A TRIBUTE FROM A FRIEND

Humanity mourns. We are shocked. Juliano Mer-Khamis, a friend and fellow peace activist, was murdered in Jenin. The masked killer/s whoever they were were cowards whose madness will not deter those of us who continue to work for justice and peace for all. If they thought they could kill coexistence and love in the holy land by killing a symbol and a great activist, they are mistaken. Juliano symbolizes what many of us have worked for: a transformation of our homeland into a pluralistic democratic state where every human being regardless of his religion (Jewish, Christian, Muslim) would be treated with dignity and respect. Fundamentalist notions of superiority were at odds with this message. His killers will not get their way and justice will prevail. But Juliano’s loss is a shock to all of us.

Juliano was a superb human being who embodied the best qualities of activism and dedicated leadership for human rights, justice and peace. He was my age and I first met him a few years ago when we brought him for the Connecticut screening of the film Arna’s children, the story of his mother and the Children of Jenin Refugee camp. On numerous occasions over the past few years I visited Jenin Freedom Theater that Juliano cofounded and that injected so much beauty and hope into the lives of the people at Jenin Refugee Camp. See: http://www.thefreedomtheatre.org/

Juliano took the characters of compassion and caring of his Israeli Jewish mother (she herself worked to challenge Zionist supremacy and fundamentalist idiocies for decades) and gentile love of land and people and pacifist characters of his Palestinian father. He exemplified everything that I and millions of others aspired to: coexistence, tolerance, nonviolence, peace, love, passion for life, richness in diversity and so much more. He had a two year old child and his wife as I knew was pregnant or may have just delivered their second child. His absence will be felt but I for one will work to ensure that his work continues and accelerates. The best answer to violence is to intensify our work and build on the vision thus never allowing these forces of hate to destroy the future. As to who killed Juliano: all humans are guilty.. our inability to rise as a species beyond violence is largely due to our apathy and indifference to the suffering of fellow human beings. It is telling that many political leaders (from Hamas, Fatah, Israeli leaders) remain silent on the murder of Juliano when they so readily spoke at other convenient political junctures. Those who are apathetic are just as guilty as those fundamentalist racists who ordered this killing or pulled the trigger to shoot fellow human beings. I for one will have a lot of pain in my heart for Juliano, for Bassem, for Jawaher, for Rachel and all the other friends we lost along the way. We must make sure that their murders do not go in vain and the best thing we can do is increase our efforts to continue the path and bring others to this path. Killers must know that 10 will rise in place for every peace activist they kill. Those of us active in the same cause of coexistence and peace must intensify our work.

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m76569&hd=&size=1&l=e

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Israel Demolishes homes in Palestinian Village

The front area of a house belonging to Hani al-Hayek in al-Zawayda village in the middle of the Gaza Strip bombarded by Israeli warplanes on 05 March 2011.

1. PCHR calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their legal and moral obligations under Article 1 of the Convention to ensure Israel's respect for the Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. PCHR believes that the conspiracy of silence practiced by the international community has encouraged Israel to act as if it is above the law and encourages Israel continue to violate international human rights and humanitarian law.

2. PCHR calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to convene a conference to take effective steps to ensure Israel's respect of the Convention in the OPT and to provide immediate protection for Palestinian civilians.

3. PCHR calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to comply with their legal obligations detailed in Article 146 of the Convention to search for and prosecute those responsible for grave breaches, namely war crimes.

4. PCHR calls for the immediate implementation of the Advisory Opinion issued by the International Court of Justice, which considers the construction of the Annexation Wall inside the West Bank illegal.

5. PCHR recommends that international civil society organizations, including human rights organizations, bar associations and NGOs, participate in the process of exposing those accused of grave breaches of international law and urge their governments to bring the perpetrators to justice.

6. PCHR calls upon the European Union to activate Article 2 of the Euro-Israel Association Agreement, which provides that Israel must respect human rights as a precondition for economic cooperation between the EU states and Israel. PCHR further calls upon the EU states to prohibit import of goods produced in illegal Israeli settlements in the OPT.

7. PCHR calls on the international community to recognize the Gaza disengagement plan, which was implemented in September 2005, for what it is - not an end to occupation but a compounding of the occupation and the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

8. In recognition of ICRC as the guardian of the Fourth Geneva Convention, PCHR calls upon the ICRC to increase its staff and activities in the OPT, including the facilitation of family visitations to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

9. PCHR appreciates the efforts of international civil society, including human rights organizations, bar associations, unions and NGOs, and urges them to continue their role in pressuring their governments to secure Israel's respect for human rights in the OPT and to demand Israel end its attacks on Palestinian civilians.

10. PCHR calls upon the international community to pressure Israel to lift the severe restrictions imposed by the Israeli government and its occupation forces on access for international organizations to the OPT.

11. PCHR reiterates that any political settlement not based on international human rights law and humanitarian law cannot lead to a peaceful and just solution of the Palestinian question. Rather, such an arrangement can only lead to further suffering and instability in the region. Any peace process or agreement must be based on respect for international law, including international human rights and humanitarian law.

http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7278%3Aweekly-report-on-israeli-human-rights-violations-in-the-occupied-palestinian-territory-03-09-mar-2011&catid=84%3Aweekly-2009&Itemid=183

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If Americans Knew What Israel Is Doing! VIDEO WAS CENSORED!

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Zionism, Settlements, the Jewish State, and the Barrier: Security Fence or Apartheid Wall? (Part 1

Egypt’s failure to broker an effective reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah makes it a strong probability that the January elections will be considered illegitimate by the Palestinian people – that is, if they happen at all. Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) recently declared that the elections will be postponed pending more suitable national conditions. This, of course, renders the possibility of a virtual three state arrangement a viable reality for Israelis and Palestinians in the near future.


For a number of reasons, the speeches delivered this summer by Obama, Netanyahu, and Fayyad promised to bear fruit. Instead, they withered on the vine.


Fayyad’s recently declared two-year deadline for building a successful Palestinian state elicited questions regarding Abu Mazen’s legitimacy. Indeed, Mazen’s recent decision not to push the Goldstone report (consistent with the Obama administration’s wishes) coupled with his possible abdication from leadership in the West Bank, has created serious doubts over the future of Palestine.

While Israel made a few minor moves to improve conditions in the West Bank, they have not lead to a fundamental change in the basic barriers that continue to block progress. These efforts include Israel's commitment to halt incursions into four major West Bank cities this summer, enabling the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to gain better control over the security situation in the West Bank, and Israel's recent Supreme Court decision prohibiting the Jewish-only status of at least one major artery in the West Bank. Nevertheless, Israel’s continued consolidation of ‘facts on the ground’ vitiates against a mutually accepted Palestinian state and thus, the resumption of the peace process.

PNA authorities continue to call for a check to settlements as a precondition for peace talks, while Netanyahu’s government is fixed on “economic peace” as a precursor to political peace and final status negotiations. Lately, settlements and “natural growth” figure prominently in the international news media’s coverage of the conflict, but many argue that the settlement issue has become a popular red herring that diverts attention away from the peace process itself since land-for-peace agreements are reiterated throughout numerous previous near-agreements and accords.

The EU’s statement this summer issued by outgoing High Representative Solana - that the UN would unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state if the peace process does not resume - may or may not have teeth or represent popular European sentiment. Lieberman, among others, responded that ‘peace must be built, not imposed.’ Shaul Mofaz, a former Likud defense minister, suggested the establishment of a Palestinian state on 60% of the West Bank. But Netanyahu's government is perhaps the most rightwing in Israel's history and it seems to prefer managing the conflict over resolving it.

Meanwhile, the international community’s pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel factions and loyalties are increasingly characterized by mutual animus and contempt rather than mutual respect and dignity. The polarization between the Diasporas is also widening as a growing chorus of still marginal movements call for the boycott, divestment, and sanction of Israel. ‘Israeli Apartheid Weeks’ are encroaching on many university campuses, The result is that acts of dialogue in the Diasporas, let alone a détente between Israelis and Palestinians, remains as rare and remote as ever.

I witnessed first hand many of the competing narratives and competing ‘truths’ of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict this summer while interning with the Multilateral Sector of the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Among the most salient points of discussion on both sides of the Barrier (also the “security fence” and “apartheid wall”) are East Jerusalem, the right of return, settlement expansion, the continued Israeli military presence in the West Bank and their legitimate ever-present security concerns - not to mention the relationship between the Jewish state and Eretz Israel, and how they reflect Israeli democracy.

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When I first visited the Palestinian territories, I was afraid I would have to hide my identity as an American and possibly wear a headscarf. To my surprise, I was warmly welcomed exactly as I was, and after more than two years living and working there, it remains one of my favorite spots on earth. The people are charming and generous, the landscape is gorgeous, and the parties, concerts, and beer gardens in Ramallah are world-class.

But behind all this looms the conflict, the occupation, and violence. Since September 2000, more than 5,500 Palestinians and 1,100 Israelis have been killed. A series of walls, fences, roadblocks, checkpoints, army bases, and settlements keep the Palestinians in the West Bank under an almost constant state of siege and strangle the economy of many towns and villages, including Bethlehem. Gaza has been turned into an open-air prison whose desperate inmates can only get vital supplies through smuggling tunnels -- which also transport weapons that Palestinian militants use to target Israeli civilians. POST




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Three Taliban rivals join forces to fight off America surge

Three rival Pakistani Taliban groups have agreed to form a united front against international forces in Afghanistan in a move likely to intensify the insurgency just as thousands of extra US soldiers begin pouring into the country as part of Barack Obama's surge plan.

The Guardian has learned that three of the most powerful warlords in the region have settled their differences and come together under a grouping calling itself Shura Ittihad-ul-Mujahideen, or Council of United Holy Warriors.

Nato officers fear that the new extremist partnership in Waziristan, Pakistan's tribal area, will significantly increase the cross-border influx of fighters and suicide bombers - a move that could undermine the US president's Afghanistan strategy before it is formulated.

The unity among the militants comes after a call by Mullah Omar, the cleric who leads the Afghan Taliban, telling Pakistani militants to stop fighting at home in order to join the battle to "liberate Afghanistan from the occupation forces".

The Pakistani Taliban movement was split between a powerful group led by the warlord Baitullah Mehsud and his bitter rivals, Maulvi Nazir and Gul Bahadur. While Mehsud has targeted Pakistan itself in a campaign of violence and is accused of being behind the assassination of the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, Nazir and Bahadur sent men to fight alongside other insurgents in Afghanistan.

Source

Occupation of Palestine- Dr. Mustafa Barghouti

This hour-long presentation by Dr. Mustafa Barghouti is a must see (and save for reference). It explains the past, present and future of Israeli Occupation of Palestine and present facts and figures that you don't see on your TV.




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