On September 11 last year, al-Qaida's No 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, released a videotaped message saying Bin Laden had personally approved the "blessed union"...Algeria collapsed into violence in 1992 after the authorities scrapped an election that an Islamist party looked set to win...President Bouteflika has vowed to pursue his controversial policy of national reconciliation, aiming to grant amnesty to Islamist activists renouncing the violence that killed some 200,000 people in the 90s...Some 2,000 activists have been released from prison.

Editor CE-The Israel Defense Forces said those killed were “militants”  in Israeli attacks in northern and southern Gaza, but how do we know who they are?  "IDF said that two Israeli soldiers were injured when a rocket-propelled grenade hit their tank near Khan Younes (inside the Gaza gulag)....The operations targeting Palestinian militants began simultaneously in the southern and northern parts of Gaza Tuesday morning, with the forces resorting to air strikes in the north and using tanks and bulldozers in the south...Two militants died in air strikes against Qassam rocket launch sites in the north, the IDF said. The Israeli forces shot three men dead in house-to-house raids in the south....IDF said that two Israeli soldiers were injured when a rocket-propelled grenade hit their tank near Khan Younes."

Editor CE- How many know that Darfur is rich in oil? This is an April 16, 2005 post in Sudan Watch. Now all the international interest in Darfur makes sense: "PANA news today says Sudan has discovered an oil field in Darfur expected to produce 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day by August of this year, a cabinet minister revealed in Khartoum Saturday."

I

 

Civil rights group: Israel has reached new heights of racism

By Yuval Yoaz and Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondents

Tags: Association for Civil Rights

Racism against Israel's Arab citizens has dramatically increased in the past year, including a 26 percent rise in anti-Arab incidents, according to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel's annual report. Author Sami Michael, the association's president, said upon the release of the report that racism was so rife it was damaging civil liberty in Israel. "Israeli society is reaching new heights of racism that damages freedom of

expression and privacy," Michael said. The publication coincides with Human Rights Week, which begins Sunday" We are a society under supervision under a democratic regime whose institutions are being undermined and which confers a different status to residents in the center of the country and in the periphery," Michael said.

EditorCE­­- It is indeed rare for the word “oil” and “Iraq” to be mentioned by our press in the same line .  This is because we who watch are not suppose to think about the US Troops, and some 170,000 private contracted mercenaries whose primary job it is to keep Iraq oil safe for U.S. Companies to harvest.  It is not often Iraqi rebels are able to penetrate the defenses around the oil fields and refineries, and when they do, the press is not usually allowed to reports it. This story is a rare exception:  "Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad, houses northern Iraq's largest oil refinery, and serves as a key transfer point for crude oil being exported out of the country. Attacks on the Kirkuk-Beiji pipeline cluster have been infrequent in recent months, with some 300 U.S. soldiers and more than 2,000 Iraqi troops guarding the zone."

Banna, 45, a father of five from London, was seized by the CIA in 2002, and flown to Guantánamo after MI5 wrongly told the US that his travelling companion was carrying bomb parts on a business trip to Gambia. MI5 had attempted to recruit him as an informer days earlier

"The pool, which is where most of the state's municipalities put their money when they are not using it, owns $1.5 billion in securities that have been downgraded or defaulted as a result of the subprime market collapse...In freezing the pool, Coleman Stipanovich, executive director of the board, said, ``If we don't do something quickly, we're not going to have an investment pool.''

"The law in Britain allows individuals to seek warrants for the arrest of those suspected of serious human rights abuses abroad. Dichter is not the first Israeli official to risk arrest under this law. In September 2005 detectives were waiting at Heathrow airport to arrest a retired Israeli general, Doron Almog, on war crimes charges relating to house demolitions and "targeted killings" in Gaza. Almog's plane landed but he was tipped off by Israeli diplomats and stayed on board until the El -Al flight took off again for Israel."

Editor CE- Israel, the Mideast's only nuclear bully, continues to threaten a holocaust in Iran over its documented peaceful nuclear program."Senior Israeli officials warned today they were still considering the option of a military strike against Iran, despite a fresh US intelligence report that concluded Tehran was no longer developing nuclear weapons."

Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland finds that it is ordinary Palestinians that are being harmed by Israel's decision to cut back fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=D-j-0vE_RLQ

Editor CE- This editor has been inside Gaza and has seen rocket attacks from close up, and the results of bombing attacks by Israel. According to official Israeli news accounts, some 21 Hamas members have already been assassinated from the air over Gaza since the so-called Annapolis Peace Conference.  Not one Israeli has been reported killed during this period, but most of the 1.5 million citizens of Gaza who are represented by an elected Hamas, are without food, water, fuel, heat, electricity and medical supplies for those who are wounded in the air attacks.  Israel's actions are obscene, and worse, they have the full support of the USA Administration or this would not be its official policy. Dr. Yousuf states: "Our skepticism is based on experience. You know that despite every call for restraint by the U.S. over the last twenty years the Israelis have continued to expand and develop their vast network of towns and roads on Palestinian land. While you sat and talked in Annapolis the sound of cranes and bulldozers were echoing across the West Bank as those networks continue to grow. It is therefore hard to imagine an Israeli government bent on a peaceful withdrawal from our land. We can only presume that they are paying lip-service to your request to participate, seeing it as a delaying tactic to talk about peace with no real intention to deliver."

Editor CE- Brave words and good progress is seen in this call for "democratic" states for both parties.  Surely the signers of this letter must know that Israel is not "democratic," but is the only remaining "apartheid" style state in the world, openly dividing its citizens and determining their rights based on race and religion. Its does not pretend its Arab citizens have equal rights, and Mr. Olmert recently caused a row by stating that Israel can not exist as a democracy, stating: Olmert: "If the day comes when the two-state solution collapses, and we face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights (also for the Palestinians in the territories), then, as soon as that happens, the State of Israel is finished.”  http://cp.whtt.org/homepages_admin.php?a=addnews&b=edit&news_id=1936  The 80 Evangelical Christian signers, many heads of colleges and seminaries wrote:  

 "We resolve to work diligently for a secure, enduring peace and a flourishing economy for the democratic State of Israel. We also resolve to work for a viable permanent, democratic Palestinian State with a flourishing economy that offers economic opportunity to all its people. We believe that the way forward is for the Israelis and Palestinians to negotiate a fair, two-state solution...We are encouraged that the Israeli and Palestinian governments have officially endorsed a two-state solution and that polls demonstrate that solid majorities in both Israel and Palestine embrace this path."

(Click the top link to see the list of signers.)

Selwa's Story, on tape

From the story:  Bush said the new conclusion -- contradicting earlier US assessments -- would not prompt him to take off the table the possibility of pre-emptive military action against Iran. Nor will the United States change its policy of trying to isolate Iran diplomatically and punish it with sanctions, he said...Bush said he did not know about the new findings until he was briefed last week -- a point challenged by some..."The president knew, even as he was saying 'World War III' and all that kind of stuff," said Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., chairman of the Senate intelligence committee. "He knew. He knew, he had been briefed."

From this story: "Army Radio reported Tuesday that an IDF soldier had been lightly injured during a mortar shell attack near Kibbutz Nahal Oz in the western Negev. On Sunday, four soldiers were lightly hurt when Palestinian militants in Gaza fired mortar shells into an infirmary of a western Negev army base.  Defense Minister Ehud Barak said "it is time to kill those who carry out attacks against Israelis," but said he was holding off on a large-scale invasion of the Gaza Strip for now.  Barak told Army Radio that IDF troops had killed 27 Gaza militants in the past 10 days and would continue to chase down those operating under Hamas rule."

Editor CE- Why the dollar is in free fall: "The new policy reflects the accurate judgment by the central government on China's current economic situation, which is under pressure from further price rises and unduly fast loan growth," said Peng Xingyun, a senior researcher with the Research Institute of Finance under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences"

What the Intelligence report said: "2005 Assess with high confidence that Iran currently is determined to develop nuclear weapons despite its international obligations and international pressure, but we do not assess that Iran is immovable."

"2007 Judge with high confidence that in fall 2003 Tehran halted its nuclear weapons programme. Judge with high confidence that the halt lasted at least several years Department of Energy and National Intelligence Council have moderate confidence that the halt to those activities represents a halt to Iran's entire nuclear weapons programme. Assess with moderate confidence Tehran had not restarted its nuclear weapons programme as of mid-2007, but we do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons. Judge with high confidence that the halt was directed primarily in response to increasing international scrutiny and pressure resulting from exposure of Iran's previously undeclared nuclear work."

"The U.S. intelligence community stated "with high confidence" that Iran ceased its efforts to develop nuclear weapons when international inspections began in fall 2003. The report's authors went on to say that Iran could likely be persuaded to abandon the program further...Adviser Stephen Hadley..said that the Bush administration had not sought to manipulate the information to help shape U.S. policy on Iran."

Editor CE- What does Unity Coalitian For Israel mean when it insists on a "Jewish State" to which Palestine must agree?  Answer: it means a racist state to which the Palestinian Authority (Mr. Abbas)  must acknowledge that Arab non-Jews have no democratic rights no matter how long they have lived there. The original Partitioning Agreement* in 1948 stated that Israel must honor the property rights of native people. This was never done, which is why President Carter calls Israel an "apartheid state," and in no way a democracy. *Read it in One Nation Under Israel. http://eshop.whtt.org/eshop.php?flag=1

The author suggests: An International/Global Campaign -- an overall strategy to challenge Israel's legitimacy as a Jewish state and a colonial apartheid one; the boycott to include targeting Israel's economy, academia, culture and sports.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Editor CE- The only way to tell what Israel is really doing is to read between the lines of its official news releases carried in the Israeli media…never in the US media. This one tells us Israel's newly disclosed policy toward its organized Hamas opposition in Gaza is 'attack at random.'  A careful reading of this story explains that this policy allows systematic execution of any opposition Israel wants to get rid of. Gazans are helpless inside their cage to defend themselves against air attacks. Whenever a homemade rocket or ancient mortar round is lobbed over the fence into Israeli land, Israel will kill someone they claim to be a member of Hamas.  But Israel has many agents in Gaza capable of arranging a rocket or two if no Palestinian launches one.  The operative declaration of planned assassination, published in Arutz Sheva reads: "IDF has now established that Hamas is behind all of the terror emanating from Gaza and will thus retaliate against Hamas targets regardless of which organization takes credit for terror attacks." ..."Military sources said last week that an IDF attack on a Hamas terrorist position in Khan Yunis which killed two was the first sign of a new policy regarding Gaza terrorists. From now on, they said, the IAF will attack a random Hamas target in Gaza every time a mortar shell or rocket hits an Israeli community, and will no longer limit itself to striking the terrorists who launched the rockets."

Haaretz view of WINEP report:  "Freilich believes that despite these mutual reservations, detailed discussions between the U.S. and Israel should be held on possible military action against Iran because of the need to separate forces if Israel attacks Iran and U.S. forces are in the way. In addition, Iran in any case would see the U.S. and Israel as cooperating and would respond against both."

Freilich proposes a dialogue on Iran's possible responses, on terror attacks and the disruption of oil shipments from the Gulf to the West. But he also seeks a dialogue on how to live with a nuclear Iran.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Labor Party's chairman: "The Labor Party intends to present a bill that would compensate some West Bank settlers who leave their homes voluntarily, ...It is the obligation of the government in a law-abiding country to implement its decisions and enforce the law."  Barak also "informed the ministers that in recent days the Israel Defense Forces has intensified its operations against Hamas in the Gaza Strip."

Editor CE-Last night six more Gazan men were executed inside their cage. The survivors of the night shout words of frustration and anger through the fences at the fence guards who confine them, "we will get even".  Everyone knows they have little if any chance of doing revenge, and for every ounce they give they will be repaid ten times in more agony...Are we so removed from this place that we cannot understand their frustration and anger? Our thanks to Ramsy Baroud, who concludes:  "No one can claim that the Palestinian question is easy to understand. It may be a classic colonial case that should not have been allowed to fester for so long but to grasp an event as recent as Palestinian infighting requires an examination of various layers of analyses, local, regional and international. One must ask questions about causes, motives and hidden intentions. If done properly, this will show that as disheartening, demoralising and confusing as they may seem from the outside, recent developments in Palestine were predictable and are consistent with the history of past national struggles. If we do not wish to shirk our moral and intellectual responsibilities we must resist the temptation to make of Palestine an exception."

The Americans are very serious this time. They cannot let Pakistan get out of their hands...Getting Bhutto killed can generate the kind of pressure that could result in permanently putting the Pakistani military on a back foot, giving Washington enough room to push for installing a new pliant leadership in Islamabad....Having Musharraf killed isn’t a bad option either. The unknown Islamists can always be blamed and the military will not be able to put another soldier at the top, and circumstances will be created to ensure that either Mrs. Bhutto or someone like her is eased into power. (Americans) have been kicked out of Uzbekistan last year, where they were maintaining bases. They are in trouble in Afghanistan and Iraq. Iran continues to be a mess for them and Russia and China are not making it any easier. Pakistan must be ‘secured’ at all costs... Now there’s also one Bryan Hunt, the U.S. consul general in Lahore, who wears the national Pakistani dress, the long shirt and baggy trousers, and is moving around these days issuing tough warnings to Islamabad and to the Pakistani government and to President Musharraf to end emergency rule, resign as army chief and give Mrs. Bhutto access to power.

Editor CE- Fifteen days in a woman’s prison in Khartoum seems like an excessive sentence for the English school teacher who named her teddy bear “Mohammad.”  If an Arab teacher in Atlanta on a green card named his pet pup “Jesus” there might be an outcry from a few pulpits crying “Muslims are slurring the Son of God”, but the teacher would probably not lose his job or be deported, or would he? 

A Muslim US Citizen Professor in the USA was just sentenced to 11 years (not days) in prison for refusing to give up the names and addresses of his Hamas friends and family in Gaza, knowing they might well be murdered if he did so. 

The ordinary folks in Arab countries are better informed about world events; they know about Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. This trial in Khartoum demonstrated only one fact, and it is not about religion, and has little to do with this schoolteacher.  The USA and UK, by act of war, have set the whole world, especially the Muslim world, on edge, not against our untouchable government, but against every one of us.  The ordinary black Sudanese Muslim wants the scalp of this benign and probably well-intended teacher, who made a careless cultural and religious error. They are telling us our government should leave their country and their culture alone. Miss Gibbons is paying the price for acts of  Tony Blair and George W.Bush.

(Mrs. Gibbons was subsequently pardoned and who will return to London)

Blackwater

Founded 1997 by former navy Seals Erik Prince and Al Clark

Mission: "To support security and peace, and freedom and democracy everywhere"

First government contract in February 2000

Trains more than 40,000 people a year at its base in North Carolina

$1 Billon five-year contract to protect US officials in conflict zones and US embassy in Baghdad

Four staff were lynched in Falluja in 2004

Involved in 195 shooting incidents between 2005 and September 2007, when licence to operate in Iraq was revoked by Iraq government following shooting to death 17 Iraqis

In October Prince testified before congressional committee investigating Blackwater. The Company is being investigated by the FBI.

 

Editor CE- The people inside the Gulags at Gaza and in the isolated walled-in sub-provinces in the West Bank are not represented by Mahmoud Abbas. We foresaw that the Peace Conference would be a farce, and now Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has confirmed it in an amazing statement in his own hometown newspaper Haaretz. 

 

Olmert: "If the day comes when the two-state solution collapses, and we face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights (also for the Palestinians in the territories), then, as soon as that happens, the State of Israel is finished.”

"The Jewish organizations, which were our power base in America, will be the first to come out against us," Olmert said, "because they will say they cannot support a state that does not support democracy and equal voting rights for all its residents."

This is an exact quote from Haaretz in which Mr. Olmert admits that Israel is not a “democracy” and does not plan ever to be one. It cannot survive as one like now exist in South Africa after Apartheid.  Olmert refers to South Africa's transition from “Apartheid” fearfully, and he specifically rejects the idea of equal voting rights for Israel.  Haaretz also quotes Olmert:

 

"We now have a partner," in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "He is a weak partner, who is not capable, and, as Tony Blair says, has yet to formulate the tools and may not manage to do so. But it is my job to do everything so that he receives the tools, and to reach an understanding on the guidelines for an agreement.”

 

Mr. Abbas did not go to Annapolis as Israel’s partner but as its opponent. He is supposed to represent those in the Gulags in life and death negotiations.  How can Abbas represent the Gazans and those locked up in the West Bank if he is Israel’s “partner?”  As we pointed out in our story, Abbas is weak because he was un-elected, and those in Hamas who were elected are not allowed to attend the peace conference because many are in Israeli prisons, and some have been murdered. The peace conference is a farce because Israel and the USA control both sides.  We said it and Olmert confirms it!

Harkin to the real purpose of the coming conference meetings.  It is to formalize what now exists, the Gulags system consisting of one big prison called Gaza, and the West Bank made up of many separate gulags.  The Bush Peace Plan will result in  these compounds being run by the Palestinian inmates, but policed and controlled by Israel economically, much like slave labor camps in the Soviet Union.  The NAZI’S also ran admitted slave labor camps; some Israelis are said to be familiar with them.  When the gulag system is in place, Israel and its friends will begin to use the labor pool inside to turn out cheap goods in a controlled environment. 

 

The free world should demand what Mr. Olmert fears the worst, a one state democratic solution with equal rights regardless of race. We urge readers to look at Annapolis Conference: Diversion Tactic for US Attack on Iran? http://whtt.org/index.php?news=2&id=1925

 "NATO-led forces drew sharp criticism earlier this year for causing civilian casualties...In Washington, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said officials believed the strike might have killed the Taliban's commander for western Nuristan, Abdulla Jan....But Afghan officials said bombs hit two tents housing Afghan engineers and laborers contracted by the U.S. military to build a road, killing 14 workers...This has been the deadliest year yet since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, with more than 6,100 people killed - including over 800 civilians - in militant attacks and military operations, according to an Associated Press tally of figures from Afghan and Western officials."

George Galloway  is a Scottish politician, a Member of Parliment since 1987.  MP Galloway is perhaps best known for his vigorous campaign to overturn economic sanctions against Iraq in the 1990s and early 2000s and to avert the 2003 invasion of that country. (Follow the link to You Tube)