Remembering Palestinian Prisoners at Our Weekly Vigil in Seattle

Tweet Long Live Palestine and Palestinians!
Pictures from previous vigils to show the banners we use every week:

Use Their Wall Against Them -- Send a Message!

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Portion below; whole thing here: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10475.shtml

"My dear Palestinian brothers and sisters, I have come to your land and I have recognized shades of my own." These are the first 20 words of an open letter written by Farid Esack, a South African scholar and political activist known for his role in the struggle against apartheid. The total length of his letter is 1,998 carefully chosen words in which he argues that the situation in Palestine is worse than it ever was in South Africa under apartheid rule. Esack, a black South African who worked closely with Nelson Mandela, is astonished at how ordinary people beat about the bush when it comes to Israel and the dispossession and suffering of the Palestinians. "Do 'objectivity,' 'moderation,' and seeing 'both sides' not have limits?" he asks. "Is moderation in matters of clear injustice really a virtue? Do both parties deserve an 'equal hearing' in a situation of domestic violence -- wherein a woman is beaten up by a male who was abused by his father some time ago -- because 'he,' too, is a 'victim?'"

Almost five years after the International Court of Justice declared the wall that Israel built on Palestinian land "illegal" and ruled that it should be dismantled, Palestinians have started to spray-paint Esack's letter along a three kilometer (1.85 miles) stretch of the structure. This is done as part of the Dutch-Palestinian collaborative project www.sendamessage.nl. Since 2007, this project has allowed Internet users from anywhere in the world to ask for an 80-character message to be spray-painted on the wall on their behalf, in exchange for a 30 euro ($40) donation. The bulk of the money raised supports small grassroots social, cultural and educational projects in Palestine. Some of the messages already sent vary from the romantic to the humorous to complete recipes. The messages remind Palestinians trapped inside the wall they have not been forgotten. Since its inception, more than 800 people from around the world have sent messages through sendamessage.nl.

Farid Esack's open letter also aims to give Palestinians hope. "We stand by you in your vision to create a society wherein everyone, regardless of their ethnicity, or religion shall be equal and live in freedom," he writes. "In the face of this monstrosity, the Apartheid Wall, we offer an alternative: Solidarity with the people of Palestine. We pledge our determination to walk with you in your struggle to overcome separation, to conquer injustice and to put end to greed, division and exploitation."

"Arab Public Opinion: Change and Continuity Since 9/11" -- Prof. Shibley Telhami

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When: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 (7:00pm)

What: Annual Farhat J. Ziadeh Distinguished Lecture in Arab and Islamic
Studies

Who: Prof. Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace and Development
at the University of Maryland, College Park

Title: "Arab Public Opinion: Change and Continuity Since 9/11"

Where: Henry Art Gallery Auditorium, University of Washington Campus

About the lecture:

The Lecture will analyze the trends found in annual Arab public opinion
polls in the Arab world since 9/11, focusing on attitudes toward
collective identity and foreign policy. In particular it will review
Arabs' attitudes toward Arab and Islamic identity as well as the degree to
which they identify with individual Arab states. The analysis will assess
the impact of American policy after 9/11 and how it has influenced Arab
perceptions, as well as the impact of information revolution on the way
Arabs see themselves.

About the speaker:

Professor Shibley Telhami serves as the Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace
and Development at the University of Maryland, College Park, and as a
non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Professor Telhami
is a distinguished author of several publications on international
politics and Middle East affairs and has been very active in the foreign
policy arena. Professor Telhami was appointed to the Board of the U.S.
Institute of Peace by President Clinton, and he served as the advisor to
the U.S. delegation to the United Nations during the Iraq-Kuwait crisis
of the early 1990s. He has also been a member of the American delegation
of the Trilateral American/Israeli/Palestinian Anti-Incitement
Committee mandated by the Wye River Agreement between the Israelis
and the Palestinians.


Thank you,

Scott Noegel

Prof. & Chair, Dept. Near Eastern Languages & Civilization
University of Washington
Box 353120
Seattle, WA 98195

Office: 206-543-3606
Dept: 206-543-6033
FAX: 206-685-7936
http://faculty.washington.edu/snoegel/

=======================================================

Amin Odeh
VoicesofPalestine.org

Theaacc.org

"Stand up for what is right, even if you are standing alone"

THE KUFIYEH PROJECT LAUNCHED

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THE KUFIYEH PROJECT LAUNCHED

New Orleans Palestine Solidarity and Palestine Online Store are proud to announce the launch of The Kufiyeh Project. This not-for-profit endeavour aims to promote the kufiyeh as a symbol of resistance and solidarity with the Palestinian struggle, while at the same time saving the only kufiyeh factory in Palestine from shutting down. Income from this project will be rechanneled towards these objectives, under the guidance of an advisory board.

The Kufiyeh Project has just launched its website, which includes some background information on the kufiyah (for example, how it was adopted by the entire Palestinian population in the resistance against British colonialism in 1936, links to news, multimedia, and comedy about the kufiyeh, and a peak at the factory in Hebron.)

Your support is essential for making this project succeed. We are about to place an order with the factory, and hope that you will join us in placing an order. We have set the retail price of the kufiyeh at $12, while a dozen is discounted by $24 (to $120). For orders of 6 dozen or more, the discount is 33%, coming out to $8 a piece, plus the actual cost of shipping and handling, not to exceed $100.

The website is at: http://www.thekufiyehproject.org - please make sure to check it out! And you can reach either of us at: info@thekufiyehproject.org

In solidarity,
Mai Bader and Haithem El-Zabri.
The Kufiyeh Project.

Obama boycotts racism summit, by Carlos Latuff

Tweet Found on Palestinian Pundit

Long Live Palestine - LowKey

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UN Protects Israel From Racism Charges -- Nora Barrows-Friedman

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Portion below; whole thing here:  http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=53524&s2=19

The Durban Review Conference website states that the 2009 Geneva symposium is designed to "review progress and assess the implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA)." Adopted by general consensus at the 2001 WCAR in Durban, "the DDPA is a comprehensive, action-oriented document that proposes concrete measures to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. It is holistic in its vision, addresses a wide range of issues, and contains far- reaching recommendations and practical measures."

In order to assess and review any progress made since the 2001 WCAR in Durban, Palestinian human rights organisations planned several side events that were to take place within the schedule of the conference.

However, two weeks ago, the UN High Commissioner's office unilaterally cancelled all side-events pertaining to Palestine issues. Ingrid Jarradat- Gassner, director of the BADIL Resource Centre for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights in Bethlehem, one of several Palestine-based organisations attending the Durban Review conference, tells IPS that BADIL and the other NGOs had organised a side-event specifically about how and why they see Israel as a "regime of institutionalised racial discrimination on both sides of the Green Line."

"As Palestinian NGOs and other NGOs working on the issue of Israel and its violations against the rights of the Palestinian people, we were expecting that there would be a possibility for us to organise these side-events during the official Durban review conference in Geneva," Jarradat-Gassner says. "We were informed by the UN itself that this would be possible."

Jarradat-Gassner says that on Apr. 3, less than three weeks before the Durban Review Conference, the UN High Commissioner's office called BADIL's representative in Geneva into a meeting at the UN, and verbally informed her that all side-events pertaining to the specific issue of Palestine and Israel had been banned.

"We were not even informed in any sort of direct of official way. In fact, we have no record of the decision of the UN not to let us work on such side- events," says Jarradat-Gassner.

According to the UN's Durban Review Conference agenda, other side-events focusing on indigenous rights, women's rights and the link between racism and poverty will have an official platform.

Jarradat-Gassner says she knows there is a specific apprehension within the political UN body towards Palestine issues. In the draft document for the Durban Review Conference, she points out, there are particular recommendations for victims of HIV/AIDS, for victims of slave trade, Roma people, people of African descent, but, Jarradat-Gassner says, "there is not a single reference to Palestine, Palestinians or Israel in this whole document."

"Ayman Quader - The Ideal Israeli Solider, Killer and Thief"

Tweet Link to original: http://palestinethinktank.com/2009/04/17/ayman-quader-the-ideal-israeli-solider-killer-and-thief/

(In the photo at the left: same story over and over again, in Hebron as in Gaza, IDF soldiers do not respect the homes of Palestinians.) The old man sat in the light of a kerosene lamp and looked bleakly ahead. His wife sat in the opposite corner, crying loudly "They soiled our sheets, haram, haram, they broke our bed, fired guns in our bed and," the old man said, "they took all our money. The day after we left we found a 100 shekel note in the garden, that's all."

He was talking to a foreign photographer who had come to film the destruction in North of the Gaza Strip about the Israeli occupation of his house. Sa'ad Al Atar lived in a line of houses along a high ridge overlooking Gaza city in Atatra district. It was the part of Gaza nearest the Israeli border, and it also commanded long views of Gaza city, so it was bombed repeatedly in the first few days, and most of the houses were destroyed. Then the Apaches fired rockets at what was left and machine gunned anything that moved. Mr Al Atar stayed home with his family, even when machine gun fire came through the window and sprayed the wall behind them. The foreign Journalist put his fingers in the big holes in the plaster, but to him they were just dents in the wall; to Mr Al Atar they represented fear and salvation at the same time. But there was an even closer miss in the next dark room, where there were no lights. A row of smaller bullet holes at a lower level.

"We were eating our meal on the floor when these came. If we were sitting on a chair they would have gone through our heads. I am lucky that I cannot afford to put chairs in both my rooms," said Mr Al Atar.

What happened next? "The Israelis came and pointed their guns at us. They told us to get into the back room, where the shots had been fired, and to stay there, and they went on to the roof. They told us that if we moved, they would shoot us. They went upstairs, they stole my money, soiled the beds, left condoms everywhere. They fired holes in the bed - for what? While people were dying they were making love with each other in our bed, and then they destroyed it. All our money was in the mattress, everything for the whole family, and they took it all. Then after 3 days, they left. Just left."

His family of seven children and his wife listened in the gloomy light. "There is no glass in the windows, and we cannot afford even to buy plastic sheets," said Mrs Al Atar. "The UN gave us some blankets, but we have no money to repair anything and no one helps us. No one. And it is cold, even our clothes they cut up and soiled - look, look at these cuts, why, why they do this, why?"

They drank their tea in silence, the foreign photographer left, and the light went out.

Palestinian Killed in Bilin Protest

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“Our Peaceful Towns Should No Longer Be The Graveyard Of Our Youth”

This afternoon the Israeli army killed Basem Abu Rahma, 25, in the village of Bi’lin, West of Ramallah. Abu Rahma was , hit by a high velocity gas canister in his chest, during a peaceful demonstration aginst the Wall Israel is building around the village.

“I saw Basem, who was wearing a yellow football T-shirt, being hit and collapsing on the ground”, reported Palestine Monitor’s photographer in Bil’in.

MP Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, The Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative expressed shock “For four years, the residents of Bi’lin have been peacefully resisting the building of the Apartheid Wall, every single Friday.”

“This, represent the Palestinian commitment to the non-violence principles and their steadfastness. Palestinian and International youths are peacefully struggling, but our towns where such demonstrations take place can no longer be the graveyards of our youths”, Barghouthi said.

“By constantly defying non-violence and responding with an overwhelming use of force, the Israeli army is aiming to provoke Palestinian violence and launch the aggression circle”, he added firmly.

In similar incidents this year, the Israeli army killed 4 Palestinian children and teenagers in the nearby village of Ni’lim, as well as critically injuring an American peace activist. “Most of the time, our people are hit with prohibited live-bullets or rubber-coated bullets being shot at a too close range, or lately by high velocity gas canister such as today. This is beyond every international rules”, said Dr. Barghouthi.

MP Barghouthi called on the International community to consider today’s incident as an ‘ultimate wake up call’. “It is urgent to pressure the Israeli right-wing government to stop the daily aggression on our people and youths.”

http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=22303416&postID=3090502005517167129

US Court Allows Apartheid Claims

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7991134.stm

A United States judge has ruled that lawsuits can go ahead against several companies accused of helping South Africa's apartheid-era government.

IBM, Ford and General Motors are among those corporations now expected to face demands for damages from thousands of apartheid's victims.

They argue that the firms supplied equipment used by the South African security forces to suppress dissent.

The companies affected have not yet responded to the judge's ruling.

'Wilful blindness'

US District Judge Shira Scheindlin in New York dismissed complaints against several companies but said plaintiffs could proceed with lawsuits against IBM, Daimler, Ford, General Motors and Rheinmetall Group, the German parent of an armaments maker.

"Corporate defendants accused of merely doing business with the apartheid government of South Africa have been dismissed," she said.

The plaintiffs argue that the car manufacturers knew their vehicles would be used by South African forces to suppress dissent. They also say that computer companies knew their products were being used to help strip black South Africans of their rights.

The judge disagreed with IBM's argument that it was not the company's place to tell clients how to use its products.

"That level of wilful blindness in the face of crimes in violation of the law of nations cannot defeat an otherwise clear showing of knowledge that the assistance IBM provided would directly and substantially support apartheid," she said.

More than 50 companies were initially sued, but after a court demanded more specific details, the plaintiffs decided to target fewer companies.

The US and South African governments supported the companies' efforts to get the complaints dismissed.

They argue that the legal action is damaging to international relations and may threaten South Africa's economic development.

Mouseland -- "You Can't Lock Up An Idea"

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Obsessions -- by Angry Arab News Service

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Link to original: http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/04/obsessions.html

Some people spend their lives reading or writing and some people spend their lives obsessing about their enemies. Martin Kramer is losing it--officially. Ever since he received the news about Joseph Massad's tenure, the man has been flipping out, non-stop. Martin Kramer can't sleep and can't eat and can't function: he wants to yell at the world because Joseph received tenure. Kramer wants all world Zionists to join him in a collective boo hoo hoo. He invents and (wrongly) assumes all in order to show his obsession with Joseph. What Zionist hoodlums* don't know is this: their obsession with their enemies please their enemies and provide them with gratification. I mean, does Kramer think that Joseph really gives a hoot about the obsessive ramblings by Kramer on him? In fact, the more the better. You want to know that your enemies are consumed with hate.

PS One of my readers++ guessed right regarding the origin of the term "Zionist hoodlums." It is of course borrowed from a famous speech by Vanessa Redgrave.

++Proud to say I'm the reader. ;)

Political Prisoners in Israel/Palestine -- 1 Israeli, 10,756 Palestinians*

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Palestinians carry pictures of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, including a picture of the youngest prisoner born in jail, Youssef al-Ziq, pictured right, during a sit-in front of the Red Cross offices, in Damascus, Syria, Thursday. The protesters demanded an immediate release of all prisoners in Israeli jails. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi)
(April 16, 2009)

“Since the beginning of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories in 1967, over 650,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel. This forms approximately 20% of the total Palestinian population in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).”

– Palestine Monitor

*from If Americans Knew Website

Hope For Gaza Convoy -- Sameh Habeeb

Tweet Update 2

Organizations and Reputable figures join the Convoy in Holland

Brussels, April 16^th, 2009-(ECESG) - Days after the announcement of launching Hope for Gaza Convoy, many organizations and supporters joined the convoy in European countries. Hundreds of people and charitable organizations have expressed their readiness to leave with the convoy.

Humanitarian and Relief Coordinator, Amin Abu Rashed, said that many important organizations decided to participate in the "Hope for Gaza Convoy"

"We have secured a number of trucks loaded by many aids and medical kits for Gaza children. We expect to have more people and Organizations with us in few days."

In the Netherlands, Gretta Budesberg, one of the grassroots of supporters for Palestine also expressed her willingness to take part in the convoy leaving for Gaza early in May.

Budesberg is a grassroots supporter of Palestine and has been against Israeli occupation for a long time. She was even criticized for holding a flag of Palestine on her house.

Gretta tried many times to send hearing aid kits to Gaza through her charity but has failed. At the moment, she is trying to send some kits for the children through Jordan. Some of these will be delivered by her directly, as she plans to join the convoy.

The convoy is expected top leave Milan directly after the end of the 7^th conference of Palestinians living in Europe. A considerable number of activists, officials from Europe and MPs would take part.

A number vans and trucks to leave Milan on the 3^rd of May and sail from Genoa towards Alexandria in Egypt. Drivers will leave for Alexandria directly to drive their vans towards Gaza within 3 days of ships departure.

--
Sameh A. Habeeb,
Photojournalist, Peace Activist &
Founder of The Palestine Telegraph Newspaper
London, United Kingdom
UK Mob:0044- (0) 7949725139
Gaza Mob: 00972599306096
Sameh.habeeb@gmail.com
Skype: Gazatoday, Facebook: Sameh A. habeeb
Web: www.Paltelegraph.com
www.gazatoday.blogspot.com
Photos:http://picasaweb.google.com/sameh.habeeb

Call From Gaza [to Remember Palestinian Prisoners] -- Hiyam Noir

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Portion below; whole thing here: http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=53382&s2=14

April 13, 2009

Please forward widely....

Dear Everyone:

Please take a few minutes to read the call-out below from a broad Gaza-based prisoner solidarity campaign made up of a coalition of prisoner rights groups, local and international activists, prisoner families and Ministry of Detainees representatives in Gaza.

Friday April 17th is the international day of solidarity with Palestinian prisoners. Just over 11,000 are behind bars in occupation prisons inside the apartheid lines and outside the ghetto walls of the West Bank and Gaza.

Prisoners are a community under siege which represents every faction in Palestine. Solidarity between prisoners inside Israeli jails crosses all political borders. They have sacrificed their individual freedom for collective freedom.

From taking direct action to symbolic gestures (in the case if prisoner campaigns, simple visual solidarity gestures drawing public attention to the struggle of prisoners is always effective in keeping memories, spirit and solidarity alive). Please take action this week! And email us about it...

April 17th is the international day of solidarity with Palestinian prisoners. These over 11,000 men, women and children are ghost prisoners, forgotten by the international community and media which has focused on the systematic and physical psychological torture of prisoners in high profile camps such as Guantanamo Bay but has largely ignored the network of Israel's 'Guantanamos' inside 'Israel'.

This call comes from Gaza – recognized as a large open air prison and place of punishment and exile for Palestinian prisoners from the West Bank.

Maximum security facilities such as Nufha, Haderim, Jalamy, and Ashkalon , and so-called 'black sites' which the Israeli government refuses to acknowledge, hold thousands of Palestinian prisoners. These prisoners are regularly and systematically tortured, denied access to legal representation, family visits, education, shelter, light, essential medical care and medicines.

The 'Israeli state' has a policy of administrative detention which means any man, woman or child can be arrested at any time and in any place and incarcerated without trial or access to any alleged evidence held by the intelligence services, for an undetermined and extendable length of time.

The majority of Palestinian men has been and will be arrested and incarcerated at some point in their lives by Israeli occupation forces. Under the Fourth Geneva Conventions, which Israel is a signatory to, Palestinian prisoners should be treated by the occupying forces under the rules applicable to the treatment of civilians in time of war.

Almost all the Palestinian detainees are held in jails away from the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza Strip, in violation of international humanitarian law, which bars the removal of detainees to the territory of the occupying power. The 'Israeli' military and security forces regularly violate international law and conventions relating to prisoners.

Imprisonment and torture is an intergenerational experience for Palestinians living in Gaza, 1948 Palestine ('Israel') and the West Bank.

Imprisonment is a core element of the Israeli occupation's strategy of collective containment and punishment of the Palestinian population – both of those jailed, and their families who suffer their absence and wait for their release. Military resistance fighters, as well as non-militarily active political activists, community organizers, paramedics, doctors, journalists, teachers, and students are regularly jailed under an Israeli legal framework which criminalizes any form of resistance to occupation

"Deserted" -- Sigridur Vidis Jonsdottir

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Link (via Uruknet.info) to original: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/11/opinion/11iht-edjonsdottir.html?_r=1

AL WALEED, IRAQ — What does it feel like to raise a newborn baby in an inhospitable desert where scorpions crawl about and sandstorms threaten to bring down one’s tent?

Lubna Falah is about to find out. She will soon deliver her baby. This is not her first child, but she has never tried to raise one in a tent.

In Baghdad, Lubna had a beautiful home. That was then. Now she is left with bad dreams and repeated nightmares. Lubna is an Iraqi Palestinian, a double refugee, living in the desert close to the border with Syria. Her ancestors fled Palestine 60 years ago when Jewish forces took control of their home in Haifa, and now she is trying to flee Iraq. She is the sister of my friend Lina.

The sisters never thought they would end up in a tent. Nor did they foresee what would happen to Lina’s husband: One sunny afternoon he was taken from his home by Shiite militia, then brutally tortured and later beheaded. Then acid was poured over his head. His facial features were gone, and his family’s life in Baghdad was forever gone.

For days after that, Lina was unable to speak. She would open her mouth but not a single word would come out.

Lina was born in Baghdad, raised in Baghdad and loved Baghdad. But after the Americans invaded, Palestinians were no longer welcome in Iraq. They are seen as Saddam’s people — he gave them free housing and utilities, although he never granted them citizenship.

So Lina could not stay and could not leave. A second generation Palestinian refugee, she had no nationality and no passport.

The only thing Lubna and Lina could do was pitch a tent in the desert, far from the violence and the death threats in Baghdad (the militia threatened to give Lina’s sons the same treatment their father got), and hope that someone, somewhere, would hear about their plight.

Fortunately, the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees provides the people in Al Waleed with assistance. Sadly, UNHCR does not have the capacity to resolve their situation. It cannot provide them with a nationality or homes. A political decision is needed.

Lina was among the few lucky ones who got out. After roasting for two summers and freezing for two winters in the desert, the Icelandic government offered her and 28 other women and children to resettle in Iceland. They ended up in my hometown, Akranes (they arrived 15 minutes before the economic meltdown).

Today the outlook in Iceland is gloomy, but nothing compared to that of Al Waleed. Iceland, with its tiny population of 320,000 people, is proud to have offered 29 refugees the possibility of a future free of hazards.

Lina is adapting well and learning Icelandic. But she worries about her sister and other family members left behind in the camp. She has reasons to. Despite improved security, Iraqi Palestinians still cannot return to Baghdad.

A handful of other governments have invited refugees in Al Waleed to resettle in their countries. But about 1,500 people are still stuck there. Ahead is the unbearable summer heat, which makes the tents boiling hot. Lubna’s baby will be born in one of them.

Sigridur Vidis Jonsdottir is writing a book about the Iraqi Palestinians in Iceland.

Gaza Still Starving per U.N.; U.N. Appoints War Crimes Judge from South Africa

Tweet Re the Judge, I'd like to here what Ronnie Kasrils & Bishop Tutu think of him.
Portion below; whole thing here: http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=53370&s2=13

Antoine Grand, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sub-delegation to Gaza, says that the ICRC is still negotiating with the Israelis to allow waste water and water plant spare parts and repair equipment into Gaza.

"We have been waiting for several months but so far we have not been permitted to import this equipment which is essential for the projects we have under way to repair sewage and water plants damaged during the Gaza war," Grand told IPS.

OCHA says in its report that supplies of cooking gas are still well below market needs. No commercial benzene and diesel, apart from 391,300 liters for UNRWA operations, have entered Gaza since November last year.

About 150,000 Gazans are still deprived of access to sufficient quantities of safe drinking water, while 90 percent experience intermittent power cuts. Gazans in need of medical attention abroad are struggling to get permits.

Meanwhile, as controversy rages around the restriction of humanitarian aid into Gaza, a new dispute has arisen over the UN's appointment of Justice Richard Goldstone, a South African judge, to head an investigation into war crimes in Gaza.

The former war crimes prosecutor will head a four-member team whose mandate stems from a resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council at a special session 12 January. Israel is not keen on the UN investigating its military offensive in Gaza earlier this year. Israeli attacks left more than 1,400 Palestinians dead, most of them civilian, and nearly 5,000 wounded.

International human rights organizations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and several Israelis rights groups have accused Israel of war crimes and of using controversial weapons indiscriminately.

Israel has denied committing war crimes, and complained of an anti-Israel bias. A number of Israelis say that Goldstone, despite being Jewish, is biased against Israel. But some Arabs and Muslims have expressed concern that he would be too soft on Israel because of his background.

However, Goldstone's credentials are impeccable. A former anti-apartheid activist and court judge, he served as chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.

"It is in the interest of all Palestinians and Israelis that the allegations of war crimes and serious human rights violations related to the recent conflict on all sides be investigated," Goldstone said in a statement.

No Halt in Illegal Arming of Israel Under Obama -- Amnesty International

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Link to original: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details_p.asp?NewsID=18136

The new delivery to Israel of a massive consignment of US munitions, revealed by Amnesty International today, throws into question whether President Obama will act to prevent the US fuelling further Israeli attacks against civilians that may amount to war crimes, as was perpetrated in Gaza.

According to new information received by Amnesty International, the Wehr Elbe, a German cargo ship which had been chartered and controlled by US Military Sealift Command, docked and unloaded its cargo of reportedly over 300 containers at the Israeli port of Ashdod, just 40 km north of Gaza by road. The German ship left the USA for Israel on 20 December, one week before the start of Israeli attacks on Gaza, carrying 989 containers of munitions, each of them 20 feet long with a total estimated net weight of 14,000 tons.

Brian Wood, Amnesty International's arms control campaign manager, said:

'Legally and morally, this US arms shipment should have been halted by the Obama administration, given the extent of the evidence showing how military equipment and munitions of this kind were recently used by the Israeli forces for war crimes.

"Arms supplies in these circumstances are contrary to provisions in US law."

Asked about the the Wehr Elb, a Pentagon spokesperson confirmed to Amnesty International that "the unloading of the entire US munitions shipment was successfully completed at Ashdod [Israel] on 22 March'. The spokeperson said that the shipment was destined for a US pre-positioned ammunition stockpile in Israel. Under a US-Israel agreement, munitions from this stockpile may be transferred for Israeli use if necessary. Another US official told Amnesty International that they are reviewing Israel's use of U.S. weapons during the Gaza conflict to see if Israel complied with U.S. law, but no conclusion has yet been reached."

Brian Wood said:

'There is a great risk that the new munitions may be used by the Israeli military to commit further violations of international law, like the ones committed during the war in Gaza.

'We are urging all governments to impose an immediate and comprehensive suspension of arms to Israel and to all Palestinian armed groups, until there is no longer a substantial risk of serious human rights violations.'

The US was by far the largest supplier of weapons to Israel between 2004 and 2008. The US government is also due to provide $30 billion in military aid to Israel, despite the blatant misuse of weaponry and munitions in Gaza and Lebanon by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).

According to one US official, President Obama has no plans to cut the billions of dollars in military aid promised to Israel under a new 10-year contract agreed in 2007 by the Bush administration. This new contract is a 25 per cent increase compared to the last contract agreed by the previous US administration.

Amnesty International has reported in detail on suspected war crimes committed by the IDF and by Palestinian armed groups in Gaza. On 15 January, Amnesty International called on all governments to immediately suspend arms transfers to all parties to the Gaza conflict to prevent further violations being committed using munitions and other military equipment.

Background
The Wehr Elbe sailed from the US state of North Carolina on 20 December after collecting its large cargo of US munitions, initially bound for the port of Navipe-Astakos port on the west coast of Greece. Its transponder signal disappeared on 12 January when the vessel was sailing near Astakos and when the ship was unable to dock due to a protest by the Greek Stop the War Coalition. The vessel was then tracked as it passed through the port of Augusta, on the Italian island of Sicily, and then near Gibraltar in mid-February, before reappearing on 23 March en route from Ashdod to the Black Sea port of Odessa where it docked on 26 March in berth 7. Amnesty International is now aware that the vessel docked in Ashdod on 22 March and reportedly offloaded over 300 containers.

Amnesty International first drew attention to this arms ship's voyage on 15 January. The ship's charter, authorised by the Bush administration a week before the IDF launched their attack on Gaza, was to carry 989 shipping containers of 'containerized ammunition and other containerised ammunition supplies' from Sunny Point Military Ocean Terminal, North Carolina to Ashdod, as listed in the contract. US Military Sealift Command charters for a further two US munitions shipments from Navipe-Astakos (Greece) to Ashdod, which explicitly included white phosphorus munitions, were announced on 31 December during the Gaza conflict and then cancelled on 9 January, but a US military spokesperson subsequently confirmed that the Pentagon was still seeking a way to also deliver those munitions.

Section 502B of the US Foreign Assistance Act stipulates that "no security assistance may be provided to any country the government of which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights'. Section 4 of the Arms Export Control Act authorises the supply of US military equipment and training only for lawful purposes of internal security, "legitimate self-defence," or participation in United Nations peacekeeping operations or other operations consistent with the UN Charter. However, under the US Export Administration Act, security assistance may be provided if the President certifies that 'extraordinary circumstances' exist, so Section 502B is circumvented. The Leahy Law prohibits the USA from providing most forms of security assistance to any military or police unit when there is "credible evidence" that members of the unit are committing gross human rights violations.

Iraq in Fragments -- Dahr Jamail

Tweet Portion below; whole thing here: http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/6028

On Wednesday, March 25, Major General David Perkins of the U.S. military, referring to how often the U.S. military was being attacked in Iraq, told reporters in Baghdad, “Attacks are at their lowest since August 2003.” Perkins added, “There were 1,250 attacks a week at the height of the violence; now sometimes there are less than 100 a week.”

While his rhetoric made headlines in some U.S. mainstream media outlets, it was little consolation for the families of 28 Iraqis killed in attacks across Iraq the following day. Nor did it bring solace to the relatives of the 27 Iraqis slain in a March 23 suicide attack, or those who survived a bomb attack at a bus terminal in Baghdad on the same day that killed nine Iraqis.

Having recently returned from Iraq, I experienced living in Baghdad where people were dying violent deaths on a daily basis. Nearly every day of the month I spent there saw a car bomb attack somewhere in the capital city. Nearly every day the so-called Green Zone was mortared. Every day there were kidnappings. On good days there were four hours of electricity on the national grid, in a country now into its seventh year of being occupied by the U.S. military, and where there are now over 200,000 private contractors.

Upon returning home, I experienced the disconnect between that reality, lived by roughly 25 million Iraqis, and the surreal experience of living in the United States — where most media pretend the occupation of Iraq is either not happening, or uses the yardstick of decreased U.S. military personnel deaths in Iraq as a measure of success. In the words of Major General Perkins, “If you take a look at military deaths, which is an indicator of violence and lethality out there, U.S. combat deaths are at their lowest levels since the war began six years ago.” But it’s a less useful metric when one looks at the broader picture inside of Iraq: the ongoing daily slaughter of Iraqis, the near total lack of functional infrastructure, the fact that one in six Iraqis remains displaced from their homes, or that at least 1.2 million Iraqis have died as a result of the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of their country.

Seventy-two months of occupation, with over $607 billion spent on the war (by conservative estimates), has resulted in 2.2 million internally displaced Iraqis, 2.7 million refugees, 2,615 professors, scientists, and doctors killed in cold blood, and 338 dead journalists. Over $13 billion was misplaced by the current Iraqi government, and another $400 billion is required to rebuild the Iraqi infrastructure. Unemployment vacillates between 25-70%, depending on the month. There are 24 car bombs per month, 10,000 cases of cholera per year, 4,261 dead U.S. soldiers, and over 70,000 physically or psychologically wounded soldiers.

There’s no normal life in Baghdad. While it’s accurate and technically correct to say there is less violence compared to 2006, when between 100 and 300 Iraqis were slaughtered on a daily basis, Iraq resembles a police state more than ever. U.S. patrols consisting of huge, lumbering mine-resistant vehicles rumble down streets congested with traffic. It’s impossible to travel longer than five minutes without encountering an Iraqi military or police patrol — usually comprised of pickup trucks full of armed men, horns and/or sirens blaring. Begging women and children wander between cars at every intersection. U.S. military helicopters often rumble overhead, and the roar of fighter jets or transport planes is common. There’s no talk of reparations for Iraqis for the death, destruction and chaos caused by the occupation.

Neighborhoods, segregated between Sunni and Shia largely as a result of the so-called “surge” strategy, provide a blatant view of the balkanization of Iraq. Neighborhoods of 300,000 people are completely surrounded by 10-foot high concrete blast walls, rendering normal life impossible. The fear of a resurgence of violence weighs heavy on Iraqis, as the current so-called lull in violence feels tenuous, unstable, and possibly fleeting. Nobody there can predict the future, and to hope for a sustained improvement in any aspect of life feels naïve, even dangerous.