Hundreds Demonstrate on Border With Gaza

New York Times
By ETHAN BRONNER
Published: December 31, 2009

(note NY Times' photo of "hundreds of demonstrators")

JERUSALEM — Hundreds of demonstrators gathered on both sides of the Israeli-Gazan border on Thursday to mark a year since Israel’s three-week war in Gaza, and to call for an end to the blockade of the area imposed by Israel and Egypt.
Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times

Arabs and Israelis demonstrated Thursday at the Erez crossing into Gaza. About 1,000 people rallied on the Israeli side, most of them Israeli Arabs but also Jews who object to the blockade.

About 85 of the several hundred demonstrators inside Gaza were foreigners, part of a group of more than 1,000 who arrived in Cairo in hopes of entering the territory but who were stopped by the Egyptian authorities. After days of negotiation, Egypt permitted a small delegation to cross the normally closed border at the southern Gazan city of Rafah.

On the Israeli side, about 1,000 people rallied in protest as well, most of them Israeli Arabs but some of them Israeli Jews who object to the blockade. They carried banners with pictures of children in destroyed buildings. Through the cellphone of an Arab member of the Israeli Parliament, Talab el-Sana, the Hamas prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, addressed the Israelis and thanked them.

The Gaza marchers waved Palestinian flags and held banners that called for a lifting of the closure, imposed after Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007. The marchers chanted “Free Palestine!” and “No to the siege!”

A Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Taher al-Nunu, welcomed the foreigners and said at their rally: “We are not alone in Gaza. We have many friends outside Palestine who came to protest the siege and the Israeli occupation.”

One of the visiting demonstrators, Julia Harley, 26, of New Jersey, said she and her fellow marchers “want the American people to understand what is happening here, and to pay attention.”

A year ago, Israel fought for three weeks in Gaza to stop the shooting of thousands of rockets from there into its southern communities, like Sderot. About 1,300 people were killed and 4,000 homes destroyed. Reconstruction material remains barred from entering Gaza. The rockets, however, have essentially been stilled.

In Sderot on Thursday, about 200 children holding Israeli flags attached letters of peace to white balloons and sent them aloft on a hillside toward Gaza. But the wind was unfavorable and the balloons flew in the opposite direction.

Fares Akram contributed reporting from Gaza, and Rina Castelnuovo from Sderot, Israel.

• 
  
  • Linkedin
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • MySpace
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Permalink
  • 
    

UN's Falk calls for sanctions against Israel

Press TV

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 02:21:50 GMT

Richard Falk, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Gaza Strip.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Gaza Strip has called for military and economic sanctions against Israel.

"The UN has not been willing [yet] to give what's needed to exert significant pressure on Israel to lift the blockade that under any circumstances is unlawful," Richard Falk told Press TV on Thursday.

"The only thing that could be more effective would be a move toward economic sanctions that would include military assistance" to Israel, the UN diplomat underlined.

The UN independent expert on Palestinian rights has also criticized the international community for its failure to end the Israeli blockade against the Gaza Strip

He called for "some more effective international approach" to lift the three year blockade that "shocks the conscience of humanity".

He added that the plight of the Palestinians under the Israeli siege should prompt the international community to give the besieged population "some kind of protection."

Gaza has been under a tight Israeli blockade since June 2007, when Hamas took control of the populated area.

SB/SS/RE

Rattling the Cage: A taboo question for Israelis

By LARRY DERFNER
Jerusalem Post columnist
Dec 30, 2009 21:26 | Updated Dec 30, 2009 22:43

There's a question we Israelis won't ask ourselves about the Palestinians, especially not about Gaza. The question is taboo. Not only won't anyone ask it out loud, but very, very few people will dare ask it in the privacy of their own minds.

However, I think it's time we start asking it, privately and in public. If we don't, I think there's going to be Operation Cast Lead II, then Operation Cast Lead III, and each one is going to be worse than the last, and the consequences for Palestinians and Israelis are going to be unimaginable.

The question we have to ask ourselves is this: If anybody treated us like we're treating the people in Gaza, what would we do?

We don't want to go there, do we? And because we don't, we make it our business not to see, hear or think about how, indeed, we are treating the people in Gaza.

All these shocked dignitaries, all these reports, these details, these numbers - thousands of destroyed this and tens of thousands of destroyed that. Rubble, sewage, malnutrition, crying babies, humanitarian crises - who can keep up? Who cares? They did it to themselves. Where to for lunch?

IT'S NOT that we can't imagine life in Gaza. It's that we are determined not to try to imagine. If we did, we might not stop there. Next we might try to imagine what it would be like if our country were in the condition in which we left Gaza. And sooner or later we might try to imagine what we would do if we were living over here like they're living over there.

Or not even what we would do, just what we would think - about the people, about the country, that did that to us and that wouldn't even allow us to begin to recover after the war was over. That blockaded our borders and allowed in only enough supplies to keep us at subsistence level, to prevent starvation and mass epidemics.

What would we think, what would we do, if somebody, some country, did that to us?

A lot of people here, I'm sure, would reply angrily: So why won't the Gazans try making peace?

But is that how we would react? Is that what Israelis would do if a foreign army did to this country what the IDF did to that one a year ago? If another country sent F-16s, Apache helicopters, white phosphorous, drones, tanks and battalions into Israel, if any nation bombed and killed over here like we bombed and killed in Gaza, then rubbed our noses in it afterward, would we want to make peace with them?

Forget we; does anyone know a single Israeli who would?

I'M SURE a lot of people would argue: What about Sderot? Didn't the terrorists in Gaza bomb and kill in Sderot? Let's the turn the question around: What would the Gazans have done if another country did to them what they did to the people in Sderot?

Fair enough. Yes, they would have hit back, too. They're not pacifists, either, to say the least. In fact, their elected leaders are fanatical, murderous Jew-haters sworn to Israel's destruction. That's extremely important to remember, and we do. But what we don't want to remember, what we make 100 percent sure to forget, is that we do all sorts of hateful things to Gaza that they don't do to us, and that this is the way it's been since 1967.

Aside from choking the flow of goods to Gaza by land, we blockade their entire coast. We don't allow ships to sail into Gaza or out. Does anyone stop ships from coming and going at the ports of Eilat, Ashdod or Haifa? What would Israel do if anyone tried? (Think of what Israel did two weeks after Egypt blockaded the port of Eilat in May 1967.)

We also blockade Gaza's airspace, preventing planes from flying in or out. Does anybody stop planes from flying in and out of Israel? Would we stand for it if someone did?

For 37 years, between 1967 and 2005, our soldiers and settlers were the overlords of the Gaza Strip. If foreign soldiers and settlers tried to come in and take over Israel, what would we do?

And regarding the years of rocket attacks on the people in Sderot, I've never been through such an ordeal, but I imagine it's hell. However, I've also never been through the ordeal that people in Gaza have gone through, and are still going through, yet I know - as everyone in the world knows, except Israelis - that life in Gaza is incomparably worse than life in Sderot ever was.

DURING THE 2008 US presidential campaign, Barack Obama visited Sderot, saying, "If missiles were falling where my two daughters sleep, I would do everything in order to stop that."

Absolutely right. I wonder, though, what sort of empathetic reaction he might have had if he'd also visited the Jabalya refugee camp that summer. I wonder how he'd react if he visited Jabalya now.

And how would we react? If we Israelis could go to Gaza and see in person what we've done to that place and its people, would we be capable of empathy? If we thought of our children living in a country that was just like postwar Gaza, would we allow ourselves to think what we might do?

We can't go to Gaza, but we have to start using our imagination. We have to dare to put ourselves in those people's place. And we have to stop doing to them what we would never allow anyone to do to us. Otherwise, we Israelis have no conscience, and little by little we become capable of anything.

Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu arrested

Many Israelis regard Mr Vanunu (left) as a traitor to their country

Israeli police have arrested Mordechai Vanunu, a technician who spent 18 years in prison for revealing details of Israel's clandestine nuclear programme.

He is being held on suspicion that he met foreigners, violating conditions of his 2004 release from jail, police say.

Mr Vanunu is due to appear in a court in Jerusalem later on Tuesday.

From the data Mr Vanunu leaked to a UK newspaper in 1986, experts concluded that Israel had nuclear arms. Israel neither confirms nor denies this.

After his release from prison in 2004, the Israeli authorities banned Mr Vanunu from speaking to foreign media and travelling abroad, claiming he could divulge more classified information about Israel's Dimona nuclear plant, where he had worked before the arrest.

Mr Vanunu - an anti-nuclear campaigner - has rejected the claim, saying he only wants to be free to leave Israel.

In 2007, Mr Vanunu, a Jewish convert to Christianity, was sentenced to six months in prison for breaking the conditions of his parole.

Vanunu 'wanted to avert holocaust'

Vanunu: Widely regarded as a traitor in Israel

The former technician jailed for 18 years for leaking Israel's nuclear secrets has said he was trying to prevent a nuclear holocaust.

In his first interview since his release, Mordechai Vanunu said he did not feel he was a traitor.

"I felt it was not about betraying; it was about reporting. It was about saving Israel from a new holocaust."

In the interview for the BBC's This World programme, Mr Vanunu said he had no regrets over his actions.

"I have no regrets despite the fact I have paid a heavy punishment, a large price," he said.

Mr Vanunu, 50, who is widely regarded as a traitor in Israel, spent nearly 18 years in prison for revealing details of Israel's clandestine nuclear arms programme.

I have no regrets in spite of the fact I have paid a heavy punishment, a large price - I think it was worth it Mordechai Vanunu

Supporters welcomed his release in April, calling him a "hero of peace".

Under the terms of his release, Mr Vanunu is forbidden from leaving Israel, meeting foreigners and revealing secrets about the Dimona nuclear plant.

He was interviewed for This World by an Israeli journalist.

"What I did was to inform the world what is going on in secret. I didn't come and say, we should destroy Israel, we should destroy Dimona. I said, look what they have and make your judgement."

Kidnapped in Italy

Mr Vanunu went on to say: "I want to leave Israel, I'm not interested in living in Israel. I want to start my new life in the United States, or somewhere in Europe, and to start living as a human being."

Mr Vanunu was kidnapped in Italy by Israeli agents in 1986 following a Sunday Times article, based on an interview with him, which exposed Israel's atomic secrets.

He described how a female secret agent lured him from London to Rome and distracted him in the car.

We think he still knows secrets and we don't want him to sell them again Joseph Lapid Israeli Deputy Prime Minister

"We sat in the back. She used the time for kissing me, to divert my attention by a lot of kissing," Mr Vanunu said.

In Rome, Mr Vanunu was overpowered and drugged, then shipped back to Israel to be tried in secret.

Now living in Jerusalem's St George's Anglican cathedral, Mr Vanunu is banned from using the internet or mobile phones, and may not approach embassies or borders.

Journalist arrested

Israel's Deputy Prime Minister, Joseph Lapid, defended the restrictive terms of Mr Vanunu's release.

"We think he still knows secrets and we don't want him to sell them again," he told This World.

"We think there are things he knows that he hasn't divulged yet. He may do so - he's hell-bent to harm this country, he hates this country."

British journalist Peter Hounam, who wrote the original Sunday Times article, was arrested in Tel Aviv earlier this week and held in custody for a day.

U.S. says no to new construction in E. Jerusalem in bid to keep talks alive

By Nir Hasson, Natasha Mozgovaya (Washington) and Barak Ravid
Haaretz.com

The White House made clear in a statement yesterday that it opposes new Israeli construction in East Jerusalem. "Neither party should engage in efforts or take actions that could unilaterally preempt, or appear to preempt, negotiations. Rather, both parties should return to negotiations without preconditions as soon as possible," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement.

Gibbs was referring to the plan to build 692 housing units in the Jewish neighborhoods of Neveh Yaakov, Har Homa and Pisgat Ze'ev in East Jerusalem.

According to a senior official in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bureau, "everything was carried out with transparency vis-a-vis the Americans, even if there are disagreements." The official added that Netanyahu has said that construction would not be restricted in Jerusalem.

Over the past few days, foreign diplomats have asked government officials and Ir Amim, a public affairs group focusing on Israeli-Palestinian relations in Jerusalem, for explanations about construction tenders for hundreds of apartments over the Green Line in the capital.

According to the tenders, 377 units are to be built in Neveh Yaakov, 198 in Pisgat Ze'ev and 117 in Har Homa. They are additions to tenders published two years ago, or tenders published in the past that were not acted on.

Housing and Construction Minister Ariel Atias said yesterday that the United States had been informed about the move before it was published and that Israel was not "thumbing its nose" at the world.

"Jerusalem is the capital of Israel," Atias said. "There have always been sensitivities. We are certainly considerate, but we are also considerate of the residents of Jerusalem and the lack of housing."

Atias said a construction plan had recently been approved for 500 housing units for Palestinians in Silwan, East Jerusalem. But Haaretz has found that the plan Atias was referring to was really a declaration of general principles by Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat. In that declaration, high-rise construction would be allowed in part of Silwan and illegal construction would be retroactively approved.

"This is not a plan," said Haim Erlich, coordinator of policy development for Ir Amim, adding that there had been no blueprints, boundaries or authorizations. Sources in the Jerusalem municipality said it was indeed hard to compare the two plans; the test will be whether the outcome is the same in both cases.

A senior State Department official said special U.S. envoy George Mitchell had protested strongly about new construction in East Jerusalem. The official said such declarations by Israel were detrimental to peace efforts.

In his statement, White House spokesman Gibbs said the United States "recognizes that Jerusalem is a deeply important issue for Israelis and Palestinians, and for Jews, Muslims, and Christians." But he said that the United States believes "that through good-faith negotiations the parties can mutually agree on an outcome that realizes the aspirations of both parties for Jerusalem and safeguards its status for people around the world."

Meanwhile, the Jerusalem municipality is also reportedly planning to renew the Atarot industrial zone in East Jerusalem. The city plans to ask the Israel Airports Authority to take over the abandoned airfield at Atarot. The city also plans to move its garbage-disposal facility there and encourage the opening of industrial enterprises.

Jerusalem councilman Meir Margalit said a U.S. diplomat had told him that the Americans see the Atarot plan as harmful to the Palestinians because the airfield is earmarked for them.

Gaza marchers on hunger strike in Egypt

Riot police have penned marchers in outside the UN mission in Cairo

Protesters trying to march into Gaza a year after an Israeli offensive are on hunger strike after Egypt blocked them from crossing the border.

Hundreds of people in Cairo have been prevented from getting close to the border with Gaza.

A group who got as far as the Sinai port of El Arish have been detained by the Egyptian police.

A separate convoy of vans delivering medical supplies is stuck in the Jordanian port town of Aqaba.

At least 38 people of various nationalities were picked up by Egyptian security services in El Arish and held in their hotel rooms, AFP news agency reported.

'Whatever it takes'

In Cairo hundreds of activists are camped outside the United Nations mission in Cairo trying to get them to pressure the Egyptians to let them cross the border with the Gaza Strip.

The marchers have gone on hunger strike and want the UN to help them

"I've never done this before, I don't know how my body will react, but I'll do whatever it takes," 85-year-old Hedy Epstein told AFP.

The American activist is a Holocaust survivor, the agency reported.

Meanwhile a convoy of vans carrying supplies which travelled all the way from London to Jordan has been told by Egyptian officials it must go all the way back to Syria to get into Egypt.

The "Viva Palestina" convoy, led by British MP George Galloway, has been blocked from getting on a ferry from Aqaba to the Egyptian town of Nuweiba where it planned to continue by road to the Rafah border crossing.

But now the convoy faces a potentially budget-draining journey back through Jordan to the Syrian port of Latakia, followed by several ferries to El Arish.

'Sensitive situation'

Earlier in December, Egypt rejected a request to allow activists to march across the border into the Gaza Strip to mark the anniversary of last year's conflict.

The Egyptian foreign ministry said the march could not be allowed because of the "sensitive situation" in Gaza.

Over 1,000 activists from 42 countries had signed up to join "the Gaza freedom march" to mark the anniversary of the Israeli military incursion into Gaza last year.

Palestinians and human rights groups say more than 1,400 Gazans were killed in the 22-day conflict that ended in January, but Israel puts the figure at 1,166.

Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians, were killed.

Gaza is under a tight Israeli and Egyptian blockade, tightened since Hamas took over the strip in 2007.

Most medicines are allowed into the territory, but their transfer can be slowed by Israeli and Palestinian bureaucracy, and the entry of medical equipment and other supplies is limited.

The World Health Organization says that at the end of November 2009, 125 of 480 essential drugs were at "zero level", meaning there was less than one month's stock left.

Israel says the military operation was - and the continuing blockade is - targeted at Hamas, not Gaza's civilians.

The Islamist movement has controlled Gaza since June 2007, and has launched thousands of rockets and mortars into Israel in recent years.

No, you can't have sovereignty over your Palestinian state: Netanyahu wants Israeli force on Palestinian border

JERUSALEM

Mon Dec 28, 2009 11:12am EST

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday raised publicly for the first time the prospect of maintaining Israeli forces along the eastern border of a future Palestinian state to prevent arms smuggling.

"The problem of demilitarization must be resolved effectively and this entails effectively blocking unauthorized entry, first and foremost from the east, wherever the border is defined," Netanyahu said in a speech to Israeli ambassadors.

"I doubt whether anything except a real presence of the State of Israel, of Israeli forces, can accomplish that," he said, expanding on his vision of a nation with only limited sovereignty.

Netanyahu has said the state Palestinians want to establish in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip must be demilitarized, but he had not made specific reference until now to the stationing of Israeli forces on its Jordanian frontier.

Israel and Egypt maintain control over the borders of the Gaza Strip under interim peace deals. Israel imposed a blockade after Hamas Islamists seized the territory in 2007 from forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group.

His comments about an Israeli presence along the border echoed a policy advocated by previous Israeli governments and spelled out new terms in any future negotiations with the Palestinians on statehood.

Palestinians want a contiguous state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and were granted limited self-autonomy in the 1993 Oslo Accords. They have said they want full control over the entire border with Jordan in any future deal, but have not ruled out the presence of an international force.

Netanyahu said an "international arrangement" for the borders of a Palestinian state, similar to the deployment of a U.N. force in southern Lebanon after Israel's 2006 war with Hezbollah guerrillas, would not suffice.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have been frozen for the past year. Abbas has said they could resume only if Israel halted all settlement activity.

(Additional reporting by Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah; Writing by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Holocaust survivor stages hunger strike for Gaza

By Jailan Zayan (AFP) – 4 hours ago

CAIRO — An 85-year-old Holocaust survivor was among a group of grandmothers who began a hunger strike in Cairo on Monday to protest against Egypt's refusal to allow a Gaza solidarity march to proceed.

American activist Hedy Epstein and other grandmothers participating in the Gaza Freedom March began a hunger strike at 1000 GMT.

"I've never done this before, I don't know how my body will react, but I'll do whatever it takes," Epstein told AFP, sitting on a chair surrounded by hundreds of protesters outside the United Nations building in Cairo.

Egyptian authorities had said they would not allow any of the 1,300 protesters who have come to Egypt from 42 countries to take part in the march to enter the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing, the only entry that bypasses Israel.

High-ranking officers and riot police were deployed on the Nile bank where the UN building is located and where hundreds of Gaza Freedom March participants asked the United Nations to mediate with Cairo to let their convoy into Gaza.

"We met with the UN resident coordinator in Cairo James Rawley and we are waiting for a response," Philippine Senator Walden Bello told protesters.

"We will wait as long as it takes," he said.

Protesters who wore T-shirts with "The Audacity of War Crimes" and "We will not be silent" held a giant Palestinian flag, as others sang, danced and shouted "Freedom for Gaza" in various langagues.

Egypt has beefed up security measures along the 380-kilometre (236-mile) road to the Rafah border crossing, setting up dozens of checkpoints along the way, a security official told AFP.

"Measures have been tigtened along the road from Cairo to Rafah to prevent activists from the Gaza Freedom March from staging the march," the official said.

Separately, organisers of another aid convoy trying to reach the blockaded enclave -- Viva Palestina led by British MP George Galloway -- said it would head to Syria on Monday en route for Egypt after being stranded in Jordan's Red Sea port of Aqaba for five days.

Turkey dispatched an official on Saturday to try to convince the Egyptians to allow Viva Palestina to go through the Red Sea port of Nuweiba -- the most direct route -- but Egypt insisted the convoy can only enter through El-Arish, on its Mediterranean coast.

The Gaza Freedom March and Viva Palestina were planning to arrive one year after Israel's devastating war on Gaza that killed 1,400 Palestinians. Thirteen Israelis also died.

Meanwhile, at least 300 French participants of the Gaza Freedom March spent the night camped out in front of their embassy in Cairo, bringing a major road in the capital to a halt, as riot police wielding plexiglass shields surrounded them.

Foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki accused the French protesters of lying and trying to embarrass Egypt.

"They claimed they had aid to carry to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which is a lie," the MENA news agency quoted Zaki as saying.

"They want media exposure and to pressure and embarrass Egypt," he said.

On Sunday, police briefly detained 38 international participants in the Sinai town of El-Arish, organisers said.

"At noon (1000 GMT) on December 27, Egyptian security forces detained a group of 30 activists in their hotel in El-Arish as they prepared to leave for Gaza, placing them under house arrest. The delegates, all part of the Gaza Freedom March of 1,300 people, were Spanish, French, British, American and Japanese," a statement on the group's website said.

"Another group of eight people, including American, British, Spanish, Japanese and Greek citizens, were detained at the bus station of El-Arish in the afternoon of December 27," they said.

On Sunday, Egyptian police also stopped some 200 protesters from renting boats on the Nile to hold a procession to commemorate those who died in the Gaza war.

On December 31, participants are hoping to join Palestinians "in a non-violent march from northern Gaza to the Erez-Israeli border," the organisers said.

Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.

Israel plans to build (even) more homes in E Jerusalem

We want it all! Say Zionists.

Israel does not include East Jersusalem in a pause in building in the West Bank

Israel announces plans for nearly 700 homes in mainly Arab East Jerusalem, despite Palestinian and international demands that it freeze building there.

The move follows plans announced last month for 900 homes on occupied land in Gilo, south of Jerusalem, last month.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it, in a move not recognised internationally.

The Palestinians, who want to locate their future capital in East Jerusalem, condemned the move.

They said the plans showed Israel was "not ready for peace".

Israel's housing ministry announced on Monday that it has invited contractors to bid on the construction of 198 housing units in Pisgat Zeev, 377 homes in Neve Yaakov and 117 dwellings in Har Homa, which are built on land captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

It is part of an invitation to bid for contracts on 6,500 housing units across the country.

The new buildings will make apartments cheaper and more affordable for young families, the Israeli Housing Ministry said.

Last month, Israel announced a 10-month suspension of new building in settlements in the occupied West Bank, under heavy pressure from the US.

But the right-leaning government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made is clear that it does not regard Jewish areas in Jerusalem as settlements and the restrictions do not apply there.

The Palestinians have refused to resume peace talks without a complete halt to settlement building in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

'Eternal capital'

In November, US President Barack Obama warned that Israel's plans to build 900 new homes in Gilo, to the south of Jerusalem, would create a "dangerous situation".

Mr Obama told Fox News that additional settlement construction made it harder for Israel to make peace in the region and "embitters the Palestinians".

"The Israeli government proves every day that it is not ready for peace," said Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

But Israel says that East Jerusalem is part of the "indivisible and eternal" Israeli capital.

Israel's annexation of the east of the city has never been recognised by the international community.

About 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in settlements illegal under international law.

Assassins strike again: Beirut car bomb explosion 'targets Hamas official'

At least one person has died in a bomb in the south of Lebanese capital Beirut that may have targeted an official from the Palestinian group, Hamas.

Security sources say that explosives went off under a vehicle in a stronghold of Lebanon's Islamist militant group Hezbollah.

A number of people were also wounded in the explosion, one of them seriously.

The Lebanese state news agency says that "three bombs tied to each other" were placed under the vehicle.

A senior police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press Saturday's blast had occurred in a neighbourhood that houses a Hamas office.

Osama Hamdan, the Hamas representative in Lebanon, was not available for comment, according to a person who answered his mobile phone, AP adds.

Hamas, which effectively controls the Gaza Strip inside the Palestinian territories, has representatives both in Beirut and in neighbouring Syria.

Israeli troops kills 6 Palestinians

December 26, 2009 6:46 a.m. EST

Jerusalem (CNN) -- Israeli forces killed six Palestinians in separate incidents in the West Bank and Gaza early Saturday, acts that quickly drew Palestinian condemnation.

The first incident happened in the West Bank city of Nablus, where the Israeli military killed three Palestinians it said were responsible for the death of an Israeli civilian in the West Bank this week.

Israeli forces entered Nablus overnight to locate the suspects and killed them Saturday morning, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. Palestinian medical officials and witnesses confirmed the deaths.

The strike was a joint operation by the Israeli military and Israeli security services, a spokeswoman for the Israeli military said. She said all three men were known militants associated with Fatah militant groups.

Israeli forces found four guns at the place where one of the suspects was killed, the IDF said.

"The Israel Defense Forces will act firmly against those who aspire to harm citizens of the state of Israel and Israeli security forces, and will not rest until those involved in the murderous act are brought to justice," said Maj. Gen. Avi Mizrachi of the IDF.

The IDF blamed the men for the killing Thursday night of Israeli settler Meir Avshalom Hai, who lived in the settlement of Shavei Shomron in the northern West Bank. The 54-year-old father of seven was shot and killed in his car near the entrance to the settlement, said Col. Avi Gill of the Israeli military.

The Israeli military spokeswoman could not say what proof or evidence they had against the three Palestinian suspects, who all lived in Nablus.

Two of the Palestinians, both 40, had been imprisoned in Israel in the past; one of them had been a senior member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the militant wing of the ruling Fatah party in the West Bank, according to the IDF.

The third man, who was 36, had been involved in widespread militant activity and had been an arms dealer and supplier, the IDF said.

Palestinian medical officials in Nablus said two of the men suffered gunshots to both the upper body and the head.

Witnesses near the site of the operations told CNN more than 50 Israeli military vehicles supported dozens of soldiers and that the city became a closed military zone. The witnesses also said it appeared the men could have been arrested rather than killed.

"All three were killed in cold blood," said Dr. Ghassan Hamdan, director of the Palestinian Medical Relief Committee in Nablus, who visited all of the locations where the military operation took place.

"The Israeli military could have easily arrested them but it shows that this was not the intention," Hamdan told CNN. "This was clearly assassination and liquidation of Palestinian people in cold blood. ... My experience and what I saw on the bodies describes that they have been killed in cold blood."

The Israeli military said it could not immediately comment on the allegations.

Hamdan said there was evidence on one of the bodies that the man had been interrogated before being killed, though he did not say what that evidence was.

The operation in Nablus followed a separate incident Saturday morning, in which three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike along the northern border between Gaza and Israel.

The three men were observed moving along the Palestinian side of the border fence, a spokesman for the Israeli military told CNN. The Israelis fired warning shots but the men continued to move along the fence, at which point an Israeli military aircraft fired at and killed the men, the spokesman said.

The military believed the three men had "intention to carry out a terrorist attack" but could not confirm whether the men were observed carrying weapons or explosives, the spokesman said.

An adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, condemned the two incidents.

"The Israeli escalation in the West Bank and Gaza and the return to the policy of assassinations and random killings in virtual excuses shows that the the Israeli government decided to destroy the independence and security of the Palestinian people and is pulling our people into a bloody circle of violence," Rudeineh told CNN.

"The Israeli government should bear the responsibility for the killings and also bear the responsibility for the dead end in moving the peace process forward because of Israel's refusal to stop the policy of settlement and to commit to the references of the peace process," he said.

Rudeineh called on the international community, and especially the U.N. Security Council, U.N. General Assembly and the Middle East quartet of Russia, the United States, European Union and United Nations, to intervene immediately "to stop the crimes of the Israeli occupation."

CNN's Kevin Flower contributed to this report.

Worshippers gather to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem

Latin Patriarch Foud Twal called for peace during the celebrations

Thousands of Christian worshippers have celebrated Christmas Day in Bethlehem - believed to be the traditional birthplace of Jesus Christ.

Palestinians and pilgrims from around the world came together in the town to celebrate the event.

Hundreds attended morning mass at St Catherine's Church, in the Church of Nativity complex on Manger Square.

About 15,000 tourists are expected to stay in the town during the holiday period.

Rock music was played while traditional carol singers mingled with worshippers in the town.

Other celebrations took place at locations including at Saint George Orthodox Church in the West Bank village of Burqin near Jenin.

'Family gathering'

Some 300 Christians over the age of 35 from the Gaza Strip were given permission by the Israeli military to travel to Bethlehem and stay for 24 hours to celebrate Christmas.

About 80 people were also reported to have stayed and attended services at Gaza City's Roman Catholic Church.

Visitor Jonathan Croy from Alabama in the US said the feeling in Bethlehem was one of a "giant family gathering", the Associated Press (AP) news agency reported.

Children dressed up to take part in the celebrations

"It's interesting being here and seeing the dichotomy of religions, all nationalities and religions mixing together," he said.

The Vatican's envoy to the Holy Land, papal nuncio Antonio Franco told AP he was "hopeful" that peace was possible.

Earlier, during midnight Mass, Latin Patriarch Foud Twal, the most senior Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land, delivered his Christmas message to thousands of pilgrims in Bethlehem.

"The wish that we most want, we most hope for, is not coming - we want peace," he said after arriving in Bethlehem after the traditional holiday procession from nearby Jerusalem.

An Alternative Christmas Story: The Journey of EL and Asherah

from ancient Canaan to modern times

Long ago in a land called Canaan the people there worshipped EL, God Most High, and His wife, Asherah, the Great Mother and Lady of the Sea. On earth they were said to have lived where two rivers met on the coastlands. They were happy on earth and the land EL had fashioned and Asherah had nurtured. They had many children who squabbled amongst themselves competing for EL and Asherah’s attention and benevolence.

These children behaved themselves for the most part but these were also ancient times and the law of the jungle and desert was still fresh in everyone’s mind. That is everyone but Mom and Dad, or Asherah and EL who being the highest representatives of the invisible Holy One, knew better ways of dealing with the problems of life in Creation.

EL had watched how His wild and domesticated animals behaved in their herds, flocks and packs and noticed most human beings followed much the same patterns only human beings clothed their animal behavior patterns so it seemed at first something different. But it wasn’t different at all. EL watched male wolves battle for control of the pack and saw the same thing in the way aggressive human males conducted politics and war.

EL watched but didn’t judge because that was what animal life was like without knowledge of good and evil. Tooth and claw and no mercy from the strong for the weak or meek. EL wisely understood that this animal way could not continue with humanity that He had created with Asherah of the waters for He and She wanted human beings to evolve to become one with them on earth as it is in heaven where They came from.

EL decided to educate humanity on how to overcome their animal natures so that peace and not violence ruled in human society. He told them through the mouths of seers and prophets, "Here is what pleases US. This physical world We have fashioned for the education of your souls has a fatal flaw. Physical life is dependent on death to carry on. No new life is created without the death of life somewhere else. The physical requirements for maintaining the living require the death of other living beings.

Given the true situation that death and suffering are inevitable in Creation, what can be done? EL responded and set in motion a set of guidelines for reducing unnecessary violence in the physical world. Later on He offered humanity what only a God can offer: eternal life after physical death, eternal life in heaven where the Holy One has Its spiritual and everlasting home.

EL began the spiritual education of His children in Canaan. He showed them that in order for there to be peace in the land society must be governed by the wise and compassionate just as He ruled the Divine Assembly of gods and goddesses with wisdom and compassion. An earthly king would become His son in spirit when that earthly king mirrored EL’s mercy and forgiveness and taught his subjects the truth about all things that effected human relationships with one another and with the community of life on earth.

Because EL was God Most High yet did not act like a tyrant like gods did who lacked compassion and wisdom, the Canaanites loved EL, calling Him the Compassionate One, the Merciful One, the Kindly One as well as the Father of Humanity. And the Canaanites loved His wife, Asherah, just as much devoting much prayer at shrines dedicated to Her worship. To them She was the Tree of Life on which all life was dependent.

She too held wisdom and when the time came that the memory of EL and Asherah were to be lost for many centuries after the fall of Canaan to the Hebrews, both EL and Asherah disguised Themselves and found a way into the new Hebrew religion with its own desert war god, Yahweh. EL became the generic word for "God" and some, not all, but some of EL’s compassion and wisdom was attached to Yahweh who originally was only one of the lower gods and spiritual sons of EL.

Having some of EL’s spiritual wisdom in him, Yahweh grew conceited and thought himself as the Creator and one and only God. Yahweh taught the Hebrews to bury the Canaanite memory of EL but that memory was too strong to forget and it resurfaced in the Hebrew religion as the Messianic prophesy of Immanuel, which means "EL is with us".

Asherah was attacked as a Goddess and so She went into Her Canaanite icon disguise as the Tree of Life in the Hebrew religious epic. Perhaps as a tree the Hebrews would not recognize the Great Goddess. And they didn’t, passing the Tree of Life story through the whole Hebrew epic which became part of the later Christian epic as well.

While the Hebrews would not allow Her presence as the Great Goddess they did not notice Her presence in two spiritual daughters, the Shekkinah and Sophia, both carriers of the wisdom of Asherah to the minds of human beings who listened with their hearts.

A dramatic change happened 2000 years ago when a man named Jesus was born to become a new son of EL, a son so spiritually close to EL he became known as the Son of God. Jesus resurrected the wisdom and compassion of EL buried for centuries under the worship of Yahweh. This was the fulfillment of the prophesy of the Messiah as Immanuel, that EL would return to humanity to give it the spiritual comfort of knowing "EL is with us" as the Messiah, the anointed one who carries the Spirit of Christ which continued the kindness and wisdom of EL instead of the heavy judgment and demand for absolute obedience that the war-god Yahweh could not rise above.

EL was always known as God Most High and for good reason. Only EL knew love is not love if it demands conditions. EL learned this wisdom by being married to the Great Mother for it is the unconditional love mothers have always been known for. Jesus as the good Son of God also gave the world this spiritual message of unconditional love the Holy One’s highest spiritual representatives, EL and Asherah, had shown the world in ancient Canaan.

Humanity, however, at that time, 2000 years ago, was still too immature to accept this Son of God, Jesus as he himself taught the things his heavenly Father taught him. The Hebrews had him killed for claiming himself a son of God even though their own scriptures foretold this would happen. Jesus taught us to follow him ourselves to likewise becoming faithful sons and daughters of the Holy One but the Hebrews and their masters, the Romans did not want to hear it.

Jesus was killed and later on lesser men intervened and changed the message of Jesus from EL, changed that message of compassion, wisdom and forgiveness, into a message from Yahweh, love only those who love Yahweh instead of loving all, even those who do not love you in return.

Yahweh had never learned about unconditional love because he was never married to the Great Mother, the representative of the unconditional love of the Holy One for all humanity. EL taught Jesus to respect the wisdom of women, something the followers of Yahweh could not comprehend until history of societies proved the wisdom was true: it is women who hold the keys to peace for the vast majority of violence done by human beings is done by men.

But this knowledge was not known and even when known was not accepted. EL and Asherah still had to hide Themselves because the people could not accept them as They were--the spiritual models of humanity in the fullest sense of that word while the people were still in bondage to their animal behavioral patterns where the strong and ruthless ruled as lords over the weak. Even now, 2000 years later the Meek still await the time when they will inherit the earth from the grasp of violent men.

But how did EL and Asherah disguise Themselves so well that They are with us today and have been for several hundred years? This is how: EL was imagined in ancient Canaan as an old man with long flowing hair and beard. EL dressed Himself up in the colors of Asherah, white, red and black which symbolized His connection to Her in Her three forms as virgin, mother and crone symbolizing birth, life and death. EL became the embodiment of the giving Spirit of Christ and eternal life with the Holy One, the greatest gift humankind could possibly receive. EL, the Kindly One, disguised Himself as kindly Santa Claus and the Spirit of Christmas cheer.

Asherah, still in Her disguise as the Tree of Life became the nine-candlestick menorah of the Jews, nine commemorating the nine months of gestation. You will find Her in millions of Jewish homes again celebrating Passover. For the Christians, Asherah as the the Tree of Life, became the Paradise Tree celebrating the birth of Jesus who manifested his spiritual Parent’s wisdom and loving-kindness in little Nativity scenes in tens of millions of homes beneath Asherahs we call Christmas trees.

Noël, Noël. Know EL, the Heavenly Father and you might want to become one of His helping "elves"". Remember Asherah, the Tree of Life with Her baby Jesus tucked safely underneath Her fir branch skirt. The Holy One doesn’t want us to forget our heavenly parents.

Iraqi Christians Face Bombs, Attacks in Run-Up to Christmas

Thursday, December 24, 2009

AP

Dec. 23: A Santa Claus doll is seen at a shop in central Baghdad, Iraq.

The deadly Christmas Eve ambush of a Christian bus driver in Iraq Thursday and a bombing earlier this week targeting a 1,200-year-old church are driving Iraq's few remaining Christians quietly underground in the hours before the holy day begins.

Christmas has bumped into Shiite Islam's most mournful ceremony this year, forcing Iraqi Christians to shutter their homes and hide the signs of their celebration.

Midnight Mass will again be observed in daylight across Baghdad, and security around churches is heavier for a community that's been threatened by sectarian violence since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Unidentified gunmen ambushed a Christian man in Mosul on Thursday, shooting him after pulling him from the bus he was driving, police said. It was not clear if the attack was religiously based but it has put residents of the city on high alert.

That shooting came on the heels of a deadlier attack Wednesday, when a bomb hidden in sacks of flour exploded outside a historic church in Mosul, killing two people and wounding five.

"Instead of performing Christmas Mass in this church, we will be busy removing rubble and debris," said Hazim Ragheed, a priest at the Mar Toma Church.

At least one Catholic archbishop has discouraged Christmas decorations and public merrymaking out of respect for Ashoura, a period of Shiite mourning and self-flagellation. And wary Christians across the country are responding by toning down their Christmas glitz.

"We used to put the Christmas tree with its bright lights close to the window in the entrance of our home," said Saad Matti, a 51-year-old surgeon and Basra city councilman.

"But this year, we put it away from the window as a kind of respect for the feelings of Shiite Muslims in our neighborhood because of Ashoura," he said.

Ashoura caps a 10-day period of self-flagellation and mourning for the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein, killed in 680 A.D. during a battle that sealed the split between Shiites and Sunnis.

During the 10 days, throngs of Shiite pilgrims march to the holy Iraqi city of Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad. The lunar Islamic calendar varies against the West's, and this year Ashoura happens to climax on Dec. 27.

Some 1.25 million Christians, 80 percent of them Catholic, used to live in Iraq. An exodus that began after the 1991 Gulf War, when Saddam Hussein imposed more Islamic policies, intensified after 2003, when Christians became targets of sectarian violence, and some 868,000 are left.

Iraq's top Catholic prelate, Chaldean Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, said he used to hold Mass at midnight on Christmas Eve but in recent years switched the services to daylight hours, when the streets are safer.

"We will do our religious rituals as usual and on its dates, and our Muslim brothers will feel happy that each one has his own dear religion," Delly told The Associated Press.

Shiites are the majority of Iraq's 28.9 million people and now dominate the country politically, giving other sects more reason to accommodate them.

Few weddings are held during Ashoura, and any business associated with beauty — flower shops, jewelry stores, photography studios — loses money.

"No weddings, no work," Nijood Hassan, a Sunni, complained at her flower shop central Baghdad. "Why do they have to do this?"

But the compulsion to preserve an outward appearance of harmony is strong. Hassan's sister, Nadia, quickly interjected: "There is no sectarian division any more, and we have no objection whatsoever about that."

The archbishop of the southern Shiite-dominated city of Basra, Imad al-Banna, called on Christians "to respect the feelings of Muslims during Ashoura and not hold the public celebrations during Christmas. ... to hold Mass in the church only and not receive guests or show joyful appearances."

The Defense Ministry said patrols will be stepped up around churches, Christian neighborhoods and places of celebration, mostly in Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk. But that didn't prevent the deadly attacks in Mosul this week.

Christians aren't the only imperiled worshippers. Two dozen Shiite pilgrims preparing for Ashoura rituals were killed over the last two days in bombings in Baghdad and Hillah, about 60 miles to the south. Earlier this week, in Baqouba, two Shiites were gunned down while leaving a mosque where they had been flogging themselves for Ashoura. It was not known if they were targeted because of their beliefs.

Adnan al-Sudani, a cleric in the Shiite-dominated Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad, said Christmas generates no ill will among his followers.

"We as Shiites respect Christian occasions and share their happiness in our hearts," he said.

Shiite shop owner Ali Qassim wished more people would have themselves a very merry Christmas. His electronics shop, in the mixed Muslim-Christian neighborhood of Karrada, is packed with artificial pine trees and cherry-cheeked faces of plastic Santas, called Baba Noel in Arabic.

But few were sold.

"Nothing is in the streets. Nothing is in the shops," said Qassim, looking out on the bustling midday traffic. "In the past, fashion stores used to put up Baba Noel and a tree in front of the shop. But out of respect, many families will not celebrate because of the Ashoura and to sympathize.

"I miss it."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Israelis stopping Christmas tourism income for Palestinians

Bethlehem

When I was in the West Bank area near Jerusalem the day after Easter in 2003 I was the only tourist I saw on the streets. Palestinian tourist item shops were empty of customers. It was the same at Easter in Nazareth. No tourists in sight on the streets except me. It seemed unusually quiet for what I thought would be a major tourist attraction. Plenty of Arab Israeli Nazareans around but I didn't see any foreign tourists.

please forward widely!
	Action Alert
As the first anniversary of Israel's assault on Gaza approaches, we are sending two requests to support the struggle for Palestinian self-determination in the face of Israeli suppression - in both Gaza and in the West Bank. Please help us support these efforts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Action Alert from Stop the Wall Jamal Juma’, a prominent figure in Palestinian civil society and coordinator of the Stop the Wall Campaign, was arrested by Israeli authorities on December 16. This arrest follows the imprisonment of Mohammad Othman, another Stop the Wall activist, and Abdallah Abu Rahmeh, a leading figure in the Bil’in popular committee against the Wall, as well as dozens more that are currently in prison for their action and advocacy against the Wall. This latest arrest is yet another escalation of Israel’s attack on Palestinian human rights defenders, which continues to clamp down on the right to freedom of expression and the right to association. Join the campaign for Jamal Juma’s release and for the freedom of the anti-Wall prisoners! It is crucial that global civil society stands in solidarity with their Palestinian counterparts. >> Click here for recommended actions to take and to read more. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Action Alert from the Gaza Freedom March To mark the fact that is has been one year since the Israeli attack on Gaza, the Gaza Freedom March coalition is mobilizing an international contingent of over 1,300 international delegates for a nonviolent march alongside the people of Gaza on Dec. 31, to end the illegal blockade. Citing escalating tensions on the Gaza-Egypt border, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry informed the organizers on December 20 that the Rafah border will be closed over the coming weeks, into January, and that they will not be able to enter Gaza. Egyptian embassies and missions all over the world must hear from supporters of the march by phone, fax and email over the coming crucial days, with a clear message: Let the international delegation enter Gaza and let the Gaza Freedom March proceed. >> Click here for information about how to support these efforts to bring international attention to the blockade of Gaza.
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network Canada :: Europe :: India :: Israel :: Latin America :: Morocco :: United Kingdom :: United States ijan@ijsn.net :: www.ijsn.net © International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network

To remove your email from the "Bay Area Announcement LIst" mailing list, click here: http://www.ijsn.net/?ACT=5&id=Bx2Mi0k2Xs

More European prejudice against Arabs: Germany refuses to return Nefertiti bust to Egypt

The sculpture of Queen Nefertiti is the star attraction in a Berlin museum

German officials have ruled out returning an ancient bust of Queen Nefertiti to Egypt - saying it is too fragile to be transported.

And they have insisted that the bust was acquired legally by the Prussian state nearly a century ago.

Egypt first requested the return of the antiquity in 1930, but successive German governments have refused.

Head of antiquities Zahi Hawass says the bust was smuggled out of Egypt by a German archaeologist in 1913.

Mr Hawass claims the archaeologist, Ludwig Borchardt, disguised its true value by covering it in a coating of clay.

Great beauty

The 3,300-year-old bust is the star attraction of the Egyptian collection at the Neues Museum in Berlin.

The collection's director, Friederike Seyfried, said: "The position of the German side is clear and unambiguous - the acquisition of the bust by the Prussian state was legal."

Queen Nefertiti is renowned as one of ancient history's great beauties.

She was the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaton - who initiated a new religion which involved worshipping the sun.

Egypt has been aggressively campaigning for the return of ancient artefacts, and last week secured the repatriation of fragments of a 3,200-year-old tomb from the Louvre.

Earlier this month Mr Hawass said he would drop a similar demand for the permanent return of the Rosetta Stone if the British Museum agreed to loan it.

The stone is a basalt slab dating back to 196 BC which was key to the modern deciphering of hieroglyphics.

Arabs don't have the rights of others when it comes to Europeans stealing Arab antiquities for Europeans to enjoy. If these items were from European countries they would have been returned to their rightful owners long ago.

International community has failed Gaza: aid groups

LONDON (Reuters) - The international community has betrayed the people of Gaza by failing to end an Israeli blockade to allow the territory to be rebuilt, a group of 16 rights groups said in a report on Tuesday.

The report argued that Israel was in violation of international humanitarian law by enforcing a "collective punishment" with an indiscriminate blockade on Gaza -- punishing all for the acts of a few.

The Israeli authorities have allowed only 41 truckloads of construction materials into Gaza since the end of its three-week offensive last January, the report said, adding that thousands of such deliveries would be needed to repair homes.

"World powers have ... failed and even betrayed Gaza's ordinary citizens," said Jeremy Hobbs, Oxfam International's executive director.

"They have wrung hands and issued statements, but have taken little meaningful action to attempt to change the damaging policy that prevents reconstruction, personal recovery and economic recuperation," he added in a statement.

The report, produced by 16 international and western European humanitarian and human rights groups, was released to coincide with the first anniversary of the Israeli offensive.

Reconstruction of Gaza, home to 1.5 million people, has been hampered by the Israeli blockade that stops materials such as cement and steel reaching the Hamas-ruled territory, despite billions of dollars of aid pledges.

Imposing the Gaza blockade with Egyptian help, Israel says it restricts the supply of materials that could be used for military purposes by Hamas and other armed groups which say they are bent on the destruction of the Jewish state.

The report's authors urged the European Union to take immediate and concerted action to secure the lifting of the blockade.

It said that 90 percent of people in Gaza suffer power cuts of four to eight hours a day. Poor water quality was also a major concern for aid agencies, with diarrhea causing 12 percent of young deaths.

Israel launched what was called "Operation Cast Lead" last December to try to suppress rocket fire.

The Gaza Palestinian death toll was more than 1,400 according to a Palestinian human rights group, and about 1,000 according to Israel which says 13 Israeli lives were lost.

Faith walks: Meet Faith, the two-legged canine motivator

12:43 PM PT, Dec 17 2009

It takes a lot to move your grizzled Brand X blogger to misty-eyed emotion -- let's face it, there is a time and a place for everything, but suckin' down caffeine in the cubicle farm probably just isn't the right location for a grown man's tears. I made an exception this morning when I read the inspiring story about Jude Stringfellow and her two-legged dog, Faith.

Faith was born in a junkyard in December 2002. Stringfellow's then-17-year-old son, Reuben, rescued the scrappy pup, and with the help of peanut butter, mother and son taught her to walk on her hind legs. Since then, Faith has grown to be somewhat of a celebrity on the talk-show circuit -- even Oprah had the dog on -- and Stringfellow has become a motivational speaker and the author of two books. Many of the stops Faith and Stringfellow make are to the rehabilitation wards of veterans hospitals to cheer wounded soldiers.

From the Associated Press story:

For many, Faith brings a powerful message about overcoming adversity. "Faith has shown me that different is beautiful, that it is not the body you are in but the soul that you have," Jill Salomon of Montreal, Canada, wrote on Faith's website.

Stringfellow will never forget a woman from New York who happened to see Faith on a street corner. She was depressed and had lost both legs to diabetes.

"She was in her wheelchair and saw us. She was crying. She had seen Faith on television. She just held her and said she wished she had that kind of courage." Stringfellow said. "She told us: 'I was on my way to pick up the gun.' She handed the pawn ticket to a police officer and said she didn't need it anymore."

That sense of hope is especially important for Faith's visits to Army bases. Last weekend she headed to Washington state, where she met with as many as 5,000 soldiers at McChord Air Force Base and Ft. Lewis. Some of the soldiers were headed to war, some were coming back.

"She just walks around barking and laughing and excited to see them all," Jude Stringfellow said. "There is a lot of crying, pointing and surprise. From those who have lost friends or limbs, there can be silence. Some will shake my hand and thank me, some will pat her on the head. There is a lot of quiet, heartfelt, really deep emotion."

As the saying goes, "Until one has loved an animal, part of their soul remains unawakened." I don't know who said that, but truer words were never spoken:

Ahmadinejad to demand damages from UN for World War II Allied invasion--a reminder of how long we've been messing with Iran and why--OIL

Dec 19, 2009 10:38
Ahmadinejad to demand damages from UN for World War II Allied invasion
By JPOST.COM STAFF

Teheran will seek reparations from the UN for damage done to Iran's economy during the Allied invasion of the country in 1941, Press TV reported on Saturday.

According to the report, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said during a Friday press conference in Copenhagen that he would write a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "asking for Iran to be compensated" for suffering caused to its people during the war and for the usage of its resources by Allied powers.

"Not only was Iran deprived of any compensation for World War II, but 10 years later, the Americans even went as far as arranging a coup to reverse a popular uprising that had led to the nationalization of oil," the Iranian president was quoted as saying.

* * *

BIG OIL drives American policy in Iran and has been doing so since WW II.


From Wikipedia:

"The 1953 Iranian coup d’état deposed the democratically elected government of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddeq.

The United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) overthrew the government of the popular Prime Minister Mosaddeq at the request of, and with support from the British government. In what the CIA called Operation Ajax, the U.S. enabled Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to become an authoritarian monarch, who went on to rule Iran for 26 years until he was overthrown in 1979.

Two years earlier, in 1951, Mosaddeq, backed by his nationalist supporters in the Iranian parliament and throughout Iran, had angered Britain with his argument that Iran should begin profiting from its vast oil reserves instead of allowing profits to continue to flow to Britain. In 1951, Iran's Parliament, the Majlis, nationalized Iran's oil industry and then elected Mosaddeq to be prime minster. Since 1913, the oil industry in Iran had been controlled exclusively by the British government-controlled Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, the UK's single largest overseas investment. The ejection of the British staff of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) from the nationalized refineries in Iran triggered a crisis at Abadan, the world's largest refinery, in what came to be called the Abadan Crisis. Britain accused Mosaddeq of violating the legal rights of the AIOC and mobilized a worldwide boycott of Iran's oil that plunged Iran into financial crisis. "After Iran nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company May 2, 1951, Britain assembled an armada made up of its Navy, Air Force and army to seize the island of Abadan in order to reclaim control of the oil refinery but Prime Minister Clement Attlee declined to attack, choosing instead to enforce the economic boycott against Iran. The British government, headed by Winston Churchill, tried to enlist the United States in planning a coup, but President Harry S. Truman refused. Under his successor, Dwight D. Eisenhower, however, the CIA embarked on its first covert operation to overthrow a foreign government.

The economic and political crisis in Iran that began in early 1952 with the British-organized worldwide boycott of Iranian oil, ended with the signing of the Consortium Agreement of 1954. Pahlavi signed the agreement with the result that, for the first time, United States oil companies shared in the control of Iranian oil, with the U.S. and UK evenly splitting 80% and the remainder divided between French and Dutch interests. Iran was allocated 50% of the revenues, which was an increase from 16% in the original agreement. However, from Iran's perspective, the Consortium Agreement of 1954 was far less favorable than conditions set forth several months earlier in the joint 'Winston Churchill-Dwight D. Eisenhower' proposal to Mosaddegh. The Consortium Agreement of 1954 ended the crisis that led to the coup, and stayed in effect until it was modified in 1957 and 1973 and then ended in 1979 when the Iranian Revolution deposed the monarch.

US support and funding continued after the coup, with the CIA training the Shah's secret police, SAVAK. Originally, the Eisenhower Administration considered Operation Ajax a "successful secret war", but, given its blowback, that assessment is no longer generally held, because of the coup's "haunting and terrible legacy". The coup d’état was a "a critical event in post-war world history" that replaced Iran’s native, and secular parliamentary democracy with an authoritarian monarchy. The coup is widely believed to have significantly contributed to the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which deposed the Shah and replaced the pro-Western monarchy with the anti-Western Islamic Republic of Iran."

The 'Lobby for Jewish Values' is trying to exorcise Yuletide festivities from the streets of Jerusalem.

Christmas in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.
(JINI /Archive)

Last update - 20:16 17/12/2009

Rabbis versus Christmas: Religious rivalry in Jerusalem benefits no one
By Morten Berthelsen

On the streets of Jerusalem, the religious war on Christmas is on. Last week, the "Lobby for Jewish Values" started handing out fliers condemning the holiday and inciting the public to boycott restaurants and hotels that sell or put up Christmas trees and other "foolish" Christian symbols.

Backed by rabbis, and with the self-righteous air of the American Christian right, lobby chairman Ofer Cohen told the Israeli media that he had considered publishing a list of businesses bold enough to put up Christmas decorations, call for a boycott against them, and - with a little help from Jerusalem Rabbinate - revoke the kashrut certificates of said hotels and restaurants.

According to the Israeli media, the fliers distributed by the Lobby for Jewish Values contain the following call to arms:

"The people of Israel have given their soul over the years in order to maintain the values of the Torah of Israel and the Jewish identity. You should also continue to follow this path of the Jewish people's tradition and not give in to the clownish atmosphere of the end of the civil year. And certainly not help those businesses that sell or put up the foolish symbols of Christianity."

It's unclear exactly what is considered "foolish symbols of Christianity," and, on top of that, how displaying them can result in withdrawal of the certificate confirming you adhere to Jewish dietary laws.

Is it really necessary for rabbis and Jewish lobbies to issue a naughty list and play the kashrut card? Is it not enough to encourage people to avoid hostelries with Christmas displays, or are brightly lit Christmas trees invisible to Jewish eyes?

The Lobby for Jewish Values and the Jerusalem Rabbinate say that Christmas - the birth of Jesus - is just not kosher. That rules out the manger scene and all things nativity. But what about the traditional Christmas tree - a pagan ritual interpreted by fundamentalist Christians as a heathen practice and thus forbidden? Should pine trees be banned in Israel? What about Santa Claus and his elves? And what if the Christmas tree has been certified kosher?

In Israel, where there is no division of synagogue and state, religion - and religious muscle - rules, but to what end? Samuel J. Scott, an American former journalist now working at the Refuah Institute in Jerusalem raises an important question.

"The secular, Westernized celebration of the holiday season - and the rabbinical efforts to clamp down on the phenomenon - is yet another example of one of the central paradoxes facing Israel," he writes.

"The Jewish state wants to be two things: a Jewish state and a free, democratic state. But what is the solution when these competing priorities conflict? If all Israelis start celebrating Christmas (either as Christians or as secularized revelers), then it will arguably no longer be a Jewish state. If the government bans everyone from having anything to do with the holiday, then it will no longer be a free state."

Whether the Jewish state becomes a nation of Christmas revellers or not, today's battle is being waged in Jerusalem, a city with a Christian population of two percent, and dropping. This is not a boycott of Christian symbolism, but of the Jews that cater to the tens of thousands of Christian tourists who amass in the Holy Land every December.

The boycott advocates would do well to remember that if Christian cash is not welcome in Jerusalem, it's greeted with open arms in Bethlehem.