Jan

30

They Forced Him To Watch His Son Bleed to Death

January 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Palestinian US College Grad Loses 2 Brothers in Israeli Shooting; Father Watched Son Bleed to Death After Israeli Troops Blocked Ambulances

Jan

26

10 Minutes to Understand the Main Obstacle to a Palestinian-Israeli Peace

January 26, 2009 | 3 Comments

If you thought the word “extremist” only applies to Palestinians…If you thought the conflict in the Holy Land was all about Hamas and focused on Gaza… think again, and watch this:

Jan

17

Israel’s “Mission Accomplished” Moment

January 17, 2009 | 4 Comments

As President Bush gets ready to pack his bags and leave DC, his legacy is marred by images of Iraq descending into chaos after he stood on the USS Lincoln and declared that America had won the war. The picture of President Bush standing under a “Mission Accomplished” banner will be the center of the Iraq page in the scrapbook of his presidency.

One would think that world leaders learn from each other. Today, Israeli president Ehud Olmert declared a unilateral cease-fire and announced that the objectives of Operation Cast Lead have been accomplished. This moment will come back to haunt Olmert as he makes his not-so-graceful exit out of office after a term filled with corruption charges and failed military operations.

In just a matter of days, Olmert and the Israeli public will realize that none of the goals of this brutal operation have been accomplished. Hamas has not been destroyed, nor can it be destroyed. In fact, the operation has served as the biggest recruitment campaign for all the resistance movements in the Occupied Territories. More than one-thousand-twelve-hundred Palestinians souls have been murdered by the Israeli war machine, and each of them has left a wife, father, mother, son, sister behind mourning their loss and asserting that their blood was not shed in vain. Another five thousand will continue to live with the scars of this war on their injured bodies.

Israel has not demoralized that Palestinian people. The Israeli Occupying Forces have destroyed schools, mosques, universities, police stations, government offices, soccer fields, and much of the infrastructure of the Gaza Strip. It has burned buildings and has turned refugee camps into giant craters. But it has not destroyed the will of the Palestinian people. Buildings can and will be rebuilt. Humans cannot be brought back to life, but their memory will serve as the biggest motivation for all of the occupied Palestinians to continue in their internationally recognized right to struggle against the brutal occupation.

The only goals I can imagine that have been accomplished are to help the contenders in the upcoming Israeli elections. In fact, this war was launched purely for the selfish political purposes of Ehud Barack and others. And in the most obvious displays of cowardice, the war was launched during President Bush’s last 20 days in office, when anything this lame duck president could’ve said to Israel would not have made a difference. And it ended three days before a new American president is about to assume power. What a coincidence!

For a more detailed political analysis of Israel’s war on Gaza, John Mearsheimer’s piece “Another War, Another Defeat” is a must read.

And to read one of the best personal accounts of this war, head over to Kabobfest and follow Mohammad’s daily posts.

Beware of the cry of the oppressed…

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Jan

6

News on Gaza: Where to Get It

January 6, 2009 | 4 Comments

If you are sitting in your living room watching a couple of minutes of the traditional news coverage on the current crisis in the Gaza Strip, you are not getting a fraction of the real picture. Stop flipping between CNN, MSNBC, and Fox. Not ONE international correspondent is inside the Gaza Strip right now. All those reporting are on the Israeli border, or in other parts of the country. It’s like reporting about the presidential inaguration from Nashville.

Put the remote down. Go to your computer, and explore the real world of news and up-to-date coverage of this tragic crisis.

Watch Aljazeera English for free online here, here, and here.

Watch clips of AJE’s coverage on their Youtube channel here.

Read Maan News online, based in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Read Robert Fisk in the Independent.

Read Electronic Intifada, and the daily diaries from the territories.

Read blogs like Kabobfest, A Mother from Gaza, and check the Palestine Blogs aggregator.

Read the diary of an aid worker in the Gaza Strip, on BBC.

Diversify your sources of news. Get the real coverage. Cut through the bull.

Dec

31

Protesting the Gaza Massacre in Washington, D.C.

December 31, 2008 | 8 Comments

Several thousand Washingtonians turned out to protest the continued Israeli aggression on the people of Gaza in Washington, D.C. Tuesday evening. The protest began in front of the State Department and continued across the streets of the capital during peak rush hour time. Men, women, and children of all ages, backgrounds, and faiths spoke out against the continued American support for the Israeli onslaught in Gaza.

A couple of news outlets covered the protest including the Examiner, the AFP, and Russia Today (h/t Kabobfest). Local channel NBC4 also covered it, but managed to turn the report into a segment for defending Israeli actions. How ironic.

Here are a couple of photos I snapped during the protest:

Protesting Israeli Aggression on Gaza in Washington DCProtesting Israeli Aggression on Gaza in Washington DCProtesting Israeli Aggression on Gaza in Washington DCProtesting Israeli Aggression on Gaza in Washington DC

Protesting Israeli Aggression on Gaza in Washington DCProtesting Israeli Aggression on Gaza in Washington DCProtesting Israeli Aggression on Gaza in Washington DC

 

 

Some photos from the AP:

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(AP Photos/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Dec

29

A Different Standard for Gazans

December 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Over the past three days, hundreds of HUMAN BEINGS have been killed and maimed in Gaza. First and foremost, they are humans. Then they might be Gazans, Muslims, Arabs, Christians, students, policemen, mothers, sisters, nurses, engineers, construction workers…

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Most of the American mainstream media has either ignored the massacre in Gaza, or objectified the victims. Once again, the media has relied on official Israeli government and IOF statements to report the news. When the Israeli government says this war is against “HAMAS,” the American media has duly reported this myth, ignoring the images of women and children being pulled from the rubble caused by American-funded F-16 warplanes.

If 200 Israeli policemen were killed in one day, and 150 other Israelis were murdered in cold blood, would President Bush or President-Elect Obama be as silent as they are now? Since when did Obama not have an opinion on something this important, this tragic?

If 200 NYPD officers were killed in a matter of minutes during their graduation ceremony, would the world just turn the other way?

As American and British citizens were being killed in Mumbai, CNN covered the drama live for 4 days. Today, CNN is reporting on the “dangers of sledding.” Are their lives worth more than the lives of Gazans? Is the life of one Israeli settler worth more than 350 Palestinian lives? They are all humans. They were all born to mothers. Many of them have sisters, brothers, friends, and uncles. Many of them have children.

Why do we treat them differently? Why do we value one over the other? Why do we condemn Hamas rockets and not Israeli missiles?

These qustions seem pointless at this time. I’m not anywhere near Gaza. I’m sitting helplessly in the most powerful capital in the world, as millions prepare to ring in the new year.

In a couple of months, I will file my tax returns. At the end of this month, part of our paycheck will be removed, and part of that will be sent to the Israeli government to continue its war on an occupied population. If I wasn’t funding the murder of 350 Gazans, I might be able to sleep at night. But I am. And so are you. We all are. Instead of helping DC public schools, or rebuilding New Orleans, or beefing up Medicare, we’re helping a foreign country fight a war that is not ours, a war of oppression and subjugation and cold-blooded murder.

We need change. We need to wake up from our slumber.

And if you need to know what’s going on, read this. Please take 5 minutes to read this personal account. Then do what your heart says.

[photo:A Palestinian boy watches the funeral his three young brothers in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip December 29, 2008. (Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters)]

Nov

4

Virginia Brings it HOME for OBAMA!

November 4, 2008 | 3 Comments

Minutes after Virginia was called for Obama, the major news networks have called Barack Obama as the next president of the USA!!!

THANK YOU VIRGINIA, THANK YOU AMERICA, WELCOME PRESIDENT OBAMA!

CNN: OBAMA TO BE NEXT PRESIDENT

BREAKING NEWS

Obama makes history


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