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Reflections on a siege that hasn’t stopped: June 8-14, 2009 Eva Bartlett, In Gaza Monday: In Um al Nasser, I meet 17-year old Saleh Ahmed al Madani who was injured in three places from Israeli ‘flechette’ shelling. The small, razor-sharp darts pierced and remain lodged in his neck, shoulder, and calf muscle. Tuesday: A demonstration is being held on the road leading to Erez crossing. It is led by women, civil society groups, the disabled, and joined by international supporters. The visuals are impressive; an array of beautifully-crafted posters, flags, and stage prop reminders: two men in medics uniforms carry a wheelchair-laden stretcher, highlighting the need, not only for Erez to open, but for all the crossings to open for the ill, the disabled, and those seeking treatment unavailable within Gaza. Over 330 medical patients have died from being denied treatment due to the siege-closed crossings… continua / continued  [55755] [ 07-jul-2009 03:00 ECT ]

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Hamas’ choice: Recognition or resistance in the age of Obama Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada In a major policy speech on 25 June 2009, Khaled Meshal, the head of Hamas’ political bureau, tried to do what may be impossible: present the Islamist Palestinian resistance organization as a willing partner in a US-led peace process, while holding on to his movement’s political principles and base. This is the dilemma that every Palestinian leadership, and perhaps almost every liberation movement, has eventually had to confront. It is a choice, as political scientist Tamim Barghouti has pointed out, between recognition and legitimacy. Meshal’s nearly hour-long “address to the Palestinian people and the world” was billed as a response to the speeches of US President Barack Obama in Cairo and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier in June… continua / continued  [55754] [ 07-jul-2009 02:57 ECT ]

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Inquiry agreed into alleged torture of Iraqis by UK soldiers Government criticised by court for holding back critical evidence Richard Norton-Taylor An independent inquiry is to be held into allegations that British soldiers mutilated and murdered civilians in Iraq – and the government has been forced to admit that key documents had not been disclosed.In a letter read out in court today, the defence secretary, Bob Ainsworth, said he “profoundly regrets” the failures to disclose relevant documents. Though he denied the allegations, he said he was now prepared to set up an inquiry under European human rights convention articles enshrining the right to life and prohibiting torture, or inhuman or degrading treatment. continua / continued  [55753] [ 07-jul-2009 02:53 ECT ]

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European Commission: Settlements strangling Palestinian economy Ma’an News The executive arm of the European Union on Monday sharply rebuked Israeli settlement-building in the occupied West Bank, according to the AP. The European Commission said Israel’s policy of refusing to dismantle settlements is strangling the Palestinian economy and forcing the Palestinian Authority to rely on foreign aid. “[I]t is the European taxpayers who pay most of the price of this dependence,” including US 280 million dollars so far this year, because settlements prevent the PA from functioning normally, the commission said, according to the AP… continua / continued  [55752] [ 07-jul-2009 02:15 ECT ]

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Obama’s Public Education Policy: Privatization, Charters, Mass Firings, Neighborhood Destabilization by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon …The general paralysis of progressive movements that has resulted from the election of our first black president stands squarely in the way of a generalized movement against the Obama administration’s continuation of Bush era policies, as does the reliance of traditional “civil rights” organizations and many black politicians upon corporate handouts. A further obstacle to building local and national movements against educational privatization is the lack of local news and the disappearance of local news gathering organizations in most cities and towns across the nation. As Dr. Robert McChesney has pointed out, the lack of reporters to tell the story, and news outlets to print or broadcast it has opened the way to a golden age of corruption in which corporate thieves can steal with impunity, and the public is none the wiser. It’s a bad place. But it’s where we are… continua / continued  [55751] [ 07-jul-2009 02:04 ECT ]

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Honduras Coup’s Preconditions Leave Nothing to Negotiate By Al Giordano One of the moments of yesterday’s unforgettable drama in Honduras that most sticks in my mind today was the press conference by illegitimate “president” Roberto Micheletti and three aides: the gorilla and his chimps. After befuddling himself with his claims of a “psychological invasion” by Nicaragua, and with various rambling references by his senile wingmen to Luis XIV and events in the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Micheletti and his Simian Council then called for “negotiation” with the Organization of American States (OAS), and today sends a delegation to Washington in pursuit of just that. The problem is, that the precondition set by the coup government for said “negotiations” leaves nothing to negotiate. The coup’s “foreign minister,” Enrique Ortez. has repeated this mantra various times: “There is only one thing that is not negotiable: the return of ex-president Zelaya.” Got it?… continua / continued  [55750] [ 07-jul-2009 01:56 ECT ]

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Open Letter to the American People on Independence Day, 4th July Professor Mohammad Al-Ani, Chairman, Iraqi Consultants Council …Your government has committee the most evil act against humanity for the sake of controlling the resources of another nation in your name, in the name of your humanity and your civilisation. It tried to legalise this evil crime by initiating a so called treaty with the so called government of Iraq. History will Judge those Iraqis who signed, voted and who are quite about it as having committed high treason against the people of Iraq; it is simply an attempt to legalise the most evil act committed in the history of humanity. I do not mean the millions of orphans, or the millions of widows, or the millions of displaced people, or the crimes committed by your military army against detainees, or the destruction of Iraq’s infrastructure. I mean the use of the American military of at least 2000 tons of depleted uranium in the war against Iraq, which has polluted more or less all aspects of the environment in my beloved Iraq. Depleted uranium is the true weapon of mass destruction, especially the way its pollution affects all aspects of normal life, land and water. To find out the true effect of this weapon, go and visit what ever is left of Iraqi hospitals; to see with your own eyes the crimes of your government and military… continua / continued  [55749] [ 07-jul-2009 01:13 ECT ]

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UK weapons inspector who was found dead was writing expose: paper John Byrne British weapons inspector Dr. David Kelly was writing an expose about his work with anthrax and his warnings that Iraq possessed no weapons of mass destruction at the time of his death in July 2003, according to a report published in a British newspaper. Kelly’s death — said to have been a suicide — has stirred controversy, as it came on the heels of testimony to the House of Commons about a memo which purported that Britain had “sexed up” a dossier on Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction.. continua / continued  [55748] [ 07-jul-2009 01:05 ECT ]

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Iraq bans visits to Saddam’s grave Aljazeera.net The Iraqi government has banned all organised visits to the grave of Saddam Hussein, the country’s former leader who was executed in 2006. The government issued the order on Monday after some schools began arranging trips for their pupils to visit the site in Saddam’s native village of Al-Awja, outside the northern town of Tikrit, a government statement said.. continua / continued  [55747] [ 07-jul-2009 00:53 ECT ]

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The Racism of Minister Atias Israel Calls on Ultra-Orthodox Jews to Stop “Arab Takeover” JONATHAN COOK Israel’s housing minister called for strict segregation between the country’s Jewish and Arab populations last week as he unveiled plans to move large numbers of fundamentalist religious Jews to Israel’s north to prevent what he described as an “Arab takeover” of the region. Ariel Atias said he considered it a “national mission” to bring ultra-Orthodox Jews — or Haredim, distinctive for their formal black and white clothing — into Arab areas, and announced that he would also create the north’s first exclusively Haredi town… continua / continued  [55745] [ 07-jul-2009 00:50 ECT ]

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Mohammed, 71 and so threatening he is not allowed out of Gaza for eye surgery Eva Bartlett, In Gaza The last time I visited Mohammed and Miriam Kahawish and their two children a few weeks ago, Mohammed was out, at the doctors. Today, he was home, and we were equally glad to see one another, catch up. I think he told me over twenty times I was part of their family, like his daughter (sometimes his memory failing him and age playing tricks he’d say I was like his sister. Miriam was quick to correct on my age, but likewise generous in such comments). Today he spoke of the massage therapy he’s getting on one of his legs (he’d fallen a while ago and fractured the leg). He also spoke of how he’d like to leave Gaza for surgery on his left eye, but that the Israeli authorities imprisoning Gazans keep denying him permission to leave, despite his doctor’s notes… continua / continued  [55744] [ 07-jul-2009 00:41 ECT ]

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