Mazin Qumsiyeh writes:

Please forward to media immediately and pick-up the phone and call media outlets immediately to condemn the atrocities being committed in Gaza (Using US taxpayer money and International and Arab Government Acquiescence).  Demonstrations are ongoing throughout the West Bank. Here is the press release for the one in Bethlehem (عربي / arabic at Bottom).

A demonstration to condemn the massacres being committed in Gaza

Khalid AlAzza 0545439263
Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh 0598939532
Dr. Abdelfattah Abusrour 0599255573

A personal note: I was reading an open letter from a family from Gaza on my computer that talked of the hardships and the lack of food and electricity when my mother ran in to tell me that they are bombing Gaza. I watch a little on the TV and get sick to my stomach. I rushed to the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement and it is buzzing with activities. Thousands will come out today on short notice I am sure just in the Bethlehem area.  Please spread the word.

اعتصام احتجاجي ضد المذبحة الإسرائيلية في قطاع غزة
بيت لحم – ساحة كنيسة المهد – الساعة 5:00 مساءً

منظمات المجتمع المدني والفعاليات والناشطين أصحاب الضمائر الحية في محافظة بيت لحم يستنكرون العدوان الإسرائيلي الآثم على قطاع غزة.

وندعو للمشاركة في الفعالية الاحتجاجية اليوم السبت الساعة الخامسة مساءً أمام كنيسة المهد في بيت لحم.

لقد أودت هذه الغارة الإجرامية على قطاع غزة بحياة حوالي 200 من أبناء الشعب الفلسطيني وجرحت مئات آخرين من الشباب والشيوخ والأطفال والرقم ما زال مرشح للارتفاع اذ أن جيش الاحتلال الإسرائيلي قد أعلن أن الهجوم هو فقط البداية.

ندعوكم للانضمام إلينا اليوم للدعوة إلى وقف المجزرة وإنهاء الحصار على شعبنا في غزة وإنهاء الاحتلال الإسرائيلي.  كما ندعو بشكل خاص إلى المصالحة الفلسطينية – الفلسطينية وإنهاء حالة الانقسام.

لمزيد من المعلومات

خالد العزة 0545439263 (عربي)
د. عبدالفتاح أبو سرور 0599255573 (عربي)
د. مازن قمصية 0598939532 (انجليزي)

The governor was too honest for Washington.

By Justin Raimondo
The American Conservative
12 January 2009 Issue

The stoning of Rod Blagojevich recalls Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” a sinister short story about the inhabitants of an otherwise placid village where, periodically, someone’s name is chosen out of a hat for a public stoning. Like much of Jackson’s idiosyncratic fiction, a dark river of fear runs beneath the formal narrative—in this case fear of randomness, of sudden death at the hands of fate. It was, perhaps, Blagojevich’s fate to go down in history as a symbol of political corruption, Chicago’s Boss Tweed and the most infamous of mobster-politicians. Yet one can’t help but think it could have happened to anyone— to any member of the political class, that is.

[Read the article]

From BUSTAN

December 26th, 2008

Dear Friends and Supporters,

We are deeply saddened to report that yesterday, December 25th, the eco-mosque at Wadi Na’am was demolished by the Israeli government, along with a 30 year old house near Laquiya.

As many of you know, BUSTAN has been supporting this project for several months, with volunteers helping to build the mosque, which was made largely out of straw bale and mud, every step of the way. Volunteers from all over the world—Jewish, Muslim, Christian, others—contributed to building it. In November, largely thanks to our presence, along with the RCUV, and your letters of support, the mosque was threatened with demolition but it was not carried out.

Apparently the authorities were simply waiting for a moment when the world would pay less attention. Under cover of darkness, on Christmas Day, in the shadow of the crisis in Gaza, the bulldozers arrived this morning before dawn, and every inch of the mosque, including the foundation, was destroyed.

[Read more]

By Stephen Lendman, Global Research, 22 December 2008

Obama leaves no ambiguity where he stands. From public statements, campaign pledges, policy advisors, and war cabinet selections, his positions affirm:

— one-sided pro-Israeli zealotry;

— continued Palestinian oppression;

— no end to the Iraq war and occupation;

— possibly attacking Iran and/or allying with Israel to do it;

— pursuing an imperial agenda; targeting Pakistan, Russia and other countries;

— expanding the size of the military; increasing expenditures for it; and

— providing Israel annually with billions of dollars; the latest weapons and technology; the same zero interest rate loans Wall Street gets; liberal debt forgiveness; virtually anything Israel requests on the pretext of security, to wage aggressive war, or expand its illegal settlements; and

— acquiescing and remaining silent after Israel insulted a high UN official by harassing and detaining him, then expelling him from the country.

Last March, Richard Falk replaced John Dugard as the UN Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) Special Rapporteur on Occupied Palestine. UNHRC is mandated:

— to promote and protect human rights globally;

— detect and speak out objectively against violations and violators;

— “provide a forum for identifying, highlighting and developing responses to today’s human rights challenges,

— act as the principal focal point of human rights research, education, public information, and advocacy activities in the United Nations system,” and

— respect the rights of everyone irrespective of nationality, ethnicity, race, gender, language, age, or religion “as stipulated in the United Nations Charter.”

[Read the article]

For two years on Cif, I’ve detailed the miscarriages of justice I’ve witnessed. But many are still convinced Israel can do no wrong

Seth Freedman, guardian.co.uk, 17 December 2008

I find people over here who keep harping on about ‘human rights’ violations by Israel conveniently forget or ignore that if Seth were to live in any, yes, ANY Arab or Iranian country in the neighbourhood, he would have been jailed, abused and then deported, if not accused of being a ‘zionist’ spy and then condemned to capital punishment.

Two years after penning my first piece for Cif, there is still no getting away from the kind of criticism seen in the comment above. No matter that the thrust of georgeindia’s rant had nothing to do with the subject of my article, anyone perusing the thread is encouraged to believe that the fact that the Israeli regime has not beheaded me for my dissent is ample proof that all is well in our little corner of the Middle East. Which, of course, it isn’t, despite the best efforts of Israel’s squadron of cheerleaders to convince the world otherwise.

[Read the article]