Empowering the Palestinian popular voice: the first step towards unity and liberation
Tariq Shadid
February 12, 2010 – … As all colonized people, the Palestinians have fallen prey to the old adage of ‘divide and conquer’. In this sense, nothing is new. Therefore, the first step towards their liberation is to resolve this division, which is more important to the continuation of the existence of the Palestinian national identity than securing political guarantees from any superpower in the world. And since these political divisions are not easily conquered, because they are at least partly caused and maintained by outside influences, there is a primary move that is easy to make, and does not require anything except personal conviction and vision. I am talking about a simple move, that everyone is able to make. This move is simply to reclaim the struggle as our own, by regaining our Palestinian popular voice, making sure it gets heard, and speaking up loudly and clearly for Palestinian unity and liberation…

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US Poised to Commit War Crimes in Marjah
Robert Naiman
February 12, 2010 – The United States and NATO are poised to launch a major assault in the Marjah District in southern Afghanistan. Tens of thousands of Afghan civilians are in imminent peril. Will President Obama and Congress act to protect civilians in Marjah, in compliance with the obligations of the United States under the laws of war?Few civilians have managed to escape the Afghan town of Marjah ahead of a planned US/NATO assault, raising the risk of civilian casualties, McClatchy News reported…A report in The Wall Street Journal cast fresh doubt on the ability – and even on the interest – of US forces to distinguish combatants from civilians. “Across southern Afghanistan, including the Marjah district where coalition forces are massing for a large offensive, the line between peaceful villager and enemy fighter is often blurred,” the Journal says. The commander of the US unit responsible for Pashmul estimates that about 95 percent of the locals are Taliban or aid the militants. Among front-line troops, “frustration is boiling over” over more restrictive rules of engagement than in Iraq, the Journal said – a dangerous harbinger of potential war crimes when the US is about to engage in a major assault in an area densely populated with civilians.—

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Torture in Afghanistan and Guantánamo: Shaker Aamer’s Lawyers Speak
Andy Worthington
February 12, 2010 – In December, lawyers for Shaker Aamer, the last British resident in Guantánamo, won an important court case in which judges ordered the British government to release information in its possession regarding claims that MI5 agents were present in the US prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan, when Shaker Aamer was subjected to torture, prior to his transfer to Guantánamo…

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Honduras: The making of a death squad “democracy”
Bill Van Auken
February 12, 2010 – With the restoration of diplomatic relations and the resumption of aid and credits from the world’s major governments and financial institutions, Honduras is being welcomed back into the fold of “democratic” nations, even as the organizers of last year’s coup remain at their posts and death squad murders continue. The Obama administration is leading the way in affirming that an election held last November under state-of-siege rule and the inauguration of Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo as president late last month have washed away all the sins of the past. For Washington, the June 28 military overthrow of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, along with the brutal repression that followed, is a dead letter…

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Reclaiming Gaza’s land
Eva Barlett
February 12, 2010 – Local Initiative has been leading demonstrations in the Israeli-imposed “buffer zone” –[a 300 m stretch of land flanking Gaza’s border with Israel from north to south, but in reality extending up to 2 km in some area. Israeli authorities say anyone within 300 m of the border fence risk being shot.] In the tradition of Bil’in and Ni’lin, in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian and international protesters march non-violently on Palestinian land, in protest of Israel’s unilateral annexation of this land. Last Monday’s demonstration saw us reach roughly 50m near the border fence…

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Gaza: the invisible maladies
Eva Barlett, In Gaza
February 12, 2010 – Not for the first time, yesterday i meet a father whose child needs treatment outside of Gaza. He mentions it to me, not because i appear to be a medical expert, but because he is desperate. “My son was hit by a car 2 years ago and had severe damage to his head. He’s had operations in gaza and in israel, but is still very bad off now.” He explains that moayyed has a build-up of fluid in his head putting pressure on his brain, causing extreme pain and disorientation. “He can’t speak, walk, function normally,” abu moayyed tells me, not to mention is in great pain…Of course, it’s not only children who suffer the closed borders. The Palestinian ministry of health puts the number of siege-related medical cases resulting in deaths at over 360. Physicians for human rights-Israel reports on denial of exit permits for cancer cases, resulting in death..

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Chutzpah, Thy Name Is Zionism
Maidhc Ó Cathail
February 12, 2010 – …In Defamation, a highly revealing 2009 documentary on anti-Semitism by Israeli filmmaker Yoav Shamir,2 Professor Norman Finkelstein noted this strategy of invoking past Jewish suffering to justify future wars. “The irony is that the Nazi holocaust has now become the main ideological weapon for launching wars of aggression,” said Finkelstein, the author of The Holocaust Industry. “Every time you want to launch a war of aggression, drag in the Nazi holocaust.” Or, to be more precise, every time Israel wants other countries to launch a war of aggression on its behalf, it drags in the Nazi holocaust. In the build-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Netanyahu was one of many Zionists who did just that. In a September 20, 2002 Wall Street Journal op-ed titled “The Case for Toppling Saddam,” Netanyahu laid on the guilt trip: “We now know that had the democracies taken pre-emptive action to bring down Hitler’s regime in the 1930s, the worst horrors in history could have been avoided.”…

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Why is the PA so reticent about Shabaneh’s revelations?
By Khalid Amayreh in Ramallah
February 12, 2010 – Sexual and financial corruption is “rampant” throughout the Palestinian Authority (PA), according to Fahmi Shabaneh. The former PA intelligence official has made these grave allegations in an interview in the Jerusalem Post, and again on Israeli TV Channel 10. The leadership, claims Shabaneh, knows about this but is doing nothing about it. Such revelations appear to contain more than a grain of truth and must be investigated openly and thoroughly as a priority by the Palestinian justice system…

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Humanitarian aid or military occupation?
Ashley Smith
January 19, 2010 – …IF THE Obama administration were pursuing a humanitarian policy in Haiti, it wouldn’t have appointed George Bush to join former President Bill Clinton in overseeing fundraising for disaster relief. Not only did Bush spectacularly fail the victims of Hurricane Katrina, but his administration orchestrated a political destabilization campaign against Haiti’s democratically elected government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Bush imposed sanctions on the country that undermined Aristide’s presidency and impoverished the masses. The U.S. then backed a right-wing coup that toppled the government in 2004. Appointing Bush to oversee aid to Haiti is like putting Nero in charge of the fire department. Then there’s the mismatch between Obama’s words about “full support” and the pittance his administration plans to spend to address the crisis—just $100 million…

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Israel wields iron fist against nonviolent resisters
Bridget Chappell
February 12, 2010 – Salem military court, located in the northern West Bank, is a ramshackle series of prefabricated buildings, marked by the ubiquitous barbed wire and cage-like fencing. We were there to attend the hearing of Palestinian political prisoner Wael al-Faqeeh in Israeli military court on 28 January. However, Israel’s security measures made us feel as though we were entering prison ourselves. Family members of those facing court gathered in the final enclosure before entering the court, never far from the watching eyes of young Israeli soldiers, M-16 rifles slung casually over their shoulders. The minutes crept by as we waited, listlessly passing the hours in this human pen before the prisoner’s name was called..

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Losing patience with squabbling ‘2-rump’ Palestine
Stuart Littlewood
February 12, 2010 – …It is obvious that Fatah must face down threats from the US, forge unity with Hamas and agree clear objectives based on what has already been set out in UN resolutions and international law. Both camps need to behave impeccably, hold new elections instead of overstaying their term, and co-operate if they are to earn respect inside and outside Palestine. They need to become squeaky-clean and media-friendly. Everyone needs to sing off the same hymn-sheet. Every day they delay, more damage is done to the cause…

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Iraq’s election campaign kicks off under grey cloud of dirty tricks
Oliver August
February 12, 2010 – Colourful flags were hung from lampposts, candidates’ faces peered down from freshly pasted posters and parties set up soup kitchens for chanting supporters. But all that anyone talked about was dirty tricks. “There is some dangerous manipulating going on,” said Mithal al-Alusi, a member of parliament. “This is not an elections, it’s a war.” Politicians are engaged in crude power games meant to destroy rather than defeat opponents. Murder, blackmail, corruption and intimidation are a central part of the process used to choose the next government…In the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a candidate was assassinated in the street this week. Suha Abdul Jarallah, 36, was a member of an alliance led by Iyad Allawi, a secular and pro-western contender for prime minister. Mr Allawi also lost his most important ally, Saleh Mutlaq, who was banned from standing for alleged links to Saddam Hussein’s Baath party. Mr Mutlaq left the party in 1977. Documents linking him to a Baathist intelligence agent appear to be obvious forgeries…

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An Iranian responds to the Angry Arab
Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist
February 12, 2010 – Hello all, I wrote the comment below for Angry Arab blog’s recent posts about Iran: 1- Journalists outside of Iran, like Nazila Fathi who was forced into exile, are unable to deliver the truth about the Iran’ demonstrations, according to the Angry Arab blog. 2- It’s unjustified for the Middle Eastern journalists to cover Iran’s demonstrations since in their own countries bigger human rights violations are taking place*, according to the Angry Arab blog. 3- The non-state journalists who are critical of the system and are living inside Iran are jailed, already forced into exile, or can’t write freely otherwise they risk being jailed. I personally know two journalists who are critical of the atrocities and are hiding in the houses of their relatives for fear of arrest. Points 1-3 imply the only journalists who can reliably cover the atrocities committed by Iranian government must be the state TV of Iran or the state journalists! …

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Iraq snapshot – February 12, 2010
The Common Ills
Friday, February 12, 2010. Chaos and violence continue, so-called ‘elections’ appear to be on for March 7th, the BBC trusts Ahmed Chalabi, the appalling silence of peace ‘leaders’ in the US, and more… And what happened to the peace movement? …In the meantime, Iraqis continue dying, US service members continue dying and Tom continues pontificating in the mistaken belief that one day he’ll find someone who mistakes him for a thinker. Tom Hayden was part of the “Out of Iraq now!” brigade . . . when a Republican occupied the Oval Office. Now he’s in no rush for the Iraq War to end, it can go on and on and that’s okay with him. Gone are the cries to end the war now. Gone is the insistance and the only thing that’s changed is the political party of the War Hawk running the illegal war…

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The Evil of Sanctions
Brian Cloughley
February 12, 2010 – …In one of the most outrageously illegal acts of the many carried out by Washington and London, it was decided that there should be “no-fly zones” in the north and south of Iraq — covering about half the country — in which no Iraqi aircraft or radar was permitted to operate… The zones had no basis in international law and complemented sanctions in a particularly savage manner. British and American fighter and bomber aircraft roamed the skies, attacking what they considered to be “legitimate targets.” But scores of civilians died, as in January 1999, when six children were killed by a plane-fired missile. But we know that foreign children don’t always matter to war planners and their supporters. After all, when U.S. Ambassador to the UN Madeleine Albright was asked on television whether she considered the deaths of half a million children a reasonable result of U.S. sanctions, she replied, “This is a very hard choice, but … we think the price is worth it.” This callous, pitiless, utterly heartless statement by a most senior official of the U.S. government could have been made by any other U.S. government official. If anyone in an official position in America or Britain disagreed with the pronouncement that the avoidable deaths of half a million children were justified, he kept very quiet about it. They all knew what the policy was…

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Failed Journalism.
Layla Anwar
February 12, 2010 – You know something, I have had it with propaganda reporting from so called respectable media. I’ve had had it with whitewashing, hiding, covering up truths that are glaring us Iraqis in the face and I am sick and tired of your so-called objective reporting which is nothing but towing to political agendas. In the case of the BBC and this grotesque piece by one of its so-called reporters Gabriel Gatehouse in Baghdad, or maybe we need to call him Gabriel Whitehouse. It seems to me that the BBC has not learned its lessons, having edited its professionalism and conscience, and that over 1.5 M Iraqis dead and 4.5 displaced does not seem to have an effect on the way it reports “truth”…

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Urgent News: Hunted
Layla Anwar
February 12, 2010 – Ahmadinejad of Iran has publicly stated, that he will not allow the return of any “ Baathists”, meaning that he is treating Iraq as one of his principalities and at the same time J.Biden stating that Iraq is going to be America’s success. I am also told that thousands of Iraqis are fleeing by car to Jordan and Syria as they are being chased out of their homes… Also am told from inside Baghdad that they are expecting lots more” bloodshed and flames… and that Salih al Mutlag has become a National Hero “… and that many arrests and killings have taken place Thursday with the “Katim” the silencer gun…seems it’s their favorite weapon these days…

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“Breaking the Silence:” Women Soldiers Speak Out
by Stephen Lendman
February 12, 2010 – “Breaking the Silence is an organization of veteran Israeli soldiers that collects anonymous testimonies of soldiers who served in the Occupied Territories during the Second Intifada.” They recount experiences that deeply affected them, including abusing Palestinians, looting, destroying property, and other practices “excused as military necessities, or explained as extreme and unique cases.” They disagree in describing “the depth of corruption which is spreading in the Israeli military” to which its society and most Western observers turn a blind eye. Since 2004, “Breaking the Silence” collected over 650 testimonies, including from combat veterans. Most remain anonymous to avoid recriminations, but feel compelled to go public – to “demand accountability regarding Israel’s military actions in the Occupied Territories perpetrated by us in our name.”…

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A Popular Boycott Movement in Defiance of Occupation and Oppression
Reham Alhelsi
February 12, 2010 – Every couple of weeks we hear that the so-called PA had destroyed illegal products from Zionist colonies in occupied Palestine. In a vain effort to present itself as “protector” of Palestinian interests, but failing miserably, this PA had previously announced it will boycott such products. Upon hearing this, first thing to come to mind would be: if truly concerned, which they are not, why not boycott all Israeli products, and not only those produced in illegal colonies in the West Bank. But the bleak reality is that the PA itself was only created to “legitimize” the occupation and be the gateway for normalization with the Arab and Muslim world and to break any existing true boycott of that entity…

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NATO says night raid killed insurgents in Afghanistan; family says 5 innocents died
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (CP)
February 12, 2010 — A joint Afghan-NATO force killed several insurgents during a raid on a compound where troops found three dead women, NATO said Friday. Family members accused U.S. soldiers of killing five innocent civilians. Afghan officials in Paktia province confirmed Friday that they are investigating the deaths of five people in a home near the provincial capital of Gardez. Police Chief Gen. Azizudin Wardak said two men and three women were killed Thursday night during a party. One of the men worked for the police and another worked for the attorney general’s office, he said…

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Weeping for Gaza
Felicity Arbuthnot
February 12, 2010 – Today, assembling a pile of reference material, I was planning to write something entirely different. Then, with the mail, came a small, beautifully produced newsletter from Dove and Dolphin, a charity with a difference. Founded by retired trauma and orthopaedic surgeon, David Halpin, the organization reaches out to the people of Gaza, not alone with essentials as medicines and other vital needs, but with projects aiming to bring dignity, pockets of normality and humanity back to a people living where normality is crushed brutally, daily, under the searing cruelty of Israeli occupation. The newsletter makes eye watering reading, combined with a silent scream at the world’s silence. As with Iraq and Afghanistan, an inaudible, creeping, holocaust is taking place. But in Gaza it has amounted to official Israeli policy since this state landed in the Middle East, in 1948…

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Nonviolent protest continues across Iran as people chant : “Referendum, referendum, this is the people’s slogan”.
Mozhgan Savabieasfahani
February 12, 2010 – …The U.S., together with other Western powers, finances illegal military occupations over 50 million inhabitants of the Middle East (Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine). Did you know that every single U.S. occupying soldier costs $390,000 per year to maintain? But wait, the U.S. still has money to prop up the fabulously corrupt government of Pakistan, too. That government turns a blind eye while Obama butchers Pakistanis mercilessly, using dreaded drone attacks. A green and democratic Iran will have a tremendously positive impact on the entire region, inspiring millions to toss out their archaic U.S. puppet regimes. Yes, we can! However, the U.S. armed forces have permanently poisoned the region with URANIUM bombs. They have been killing millions. They enforce military dictatorship over many more millions. They have already given $300 billion to Israel as it savagely bombs and starves Palestine. (Gaza’s crime was to try and democratically elect its own government, remember?) This is all being done by the commander in-chief of two military occupations in the Middle East, Mr. “peace-loving” Obama himself…

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PCHR Release Genuinely Unwilling: Israel’s Investigations into Violations of International Law including Crimes Committed during the Offensive on the Gaza Strip, 27 December 2008 – 18 January 2009
PCHR – Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
February 12, 2010 – Israel’s offensive on the Gaza Strip, 27 December 2008 – 18 January 2009, resulted in the killing of over 1,400 Palestinians, the overwhelming majority of whom (82%) were civilians. At least 5,300 Palestinians were also injured, and public and private property throughout the Gaza Strip was extensively targeted and destroyed. Investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), and numerous other organisations, including the UN Board of Inquiry, the Independent Fact Finding Mission mandated by the League of Arab States, and the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (the Goldstone Mission), concluded that Israel committed numerous violations of international law, many of which give rise to individual criminal responsibility. Israel is obliged, under both Treaty-based and Customary International Law, to conduct effective investigations into these allegations, and to prosecute those responsible. To date, Israel has proven itself unwilling to do so…

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FLASHBACK: War Crimes Against Children
PCHR – Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
February 12, 2010 – The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) is publishing War Crimes Against Children in response to the unprecedented number of children killed by Israeli forces in its latest operation; a total of 313 children under the age of eighteen. Containing numerous eye witness testimonies, the report brings to light Israel’s widespread targeting of unarmed civilians, including children, throughout the offensive. ‘Operation Cast Lead’ was the biggest Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip in nearly 42 years of occupation. 1,414 Palestinians were killed, and PCHR investigations have found the overwhelming majority, 83 per cent, were civilians. One of the cases in the report is that of 18 month old Farah al-Helu, who was killed on 4 January. The al-Helu family had been told to evacuate their house in Zaytoun, eastern Gaza, but while they were attempting to flee, Israeli soldiers opened fire on them. Farah was shot in the stomach and bled to death two hours later…

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Offensive looms in Helmand province
US military noose tightens on Afghanistan town
By Patrick Martin
February 12, 2010 – Thousands of US Marines and Army troops have moved into position on the outskirts of Marjah, a town in central Helmand province, identified publicly by the Pentagon as the first major target of the offensive authorized by President Barack Obama. The town is the largest population center under Taliban control and has been dubbed a “Taliban stronghold” in the US media in order to excuse in advance what are likely to be massive civilian casualties. Press reports citing military sources claim that up to 1,000 “militants” are making a stand in Marjah, lacing the roads and fields with land mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs)…

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Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory 04 – 10 February 2010
PCHR – Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
February 12, 2010 – Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law escalated in the OPT during the reporting period (04 – 10 February 2010): Shooting: During the reporting period, IOF wounded 7 Palestinian civilians, including two journalists and a child, in the West Bank. On 06 February 2010, 3 Palestinian civilians were wounded when IOF fired at dozens of civilians who gathered at the entrance of ‘Iraq Bourin village, south of Nablus, to prevent Israeli settlers from entering the village. On 08 February 2010, two Palestinian journalists were wounded while they were covering clashes between IOF and dozens of Palestinian children in Shu’fat refugee camp near East Jerusalem. On the following day, a child was wounded in the camp…

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Israel acts on West Bank wall order
Aljazeera.net
February 12, 2010 – Israel has begun rerouting a section of its controversial separation barrier near the West Bank village of Bilin following a two-and-a-half-year-old court ruling. But activists and Bilin residents continued to hold protests against the barrier on Friday, despite the concession, which returns only about a third of the area claimed by the Palestinians. “It’s a small victory,” Mohammad Khatip, an anti-wall activist, told Al Jazeera…

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Unconfirmed reports of 2 dead after Israeli shelling in Gaza
Ma’an News
February 12, 2010 – Israeli forces shelled an area east of the Al-Maghazi Refugee Camp on Monday, hitting the central Gaza Strip region with several artillery shells in at least three barrages, witnesses said. Unconfirmed Israeli media reports said two Palestinians were killed. Camp residents said the shells were mostly landing in the Abu Hamam area, and said the hits began at approximately 9am…

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Israel’s war on protest
Jonathan Cook
February 12, 2010 – The Israeli courts ordered the release last week of two foreign women arrested by the army in the West Bank in what human-rights lawyers warn has become a wide-ranging clampdown by Israel on non-violent protest from international, Israeli and Palestinian activists. The arrest of the two women during a nighttime raid on the Palestinian city of Ramallah that saw soldiers enter their home, highlighted a new tactic by Israeli officials: using immigration police to try to deport foreign supporters of the Palestinian cause…

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Provincial Official: US Troops Killed at Least 10 Civilians in Iraq Raid
Jason Ditz
February 12, 2010 – A member of the Maysan Province parliament in southeastern Iraq reports that at least 10 civilians were killed and five others wounded in a raid by US and Iraqi forces on the village of Ali al-Sharqi. The MP said at least two of the slain were women. The raid was said to be targeting reports of “arms smuggling” operations in the village, not far from the Iranian border…

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Israeli fire kills Hebron man
Ma’an News
February 12, 2010 – A Palestinian man died en route to a Jerusalem hospital after he was shot by Israeli forces in Hebron on Friday. Locals identified the man as 41-year-old Fayez Ahmad Sayed Faraj, who was reported critically injured by Israeli gunfire earlier the same day. Onlookers said soldiers opened fire at Faraj in the Bab Az-Zawiyah area of central Hebron, and that Palestine Red Crescent ambulances were prevented from reaching the scene to offer aid to the injured man…

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IOA kidnaps 150 Palestinians in two days
Palestinian Information Center
February 12, 2010 – The PA ministry of prisoners and ex-prisoners affairs in Gaza said on Thursday that the Israeli occupation authorities kidnapped 150 Palestinian citizens over the past two days, most of them from Jerusalem city. According to Reyadh Al-Ashkar, the information officer in the ministry, the IOA rounded up nearly 100 Palestinian youths and minors in the refugee camp of Shafat, north of the occupied city of Jerusalem during a military incursion described as the most violent in recent years. Another 15 Palestinian civilians of one family, including children, were also kidnapped by the IOF troops after they swept into the northern borders of the Gaza Strip near the town of Beit Lahia. The whereabouts of the kidnapped Gazans is still unknown…

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British soldier killed in blast in southern Afghanistan
UK Net Guide
February 12, 2010 – A British soldier has been killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed. The soldier, from the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards, died in the Babaji district of central Helmand province earlier this morning. Spokesman for Task Force Helmand, Lieutenant Colonel David Wakefield, said the soldier had been on foot patrol providing protection to the local population at the time of his death…

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Military Resistance 8B6: Outstanding Words – 11 February 2010
Thomas F. Barton
The Most Outstanding Words From The War On Vietnam:
“It Became Necessary To Destroy The Town To Save It”.
The Most Outstanding Words From The War On Afghanistan, So Far:
“It’s Harder To Separate The Enemy From The People,” A Pentagon Planner Says, “When They Are The People”.

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A BIG THANK YOU FROM BARCELONA, SPAIN
Steve Amsel, Desertpeace
February 12, 2013 – Yesterday, Ayman Quader arrived in Spain! It was a long battle to get him out of Gaza, but we won! This could not have been possible without the worldwide support we received on his behalf. One thousand, seven hundred and thirty three people signed the On Line Petition called ‘Open Rafah for Ayman’. A special thank you to all of you that signed it. Never underestimate the power of struggle!…

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