Archbishop Theodosius Hanna (Greek Orthodox Church), Monsignor Manuel Musallam (Latin Catholic) and Mr Constantine Dabbagh (Executive Director of the Middle East Council of Churches) are courageous human rights defenders and spiritual leaders from Palestine. They have just completed a tour of Ireland to raise awareness of the situation in their homeland under Israeli military occupation and the plight of the dwindling Christian community there.
"We need only one thing, to be protected by the world against the crimes of Israel," was their central message.
The week-long visit was arranged by SADAKA, the Ireland Palestine Alliance, and part funded by Trócaire, the overseas development agency of the Catholic Church in Ireland, and Christian Aid.
After delivering a special Christmas greeting from the Holy Land to the president and the people of Ireland, the Palestinian church leaders were able to establish a mutual understanding with President Mary McAleese that peace is more than an absence of violence – “the only lasting peace is a just peace”.
During their visit the churchmen described the Israeli occupation as the “crucifixion of the nation of Palestine”, and made a plea to all of Ireland’s leaders to “act and intervene, or nothing will change”.
They met with other Irish government ministers and the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs, whom they briefed on the reality of life in the Holy Land, where the Israeli occupation denies even freedom of religion. A transcript of the meeting can be found at here.
Archbishop Hanna began by reminding the committee:
Palestine is the place from where Christianity comes. Jerusalem, Bethlehem and the Holy Land in general are very important for Christians… Everything that has happened to the Palestinians between 1948 and today has happened to all Palestinians, including Christian Palestinians.
What we are after is freedom and dignity just as freedom and dignity have been bestowed on so many nations in the world. We want that too. When we speak about peace, we also speak about justice because it is impossible to have peace without justice. Peace is part of justice. Unfortunately, in the Holy Land there is no such thing as justice.
He explained that in Gaza 1.5 million live in an open air prison. "Christian or Muslim, we all are Palestinians and we all experience the same."
He said Jerusalem also was under siege. A Canadian could visit the city but Monsignor Musallam, who lives 20 minutes away in Birzeit, cannot. "What happens to him happens to all Palestinians in the West Bank. I was very happy to see Mr Dabbagh [who lives in Gaza] over here because I cannot see him in Palestine. I had to come to Ireland to see him."
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The Middle East.
14.12.10
Shameful traits of the USA and Israel
Shameful traits of the USA and Israel
By Paul J. Balles
15 December 2010
Paul J. Balles views two shameful traits shared by the US and Israel and represented in the views of Joseph A. Klein: abhorring criticism and diverting attention from their own faults when criticized by levelling the same criticism at others.
"Arrogance diminishes wisdom” – Arabic proverb
Last month, Joseph A. Klein wrote an article for the Canada Free Press criticizing the Obama administration for joining the UN Human Rights Council.
The council had met and found fault with a number of human rights violations by America. For this, Klein verbally bashed the council. Klein is author of the book Global Deception: The UN’s Stealth Assault on America’s Freedom.
Having "studied the United Nations for many years" Klein says he "watched it degenerate into an anti-Western echo chamber that does more harm than good."
...we righteously oppose aggression while invading and simultaneously occupying numerous countries, while threatening to attack still more, and arming countries like Israel to the teeth to wage still other attacks..."
Glenn Greenwald, attorney, commentator and author
The point of Klein's writing is that the UN is wrong because of its criticism of the US and Israel.
The US and Israel share two shameful traits: both abhor criticism, and both divert attention from their own faults when criticized by levelling the same criticism at others.
"In my new book, Lethal Engagement," says Klein, "I focus on the perfect storm revolving around the increasing Islamicization of key UN bodies – particularly the ones that produce influential international norms."
In short, criticize Israel for any of its misdeeds –destruction of Lebanon's infrastructure, imprisoning thousands of Palestinians, starving and slaughtering Gazans – and Klein will shift to an unrelated issue.
Klein complains that "Obama wants to engage with our enemies like Iran and Syria while coming down hard on one of our closest allies, Israel".
Thus, Klein (and others) will criticize Obama, but to find fault with America or Israelis is to be dubbed unpatriotic, Islamic extremist or anti-Semitic.
While most people's ire is aroused by criticism from outsiders (aliens, expatriates, foreigners) there are often good reasons for outsiders to be critical.
Attorney, commentator and author of How would a Patriot Act, Glenn Greenwald pointed to several understandable reasons for external criticism in his books and articles.
"We systematically torture Muslims and then cover it up and protect our torturers while preaching accountability and the rule of law; we condemn deprivations of due process while maintaining and expanding lawless prison systems for Muslims..."
That being factually accurate, it's understandable why those who have suffered under our double standards denigrate their abusers.
Greenwald notes how our critics react predictably to our hypocrisy: "We demand adherence to UN dictates and international law while blocking investigations into UN reports of war crimes and possible 'crimes against humanity' by our allies..."
If that weren't enough, Greenwald reminds us that "we righteously oppose aggression while invading and simultaneously occupying numerous countries, while threatening to attack still more, and arming countries like Israel to the teeth to wage still other attacks..."
Source-http://www.redress.cc/americas/pjballes20101215
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By Paul J. Balles
15 December 2010
Paul J. Balles views two shameful traits shared by the US and Israel and represented in the views of Joseph A. Klein: abhorring criticism and diverting attention from their own faults when criticized by levelling the same criticism at others.
"Arrogance diminishes wisdom” – Arabic proverb
Last month, Joseph A. Klein wrote an article for the Canada Free Press criticizing the Obama administration for joining the UN Human Rights Council.
The council had met and found fault with a number of human rights violations by America. For this, Klein verbally bashed the council. Klein is author of the book Global Deception: The UN’s Stealth Assault on America’s Freedom.
Having "studied the United Nations for many years" Klein says he "watched it degenerate into an anti-Western echo chamber that does more harm than good."
...we righteously oppose aggression while invading and simultaneously occupying numerous countries, while threatening to attack still more, and arming countries like Israel to the teeth to wage still other attacks..."
Glenn Greenwald, attorney, commentator and author
The point of Klein's writing is that the UN is wrong because of its criticism of the US and Israel.
The US and Israel share two shameful traits: both abhor criticism, and both divert attention from their own faults when criticized by levelling the same criticism at others.
"In my new book, Lethal Engagement," says Klein, "I focus on the perfect storm revolving around the increasing Islamicization of key UN bodies – particularly the ones that produce influential international norms."
In short, criticize Israel for any of its misdeeds –destruction of Lebanon's infrastructure, imprisoning thousands of Palestinians, starving and slaughtering Gazans – and Klein will shift to an unrelated issue.
Klein complains that "Obama wants to engage with our enemies like Iran and Syria while coming down hard on one of our closest allies, Israel".
Thus, Klein (and others) will criticize Obama, but to find fault with America or Israelis is to be dubbed unpatriotic, Islamic extremist or anti-Semitic.
While most people's ire is aroused by criticism from outsiders (aliens, expatriates, foreigners) there are often good reasons for outsiders to be critical.
Attorney, commentator and author of How would a Patriot Act, Glenn Greenwald pointed to several understandable reasons for external criticism in his books and articles.
"We systematically torture Muslims and then cover it up and protect our torturers while preaching accountability and the rule of law; we condemn deprivations of due process while maintaining and expanding lawless prison systems for Muslims..."
That being factually accurate, it's understandable why those who have suffered under our double standards denigrate their abusers.
Greenwald notes how our critics react predictably to our hypocrisy: "We demand adherence to UN dictates and international law while blocking investigations into UN reports of war crimes and possible 'crimes against humanity' by our allies..."
If that weren't enough, Greenwald reminds us that "we righteously oppose aggression while invading and simultaneously occupying numerous countries, while threatening to attack still more, and arming countries like Israel to the teeth to wage still other attacks..."
Source-http://www.redress.cc/americas/pjballes20101215
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13.12.10
Car bomb kills 6 NATO troops in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan: A suicide attacker detonated a minibus packed with explosives near the gates of a military base in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing six NATO troops and two Afghan soldiers, officials said.
Afghan officials said the attack took place in the Zhari district of Kandahar province, where the US poured in troops this summer as part of a surge of forces to try to oust the Taleban from its southern strongholds.
Gen. Abdul Hamid, the Afghan army chief for the province, said the attacker drove a minibus into the entrance of the base Sunday morning just as vehicles were preparing to move out on a patrol.
“They were leaving the compound and at that moment, the minibus attacked and they hit right at the entrance of the base,” Hamid said.
Taleban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the insurgent group was retaliating for all the attacks launched on them in the area in recent months.
NATO said only that the service members had been killed in an insurgent attack and declined to identify their nationalities. Most NATO troops in the south are American.
More than 670 international troops have been killed so far this year, well above the 502 killed in the whole of 2009.
Sunday’s attack was the second incident in two weeks to kill so many service members. On Nov. 29, an Afghan policeman turned his gun on his American trainers in the east, killing six of them before he was gunned down. The Taleban claimed that they had sent him to join the police as a sleeper agent. Before that, five US soldiers were killed in a Nov. 14 insurgent attack on their unit in eastern Afghanistan.
Also Sunday, NATO said a joint NATO-Afghan force killed a Taleban leader and captured a key member of another militant group in the east.
The Taleban leader was involved in weapons smuggling and attacks in eastern Wardak province, according to a statement. NATO identified him only by his first name, Fedahi.
NATO said two men threatened coalition troops as they entered a compound Saturday night where they had heard Fedahi was staying. They shot and killed both men, one of whom was later identified as Fedahi, the statement said. It said no civilians were harmed in the operation.
Source : http://arabnews.com/world/article213975.ece
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Afghan officials said the attack took place in the Zhari district of Kandahar province, where the US poured in troops this summer as part of a surge of forces to try to oust the Taleban from its southern strongholds.
Gen. Abdul Hamid, the Afghan army chief for the province, said the attacker drove a minibus into the entrance of the base Sunday morning just as vehicles were preparing to move out on a patrol.
“They were leaving the compound and at that moment, the minibus attacked and they hit right at the entrance of the base,” Hamid said.
Taleban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the insurgent group was retaliating for all the attacks launched on them in the area in recent months.
NATO said only that the service members had been killed in an insurgent attack and declined to identify their nationalities. Most NATO troops in the south are American.
More than 670 international troops have been killed so far this year, well above the 502 killed in the whole of 2009.
Sunday’s attack was the second incident in two weeks to kill so many service members. On Nov. 29, an Afghan policeman turned his gun on his American trainers in the east, killing six of them before he was gunned down. The Taleban claimed that they had sent him to join the police as a sleeper agent. Before that, five US soldiers were killed in a Nov. 14 insurgent attack on their unit in eastern Afghanistan.
Also Sunday, NATO said a joint NATO-Afghan force killed a Taleban leader and captured a key member of another militant group in the east.
The Taleban leader was involved in weapons smuggling and attacks in eastern Wardak province, according to a statement. NATO identified him only by his first name, Fedahi.
NATO said two men threatened coalition troops as they entered a compound Saturday night where they had heard Fedahi was staying. They shot and killed both men, one of whom was later identified as Fedahi, the statement said. It said no civilians were harmed in the operation.
Source : http://arabnews.com/world/article213975.ece
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9.12.10
Kuwaiti MPs accuse PM over violence
Twenty Kuwaiti opposition MPs have resolved to press ahead with plans to question the prime minister in parliament following a police crackdown at a public rally, which left several parliamentarians injured.
Medics and witnesses said at least five people were injured at the rally west of Kuwait City on Wednesday, while local media put the number of those hurt at 14, including four politicians.
Opposition MPs said they held Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah, the prime minister and a senior member of the Al-Sabah ruling family, responsible for the actions of the police.
Following a meeting of opposition politicians on Thursday, Jamaan al-Harbash, an MP, said: "We have decided to quiz the prime minister and the motion will be filed on Sunday."
The rally, which the government said was unauthorised, was the second in a series of opposition protests against an alleged "government plot" to amend the 1962 constitution, which made Kuwait the first Arab state in the Gulf to embrace parliamentary democracy.
The opposition MPs accuse the government and its supporters of trying to undermine the status of the constitution in a bid to suppress freedom and democracy.
Several opposition blocs in parliament have formed a loose group to defend the constitution.
Khaled al-Tahus, another MP, said the attack on the rally was "premeditated" and warned it will have "serious consequences on the government".
"The situation is too grave ... This only takes place in repressive countries ... The country is passing through a serious turning point," Tahus, a member of the nationalist Popular Action Bloc, said.
Independent MP Mubarak Al-Waalan called for the government to step down. "It's time for this government to go," he said.
Kuwait, OPEC's fifth-largest oil producer, has a 50-member parliament. The 16 cabinet ministers, of whom 15 are unelected, automatically become members of parliament and have similar voting rights as elected MPs.
The emirate has been rocked by a series of political crises over the past five years that led the ruler to dissolve parliament three times, while the cabinet has resigned five times.
Source - http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/12/2010129756368534.html
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Medics and witnesses said at least five people were injured at the rally west of Kuwait City on Wednesday, while local media put the number of those hurt at 14, including four politicians.
Opposition MPs said they held Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah, the prime minister and a senior member of the Al-Sabah ruling family, responsible for the actions of the police.
Following a meeting of opposition politicians on Thursday, Jamaan al-Harbash, an MP, said: "We have decided to quiz the prime minister and the motion will be filed on Sunday."
The rally, which the government said was unauthorised, was the second in a series of opposition protests against an alleged "government plot" to amend the 1962 constitution, which made Kuwait the first Arab state in the Gulf to embrace parliamentary democracy.
The opposition MPs accuse the government and its supporters of trying to undermine the status of the constitution in a bid to suppress freedom and democracy.
Several opposition blocs in parliament have formed a loose group to defend the constitution.
Khaled al-Tahus, another MP, said the attack on the rally was "premeditated" and warned it will have "serious consequences on the government".
"The situation is too grave ... This only takes place in repressive countries ... The country is passing through a serious turning point," Tahus, a member of the nationalist Popular Action Bloc, said.
Independent MP Mubarak Al-Waalan called for the government to step down. "It's time for this government to go," he said.
Kuwait, OPEC's fifth-largest oil producer, has a 50-member parliament. The 16 cabinet ministers, of whom 15 are unelected, automatically become members of parliament and have similar voting rights as elected MPs.
The emirate has been rocked by a series of political crises over the past five years that led the ruler to dissolve parliament three times, while the cabinet has resigned five times.
Source - http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/12/2010129756368534.html
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28.7.10
US denies Olmert influenced UN vote
The US has denied that a telephone call made by Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, to George Bush, the US president, led to the US abstaining in a UN vote on the Gaza war last week.
In a speech late on Monday, Olmert said Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, was left 'pretty shamed' at the vote and had to abstain on a resolution she had helped arrange.
Sean McCormack, a US state department spokesmen, who was with Rice at the UN last week during debate on the security council resolution, said the remarks were 'just 100 per cent, totally, completely untrue'."
US denies Olmert influenced UN vote
In a speech late on Monday, Olmert said Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, was left 'pretty shamed' at the vote and had to abstain on a resolution she had helped arrange.
Sean McCormack, a US state department spokesmen, who was with Rice at the UN last week during debate on the security council resolution, said the remarks were 'just 100 per cent, totally, completely untrue'."
US denies Olmert influenced UN vote
2.7.10
The Iraqi shoes thrower at George W Bush says he was tortured by senior government officials while in jail.
Shortly after his release from nine months in a Baghdad prison, Muntadar al-Zaidi demanded an apology - and said he would name the officials later.
Iraqi officials told the BBC his claims should be investigated.
His protest last December made him a hero for many people. He was convicted of assaulting a foreign leader.
Initially, he was sentenced to three years in jail.
But he had the term reduced to 12 months on appeal and was released three months early for good behaviour.
After his release on Tuesday he told journalists: "I am free again, but my homeland is still a prison."
Reuters news agency reported he was slurring his speech because of a missing tooth.
He went on to say he had suffered beatings, whippings, electric shocks and simulated drowning at the hands of officials and guards.
"At the time that Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said on television that he could not sleep without being reassured on my fate... I was being tortured in the worst ways, beaten with electric cables and iron bars," he said.
He demanded an apology from Mr Maliki and said he would name the officials who tortured him in due course.
Many Iraqis regard Muntadar al-Zaidi as a national hero - others think he was unforgivably rude.
After leaving prison, Mr Zaidi went straight to al Baghdadiya, the TV station he was working for at the news conference where he threw the shoes.
Addressing his own news conference, he said he had been tortured in jail.
A spokesman for the ministry of human rights told us that if he was badly treated, it's likely that it happened while he was in custody before his trial, and not in the prison where he spent the past nine months, as it is a jail with a good reputation.
Shoe thrower welcomed home
He also said he feared US intelligence services regarded him as an "insurgent revolutionary" and would "spare no effort" in a bid to kill him.
"I want to warn all my relatives and people close to me that these services will use all means to trap and try to kill and liquidate me either physically, socially or professionally," he said.
His allegations of abuse mirror claims made earlier by his family, who said he had been beaten, suffering a broken arm, broken ribs and internal bleeding.
Source
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Iraqi officials told the BBC his claims should be investigated.
His protest last December made him a hero for many people. He was convicted of assaulting a foreign leader.
Initially, he was sentenced to three years in jail.
But he had the term reduced to 12 months on appeal and was released three months early for good behaviour.
After his release on Tuesday he told journalists: "I am free again, but my homeland is still a prison."
Reuters news agency reported he was slurring his speech because of a missing tooth.
He went on to say he had suffered beatings, whippings, electric shocks and simulated drowning at the hands of officials and guards.
"At the time that Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said on television that he could not sleep without being reassured on my fate... I was being tortured in the worst ways, beaten with electric cables and iron bars," he said.
He demanded an apology from Mr Maliki and said he would name the officials who tortured him in due course.
Many Iraqis regard Muntadar al-Zaidi as a national hero - others think he was unforgivably rude.
After leaving prison, Mr Zaidi went straight to al Baghdadiya, the TV station he was working for at the news conference where he threw the shoes.
Addressing his own news conference, he said he had been tortured in jail.
A spokesman for the ministry of human rights told us that if he was badly treated, it's likely that it happened while he was in custody before his trial, and not in the prison where he spent the past nine months, as it is a jail with a good reputation.
Shoe thrower welcomed home
He also said he feared US intelligence services regarded him as an "insurgent revolutionary" and would "spare no effort" in a bid to kill him.
"I want to warn all my relatives and people close to me that these services will use all means to trap and try to kill and liquidate me either physically, socially or professionally," he said.
His allegations of abuse mirror claims made earlier by his family, who said he had been beaten, suffering a broken arm, broken ribs and internal bleeding.
Source
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