Exodus

EI

"There were bombings during that time. I used to look outside the window and see explosions coming from all directions. My daughters, one four years old, the other two years old, were very scared."

"On our way to Baghdad we saw many pick up trucks with Palestinian refugees in the back. They were coming from villages that had been massacred or destroyed, taken by Iraqi troops to Baghdad. They traveled all that way under the hot sun, with nothing above them to provide shade. I would see them throwing up out of the back of the trucks, getting sick from the heat. They were taken to 'Tobchee,' a neighborhood with government housing, and received assistance from the Iraqi government." Tata explained that these refugees, the ones that were able to resettle in Iraq, were the lucky ones.

Many Palestinians ended up in refugee camps in squalid circumstances, both "internally" in what came to be known as the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and externally in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. Many Palestinian refugees faced hostility from their government hosts, but in some countries such as Lebanon, they held and still hold practically no rights amid systematic policies of discrimination towards refugees.

Naeim Giladi

Later I made my way to the new state of Israel, arriving in May, 1950. My passport had my name in Arabic and English, but the English couldn't capture the "kh" sound, so it was rendered simply as Klaski. At the border, the immigration people applied the English version, which had an Eastern European, Ashkenazi ring to it. In one way, this "mistake" was my key to discovering very soon just how the Israeli caste system worked.

They asked me where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. I was the son of a farmer; I knew all the problems of the farm, so I volunteered to go to Dafnah, a farming kibbutz in the high Galilee. I only lasted a few weeks. The new immigrants were given the worst of everything. The food was the same, but that was the only thing that everyone had in common. For the immigrants, bad cigarettes, even bad toothpaste. Everything. I left.

World Social Forum, Belem, Amazonia

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The new face of US imperialism

Obama has got the Israel-Palestine the wrong way round. Someone needs to remind him, that an Israel exists, and doesn't need it's right to be recognised. There is no palestinian state. The core of the 'conflict' is israeli occupation and settlement of territories occupied during the course of war, which is illegal according to international law. If there is violence on both sides, unnacceptable violence, an end of violence must be called for from both sides equally. However, the end to israeli occupation and the creation of a palestinian state is not a present to Hamas to be given in return for an end to violence. It is Israel's responsibility and duty according to international law. There can be no conditions for an end to israeli occupation in the West Bank and the strangling of the gazan population, a blockade which is the reason for tunnels and smuggling of weapons and necessities. The demand for recognition of Israel by Hamas or the so-called 'arab' states is ridiculous. Nobody says what Israel they should recognise: Eretz Israel? 1948 Israel? 1967 Israel? Today's Israel with pockets in the midst of a palestinian state (if it ever happens)? What palestinian state does Israel actually recognise and has it committed its self to? Obama has said nothing that even hints at a change in US-israeli relations or on the oppression of the Palestinians.

Pipeline accross the Caspian

Teheran Times

Commenting on the proposal to build a 700-kilometer trans-Caspian oil pipeline from the Kazakh port of Aktau to Baku, Azerbaijan, he said the construction of an oil pipeline under the Caspian Sea could lead to environmental pollution. Moscow may have agreed to the plan at some point under pressure from certain Western countries, but Russia is in fact opposed to it and at the end of the day will not approve of implementation of the plan, Noqrekar Shirazi noted.

News which didn't make it into MSM during the massacre of Gaza

Epoch Times

Her aim was to create a space where both sides can speak of the confusion, fear and frustration they experience during the war. Kna’an stood against the bombing of the South-Israeli town of Sderot, and before this war began, she went with other women to express their identification with the people of Sderot.

Reuters AlertNet

'The amazing thing was that many of our demonstrators were from the southern areas of Israel that have been worst affected by the rockets from Gaza. They were really taking the lead in discussions with the police. 'They were saying "I am from Sderot and I do not believe that this operation improves my safety". Joining together with them was a really great feeling, they were really amazing. It was also good, as they know all the regulations and were able to talk to the police as equals about the legality of demonstrations and public gatherings,' says Ms Weingarten.

Daily Kos

Sderot War Diary

Nomika Zion, Sderot, 8.1.09

"I talk with Sderot people and everyone's cheeks are rosy again", boasted Fuad on the war's second day [Fuad is Benjamin Ben Eliezer, a long-time centrist Labor minister - Assaf]. "The heavier the blow we deliver - the wider the hearts get".

Hey Fuad, not everyone. Even if I was the only one around Sderot feeling differently - and I am not - my voice should be heard.

Kol Aher (Another Voice)

Up until now we have cried, called, demonstrated, and asked our leaders to do something about this insane reality in which we live. The leaders have tried every possible idea that involves violence and military force – with no success at all.

We shoot at them and they shoot at us.

We retaliate and they strike back.

This is an endless and vicious cycle.

Today we say: ENOUGH! It is our turn to take our destiny into our own hands and to ACT to stop the cycle of bloodshed.

Khalid Amayreh, Hebron-based journalist, and repression by the PA

Khalid Amayreh

And now, the six-decade reign of terror and death is being culminated with an aerial holocaust, all for the purpose of displaying “Jewish power” and “heroism.”!!! Well, what heroism is there in having the state-of-the-art of the American machine of death rain missiles and bombs, including Bunker Busters, on unprotected apartment buildings, mosques, streets, pharmacies, college dormitories? This is not heroism; it is a sheer act of cowardice.

Khalid Amayreh

This is not to say that Fatah has lost the hope that the devastation and havoc wreaked on Gaza by the Israeli army will make the group's task of "liberating" the coastal enclave from Hamas drastically more achievable. Earlier this week, the right-wing Israeli daily, The Jerusalem Post, quoted an unnamed Fatah official in Ramallah as warning that "failure to crush Hamas completely would undermine Fatah and pave the way for the collapse of moderate Arab regimes."

Desertpeace

You may have noticed that my Associate, Khalid Amayreh, has not posted on this Blog for the last few days. The following report will tell you why.

In collaboration with the occupational forces operating in the Palestinian territories, he has been arrested. His crime? Speaking out against injustice and corruption.

The following was just sent to me by one of my readers in Palestine….. I will report updates on this situation as they become available.

I am very disturbed by this news. We need an open, unequivocal condemnation of this Zio-imperial vomit called the PA. I cannot express enough the rage I feel. This truly courageous Palestinian journalist/ patriotic voice is being abused and tortured in an attempt to silence him no doubt by the US-paid, US-armed, US-Arab stooge-trained Palestinian Security Apparatus/goons/ ‘Contras’ , under President Falafel/Abbas his Mafia crew and the unelected Fayyad-led Junta of collaborators, thieves and scum that have established a brutal police state with all that this means, without even the need of a state, not even a Falafel State/Bantustan/ ethnic people’s reserve or “warehouse for excess Arabs”. The PA is a Palestinian Judenrat in the service of Empire and the Zionist occupation of Palestine. It is composed of quisling, stooge Palestinians, implementing anti-Palestinian policy on behalf of the Zio-Nazi occupation and this occupation’s Master and regional partners. Palestinians
are made to disappear wholesale but in practice, it is done, one at a time. This is a Palestinian that Palestine cannot afford to lose. Please advise as to what can be done to secure the release of this noble voice.

*****************************

Good news received minutes ago. A call back from outstanding NY CPJ rep who took my request for help on behalf of Prof Khalid Amayreh who was held in detention. Minutes ago Muhamed called to inform us that Khalid had been released.

All details pending. Khalid may release a report on this latest experience with PA “security/justice” system.

Apparently journalists continue being arrested, detained, and tortured for speaking about ‘forbidden’ issues by PA goon squad who work indirectly for the occupiers.

The cruelty of a massacre

Amira Hass

Soldiers do not act in a void. They have commanders and there is esprit de corps, which enabled this, just as it enabled IDF mortars to land on UNRWA schools. The IDF is the people's army. The people, an overwhelming majority of it, drank in the argumentations for these acts eagerly and supported them. Israel is a democracy. So Kassab and Ibrahim were killed legally.

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It's happening!

Change is at hand, hope is possible!

Politics.co.uk

The Israel military has announced it has completed its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

However, troops remain around the Palestinian territory and Israeli vessels remains in Gaza's territorial waters.

Or is it...?

Gaza – Ma’an –

Israel’s navy shelled the Gaza Strip on Thursday morning, injuring seven Palestinians, including five fishermen.

Summary execution in southern West Bank

Summary execution in southern West Bank

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Exiled to Egypt?

The Angry Arab News Service

Ahdaf Souif sent me this from (Egyptian) Rafah (I cite with her permission): "Outside the general Hospital in Egyptian Rafah a city of tents has sprung up. I counted 200. But the soldiers there told me they have many more and can set them up immediately. They said the beds and furnishings for all the camps are ready. I was also told that other camps are being set up, in el-Arish and other locations. I was told these camps were being set up for “the Palestinian refugees.” Where will they come from? From Gaza. When? When they open the border. Officers then arrived and insisted that we leave immediately. Any information we wanted we could get from the headquarters of the Second Army in Ismailia. A soldier added that some TV stations had been here already – but they were with the Army."

"Ceasefire agreement" UPDATED

Maan

Gaza – Ma’an – Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip agreed to participate in the ceasefire declared by Israel, on the condition that Israeli troops are out of the Gaza Strip within one week.

Factions announced that Israel had not “imposed its conditions” on the resistance, who have sought the removal of Israeli occupation and control over the area for years.

Maan

Olmert said that Hamas had deliberately been left out of the ceasefire arrangement because it is a “terrorist” organization.

Maan

Usama Hamdan, the Hamas representative in Lebanon said that the movement will fight on until its demands are met. Speaking during a televised interview in Beirut, Hamdan said Hamas has “nothing new” to say regarding a possible ceasefire.

Xinhua

CAIRO, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) said Thursday it is ready to accept a one-year renewable truce with Israel in the Gaza Strip, Egyptian media reported.

Hamas has told Egyptian mediators that the group will accept the truce if Israel pulls out its troops from Gaza within a week, said the report.

Amira Hass inside Palestine

PA security forces break up demonstration

According to Palestinian sources, Hamas activists demonstrated in areas under Israel's security control because they were barred from holding the protest in areas under the control of the PA. Some 20 participants in the protest were hurt in clashes with Israeli troops. Last week an initiative to hold a joint protest by Hamas and Fatah against Israel was abandoned after the IDF arrested a senior Hamas member involved in its organization.

Real people's terror

My parents despised all their everyday activities - stirring sugar into coffee, washing the dishes, standing at a crosswalk - when in their mind's eye they saw, based on their personal experience, the terror in the eyes of children, the desperation of mothers who could not protect their young ones, the moment when a huge explosion dropped a house on top of its inhabitants and a smart bomb struck down entire families. Salmeh's mother says: "When I wake up [from a restless sleep] I am surprised. I know it's only by chance that I am alive."

They decide when History begins

The siege of Gaza did not begin when Hamas seized control of the Strip's security organs, or when Gilad Shalit was taken captive, or when Hamas was elected in democratic elections. The siege began in 1991 - before the suicide bombings. And since then, it has only become more sophisticated, reaching its peak in 2005.

Robert FIsk's analysis

Robert Fisk

Both Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres said back in the 1990s that they wished Gaza would just go away, drop into the sea, and you can see why. The existence of Gaza is a permanent reminder of those hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who lost their homes to Israel, who fled or were driven out through fear or Israeli ethnic cleansing 60 years ago, when tidal waves of refugees had washed over Europe in the aftermath of the Second World War and when a bunch of Arabs kicked out of their property didn't worry the world.

Robert Fisk

The "Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine–General Command" – the quotation marks are necessary since this outfit controls at most 500 cadres – is responsible for all the tin-pot rockets fired into Israel from Lebanon this past week.

For a Non-Violent Global Resistance Movement

Below, a call relayed by Tariq Ramadan, often described as a dangerous islamist fanatic. No doubt he is here once more displaying his legendary arab/muslim* duplicity.
*delete as appropriate

tariqramadan.com

The Israel-Palestine conflict is primarily a political one (even though it has a religious dimension that implies the obligation to respect religious freedom for all—Jews, Christians and Muslims—and freedom of conscience for all, irrespective of religious or non-religious persuasion.

There is an oppressor (State of Israel) and oppressed population (the Palestinian people).

The Palestinian resistance is, de facto, legitimate.

The Palestinians have the right to their own state, and to full freedom within it.

The equal dignity of the Palestinians requires full equality of rights and treatment, no matter the proposed solution.

Palestinians expelled from their lands have a natural right of return.

Our commitment is based on an unconditional and equal rejection of racism of any kind, be it anti-Jewish, anti-Arab, anti-Christian or anti-Muslim.

Natural Gas off Gaza

Telegraph

There were some Israeli concerns that the gas money might end up in the hands of Hamas, but they were dealt with last year, when a trust fund was set up that ensured international cash goes only to the Palestinian government appointed by Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian national authority and leader of Fatah.

Electronic Intifada

The Palestinian Investment Fund (PIF), a financial holdings company owned primarily by independent Palestinian shareholders, is investing in the project and heads the negotiations in coordination with Mahmoud Abbas' government in the West Bank. BG won a majority stake in the concession to develop the Gaza Marine Field and originally targeted Egypt for the sale of the natural gas. But pressure from then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair led the company to redirect its efforts toward Israel and develop plans for an underwater pipeline that would transport the gas to an Israeli refinery at Ashkelon. That deal could have eventually provided Israel with approximately 10 percent of its annual energy requirement, and would have generated approximately $1 billion for the PIF. The Hamas election victory in 2006 put all that in jeopardy.

Green Prophet

The two big obstacles preventing this from happening are Israel’s problems with the Palestinians and enough objection from environmental groups, including Greenpeace, who say that the Mediterranean is already so polluted that such an undertaking will literally “finish the Med off.”

Government economic policies, especially where huge profit rake offs are involved (and we all know how corrupt many Israeli government officials are) could push any and all environmental considerations aside, however.

This means that the only other obstacle remaining is the lack of any peace agreement with the Hamas-led Palestinians. From an environmental standpoint, perhaps being at loggerheads with Hamas and Co. is not a bad idea, if it will help save what’s left of Israel’s Mediterranean seacoast.

Rewind, please!

The sumary below is the analysis of the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (IICC), an israeli NGO. It's analyis is no doubt ot unbiased, but it says a lot that it tells what the MainStream Media will not tell or will not dwell upon, namely the role of the IDF in ending the 'truce. It seems clear the IICC can not be accused of favouring Hamas...,

Summary
1. On June 17, 2008, after several months of indirect contacts between Israel and Hamas through Egyptian mediators, Egypt and Hamas individually announced that a lull arrangement(tahadiya1) had been reached between Israel and the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and it would go into effect at 0600 hours on the morning of June 19. Israel’s position was that the lull had no time limit. The position of Hamas and the other Palestinian terrorist organizations was that it would remain in force for six months and they then expected it to be extended to Judea and Samaria. Spokesmen of Hamas and other terrorist organizations later stated that it would end on Friday morning, December 19; in the field it had been seriously eroded since November 4.
(...)
4. An analysis of the situation on the ground indicates two distinct periods:
i)A period of relative quiet between June 19 and November 4 : As of June 19,there was a marked reduction in the extent of attacks on the western Negev population. The lull was sporadically violated by rocket and mortar shell fire, carried out by rogue terrorist organizations, in some instance in defiance of Hamas (especially by Fatah and Al-Qaeda supporters). Hamas was careful to maintain the ceasefire. The IDF refrained from undertaking counterterrorism activities in the Gaza Strip, taking only routine defensive security measures along the border fence. Between June 19 and November 4, 20 rockets (three of which fell inside the Gaza Strip) and 18 mortar shells (five of which fell inside the Gaza Strip) were fired at Israel.
ii) The escalation and erosion of the lull arrangement, November 4 to the
time of this writing, December 17
On November 4 the IDF carried out a military
action close to the border security fence on the Gazan side to prevent an abduction
planned by Hamas, which had dug a tunnel under the fence to that purpose. Seven
Hamas terrorist operatives were killed during the action. In retaliation, Hamas and the other terrorist organizations attacked Israel with a massive barrage of rockets. Since then, 191 rockets and 138 mortar shells have been fired. The attacks have been
continuous and some were carried out by weapons not previously used, such as
122mm standard Grad rockets and 120mm mortar shells. Hamas has been directly
involved in the attacks in cooperation with the other terrorist organizations.

September: Haniyeh accepts two-state solution

Haaretz

The Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, said on Saturday his government was willing to accept a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.

It's always worth (and apparently neccessary) to go back in time for a little reminder.

The Instant Wadi Well

Permaculture Reflections

Rainfall in arid regions occurs in large and infrequent events throughout the year. Because the desert environment is a brittle one and because there is so much rain at one time, tremendous erosion occurs. This leads to the creation of scarps and wadis.

Wadi is simply the Arabic word for a riverbed. In an arid region, it's water flow is likely to be ephemeral, particularly in headwaters (where permaculturists are most likely to be working). They are also places where a lot of erosion takes place. Looked at from another perspective, wadis are places where a lot of erosion can be stopped.