Debunking the nonsense about the upcoming "final" negotiations between the Israelis and their Palestinian puppets

According to the BBC:

"Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will aim to reach a "final status" agreement over the next nine months to end their long conflict, the US secretary of state has said. John Kerry said another meeting between the two sides would be held in either Israel or the Palestinian territories in the next two weeks. This, he said, would begin the process of formal negotiations.  Mr Kerry said "all issues" would be on the table for discussion.  "They are on the table with one simple goal: a view to ending the conflict, ending the claims."

Over the past 20 years we heard the same grand declarations over and over and over again.  Remember the Madrid Conference (1991)? The Oslo Accords (1993)? The Camp David Summit (2000)?  The Taba Summit (2001)? The Road Map For Peace (2002)? The Arab Peace Initiative (2002-2007)?  They *all* failed, none of them yielded any tangible result.  So why would anybody put any hope at all in the latest "final" talks?!  What, if anything, has changed recently?

Actually, something did change: the Palestinian leadership in essence committed a "strategic suicide" when it decided to side with the USA and Israel and against Syria, Iran and Hezbollah.  This betrayal of those who for years supported the Palestinian struggle at great cost for themselves will go down in history as an act of truly unparalleled infamy.  It was also just about the dumbest thing the Palestinians could have done.  Sure, siding with Saddam Hussein in 1991 was dumb enough, but to side with the US, Israel and the Gulf Fat Cats who have been financing the war against Syria will also go down in history as an act of truly unparalleled stupidity.

Abba Eban supposedly once said "the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity".   He might have been understating the problem.  It appears to me that the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to make the wrong choice and side with the wrong party.  As a result, all the current Palestinian organizations, with the notable exception of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine (IJMP), have now become puppets in the hands of the Zionists.  This is why the US is now feeling that the time has come to try to obtain some kind of "final agreement": the Palestinians have *already* comprehensively surrendered to the Zionists.

So what could happen at these negotiations?

Well, let's first look at what will not happen.  What will not happen is the creation of two states separated by the 1967 borders.  The main reason why this will not happen is not even that the Israelis have exactly *zero* incentive to make any concessions, the main reason why this will not happen is simply because it is impossible.  Physically impossible.  Impossible because the West Bank is not full of Israeli enclaves which have permeated it like metastasized cancer invades an organ.  No country can be made of many small parts separated by highways, concertina wires, many small walls and one big Wall.  At this point in time, the various chunks of territory which would be left to the Palestinians would not even be worthy of being called Bantustans.  You think I am exaggerating?  Check out this map and see for yourself:
 
But it's not just the Zionists metastasizes which make a Palestinian state impossible.  Even if the Jews withdrew from the West Bank (which they won't), they would give it exactly the same degree of "independence" as what they gave to Gaza: zero.  Didn't do them much good in Gaza,  but they would also attempt to "remote control" the West Bank from outside.

Furthermore, in order to reach a settlement, the two parties would have to engage in lengthy negotiations on each of the crucial points.  However, it is no great secret that you do never want to negotiate from a position of weakness.  And yet, once these negotiations will begin, the Palestinians will be negotiating not from a position of weakness, but from a position of irrelevance.  Yes, that's right.  The Palestinians have made themselves irrelevant.  Think for yourself: what kind of arguments could the Palestinians bring to the table?  What promise?  What concession?  What implied threat?  That's right: nothing.

At this point in time both Fatah and Hamas are de-facto controlled financially by the Gulf States and politically by the USA.  Worse, Abbas - who is supposed to represent the Palestinian people - has *zero* legitimacy (his mandate has long expired).  Egypt, which had the potential of being a crucial ally for the Palestinians is busy sliding into a civil war in which both sides are skillfully manipulated by the same Gulf States and the USA.  Kind Abdullah II of Jordan is a total US lackey and nobody in the wider Arab or Muslim world will do anything meaningful to help the Palestinians.  As for those who could have meaningfully support the Palestinians (Iran, Syria and Hezbollah), the Palestinians have back-stabbed them (I think of Hezbollah and Iranian trained Palestinian units fighting on the side of al-Qaeda/al-Nusra in Syria).

Sure, Iran and, to a lesser extend, Syria and Hezbollah will continue to provide some forms of help to the Palestinians, if only because they support the Palestinian people themselves.  I suppose that they will try to get most of that aid to the IJMP, but at least at this moment in time, the IJMP is too small and still too weak to really make a difference.  Besides, by virtue of not being a puppet of the US CIA the IJMP is also not an acceptable "partner" for any US sponsored "negotiations" (the Americans only negotiate with their own puppets, hence all the "pre-conditions" to any US sponsored/approved "negotiations").

So what will the upcoming "negotiations" be about?

They will be about how much Abbas can overtly give up without triggering an insurrection by his own people.  This is really crucial: as long as Abbas can pretend to be negotiating for some kind "final settlement" with the Israelis, and as long as the details of this final settlement remains amorphous, the Palestinian elites can continue pretending like there is something to be gained by negotiating.  But if Abbas openly and comprehensively caves in to Israeli demands, then the corrupt and wealthy elites of Ramallah and Nablus will risk facing a popular revolt.  So keeping up the fiction of negotiations is crucial to maintain the current Palestinian power structure in power.

What about the Israelis, what do they want?

Basically, they want all the land, just enough Palestinians to serve as a cheap work force (slaves), and enough Gulf money to pay the Palestinians to shut up and not cause any further trouble.  Most of that, they already have.  What they don't have and still want is some kind of international recognition and acceptance of the current situation: just like nobody seriously pesters US diplomats or businessmen with the fate of Native Americans (Indians), the Israelis don't want to be constantly pestered about the Palestinian issue.  What they want is just turn the page and let's get on with business as usual.

Needless to say, the Israelis probably understand that the Palestinian people will not just vanish into thin air with a "pop!" nor will they all agree to live in exile.  They probably suspect that by the time they realize that their own elites sold them out to the Israelis, there will be some kind of reaction, probably a violent one.  But when that happens, the Israelis will be able to wave the "final" agreements of 2013 or 2014 and say that "all parties", including "all" the Palestinian factions (except, o f course, for the ones labeled as "terrorists" such as the IJMP), the Quartet on the Middle-East, the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation had accepted this *final* agreement that there was nothing left to negotiate.  At which point they will unleash the usual Jewish bloodbath against the resisting Palestinians but, this time, with the blessing of the so-called "international community".  From the Israeli point of view, any "final" agreement will thus be a license to kill.

Again, it did not have to be that way.  Some Fatah factions and Hamas definitely had the potential of turning into a meaningful resistance against the Zionist occupation of Palestine.  Sadly, however, the Palestinians did it to themselves by their betrayal of the other members of the Resistance.  Now there will be A LOT of very bad "karma" to pay for that betrayal.

Does that mean that the future has not hope for the Palestinian people?  Maybe, but not necessarily.

The good news for the Palestinians is that their current "enemies" - Iran, Syria and Hezbollah - are going nowhere and, in fact, there is a very good chance that the Syrian government will prevail in the current war.  Such a "victory", even if relative, will immensely strengthen Syria and Hezbollah and it will further strengthen the international position of Iran and even Russia (though the Russians really don't care much about the Palestinians, their concern if far more for the Syrians and, even more so, for Iran).  Furthermore, sooner or later the Palestinian people will come to their senses and understand that they have been conned by their own elites and that their only real allies are Iran, Syria and Hezbollah.  If such a realization comes to them at a time when the US Empire will be even weaker than it is today and/or at a time when the al-Qaeda Wahabi-types will begin to seriously threaten the Gulf monarchies (say as a backlash to a lost war in Syria), there is a real change that a meaningful Palestinian resistance will begin to slowly reassemble itself, but around a different ideology (not the corrupt pseudo nationalism of Fatah or the reactionary Islamism of Hamas) and, of course, completely different leaders.  I don't know that this will happen, but I want to believe that this is still possible.

The other good news for the Palestinians is that the existence of a state based on a theocratic pseudo-democracy focused on an overtly racist world view with strong elements of self-worship is not just a Palestinian problem, or even a Middle-Eastern problem.  Its a world-wide problem.  Anybody doubting this should ask himself was a country whose nuclear deterrence policy is centered around the Sampson Option is working on increasing the range of its nuclear weapons far beyond the limits of the Middle-East.  The answer is self-evident: if the "Jewish state of Israel" should ever fall, it will take a maximal number of goyim with it.  And that is, of course, a planetary problem (I would also add that the very existence of an overtly racist state is also a disgrace for all of mankind).

Just like Wahhabism, Rabbinical Judaism (which should really be called Rabbinical Phariseism since all the modern forms of "Judaism" are really the direct descendant of the Sect of the Pharisees as described in the New Testament) and modern Zionism (which, unlike its historical early form, has now turned into a secular version of Phariseism) are religions based on hatred of the "other".  These are ideologies/worldviews which neatly breaks up all of mankind into two categories: the chosen ones and the hated ones.  The Wahabis see themselves as the only real Muslims and everybody else, including all other non-Wahabi Muslims, as Kufar (unbelievers) while Pharisees see themselves as the only "humans" and everybody else as semi-beasts with a hatred for Jews deeply embedded in their DNA (that is their cop-out explanation for what they call "Antisemitism").  The Wahabis want to kill all the "others" while the Pharisees want to subjugate them all and, I kid you not, even "fix" creation.

Now, not to sound like Dubya, but I would strongly suggest that no form of peaceful coexistence is possible with these two ideologies.  Remember, we are dealing with folks who sincerely believe that they have a God-ordained mission to either convert all of mankind or subjugate it.  Departing from such a mission is, in the minds of these people, a form of apostasy and both religions consider apostasy as a capital crime.  Therefore, this combination of 1) a "mandate from God Himself" and 2) a mission to transform all of mankind by logical necessity creates what can only be considered as an existential threat for all of mankind.  Simply put: regardless of what "we" (all other "others) do or do not do, these folks (the Wahabis and the Pharisees) will not leave us alone.  Ever.

As long as these sick ideologies were confined to a small section of the Arabian desert or a few small shtetls in Eastern Europe their existence was really no big deal.  I mean - really - how many evil crackpots and sick ideologies has this planet seen since the dawn of mankind?  Lots! And most of them remained within very local confines and only affected their immediate vicinity.  In our case, however, we have to add a third component which make both Wahabism and Rabbinical Phariseism such existential threats to the rest of mankind: both of these ideologies have now metastasized  far beyond their initial confines and they now have an undeniable world-wide reach.  Of course, this was unfortunately made possible by the crucial role of the United States which saw both of these forces as playing a crucial, albeit different, role in its plans for global domination of the planet.

What all this means for the Palestinians is that pretty much regardless of what they will do, their enemy - the Zionists - is literally constantly generating its own antithesis (in a dialectical sense) in a never-ending process: the more powerful the Zionists become, the more powerful the resistance against them becomes (and herein, of course, lies to real cause of "Antisemitism" in human history).  It might take a long time, but sooner or later mankind will firmly and resolutely "push-back" against this evil.  And both Islam and Christianity teach that when eventually some form of evil (we do not know for sure which form this will be, a current one or a yet unknown one) will succeed in subduing the entire planet, then Christ Himself will return to save mankind.

Whatever may be the case, the Zionist regime which is currently "occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time" (to quote Ayatollah Khomeini) and will be replaced by some kind of non-racist state of its citizens.  In other words, the liberation of Palestine is inevitable.  The problem is that as a consequence of the Palestinian betrayal of the Resistance this might take much, much longer that one could have hoped for.

For the time being all what we will see is this: in the short term  US-sponsored pseudo-negotiations to formally legalize all the illegal land grab made by the Zionists in Palestine and in the longer term the granting to the Zionists of a license to kill anybody opposed to this legalization.  That's it.  And if even that fails, the Israelis will yet again have an opportunity to say that they made some great offers which the Palestinians refused.  That too is a license to kill.

The much advertised "final status" is really a "final solution".  Everybody knows it, but nobody dares to openly say it.

The Saker

Syria - Israel Is Losing the Battle

By Gilad Atzmon for Information Clearing House
  
In the last week we have been following British and French’s desperate attempts to push for a military intervention in Syria. It is far from being a secret that both British and French government are dominated by the Jewish Lobby. In Britain it is the ultra Zionist CFI (Conservative Friends of Israel) - apparently 80% of Britain’s conservative MPs are members of the pro Israeli Lobby. In France the situation is even more devastating, the entire political system is hijacked by the forceful CRIF.

But in case anyone fails to grasp why the Jewish Lobby is pushing for an immediate intervention, Debka, an Israeli news outlet provides the answer. Seemingly, the Syrian army is winning on all fronts. Israel’s military and geo-political calculations are proved to be wrong.

According to Debka, “the battle for Damascus is over”. The Syrian army had virtually “regained control of the city in an epic victory”. The rebels, largely mercenaries, have lost the battle they “can’t do much more than fire sporadically. They can no longer launch raids, or pose threats to the city centre, the airport or the big Syrian air base nearby. The Russian and Iranian transports constantly bringing replenishments for keeping the Syrian army fighting can again land at Damascus airport after months of rebel siege.”

But it isn’t just the capital. Debka reports that “Hezbollah and Syrian units have tightened their siege on the rebels holding out in the northern sector of al Qusayr; other (Syrian army) units have completed their takeover of the countryside around the town of Hama; and a third combined Syrian-Hizballah force has taken up positions around Aleppo.”

Debka maintains that senior IDF officers criticized the Israeli defense minister (Moshe Ya'alon) who “mislead” the Knesset a few days ago estimating that “Bashar Assad controlled only 40% of Syrian territory.” Debka suggests that Israeli defense Minister drawn on a “flawed intelligence assessment and were concerned that the armed forces were acting on the basis of inaccurate intelligence.” Debka stresses, “erroneous assessments… must lead to faulty decision-making.”

Debka is clearly brave enough to admit that Israeli military miscalculations may have lead to disastrous consequences. It reports, “the massive Israeli bombardment of Iranian weapons stored near Damascus for Hezbollah, turned out a month later to have done more harm than good. It gave Bashar Assad a boost instead of weakening his resolve.”

Debka is obviously correct. It doesn’t take a genius to predict that an Israeli attack on an Arab land cannot be accepted by the Arab masses, not even by Assad’s bitterest Arab opponents.

Debka maintains that the “intelligence focus on military movements in Syria especially around Damascus to ascertain that advanced missiles and chemical weapons don’t reach Hezbollah laid to a failure of in detecting major movement by Hezbollah militia units towards the Syrian-Israeli border.”

Israel is now facing a new reality. It is facing Hezbollah reinforcements streaming in from Lebanon towards the Golan heights and its border with Syria.

Israel, Debka concludes, will soon find itself “face to face for the first time with Hezbollah units equipped with heavy arms and missiles on the move along the Syrian-Israeli border and manning positions opposite Israel’s Golan outposts and villages.”

Debka is correct to suggest that instead of “growing weaker, Iran’s Lebanese proxy is poised to open another warfront and force the IDF to adapt to a new military challenge from the Syrian Golan.”

Rather than The Gurdian or the Le Monde, it is actually the Israeli Debka that helps us to grasp why Britain and France are so desperate to intervene. Once again, it is a Zionist war which they are so eager to fight.

Sadly enough, it isn’t The Guardian or The New York Times that is there to reveal the latest development in Syria and expose Israeli lethal miscalculations. It is actually a ‘Zionist’ Israeli patriotic outlet that is providing the good. I actually believe that this form of harsh self-criticism that is embedded in Israeli culture, is the means that sustains Israeli regional hegemony, at least monetarily. This ability to critically examine and disapprove your own leadership is something I fail to encounter in Western media. Seemingly, the media in Israel is far more tolerant toward criticism than the Zionist dominated Media in the West.

Gilad Atzmon’s latest book is: The Wandering Who? A Study of Jewish Identity Politics - http://www.gilad.co.uk/

Syrian government statement in response to Israeli the airstrikes

The Syrian Information Minister, Omran al-Zoabi, reads a statement by the Council of Ministers (the Syrian Cabinet), in which he directly links Israel to the Takfiri Islamist mercenaries fighting in Syria to topple the Syrian government.

I think that this is a very good reaction: its make the US/NATO and Israelis pay the maximal political price for that aggression by using the Israeli attack as a proof that the Zionists and the Wahabis are working hand in hand, while refusing to take the bait and reply to the provocation by military means while leaving all options on the table.

So far so good - the Syrians are taking the correct stance.

The Saker
 

Anonymous declares war on Israel

Comment:  I don't think that Anonymous has the means to seriously hurt Israel, but the real effect of this operation is a PR disaster for Israel: Israel is denounced as a villain (which, of course, it is) while the world public opinion is shown as disgusted by Israel (which, of course, it is). And that, in itself, is fantastic.  Anonymous simply ignores the fact that most of the planet is run by US puppets and Anonymous ignores the corporate media.  It claims to speak for "the people" as opposed to the Establishment, and the message is clear: "Israel, the people see you for what you are, and we will fight you with all we have".

Symbols are very important, and this action, even if primarily symbolic, is very timely, needed and just.

The Saker

Another flase flag in Bulgaria?

Somebody blew up an Israeli bus in Bulgaria, and Netanyahu immediately blames Iran and add the following threat: "All the signs lead to Iran. Israel will respond forcefully to Iranian terror".

Sure comes at a good time for the Israeli regime.

Another false flag?

Azerbaijan: The High Cost of Protection

by Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich

A 2009 U.S. embassy political dispatch compared Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to a mafia crime boss. An apt comparison given that Aliyev and the Azeri political elite have been living under the protection of the Capo Crimini – Israel. The protection does not come cheap; and the manufacture of the recent lie -- the arrest of 22 Azerbaijani citizen allegedly “trained in Iran” to carry out terrorist acts against the U.S. and Israel, is the latest protection payment.

Capo Crimini’s protection is noteworthy. Aliyev, a corrupt dictator who came to power through election fraud in 2003, managed to make his rounds in Washington in 2006, including a private meeting with President Bush, thanks to the full weight of the Israeli lobby in Washington. The promotion of the Azeri cause in Washington by the Israeli lobby (which included lobbying against Armenians), reinforced the notion that “the way to Washington leads through Jerusalem” i while benefitting various players - to the detriment of some others.

Although much of Israel’s oil comes from Azerbaijan, Israel was more interested in the control of the oil. With this in mind, despite the fact that oil companies in the Caspian region favored the much shorter and cheaper oil pipeline that would transit Iran, Israel relentlessly pushed for the alternate, more expensive and impractical Baku-Tblisi-Cehan pipeline which pipeline had over 1000 miles of it going through mountainous territory bypassing Russia and Armenia. This expensive venture also served to send the message to Turkey that alliance with Israel pays off.

Lord Browne, former chief executive of BP, was quoted as saying that the whole scheme was launched in the interest of Israelii. Brenda Shafffer who was instrumental in promoting the pipeline, put it this way: “There's growing demand in Asia. If Israel is clever about it, it could market this not only commercially but also politically in a way that could improve regional security and stability." (JTA, NY, Oct 21, 2005). Shaffer is also of the opinion that Caspian oil (specifically non-OPEC members Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan) makes Saudi Arabia and the OPEC cartel nervous because they do not coordinate their policies with the cartel.

These plans were made possible thanks to the aftermath of September 11. 9/11 changed everything – as a leading Azeri foreign policy specialist opined: "But the situation changed after Sept. 11, with American presence in Central Asia, Georgia and Azerbaijan," he explains. "Our being under the shadow of America means Russia and Iran will not meddle. We are able to be more courageous." (Greene, Richard Allen. Jewish Telegraphic Agency. New York:Apr 29, 2002. p. 4)

More courageous, perhaps but the newfound courage lacks rationale and the needs of the people of Azerbaijan have been neglected. Asim Mollazadeh, first Chairperson of the Party for Democratic Reforms prominent Azeri opposition candidate, states that Azerbaijan receives only 10 percent of oil loyalties. He argues that with 42 percent of the country living below poverty lines, the oil income does not trickle downiii. A heavy price to pay for Washington to feign welcome to the Azeri dictator.

In 2002, JTA reported that Israel's ambassador to Azerbaijan had a favorite local joke: "Are you Jewish? No, I just look intelligent." (JTA Apr 29, 2002). Insulting as the joke may be, inarguably, actions which alienate the Russians, compete with Saudis, and magically pull “22 Iran-linked terrorists” out of a hat do not ‘look intelligent’.

Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich has a Master’s degree in Public Diplomacy from USC Annenberg for Communication and Journalism and USC School of International Relations. She is an independent researcher and writer with a focus on U.S. foreign policy and the role of lobby groups in influencing US foreign policy.
-----
i Netty C. Gross; “The Azeri Triangle”, The Jerusalem Post, July 10, 2006, p. 24
ii Cited by Andrew l. Killgore, “Ideology Trumps Economic Efficiency, as The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline Opens”, The Washington Report on Middle East Affair, Aug 2005, Vol. 24, iss. 6, p.32
iii Netty C. Gross; “The Azeri Triangle”

Israel's Latest Ritual Slaughter

By Stephen Lendman for Information Clearing House

Four days of Israeli terror bombing left at least 25 Palestinians dead and dozens injured, some seriously. Human rights groups expressed outrage. So did Arab League states, Iran, Turkey, and Malaysia.

Israel's UN envoy Ron Prosor wants the Security Council to condemn Palestinian victims. Like Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, his audacity gives chutzpah new meaning.

On March 12, Egypt's lower parliamentary house unanimously approved a text declaring Israel Egypt's number one enemy. It called for expelling its ambassador, halting gas exports at below market prices, and reevaluating its 1978 peace treaty. It followed the 1978 Camp David Accords.

Its text said:

"Revolutionary Egypt will never be a friend, partner or ally of the Zionist entity, which we consider to be the number one enemy of Egypt and the Arab nation."

"It will deal with that entity as an enemy, and the Egyptian government is hereby called upon to review all its relations and accords with that enemy."

No Israeli comment followed.
 

Four days of Israeli terror bombings were unprovoked. Assassinating Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) head Zuhir al-Qaisi and PRC member Mahmoud Hanani began them. Both men died when two IDF missiles struck their car.

Gazan resistance groups launched Grad missiles, home-made rockets, and mortar shells defensively in response. Israel and Washington pointed fingers the wrong way. Absolving Israeli crimes takes precedence.

Naked aggression's called self-defense. Resistance freedom fighting is called terrorism. Facts on the ground are inverted. Whatever Israel does it right. Legitimate Palestinian responses aren't tolerated. Victims get no rights.

Israel's bloodstained history reflects decades of ritual slaughter and targeted killings. The latest incident shows what Palestinians endure regularly, including from media scoundrels ignoring their suffering and denouncing them.

Usually, Haaretz produces responsible journalism. Not on March 13. An editorial headlined, "War in Israel's south will not defeat Gaza terror," asking:

Was killing al-Qaisi worth "disruption....economic damage, (and) danger of plunging into a military ground operation in Gaza?"

Unasked was how targeted killings are ever justifiable. Haaretz approves against alleged "ticking bomb(s)." By whose standard when no evidence linked al-Qaisi to past or claimed planned attacks. Saying so isn't proof. Israel never supplies it. Why is clear. There's none, but Haaretz didn't explain or denounce premeditated murder.

Instead, it sided with southern Israelis living under threat of Gazan rockets. They're used defensively in response to Israeli attacks. International law permits it.

"The war in the south must end immediately. It will not defeat terror nor reduce the Gaza threat." Nor will Cast Lead II. Sensibly the editorial ended saying negotiations, not violence, produces solutions.

But how can Palestinians negotiate in good faith without a willing partner! For decades, Israel chose violence, not peace or honest diplomacy. Relations with Netanyahu's like dealing with a snake. It's futile, toxic and dangerous. He proves it by committing cold-blooded murder, claiming self-defense.

A same day Haaretz article was just as shameless, headlined, "TIMELINE/A breakdown of number of Gaza rockets fired at Israel over past year."

Enumerating numbers fired by month from January 2011 through the latest March confrontation, it listed 200 this month alone. Gazans were blamed, not IDF belligerents. Unexplained was that Palestinians respond defensively to Israeli aggression.

Instead, the blame game shamelessly named victims. It also ignored their decades long liberation struggle against lawless, repressive occupation, and for Gazans years of suffocating siege.

Moreover, as Btselem documents, Palestinian rockets killed only 19 Israeli civilians from June 2004 through September 2011. In contrast, from September 29, 2000 through December 26, 2008, Israeli forces killed 4,788 Palestinians. Israeli settlers killed 45 more.

Cast Lead killed over 1,400 Gazans in three weeks, mostly civilians. Only five IDF soldiers died in the conflict, no civilians. Since Cast Lead ended in January 2009, Israeli forces killed another 300 Palestinians. Settlers killed five more. Palestinians killed 15 Israelis.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) said Israeli drone attacks killed 825 Palestinians, mostly civilians, from June 2006 through October 2011. PCHR deputy director Hamdi Shaqqura said:

“For us, drones mean death....When you hear drones, you hear death,” and know it’s coming.

Haaretz omitted this balance sheet from its equation.

Notably, hundreds of Israelis die annually from traffic related accidents. In 2008, it was nearly 450, in 2011, almost 400. Deaths at the hands of Palestinians pale by comparison.

Haaretz's article was cruel and deceptive. It distorted facts in portraying an entirely one-sided picture. Gazans are wrongfully called terrorists. They're human beings suffering horrifically from lawless Israeli oppression. It's not typical Haaretz style. For US major media scoundrels, it's de rigueur.

Hopefully today's report and opinion prove aberrant. Hopefully those producing them learn from their mistakes. Haaretz features wonderful writers like Gideon Levy and Amira Hass. They consistently offer responsible journalism. America's major print media have none like them. If any tried, they'd be fired. Only scoundrels need apply.

It shows up daily in reports like The New York Times headlining, "As Rockets Fly, New Conditions Shape Fight in Gaza," saying:

Ahead of an Egyptian-brokered truce, Israeli airstrikes continue and Palestinian "militants' rockets (are reaching farther into Israel." IDF head Gen. Benny Gantz was cited, saying Palestinian violence will require another Cast Lead type operation. Israeli finance minister Yuval Steinitz said eventually Israel will have to do a "root canal."

In other words, victims, not perpetrators, deserve blame. Times writers play the same game. Right and wrong are reversed. Aggression's called self-defense. Legitimate responses are terrorism. Israel's point of view alone matters. It's typical Times journalism, betraying their readers through lies, deception, and willful misreporting.

The same article falsely suggested Iran's an existential threat. Serial liars don't quit. It's habit forming. Too many people believe it. It lets Israel and America get away with murder.

Complicit media scoundrels facilitate it. So does scurrilous UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon. He condemned Palestinian self-defense as "unacceptable," while urging Israel to "exercise maximum restraint."

Hillary Clinton expressed Washington's official response, "condemn(ing) Gazan victims "in the strongest terms" while urging "all sides...to make every effort to restore calm."

In other words, killing Palestinians is OK. Responding to premeditated aggression defensively is terrorism. Views like that secure scurrilous reprobates like her and Ban top jobs. Denouncing Israeli lawlessness assures rebukes.

America and Israel have "shared values." None support right over wrong. One wonders what's next.

A Final Comment

After an agreed truce, Israeli forces attacked a funeral procession east of Gaza City. Three Palestinians were injured. Medical spokesman Adham Abu Salmiyah said soldiers fired indiscriminately at mourners. Wounded victims were taken to al-Shifa Hospital.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said soldiers "operating along the security fence identified around 50 Palestinians gathered and in accordance with army procedures fired warning shots."

Some warning! Soldiers fired directly at nonviolent Palestinians threatening no one. It's "in accordance with army procedures!"

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Israel-US Relations: Blockhead and the Judge?

by Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich

An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind. - Buddha

America’s relations with Israel has always been explained by politicians on both sides as ‘friendship’. Today, more than any other time in the course of their ‘friendship’, this relationship brings to mind the story of “Blockhead and the Judge”.

According to English folklore, Blockhead complained to the Judge of being annoyed with flies. The Judge granted Blockhead permission to strike them wherever he saw them. Observing a big fly on the judge's nose, Blockhead delivered a powerful blow with his fist, smashing the fly – and the Judge’s nose.

Israel, annoyed at Iran’s refusal to abrogate its rights granted under international law and treaties, and for resisting injustice, has demanded that the United States not only impose crippling sanctions on Iran, but place an embargo on Iran’s crude oil. America’s compliance with such irrational and harsh demands has in turn raised the prospect of retaliation which could halt the flow of oil from the Strait of Hormuz, depriving the world of an estimated 35% of its total oil needs.

As Ted Koppel wrote rather candidly in the New York Times (February 24, 2006) “Keeping oil flowing out of the Persian Gulf and through the Strait of Hormuz has been the bedrock of American foreign policy for more than half a century."ⁱ In complying with Israel’s wishes, not only has America acted contrary to its long-standing foreign policy, violated international treaties, but it has also inflicted harm on its national interest by creating a shortage which has sent gas prices skyrocketing setting back the economy.

A March, 2012 Gallup Poll is indicative of the dire effects of this decision on the US economy. The poll shows that 85% of Americans want the President and Congress to “take immediate actions to try to control the rising price of gas." Ironically, it is the President and Congress, hedged on by Israel and its lobbies in the U.S. that have caused the gas price increase.

A simple equation determines the price of oil: supply and demand (granted, at times other variables factor in such as speculators, specifically at times of political crisis, and oil refinery related issues, bearing in mind that much of the oil refineries in America and elsewhere are Israeli owned – see footnote¹). There is ample empirical evidence pointing to price increases whenever oil supplies are disrupted.

The Iranian revolution and the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war is estimated to have cost the US a total of $355 billion in higher oil prices (T. Stauffer, 2003)ⁱⁱ. The oil strikes leading up to the 1978-79 Iranian revolution reduced Iranian oil production by 3.8 million barrels per day for 3 months. Although outside production increased by 1.8 million barrels to make up for the loss, the net loss to the world was 150 million barrels of oil, this fact alone had a compounding result which resulted in a net loss to U.S. economy of an estimated billions of dollars in 1979 and 1980 (Deese & Nye 1981)ⁱⁱⁱ. It is crucial to note that in this period China was a net exporter oil and became a net importer in 1993.

Ignoring such statistics, they have placed an oil embargo which without a doubt will have far graver repercussions than those periods. This dire situation is of no concern to the Israelis – thanks to America having “their back”. The burden is America’s due to the renewable 1975 15-year Memorandum of Understanding it signed with Israel which costs American taxpayers billions of dollars a year in oil subsidies.

Point (b) of Annex to the MoU stipulates:

“If the oil Israel needs to meet all of its normal requirements for domestic consumption is unavailable for purchase in circumstances where quantitative restrictions through embargo or otherwise also prevent the United States from procuring oil to meet its normal requirements, the ^ivUnited States Government will promptly make oil available for purchase by Israel in accordance with the International Energy Agency conservation and allocation formula, as applied by the United States Government, in order to meet Israel's essential requirements. If Israel is unable to secure the necessary means to transport such oil to Israel, the United States Government will make every effort to help Israel secure the necessary means of transport.”

The 85% Americans who demand “immediate action” from Congress and the President, should remind the government of the 2008 research developed by economists Dean DeRosa and Gary Hufbauer which makes a clear case for the United States to lift sanctions on Iran, arguing that the this would drop the world price of oil by 10 percent, translating into an annual savings of $38-76 billion for the United States.

As Americans are being crushed under the weight of sanctions and oil embargo, in demanding action from the government, they should bear in mind that Israel is no friend, and Iran is no fly.

Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich has a Master’s degree in Public Diplomacy from USC Annenberg for Communication and Journalism and USC School of International Relations.  She is  an independent researcher and writer with a focus on U.S. foreign policy and the role of lobby groups in influencing US foreign policy. 

1 Some recent examples of Israeli oil refinery takeovers include a 2006 takeover - Alon USA Energy Inc. gained a foothold in California 's lucrative gasoline market Monday, announcing plans to buy Paramount Petroleum Corp. and Edgington Oil Co.” (Alon Buys 2 Refiners in State: Elizabeth Douglass.  Los Angeles Times.  Los Angeles, Calif.:May 2, 2006.  p. C.8,

2008- Alon Israel Oil had multiple transactions resulting in acquisition of 100,000 shares of stock. The company now owns 36.07 million shares of stock directly” (US Fed News Service, Including US State News. Washington, D.C.: Sep 3, 2008).

i Cited in “Resource Wars”, William K Tabb.  Monthly Review.  New York:Jan 2007.  Vol. 58,  Iss. 8,  p. 32-42

ii Thomas R. Stauffer, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, June 2003, pages 20-23

http://www.wrmea.com/archives/june2003/0306020.html

iii Deese, David A. and Joseph S. Nye, ed. Energy and Security. Cambridge: Balllinger Publishing Co.: 1981.

Israel creates a super PAC to attack Ron Paul

Voting with matches in Egypt

Today, some Egyptians voted with bulletins, other voted with matches, but the message was the same, no doubt.

They Better Run For Their Lives

by Gilad Atzmon

I have been monitoring the Hebrew press for the last three days and it is increasingly obvious to me and others, that no one out there, including Israeli top analysts, understands where the current escalation is leading.

However, a few things are becoming clear:

1. The so-called ‘Jewish spring’, known also as the Israeli ‘tents protest’, has been easily dismantled. The Israelis seems to be far more enthusiastic about wars than social justice. The naïve thinkers who believed that Israel was heading toward a 'social revolution' will have to eat their words once again.

2. The nature of the clash in the Egyptian border is far from being clear; yet, it is obvious that the IDF was caught unprepared. In reality, Eilat, the Israeli southern tourist resort, is in immanent danger of being cut off from the rest of the country. Israel, so it seems, doesn’t have the military answers to such a scenario.

3. The Israeli ‘Iron Dome’ anti missile system cannot provide the answers to the Palestinian's growing ballistic capability. It manages to intercept some missiles, but most missiles reach their destinations.

4. In spite of a further deterioration in its military power of deterrence, Israel is reluctant to deploy large forces into Gaza. Needles to mention that this is good news.

A few explanations for that reluctance are as follows:

A. Israel doesn’t possess the military means to impose a change in Gaza.

B. Israel is aware of the damage a ground operation may inflict on its public image.

C. Considering the volatile situation in the Middle East and in Egypt, any Israeli operation could easily lead to mass protest that would erase what is left of American interests in the region. Consequently, Israel holds back and swallows the bitter pill.

D. Israel also comes to realise that its security is dependent on Hamas’ strength. Thus, it prefers to negotiate a truce, hoping that the Hamas would become ‘Palestinian Authority number 2’. Israel still fails to grasp that resilience is an inherent reaction to oppression.

Conclusion

The sum of 1-4 may well prove to be devastating for the Israelis. There is no prospect of a future for the Jewish State in the region. Israel’s military might is proving to be dysfunctional, and unable to suitably deal with the conflict and its nature.

All those aeroplanes, tanks and nuclear bombs, increasingly, appear as futile.

In fact, there is not much that Israelis can do for themselves unless they, once and for all, attempt to grasp the true meaning of peace and reconciliation. Otherwise Israelis better run for their lives.

More and more of them are doing that, just as I did many years ago.

Israeli Geography 101 by David Rovics

Morderchai Vanunu wants his Israeli citizenship revoked

The Israeli Committee for

A Middle East Free of

Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Arms

Press release, May 7, 2011

Morderchai Vanunu demands to apply a recently passed law and revoke his Israeli citizenship. "I have no interest in Israeli citienship, I don’t want to go on living here".

To Mr. Eli Yishai, Minister of the Interior, 2 Kaplan Street, Hakirya, Jerusalem

Re: Revocation of Citizenship

I am Mordechai Vanunu, who was kidnapped in Rome on September 30, 1986, by the security services of Israel.

I was tried by the Jerusalem District Court, convicted of espionage, treason and assistance to the enemy and sentenced to 18 years imprisonment, following a newspaper interview to the London "Sunday Times" where I told of the production of materials for nuclear arms in Israel.

I have enacted the democratic principle of the public's right to know.

I have spent 18 years at the Ashkelon Prison, mostly under conditions of complete isolation. On April 21, 2004 I was released, under severe restrictions.

Seven years have passed and the restrictions are renewed again and again, every year, on the basis of the 1945 Defense (Emergency) Regulations. Now these restrictions are about to be renewed for yet another year.

Since my release I lived for six years in East Jerusalem. Since September 2010 I have lived in Tel Aviv.

On June 1986 I have converted to Anglican Christianity.　

Recently, the Knesset passed a law authorizing the revocation of Israeli citizenship for those convicted of espionage and treason.

For 25 years I am waiting and demanding the restoration of my complete freedom.

I am asking the State of Israel to revoke my citizenship.

This wish for revocation of citizenship is neither new nor recent.

Now, however, it is supported by the new Citizenship Revocation Law, passed on March 28, 2011.

I am asking and expecting that this law be enforced to the letter, and that my citizenship be revoked here and now, under the spirit of the law.

I have no other citizenship, but I can easily get one, even during my enforced sojourn in Israel, and certainly if I leave the country.

After the treatment and "care" which I got from this country and its citizens, I cannot feel myself a wanted citizen here.

In the Israeli media and on the Israeli streets I am called "The Atomic Spy" and "A traitor", harassed and persecuted as an Enemy of the State for 25 years.

I feel myself still imprisoned, still a prisoner of war and a hostage, held by the state and the government.

After 25 years of getting various harsh penalties from the state, I would like to see an end to punishments and the realization of my basic human right to freedom.

I wish to exercise my right to the Freedom of Conscience and the Freedom of Choice, by choosing not to be a citizen of Israel.

I have no interest in Israeli citizenship, I do not want to live here.

I ask that you revoke my citizenship here and now.

I request that you set me free of Israel, since Israel does not want me nor do I want Israel.

All that I knew I told, already in 1986, to the English newspaper. I have no further confidential information.

The time has come to let me leave Israel, after 25 years of imprisonment, a full quarter of a century!

Mordechai Vanunu

(c/o Att. Avigdor Feldman, 10 Huberman Street, Tel Aviv)

Copies: The President, Prime Minister, Defense Minister, Foreign Minister and Justice Minister.

http://www.youtube.com/user/vanunuvmjc?feature=mhum

http://www.vanunu.com/

Facebook: Vanunu Mordechai.

Email: vanunuvmjc@gmail.com

Mobile: +972 (0) 523744569.

BDS 2010: More powerful than the sword

Boycott Divestment and Sanctions is a two-edged sword, bringing relief to starving Gazans, and starvation to the occupier, discovers Eric Walberg

It was two years ago today, 27 December, that Israel launched its invasion of Gaza, carrying out 22 days of murder and mayhem, killing 1400 and leaving 5400 civilians crippled for life. Since then it has continued to besiege the 1.5 million Gazans, causing hundreds more unnecessary deaths. Its actions were deemed war crimes by the UN Goldstone Report.

Israel remains unpunished, hiding behind the skirts of its US lobbyists, who put unremitting pressure on every single congressman, senator and the president to prevent any condemnation of its crimes.

But its attempt to cow the Palestinians have failed. What Israel has succeeding in doing is to confirm beyond a doubt, for millions around the world, its inhuman, racist agenda.

The past two years have witnessed an awakening of world citizens to the plight of the brave Gazans. There have been more than a dozen convoys and flotillas, including Free Gaza boats that broke the siege five times, the Gaza Freedom March, the Gaza Freedom Flotilla — people of all faiths and nationalities risking life and limb to bring Gazans emergency help.

The latest, the “Asia to Gaza Solidarity Caravan”, the first from south of the equator, represents 18 countries. It reached Turkey last week having started in India, and passing through Pakistan and Iran. It timed its peaceful “invasion” of Gaza to coincide with the anniversary of Israel’s day of infamy.

These efforts to bring relief to suffering Gazans are essential but far from enough. They can be conceived of the positive tactics in a peaceful war by the Palestinians and all people of good will against apartheid Israel. This war goes by the name Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS). The war aims are to penalise Israel both politically and economically to end the siege and make a just peace with the Palestinians.

Politically BDS has coaxed more and more governments to legitimise Palestine, even going as far as to delegitimise an apartheid Israel. Important steps include:

-Venezuela and Bolivia cutting diplomatic relations with Israel in 2009 after the invasion of Gaza, Nicaragua after the attack on the Freedom Flotilla in May 2010.
-Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay recognising a “free and independent” Palestine with 1967 borders in 2010, with Paraguay to follow suit in the spring.
-Norway and Britain upgrading their Palestinian Authority representative to consul, with the new year promising more European countries to follow suit.
-Edinburgh city council rejecting a bid by French company Veolia to take over public services due to its complicity with Israeli crimes.
-also in Scotland, Stirling city council approving a comprehensive boycott campaign against Israel’s “open aggression and disregard for international law.”
-Marrickville, Australia, a sister city to Bethlehem since 2007, recently voting to support a comprehensive BDS campaign.

Israel besieges Gaza. BDS calls on the world to “besiege the siege”, to starve Israel of its export and import markets and pressure it to make a just peace with its captives. There were many victories on this economic front in 2010 too. Examples include:

-Qatar cutting its trade relations with Israel.
-deals cancelled with Turkey, the UK, Egypt and Gulf States.
-a Turkish company demanding that Israeli companies sign a document condemning the Israeli massacre in Gaza to continue doing business. Israeli businessmen in Turkey now have to hide their identity.
-Japan’s MUJI abandoning plans to invest in Israel, facing immense pressure from citizens in Japan and South Korea.
- European Union guidelines requiring supermarkets to mark the origin of produce on labels to allow consumers to distinguish between Palestinian, Israeli and settlement produce.
-Dutch pension fund PFZW disposing of the Israeli companies in its portfolio. Major Swedish and Norwegian investment funds sold their shares in all Israeli companies involved in building settlements and the separation wall.
-the Chilean parliament’s decision to adopt a boycott of Israeli products made in settlements.
-the decision by companies such as Multilock to close their West Bank businesses because of human rights organisation pressure.

Dozens of BDS groups around the world, including in the US, are singing, dancing and otherwise demonstrating in front of and inside stores selling Israeli products, urging management and customers to join the boycott.

But the biggest impact on Israel, ironically, has come from the beleaguered Palestinians themselves. The Palestinian Authority (PA) has made it illegal for anything produced in settlements to be sold in Palestinian stores. The West Bank market is worth around $200 million a year to Israeli businesses, with some settlement factories selling up to 30 per cent of their output to the Palestinian market. Seventeen factories in Mishor Adumim, a large industrial estate between East Jerusalem and Jericho, closed as a direct result of the PA boycott.

As 22,000 Palestinians are employed by settlement businesses, the PA has established a $50 million fund to both discourage Palestinians from working in the settlements and help those who lose their jobs due to BDS successes.

While Israel’s economic media passes no judgment on Israel’s political and moral failings, BDS is forcing it to wake up. The Marker warned about the growing boycott of Israeli high-tech companies by European and US companies which find they cannot invest in Israel for moral reasons. Nehemia Strassler, Israel’s leading economic analyst, attacked Israeli Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor Eli Yishai, for calling on the military to “destroy one hundred homes in Gaza for every rocket that falls in Israel”.

“The operation in Gaza hurts the economy. The horror sights on television and the words of politicians in Europe and Turkey change the behavior of consumers, businessmen and potential investors. Many European consumers boycott Israeli products in practice. Intellectuals call for an economic war against us and to enforce an official and full consumer boycott.”

The world is changing before our eyes. Five years ago the anti-Israel movement was limited to the far left or Arabs and Muslims. Now the campaign is entering the mainstream as a principled red and green -- leftwing and Muslim -- alliance

The boycott is an especially effective weapon against Israel because Israel is a small country, dependent on exports and imports. BDS was the key to ending the apartheid regime in South Africa and is fuelling world citizens with energy to do the same to Israeli apartheid.

And it is all thanks to Israel’s Operation Cast Lead, which let the world watch Israel pound Gaza with bombs on live television. Israeli-American artist Theordore Bikel, a recent convert to BDS, points to the legendary Pablo Casals, who refused to play in fascist Spain, saying, “My cello is my weapon; I choose where I play, when I play, and before whom I play.” There are many weapons mightier than the sword.
***
Eric Walberg writes for Al-Ahram Weekly http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/ You can reach him at http://ericwalberg.com/

“Israeli” Espionage Saga - Discoveries are actually evidence that "Israel" has gone to the extent of building an autonomous network on Lebanese territory

Exclusive to moqawama.org By Mariam Saleh



Lebanon has been under the outrage of continued reports of "Israeli" spying equipment and agents being found on its land. Lately, the Lebanese Army uncovered that it spotted and dismantled two long-range spying devices crediting the Resistance with providing information that enabled the discoveries. The two pieces of equipment were camouflaged with artificial mountain rocks and were found simultaneously in a period of two days. 

The first on Sannine Mountain in the upper Metn area, which overlooks Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley, and the second, was found on Barouk Mountain in the Shouf area, southeast of the capital.

People in Lebanon had previously heard that "Israel" had the capabilities to intercept Lebanese cell phone transmissions, yet the discovery of these two devices have brought to light new conclusions related to the "Israeli" infiltration of Lebanon's telecommunications system.

Vice- Chairman of the board of South Asia & Middle East North Africa Telecom Council (SAMENA), Riad Bahsoun tells us that these discoveries are actually evidence that "Israel" has gone to the extent of building an autonomous network on Lebanese territory. "The devices are not only spying equipment with optical laser photography characteristic and military features for interception and localization, but are communication stations on their own. The equipment found on Sannine Mountain proved to have BTS cellular features" Bahsoun tells us.

BTS is short for Base Transceiver Station. In mobile communications the BTS is the networking component of a mobile communications system from which all signals are sent and received. A BTS is controlled by a base station controller. A BTS is also called a base station (BS) and is commonly referred to as a "cell phone tower."

The base station controller in this case is an "Israeli" tower which also transmits to its "mother station". People living in the vicinity of Zahleh had complained that their mobiles had shifted at certain times to an "Israeli" roaming network. Lebanon has no common cellular coverage with "Israel".

"Israel's" efforts before and after the 2006 war on Lebanon which focused on interception and localization through various devices and the use of agents planted on Lebanese land had proven insufficient. "Israel" had concluded this after it realized that it was not able to locate and assassinate any of the Resistance leaders. Despite "Israeli" claims early on in the war that it had exterminated Hizbullah's rocket launchers and even underground arsenal; the rockets kept going during the 33 day war. The Sannine and Barouk stations are considered part of its efforts to complete their objective to target the resistance.

The equipment, we are told by Bahsoun is very much modern and capable, yet dismantling it is an enormous strategic blow to "Israel's" advanced capabilities.


Add to this the fact that Hizbullah's Resistance had provided the national army with the intelligence to locate the devices. Lebanese President Michel Suleiman praised the cooperation between the Lebanese Armed Forces and Hizbullah that led to the discovery of the stations, and called for filing a complaint with the U.N. Security Council in addition to other complaints against "attacks on Lebanon's telecommunications system."

In October of 2010, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) condemned "Israel's" violation of Lebanese sovereignty, and demanded it ceases its threats to Lebanon's security, and compensates Lebanon for the harm it inflicted on Lebanon's telecommunications network.

Infiltration of Lebanon's Telecoms network has been considered by international observers as a serious a crime. Yet, can Lebanon take more decisive action against the building of an independent telecoms station on its territory by the enemy of modern times. Hizbullah leaders have declared that such a massive violation of Lebanon's absolute indisputable sovereignty will need more than just words of condemnation.