Happy Halloween!

SUSSEX STUDENTS VOTE TO BOYCOTT ISRAEL

Sussex Students Union first in UK to boycott Israeli goods

FOLLOWING a landmark referendum, students at Sussex University have voted to boycott Israeli goods. The decision will become part of the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign, which calls upon Israel to respect international law and end the occupation of Palestine.

The referendum received messages of support and thanks from Jewish and Israeli academics and non-governmental organizations that oppose Israel's policy of occupation in Palestine. Author and scholar Norman G. Finkelstein described the referendum result as a victory, not for Palestinians but for truth and justice.

The committee really appreciates Sussex Students' Union remarkable idea of starting a boycott on Israeli goods. We hope even more people all around the world will follow by our example so that we can put an end to the israeli occupation and dismantle the apartheid wall.

Any questions or requests please contact Martha Baker on 07595 700717 or Bushra Khalidi on 07964 923753----or

bel3in@yahoo.com

Thank you for you continued support,

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

Email- bel3in@yahoo.com

Clinton faces huge challenge in Mideast talks

A Palestinian protestor, wearing a plastic bag on his head, throws a tear gas canister back towards Israeli soldiers during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin, near Ramallah, Friday, Oct. 30, 2009. (AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh)

By STEVEN GUTKIN and AMY TEIBEL (AP) – 59 minutes ago

JERUSALEM — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's long-shot attempt to resuscitate a moribund Mideast peace push is coming up against a firm Palestinian decision not to sit down with Israel, unless it freezes settlement construction on lands the Palestinians seek for a future state.

Israel has given no indication it's willing to call such a moratorium, resisting Washington's demands for months. Israeli officials are also privately expressing doubt about the wisdom of holding peace talks before Palestinian elections scheduled in three months' time.

Nearly a year after President Barack Obama took office, the Mideast peace initiative that is a cornerstone of his foreign policy is clearly in grave danger.

Palestinian officials say their president, the moderate Mahmoud Abbas, can't give ground on settlements because his people are already disillusioned with his leadership and feel he repeatedly caves in to U.S. demands.

A demoralized Abbas told Clinton in a telephone call last weekend that he would not seek re-election, prompting an urgent phone call from Obama to persuade him to reconsider and assure him the U.S. is committed to establishing a Palestinian state, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the phone calls were private.

One way Clinton could break the impasse would be to wrest concessions from Israel, allowing Abbas to regain credibility.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, has rebuffed months of U.S. pressure to stop all building of new homes for Israeli settlers in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Netanyahu — who opposes some of the key territorial compromises that would be needed to attain a final accord — has also rejected a Palestinian demand that peace talks resume where they broke off under his predecessor.

Netanyahu's spokesman, Mark Regev, had no comment when asked what gestures Israel might be willing to make to help Abbas. He reiterated Israel's position that it is ready to relaunch talks without preconditions.

Speaking Friday, Netanyahu said he hoped to use talks with Clinton "to try to relaunch the peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians as soon as possible."

But Obama's inability to get Israel to budge on settlements has generated a feeling among Arabs that he is unwilling to put teeth into his demand.

Palestinian leaders are extremely frustrated with Obama and have decided to stick to their position on peace talks even if they end up getting blamed for holding up negotiations, said a senior Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was commenting on internal deliberations.

Clinton arrives Saturday on her first visit since Netanyahu took office in March and her second since becoming Obama's top diplomat. She will meet with Abbas in Abu Dhabi before heading to Jerusalem.

Obama personally tried to jump-start talks last month by bringing Abbas and Netanyahu together in the U.S. for their first meeting since the Israeli leader took office. But that high-profile sitdown with Obama produced no breakthroughs.

Getting Abbas to sit down with Netanyahu could be a hollow victory if it's done by pressuring Abbas to acquiesce to U.S. demands, or to an Israeli agenda that Palestinians see as hostile.

In five turbulent years in office, Abbas has never faced as much outrage as recently, when he suspended efforts to put Israeli officials on trial for alleged war crimes during last winter's Gaza war. Aides said he acted at Washington's behest.

The grassroots backlash was so harsh that Abbas quickly backtracked. Still, he was weakened badly, making it even more difficult for him to even consider backing down on the settlement freeze demand.

Complicating matters further is the Palestinian leader's bitter rivalry with the Islamic militant group Hamas, which wrested control of Gaza from Abbas loyalists in 2007. Hamas has long preached that Abbas' moderation doesn't pay and that only armed struggle will produce a Palestinian state.

Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not expressing formal policy, said starting talks with Abbas now could be pointless because Hamas could oust moderates in the elections, scheduled for Jan. 24.

At the moment, it's not clear if Abbas will be able to hold elections at all, absent a Hamas reconciliation deal that would allow voting in both Gaza and the West Bank.

Abbas' weakness contrasts sharply with the strong domestic support Netanyahu enjoys, even as Israel's image worldwide takes a beating.

A U.N. report has alleged the Israeli military committed war crimes during its Gaza offensive. Ties with the U.S. are turbulent. Relations with Turkey, Israel's most important Muslim world ally, have begun to sour. Anti-Israel sentiment and boycott calls are gaining steam around the world.

Yet a recent poll showed that if elections were held now, Netanyahu's Likud Party would win 33 seats — six more than now. Two-thirds of Israelis are pleased with his handling of foreign affairs, the poll found.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[IJAN Bay Area Announcements] Omar Barghouti lecture, Nov 3, SFSU

Please join us for this exciting event - Barghouti is one of the lead organizers of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement!
- Bay Area IJAN

In celebration of the Palestinian Cultural Mural
the Cesar Chavez Student Center and the General Union of Palestinian Students invite you to

BDS: A Quest for Justice, Human Rights and Peace
Key Note Address by Omar Barghouti
Panel by Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi and Dr. Judith Butler

Tuesday November 3rd, 2009
6PM Jack Adams Hall, Cesar Chavez Student Center, San Francisco State University

6pm-7pm: light refreshments

7pm: Welcome Address by the Dean of College of Ethnic Studies at SFSU, Ken Monteiro.

7:10 pm: Opening address by Paloma Dudum-Maya of the Cesar Chavez Student Center Governing Board and General Union of Palestinian Students.

7:20 pm: An Introduction by community activist and scholar Dr. Jess Ghannam

7:30 pm: Keynote Address by Omar Barghouti (all the way from Palestine)

8:10 pm: Panel by Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi and Dr. Judith Butler,

8:45 pm: Question and Answer

Omar BARGHOUTI is a leading organizer in the international movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against the state of Israel. He is coming to the United States for a multi-city tour to build support for the growing and powerful international BDS movement. We urge you to attend and publicize the events and take this opportunity to learn more about the movement.

“To have a dialogue you have to have a certain minimal level of a common denominator based on a common vision for the ultimate solution based on equality and ending injustice. If you don't have that common denominator than it's negotiation between the stronger and weaker party and, as I've written elsewhere, you can't have a bridge between them but only a ladder where you go up or down not across ... I call this the master/slave type of coexistence ... A master and a slave can also reach an agreement where this is reality and you cannot challenge it and you make the best out of it. There is no war, no conflict, nobody is killing anybody, but a master remains a master and the slave remains a slave -- so this is not the kind of peace that we the oppressed are seeking -- the minimum is to have a just peace. Only with justice can we have a sustainable peace. So dialogue does not work -- it has not worked in reality and cannot work in principle. Boycotts have worked in reality and in principle so there is absolutely no reason why they cannot work, because Israel has total impunity given the official support it gets from the west in all fields (economic, cultural, academic and so on). Without raising the price of its oppression, it will never give up; it will never concede on any of our rights.” Omar Barghouti, http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10562.shtml

co-Sponsored by:

US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, General Union of Palestinian Students, Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Initiative, Al-Awda, Associated Students Women Center, National Council of Arab Americans, ANSWER, International Solidarity Movement, Jewish Voice for Peace, Middle East Children's Alliance, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, San Jose Justice for Palestinians, SF State College of Ethnic Studies, Arab Resource and Organizing Center, American Friends Service Committee, Bay Area Campaign to End Israeli Apartheid, Students for Justice in Palestine UCB, People of Color Alliance SFSU, US Palestinian Communities Network, Palestinian Youth Network

bay.ijsn@gmail.com :: www.ijsn.net

Israel attacks olive pickers again: Five Palestinians wounded in clash with settlers

(AFP) – 1 hour ago

NABLUS, West Bank — Five Palestinian farmers were wounded in clashes with armed Israeli settlers in the West Bank on Tuesday, Palestinian security services and witnesses said.

Israeli security forces fired tear-gas and arrested one Palestinian, the sources said, while Israel's military and border police declined to comment on the incident.

The clashes started after about 50 settlers, some firing guns in the air, hurled rocks at Palestinians who responded in kind, the sources said.

The witnesses said the Palestinians were picking olives near Qaryut village in the northern West Bank.

A settler told army radio that the Palestinians were faking the harvest and actually involved in "terrorist activities. They go to the fields to gather information to then commit attacks," said Dibi Degani.

Human rights groups have recorded numerous incidents over the years of Israeli settlers attacking Palestinian farmers during the olive picking season.

Palestinian farmers working near settlements are particularly at risk of attack by firebrand Israeli settlers who believe they have a God-given right to the Holy Land.

Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

Israel continues to provoke war with Palestinians: Israel demolishes two Palestinian homes in Jerusalem

Tue Oct 27, 2009 7:34am EDT
JERUSALEM, Oct 27 (Reuters)

Israeli authorities demolished two Palestinian homes near Arab East Jerusalem on Tuesday, ignoring international concern about the practice.

Israel's Jerusalem municipality said the houses were built without permits. Palestinians say such permission is impossible to obtain and accuse Israel of using demolitions to tighten its hold on occupied territory in and around Jerusalem.

"This is part of the Israeli plan to disrupt the demographic balance," Hatem Abdel-Qader, in charge of Jerusalem affairs in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement.

Jerusalem is at the centre of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, and the United States, seeking to revive peace talks, has called the demolition of Palestinian homes "unhelpful".

Other Western countries and human rights organisations have been more outspoken in their condemnation of Israel's demolition policy.

Israeli paramilitary border police troops deployed to secure the razing of the two homes by bulldozers. One of the houses was in Shuafat and the other in Sur Baher, Palestinian communities on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

"International bodies and the United Nations Security Council should intervene to stop Israeli authorities from carrying out these criminal actions," said Adnan al-Husseini, the Palestinian-appointed governor of Jerusalem.

Earlier this year, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights called for a halt to home demolitions in East Jerusalem.

Statistics in a U.N. report published in May showed that 1,500 demolition orders issued by the Jerusalem municipality were pending for Palestinian dwellings built without permits.

The report said that if the orders were implemented, about 9,000 Palestinians would be displaced.

Some 200,000 Jews live in East Jerusalem, alongside about 250,000 Palestinians. (Reporting by Ori Lewis, Yehuda Gruber and Labib Nasir, Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Jeffrey Heller)

Amnesty says Israel curbing water to Palestinians

A Palestinian youth drinks water from a public tap in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip October 26, 2009.

REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
Mon Oct 26, 2009 8:40pm EDT

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Human rights group Amnesty International said in a report Tuesday that Israeli restrictions prevented Palestinians from receiving enough water in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The report said Israel's daily water consumption per capita was four times higher than that in the Palestinian territories.

"Water is a basic need and a right, but for many Palestinians obtaining even poor-quality, subsistence-level quantities of water has become a luxury that they can barely afford," said Amnesty's Donatella Rovera.

A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed Amnesty's statement that Israel was depriving the Palestinians of water as "preposterous."

Israel says it has met its obligations under the 1993 Oslo agreement while Palestinians have failed to meet their own requirements to recycle water and were not distributing water efficiently.

"Israel supplied Palestinians 20.8 million cubic liters above and beyond what it is obliged to do under the water agreement," said Netanyahu's spokesman Mark Regev.

Israel, itself facing unprecedented water shortages and rising tariffs, controls much of the West Bank's supplies, pumping from an aquifer that bridges Israel and the territory.

Israel sells some water back to the Palestinians under quotas agreed in the Oslo accords that rights groups say have not been increased in line with population growth.

The report said Gaza's coastal aquifer, its sole fresh water resource, had been polluted by infiltration of seawater and raw sewage and degraded by over-extraction.

Israel maintains a blockade of the Gaza Strip, an area taken over by the Islamist Hamas movement which defeated Palestinian forces loyal to Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007.

Israel's water authority called the report "biased and incorrect, at the very least" and said that while there was a water gap, it was not nearly as big as presented in Amnesty's findings.

Amnesty said water consumption in Israel was 300 liters a day per person and 70 liters a day in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israel's water authority said those numbers were misleading because they took into account internal distribution and did not compare total water consumption. It said the total figures were 408 liters per day for Israelis and 287 liters for Palestinians.

The Amnesty report described how Palestinians in the West Bank relied on water from tankers that were forced to take long detours to avoid Israeli military checkpoints and roads off-limits to Palestinians.

The situation had led to steep increases in water prices, the report said.

(Writing by Ari Rabinovitch, editing by Andrew Dobbie)

West Bank land belongs to Jews, says Israeli army judge---relying on Jewish myths their own scholars claim are fictions

Major Adrian Agassi did not make the connection between the Bible, the land and the Jews when, fresh out of university, he left England for Israel in search of his roots. He was not even a practising Jew.

But over the past quarter of a century, the Israeli army lawyer and then military judge at the forefront of arguably the most significant battle in the occupied West Bank – the confiscation of Palestinian land for the construction of Jewish settlements – has come to see himself as in service of a higher duty.

In an unusually frank interview, which offers insights into the melding of religion, politics and law that underpins land seizures in the occupied territories, Agassi has laid out his belief that Israel has a biblical claim to territory beyond its borders and that he, even as an immigrant, has a right to live on it when those born there do not.

"When we [Israelis] say that this is a political conflict, then we lose the battle," he told the Guardian, adding that it should be remembered that the ancient land of Israel is "given to us by the Bible, not by some United Nations".

Agassi, one of the most important officials in the military courts wielding authority over large parts of the West Bank, says settling Jews on lands that made up ancient Israel stands above all other biblical commandments and only when it is done can they have "a promised land and a promised life".

"You say that these lands 'passed into Jewish hands'. Others would say that they came back into Jewish hands. Others would say that they are obviously ours, inherently," he said. It was, he claims, a mistake to call it the State of Israel. "If we would have named it the State of Jews, the Arabs would have understood that this land belongs to the Jews."

Agassi served in the legal department that oversaw the confiscation of land in the West Bank to build Jewish settlements and was then appointed to the military court that decided Palestinian appeals against the seizure of their property. The Palestinians almost never won. His court also ruled on legal disputes between Jewish settlers and Palestinians.

Agassi denies his credo affected his legal judgments but his court was considered so biased by some critics that on one occasion the military prosecution, in an unusual step, appealed against Agassi's ruling in favour of settlers to Israel's high court.

Agassi was born in Southgate, London, in 1964 to a family of rabbis from Baghdad. He studied law in the UK and emigrated to Israel at the age of 24 "with £500 and all of Bob Dylan's records". Four years later he found himself dragged into the first Palestinian uprising, the intifada, as a legal adviser to the military in the West Bank.

"I was very young and suddenly found myself in front of the stones and Molotov cocktail and the hate. I studied law, I had a liberal education, but I was at war and I knew we were right," he said. "I was 26 years old, I came from a foreign land. Those actions guarded our existence in the land of Israel. It lies at the heart of the conflict. It's a legitimate means to continue the works of our forefathers Abraham, Joseph and David."

Agassi says a peace agreement with the Palestinians "goes against nature" because as far as he can see nothing had changed in last 4,000 years in the land of Israel, and that back to biblical times Arabs and Jews were at each other's throats.

Agassi uses the term Arabs because he claims Palestinians do not exist.

He came to this conclusion over the past decade while serving as a special judge for administrative arrest. Based on confidential intelligence reports, without trial, Agassi sent several hundred Palestinians – deemed to be terrorists or security threats – to prison for six months or more.

"You read the raw intelligence material and you see that most of them are moved by religious doctrine, not by a political one. They use religion in order to justify killing as many Jews as possible. Is this not a religious war?"

Arrests at holy site in Jerusalem

An aerial view of the golden Dome of the Rock Mosque at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount
The site is holy to both Jews and Muslims

Israeli police and Palestinian worshippers have clashed at Jerusalem's most sensitive religious site.

Police arrested people who were throwing stones in the Temple Mount compound, known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif, a police spokesman said.

The site houses both the al-Aqsa mosque and the Jewish holy site, the Western Wall. A spokesman said police did not enter the al-Aqsa mosque itself.

The clashes came amid rising tensions in the past weeks over the area.

On Saturday, Jerusalem police announced they would strengthen policing around the Temple Mount after Muslim leaders urged Palestinians to defend Jerusalem against "Jewish conquest."

There have been rumours among Palestinians that Jewish extremists were planning on harming the holy site - though no such attempt has been made.

Last month, police used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse 150 Palestinian protesters who had thrown rocks at non-Muslims who entered the al-Aqsa mosque compound.

Israeli police said the visitors were foreign tourists, but Palestinians said they were Jewish extremists.

In the most recent incident, Police said they entered the compound in the morning after demonstrators threw stones and a petrol bomb at police.

Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said security forces used stun grenades to disperse the demonstrators, and that they remain on high alert in the area.

Police also said they had arrested the Palestinian minister for Jerusalem affairs, Hatem Abdel Qader, on charges of incitement.

Palestinian officials said police had sealed off the compound and that some 100 Palestinian worshippers remained inside.

Rich Germans demand higher taxes

Euro banknotes (file image)
Germany could raise 100bn euros with the wealth tax, say the petitioners

A group of rich Germans has launched a petition calling for the government to make wealthy people pay higher taxes.

The group say they have more money than they need, and the extra revenue could fund economic and social programmes to aid Germany's economic recovery.

Germany could raise 100bn euros (£91bn) if the richest people paid a 5% wealth tax for two years, they say.

The petition has 44 signatories so far, and will be presented to newly re-elected Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The group say the financial crisis is leading to an increase in unemployment, poverty and social inequality.

Simply donating money to deal with the problems is not enough, they want a change in the whole approach.

"The path out of the crisis must be paved with massive investment in ecology, education and social justice," they say in the petition.

Those who had "made a fortune through inheritance, hard work, hard-working, successful entrepreneurship, or investment" should contribute by paying more to alleviate the crisis.

The man behind the petition, Dieter Lehmkuhl, told Berlin's Tagesspiegel that there were 2.2 million people in Germany with a fortune of more than 500,000 euros.

If they all paid the tax for two years, Germany could raise 100bn euros to fund ecological programmes, education and social projects, said the retired doctor and heir to a brewery.

Signatory Peter Vollmer told AFP news agency he was supporting the proposal because he had inherited "a lot of money I do not need".

He said the tax would be "a viable and socially acceptable way out of the flagrant budget crisis".

The group held a demonstration in Berlin on Wednesday to draw attention to their plans, throwing fake banknotes into the air.

Mr Vollmer said it was "really strange that so few people came".

A Minnesota man has pled guilty to being drunk driving while driving a La-Z-Boy.

At least he was in a comfy chair.

By Michael Sheridan
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Thursday, October 22nd 2009, 10:56 PM

A Minnesota man has pled guilty to driving while drunk. The only hitch - he was driving a La-Z-Boy.

According to the Duluth News Tribune, Dennis LeRoy Anderson departed from a bar in Proctor, a town in northern Minnesota, and started to drive his chair home one night in August 2008.

However, the 62-year-old crashed the La-Z-Boy into a parked car. He was not seriously injured, but police found that his blood alcohol level was 0.29, more than three times the legal limit.

Anderson admitted to drinking eight or nine beers, a criminal complaint stated.

As for the chair, which was powered by a lawnmower engine and tricked out with headlights, a stereo and a steering system, is going to be auctioned off by police at an undetermined date.

The Minnesota senior will serve two years probation.

Draft of Iran nuclear deal: Start of a thaw in relations with US?

The tentative Iran nuclear deal could be the beginning of a shift from a dominant antagonism to an openness to addressing mutual interests, some diplomatic experts say.

By Howard LaFranchi |
Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
October 21, 2009 edition

Washington - The tentative agreement reached in Vienna on Wednesday to substantially reduce Iran's stockpile of low-enriched uranium raises a tantalizing question: After 30 years of hostility, could this be the beginning of a thaw in US-Iranian relations?

No one paints the deal as a Nixon-to-China watershed moment that from now on puts relations on positive and constructive footing. But it could nonetheless be the beginning of a shift from a dominant antagonism to an openness to addressing mutual interests, some diplomatic experts say.

"Let's definitely have modest expectations here. There's a lot for the two countries to get through as they consider taking this dialogue further," says Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council in Washington. "It's going to take much more for any tentative openness to take hold, but this could prove to be the first step in turning the trajectory of US-Iranian relations."

The Vienna agreement, reached tentatively among Iranian, American, French, and Russian negotiators under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), calls for much of Iran's low-enriched uranium (LEU) stockpile to be shipped outside the country for reprocessing.

The reprocessed uranium would then return in a form essential to operation of a Tehran research reactor. But it would be well below enrichment levels required for a nuclear weapon.

Iranian negotiators were to take the accord back to Tehran for final approval, possibly by Friday.

By cutting Iran's stock of LEU by about three-fourths, the deal would give world powers as much as a year of breathing room for addressing the broader challenges of Iran's nuclear program.

That period of reduced tensions over Iran's nuclear program will be crucial to both the United States and Iran as they gauge how far a tentative thaw in relations can go, Mr. Parsi says.

"Much has been made of how this deal would allow a testing time for the US and its partners to measure Iran's intentions without the nuclear program breathing so heavily down their necks. But the Iranians see it as a test as well," he says. "From their perspective, they've done things in the past aimed at building confidence on the American side, but they feel it hasn't been appreciated."

In assessing the talks, IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei alluded to a conscious effort by all parties to keep in mind the potential for this one accord to begin reversing longstanding disputes.

"I must say that everybody who participated at the meeting was trying to help, trying to look to the future and not to the past, trying to heal the wounds that existed for many, many years," Mr. ElBaradei told journalists.

Other security experts, especially those convinced that Tehran's larger ambitions continue to include a nuclear weapon, caution against reading too much into one action – and a tentative one at that.

"To my way of thinking, they've taken a page from the North Korean playbook," says Gary Schmitt, director of advanced strategic studies at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. "They sense there are some advantages to looking like they are cooperative and to in fact being cooperative."

The Iranians "may not be ready" for a number of reasons to move ahead on their nuclear ambitions, Mr. Schmitt says. And, he suspects, they may welcome their own "breather" from international pressures to focus more on domestic concerns – specifically, the ramifications of the summer's disputed presidential elections.

He cautions against assuming that even a signed agreement means that the Iranians have decided on a clear path forward.

"It's especially difficult to get a handle on how the Iranian leadership thinks," he says. Noting that his contacts with Iran go back to the 1980s, he says, "You can never assume you've got the straight answer, and they always put eight faces on the same problem."

It's especially hard for pro-Israel neo-cons and their think-tank staffs to think of a U.S./Iranian partnership to end nuclear weapons altogether.

THE GREEN TOWER OF GUANGZHOU CITY

BBC environment analyst Roger Harrabin reports on the tower block under construction in China which could lead the way in green building technology.

Rising high through the polluted air of Guangzhou City in southern China is a 71-storey tower block which, according to its designers, will be the most energy-efficient in the world.

Among a host of features designed either to make or save energy, the one that caught my eye was the shape of the Pearl River Tower itself.

It is built in a curve, facing the prevailing winds. And it has been deliberately sculpted to increase the speed of that wind and force it through slots in the building where wind turbines will be located.

Now, on many buildings, wind turbines are a waste of space because there's so much turbulence in cities. I heard an apocryphal story about a Japanese firm that installed a turbine which needed electric power to keep it turning to save the face of its would-be-green owners.

HOW THE TOWER SAVES ENERGY

The Pearl River Tower in Guangzhou City stands 309m tall
High temperature fuel cells complement the sustainable systems
The outer skin controls glare and includes a photovoltaic system for energy
Wind turbines generate power which can be fed to mechanical equipment
The design incorporates a "high performance" building envelope
An air displacement system relies on raised floors
Cooling tower water passes through embedded tubes in the building

But the American architects of this tower - SOM - insist that their experiments in a wind tunnel show this building will generate economically viable wind power.

The vertical axis turbines will be located in the mechanical floors mandated by the Chinese government as emergency muster floors, so no usable office space will be lost.

SOM claims that by thinking carefully about the use of space combined with energy-saving and energy-generating technology, they have been able to make unprecedented gains, so this building will potentially create as much energy as it uses.

They are by no means the only architects to espouse the principle of integrated design, of course. But some observers believe that too many buildings are still being put up with a few bolt-on green features, without proper thought as to what could be achieved through a more considered approach.

Take the cooling system in the tower. Most of the time, air conditioning is done by fat air ducts which gobble both energy and space between floors and ceilings. Here the cooling is done by a cool water system.

The water flows in ducts through concrete beams, and cool air descends upon the toiling masses from cold water radiators in the ceilings.
Ame Englehart (BBC)


Ame Englehart says the building could only have been commissioned in China

This doesn't just save energy. SOM say it saves so much space that it's allowed the building's owners to put in an extra five storeys of usable office floor at little extra cost. Indeed, they predict that the extra investments in the building will start making the money in five years.

There are other green features too. There's a wide-spaced double-glazed wall, which channels hot air upwards to a mechanical floor where it's harnessed for dehumidification.

There's also substantial use of solar photovoltaic technology on the frontages of the building, which curve upwards toward the sun, although the current cost of photovoltaic arrays militated against cladding the building completely in energy-generating glass.

Inside there are numerous automatic control systems to make sure power isn't being wasted.

SOM say they could have coaxed the building to produce more energy but it would have been futile because there's no facility in Guangzhou to feed self-generated power back into the grid. To many, this will be a familiar tale.

'Radical' design

I can't verify whether all its claims are true, but the building is undoubtedly an exciting project.

Ame Englehart, director of SOM's East Asia office said: "This building is so radical it could only have been commissioned in China. The owners are very self-confident and have been prepared to push the design as far as it will go."

SOM insists that the design is site-specific and can't just be replicated elsewhere.

But the sad observation from my viewpoint standing on the girders of the 24th floor is that this tower is very much the exception rather than the rule.

The Chinese government has increased building standards recently but they still don't lead to anything like the performance of the Pearl River Tower.

A report in the China Daily during my trip suggested that 40% of bribery cases in China involve property development.

And a Western businesswoman I bumped into told me her firm couldn't persuade Chinese clients to invest in more energy-efficient vehicles even if she could prove that they would start paying back their owners in energy costs is just 10 months.

War criminals R Us: Israel joins US for defence drill

Israeli air force helicopter simulates a rescue
The US, Turkey and Israel took part in a similar lower-scale exercise last year

Israel and the US are due to begin a two-week military defence exercise, thought to be the largest of its kind in Israel's history.

The exercise will focus on providing a joint defence against a simulated co-ordinated missile attack on Israel.

Up to 2,000 joint military personnel are believed to be taking part, along with at least 15 American ships.

The Israeli army said the exercise was not a "response to any world events" but had been planned for a while.

It is thought that a highly sophisticated new American radar, based in the Israeli desert, will be central to the exercise.

Two-fold significance

The simulation will involve elements such as barrage of missiles fired on Israel from all points south, east and north.

The BBC's Middle East correspondent Tim Franks said many observers inside Israel believed the exercise carried a two-fold significance.

This included sending a message of deterrence to any would-be attackers of Israel - whether they were in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria or Iran.

It was also possibly an attempt to reassure Israel's people that the US took the country's security seriously - especially at a time when the US has expressed increasing concern about Iran's nuclear programme, although Tehran insists it is purely peaceful.

Analysts say use the manoeuvres could also serve to make Israel feel more secure, and therefore encourage a return to Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

Last week, Turkey, one of the few Muslim countries with whom Israel has had good contacts, cancelled a joint air force exercise with Israel.

Israel, Turkey and the US countries took part in a joint exercise in the Mediterranean Sea, off Haifa last year.

Tim Franks said Turkish-Israeli relations have become strained this year, since Turkey heavily criticised Israel's war in Gaza.

The exercise, which is entitled Juniper Cobra, is due to finish on 5 November.

U.S. Won’t Prosecute in States That Allow Medical Marijuana

By DAVID STOUT and SOLOMON MOORE
Published: October 19, 2009
New York Times

WASHINGTON — People who use marijuana for medical purposes and those who distribute it to them should not face federal prosecution, provided they act according to state law, the Justice Department said Monday in a directive with far-reaching political and legal implications.


Rob Mooney, 49, of East Providence, R.I., uses medical marijuana to ease severe back pain.

A New Course on Medical Marijuana?

In a memorandum to federal prosecutors in the 14 states that make some allowance for the use of medical marijuana, the department said that it was committed to the “efficient and rational use” of its resources and that prosecuting patients and distributors who are in “clear and unambiguous compliance” with state laws did not meet that standard.

The new stance was hardly an enthusiastic embrace of medical marijuana, or the laws that allow it in some states, but signaled clearly that the Obama administration thought there were more important priorities for prosecutors.

“It will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute patients with serious illnesses or their caregivers who are complying with state laws on medical marijuana,” Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a statement accompanying the memo, “but we will not tolerate drug traffickers who hide behind claims of compliance with state law to mask activities that are clearly illegal.”

Emphasizing that it would continue to pursue those who use the concept of medical marijuana as a ruse, the department said, “Marijuana distribution in the United States remains the single largest source of revenue for the Mexican cartels,” and pursuing the makers and sellers of illegal drugs, including marijuana, will remain a “core priority.”

The new memo is the latest reversal of Bush administration social policies that had especially rankled liberals. Yet the politics of marijuana cross ideological lines. For instance, in effectively deferring to the states on this particular issue, the Obama administration is taking what could be seen as a states’ rights stance, more commonly associated with conservatives. That was a theme that echoed on many conservative and libertarian Internet sites in the wake of Monday’s announcement.

But one prominent conservative, Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, criticized the Justice Department’s position, saying it would weaken drug enforcement.

“By directing federal law enforcement officers to ignore federal drug laws, the administration is tacitly condoning the use of marijuana in the United States,” said Mr. Smith, the senior Republican on the House Judiciary Committee. “If we want to win the war on drugs, federal prosecutors have a responsibility to investigate and prosecute all medical marijuana dispensaries and not just those that are merely fronts for illegal marijuana distribution.”

Graham Boyd, director of the Drug Law Reform Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, called the Justice Department’s move “an enormous step in the right direction and, no doubt, a great relief to the thousands of Americans who benefit from the medical use of marijuana.”

Mr. Boyd predicted that states and cities “will have a strong incentive to create regulated, safe and sensible means of getting marijuana to patients who need it.”

Polls have shown for years that there is widespread public support for making marijuana available to relieve the suffering of very ill people. But repeated efforts in Congress to block federal prosecution of medical marijuana have fallen short, and the new policy was a sharp departure from that of the Bush administration, in which the Drug Enforcement Administration raided medical marijuana distributors even if the distributors appeared to be complying with state laws.

The new posture, which reflects positions that Barack Obama took as a presidential candidate and that Mr. Holder laid out in March, came in a memo from David W. Ogden, the deputy attorney general, to the United States attorneys in the affected states, most notably California.

The White House sought to turn aside any impression, however, that President Obama would like other states to follow the example of the 14 that make some allowance for medical marijuana.

“I’m not going to get into what states should do,” said the president’s chief spokesman, Robert Gibbs.

Mr. Gibbs said the memo to federal prosecutors “simply adds guidelines to a decision that Attorney General Holder talked about in mid-March and has been administration policy since the beginning of this administration in January.”

The guidelines give specific examples of conduct that will continue to cause prosecutors to look at a case involving marijuana that a user or distributor says is for medical use. The examples include unlawful possession or use of a firearm, sales to minors and money laundering activity.

The new policy follows the appointment of Richard Gil Kerlikowske, a former police chief of Seattle, to be Mr. Obama’s top drug policy adviser.

Medical marijuana thrived in Seattle on Mr. Kerlikowske’s watch, and advocates of more liberal marijuana laws had hoped that his appointment to the post, which he assumed in May, signaled the administration’s willingness to decriminalize medical marijuana.

Some federal law enforcement officials oppose the administration’s position. Privately, some of them complained Monday that medical marijuana and marijuana smuggled into the country from Mexico were one and the same, and that the Obama administration had now backed away from necessary enforcement of drug laws.

Even as Mr. Ogden’s memo was being made public, viewers of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Web site could read the agency’s position on medical marijuana. “Smoked marijuana has not withstood the rigors of science — it is not medicine and it is not safe,” it said, though it added that “D.E.A. targets criminals engaged in cultivation and trafficking, not the sick and dying.”

Advocates of medical marijuana say it can reduce chronic pain, nausea and additional symptoms associated with cancer and other serious illnesses. In 1996, California became the first state to make it legal to sell marijuana to people with doctors’ prescriptions. The other states that allow some use of it for medical purposes are Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

Solomon Moore contributed reporting from Los Angeles.

Caterpillar's Profit Falls 53%

By NATHAN BECKER

Caterpillar Inc.'s third-quarter profit fell 53%, but the company said it likely has seen the bottom in sales as dealers have slashed inventories during the economic downturn.

The heavy-equipment maker's earnings results also blew past Wall Street expectations. Caterpillar shares jumped 5.2% to $60.88 in premarket trading Tuesday.


A Caterpillar earthmover works in the quarry area of the Lucky Cement plant in Karachi, Pakistan.


"We are pleased with this quarter's profit given the severe economic environment and with our sales well below end-user demand as dealers continue to aggressively draw down inventories," said Chairman and Chief Executive Jim Owens.

The economic downturn and sliding demand for construction have sapped sales for Caterpillar, which makes heavy machines used for digging and building. The company said last month that world-wide machinery sales through retailers for the three months to close out August declined nearly half.

Caterpillar has said it expected the third quarter would be its weakest of the year as dealers hold off ordering new equipment, and the company anticipated job cutting and factory shutdowns to curb production.

The company reported earnings of $404 million, or 64 cents a share, down from $868 million, or $1.39 a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell to $7.3 billion from a record-high $12.98 billion a year earlier.

Analysts had forecast earnings of six cents a share on $7.48 billion in sales.

Gross margin rose to 28% from 25.2% on cost-cutting.

"We believe the third quarter marked the low point for Caterpillar sales and revenues in what has been the toughest recession since the 1930s," Mr. Owens said. "We are seeing encouraging signs that indicate a recovery may be underway."

The company said its machinery sales decreased 52%, and engine sales slid 35%.

Write to Nathan Becker at nathan.becker@dowjones.com

U.S. Scientist Arrested for Allegedly Attempting to Pass Secrets to Israel

A Former NASA Scientist Is Caught in a Sting Operation for Alleged Espionage
By JASON RYAN
Oct. 19, 2009

FBI agents arrested a scientist who worked for NASA and other agencies Monday afternoon in a sting operation after he allegedly attempted to sell top secret satellite information to agents he thought were Israeli spies.

The Justice Department said Monday that 52-year-old Stewart David Nozette of Chevy Chase was charged in a criminal complaint with attempting to communicate, deliver and transmit classified information to an individual he believed to be an Israeli


The Justice Department said Monday that 52-year-old Stewart Nozette, shown in this file photo, was charged in a criminal complaint with attempting to communicate, deliver and transmit classified information to an individual he believed to be an Israeli intelligence officer.

Stewart Nozette, 52, was arrested shortly after 4:00 p.m. at the Mayflower Hotel in downtown Washington by counterespionage agents from the FBI's Washington field office after he believed he was meeting with agents from the Mossad to pass information to them in exchange for money, the Justice Department said.

Nozette had been under investigation for some time according to an FBI affidavit and court records involving his firm, the Alliance for Competitive Technology (ACT). In early January 2009 as he traveled overseas, a security check of his personal bags indicated he had two computer thumb drives in his possession; yet, when he returned on his trip, the drives were no longer in his possession, according to the government.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OCTOBER 19, 2009, 9:42 P.M. ET

U.S. Space Researcher Arrested on Spy Charges

By EVAN PEREZ

WASHINGTON -- A top U.S. space researcher was arrested in a Federal Bureau of Investigation sting Monday and charged with attempting to spy for Israel.

Stewart Nozette, 52 years old, of Chevy Chase, Md., is a former government physicist who worked for agencies ranging from the Defense Department to the White House.

In exchange for thousands of dollars in cash and an Israeli passport, Mr. Nozette attempted to pass on U.S. top secret nuclear and space secrets to an FBI agent who was posing as an Israeli intelligence operative, according to an FBI affidavit filed with the criminal complaint in the case.

An attorney for Mr. Nozette didn't immediately respond to a call seeking comment. Mr. Nozette is expected to make his first appearance Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, where if convicted he could face a life sentence.

The case recalls other alleged spy cases in recent years involving Israel, including one that collapsed in May against two former lobbyists for a pro-Israel group. U.S. officials said the Nozette case doesn't include allegations that Israel or its agents were involved.

The FBI affidavit doesn't explain how Mr. Nozette came to the attention of U.S. investigators. However, the affidavit describes Mr. Nozette's work over the past decade for an Israeli aerospace company that is wholly owned by the Israeli government. During a security search as he departed on a foreign trip in January, a security officer noted he was traveling with two small portable hard drives, which another government officer couldn't locate in a subsequent search as Mr. Nozette re-entered the U.S.

A spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington didn't respond to a request for comment.

"Those who would put our nation's defense secrets up for sale can expect to be vigorously prosecuted," said Channing D. Phillips, acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

FBI wiretaps cited in the government affidavit quote Mr. Nozette telling the undercover federal agent that his former top secret security clearances allowed him access to sensitive nuclear and intelligence secrets.

"I don't get recruited by Mossad every day. I knew this day would come," Mr. Nozette allegedly is heard on wiretaps telling the FBI agent posing as an Israeli agent, according to the affidavit.

The FBI agent, using stock methods often found on the pages of John le Carré novels, arranged for Mr. Nozette to use "dead drops" at a post-office box in Washington, provided him a cellphone to send text messages, and set up an alias for use in his new Israeli identification documents, according to the affidavit.

In a post-office box dead drop last month, Mr. Nozette dropped off a sealed manila envelope containing an encrypted portable hard drive, the affidavit says. The drive contained classified information on satellite programs supporting U.S. military and intelligence operations.

Mr. Nozette, a Chicago native, was prominent in his field, working at government laboratories and research centers for decades. He helped develop a radar experiment, now displayed at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, that is said to have detected water on the moon's south pole.

Write to Evan Perez at evan.perez@wsj.com

Copyright 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Action to protest Ehud Olmert's appearance in San Francisco this Thursday evening!

From: Bay Area International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network

Greetings,

We hope you can join us for the action to protest Ehud Olmert's appearance in San Francisco this Thursday evening! IJAN will be there along with many of our partners -- please email us if you're interested in helping to make signs!

And, we're excited to announce the release of a new poster, part of the Celebrating People's History series, that celebrates Matzpen -- the first organization in Israel to express an anti-Zionist politic, and one that IJAN has learned many lessons from!

in solidarity,
Bay Area IJAN



Protest former of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
Thursday October 22, 6pm
Union Square, San Francisco

Olmert will be speaking at a World Affairs Council event at the St. Francis Hotel. We will gather outside in Union Square to demand that Israel and its leaders be held accountable for their crimes against the people of Palestine and Lebanon.

Endorsers of the Protest:

Middle East Children's Alliance
ANSWER
Code Pink
Northern California International Solidarity Movement
More info at stopaipac.org

CELEBRATE PEOPLE’S HISTORY POSTER RELEASE PARTY!

MATZPEN: THE FIRST ANTI-ZIONIST ORGANIZATION IN ISRAEL



WHAT: Poster release party and post-action celebration. Dessert potluck (bring food!). Three Hookahs. Drinks. Posters. Speakers from the Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC), the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN), and Dialogues Against Militarism (DAM).

A BENEFIT for AROC, DAM, and IJAN.

WHEN: Friday Oct 23, 2009. 9pm.

WHERE: The Green House. 1630 Woolsey St, Apt A. Berkeley. Cross street is King. 3 blocks from Ashby BART

BRING: something delicious, good spirits, celebrate the history of Jewish anti-colonial struggles and Palestinian resistance!

A RELEASE FOR WHAT?
Check it: http://www.justseeds.org/celebrate_peoples_history/02matzpen.html
Background: http://www.justseeds.org/blog/2009/09/matzpen_cph_poster_released.html

Suspect another attempt to derail negotiations with Iran: Iran Says U.S., Britain Behind Attack

By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
New York Times
October 19, 2009

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Iranian officials claimed Monday they had evidence of American and British involvement in the country’s worst suicide bombing attacks in years, raising tensions as Iran meets with Western nations for another round of delicate talks on its nuclear program.

At least five commanders of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps were killed and dozens of other people were left dead and wounded on Sunday in two bombings in the restive southeast along Iran’s frontier with Pakistan, according to Iranian state news agencies.

The coordinated strike, one of the largest against the Guards in the region, appeared to mark an escalation in hostilities between Iran’s leadership and the Baluchi ethnic minority. Iranian officials accused foreign enemies of supporting the insurgents, singling out the intelligence agencies of United States, Britain and Pakistan.

Mohammad Ali Jafari, the Guards’ commander in chief, told the semi-official ISNA agency on Monday: “Behind this scene are the American and British intelligence apparatus, and there will have to be retaliatory measures to punish them,” adding that Iran had documents proving their and Pakistani involvement.

The Baluchi insurgent group Jundallah — or Soldiers of God — took responsibility for the bombings, which included a suicide attack on a community meeting led by Revolutionary Guards and a roadside attack on a car full of Guards, both in the area of the city of Pishin.

Jundallah, whose members are Sunni Muslims, has claimed responsibility for other attacks in the region in recent years, and is believed to have killed hundreds of Iranian soldiers and civilians. The southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan has been the scene of attacks in the past, and in April the government put the Guards Corps in control of security there to try to stop the escalating violence.

Official news reports late Sunday said that 29 people had been killed, including several tribal leaders, and 28 wounded. The reports did not specify how many casualties were guards and how many civilians. Early Monday, Iranian state television raised the toll to 42 people, including 37 civilians, news agencies reported. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promised “that those who committed such criminal and inhuman acts will receive their response soon,” the state-run Press TV reported.

Iranian officials said they had evidence the attack was launched from within Pakistan, where Jundallah is based, and the Foreign Ministry late Sunday summoned Pakistan’s chargé d’affaires, Press TV said.

A Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman, Abdul Basit, told the Daily Times newspaper: “Pakistan is not involved in terrorist activities,” adding, “We are striving to eradicate this menace.”

Ali Larijani, the speaker of Parliament, said the United States bore some responsibility for the attacks. “If they want relations with Iran, they must be frank,” he said, according to the semiofficial ISNA news service, adding, “We consider the recent terrorist measure the outcome of the U.S. measures.”

In the past, Iranian officials have accused the United States of financing and arming Jundallah.

The United States condemned the bombings and denied any connection with them. “We condemn this act of terrorism and mourn the loss of innocent lives,” said Ian C. Kelly, a State Department spokesman. “Reports of alleged U.S. involvement are completely false.”

The British government rejects “in the strongest terms” allegations that it aided rebels, a foreign office spokesperson told Reuters Monday.

The bombers struck early Sunday as the Guards prepared to bring regional Shiite and Sunni leaders together for a conference in Pishin to try to improve relations among the different communities, according to the Iranian news reports.

In one attack, a suicide bomber wearing a military uniform and an explosive belt entered a mosque where Guard commanders were organizing a reconciliation meeting, according to the semiofficial ILNA news service.

In the second attack, a car carrying a group of Guards members was bombed, state news agencies said.

According to the Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with the Guards, those killed included the lieutenant commander of ground forces, Brig. Gen. Nourali Shoushtari, as well as the commanders of Sistan-Baluchistan province, the Iranshahr Corps, the Sarbaz Corps and the Amiralmoemenin Brigade.

The Baluchis, who are mostly Sunni, are one of many ethnic and religious minorities who have complained of discrimination in Iran, a predominantly Shiite Muslim and ethnically Persian nation.

Jundallah, which says it is fighting for greater autonomy for Baluchis in Iran and Pakistan, bombed a Shiite mosque in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan, in May, killing 25 people. Jundallah rebels abducted and killed 16 Iranian soldiers late last year, and bombed a bus carrying Guards members in 2007, killing 11.

Iranian authorities hanged 13 members of the group in May, and have executed others previously.

Mustafa El-Labbad, director of the East Center for Regional and Strategic Studies in Cairo, said ethnic and sectarian divisions made the region particularly volatile. “There is the Baluchi versus Persian, and there is Sunni versus Shiite,” he said. “It also lies on the border with Pakistan, which is not totally secured — weapons can come through. So there is a very explosive blend there.”

The Guards have emerged as the most powerful political, social and economic bloc in the nation, eclipsing even the clergy and the conservatives. In the aftermath of Iran’s contested presidential election, the Guards took control of national security, overseeing a violent crackdown on protests as well as mass arrests of protesters and critics.

In this context, Mr. Labbad said, an attack on the Guards — no matter the motivation — has symbolic resonance. “It is designed to affect the image of Iran,” he said.

Iranian officials are due to meet Monday in Vienna with officials of several countries to discuss an accord to ship uranium to Russia for enrichment, part of an effort by the West to try to halt Iran’s nuclear program.

Mona El-Naggar contributed reporting from Riyadh, Sharon Otterman from New York and Nazila Fathi from Toronto.

Israel and its Zionist Neo-Con allies in the American arms industry and secret agencies promoting wars to sell armaments, do not want Americans or Europeans negotiating any peace deal with Iran so Iran's complaint may be well founded. It is in line with Israel's intransigence in working out any peace deals with those Muslim states it considers enemies.

[HumanRights] Apartheid government panicking: Time to increase actions

From Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

On 16 October 1935, a barrel marked “cement” fell as it was being unloaded from ships at the port in Jaffa. The broken barrel contained guns, grenades, and ammunition and was one of many secret shipments to the underground Zionist terrorist militias in Palestine. That incident among others (including the British government collusion in marginalizing natives in Palestine while encouraging Zionist Jewish migration and takeover) led in the year after to the great Palestinian uprising of 1936. Before the state of Israel was founded, these terrorist underground militias that were to become the Israel “Defense” Forces committed over 100 massacres of civilians. The atrocities intensified in the months leading up to the “declaration of indeperndence”. In March and April 1948 alone over 25 massacres were committed including infamous ones such as Tantura and Deir Yassin. Israeli leaders themselves credited these actions as of great use in getting the Palestinians to evacuate Palestine so that a Jewish state could be established without a demographic “burden” of “non-Jews” (Christains and Muslims). The massacres continued after the war with government ordered slaughters at Kufr Kassem in 1956 (see http://www.taayush.org/new/kassem.html), and more until the latest slaughter of 1400 in three weeks in Gaza (most of them civilians). This showed that the state of Israel is still addicted to these policies of terror. Israeli leaders as before try to intimidate the world into silence and some do comply (the US and some Western Countries also feed this addiction with money and weapons and use of veto power to protect Israel from Internatioanl law). . However, ethnic cleansing via state terrorism has become more exposed over the decades and Israeli leaders have been frustrated. They started using other coercive tools to affect the Zionist goal of a Palestine free from Palestinians: economic strangulations, bureaucracy, unjust laws analogous to the Nutremberg laws etc. The major credit for the decreased effectiveness of slaughter as an instrument of policy is Palestinian resistance (most of it civil resistance). The second factor is that in the age of the internet, governments and wealthy racists have less control over information. The public even in the US, Holland, France, England etc is largely aware and disgusted by their governments’ support of ethnic cleansing in Palestine. We need to now translate the public mood and sentiment into change in government policy. That takes determination, energy and opportunity. We have an opportunity NOW. The UN Human Rights Council voted by 25 : 6 to accept the Goldstone report despite intensive lobbying by the Israeli government and by the (Zionist dominated) US government. 25 Countries voted for the resolution including China, Russia, Egypt, India, Brazil, Jordan, Pakistan, South Africa, Argentina, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Ghana, Indonesia, Djibouti, Liberia, Qatar, Senegal, Mauritius, Nicaragua, and Nigeria. Six countries voted against the report: US, Italy, Holland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Ukraine. 11 countries abstained: Bosnia, Burkina-Faso, Cameron, Gabon, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Belgium, South Korea, Slovenia and Uruguay. Others did not show-up to vote. Citizens of all those countries should write to their representatives in government (Presidents, parliamentarians etc) and commend those who supported accountability for war criminals and shame those who voted against it or abstained (spineless) thus becoming complicity in such war crimes. We must also reject the attempts by some countries to save Israel by asking it to conduct an internal investigation; you cannot ask a criminal to investigate his crime and Israel never found its leaders culpable for even one of the hundreds of massacres they committed). (British Prime Minister Brown and French President Sarkozy wrote a joint letter to Netanyahu with diplomatic language that only means more green light to do state terror in the name of “security”)



The importance of this is not to be underestimated (hopefully eventually shocking the Israeli public out of its denial). This worries the Israeli government . The vote and potential downstream events have dominated the interest and talk of Israeli media and politicians. According to Haaretz: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Friday that Israel must prepare for a protracted struggle against a damning United Nations report..” and daughter of Irgun terrorist and war criminal Tzipi Livni stated “Today's vote was political and cynical. Israel will continue to do the right thing and to protect its citizens, and will continue the international battle against the report to ensure the legal protection of IDF officers, wherever they may be.” The apartheid government is quickly forming a high level task force to exonerate itself and all its criminals. The Turkish government also took principled positions adding to the apartheid system delusions of denial and desperation (far better than positions of Arab countries like Jordan and Egypt and Israel is also panicking on this; imagine if Arab countries cut their ties) I think all of us should create grassroot committees all around the world to ensure accountability and to redouble our efforts on boycotts, divestments, and sanctions per the Palestinian Civil Society call to Action (http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/52 ).


EI exclusive video: Protesters shout down Ehud Olmert in Chicago [Olmert is one of those war criminals w2ho should be at the Hague for his crimes in Gaza and beyond]

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10834.shtml

[things are changing]: American Jews rethink Israel

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091102/horowitz_weiss

Why Are Palestinians Losing Faith in Obama? Ask Rahm Emanuel

The Palestinians have the Cairo speech to hold on to, but I have bad news for them. Bibi is eating Obama’s lunch. No one in that top 50, or the top 500 have any loyalty to the oppressed residents of the West Bank or Gaza. Official Washington has been drinking the AIPAC kool-aid for so long they don’t know what all the fuss is about.

http://wallwritings.wordpress.com/2009/10/14/why-are-palestinians-losing-faith-in-obama-ask-rahm-emanuel/

Episcopal News Service: JERUSALEM: Evicted Palestinian family keeps watch near home taken by settlers By Rev. Pat McCaughan

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_115574_ENG_HTM.htm

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home

http://qumsiyeh.org

https://www.pcr.ps

Israel Faces Growing Pressure After UN War Crimes Vote

By Robert Berger
Jerusalem
17 October 2009

Israel is facing growing international pressure after the United Nations Human Rights Council approved the Goldstone Report, which accuses the Jewish state of war crimes against Palestinians. The Goldstone Report also accuses Palestinian militants of war crimes during the Gaza conflict of nearly a year ago.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling on him to cooperate with the Goldstone Report. They urged Israel to open an "independent, transparent investigation" into alleged war crimes during the three-week Gaza conflict last December and January.

The resolution by the Human Rights Council endorses the Goldstone Report's recommendations that both the Israelis and Palestinian militants show the U.N. Security Council they are investigating the war crimes accusations.

Israel has rejected the report as one-sided and biased and says the Gaza war was a legitimate act of self defense in response to years of Palestinian rocket attacks. Israeli officials say opening a war crimes investigation would be tantamount to accepting guilt.

But Israeli David Horovitz, the editor of the Jerusalem Post, says defiance may be counterproductive.

"I would have thought the last thing Israel can afford to do is to try to simply ignore it," he said. "There has to be some kind of intelligent response, even though the national sense of justice and pride motivates many, I think, in the Israeli leadership to say, 'This is just so unfair, so clearly prejudiced, that we do not want to justify it or honor it by responding.' I don't think Israel can afford to do that."

Palestinian legislator Mustafa Barghouti says Israel should be held accountable, and he called for international war crimes trials.

"Those who committed crimes like killing children for no reason, who hurt civilians for no reason, yes; anybody who kills children for no reason should go to court," he said.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has ordered officials to prepare for a long diplomatic, legal and public relations battle explaining Israel's right to defend itself against terrorism. As Mr. Netanyahu put it, "We will delegitimize those who try to delegitimize us."

Obama Threatens Insurers’ Anti-Trust Exemption

By PETER BAKER
Published: October 17, 2009

WASHINGTON — President Obama mounted a frontal assault on the insurance industry on Saturday, accusing it of airing “deceptive and dishonest ads” to derail his health care legislation and threatening to strip the industry of its longstanding exemption from federal anti-trust laws.

In unusually harsh terms, Mr. Obama cast insurance companies as obstacles to change interested only in preserving their own “profits and bonuses” and willing to “bend the truth or break it” to stop his drive to remake the nation’s health care system. The president used his weekly radio and Internet address to push back against industry assertions that legislation will drive up premiums.

“It’s smoke and mirrors,” Mr. Obama said. “It’s bogus. And it’s all too familiar. Every time we get close to passing reform, the insurance companies produce these phony studies as a prescription and say, ‘Take one of these, and call us in a decade.’ Well, not this time.”

Rather than trying to curb costs and help patients, he said the industry is busy “figuring out how to avoid covering people. And they’re earning these profits and bonuses while enjoying a privileged exemption from our anti-trust laws, a matter that Congress is rightfully reviewing.”

Mr. Obama’s sharp attack comes as the health care debate moves out of congressional committees to the wider stage of floor debates in the Senate and House. While he has criticized insurers before, his bare-knuckled language on Saturday reflected a more open break with the industry and recognition that his efforts to bring it into some sort of consensus had failed.

The White House is concerned that the insurance industry can undermine public support for changing the health care system much as it did in dooming President Bill Clinton’s overhaul efforts in the 1990s. A new industry study is fueling broader criticism that the plans advanced by Democrats will cost too much, raise consumer expenses and insert government more deeply into the health care sector.

The report issued by America’s Health Insurance Plans concluded that premiums would rise 18 percent more than they would otherwise in the next decade under provisions of a Senate bill, to an average of nearly $26,000 for families and $9,700 for individuals in 2019. The White House dismissed the study as “deeply flawed” and noted that it did not account for subsidies in the bill to help people who could not afford insurance.

In his address Saturday, Mr. Obama hailed that Senate bill, passed by the Finance Committee, as “a reform proposal that has both Democratic and Republican support.” But although Senator Olympia J. Snowe of Maine voted for it, she is the only Republican in either house of Congress to express support for any of the five Democratic health care bills.

The president complained bitterly about the insurers’ attack on the legislation. “The insurance industry is rolling out the big guns and breaking open their massive war chest to marshal their forces for one last fight to save the status quo,” he said. “They’re filling the airwaves with deceptive and dishonest ads. They’re flooding Capitol Hill with lobbyists and campaign contributions. And they’re funding studies designed to mislead the American people.”

He went on to attack other critics he described as tools of the industry. “Of course, like clockwork, we’ve seen folks on cable television who know better, waving these industry-funded studies in the air,” he said. “We’ve seen industry insiders — and their apologists — citing these studies as proof of claims that just aren’t true.”

His signal of support for reviewing the industry’s anti-trust exemption put him in league with Democratic leaders in Congress pushing for repeal or revision of the McCarran-Ferguson Act, which was passed in 1945 to keep regulation of insurers in the hands of the states. Legislation has been introduced in both the House and the Senate to partially or completely overturn the law.

Senator Harry M. Reid of Nevada, the Senate Democratic leader, personally testified at a Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday in favor of getting rid of the exemption. A day later, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House speaker, said “there is tremendous interest in our caucus” in such a move.

Assistant Attorney General Christine A. Varney, the head of the anti-trust division at the Justice Department, testified at the Senate hearing that repealing McCarran-Ferguson would spark more competition, which could help reform industry practices. She said the department “generally supports the idea of repealing anti-trust exemptions” but did not take a position on “how and when” Congress should do so.

State agencies that regulate insurers and industry representatives argue that there is no evidence of widespread price fixing or other behavior to justify repealing the federal exemption. Industry representatives argue that getting rid of it would make it harder for smaller insurers and inevitably raise costs and reduce choices for consumers.

Sock it to 'em, Obama! Stop the criminal exploitation by health insurance companies of Americans with illnesses. These people making money, lot's of it, while putting whole families in the poor house, should be locked up if not given the same draconian economic choices they force on so many American lives.

Palestinians approve of UN resolution

By JPOST.COM STAFF

Both Fatah and Hamas officials lauded the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva for endorsing the Goldstone Commission Report on Friday, and expressed hope that the decision would send the document on to more powerful UN bodies in New York for action.
Palestinians walk next to...

The Palestinians, through Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan and Tunisia, had submitted the resolution to the council, which called for an endorsement of the Goldstone report that accuses Israel of committing war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during Operation Cast Lead.

The resolution, which passed 25-6, also condemned Israeli human rights violations in east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas expressed hope that the resolution would "give impetus to the protection of the Palestinians from Israeli attacks."

"What is important now is to translate words into deeds in order to protect our people in the future from any new aggression," said Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaineh in Ramallah.

"The clock on the report starts now," said Ibrahim Khraishi, the Palestinian Authority's UN ambassador in Geneva, adding that he hoped the Security Council in New York would take up the report.

The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip expressed hope that "the vote on the report will serve as the basis for prosecuting Israeli war criminals."

Hamas spokesman Taher Nunu called the report's endorsement "a victory for the Palestinian victims."

Moussa Abu Marzuk, a top Damascus-based Hamas leader thanked the UN Human Rights Council for endorsing the Goldstone report on Operation Cast Lead, and said the resolution adopted on Friday benefits all the Palestinian people.

"We thank all the states that led to the report's endorsement, a move that benefits all the Palestinian people. Hamas approves of the international stance regarding the report, while some Palestinians are trying to get Israel off the hook," Abu Marzuk said, in an apparent attempt to criticize the Palestinian Authority for agreeing to defer until March the council's vote on endorsing the report.

"The report acquits Hamas almost entirely, as it mentions armed Palestinians launching rockets but refrains from naming Hamas specifically.

Although the Goldstone report also accuses Hamas of war crimes, the five-page resolution explicitly mentions only Israeli violations of international law.

AP contributed to this report

UN human rights council backs Gaza war crimes report

UN human rights council passes resolution endorsing Goldstone report, which accused Israel and Hamas of war crimes

Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem
guardian.co.uk, Friday 16 October 2009 12.50 BST


The Goldstone report accused Israel of a disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorise a civilian population. Photograph: Hatem Omar/AP

A vote to endorse a highly critical report (pdf) on the Gaza war passed at the UN human rights council in Geneva today, despite opposition from the US and Israel.

The council approved a resolution endorsing the report, which was written by the South African judge Richard Goldstone and accused Israel and the Islamist group Hamas of war crimes during the Gaza war.

It said the report should go to the UN general assembly for consideration. The resolution condemned "the recent Israeli violations of human rights in occupied east Jerusalem", referring to recent demolitions of Palestinian houses and excavation work near the Haram al-Sharif, also known as the Temple Mount.

The vote passed with 25 votes in favour, six against and 11 abstentions. The US voted against.

Neither Israel nor the Palestinians are among the 47 nations with seats on the human rights council, but both had worked hard to influence the outcome of the vote. The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, wanted the council to reject the Goldstone report.

"Israel's only real crime is that it does not have an automatic majority in the UN," he said yesterday. "We hope that all responsible countries will … vote against that decision, which aids and encourages terror and strikes at peace."

Douglas Griffiths, the US delegate at the council, said yesterday that Washington wanted Israel to carry out its own investigations. It was important, he said, to "be mindful of the larger context of ongoing efforts to restart permanent status negotiations that would lead to the creation of a Palestinian state".

Under intense US pressure, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, initially dropped his efforts to secure a vote endorsing the report. Instead he decided to put off the vote for another six months. But that was greeted with such an outcry among Palestinians that Abbas quickly backtracked and called for a special session of the human rights council to hold a vote.

Goldstone's report accused both sides of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity and said there may even be individual criminal responsibility over the killing of civilians. Around 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis died in the three-week war.

Goldstone's recommendations were that the human rights council should endorse his findings and then pass his report to the UN security council, the general assembly and the prosecutor of the international criminal court. He said both Israel and Hamas should be given six months to conduct their own "appropriate investigations that are independent and in conformity with international standards". If either side failed to investigate properly, he said, the security council should pass the case on to the prosecutor of the international criminal court.

Hamas looks unlikely to investigate its actions during the war and Netanyahu has already insisted he will not allow any Israelis to face war crimes trials. The US would almost certainly veto any decision critical of Israel if the issue reached a vote in the security council.

Israel threatens to quit peace talks over UN war crimes vote

Israel has threatened to pull out of Middle East peace talks if Britain and other European nations fail to back the country in a key vote at the United Nations.

Published: 7:00AM BST 16 Oct 2009



Binyamin Netanyahu reportedly urged Gordon Brown to oppose the resolution, saying that it could derail the peace process Photo: EPA

A furious Israel said it would not continue with the peace plan if the UN Human Rights Council endorses a controversial report condemning the Jewish state for war crimes during the Gaza offensive in January.

Britain is planning to abstain in the vote, the Times reports, prompting a heated telephone call between Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, and Gordon Brown on Wednesday night.

Mr Netanyahu reportedly urged the Prime Minister to oppose the resolution, saying that it could derail the peace process.

During what officials described as a "robust exchange", Mr Brown said Israel could avoid censure if it held its own inquiry into the Gaza offensive Today's vote in Geneva could prove a major headache for President Obama, who has made Middle East peace a pillar of his foreign policy.

The resolution that chastises Israel for failing to cooperate with a UN-ordered fact-finding mission into the December-January war in Gaza.

In the report circulated last month, the investigators led by South African jurist Richard Goldstone accused both Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas of war crimes in Gaza, but were overall more critical of Israel than Hamas.

Israel has rejected the charges in the report and says the Human Rights Council resolution - drafted by the Palestinians with Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan and Tunisia, on behalf of non-aligned, African, Islamic and Arab nations - threatens peace efforts.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not be able to take "risks for peace" if it could not defend itself from attacks on its citizens.

"It's important for the principle countries, outside of this automatic majority of the United Nations, to say we are not taking part in this.

We know we should act otherwise," he said.

US officials said last night that as the resolution stood, they would vote against it. With no state in the 47- member council holding veto power and the majority lined up behind the Palestinians, the resolution looked set to sail through.

U.N. rights body considers condemning Israel on Gaza

By Laura MacInnis
Thu Oct 15, 2009 4:48pm EDT

GENEVA, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Israeli and Palestinian leaders should launch investigations of alleged war crimes in Gaza to help rebuild trust and support peace, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Thursday.

At the opening of a U.N. Human Rights Council meeting on the issue, Navi Pillay said all sides in the Middle East conflict were violating international law and voiced concern that transgressors were left unpunished.

"A culture of impunity continues to prevail in the occupied territories and in Israel," she told the 47-member body, calling for impartial and prompt investigations into reported violations.

In a session due to stretch into Friday, Geneva envoys met to consider a resolution that chastises Israel for failing to cooperate with a U.N.-ordered fact-finding mission into the December-January war in Gaza.

In the report circulated last month, the investigators led by South African jurist Richard Goldstone accused both Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas of war crimes in Gaza, but were overall more critical of Israel than Hamas.

Israel has rejected the charges in the report and says the Human Rights Council resolution -- drafted by the Palestinians with Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan and Tunisia, on behalf of non-aligned, African, Islamic and Arab nations -- threatens peace efforts.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday Israel would not be able to take "risks for peace" if it could not defend itself from attacks on its citizens.

"It's important for the principle countries, outside of this automatic majority of the United Nations, to say we are not taking part in this. We know we should act otherwise," he said.

Israel however came under pressure in a U.N. Security Council debate on Wednesday to fully investigate its allegations.

PRESSURE ON NETANYAHU

The text calls for the U.N. General Assembly to consider the Goldstone report and for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to review Israel's adherence to it. That would keep up pressure on Netanyahu who Washington is trying to convince to commit to a "two-state solution" that previous Israeli governments have signed up to. [ID:nLE230208]

The rights council agreed during its last regular session to postpone discussion on the Gaza report after Washington applied pressure aimed at getting the Middle East peace process back on track [ID:nL2147555]. But Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas came under criticism for agreeing to the delay, leading to the request for a special session on the topic.

The resolution would be difficult for Israel's allies to endorse.

It "strongly condemns all policies and measures taken by Israel, the occupying power, including those limiting access of Palestinians to their properties and holy sites" and calls on Israel to stop digging and excavation work around the Al Aqsa Mosque as well as other Christian and Islamic holy sites.

In her speech, Pillay cited concern about the restrictions on Palestinians wishing to enter Al Aqsa and expressed "dismay" about the Israeli blockade of Gaza that she said "severely undermines the rights and welfare of the population there."

Washington joined the rights council earlier this year, vowing to change the U.N. body that the United States and Israel have criticised as anti-Israeli.
(Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay)