Israeli troops 'ill-treat kids'

Israeli soldiers arrest boy near Qalandia, Sept 2008
Israel arrested 9,000 Palestinians last year, 700 of them children

A former Israeli military commander has told the BBC that Palestinian youngsters are routinely ill-treated by Israeli soldiers while in custody, reports the BBC' s Katya Adler from Jerusalem and the West Bank.

"You take the kid, you blindfold him, you handcuff him, he's really shaking... Sometimes you cuff his legs too. Sometimes it cuts off the circulation.

"He doesn't understand a word of what's going on around him. He doesn't know what you're going to do with him. He just knows we are soldiers with guns. That we kill people. Maybe they think we're going to kill him.


Mohammad Khawaja, 13, West Bank
They dragged me from my home by the scruff of the neck. The more I cried the more they choked me... They pulled me along on my stomach. My knees were bleeding. They beat me with their guns and kicked me all the way to the jeep
Mohammad Khawaja, 13

"A lot of the time they're peeing their pants, just sit there peeing their pants, crying. But usually they're very quiet.''

Eran Efrati is a former commander in Israel's army. He served in the occupied West Bank.

In a discreet park in Jerusalem we meet to discuss allegations that soldiers like him often mistreat Palestinian minors, suspected of throwing stones.

Mr Efrati - who left the army five months ago - says the allegations are true:

''I never arrested anyone younger than nine or 10, but 14, 13, 11 for me, they're still kids. But they're arrested like adults.

"Every soldier who was in the Occupied Territories can tell you the same story. The first months after I left the army I dreamed about kids all the time. Jewish kids. Arab kids. Screaming.

''Maybe [the kid is] blindfolded for him not to see the base and how we're working... But I believe maybe we put the blindfold because we don't want to see his eyes. You don't want him to look at us - you know, beg us to stop, or cry in front of us. It's a lot easier if we don't see his eyes.

''When the kid is sitting there in the base, I didn't do it, but nobody is thinking of him as a kid, you know - if there is someone blindfolded and handcuffed, he's probably done something really bad. It's OK to slap him, it's OK to spit on him, it's OK to kick him sometimes. It doesn't really matter.''


Palestinian boys throw stones at Israeli soldiers, Bilin, 31.07.09
Israel says stones can be deadly weapons

Young Palestinians are mostly arrested for throwing stones at Jewish settlers or Israeli soldiers.

This, they say, is their only means of venting their frustration at Israel's military occupation of their home, the West Bank.

Every week in the West Bank village of Bilin, Palestinians organise a demonstration against Israel's West Bank barrier.

Israel says it needs the barrier to stop attacks on its citizens. Palestinians call it a land grab. They say it makes their daily life even tougher.

Israeli soldiers monitor the protest from the other side of the barrier.

Night-time arrests

At a recent protest, I watched a gang of Palestinian boys darting amongst the olive trees, picking up stones and rocks to throw at the soldiers.

Some used sling-shots. Many had a scarf or shawl wrapped round their face to hide their identity.

The soldiers responded with tear gas and sound grenades. Sometimes they have used rubber-coated bullets too.


Eran Efrati, former Israeli military commander
After he left the military, Mr Efrati said he dreamed about children screaming

Often after an incident like this, Israeli soldiers raid a West Bank village.

Usually in the middle of the night. The arrests can be brutal.

''Their faces were painted when they came for him. It was frightening. All those soldiers for one boy. They put iron weights on his back in the jeep and beat him all the way to jail. He couldn't get up for a week.''

Mohammad Ballasi's 15-year-old son, also called Mohammad, was arrested by Israeli soldiers for stone-throwing.

We met him and his wife just outside an Israeli military base in the West Bank. Palestinian youngsters are tried in military tribunals.

The tribunals regard minors as Palestinians aged 16 or under. In Israel's civil courts minors are young people under the age of 18.

The first time Mohammad's parents saw him since he was arrested two weeks before was at his trial. He pleaded guilty.

''When you're beaten like that, you would confess against your own mother," said Suad Ballasi, choking back tears.


Almost every other week we find a 14 or 15 year old carrying an explosive belt or grenade on his body
Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibowitz
Israeli military spokeswoman

''He's a child. His friends are playing in the street and he is in handcuffs. I couldn't stop crying in court. My heart feels like it's going to explode.''

The human rights organisation Defence for Children International (DCI) has written a report accusing Israel's military of what it describes as the systematic and institutionalised ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children by the Israeli authorities.

Gerard Horton is an international lawyer for DCI. He said Mohammad's Ballasi's story is a familiar one.

''We see these stories again and again. Israel is a signatory to the UN convention against torture. It's also a signatory to the UN convention on the rights of the child - and under customary international law, it's not permissible to mistreat and torture, particularly children, who are obviously more vulnerable than adults."

He told me that Israel arrested 9,000 Palestinians last year. Seven hundred of those were children.

Mr Horton says the military tribunals need to process cases quickly.

DCI believes the system is designed so that it is in an adult or a child's interest to plead guilty.


Protesters and tear gas at Bilin, 24.07.09
Israeli troops frequently use tear gas against protesters at Bilin

Gerard Horton says Palestinians tend to end up in jail longer if they try to fight their case.

Mohammad Khawaja had just turned 13 when he was arrested.

''They dragged me from my home by the scruff of the neck. The more I cried the more they choked me," he said.

"My mum was screaming. They pulled me along on my stomach. My knees were bleeding. They beat me with their guns and kicked me all the way to the jeep.

"They cuffed my hands and legs, blind-folded me and left me there for 24 hours. I thought I was going to die.

"Later interrogators wanted me to tell on other people. I wouldn't. They beat me with plastic chairs. They told me to sign a paper written in Hebrew. I don't read or speak it. Because I signed it they put me in jail.''

Israel's military denies any suggestion that the abuse of young Palestinians is routine, but the army says it has to guard against Palestinian children involved in what it describes as "acts of terror".

Nightmares

Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibowitz is a spokeswoman for Israel's military.

''Even though it's just a stone or just a Molotov cocktail, they're deadly weapons. Doesn't matter who did it - they're deadly weapons," she said.

"Almost every other week we find a 14 or 15-year-old carrying an explosive belt or grenade on his body, in one of the crossings.

"This is the situation we live in, and since we are defending ourselves and we want to punish those terrorists, we have no choice but to find them, to punish them - and hope that we won't return to this."

Mohammad Khawaja hasn't slept properly since the soldiers came. He says the nightmares will not go away.

Human rights groups are calling on the international community to investigate what they say are Israel's violations of children's rights.

Axolotl verges on wild extinction

From Times Online
August 26, 2009

Matt Walker
Editor, Earth News

The amphibian that never grew up is on the verge of going extinct in the wild.

New survey work suggests that fewer than 1,200 Mexican axolotls remain in its last stronghold, the Xochimilco area of central Mexico.

The axolotl is a type of salamander that uniquely spends its whole life in its larval form.

Its odd lifestyle, features and ability to regenerate body parts make it a popular animal kept in labs, schools and as pets.

But in the wild, the future is bleak for this "Peter Pan" of animals.

Reintroduction is not a good idea because it reduces the genetic variability and increases the chances of disease
Biologist Dr Luis Zambrano

Recent surveys suggest that between 700 and 1,200 axolotls (Ambystoma mexicanum) survive in six reduced and scattered areas within the Xochimilco area of the Mexican Central Valley.

One of these surveys found just a single axolotl in the whole study region.

The long-term survival of the axolotl in the wild has now become critical, and demands urgent action to restore the animal's number and habitat, say scientists monitoring the population.

Forever young

The Mexican axolotl is highly unusual.

Altogether, there are around seven species of salamander belonging to the genus Ambystoma.

All are quite similar and may be called axolotls. Most are capable of retaining their larval forms throughout their whole lives.

But they usually do so in response to their environment, for example, if temperatures are too cold to emerge onto land as an adult salamander, the tadpole larvae may just keep growing underwater instead.

But the Mexican axolotl is the only species that never undergoes metamorphosis.

Instead each generation lives underwater as outsized larvae. Males and females mate underwater and the females lay eggs on nearby structures such as plants.

The Mexican axolotl's odd looks and unusual life history have also made it a favourite pet, and the subject of extensive biological research into its physiology.

Population crash

Though accurate information about the population of wild Mexican axolotls is hard to come by, recent evidence suggests that the population has declined alarmingly in recent decades.

For example, in 1998 there were thought to be around 6,000 axolotls per square kilometre of the Xochimilco.
Mexican axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) eggs
Eggs of the endangered axolotl


An axolotl in its larval, but much younger form


By 2004 just 1,000 lived in the equivalent area, and by 2008 around 100 animals survived per square kilometre, Dr Luis Zambrano and colleagues at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, based in Mexico City report in the journal Biological Conservation.

That is a ten-fold reduction in four years and a 60-fold reduction in ten years, leading the International Union for Conservation of Nature to classify the species as endangered on its annual Red List of threatened species.

Now "our best estimates using unpublished data, but with two different techniques, sampling and genetic, suggests that the total amount of axolotls in the wild is between 700 and 1,200 animals," says Dr Zambrano.

"We are still analysing the data, so it may change a little bit. But we don't think it will change by an order of magnitude."

The axolotl's range is also highly restricted.

Dr Zambrano's team has surveyed the Xochimilco, a complex water system of artificial channels, small lakes and temporary wetlands that help supply Mexico City, a nearby city of some 18 million people.

As the city has increased in size, it has dramatically reduced the axolotl's natural habitat.

Zambrano's team calculate that the salamander now exists in just six isolated parts of the water system, often near to some of the few remaining natural springs supplying clear, fresh water.

Their most recent work shows that the reduction in water quality is one of the main factors driving the axolotl to extinction in the wild.

Another is the presence of large numbers of introduced carp and tilapia fish, which both compete ecologically with axolotls for food and resource, and also eat axolotl eggs.

Little refuge

While captive colonies of axolotls exist across Mexico, the US, Canada, Germany, the UK and Japan, reintroducing these animals would be a bad idea, say the scientists.
Axolotl habitat in the Xochimilco area of the Mexican Central Valley
Prime axolotl habitat

"Reintroduction is not a good idea because it reduces the genetic variability and increases the chances of chytrdiomicosis disease," says Dr Zambrano.

Chytrdiomicosis is an often fatal condition caused by the chytrid fungus, which is decimating amphibian populations around the world.

Dr Zambrano's team are now embarking on a programme to create wild refuges for the Mexican axolotl, in a bid to arrest the decline in its numbers and prevent it going extinct in the wild.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Olmert indicted on corruption charges

Fraud and other allegations led Olmert to resign last year. Public disgust over official dishonesty has grown in Israel and brought investigations and harsh punishments.

By Richard Boudreaux
August 30, 2009 | 11:44 a.m.

Reporting from Jerusalem - Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was indicted today in corruption scandals that drove him to resign last year, a long-awaited legal step that made him the first current or former holder of Israel's most powerful office to be charged with a criminal offense.

The decision by Atty. Gen. Menahem Mazuz will give Israelis a single judicial airing of three cases against Olmert that, along with other scandals involving senior government officials, have undermined public confidence in the country's politicians in recent years.

Olmert, 63, is accused of taking illegal cash payments from a wealthy political supporter, double-billing for trips abroad, and steering government grants to clients of a close friend and former law partner. The allegations cover a 13-year period when Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem and minister of trade and industry, but they surfaced after he became prime minister in 2006 and weighed heavily on his capacity to lead. He has since left politics.

The 61-page indictment filed in a Jerusalem court charges him with fraud, breach of trust, falsification of corporate records, receipt of illicit benefits and tax evasion. A conviction of fraud alone could mean five years in prison for Olmert.

Olmert, who led Israel as head of the centrist Kadima party, has long insisted he is the innocent target of biased prosecutors. His spokesman said today that a trial would vindicate him.

"After bringing down an incumbent prime minister, neither the attorney general nor the state prosecutor had any other option but to serve this indictment," said the spokesman, Amir Dan. "The court is free of these considerations, and we are convinced that Ehud Olmert will prove his innocence."

Many legal experts questioned that assumption. Emanuel Gross, a professor of criminal law at Haifa University, said that "there is a basis for assuming the prosecution did its homework and, after many months of investigation, would not have taken the risk of indicting a former prime minister without being convinced it had solid evidence."

Israel's television announcers treated Olmert's indictment as an anticlimax, placing it on the evening-news lineup behind a major tycoon's financial troubles, the latest swine-flu deaths and negotiations to free an Israeli soldier held by Hamas. Israelis have become accustomed to shenanigans in high places, and Olmert's downfall was last year's drama.

But public disgust over official malfeasance is high and has driven investigations by the attorney general, the state prosecutor and the controller general, officials with a degree of political independence. Judges have meted out harsh punishment in two such cases: In June, former Finance Minister Avraham Hirshson was sentenced to five years and five months for embezzlement; former Health Minister Shlomo Benizri is serving a four-year sentence for bribery and fraud convictions last year.

News of such investigations was a constant backdrop to Olmert's three years in office. One long-running probe spurred Moshe Katsav to resign as president, a ceremonial position in Israel, while Mazuz's office weighed evidence of rape, sexual harassment and indecent acts. Katsav was later indicted on those charges and is standing trial.

The odor of official wrongdoing did not go away when Olmert left the prime minister's office in March after serving as its caretaker for six months following his resignation. Avigdor Lieberman, foreign minister in the current right-leaning government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is under investigation due to allegations of bribery, money laundering and obstruction of justice. The police fraud squad recommended this month that he be indicted on those charges, which arose years ago.

In the most damaging case against the prime minister, Moshe Talansky, a Jewish American businessman and political supporter, testified last summer that he had funneled tens of thousands of dollars to Olmert in cash-stuffed envelopes over the years to help him in four election campaigns. He said some of that money had gone to upgrade Olmert's flight tickets and purchase luxury goods.

boudreaux@latimes.com

Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times

Well, at least he wasn't nailed for committing crimes against humanity like his predecessor Ariel Sharon was by those who researched what happened to Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila camp in Lebanon. The Israeli government seems as prone to corruption as their Palestinian counterpart, Fatah.

Gap set to open in Israel

August 23, 2009

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Gap will open its first store in Israel.

The Gap clothing retailer will open in Monday in Jerusalem at the Mamilla Avenue, a corridor of high-end retail shops running from the Jaffa Gate of the Old City to King David Street.

Gap founders Doris and Donald Fisher, who are Jewish, may attend the opening, Ynet reported.

A second store is set to open in February 2010 in Herzliya.

So from Jewish Hurwitz ownership of Palco to Jewish Fisher family ownership, both owners seemingly caring little about their non-Jewish workers. Humboldt Redwood Company is barely functioning, who knows what their workforce number is at but one drive through Scotia will tell you the Fishers aren't too concerned about their current role in helping Maxxam Jewish owners in creation of a ghost town.

Megrahi backs Lockerbie inquiry

Megrahi and Seif al-Islam
Megrahi (left) was greeted by Colonel Gaddafi's son Seif al-Islam in Tripoli

The man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing has backed calls for a public inquiry into the atrocity.

Speaking to Scotland's The Herald newspaper from his home in the Libyan capital, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi said he was determined to clear his name.

He also said an inquiry would help families of the victims know the truth.

Megrahi, who is suffering from terminal prostate cancer, was released from Greenock Prison in Scotland last week on compassionate grounds.

He returned to a hero's welcome in Libya after serving eight years of a minimum 27 years sentence for murdering 270 people in the December 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103 over the town of Lockerbie, in southern Scotland. The scenes prompted international condemnation.

The Herald quoted Megrahi as saying he would help Dr Jim Swire, whose 23-year-old daughter Flora died in the disaster and who has frequently called for a full public inquiry, by handing over all the documents in his possession.

In his first interview since being released, Megrahi told The Herald: "I support the issue of a public inquiry if it can be agreed.

"In my view, it is unfair to the victim's families that this has not been heard. It would help them to know the truth. The truth never dies. If the UK guaranteed it, I would be very supportive."

But Megrahi said he believed the UK government would avoid a public inquiry as it would cost a lot of money and also "show how much the Americans have been involved".

He said he dropped his appeal in the Scottish courts because he knew he would not live to see the outcome and was desperate to see his family, and insisted there was no pressure from Libyan or Scottish authorities.

'Interesting position'

And he made scathing comments about the Scottish legal system, but said he was impressed by Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill during their meeting at Greenock Prison, describing him as "very decent".

Megrahi said his priority was now to spend time with his five children.

Lucy Adams, chief reporter of The Herald, told BBC News that Megrahi had looked "incredibly ill and weak" during her meeting with him, but had clearly been anxious for a public inquiry to be held.

Ms Adams said: "I think perhaps for those who are convinced of his guilt it seems interesting that he would back that [an inquiry] and he would hand over the papers he has and the documents he has.

"That seems quite an interesting position from his point of view, because that would indicate he has nothing to hide."

He is currently writing an autobiography in which he hopes to convince people of his innocence

Lucy Adams
The Herald

Ms Adams said Megrahi had been interviewed in his large villa in Tripoli while he was lying on a "hospital-style bed" in his lounge.

She added: "He was surrounded by his family, his children and other relatives, and he seemed incredibly weak and frail. He spent much of the time coughing and having to pause, but seemed determined to talk about his case and the fact that in his opinion, while he will die soon, he said the truth will never die."

"He is currently writing an autobiography in which he hopes to convince people of his innocence. He has documents which have not yet been disclosed to the public, and documents that were being prepared for his appeal which he dropped last week as part of his hopes for returning to Tripoli."

The row over Mr MacAskill's decision to release Megrahi on compassionate grounds intensified on Friday when an ICM Research poll for BBC News said 60% of those questioned thought Mr MacAskill was wrong to release Megrahi, and 57% thought he should have stayed in prison until he died.

Thirty-two per cent said Mr MacAskill was right, 7% did not know, and 1% would not say.

The telephone poll of 1,005 adults took place on Wednesday and Thursday.

Senator Edward Kennedy dies at 77

Veteran US Senator Edward Kennedy, the brother of former President John F Kennedy, has died at 77, after a long battle with a brain tumour.

He became a Democratic Massachusetts senator in 1962, replacing his brother when he resigned to become president, and was re-elected seven times.

Senator Kennedy was a dominant force in US politics for almost 50 years.

President Barack Obama, of whom he was an active supporter, said he was "heartbroken" to hear of his death.

"An important chapter in our history has come to an end," he said. "Our country has lost a great leader, who picked up the torch of his fallen brothers and became the greatest United States senator of our time."

Senator Kennedy had championed issues such as education and healthcare, central to Mr Obama's first term.


The liberal lion's mighty roar may now fall silent, but his dream shall never die
Harry Reid
Senate Majority leader

In 2006, Time magazine named him as one of America's "Ten Best Senators" saying that he had "amassed a titanic record of legislation affecting the lives of virtually every man, woman and child in the country".

The BBC's Richard Lister in Washington says Senator Kennedy, known affectionately as Teddy, will be remembered as one of the most effective and popular legislators in American history.

Our correspondent says he was also skilled at forging alliances across party lines: pushing an education initiative with President George W Bush, and immigration reform with Republican John McCain.

But he was a fierce critic of the Bush administration, in particular over Iraq and the prisoner abuse scandal.

He will also be remembered as a staunch supporter of Irish Republicanism - at one time calling for British troops to leave Northern Ireland - although he was later involved in the peace process leading to the Good Friday Agreement.

This is the cause of my life... Now the issue has more meaning for me - and more urgency - than ever before, but it's always been deeply personal, because the importance of healthcare has been a recurrent lesson throughout most of my 77 years
Edward Kennedy

Senator Kennedy's Newsweek article on healthcare, July 2009

Senate Majority leader Harry Reid said the Kennedy family and the Senate had "together lost our patriarch".

"The liberal lion's mighty roar may now fall silent, but his dream shall never die," he said.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that Senator Kennedy would be "mourned not just in America but in every continent".

"Even facing illness and death, he never stopped fighting for the causes which were his life's work. I am proud to have counted him as a friend."

'Joyous light'

Dawn broke over Washington's Capitol building, the home of the Senate, with the US flag flying at half mast.

The Kennedy family announced Senator Kennedy's death in a brief statement in the early hours of Wednesday.


EDWARD MOORE KENNEDY
1932 Born, youngest of nine children
1962 Becomes country's youngest senator
1963, 1968 Brothers President John F Kennedy and Senator Robert F Kennedy both assassinated
1969 "Chappaquiddick incident" - Kennedy flees scene after road crash in which his young passenger dies
1980 Runs unsuccessfully for Democratic nomination against sitting President Jimmy Carter

Obituary: Edward Kennedy
Edward Kennedy - a political life

"Edward M Kennedy, the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply, died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port (Massachusetts)," the statement said.

"We've lost the irreplaceable centre of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever."

Edward Kennedy was the only one of four brothers to die a natural death.

His brother Joseph was killed in an air crash in World War II, and both President John F Kennedy and presidential hopeful Robert F Kennedy were assassinated in the 1960s.

He was widely expected to be the next Kennedy in the White House, but he was never able to fully overcome the scandal caused in 1969, when he drove a car off a bridge at Chappaquiddick near his home, killing his female passenger.

The incident helped derail his only presidential bid, more than a decade later.

But he remained active in politics right up until his death, famously endorsing Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination during a tight race with Hillary Clinton last year.

At his death, he was the third longest serving senator in US history.

Last week, he asked the Massachusetts governor to change state law to allow a speedy succession when his Senate seat became vacant.

Analysts suggest that Senator Kennedy feared a lengthy gap could deny Democrats a crucial vote on Mr Obama's flagship health reform.

His death comes weeks after that of his older sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, on 11 August.

US MEDIA REACTION TO TED KENNEDY'S DEATH

Kennedy was at the center of the most important issues facing the nation for decades, and he did much to help shape them. A defender of the poor and politically disadvantaged, he set the standard for his party on health care, education, civil rights, campaign-finance reform and labor law

Joe Holley writes in The Washington Post on Ted Kennedy's political importance

He was a Rabelaisian figure in the Senate and in life, instantly recognizable by his shock of white hair, his florid, oversize face, his booming Boston brogue, his powerful but pained stride. He was a celebrity, sometimes a self-parody, a hearty friend, an implacable foe, a man of large faith and large flaws, a melancholy character who persevered, drank deeply and sang loudly. He was a Kennedy.

New York Times journalist John M Broder describes the Kennedy effect.

Seared in my memory: When I interned at the Heritage Foundation, I would pop into Mass at Saint Joseph's on the Hill. And I would almost always find myself sitting near Ted Kennedy. He's responsible for things that are deeply offensive to my conscience and diametrically opposed to the teachings of the Catholic faith, and he probably led some people astray by his example. But our faith also teaches that we are all sinners and that there is redemption. He had some incredibly good forces in his life, not least among them his sister, Eunice, who just died. I pray for the repose of his soul. R.I.P. Senator Kennedy.

Kathryn Lean Lopez blogs her tribute at the National Review.

Elected first in 1962, the 77-year-old Massachusetts liberal was rooted in the civil rights and Great Society battles of that decade, but his enduring strength was an ability to renew himself through his mastery of issues and the changing personalities of the Senate. Nowhere was this clearer than in Kennedy's early support of Barack Obama in 2008, when the young Illinois Democrat needed to establish himself against more veteran rivals for the White House. Kennedy not only campaigned for Obama but, at risk to his own health, opened the Democratic National Convention a year ago in Denver and returned to Washington repeatedly last winter to cast needed votes to move the new president's economic recovery agenda.

David Rogers in Politico highlights the veteran senator's lasting political importance.

In many ways, he was the last man standing, straddling a mythic family mantle of fame and a vaunted career of political service, all the while wearing the crown of Camelot decades after its heyday...the senator's death brought to a close a storied political era - of assassinations, Jackie O, Palm Beach, Chappaquiddick - and a lifetime of both tragedy and public service.

Andrea Billup writes in the The Washington Times that 'Camelot' fades with Kennedy passing

In losing Kennedy, Obama loses a key Senate dealmaker at a crucial moment in legislative negotiations over the health care bill. Though an icon of Democratic liberalism, Kennedy was known to colleagues as a jovial pragmatist, whose many friendships with colleagues across the political and ideological spectrum made him one of the Senate's most influential players.

Kathy Kiely in USA Today examines the impact of Ted Kennedy's death on healthcare reform.

For those of you who still think Israel is a democracy: More discrimination against Israeli Arabs: Israeli Arab diplomat curb mooted

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in the West Bank settlement of Ariel on 23 August 2009
Mr Lieberman has in the past proposed laws that have angered Israeli Arabs

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has proposed a new regulation that would prevent most Israeli Arabs from becoming career diplomats.

He said that only those who complete military service should be eligible for training with the foreign ministry.

This would exclude most Arab citizens, who do not serve in the army, as well as ultra-Orthodox Jews, who are exempted from conscription.

Mr Lieberman said he would propose a law to parliament, if necessary.

Current Israeli law guarantees all citizens equal access to the civil service.

Anyone who wants to represent the country [Israel] in the outside world must take part in our obligations
Avigdor Lieberman

More than five Israeli Arabs, Muslims and Christians, currently work as diplomats in the foreign ministry, the Israeli Haaretz newspaper reported.

Mr Lieberman's proposal came at a foreign ministry administrative meeting.

Israeli Arabs, who make up about a fifth of Israel's population, roughly 1.45 million people, are of Palestinian Arab descent.

During the war that surrounded the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, hundreds of thousands of Arabs were forced from or fled their homes.

Those who remained within what became Israel, and their descendents, have been granted citizenship and are known as Israeli Arabs.

Israeli Arabs are citizens of Israel - although their "civic duty" differs as they are exempt from compulsory military service.

But Israeli Arabs frequently describe themselves as "second-class citizens" and say they face institutional and social discrimination.

Mr Lieberman, a hard-line nationalist, has previously tried to sponsor laws requiring Israeli Arabs to swear allegiance to Israel as a Jewish state and to ban Israeli Arabs from marking the Nakba - the Palestinian "catastrophe" of 1948.

These measures have not been enacted, though laws stopping state funding for organisations and activities that reject the existence of Israel as a Jewish state have.

Israel fury at Sweden organ claim

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman - March 2009
Israel's foreign minister has described the newspaper report as a blood libel

Israel is to lodge an official complaint with Sweden over claims in a newspaper that Israeli soldiers killed Palestinians to sell their organs.

The article was published in the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet this week.

The Swedish ambassador to Israel condemned the newspaper article as "shocking and appalling".

The government in Stockholm has not issued a similar condemnation, and Israeli foreign ministry officials have reacted furiously.

[This] reminds one of Sweden's conduct during World War II, when it also did not intervene
Avigdor Lieberman
Israeli Foreign Minister

"It is regrettable that the Swedish foreign ministry does not intervene when it comes to a blood libel against Jews," Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said.

"[This] reminds one of Sweden's conduct during World War II, when it also did not intervene."

In a blog post on Thursday evening, Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt wrote that he would not condemn the article, and that freedom of expression is part of the Swedish constitution.

Mr Bildt added that condemnation of anti-Semitism is "the only issue on which there has ever been complete unity in the Swedish parliament".

The story in Aftonbladet - Sweden's biggest-selling daily newspaper - claimed that Israeli soldiers snatched Palestinian youths and returned their dismembered bodies a few days later.

The newspaper claimed that these incidents date as far back as 1992.

The Israeli press is reporting that the country's foreign ministry is considering its options in response to Sweden's position, among them postponing a scheduled visit to Israel by Mr Bildt.

The Swedish foreign minister is due to travel to the country in 10 days.



Remember rabbis selling human organs? Where did those human organs from Israel really come from?

Snorkel rice could feed millions

By Sudeep Chand
Science Reporter, BBC News

A new rice plant has been developed which grows "snorkels" when exposed to floods.

A paper in the journal Nature, describes how the plant elongates rapidly in response to being submerged.

One of the scientists, Motoyaki Ashikari from Nagoya University in Japan, said "the impact is huge".

It could also boost the production of rice in Asia and Africa, where up to 40% of crops are subject to flash floods or deep water.

"People cannot plant any crops in the rainy season, because the crops drown and die in the floods," said Mr Ashikari.

Writing in Nature, Laurentius Voesenek describes how the Japanese scientists discovered the "snorkel" genes in flood-tolerant rice, and introduced them to more sensitive high-yield rice.

"Snorkels" grow as hollow tubes from parts of the plant called internodes, preventing it from drowning.

When the floods arrive, the super rice plants can grow up to 25cm per day.

But it's genetically modified food. We can't have that! Who cares if it feeds the world, it's still not organic and we all know organic foods keep us from getting sick. Or do we..

Ink found in Jurassic-era squid

The ink sac in the rock and the drawing Pic: British Geological Survey
The specimen is now in the British Geological Survey collection

Palaeontologists have drawn with ink extracted from a preserved fossilised squid uncovered during a dig in Trowbridge, Wiltshire.

The fossil, thought to be 150 million years old, was found when a rock was cracked open, revealing the one-inch-long black ink sac.

A picture of the creature and its Latin name was drawn using its ink.

Dr Phil Wilby of the British Geological Survey said it was an ancient creature similar to the modern-day squid.

"The structure is similar to ink from a modern squid so we can write with it," he said.

'Medusa effect'

The find was made at a site which was first excavated in Victorian times where thousands of Jurassic fossils with preserved soft tissues were found.

Dr Wilby, who led the excavation, said: "We think that these creatures were swimming around during the Jurassic period and were turned to stone soon after death. It's called the Medusa effect."

It is difficult to imagine how you can have something as soft and sloppy as an ink sac inside a rock that is 150 million years old
Dr Phil Wilby

Experts believe one possibility is that thousands of the creatures congregated in the area to mate before being poisoned by algae in the water.

Remains of a different species of squid have also been found, suggesting the carcasses attracted predators to feed on them and they in turn also died.

Dr Wilby said: "They can be dissected as if they are living animals, you can see the muscle fibres and cells.

"It is difficult to imagine how you can have something as soft and sloppy as an ink sac fossilised in three dimension, still black, and inside a rock that is 150 million years old."

The specimen is now in the British Geological Survey collection in Nottingham.

Part of the ink sac has been sent to Yale University in America for more in-depth chemical analysis.

Jurassic Park, here we come. Pleistocene Park is already planned by the Japanese in Siberia. It's just a matter of time before dna is extracted and replicated from very ancient fossils. Fossils from the Pleistocene are comparatively fresh. Some day our great-grandchildren will go to such parks to see living breathing ancient animals.

UN marking first humanitarian day

A man receives UN food aid in northern Pakistan on 8 July 2009
The UN wants to highlight the vital contribution of humanitarian workers

The United Nations is holding its first ever World Humanitarian Day to honour international aid workers.

The UN hopes the event will focus attention on aid workers and increase support for their role.

Aid staff are working in increasingly dangerous environments and are frequently targets of attacks, it says.

Last year 122 international aid workers were killed, a death toll that was higher than that for UN peacekeeping troops.

The inaugural World Humanitarian Day falls on the sixth anniversary of the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad, in which 22 workers died.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the UN in in New York to remember the victims of the 2003 attack. The day comes six years after the bombing of the UN's Baghdad office

Photographs showing humanitarian workers in action will also be exhibited after the ceremony.

The BBC's correspondent at the UN in Geneva, Imogen Foulkes, says that aid workers are increasingly being targeted by armed groups.

Killing or kidnapping them has become for some a legitimate tactic.

The UN hopes the day will serve as a reminder that aid work is based on a very simple principle: to bring impartial humanitarian relief to all those in need, our correspondent says.

Israeli wins Fatah top body seat

Uri Davis
Mr Davis has been a harsh critic of Israel for years

A Jewish-born Israeli has been elected to the governing body of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party.

Uri Davis, 66, an academic who is married to a Palestinian, is an outspoken critic of what he calls Israel's "apartheid policies".

As the only Israeli member of the Revolutionary Council he says he wants to represent non-Arab people who support the Palestinian cause.

He called for an international campaign to boycott Israel to be toughened up.

Dr Davis said his Israeli citizenship made no difference to his election.

"Within the conference itself the welcome was most heartfelt and enthusiastic - the Fatah movement is an open, international movement - membership is not conditional on ethnic origin, it's conditional on agreement with the main part of the Fatah political programme," he told the BBC News website.

Dr Davis said he did not define himself as Jewish but as "a Palestinian Hebrew national of Jewish origin, anti-Zionist, registered as Muslim and a citizen of an apartheid state - the State of Israel".

He was one of around 700 Fatah members competing for 89 open seats in the body, which oversees the group's day-to-day decision making.

Others elected to Fatah's revolutionary council included Fadwa Barghouti, the wife of the senior Fatah figure, Marwan Barghouti, who was jailed by Israel five years ago for the murder of five people.

The old guard of Fatah retained only four of the 18 elected seats. The rest went to younger men.

While the (Zionist favored) news continues to report the Israeli side of Barghouti's arrest, it should be noted that Israelis trumped up charges against Barghouti, blaming him for attacks carried out by other militants over which he had no authority.

Iran Bahais face espionage trial

Bahai leaders in Iran, from the left Fariba Kamalabadi, Vahid Tizfahm, Behrouz Tavakkoli, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie and Mahvash Sabet (courtesy of Bahai International Community)
It is not clear how long the trial of the seven Bahais will last

Seven members of the Bahai faith in Iran are to go on trial on Tuesday on charges of spying for Israel and of "insulting sanctities".

Six of the Bahais were arrested in May, 2008. The other one was arrested two months earlier. They were the leaders of the Bahais in Iran.

The Bahai faith is banned by the Islamic revolutionary leadership of Iran which considers it heretical.

Bahais claim some 300,000 members in Iran, where the faith originated.

Midnight raids

"The trial of the seven Bahais accused of spying for the Zionist regime of Israel and insulting sanctities will be held on Tuesday," Hassan Haddad of the Tehran's prosecutor office said, the official Iranian news agency reports.

Last year relatives of the six Bahai leaders arrested in May said they had been taken to Evin Prison in Tehran after intelligence ministry officers raided their homes in the middle of the night.

Hundreds of Bahai followers have been jailed and executed since Iran's Islamic revolution in 1979, the Bahai International Community says.

However, the government denies it has detained or executed people because of their faith.

The Bahais consider the man who founded their faith in the 19th Century, Bahaullah, to be a prophet.

The Quran claims there shall be "no compulsion in religion" yet Muslims do not follow this rule when they achieve state political power. This is because Muhammad, like "Moses" and Paul, thought God was on their side only and they each had special claim to God no one else had. In other words, men's egos are more important than human life itself.

Vietnam species 'risk extinction'

Malayan Tapir, photo by Martin Harvey/WWF-Canon
The tapir is one of the animals facing extinction in Vietnam

Experts in Vietnam have warned that the Vietnamese could be eating a number of wild species into extinction.

The chairman of the Vietnam Zoology Association said animals at risk included the rhinoceros, the white-handed gibbon, the civet and the tapir.

He said that demand for wild animal meat had spread from mountain communities to rich urban areas.

Some 200 species are traded in Vietnam - 80 of them rare, according to the Thanhmien News.

The most common ones include snakes, monitor lizards, pangolins, turtles, wild cats, tigers, leopards, bears, elephants, wild boars, deer, monkeys, chamois and porcupines, the newspaper said.

It quoted Prof Dang Huy Huynh, the Vietnam Zoology Association chairman, as saying that wildlife meat was now served in many Vietnamese restaurants and resorts.

An estimated 3,400 tonnes of wild meat - or a million individual animals - are consumed each year, 18% of them illegally, an official from Vietnam's national assembly said.

More than 66% of poached wildlife is used for food, 32% is exported, and a small number of animals are used for pets and medicinal purposes, another official was quoted as saying.

The experts were speaking at a conference for discussing ways to protect Vietnam's wildlife and natural resources.

It was the first time an advising body to the ruling communist party has been involved in efforts to raise awareness about the illegal wildlife trade, according to Traffic, a wildlife trade monitoring network that took part.

Gaza white flag deaths probe call

Israel must investigate the "unlawful" killing of 11 civilians carrying white flags during its Gaza operation earlier in 2009, Human Rights Watch has said.

Five women and four children were among those killed in seven incidents detailed by the US-based rights group.

Researchers said the soldiers at best failed to protect civilians, and at worst deliberately shot at them.

Israel has launched investigations into five "white flag" incidents, but says Hamas exploited civilians with flags.

In one incident, east of Jabalya, HRW said Israeli soldiers fired at two women and three children, three of whom were holding pieces of white cloth.

Two girls, aged two and seven were killed, and another, now aged four, was left paralysed below the waist.


Samar has lost the use of her legs but has shown remarkable spirit

The five were standing outside their home after an Israeli soldier had ordered them to leave it, HRW said.

"We spent seven to nine minutes waving the flags, and our faces were looking at them [the soldiers]," HRW quoted the girls' grandmother as saying.

"And suddenly they opened fire and the girls fell to the ground."

Two of the incidents in question have also been investigated by the BBC.

In five of the seven incidents, Israeli soldiers shot at civilians who were walking down the street with white flags, trying to leave the areas of fighting, HRW said.

"All available evidence indicates that Israeli forces were in control of the areas in question, no fighting was taking place there at the time, and no Palestinian forces were hiding among the civilians or using them as human shields," the report said.

The Israeli foreign ministry has opened investigations into at least five cases involving Palestinians who were waving white flags.

As of the end of July, one case had been closed. The Israeli military said troops had fired at "suspicious men" who ignored warnings as they walked near a Palestinian family carrying a white flag.

HRW said its findings were based on site investigations, ballistic evidence found at the scene, medical records of victims and lengthy interviews with multiple witnesses.

An Israeli government spokesman said the report lacked credibility because it was based on evidence from an area under Hamas control.

The Israeli military said troops were obliged to respect white flags, but accused "Hamas terror operatives" of "exploiting those with white flags as cover for belligerent action and to protect themselves from return fire".

But it gave no details of specific incidents.

Israel has said its soldiers acted lawfully during the operation, although some mistakes were made, such as the bombing of a house containing 21 civilians by accident.

It says it went to great lengths to distinguish between civilians and combatants, while Hamas put civilians at great risk by firing rockets from near schools and UN facilities, commandeering hospital facilities and ambulances, hiding weapons in mosques and booby trapping civilian neighbourhoods.

War crime accusation

Human Rights Watch last week accused Hamas of war crimes, for firing rockets at Israeli population centres.

The group also says Palestinian militants operated from populated areas.

HRW's Bill Van Esveld said last Thursday that a Newsweek report quoted in a recent Israeli Foreign Ministry briefing was "as clear evidence of human shielding [by Hamas] as you're going to get".

Journalist Rod Nordland wrote on 20 January: "Suddenly there was a terrific whoosh, louder even than a bomb explosion. It was another of Hamas' homemade Qassam rockets being launched into Israel - and the mobile launch-pad was smack in the middle of the four [apartment] buildings, where every apartment was full."

But Mr Van Esveld said he was only aware of evidence of "three or four" such cases, and had seen more evidence of the use of human shields by Israeli troops than by Palestinian militants.

The Israeli activist group Breaking the Silence has published anonymous testimonies of Israeli soldiers describing a procedure in which they said Palestinians were forced at gunpoint to enter building where militants were hiding.

Soldier jailed

Israel said its 22-day operation in Gaza was "necessary and proportionate" and was aimed at reducing Palestinian rocket fire.

The Israeli military says it his currently investigating about 100 incidents, of which 13 are criminal investigations.

On Wednesday a soldier was jailed for seven months for using a credit card he stole from a Palestinian in Gaza during the operation to withdraw money in Israel.

At least 1,166 Gazans died in the conflict, although accounts differ as to how many were civilians. Thirteen Israelis died, including three civilians killed in Palestinian rocket attacks.

Israel says 12,000 rockets and mortars were fired at Israel between 2000 and 2008 - nearly 3,000 in 2008 alone.

Hamas denies committing war crimes and firing rockets from residential areas.

Flying rabbis fight swine flu

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/8196807.stm
Rabbis and Kabbalah mystics recite prayers to ward off swine flu

A group of rabbis and Jewish mystics have taken to the skies over Israel, praying and blowing ceremonial horns in a plane to ward off swine flu.

About 50 religious leaders circled over the country on Monday, chanting prayers and blowing horns, called shofars.

The flight's aim was "to stop the pandemic so people will stop dying from it," Rabbi Yitzhak Batzri was quoted as saying in Yedioth Aharanot newspaper.

The flu is often called simply "H1N1" in Israel, as pigs are seen as unclean.

Eating pork is banned under Jewish dietary laws.

According to Israel's health ministry, there have been more than 2,000 cases of swine flu in the country, with five fatalities so far.

"We are certain that, thanks to the prayer, the danger is already behind us," added Mr Batzri was quoted as saying.

Television footage showed rabbis in black hats rocking backwards and forwards as they read prayers from Kabbalah, a form of Jewish mysticism which counts the singer Madonna among its devotees.

The shofar is a the horn of a deer or sheep, and is used to mark major religious occasions in Judaism.

Jewish mysticism is perfect fare for Madonna. Kabbalah mysticism is as big a crock of bull as any Hollywood movie. 2500 years of Jewish mystics unable to comprehend their own ancient writers such as Ezekiel and his so-called Merkabah vision of a fiery chariot. These so-called mystics do not have a clue where Ezekiel vision came from, not having real spiritual Knowledge of God. God left these jokers high and dry in the Gnosis department which is why not a single Jewish mystic or Kabbalah devotee has ever figured out Ezekiel's vision was another instance of Jewish writers supernaturalizing and glorifying objects found in the Jewish Temple.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi---European governments demanded her immediate and unconditional release

PARIS — Within moments of the sentencing of Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, to an effective 18 months house arrest on Tuesday, European governments demanded her immediate and unconditional release, threatening stricter sanctions against the military regime there to restrict arms supplies and curb its trade with the outside world.

The European Union demanded her freedom in a statement issued by Sweden, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the 27-nation body. In a statement, the body said it was ready to impose “targeted measures against those responsible for the verdict” and to stiffen some earlier measures, including an arms export ban, visa restrictions and financial sanctions.

In many parts of the world, her trial has been followed closely and her cause has been embraced by a broad range of politicians and human rights advocates.

“Citizens across the globe are asking world leaders to hold this brutal regime to account,” said Ricken Patel, director of an online campaign network called Avaaz.org. “Aung San Suu Kyi ’s detention today on spurious charges removes any shred of legitimacy.”

Irene Khan, the Secretary General of Amnesty International, said in a statement in London that, while the Myanmar authorities “will hope that a sentence that is shorter than the maximum will be seen by the international community as an act of leniency”, it “must not be seen as such.”

Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi “should never have been arrested in the first place. The only issue here is her immediate and unconditional release,” Ms. Khan said.

It was not immediately clear how Myanmar’s Asian neighbors would react. Asian nations generally react cautiously to events in Myanmar, though they do sometimes offer critical comments. Analysts said that, in this instance, they may be willing to accept Myanmar’s protestations of leniency.

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, however, called the sentencing “brutal and unjust” and said European sanctions should target profitable industries including timber and ruby mining. The French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said in a statement the European Union should impose new sanctions aimed at the Myanmar leadership “and sparing the civilian population, which we should continue to protect and assist.”

In Britain, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was “saddened and angry” at her sentencing and said it was designed by the ruling military leaders of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, to keep her out of elections next year.

In a statement, he said: “It is further proof that the military regime in Burma is determined to act with total disregard for accepted standards of the rule of law in defiance of international opinion.”

Calling on the United Nations Security Council to impose a global prohibition on arms sales, he added: “The facade of her prosecution is made more monstrous because its real objective is to sever her bond with the people for whom she is a beacon of hope and resistance.” France also called for an arms embargo.

The American response was likely to express similar outrage, and it seemed unlikely that the military’s decision to commute her sentence from an initial three years hard labor would soften western perceptions that the trial had been a political maneuver.

The Obama administration has been reviewing American policy toward Myanmar since February, when Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton declared that the existing sanctions against its military-run government had been ineffective.

At a meeting of the Association of South East Asian nations in Thailand last month, Mrs. Clinton spoke in unusually detailed terms in discussing the country’s human rights record and its treatment of Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi.

“We are deeply concerned by the reports of continuing human rights abuses within Burma,” she said at the time, “and particularly by actions that are attributed to the Burmese military, concerning the mistreatment and abuse of young girls.”

She also dismissed the charges against Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi as ”baseless and totally unacceptable” and said an improvement of ties with Washington depended on the Myanmar junta’s handling of human rights issues.

”Our position is that we are willing to have a more productive partnership with Burma if they take steps that are self-evident,” she said.

Seth Mydans contributed reporting from Bangkok, and Steven Erlanger from Paris.

Israel recalls diplomat over memo

Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama (18 May 2009)
Mr Netanyahu has refused US demands for a freeze on settlement construction

Israel's foreign ministry has summoned for consultation a senior diplomat for criticising the government for harming ties with the United States.

Nadav Tamir, consul-general in Boston, will travel to Jerusalem next week to give "clarification" to the ministry.

In an internal memo, Mr Tamir wrote that public clashes with Washington over settlement construction were "causing strategic damage to Israel".

The government said he had violated protocol by expressing political views.

The three-page document, entitled "Sad thoughts on Israel-US relations", was leaked to Israel's Channel 10 TV.

"The way in which we are conducting the relationship with the US government is causing Israel strategic damage. The distance created between us and the Obama administration has clear implications on Israeli deterrence," Mr Tamir wrote.

There are people in US and Israeli politics who ideologically oppose Obama, and are willing to sacrifice the special relationship between the two countries in order to advance their political agenda
Memo by Nadav Tamir

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected President Barack Obama's demand for a freeze on settlement construction, saying their "natural growth" had to be allowed.

All settlements are illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this. More than 450,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Mr Tamir said in his memo that narrow political considerations were contributing to the deterioration of bilateral ties.

"There are people in US and Israeli politics who ideologically oppose Obama, and are willing to sacrifice the special relationship between the two countries in order to advance their political agenda."

The "atmosphere of confrontation", he warned, was alienating the US public and putting the Jewish community in a difficult position.

"Many of them are distancing themselves from the state of Israel because of this conflict," he wrote.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has reportedly demanded to know how Mr Tamir's letter was leaked to the media.

As said before, Israelis have no intention of letting anyone tell them to stop their conquest of Palestine and removal of Palestinians in the way of Jewish settlement.

ACTION ALERT: STOP LEONARD COHEN CONCERT IN ISRAEL

From: "International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network"

Please take 10 minutes to send a letter to concert endorser Amnesty International
and sign an open letter to Leonard Cohen

ACTION 1: Tell Amnesty International that Entertaining Apartheid Israel Deserves No
Amnesty!

ISSUED BY: The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
(PACBI), Adalah-NY: The Coalition for Justice in the Middle East, Boycott! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within (Israel), British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP), International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Jews Against the Occupation-NYC, Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods (UK), New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel (NYCBI), New York City Labor Against the War, Palestine Solidarity Campaign (UK), US Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel


August 5, 2009

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) and
groups around the world have been calling for months for musician Leonard Cohen to cancel his planned September concert in Israel. With the international community failing to take action to stop Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people, and inspired by the international boycott movement that helped bring an end to apartheid in South Africa, Palestinian civil society has launched calls for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, including an academic and cultural boycott of Israel. Ninety-three artists, writers and other cultural workers have signed onto the Palestinian cultural boycott call. Many dignitaries signed the "No Reason to Celebrate" pledge and refused to participate in any artistic or literary event during Israel's year-long 60th anniversary celebrations.

Feeling the heat of the protests, Cohen and his PR staff tried to schedule a small
concert in Ramallah to balance his concert in Israel. However, Palestinians
rejected the Ramallah concert and any claimed symmetry between the occupying power and the people under occupation.

Now Cohen and his PR staff are trying to whitewash the concert in Israel by using Amnesty International USA good name. According to a July 28th article in the Jerusalem Post, Amnesty International USA will serve as sponsor of a new fund. The fund will launder the money raised at Cohen's concert in Israel by using it to finance programs for peace.

In response, sixteen groups and coalitions issued a July 30th Open Letter to Amnesty
International calling on Amnesty to be true to its values and immediately withdraw
support for Leonard Cohen's ill-conceived concert in Israel. The groups noted that by supporting Cohen's concert, Amnesty International is undermining a successful effort by Palestinian and international civil society to end Israel's occupation and other violations of international law and human rights principles. Amnesty International also is partnering in the initiative with Israeli institutions that undermine peace, including a bank directly involved in supporting Israeli settlement construction. The only alleged Palestinian partner has announced it is not taking part.

TAKE ACTION

Please email Amnesty International, calling on Amnesty to withdraw from support for
Cohen's concert. Amnesty International is recognized by many as defending human rights worldwide, so please be respectful and courteous in your message.

You can write and email your own letter, or use the sample letter below and email it, or send an editable form letter via the website of the New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel: http://boycottisraelnyc.org/category/629/tell-amnesty-international-entertaining-apartheid-israel-deserves-no-amnesty Further below, for reference, is the full Open Letter to Amnesty International.

-If you send your own email, please email your letter to:

lcox@aiusa.org, cgoering@aiusa.org, ZJanmohamed@aiusa.org,
ikhan@amnesty.org, ccordone@amnesty.org, msmart@amnesty.org, drovera@amnesty.org

(Larry Cox, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA; Curt Goering, Senior Deputy Executive Director of Amnesty International USA; Zahir Janmohamed, Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International USA; Irene Khan, Amnesty International Secretary General; Claudio Cordone, Amnesty International (UK) Senior Director, Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International (UK) Middle East Director, Research and Regional Programs; Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International (UK) Researcher on Israel and
the Occupied Palestinian Territories)

-If you email your own letter, please cc it to: noamnesty4israeliapartheid@gmail.com
so that we can keep track of the responses.


SAMPLE LETTER TO AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Dear Amnesty International,

I hold Amnesty International's worldwide work for human rights and international law in high esteem. For this reason, I was very troubled to learn that Amnesty International has agreed to manage a fund that will disburse the proceeds from Leonard Cohen's planned concert in Israel in September. I call on Amnesty International to be true to your values, distance yourself from efforts to normalize Israel's occupation and apartheid, and immediately withdraw support for Leonard Cohen's ill-conceived concert in Israel.

By supporting Cohen's concert, Amnesty International will be subverting the worldwide movement to boycott Israel, a non-violent, effective effort by Palestinian and international civil society to end Israel's violations of international law and human rights principles. Accepting funds from the proceeds of Cohen’s concert in Israel is the equivalent of Amnesty accepting tainted funds from a concert in Sun City in apartheid South Africa.

Ninety-three artists, writers and other cultural workers have signed onto the Palestinian cultural boycott call. Many dignitaries signed the "No Reason to Celebrate" pledge and refused to participate in any artistic or literary event during Israel's year-long 60th anniversary celebrations.

In his protest resignation from Amnesty International over this issue, Irish author and composer, Raymond Deane, wrote:

"By assisting Cohen in his ruse to bypass this boycott, Amnesty International is in
fact taking a political stance, in violation of the premise of political neutrality with which it so regularly justifies its failure to side unambiguously with the oppressed. Amnesty is telling us: resistance is futile, the voice of the oppressed is irrelevant, international humanitarian law is a luxury."

Furthermore, the Israeli partners in the concert, the Peres Center for Peace and Israel Discount Bank, actively hinder efforts to achieve a just peace. A columnist in Israel's Haaretz Daily called the Peres Center for Peace patronizing and colonial organization that is in the business of training the Palestinian population to accept its inferiority and prepare it to survive under the arbitrary constraints imposed by Israel. According to research by Who Profits, a project of Israel’s Coalition of Women for Peace, Israel Discount Bank is deeply involved in supporting Israel's settlement enterprise. Israeli settlements violate the very tenets of international law that Amnesty International works to uphold.

Finally, the only Palestinian organization falsely reported in the July 28th Jerusalem Post article as being a partner in this project, the Palestinian Happy Child Center, has confirmed that it is not taking part. There is no Palestinian organization participating in this whitewash.

Thank you for your attention to this vital human rights issue. I look forward to learning of Amnesty International's withdrawal of its support for the Leonard Cohen concert in Israel.

Sincerely,


Your name
Your city and country of residence


ACTION 2: Sign letter to Leonard Cohen

OPEN LETTER TO LEONARD COHEN
from the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network


Dear Leonard Cohen, 4 August 2009

You have received many letters asking that you boycott Israel; and we’re sure that many of those who have written to you have been, like many of us, fans of yours since the 60s; and that we, and our families, know many of your songs word-for-word.

We were struck that you have said you loved the great poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca. Within months of Lorca's execution by the fascist nationalists, Franco called on Hitler and Mussolini to carry out the aerial bombing of Guernica (1937). In the years following the defeat of the Spanish movement more that 200,000 people were killed by the fascists, including in Nazi concentration camps.

There was always resistance, the experience of anti-fascists from Spain, including
Jewish fighters, who were transported in thousands to Nazi concentration camps, famously organized with other prisoners to sabotage, go-slow, escape, and if possible survive.

Read and sign the full letter here: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/IJAN_Leonard_Cohen/

Hiroshima mayor calls for abolishing nuke weapons

With the gutted Atomic Bomb Dome as a backdrop, doves fly over the cenotaph of the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009. Hiroshima marks the 64th anniversary of the atomic bomb attack that devastated the city at the closing days of World War II. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

By SHIZUO KAMBAYASHI (AP) – 1 hour ago

HIROSHIMA, Japan — Hiroshima's mayor urged global leaders on Thursday to back President Barack Obama's call to abolish nuclear weapons as Japan marked the 64th anniversary of the world's first atomic bomb attack.

In April, Obama said that the United States — the only nation that has deployed atomic bombs in combat — has a "moral responsibility" to act and declared his goal to rid the world of the weapons.

At a solemn ceremony to commemorate the victims of the Aug. 6, 1945, attack, Hiroshima's Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba welcomed that commitment.

"We refer to ourselves, the great global majority, as the 'Obamajority,' and we call on the rest of the world to join forces with us to eliminate all nuclear weapons by 2020," Akiba said. The bombed-out dome of the building preserved as the Hiroshima Peace Memorial loomed in the background, and hundreds of white doves were released into the air as he finished speaking.

"Together, we can abolish nuclear weapons. Yes, we can," he said.

About 50,000 attended the ceremony, including officials and visitors from countries around the world, though the United States did not have an official representative at the ceremony.

Hiroshima was instantly flattened and an estimated 140,000 people were killed or died within months when the American B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped its deadly payload in the waning days of World War II.

Three days after that attack on Hiroshima, the U.S. dropped a plutonium bomb on the city of Nagasaki, killing about 80,000 people. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, ending World War II. A total of about 260,000 victims of the attack are officially recognized by the government, including those that have died of related injuries or sickness in the decades since.

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso also spoke at Thursday's ceremony, saying he hoped the world would follow Tokyo's efforts to limit nuclear proliferation.

"Japan will continue to uphold its three non-nuclear principles and lead the international community toward the abolishment of nuclear weapons and lasting peace," he said.

The three principles state that Japan will not make, own or harbor nuclear weapons.

Later in the day, Aso signed an agreement with a group of atomic bomb survivors who had been seeking recognition and expanded health benefits from the government.

The anniversary passed during a period of heightened tensions in the region, just months after North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test blast in May.

A similar ceremony will be held in Nagasaki on Sunday.

Associated Press writer Jay Alabaster contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

No Nukes for U.S., Russia, China, North Korea, India, Pakistan, Iran, or Israel. A world free of nuclear threat will take a world committed to international law.

Bolivian Indians in historic step

Bolivians queue to be issued with a new biometric voter identification system on 1 August

Bolivia is preparing for a number of elections in December

The Bolivian government has begun implementing provisions outlined in the new constitution that give indigenous people the chance to govern themselves.

President Evo Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous leader, enacted a decree setting out the conditions for Indian communities to hold votes on autonomy.

These referendums will take place in December, alongside presidential and parliamentary elections.

The new charter was bitterly opposed by Bolivia's traditional elite.

On Sunday, the provisions allowing for votes on indigenous autonomy were presented in a special event in the eastern region of Santa Cruz.

Mr Morales said it was "a historic day for the peasant and indigenous movement".

"Your president, your companion, your brother Evo Morales might make mistakes but will never betray the fight started by our ancestors and the fight of the Bolivian people," he said.

Mr Morales has championed Bolivia's indigenous people, who for centuries were banished to the margins of society and did not enjoy full voting rights until 1952.

But many opposed to Mr Morales and the new constitution believe he is polarising the country by dividing it along along racial lines.

Many Bolivians of European or mixed-race descent in the fertile eastern lowlands, which hold rich gas deposits and are home to extensive farms, rejected the constitution.

The new charter came into force in February after being approved by 61% of the electorate.

It enshrines state control over key economic sectors, and grants greater autonomy not only for the nine departments but also for indigenous communities.

But the clauses regarding layers of autonomy could lead to a raft of competing claims, correspondents say.

Israel condemned over evictions

Protester is removed by police from a demonstration outside the homes 2/8/09
The evictions by Israel sparked protests at the scene

The US has led international condemnation of Israel after it evicted nine Palestinian families living in two houses in occupied East Jerusalem.

Washington said the action was not in keeping with Israel's obligations under the so-called "road map" to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Jewish settlers moved into the houses almost immediately.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it, a move not recognised by the world community.

The removal of the 53 people was also condemned by the United Nations, the Palestinians and the UK government.

Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said he was outraged at the action.

"Israel is once again showing its utter failure to respect international law," he said.

"New settlers from abroad are accommodating themselves and their belongings in the Palestinian houses and 19 newly homeless children will have nowhere to sleep."

'Deplorable'

The operation to evict the Palestinians from the Sheikh Jarrah district of the city was carried out before dawn on Sunday by police clad in black riot gear.

It followed a ruling by Israel's Supreme Court that Jewish families owned the land. Israel wants to build a block of 20 apartments in the area.

The families' belongings were put on the street - 2/08/09
The families' belongings were put on the street

"I deplore today's totally unacceptable actions by Israel," the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Robert H Serry said.

"These actions are contrary to the provisions of the Geneva Conventions related to occupied territory.

"These actions heighten tensions and undermine international efforts to create conditions for fruitful negotiations to achieve peace."

The UK government said the Israeli action was "incompatible with the Israeli professed desire for peace".

"We urge Israel not to allow the extremists to set the agenda," the British Consulate in East Jerusalem said.

Sovereignty 'unquestionable'

Israel considers a united Jerusalem to be the capital of the state of Israel.

"Our sovereignty over it is unquestionable," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month.

"We cannot accept the idea that Jews will not have the right to live and buy [homes] anywhere in Jerusalem."

The BBC's Tim Franks in Jerusalem says the houses are in what is probably the most contested city on earth and the diplomatic ripples from the evictions will spread.

There are an estimated 250,000 Palestinians living in East Jerusalem and 200,000 Jews.

50 Palestinians evicted from their Jerusalem homes

By BEN HUBBARD (AP) – 1 hour ago




Israeli Jews enter a house after police evicted its Palestinian residents in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2009. Israeli police evicted two Palestinian families from an east Jerusalem neighborhood on Sunday, drawing condemnations from Palestinians and the United Nations. Israeli police cited a ruling by the country's Supreme Court that the houses belonged to Jews and that the Arab families had been living there illegally. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

JERUSALEM — Israeli police evicted two Palestinian families in east Jerusalem on Sunday, then allowed Jewish settlers to move into their homes, drawing criticism from Palestinians, the United Nations and the State Department.

Police arrived before dawn and cordoned off part of the Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah before forcibly removing more than 50 people, said Chris Gunness, spokesman for the U.N. agency in charge of Palestinian refugees.

U.N. staff later saw vehicles bringing Jewish settlers to move into the homes, he said.

Israeli police cited a ruling by the country's Supreme Court that the houses belonged to Jews and that the Arab families had been living there illegally.

Gunness said the families had lived in the homes for more than 50 years.

The status of east Jerusalem is one of the most explosive issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel took control of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it, a move not recognized by any other country. Since then, Israel has to boosted the Jewish presence there, building neighborhoods where about 180,000 Jews live. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their hoped-for state.

Organizations linked to the Jewish West Bank settlement movement also have bought properties inside Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem and moved Israelis in.

About 270,000 Palestinians live in east Jerusalem, or 35 percent of the city's total population of 760,000.

The international community has pressured Israel to refrain from evicting Palestinians and building new homes for Jews in east Jerusalem, saying such moves hamper peacemaking efforts.

State Department spokeswoman Megan Mattson said such actions in east Jerusalem constitute violations of Israel's obligations under U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan.

"Unilateral actions taken by either party cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations and will not be recognized by the international community," she said in a statement.

Robert Serry, the U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, called Sunday's evictions "totally unacceptable."

"These actions heighten tensions and undermine international efforts to create conditions for fruitful negotiations to achieve peace," he said in a statement.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat also condemned the move.

"While Israeli authorities have promised the American administration that home demolitions, home evictions and other provocations against Palestinian Jerusalemites would be stopped, what we've seen on the ground is completely the opposite," he said in a statement.

Khawla Hanoun, 35, who lived in one of the homes, said police ordered her and 16 family members to leave the house before dawn and forced them out at gunpoint when they refused.

"Now our future is in the streets," she said. "We will remain steadfast until we return home. By any method, we must go back home."

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

The Israeli government has no real intention of stopping their conquest of Palestine and expanding Jewish settlement wherever they can regardless of what any Goy government requests of them. Chosen people do not have to answer to lesser beings. Why doesn't the world understand this?