make a tax-deductible donation to this campaign now!

2) Motorola is still responsible for the damage that their products have done. The "bomb family" that utilized Motorola fuses is responsible for the deaths of at least 28 civilians in Lebanon and Human Rights Watch recently found shrapnel with Motorola serial numbers on it at the site of a civilian building in Gaza bombed during Operation Cast Lead.

3) We must keep our pressure up! Even after this sale, Moto still makes myriad products used by the Israeli military to continue its occupation and enforcement of apartheid. Motorola Israel has ongoing contracts with the Israeli military, both independently of and jointly with Aeronautics Defense Systems. These contracts include military communications systems and surveillance systems for Israel's apartheid wall and illegal settlements. Motorola Israel's subsidiary, MIRS, also makes mobile phones exclusively for Israeli settlers in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This sort of business reinforces norms of apartheid and cannot be tolerated. Click here to organize the Hang Up On Motorola boycott in your area.

Photo Credit: Bud Korotzer
Our success so far is due to our supporters who have organized this campaign locally and who have sustained it by donating to our boycott & divestment work. Help see this campaign through to the end by contributing today. A $10 donation will fund a new Hang Up On Motorola organizer's campaign kit. A $50 donation will pay for one internet advertisement to raise awareness of this campaign. $200 will pay for a US campaign presence at the Motorola shareholder meeting in Chicago on May 4th. $500 will sponsor a tour stop for our Fall 2009 boycott & divestment campus organizing tour.

Get involved in organizing the Hang Up On Motorola boycott! Sign up to get a Hang Up On Motorola campaign kit by clicking here. Email the US Campaign's national organizer about demonstrating outside of the Motorola shareholder meeting by clicking here. Enter our Spoof Moto video contest! Click here to submit a video spoofing Motorola's advertising campaigns to tell the truth about its support for Israeli military occupation and apartheid.

The "world's most moral army" in action: Israeli military rejects tales of Gaza killings

JERUSALEM (AFP) — The Israeli military on Monday closed an investigation into soldiers' accounts of the killing of civilians during the war in Gaza, calling the accounts inaccurate and "based on hearsay."

"The military police investigation found that the crucial components of their descriptions were based on hearsay and not supported by specific personal knowledge," the military said in a statement which drew sharp criticism from human rights groups.

"Once the claims were checked, they were not supported by the facts as determined by the investigation."

Several soldiers who took part in Israel's massive offensive on Gaza at the turn of the year had alleged during a conference at a pre-military academy that troops had deliberately killed civilians and destroyed property.

Their testimonies, which were published in an Israeli journal earlier this month, included one soldier's recollection of an Israeli sharpshooter killing a Palestinian mother and her two children when they walked along a closed path.

The military denied the soldier had witnessed the incident first-hand.

"In fact, the soldier witnessed no such thing, and was only repeating a rumour he had heard," it said, adding that he may have confused it with a separate incident in which Israeli forces shot a woman suicide bomber.

"It is unfortunate that none of the speakers at the conference was careful to be accurate in the depiction of his claims," said Brigadier General Avichai Mendelblit, the Military Advocate General.

"They chose to present various incidents of a severe nature, despite not personally witnessing and knowing much about them," he said.

Israel said it did not deliberately target civilians during the 22-day war in December and January that killed more than 1,300 Palestinians, and has said it is investigating all incidents in which its forces were accused of doing so.

Nine Israeli human rights groups criticised the conclusions, which they said raised suspicions that the army merely sought to absolve itself of any blame.

"The closing of the army's own investigation only strengthens the need for the attorney general to allow for an independent non-partisan investigative body to be established in order to look into all Israeli army activity during Operation Cast Lead," the groups said in a joint statement."

Land Day in Palestine-a report by Mazin Qumsiyeh

Dear friends

Today was Land Day in Palestine and around the world. Hundreds of events were being held in honor of our Land that so many tresspassers now live on. The first land day in 1976 set a trend of defiance and resistance. Different groups mark the day differently. Demonstrators in Hebron were attacked by the IOF (Israeli occupation forces). Here in Beit Sahour, I could not think of a better way to honor this day than participating in a workshop on activism for university students and enjoying my own small piece of land here in Palestine. We are also pleased with the rapid fire spread of boycotts, divestments and sanctions (BDS) around the world which will bring a more rapid end to the nightmare and bring us closer to freedom.


Events and energy lift our spirits that otherwise could be dampened by surreal daily life here. Things changed over time as colonization got older and Zionism strengthened politically while Palestinian body politic was weakened with assaults from Israeli intelligence infiltration and from internal corruption. The degree of transformation has been massive. Today 7 million of the 10 million+ Palestinians in the world are refugees or displaced people. Five million of us still live within the borders of historic Palestine. But Israel has built a massive (yet full of contradictions and strangeness) Western-styled society on top of the few places left for us. Most Israelis today do not know the real history of the lands they live under. Most do not have a conception of the massive injustice that they have built their society upon and those that do delude themselves into accepting it for privilege short term (not realizing the harm long term).



It pained me to see that Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) fired a highly competent diplomat (Afif Safieh) from his position as PLO Ambassador to Russia. I knew Sfieh from his good work in England and then when he came as representative to Washington and I was still living in the US (twice he visited Connecticut where I lived). The previous representative in Washington before Safieh could not even speak intelligently about the plight or history of Palestine. Safieh was such a vast improvement but just as he got to understand the layout and challenges in America, he was transferred to Russia. Less than a year later he was sacked completely. The excuse was that he spoke at a rally during the Israeli brutal attack on Gaza and massacre of civilians. The rally of course appeared to support resistance in Gaza and this was the excuse (if this was the reason he should have been promoted not sacked for his attendance). The rumor here in Palestine is that he was sacked for a more personal and mundane reason having to do with Mahmoud Abbas’s secretary being unhappy with Safieh for his stand against the appointment of her young son-in-law to an economic position he is not qualified for. Whatever the real reason, it smells of poor decision making. Meanwhile the PLO representative in Poland is in good shape since he organized a farewell party for his friend, the Israeli ambassador!! I wonder if the PLO paid for the food.


Millions of Palestinians have worked over 40 years to ensure that the world recognizes the PLO as representatives of all of us. Some paid for this with their lives. They must be turning in their graves to see how a very small number of people hijacked the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) cut the “Palestine” part to refer to less than 22% of Palestine (really giving up on the core of the injustice), dropped the “Liberation” part of its name completely (maybe changing it to a need for authority without authority and empty slogans), and changed “Organization” to become a close knit club of a handful of remaining tired elders (average age over 70). On the other hand we face a Hamas leadership that cannot seem to set a positive vision and program for how to get to liberate Palestine and give most people living here (Jews, Christians, Muslims, Druze etc) a good reason to support them; for example by articulating an inclusive pluralistic vision instead of a theocratic goal.


Alas, like in all human history, we the people must change our own circumstances (as one of the sayings in the 1960s civil rights struggle went “free your mind and your ass will follow”). We must believe that we can make a difference (we do) and that life changes and oppressors come and go (the crusader kingdoms here lasted 110 years).


In this week’s message, announcements of two conferences and must read articles on reality:


More material on my daily blog ioncluding visiting villages impacted by Israeli industrial colonial settlements http://www.qumsiyeh.org/apartheidblog/


Conference 1: United Against Racism, Dignity & Justice for All - is the slogan of the United Nations' Durban Review Conference to be held in Geneva between 20 and 24 April 2009.
United Against Apartheid, Colonialism and Occupation, Dignity & Justice for the Palestinian People - is the slogan of those who believe that international law can and should become relevant for the people and governments in the Middle East The Israel Review Conference will take place in Geneva on 18 – 19 April, two days before the United Nations' Durban Review Conference
(http://www.un.org/durbanreview2009/) will examine the progress made in implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA) adopted by the World Conference Against Racism (2001) and strengthen its recommendations. see http://israelreview.bdsmovement.net


Conference 2: Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem annual Young Adult Conference this year, July 22- August 2

Flyer: http://www.sabeel.org/pdfs/Conference%20Flyer%202009%20B%20(2).pdf

Application: http://www.sabeel.org/pdfs/Conference%202009%20Application%20form.doc


An invention called “the Jewish people” Tom Segev reviews a bestseller book

http://www.monthlyreview.org/mrzine/segev120308.html


Boycott Apartheid Israel By Natalie Abou Shakra - Gaza

“I am in the struggle, I am living within it. But, I refuse to be subject, I am individual, I keep reminding myself. This reality creates an affect on a person making him or her feel less valuable than they really are… as humans, as citizens. The feeling that the world has abandoned you, renounced you, after all the loss, all the pain, is unbearable, is another death by itself. When one has lost a child, or a mother, or beloved one, to a sniper’s shots, to an Apaches’ impact, how could that be justified? Then, in watching the news broadcasts all over the world, we see the victims portrayed as aggressors… it doubles the pain.”…

http://www.odsg.org/co/index.php/bds-qboycott-apartheid-israelq/1235-boycott-apartheid-israel.html


Lieberman is no abnormality

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10420.shtml


The Human Rights Watch report, “Rain of Fire: Israel’s Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza,” is available at: http://www.hrw.org/node/81760

For more analysis of IDF use of white phosphorus and witness accounts, please see: http://www.hrw.org/node/81823


Buying Palestinian Rights by Dr. Abdul Sattar Qasem

http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General/Story8487.html


Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

http://qumsiyeh.org

Report: Israel's phosphorus shell use in Gaza 'evidence of war crimes'

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- The Israeli military's firing of white phosphorus shells over densely populated areas during the Gaza offensive "was indiscriminate and is evidence of war crimes," Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report on Wednesday.
Human Rights Watch says Israel used white phosphorus shells over populated areas in Gaza.


Human Rights Watch says Israel used white phosphorus shells over populated areas in Gaza.

"In Gaza, the Israeli military didn't just use white phosphorus in open areas as a screen for its troops," said Fred Abrahams, a HRW senior emergencies researcher.

"It fired white phosphorus repeatedly over densely populated areas, even when its troops weren't in the area and safer smoke shells were available. As a result, civilians needlessly suffered and died."

Entitled "Rain of Fire: Israel's Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza," the 71-page report provides "witness accounts" and "presents ballistics evidence, photographs, and satellite imagery, as well as documents from the Israeli military and government."

HRW is an independent international organization dedicated to defending and protecting human rights.

The group urged that Israel and the United States investigate the attacks. Israel should prosecute those who carried them out and the U.S. government, which supplied Israel, should look into the issue.

HRW said white phosphorous was a chemical substance dispersed in artillery shells, bombs and rockets, used primarily to obscure military operations.

"(While) it is not considered a chemical weapon and is not banned per se, it ignites and burns on contact with oxygen and creates a smokescreen at night or during the day to mask the visual movement of troops.

"It also interferes with infra-red optics and weapon-tracking systems, thus protecting military forces from guided weapons such as anti-tank missiles. When WP comes into contact with people or objects, though, it creates an intense and persistent burn. It can also be used as a weapon against military targets," the group said.

Israel says it is looking into the claims, but it has publicly maintained that the use of the substance was in keeping with international law.

The Israel Defense Forces told HRW in February that an internal inquiry into the use of the substance was being done by Israel's Southern Command.

"Past IDF investigations into allegations of wrongdoing suggest that this inquiry will be neither thorough nor impartial," Abrahams said. "That's why an international investigation is required into serious laws of war violations by all parties."

HRW said "the report documents a pattern or policy of white phosphorus use" that had to have the approval of senior military officers.

"For the needless civilian deaths caused by white phosphorus, senior commanders should be held to account," Abrahams said.

The report said white phosphorus munitions aren't illegal when deployed properly in open areas, but it determined that the IDF repeatedly used them "unlawfully over populated neighborhoods, killing and wounding civilians and damaging civilian structures, including a school, a market, a humanitarian aid warehouse and a hospital. "

"First, the repeated use of air-burst white phosphorus in populated areas until the last days of the operation reveals a pattern or policy of conduct rather than incidental or accidental usage. Second, the IDF was well aware of the effects of white phosphorus and the dangers it poses to civilians. Third, the IDF failed to use safer available alternatives for smokescreens," the report said.

A medical report prepared during the recent hostilities by the Israeli Health Ministry said that white phosphorus "can cause serious injury and death when it comes into contact with the skin, is inhaled or is swallowed." The report said that the IDF could have used a non-lethal smoke shells produced by an Israeli company if it wanted to provide a "smokescreen" for its troops.

Israel launched the offensive in late December to take on militants from Hamas, who had been shelling southern Israeli communities for months from Gaza.

The offensive, called Operation Cast Lead, was launched December 27 and ended January 17 with a cease-fire. Of the 1,453 people estimated killed in the conflict, 1,440 were Palestinian, including 431 children and 114 women, a U.N. report recently said. The 13 Israelis killed included three civilians and six soldiers killed by Hamas, and four soldiers killed by friendly fire, it said.

HRW also said it found no evidence that the Hamas militants Israel was targeting in Gaza were using human shields "in the vicinity at the time of the attacks."

Israel has said Hamas militants used civilians as human shields and fought from civilian locations, HRW points out.

"In some areas Palestinian fighters appear to have been present, but this does not justify the indiscriminate use of white phosphorus in a populated area."

U.K. backtracks on preventing war crimes charges against IDF

By Anshel Pfeffer

London will not push through changes in legislation that permits the arrest of Israel Defense Forces officers visiting Britain on war crimes, as previously promised, Jerusalem has learned.

In an unofficial message to Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Britain said that as a result of the decline in Israel's public image following Operation Cast Lead the government believes it will be unable to pass the amendment to the legislation before next year's scheduled elections.

British law permits private citizens to press charges against foreigners on war crimes charges. Once an indictment has been issued suspects can be arrested if they enter Britain.

In 2005 Maj. Gen. (res.) Doron Almog flew to London for a brief visit. After being informed, while still on the plane, that police were waiting for him to disembark so that they could arrest him, Almog remained on the aircraft and returned to Israel.

An arrest warrant had been issued against him for his alleged role in the razing of Palestinian homes in Rafah during his service as GOC Southern Command.

Since that incident, senior IDF officers in both active and reserve service, including former IDF chiefs of staff and cabinet ministers (Ehud Barak and Shaul Mofaz), have avoided traveling to Britain.

Britain's Labor government, first under Tony Blair and recently under Gordon Brown, had promised to pass changes in the legislation so that private citizens seeking to press war crimes charges would first have to obtain the approval of the chief prosecutor.

Israeli diplomats, meanwhile, sought support for such an amendment from Conservative MPs.

"The British did make such a promise and we continue to expect that they will find a way to fulfill it," Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said on Saturday.

The British Foreign Office said in a statement, "We recognize Israeli concerns but this is a complex legal issue."

Clash in tense Israeli-Arab town

Local residents clash with police firing tear gas

Israeli-Arab protesters have clashed with police as Jewish Israeli right-wingers marched in the majority-Arab town of Umm al-Fahm.

Stun grenades and tear gas were used as hundreds of Israeli-Arab protesters threw stones, police said.

Israeli-Arab residents of the town view the march as highly provocative and had vowed to stop it.

The High Court gave permission for the march, but police had postponed it several times, fearing violence.

About 2,500 police in riot gear were deployed as about 100 far-right activists marched in the town, waving Israeli flags.


The BBC's Katya Adler: "This is an extremely violent demonstration"
They declared the Israeli-Arabs counter-demonstration illegal and ordered protesters to disperse.

The BBC's Katya Adler at the scene described crouching behind a car with stones raining all around her as Israeli-Arab demonstrators pelted the police.

She says that while many of the city's residents say they want to live in peace with their Jewish neighbours, there is a lot of anger on the streets over the fact the march has been allowed to go ahead.

'Raising Israeli flag'

The Israeli right-wingers said they wanted to exercise their right to march and raise the Israeli flag in any street in Israel.

One of the leaders of the march was Baruch Marzel, who led the anti-Arab Kach party that was banned in Israel in 1994.

"All we are doing is waving the Israeli flag. All we are demanding is loyalty to the state," another march leader, Michael Ben-Ari, a member of the Israeli parliament, told the Israeli news website Ynet.

"There is in Umm al-Fahm a gang of hooligans, who think they can win using violence. The State of Israel is the Jewish people's state. We are here to voice our truth and not to create provocations," he said.

Israeli-Arab residents of Umm al-Fahm consider the marchers racist, and had called a general strike and said they would use peaceful methods to prevent the activists from entering the town.

"Racism is not freedom of expression, it's a criminal act and the law should punish it," Israeli Arab MK Jamal Zahalka told the AFP news agency.

The march was over within an hour, and took place on the outskirts of the town, after the High Court ruled the activists could enter its municipal boundaries but not residential areas.

The town is considered a stronghold of Israeli-Arab sentiment, and is also where 13 Israeli-Arab protesters were killed during riots as the last Palestinian uprising, or intifada, broke out in 2001.

The march was planned about a year ago, but comes in the wake of a strong showing for the far right politician, Avigdor Lieberman, in Israel's recent elections.

Mr Lieberman advocates transferring majority-Arab areas in Israel to the control of the Palestinian Authority, and wants to bring in a citizenship law demanding that all Israeli citizens, including Israeli-Arabs, swear allegiance to Israel as a Jewish state.

Israeli-Arabs make up about a fifth of Israel's population, and are descended from families who remained in Israel after the war that followed the state's creation in 1948.

They are full Israeli citizens, but face widely documented discrimination.

South Africa bans Dalai Lama trip or how money trumps ethics

Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama has visited South Africa twice before

South Africa has denied the Dalai Lama a visa to attend a peace conference linked to the 2010 Football World Cup, which the country is hosting.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has pulled out of the meeting in protest and branded the decision "disgraceful".

A government spokesman has denied suggestions that the ban was a result of Chinese pressure.

He said he did not want anything to distract from South Africa's hosting of the World Cup.

'Solidarity'

The Johannesburg conference is intended to discuss football's role in fighting racism and xenophobia.

The Tibetan spiritual leader was due to attend the meeting, along with fellow Nobel laureates, Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Tutu and FW de Klerk later this week.

Mr de Klerk has also withdrawn from the event, while Mr Mandela's position is not clear.

"It is disappointing that South Africa, which has received so much solidarity from the world, doesn't want to give that solidarity to others," Nobel Institute Director Geir Lundestad told the Associated Press news agency in Oslo, referring to the decades-long fight against apartheid.

Presidential spokesman Thabo Masebe said the conference organisers had not consulted them before inviting the Dalai Lama.

The newly built FNB stadium in Johannesburg, March 2009
Huge preparations are underway for the South Africa 2010 World Cup

"The South African government does not have a problem with the Dalai Lama," he told the local Sapa news agency.

"But at this time the whole world will be focused on the country as hosts of the 2010 World Cup. We want the focus to remain on South Africa.

"A visit now by the Dalai Lama would move the focus from South Africa onto issues in Tibet."

Speculation has also been rife that South Africa does not want to jeopardise its bilateral relations with China, one of its major trading partners.

"We are shamelessly succumbing to Chinese pressure," Archbishop Tutu was quoted as telling the Sunday Independent. "I feel deeply distressed and ashamed."

A spokesperson for the Dalai Lama told AFP news agency he was "very disappointed" by the decision, also accusing South Africa of caving into "intense pressure" from Chinese authorities.

'Hypocrisy'

South Africa is China's largest trading partner in Africa, with 2008 trade standing at 100bn rand ($10bn; £7bn).

Dai Bing, an official at the Chinese embassy in Pretoria confirmed to Sapa that Beijing had warned the South African government that allowing the Dalai Lama into the country would harm bilateral relations.

Local newspaper, Business Day, quoted an unnamed government official as saying: "The Chinese government would not have been happy had we let him come... We would not do anything to upset the relationship we have with China."

But this was denied by Mr Masebe, who said China had played no role in the government's decision.

Beijing says the Dalai Lama is pushing for Tibetan independence, and has stirred up unrest in the region.

But the Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 during an uprising against Chinese rule, has said he only wants limited autonomy for his homeland.

The refusal has also drawn criticism of the government from South Africa's opposition groups.

Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille accused the government of hypocrisy, and says the episode shows that there is no consistency in the country's foreign policy.

Democratic Alliance spokesperson Tony Leon said the decision "flies in the face of all logic", Sapa reports.

The Dalai Lama has visited the country on two previous occasions, in 1999 and 2004.

Bookmark with:

Israeli T-shirts mock Gaza killings

23 March 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mJp5d3ffP8

Zionist Nazism on parade.

UN to criticise Israel over Gaza

Mr Falk throws doubt on the legality of Israel's mission in Gaza

By Imogen Foulkes
BBC News, Geneva


A boy on the rubble of a house Jabaliya refugee camp destroyed in the Israeli military offensive in Gaza, on Sunday

The UN investigator into human rights in the Palestinian territories is set to present his latest report to the UN human rights council in Geneva.

It is the first such report since Israel's incursion into Gaza.

Richard Falk has been highly critical of Israel in the past, and his new report is no exception.

In it he questions the legality of Israel's actions in Gaza. Israel, however, has repeated accusations that Mr Falk is biased.

Israeli authorities denied him entry last December, when he attempted to conduct his regular investigative mission to the Palestinian territories.

Because Mr Falk was unable to enter the Palestinian territories, his latest report focuses instead on the legality of Israel's incursion into Gaza.

'War crime'

He suggests that it is not a question of whether Israel used disproportionate force in Gaza, but rather whether Israel acted lawfully in entering Gaza at all.

He concludes that it did not, and that the incursion may constitute a war crime.

He is calling for an independent inquiry to examine possible war crimes committed by both Israel and Hamas.

Further, Mr Falk suggests that the Israeli blockade of Gaza is in violation of the Geneva Conventions and must be lifted.

The report is certain to anger Israel, which has long complained of bias by Mr Falk.

But Mr Falk is not the first to suggest that Israel may have committed war crimes in Gaza.

In January, the UN human rights commissioner Navi Pillay expressed her concern at possible violations.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has also said Israel failed to honour its obligation to treat civilians wounded in the conflict.

Bookmark with:

Israeli minister calls for new Gaza invasion

Deputy defence minister Matan Vilnai demands capture of land being used to fire mortars into Israel

* Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem
* guardian.co.uk, Monday 23 March 2009 10.09 GMT


Israel's deputy defence minister has called for a new invasion of Gaza and the capture of land close to the border, despite growing domestic and international concern about the conduct of the previous war.

"We need to conquer the areas from which mortar shells are being fired," Matan Vilnai told an Israeli conference on the Gaza war last night. "The mortar shell is the main threat," he said. Most were launched from within four miles (6km) of the border. "We just need to be there," he said.

His comments reflected a wider Israeli frustration with the results of the devastating three-week war. Israeli forces destroyed thousands of homes and buildings and killed more than 1,400 Palestinians but failed to achieve their main goal: to halt the rockets and mortars which are still being fired into southern Israel.

Binyamin Netanyahu, who is expected to become the prime minister of a new, rightwing Israeli government within days, has decided that "toppling the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip" will be a strategic goal of his government.

The latest criticism of Israeli military conduct in Gaza comes in the wake of fresh testimony last week from Israeli soldiers who gave accounts of how Palestinian civilians were killed and their homes ransacked. Themilitary said it would investigate the claims.

This week Richard Falk, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, is due to report to the UN human rights council. An advance copy of his report is highly critical of the war, saying Israel's "recourse to force was not legally justified given the circumstances and diplomatic alternatives available, and was potentially, a crime against peace". He calls for an expert inquiry into war crimes allegations against Israel.

Hamas chief hails Obama approach

Khaled Meshaal in Damascus, 18 March 2009


Khaled Meshaal said the great powers needed Hamas

The political leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, has credited US President Barack Obama with using a "new language" for the Middle East.

Speaking to an Italian newspaper Mr Meshaal also said that an official opening to his Palestinian Islamist movement was only "a matter of time".

The interview was published three days after President Obama called for a "new beginning" in relations with Iran.

Iran and Syria, where Mr Meshaal is exiled, are key backers of Hamas.

Mr Obama's video message to the Iranian leaders and people was seen as a major break with previous US policy.

But in response, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei demanded concrete policy changes from the US.

'Roots in society'

Mr Meshaal, speaking in an interview with La Repubblica, said "a new language towards the region is coming from President Obama".

He did not directly mention Mr Obama's message to Iran.

"The challenge for everybody is for this to be the prelude for a genuine change in US and European policies," Mr Meshaal said.

"Regarding an official opening towards Hamas, it's a matter of time."

The US, EU and UN will not deal with Hamas, which seized the Gaza Strip in 2007, unless they reject violence and recognise Israel.

Hamas's charter calls for the destruction of Israel, although the group has also offered a long-term truce if Israel withdraws to its pre-5 June 1967 borders.

"The great powers need us to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict," Mr Meshaal told La Repubblica.

"Our weight in resolving the Palestinian question stems from our roots in society, in the people who have voted for us and who will do so again."

Stop the Pope from killing more Africans with bad information

Dear friends,

Pope Benedict's statement this week that condoms may aggravate the AIDS epidemic is putting millions at risk. Sign the petition to stop this dangerous misinformation!
Take Action Now

This week, on his first visit to Africa, Pope Benedict said that "[AIDS] cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems".

The Pope's statement is a huge setback to decades of hard work on AIDS prevention, education and awareness. With powerful influence over more than 1.1 billion Catholics in the world, and with 22 million HIV positive Africans, these words could dramatically affect the AIDS pandemic and put millions of lives at risk. Worldwide pressure on the Vatican is starting to show results - sign our urgent petition asking the Pope to immediately stop speaking out against condoms:


Pope Benedict's statement this week that condoms may aggravate the AIDS epidemic is putting millions at risk. Sign the petition to stop this dangerous misinformation!
Take Action Now

http://www.avaaz.org/en/pope_benedict_petition

Everyone is entitled to their own religious and personal beliefs, and the Pope does advocate for other AIDS prevention methods such as abstinence and monogamy. But he holds enormous moral authority for millions, and the claim that condom distribution could make AIDS worse is spreading false information. It's untrue, and it's deadly.

The fact is, HIV and AIDS are prevented by condom use. There is no easy solution to the spread of this tragic disease, but condoms and education are the best known prevention combination and have not been found to increase risky sexual behaviour. That is why even priests and nuns working in Africa have questioned the Pope's misleading statements.

We may not be able to ask the Catholic Church to change its broader position, but we are asking the Pope to stop actively speaking out against prevention strategies that work. It's important that people of all beliefs, especially Catholics, show that they do not approve of the Pope’s dangerous statements. Sign below then spread the word to your friends and family - this petition could actually save lives:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/pope_benedict_petition

25 million people worldwide have already died of AIDS, and 12 million children have been left without parents. If enough of us join this outcry now, we could win an important battle in the struggle for a world without AIDS.

With hope,

Alice, Ben, Graziela, Ricken, Iain, Brett, Paula, Pascal, Luis, Paul, Veronique, Milena and the whole Avaaz team

Sources:

The Pope's statement opposing condoms (BBC):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7951839.stm

European governments criticise Pope Benedict for his statement
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7950671.stm

Condoms 'aggravate' AIDS scourge, Pope says:
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=1399781

CNN Report on the Pope’s anti-condom position:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhxqvVmgEbg&feature=related

Vatican retraction of condom statement:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article5934912.ece

Growth of the Catholic Church in Africa, see:
http://www.zenit.org/article-18894?l=english and http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29777984/

South African Bishop supporting condom use:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29777984/

UNAIDS Report on the AIDS epidemic:
http://www.unaids.org/en/CountryResponses/Regions/default.asp


ABOUT AVAAZAvaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means "voice" in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in Ottawa, London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Buenos Aires, and Geneva.

Israeli Police Block Palestinian Gatherings

By VOA News
21 March 2009

Israeli police have stopped a series of Palestinian gatherings that are part of celebrations to designate Jerusalem as the 2009 "Capital of Arab culture."


Palestinians and activists dance near the Damascus gate in Jerusalem during events marking the city as the capital of Arab culture for 2009, 21 Mar 2009

Israeli media say police shut down at least five gatherings Saturday, including an effort by students carrying flags of the Palestine Liberation Organization from reaching the Temple Mount.

At least 11 people believed to be event organizers were arrested. They included at least two employees of the Palestinian al-Quds University who were planning to hand out T-shirts promoting the celebrations.

Israeli officials say the celebrations violate a law that prohibits the Palestinian Authority from organizing events on Israeli territory. Israel annexed East Jerusalem after capturing it in the 1967 Six-Day War. The annexation has not been internationally recognized, and Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future state.

Meanwhile, exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal told the Australian Sydney Morning Herald newspaper that the Palestinian militant group will try to capture more Israeli soldiers if Israel refuses to release Palestinian prisoners.

Meshaal made the comments from Hamas headquarters in Damascus.

His remarks come as the family of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit marked 1,000 days since his capture.

Hamas militants seized Shalit during a cross-border raid nearly three years ago. The soldier has become a focal point of Egyptian efforts to mediate a long-term cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Hamas is seeking the release of hundreds of prisoners held by Israel in exchange for Shalit.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP.

Pink elephant is caught on camera

Pink baby elephant in Botswana
The little pink calf was spotted in amongst an 80-strong elephant herd

A pink baby elephant has been caught on camera in Botswana.
By Rebecca Morelle
Science reporter, BBC News

A wildlife cameraman took pictures of the calf when he spotted it among a herd of about 80 elephants in the Okavango Delta.

Experts believe it is probably an albino, which is an extremely rare phenomenon in African elephants.

They are unsure of its chances of long-term survival - the blazing African sunlight may cause blindness and skin problems for the calf.

Mike Holding, who spotted the baby while filming for a BBC wildlife programme, said: "We only saw it for a couple of minutes as the herd crossed the river.
Baby pink elephant in Botswana
The baby elephant seems to be sheltering under its mother to protect itself from the sun

"This was a really exciting moment for everyone in camp. We knew it was a rare sighting - no-one could believe their eyes."

Documented evidence

Albino elephants are not usually white, but instead they have more of a reddish-brown or pink hue.

While albinism is thought to be fairly common in Asian elephants, it is much less common in the larger African species.

Baby pink elephant in Botswana (Mike Holding)
Surviving this very rare phenomenon is very difficult in the harsh African bush
Dr Mike Chase, Elephants Without Borders

Ecologist Dr Mike Chase, who runs conservation charity Elephants Without Borders, said: "I have only come across three references to albino calves, which have occurred in Kruger National Park in South Africa.

"This is probably the first documented sighting of an albino elephant in northern Botswana.

"We have been studying elephants in the region for nearly 10 years now, and this is the first documented evidence of an albino calf that I have come across."

He said that the condition might make it difficult for the calf to survive into adulthood.

"What happens to these young albino calves remains a mystery," said Dr Chase.

"Surviving this very rare phenomenon is very difficult in the harsh African bush. The glaring sun may cause blindness and skin problems."

However, he told BBC News that there might be a ray of hope for the pink calf as it already seemed to be learning to adapt to its condition.

I have learned that elephants are highly adaptable, intelligent and masters of survival
Dr Mike Chase, Elephants Without Borders

Dr Chase explained: "Because this elephant calf was sighted in the Okavango Delta, he may have a greater chance of survival. He can seek refuge under the large trees and cake himself in a thick mud, which will protect him from the Sun.

"Already the two-to-three-month-old calf seems to be walking in the shade of its mother.

"This behaviour suggests it is aware of its susceptibility to the harsh African sun, and adapted a unique behaviour to improve its chances of survival."

He added: "I have learned that elephants are highly adaptable, intelligent and masters of survival."

'Good Nazi of Nanjing' sparks debate

A film about a member of the Nazi party who saved thousands of Chinese during the massacre in Nanjing recently opened in Germany. The BBC's Zoe Murphy looks at the possible impact this unlikely hero's story may have on Sino-Japanese relations.

On Christmas Eve in 1937, German businessman John Rabe visited the mortuary in China's then capital, Nanjing.


German actor Ulrich Tukur as John Rabe (copyright Beta Cinema)
John Rabe remains a hero in China but his story is little known elsewhere
He later described in his diary the charred body of a civilian man whose eyes had been gouged out, and a boy of perhaps seven, whose corpse was punctured with bayonet wounds.

"I wanted to see these atrocities with my own eyes, so that I can speak as an eyewitness later," he wrote. "A man cannot be silent about this kind of cruelty!"

The Second Sino-Japanese War was raging.

Japanese troops had stormed the capital, carrying out mass executions and raping tens of thousands of local women and girls, in a six-week orgy of violence that became known as the Rape of Nanjing.

Risking his life, Rabe remained in China and, along with a handful of Westerners, set up a "safety zone" in Nanjing that is thought to have prevented the massacre of more than 200,000 Chinese during one of the bloodiest episodes of the Japanese invasion.


Japanese soldiers use live Chinese prisoners for bayonet practice (Bettmann/Corbis)
Japanese soldiers used live Chinese prisoners for bayonet practice
As Germany and Japan were allies, Rabe used his Nazi party membership to do all he could to protect civilians in the zone - including 650 sheltering refugees in his own house and garden.

With a flash of his swastika armband and through sheer force of personality, he intervened in acts of looting and attempted rape by the Japanese troops.

The diaries of this unlikely and unsung hero only became public knowledge in the late 1990s, when they were published in Germany. They have now been made into a film, simply titled John Rabe.

The biopic, which premiered recently in Germany, may stoke historical tensions between Beijing and Tokyo. But it is hoped that Rabe's story may renew debate and ultimately help heal old wounds.

Historical document


The events of 1937 have left enormous psychological scars in China, and the Chinese believe that Japan has not done enough to atone for its militarist past.

China says 300,000 people were killed during the assault on Nanjing. But much to the anger of Beijing, some conservative Japanese politicians and academics have said such figures are exaggerated. Some even deny that a massacre ever took place.

Such declarations also frustrate mainstream historians in Japan and further afield.

William Kirby, head of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University, says the exact death toll is not the main issue.

"What you have is a great massacre of a civilian population that goes on for weeks… Nanjing is surrendered but the Japanese proceed to terrorise the inhabitants. These facts are incontrovertible."

Coming to light nearly 60 years after the event, he says that John Rabe's diaries are a powerful new document detailing what happened day-by-day.

Mr Kirby says that Rabe had "no anti-Japanese axe to grind" at the outset.


When faced with this film, many people will be shocked [to learn] the Japanese carried out such cruel acts during the war
Japanese actor Teruyuki Kagawa

"He saw the Japanese as a normal army and initially resisted the stories of wrongdoing - he was a neutral outsider."

During the conflict, Rabe wrote: "Last night up to 1,000 women and girls are said to have been raped... If husbands or brothers intervene, they're shot.

"What you hear and see on all sides is the brutality and bestiality of the Japanese soldiery."

Nazi links

The film's director Florian Gallenberger says it was by staying true to the events as described by Rabe that the film achieved neutrality.

"At the beginning of the conflict I think [Rabe] has great trust in the Japanese as German allies to behave in a disciplined and fair way - but when it turns out otherwise he is shocked. He feels it is his responsibility to act."

People in Nanjing remember those killed during the massacre (file photo: 2007)
The events of 1937 have left deep psychological scars in China
He says Rabe's courage was fuelled by his sense of morality, rather than any political conviction.

As bombs rained down, Rabe wrote: "Anyone who has ever... held a trembling Chinese child in each hand through the long hours of an air raid can understand what I feel."

At one point, he covered a shelter with a huge swastika flag, which he described as being considered "especially bombproof".

After living in China for 30 years, Rabe had a naive image of Germany's National Socialism as a humanistic workers' movement, says Mr Gallenberger.

Rabe even wrote to Adolf Hitler asking for his intervention in the violence, as he believed the Nazi leader would not have condoned Japan's actions.

'Hard to watch'

The passage of time has allowed Germany to review its own wartime actions, notably the Nazi genocide of some six million European Jews during World War II.

Now with historical distance, the 37-year-old director hopes the film will trigger a new dialogue and help Japan also come to terms with its own past.


A statue of John Rabe outside his former home in Nanjing
Rabe's house in Nanjing is now a museum and centre for peace studies
"After such a long time, there should be a way of dealing differently with the responsibility they have, rather than trying to avoid it or make it disappear," he says.

John Rabe is expected to be widely viewed in China after it premieres at the Shanghai Film Festival in June. But it is unclear whether the film will be released in Japanese cinemas.

The film's producers hope that the involvement of Japanese star Teruyuki Kagawa will prevent the film from being silenced there.

Teruyuki Kagawa plays the emperor's relative, Prince Asaka, who was the top ranking Japanese officer in Nanjing at the height of the atrocities.

During the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal in 1946, Prince Asaka denied any massacre of Chinese and said he had never received any complaint about his soldiers' conduct.

Controversially, the film speculates on his involvement in the decision-making process.

Teruyuki Kagawa says: "When faced with this film, many people will be shocked [to learn] the Japanese carried out such cruel acts.

"I think Japanese people will find the two hours very hard [to watch]."

Land boost for Brazilian Indians

Indians from the Raposa Serra do Sol reservation celebrate, 19 March
Indians from the reservation danced in celebration

A ruling by Brazil's supreme court has boosted the efforts of the country's disadvantaged indigenous groups to keep control of their lands.

By 10 votes to one, judges ruled to maintain an Indian reservation in the northern border state of Roraima as a single, continuous territory.

It means that a small group of outside rice farmers with plantations in the area will now have to leave.

The head of the court also accused the government of failing the Indians.

This was the third occasion the court had met to reach a decision on the question, and the delays appeared to be just another indication of the sensitivity involved, the BBC's Gary Duffy reports from Brazil.


The Raposa Serra do Sol reservation, which stretches more than 1.7m hectares (4.2m acres) along the Venezuelan border, is home to up to 20,000 Amazonian Indians.

Indigenous leaders had feared a ruling against them would have signalled to land-owners and loggers that it was acceptable to invade their territory.

'Complete neglect'

Thursday's decision confirmed a decree issued by Brazil's President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who established Raposa Serra do Sol in 2005 exclusively as an area for use by the local Indian population.
Map showing location of reserve

Gilmar Mendes, president of the court, said the ruling should set a precedent for Indian land rights.

"We've established a statute that has to be applied not only in the Raposa Serra do Sol case, but also in other cases of demarcation," he said.

Mr Mendes also criticised what he called the neglect of the indigenous community by the government.

He said that beyond setting out the territory where they lived, the Indian population had been left to their own luck.

"It is a complete neglect of public responsibility," he added.

Our correspondent notes that the case has raised fears in military circles that it would create an effectively autonomous Indian reservation running along a lengthy section of Brazil's border.

To meet those concerns, the court imposed a series of conditions that guarantee access by the police and military to the territory.

'Conflict possible'

The land dispute has turned violent on occasion with several Indians shot and injured in May of last year.

"There is no peaceful solution," Nelson Itikawa, president of the Roraima Rice Growers Association, told the Brazilian government news service.

"It's possible there will be a conflict - there are people who will lose control."

To add to a complicated dispute, our correspondent reports, one indigenous group in the reservation supports the farmers.

Police in the Roraima city of Boa Vista said the situation was calm.

"There have been no demonstrations for or against the reservation, and nothing has happened to justify beefing up security near the reservation," said police spokesman Jose Negreiros.

Israel troops admit Gaza abuses

Israel frequently claims to possess the most moral army in the world

FROM THE BBC WORLD SERVICE

An Israeli military college has printed damning soldiers' accounts of the killing of civilians and vandalism during recent operations in Gaza.

One account tells of a sniper killing a mother and children at close range whom troops had told to leave their home.

Another speaker at the seminar described what he saw as the "cold blooded murder" of a Palestinian woman.

The army has defended its conduct during the Gaza offensive but said it would investigate the testimonies.

The Israeli army has said it will investigate the soldiers' accounts.

The testimonies were published by the military academy at Oranim College. Graduates of the academy, who had served in Gaza, were speaking to new recruits at a seminar.

The climate in general [was that] lives of Palestinians are much, much less important than the lives of our soldiers
Soldier testimony

Analysis: Operation Miscast Lead?
Gaza war crimes probes

"[The testimonies] conveyed an atmosphere in which one feels entitled to use unrestricted force against Palestinians," academy director Dany Zamir told public radio.

Heavy civilian casualties during the three-week operation which ended in the blockaded coastal strip on 18 January provoked an international outcry.

Correspondents say the testimonies undermine Israel's claims that troops took care to protect non-combatants and accusations that Hamas militants were responsible for putting civilians into harm's way.

'Less important'

The Palestinian woman and two of her children were allegedly shot after they misunderstood instructions about which way to walk having been ordered out of their home by troops.

"The climate in general... I don't know how to describe it.... the lives of Palestinians, let's say, are much, much less important than the lives of our soldiers," an infantry squad leader is quoted saying.


In another cited case, a commander ordered troops to kill an elderly woman walking on a road, even though she was easily identifiable and clearly not a threat.

Testimonies, which were given by combat pilots and infantry soldiers, also included allegations of unnecessary destruction of Palestinian property.

"We would throw everything out of the windows to make room and order. Everything... Refrigerators, plates, furniture. The order was to throw all of the house's contents outside," a soldier said.

One non-commissioned officer related at the seminar that an old woman crossing a main road was shot by soldiers.

"I don't know whether she was suspicious, not suspicious, I don't know her story… I do know that my officer sent people to the roof in order to take her out… It was cold-blooded murder," he said.

The transcript of the session for the college's Yitzhak Rabin pre-military course, which was held last month, appeared in a newsletter published by the academy.

Israeli human rights groups have criticised the military for failing to properly investigate violations of the laws of war in Gaza despite plenty of evidence of possible war crimes.

'Moral army'

The soldiers' testimonies also reportedly told of an unusually high intervention by military and non-military rabbis, who circulated pamphlets describing the war in religious terminology.
A wounded Palestinian child is carried into the Kamal Adwan hospital after an Israeli air strike on 11 January 2009
Palestinian civilians paid a heavy price during the three-week Israeli operation

"All the articles had one clear message," one soldier said. "We are the people of Israel, we arrived in the country almost by miracle, now we need to fight to uproot the gentiles who interfere with re-conquering the Holy Land."

"Many soldiers' feelings were that this was a war of religion," he added.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak told Israel Radio that the findings would be examined seriously.

"I still say we have the most moral army in the world. Of course there may be exceptions but I have absolutely no doubt this will be inspected on a case-by-case basis," he said.

Medical authorities say more than 1,300 Palestinians were killed during Israel's 22-day operation, including some 440 children, 110 women, and dozens of elderly people.

The stated aim was to curb rocket and mortar fire by militants from Gaza. Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians were killed.

Afghan women who turn to immolation

By Martin Patience
BBC News, Kabul


Women in Afghanistan
Poverty, illiteracy and domestic violence still weigh on women

Sitting in her family's mud brick home, Shanas recalled the day she set herself on fire.

The 16-year-old doused her legs in petrol and then with a match set the fuel alight.

"The next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital surrounded by my family. That was three or four days later."

From what Shanas says it is unclear what drove her five years ago to take such drastic action.

She may have been unhappy about her engagement during that period.

But what is clear is that her story is one that is repeated across Afghanistan.

Lack of freedoms

Self-immolation among women has the highest recorded levels in Herat province (although many other provinces provide no data on the subject).

Most of the women are in their teens or early 20s and are recently or soon-to-be married.


Kandigol
We want to have the same rights as men
Kandigol, women's rights campaigner

Experts suggest that a combination of poverty, illiteracy, domestic violence and lack of freedoms continue to drive this decades-old trend.

While the Afghan constitution - written after the fall of the Taleban in 2001 - enshrines equal rights for men and women, much of the country remains conservatively entrenched.

At the burns centre of the provincial hospital in Herat, Dr Mohammed Jalili knows more than most about this gruesome practice.

He says he has seen more than 80 cases of women committing self-immolation in the past year. The majority of these women have died from their injuries.

"Many of the women and their families say 'it was an accident'," he says. "It's their way of hiding their shame about the act."

But Dr Jalili says the cases are often easy to detect. Apart from the extent of burns, one tell-tale sign of an act of self-immolation is that there are no burns on the arm used to pour the petrol.

Shocking response

At the hospital, Dr Jalili was treating two women. He had operated on 20-year-old Anargol three times, including a skin graft operation on her badly scarred neck.


Art and crafts fair in Kabul to mark International Women's Day
Afghan women rarely get a forum to display their talent

Anargol says she had committed self-immolation after arguing with her husband.

When asked whether she had a message for other women, she had a shocking response.

"Don't burn yourself," she said, lying on her hospital bed. "If you want a way out, use a gun: it's less painful."

It was an absolute cry of despair, and something rarely heard from women in this deeply conservative society.

But according to Soraya Balaigh, director of the provincial department for women's affairs, it is an emotion that many women relate to.

"Pressure is often put on these women by their husbands or the mothers-in-law," she says.

"Violence is common and many women are desperate. I had a woman in this office who begged me to kill her here rather than send her back."

But there are some women who think that small steps are being made in the field of women's rights.

To mark International Women's Day in March, an arts and crafts fair was held in the city, with all the items made and sold by women.

Hundreds of people visited the fair selling an array of items, including jams, oil-paintings, religious sayings carved in wood and wedding cakes bedecked in decorations.

"I wanted to show that women can do some things better than men," says the organiser, Kandigol. "We want to have the same rights as men."

But Kandigol, like many women here, is realistic enough to know that this is wishful thinking at the moment.

Some will continue to feel isolated and desperate. And a few will decide to make a terrible, painful escape - and set themselves ablaze.

Israel seizes West Bank Hamas men (to torpedo negotiations)

Nasser Shaer, being released in September 2006
Some of the men have been arrested and released since the 2006 Hamas win

Israel has detained 10 senior Hamas leaders in the West Bank two days after indirect talks between the two sides on a possible prisoner swap collapsed.

An Israeli military spokeswomen described them as "terror operatives"; Hamas said they included four MPs, a former deputy PM and an academic.

Israeli forces and the rival West Bank Palestinian leadership have clamped down on the militant group since 2007.

That was when Hamas took sole control of Gaza, which is blockaded by Israel.

The detainees include Nasser Shaer, who served as Palestinian Authority deputy prime minister when Hamas won PA legislative elections in 2006.

He was arrested in Nablus. Three others, including an MP and a mayor were arrested in Ramallah, and another MP was taken in the Jenin area.

Correspondents say the detentions appear to be an Israeli attempt to pressure Hamas after the failure of recent efforts to win the release of captured soldier Gilad Shalit, who is being held by Hamas in Gaza.

The Shalits had stepped up their campaign to pressure the government
"These men have been the leaders of the ongoing effort to restore the administrative branch of the Hamas terror organisation in the region, while attempting to strengthen the power and influence of Hamas," the Israeli spokeswoman said.

Speaking from Gaza, Hamas official Ahmed Bahar denounced the arrests as "immoral blackmail by the Zionist occupation".

More than 30 Hamas MPs remain in prison in Israel after being arrested in the wake of Gilad Shalit's capture in 2006.

Hamas has been demanding the release of more than 400 of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

An Israeli military official quoted by Reuters said there was "no indication" the arrests were connected to the Shalit issue.

Shalit negotiation

Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had hoped to secure the release of Sgt Shalit before the formation of a new Israeli government, which could happen within days under the authority of PM-designate Benjamin Netanyahu.

The right-wing former premier is seen by analysts as less likely to reach a compromise than Mr Olmert. Mr Olmert sent two senior envoys to Cairo at the weekend hoping to seal a deal to swap Sgt Shalit for hundreds of Palestinian detainees, but they returned empty handed.

Each sides blamed the other for the collapse, the Israelis saying Hamas had hardened its position and Hamas saying Israel had brought nothing new to the talks.

The Shalit family set up a protest tent in front of Mr Olmert's house last week, escalating their campaign towards the end of his term in office.

They now say they intend to dismantle the camp on Sunday, which will be their son's 1,000th day in captivity.

Nothing has been heard from the Israeli conscript since June 2008, two years after his capture, when a letter in his handwriting was delivered to the Carter Centre in Ramallah in the West Bank.

Gilad Shalit, then a corporal, was captured by Palestinian militants from Gaza, including some from Hamas's armed wing, in a cross-border raid in June 2006.

Half of the "world's most powerful people" are Jewish

"The annual Vanity Fair list of "the world's most powerful people," 100 of the bankers and media moguls, publishers and image makers who shape the lives of billions was released in October.

It's an exclusive group whose influence stretches around the globe but is concentrated strategically in the highest corridors of power."

A 2% minority controls the U.S.A.'s money system and media. Is it any wonder America consistently backs the Jewish invasion and occupation of Palestine? What we need in America is an Affirmative Action program for the 98% of Americans who are not being represented in America's strategic centers of political and cultural power.

Another example high finance shenanigans by Jewish Americans:

"Madoff accountant on fraud charge

David Friehling is charged with deceiving investors. US prosecutors have charged the long-term accountant of disgraced US financier Bernard Madoff with fraud.

David Friehling, 49, has also been charged with aiding and abetting fraud, and four counts of filing false audit reports. He has been released on bail. David Friehling is on the board of directors for the Rockline Jewish Community Center.

Burma's peaceful pro democracy activists are calling on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon to secure the release of political prisoners. Stand with them -
Sign the petition

Dear friends,

Burmese pro democracy leader and Nobel peace prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, has spent 13 years detained by the Burmese military junta. She and thousands of fellow monks and students have been imprisoned for bravely challenging their brutal regime with calls for democracy. This week a glimmer of hope has risen for their release, and it's time for us to stand with them.

Risking danger to speak out for their jailed friends, Burmese activists this week demanded the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners and called on the world to help. As the global economic crisis makes aid flows more essential, Burma's generals are becoming more vulnerable to international pressure, but we need a flood of petition signatures to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon to make this a top priority. Follow the link to sign the petition, and forward this email on to make sure she and her fellow prisoners are freed:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/free_burma_political_prisoners

The Burmese organizers have set a goal of 888,888 signatures. The number 8 is powerful in Burmese culture, and the ruling junta is extremely superstitious - such a large and significant number might have a special influence on them. But this issue isn't in the headlines, so to build our numbers we need to forward this email and persuade our friends to help.

Aung San Suu Kyi is the international face of the struggle for democracy in Burma. She has been detained over and over again since 1988. She is now under house arrest and is allowed no contact with the outside world.

But growing international pressure is working -- In December, 112 former Presidents and Prime Ministers from 50 countries sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urging him to press for the release of all political prisoners, and 20 political prisoners were released in February after a United Nations envoy visited the country.

Sources now say that the military regime is fearful of this unified and massive online call to the UN -- over 160 Burma exile and solidarity groups in 24 countries are participating in the campaign. But it will take all of us and all our friends signing this petition to get Mr Ban’s attention. Avaaz has done it before for Burma – we can do it again. Click here to stop the arrests and brutality:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/free_burma_political_prisoners

This is one of those times where if enough of us act we can truly make a difference. Let’s join the courageous Burmese democracy activists in jail and in hiding and help end this violent repression.

In hope and solidarity,

Alice, Ricken, Pascal, Graziela, Veronique, Iain, Paul, Luis, Paula, Brett and the whole Avaaz team

For more about the Global Campaign visit:
http://www.fbppn.net/?page_id=582

For more about Burmese political prisoners visit:
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46118

Article on torture in Burmese jails:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/02/AR2006010201865.html

Some prisoners release after UN envoy visit February 2009:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/22/AR2009022201188.html

Letter from former presidents:
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/index.php/burma/news/Letter-from-112-Former-Presidents-and -Prime-Ministers-to-UN-Secretary-Gener

For more about Aung San Suu Kyi visit:
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/aboutburma/aung_san_suu_kyi.htm


ABOUT AVAAZ Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means "voice" in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in Ottawa, London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Buenos Aires, and Geneva.

Help Us Organize to End Military Aid to Israel

at Marches against Wars and Occupations
US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
March 18th, 2009

As we approach the 6th anniversary of the U.S. war on Iraq and the 42nd anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's famous Riverside Church speech "Beyond Vietnam," the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation calls on all of its member groups and individual supporters to join marches protesting U.S. spending on wars and occupations and calling for a new economy based on our country's unmet domestic needs.

Over the next ten years, the United States is scheduled to provide Israel with $30 billion in military aid to maintain its illegal occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip, and to commit human rights abuses against Palestinians living under this military occupation. During the Bush Administration, Israel killed more than 3,000 innocent Palestinian civilians who took no part in hostilities, often with U.S. weapons.

These marches are great opportunities for us to reach out to like-minded people and get them to join with us in our campaign to challenge U.S. military aid to Israel. Help us organize at these marches!

On the sixth anniversary of the war on Iraq, the ANSWER Coalition is holding a national march on the Pentagon, this Saturday, March 21.

Join the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation for this important march and help us collect postcard signatures to President Obama calling on him to cut off military aid to Israel.

Sign up to volunteer to organize with us this Saturday by clicking here and we'll send you instructions on how to get supplies and how to meet up with us.

Can't make it to Washington, DC this weekend? Then download our petition to cut off military aid to Israel by clicking here and join a march or protest near you. To find a list of events across the country to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the war on Iraq, click here.

On Saturday, April 4, United for Peace and Justice is holding a national march on Wall Street on the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's "Beyond Vietnam" speech to call for a new economy beyond war.



Join the US Campaign at White and Broadway (south of Canal Street) in Manhattan for the "Yes We Can…End Military Aid to Israel" contingent.

Sign up to volunteer to organize with us on Saturday, April 4 by clicking here and we'll send you instructions on how to get supplies and how to meet up with us.

US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation

From Jewish holocaust salesman to denier of human life--the Catholic Pope

France chastises Pope on condoms


Pope Benedict XVI, right, seen, with Cameroon's President Paul Biya, during a meeting at the Unity Presidential Palace in Yaounde, Cameroon, 18 Mar 2009

The French foreign ministry has voiced "sharp concern" following the Pope's rejection of condom use to fight Aids.

Benedict XVI, who is on a tour of Africa, said handing out condoms only increased the problem of HIV/Aids.

The Roman Catholic Church says marital fidelity and sexual abstinence are the best way to prevent the spread of HIV.

But France, echoing the reaction of some aid agencies, said it "voices extremely sharp concern over the consequences of [the Pope's comments]".

"While it is not up to us to pass judgment on Church doctrine, we consider that such comments are a threat to public health policies and the duty to protect human life," foreign ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier said.

The Pope arrived in Cameroon on Tuesday at the start of his week-long African tour.

"A Christian can never remain silent," he said, after being greeted by President Paul Biya.

HIV/Aids was, he argued, "a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which can even increase the problem".

The solution lay, he said, in a "spiritual and human awakening" and "friendship for those who suffer".

But some activists were dismayed by the approach, saying condoms were one of the few methods proved to stop the spread of HIV.

Rebecca Hodes, of the Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa said: "His opposition to condoms conveys that religious dogma is more important to him than the lives of Africans."

Some 22 million people are infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, according to UN figures for 2007.

This amounts to about two-thirds of the global total.

Israel row derails Obama nominee

Charles Freeman
Mr Freeman served as the US ambassador to Saudi Arabia

The Obama administration's candidate for a top US intelligence post has withdrawn, after his past criticism of Israel came under heavy fire.

Charles Freeman had been named to head the National Intelligence Council, which produces security assessments.

But his comments about Israel, as well as links to China and Saudi Arabia, had enraged dozens of US lawmakers.

Mr Freeman said he did not think the council could work effectively "while its chair was under constant attack".

It is the latest embarrassment for President Barack Obama, who has seen a number of appointees withdraw or forced out.

Some observers are interpreting it as a test case of the Obama administration's willingness to stand up to powerful pro-Israeli forces in US politics.

'Strong views'

National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair - who originally selected Mr Freeman for the post - said he was accepting his resignation "with regret".


The tactics of the Israel Lobby plumb the depths of dishonour and indecency
Charles Freeman
Only hours earlier he had been defending him as a "person of strong views, of an inventive mind and the analytical point of view", which Mr Blair said he preferred to "pre-cooked" judgements.

Mr Freeman has served as a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, a senior diplomat in China and an assistant secretary of defence.

His background and past statements had caused dozens of members of Congress - mainly Republican - to question his appointment.

Among their stated concerns were:

* Remarks attributed to Mr Freeman in 2007, in which he said: "The brutal oppression of the Palestinians by Israeli occupation shows no signs of ending," and "American identification with Israel has become total"
* His position on the international advisory board of a Chinese state-owned oil company
* His presidency of the Middle East Policy Council, a think-tank that received funding from Saudi Arabia.

On Monday, all seven members of the Senate Intelligence Committee sent a letter to Mr Blair expressing consternation about his appointment.

They joined a chorus of complaint from members of the House of Representatives.

Several of them applauded his withdrawal, including Democratic Senator Charles Schumer.

"Charles Freeman was the wrong guy for this position. His statements against Israel were way over the top and severely out of step with the administration," he said in a statement.

'Libellous distortions'

In a message posted on the website of Foreign Policy magazine, Mr Freeman said he believed the "barrage of libellous distortions of my record would not cease upon my entry into office...

"I do not believe the National Intelligence Council could function effectively while its chair was under constant attack by unscrupulous people with a passionate attachment to the views of a political faction in a foreign country".

He said the incident showed "Americans cannot any longer conduct a serious public discussion or exercise independent judgment about matters of great importance".

And he blamed the campaign against him on the "Israel Lobby", which he said used tactics which "plumb the depths of dishonour and indecency".

The NIC releases influential annual national intelligence assessments, supposed to reflect the consensus of multiple different US intelligence agencies.

But they are not always without controversy - such as a 2002 assessment which concluded that Iraq was continuing to produce weapons of mass destruction, and which helped the Bush administration justify the case for war.