Islamic Or Republican Fascism?

An interesting discussion broke out on another blog while discussing Canadian politics. It actually forced my eyes open to the plain truth that the George Bush White House is actually facist! Since then I've been running into articles that are helping me to sharpen my understanding of this including this article by Eric Margolis.

A moment ago I found this article that I thought I would share with you before George goes too far, the complete article can be read here.

Reclaiming The Issues: Islamic Or Republican Fascism?

by Thom Hartmann

In the years since George W. Bush first used 9/11 as his own "Reichstag fire" to gut the Constitution and enhance the power and wealth of his corporate cronies, many across the political spectrum have accused him and his Republican support group of being fascists.

On the right,The John Birch Society's website editor recently opined of the Bush Administration's warrantless wiretap program: "This is to say that from the administration's perspective, the president is, in effect, our living constitution. This is, in a specific and unmistakable sense, fascist."

On the left, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. specifically indicts the Bush administration for fascistic behavior in his book "Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and his Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy."

Genuine American fascists are on the run, and part of their survival strategy is to redefine the term "fascism" so it can't be applied to them any more. Most recently, George W. Bush said: "This nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation."

In fact, the Islamic fundamentalists who apparently perpetrated 9/11 and other crimes in Spain and the United Kingdom are advocating a fundamentalist theocracy, not fascism.

But theocracy - the merging of religion and government - is also on the plate for the new American fascists (just as it was for Hitler, who based the Nazi death cult on a "new Christianity" that would bring "a thousand years of peace"), so they don't want to use that term, either... more>>>

The Brutal Truth of the Palestine Situation

I read this article today, a portion of the authors book "A World Less Safe". He is a former Deputy Director of the U.S. State Office of Counter-Terrorism and Emergency Planning, and the former Chairman of the Department of International Studies of the National War College. Enjoy.


The Brutal Truth of the Palestine Situation

by Terrell E. Arnold, August 25th 2006

The Israeli Zionist dream for Palestine is coming true. Deprived of food, water, electricity, money, medical care, safety, leadership, and official outside help, the Palestinians are turning on each other as they struggle to survive. But Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has made it clear that this is only the beginning. “Nobody dies from not having electricity,” Olmert is said to have told his cabinet, and “no one in Gaza should sleep”. Emphasizing that last point, low-flying IDF jets break the sound barrier over Gaza virtually every night.

The Palestinian government disaster was deliberately contrived by Israel, the United States, the European Union, and the United Nations. On top of this, the Israel Defense Force is conducting daily raids, bombings, attacks, kidnappings, and interference with human movements. The goal is to contrive the utter collapse of Palestinian society, while goading as many as possible into leaving, dying, or killing each other; it is doubtful that the Olmert government or its Zionist backers care which.

While the outside world has been more or less fixated on Lebanon, IDF forces and Mossad have been conducting intensive warfare and political harassment in Gaza and the West Bank. The Israelis have taken much of the parliament, many cabinet members, and the Deputy Prime Minister hostage, although they use the euphemism “arrest” for what they do. They have threatened to assassinate the Prime Minister and have bombed his and other government offices.

In the process they have progressively disassembled the democratically elected Palestinian Government by kidnappings, and it is doubtful that without an international outcry that so far has not been forthcoming, many of these prisoners will ever be released. Instead they may join the ranks of the estimated 10,000 Palestinian hostages the Israelis have held without charge for many years.

Westerners, particularly Americans, should get the goal for this carefully programmed nightmare in Palestine clearly into their heads. It is not to punish the Palestinians for taking an Israeli soldier prisoner. It is not about the sporadic delivery of home-made rockets into Israeli territory that seldom produces casualties. It is not about the occasional body-bomber who detonates himself or herself on an Israeli bus or street with bloody consequences.

Those events actually serve as Israeli game plan window dressing. Anyone who has been watching closely knows that the objective is to assure that the Palestinians never get near a negotiating table. The Zionist government and its close supporters, many Israelis, and many American supporters of it, want all of Palestine as part of Israel, but Israel cannot go on taking Palestine bit by bit if the Palestinians are prepared to negotiate. Nor can they go on with an occupation that is designed slowly to swallow the rest of Palestine unless the Palestinians continue to fight back. As Patrick Seale commented in the Guardian in early July, “Palestinian moderates are Israel’s real enemies.”

This Israeli scenario is made specifically for an American market. In the midst of the Israeli destruction of Lebanon, a noise level that masked equally concentrated violence against Palestine, top US political leadership, including more than 400 members of the House of Representatives, pledged unswerving allegiance and support to Israel. To be fair, that was not merely a total lack of interest in whatever happened to the Palestinians or the Lebanese; the real concern was about the November congressional elections and the power of the Jewish vote.

Under that order of political corruption, democracy is taking a criminal hit in Palestine. Having led a concentrated campaign to harass the Hamas government of Palestine out of office, the United States now looks blandly on–along with Western Europe and the UN–while Israel takes the freely elected Hamas government apart. Israel is doing that not because, as western media have put it, “Hamas is a terrorist organization”. The Israelis, whatever they say, do not really care about that; since the beginning, Israeli governments have often been led by terrorists, the most recent being Ariel Sharon before he was laid low by illness. The real concern is that from positions Hamas has put into the public domain, Israeli leadership has concluded that negotiating with Hamas could mean real concessions, essentially falling back to the 1967 green line and giving most of the West Bank and Gaza back to the Palestinians.

The brutal truth of the Palestine situation is that with hardly any visible objection–in fact with deliberate Western connivance–the world is watching an Israeli war crime in progress. While during the shooting phase of the late war both Lebanon and Palestine were being systematically destroyed, no UN resolution ever mentioned Palestine, and it is still being destroyed without letup.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Mahmoud Abbas during the run-up to a ceasefire resolution, but she paid no apparent attention to the fact that the democratically elected government of Palestine was being dismantled by Israel. Bland US pleas for moderation on both sides that followed her visit rang weirdly hollow. When the occupying and attacking power has the alleged fourth most powerful army in the world, while the people being attacked have no organized armed forces at all, such a plea is meaningless.

Hamas and Palestine have become a harsh study in intended consequences. It has been well advertised that the US, the Europeans, the UN and Israel want the Hamas government to fail. The denial of international assistance to that government and Israeli withholding of funds that belong to it started the Palestinian system to unraveling. Having had much of its physical infrastructure destroyed by the Israelis over the past four years, the Hamas government had little to work with, and Israeli destruction of power and water facilities in July-August pretty much shut down Gaza and the West Bank. Hamas candidates were elected because they were better at providing essential services than the Fatah leadership, but they cannot do that without resources.

If one looks candidly at the history of international terrorism, it becomes clear that Israel’s efforts to take Palestine away from its people initiated the pattern of attacks that led us to 9/11. President Bush crows often that launching the War on Terrorism after 9/11 made the United States safer. However, in light of the crimes being committed against Palestine, such braggartry is a sad illusion. Enough new terrorists are being generated in Palestine and as a result of crimes against Palestine to keep the world well supplied for at least a generation. The long term consequences of taking down Hamas–intended or not–will be a pattern of political violence for which Americans and everybody else will pay and pay.


The writer is the author of the recently published work, A World Less Safe, now available on Amazon and through bookstores. He is a retired Senior Foreign Service Officer of the US Department of State whose immediate pre-retirement positions were as Deputy Director of the State Office of Counter-Terrorism and Emergency Planning, and as Chairman of the Department of International Studies of the National War College. He will welcome comment at wecanstopit@charter.net.

Truth in Media

Despite what happened to the last clip that I posted from YouTube.com I still think it is the best way of getting truths about the situation in the Middle East out for the simple fact that the traditional media has a 'bit' of a bias. Take for example this clip which I discovered through an anonymous comment at the Palestinian Princess' Blog.

George Galloway (a British MP born in Scotland) has been a strong supporter of the Palestinian people since the early 1970's...at one point even having the Palestinian flag fly over the City Chambers in Dundee, Scotland...at the time Israel had banned the Palestinian flag and even forbade the production of artwork composed of its four colors (that law is still on the books but not widely enforced).

Enjoy this clip as George Galloway puts his interviewer in her place and points out not only HER bias but the bias of her editors, researchers, producers and indeed the Western media:

Brave Israeli Soldiers

I'm not sure how this got out...or why they were even "videotaping their work" but, here's an Israeili Occupation Force patrol getting their laughs by shooting at Palestinian school kids. (Fast forward to about 4:30 and watch to the end.) At one point the cameraman exclaims, "...we're shooting the sh*t out of them...".

~ Nice work guys ~

NOTE: Again, I am not a conspiracy theorist but after having placed this on line it sudddenly became un-available...somebody DOESN'T WANT YOU TO SEE THIS. ...if you have a new link please let me know.

UPDATE: FOUND IT! Click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0vdGI7vNUE

Abu-Issa's Crusade

Ok, I finally lost it...and I did it on somebody elses blog (sorry Sandmonkey)...

For the last 2 months or so I have come accross the term 'Israeli Arab' to describe the Palestinians who stayed behind in what became legislated into the Jewish state in Palestine, my rant went something like this:

"...I’ve decided to go on a crusade…no, not religious, not political …but semantic. If I have to read about ‘Israeli Arabs’ again I’m going to blow chunks! Please, call them what they are: ‘Palestinian’. Do you actually think that these ~Arab speakers~ refer to themselves as ‘Arab Israelis’?? Come down from that high wooden horse…

As well, when speaking of ‘Arabs’ can we specify please? Since after the First World War and the defeat of the Ottoman empire (see Wikipedia: Arab Revolt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_revolt) the Arab speaking world was carved into several countries like Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, not to mention that little disputed region called Palestine which received it’s own special carving.

It’s my feeling that making general statements refering to ‘the Arabs’ tends to sound a tad racist. Kind of like using the term ‘the Orientals’ to refer to the Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Koreans, etc…".

Pass it on...

Hidden Agenda behind War on Lebanon

Now, I'm not a conspiracy theorist but you've got to read this article. I've got a bad feeling that this is all much bigger than any of us ever thought...we are just pawns...

----------------------------------

The War on Lebanon and the Battle for Oil

by Michel Chossudovsky

July 26, 2006
GlobalResearch.ca

Is there a relationship between the bombing of Lebanon and the inauguration of the World's largest strategic pipeline, which will channel more than a million barrels of oil a day to Western markets?

Virtually unnoticed, the inauguration of the Ceyhan-Tblisi-Baku (BTC) oil pipeline, which links the Caspian sea to the Eastern Mediterranean, took place on the 13th of July, at the very outset of the Israeli sponsored bombings of Lebanon.

One day before the Israeli air strikes, the main partners and shareholders of the BTC pipeline project, including several heads of State and oil company executives were in attendance at the port of Ceyhan. They were then rushed off for an inauguration reception in Istanbul, hosted by Turkey's President Ahmet Necdet Sezer in the plush surroundings of the Çýraðan Palace.

Also in attendance was British Petroleum's (BP) CEO, Lord Browne together with senior government officials from Britain, the US and Israel. BP leads the BTC pipeline consortium. Other major Western shareholders include Chevron, Conoco-Phillips, France's Total and Italy's ENI. (see Annex below)

Israel's Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Binyamin Ben-Eliezer was present at the venue together with a delegation of top Israeli oil officials.

The BTC pipeline totally bypasses the territory of the Russian Federation. It transits through the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Georgia, both of which have become US "protectorates", firmly integrated into a military alliance with the US and NATO. Moreover, both Azerbaijan and Georgia have longstanding military cooperation agreements with Israel.

Israel has a stake in the Azeri oil fields, from which it imports some twenty percent of its oil. The opening of the pipeline will substantially enhance Israeli oil imports from the Caspian sea basin.

But there is another dimension which directly relates to the war on Lebanon. Whereas Russia has been weakened, Israel is slated to play a major strategic role in "protecting" the Eastern Mediterranean transport and pipeline corridors out of Ceyhan.

Militarization of the Eastern Mediterranean
The bombing of Lebanon is part of a carefully planned and coordinated military road map. The extension of the war into Syria and Iran has already been contemplated by US and Israeli military planners. This broader military agenda is intimately related to strategic oil and oil pipelines. It is supported by the Western oil giants which control the pipeline corridors. In the context of the war on Lebanon, it seeks Israeli territorial control over the East Mediterranean coastline.

In this context, the BTC pipeline dominated by British Petroleum, has dramatically changed the geopolitics of the Eastern Mediterranean, which is now linked , through an energy corridor, to the Caspian sea basin:

"[The BTC pipeline] considerably changes the status of the region's countries and cements a new pro-West alliance. Having taken the pipeline to the Mediterranean, Washington has practically set up a new bloc with Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Israel, " (Komerzant, Moscow, 14 July 2006)

Israel is now part of the Anglo-American military axis, which serves the interests of the Western oil giants in the Middle East and Central Asia.

While the official reports state that the BTC pipeline will "channel oil to Western markets", what is rarely acknowledged is that part of the oil from the Caspian sea would be directly channeled towards Israel. In this regard, an underwater Israeli-Turkish pipeline project has been envisaged which would link Ceyhan to the Israeli port of Ashkelon and from there through Israel's main pipeline system, to the Red Sea.

The objective of Israel is not only to acquire Caspian sea oil for its own consumption needs but also to play a key role in re-exporting Caspian sea oil back to the Asian markets through the Red Sea port of Eilat. The strategic implications of this re-routing of Caspian sea oil are farreaching.

What is envisaged is to link the BTC pipeline to the Trans-Israel Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline, also known as Israel's Tipline, from Ceyhan to the Israeli port of Ashkelon. In April 2006, Israel and Turkey announced plans for four underwater pipelines, which would bypass Syrian and Lebanese territory.

"Turkey and Israel are negotiating the construction of a multi-million-dollar energy and water project that will transport water, electricity, natural gas and oil by pipelines to Israel, with the oil to be sent onward from Israel to the Far East,

The new Turkish-Israeli proposal under discussion would see the transfer of water, electricity, natural gas and oil to Israel via four underwater pipelines.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1145961328841&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

“Baku oil can be transported to Ashkelon via this new pipeline and to India and the Far East.[via the Red sea]"

"Ceyhan and the Mediterranean port of Ashkelon are situated only 400 km apart. Oil can be transported to the city in tankers or via specially constructed under-water pipeline. From Ashkelon the oil can be pumped through already existing pipeline to the port of Eilat at the Red Sea; and from there it can be transported to India and other Asian countries in tankers. (REGNUM )

Water for Israel
Also involved in this project is a pipeline to bring water to Israel, pumping water from upstream resources of the Tigris and Euphrates river system in Anatolia. This has been a long-run strategic objective of Israel to the detriment of Syria and Iraq. Israel's agenda with regard to water is supported by the military cooperation agreement between Tel Aviv and Ankara.

The Strategic Re-routing of Central Asian Oil
Diverting Central Asian oil and gas to the Eastern Mediterranean (under Israeli military protection), for re-export back to Asia, serves to undermine the inter-Asian energy market, which is based on the development of direct pipeline corridors linking Central Asia and Russia to South Asia, China and the Far East.

Ultimately, this design is intended to weaken Russia's role in Central Asia and cut off China from Central Asian oil resources. It is also intended to isolate Iran.

Meanwhile, Israel has emerged as a new powerful player in the global energy market.

Russia's Military Presence in the Middle East
Meanwhile, Moscow has responded to the US-Israeli-Turkish design to militarize the East Mediterranean coastline with plans to establish a Russian naval base in the Syrian port of Tartus:

"Defense Ministry sources point out that a naval base in Tartus will enable Russia to solidify its positions in the Middle East and ensure security of Syria. Moscow intends to deploy an air defense system around the base - to provide air cover for the base itself and a substantial part of Syrian territory. (S-300PMU-2 Favorit systems will not be turned over to the Syrians. They will be manned and serviced by Russian personnel.)

(Kommerzant, 2 June 2006, http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=IVA20060728&articleId=2847

Tartus is strategically located within 30 km. of the Lebanese border.

Moreover, Moscow and Damascus have reached an agreement on the modernization of Syria's air defenses as well as a program in support to its ground forces, the modernization of its MIG-29 fighters as well as its submarines. (Kommerzant, 2 June 2006). In the context of an escalating conflict, these developments have farreaching implications.
War and Oil Pipelines
Prior to the bombing of Lebanon, Israel and Turkey had announced the underwater pipeline routes, which bypassed Syria and Lebanon. These underwater pipeline routes do not overtly encroach on the territorial sovereignty of Lebanon and Syria.

On the other hand, the development of alternative land based corridors (for oil and water) through Lebanon and Syria would require Israeli-Turkish territorial control over the Eastern Mediterranean coastline through Lebanon and Syria.

The implementation of a land-based corridor, as opposed to the underwater pipeline project, would require the militarisation of the East Mediterranean coastline, extending from the port of Ceyhan across Syria and Lebanon to the Lebanese-Israeli border.

Is this not one of the hidden objectives of the war on Lebanon? Open up a space which enables Israel to control a vast territory extending from the Lebanese border through Syria to Turkey.

"The Long War"
Israeli Prime minister Ehud Olmert has stated that the Israeli offensive against Lebanon would "last a very long time". Meanwhile, the US has speeded up weapons shipments to Israel.

There are strategic objectives underlying the "Long War" which are tied to oil and oil pipelines.

The air campaign against Lebanon is inextricably related to US-Israeli strategic objectives in the broader Middle East including Syria and Iran. In recent developments, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice stated that the main purpose of her mission to the Middle East was not to push for a ceasefire in Lebanon, but rather to isolate Syria and Iran. (Daily Telegraph, 22 July 2006)

At this particular juncture, the replenishing of Israeli stockpiles of US produced WMDs points to an escalation of the war both within and beyond the borders of Lebanon.

Michel Chossudovsky is the author of the international best seller "The Globalization of Poverty " published in eleven languages. He is Professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa and Director of the Center for Research on Globalization, at www.globalresearch.ca . He is also a contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His most recent book is entitled: America’s "War on Terrorism", Global Research, 2005. To order Chossudovsky's book America's "War on Terrorism", click here.











Related article on Lebanon: "Triple Alliance": The US, Turkey, Israel and the War on Lebanon, by Michel Chossudovsky - 2006-08-06 Revised, 28 July 2006. Annex The BTC Co. shareholders are: BP (30.1%); AzBTC (25.00%); Chevron (8.90%); Statoil (8.71%); TPAO (6.53%); Eni (5.00%); Total (5.00%), Itochu (3.40%); INPEX (2.50%), ConocoPhillips (2.50%) and Amerada Hess (2.36%). (source BP) Route of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline © Map by Eric Waddell, Global Research, 2003. (click to enlarge) For details on th Campaign against the pipeline see http://www.bakuceyhan.org.uk/more_info/bp_pipeline.htm See related articles: The Militarisation of the Eastern Mediterranean: Israel's Stake in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline - by Michel Chossudovsky Planned US-Israeli Attack on Iran, by Michel Chossudovsky Is Israel running out of Bombs? New Deliveries of WMD "Made in America" The Replenishing of Israeli WMD stockpiles points to escalation both within and beyond the borders of Lebanon, by Michel Chossudovsky


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STOP the Bloodshed: Ceasefire Now!

Sign this petition

Right now a tragedy is unfolding in the Middle East. Hundreds of civilians have died in the bombings in Lebanon, Israel and Palestine and the death toll is rising every day.


UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has called for an immediate ceasefire and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has joined Annan in calling for the deployment of international troops to the Israel-Lebanon border. This is the best proposal yet to stop the violence, but for it to succeed other global leaders need to get behind it immediately.


I have just signed a petition urging regional and global leaders to speak out and support Kofi Annan's proposal. If people around the world can persuade their governments to unite in demanding a ceasefire, all sides in this conflict will be pressured to stand down. Can you sign the petition too?


http://www.ceasefirecampaign.org


The petition will be sent to key regional and global leaders and publicized in major newspapers in the Middle East, US and Europe. With enough signatures we can help pressure our leaders to stop the violence.

We Are the Champions

I have been searching for the right words to say, the right thoughts about this Lebanese war and I think this time I will let pictures speak for me.

Who owns Christianity?

I draw a lot of spiritual strength from Deepak Chopra. For those of you who aren't familiar with his work he is a doctor, a philosopher and a writer. He's considered one of the world's greatest leaders in the field of mind-body medicine. I just discovered this OP-ED article from the San Francisco Cronicle written by Deepak. I consider myself a believer in Christs teachings, not necessarily a believer of where the Christian Church has gone and therefore fall into his category of a moderate Christian.




Who owns Christianity?
by Deepak ChopraMonday, July 17, 2006

Not many people of moderate persuasion have much sway in the church any more. I was reminded why recently when the Episcopal Church did two important things: It elected a woman bishop to head the denomination, and it backtracked on appointing gay bishops. The first move seems Christian. Women deserve to hold church office as much as political office (one diocese, however, was so incensed that it voted to leave the church, and worldwide there are still Anglican movements that do not permit women to be bishops or ordained priests).

The second move was an act of cowardice because it did not reflect the ideals of love in Christianity and was motivated by reactionaries in the Episcopal denomination. Countering a long tradition of laissez-faire tolerance, the reactionaries have gotten tough and threatened to form their own church if gays are promoted in the priesthood. The worldwide Anglicans are more intolerant, upholding that homosexuality is forbidden, unnatural, wrong or an outright sin, depending on who is doing the disapproving.

You'd think that someone would stand up and ask a simple question: Who are we to condemn gays if Christ didn't? In fact, who are we to condemn any sinner, since Christ didn't? Christianity is about forgiveness, and for the past two decades, as fundamentalism swept through every Protestant denomination, moderates and liberals have been driven out, and were roundly condemned as they left. Along with them went tolerance and forgiveness, not to mention love.

Did Christ teach love or is that just a liberal bias? In the current climate, it's hard to remember, but one thing is certain: Once a tight cabal of fundamentalists takes over any denomination, Christ's teachings go out the window. The reversal of Christianity from a religion of love to a religion of hate is the greatest religious tragedy of our time.

Those of us who haven't been swept up in worldwide fundamentalism, which has corrupted Islam, Hinduism and Judaism as well, have been caught in a double bind. We can't join any sect that preaches intolerance, yet we can't fight it, either, because by definition fighting is a form of intolerance. To escape this double bind, moderates have stayed silent and stayed home. But that tactic failed. As healthy as it is to nourish your own devotion and faith, it's disastrous to allow extremists to take over the church, because the statehouse, the board of education, the Congress, and eventually the presidency are next.

Perhaps civil society will solve the problem of religious extremism. So far it hasn't. America finds itself in the sad plight of being the world's most prominent secular society hijacked by sectarians. One can only hope that the church comes to its senses and regains its moral center. If that doesn't occur, the core teachings of Christ will be lost, for all intents and purposes, to this generation.

You can learn more about the work of Deepak Chopra through his group Alliance for a New Humanity. In fact I think ALL of us can learn from his group.

Bible Literalism

Long time no post, I know, too much soccer too little time...plus the Montreal Jazz Festival is on...sorry. I just came across something very interesting that I have to share.

The Bible can help explain the case for invading Iraq despite the Atheistic North Korea being a much greater threat to the world than Iraq ever was.

George Bush became President of the U.S. thanks to his "born again" Christian friends who are guided literally by the words of the Bible. As I have said before I am a Christian, however I am not a 'Biblical Literalist' like so many American Christians who are in power now, are.

This research/interpretation is not mine but is taken from a website called Evil Bible get out your copy of the Bible and read along as we discover how "God" has told the Americans to kill those who are not Christian or Jewish:

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Exodus 22:20 "You must kill those who worship another god."

Deuteronomy 13:6-10 "Kill any friends or family that worship a god that is different than your own."

Deuteronomy 13:12-16 "Kill all the inhabitants of any city where you find people that worship differently than you."

Deuteronomy 17:2-7 "Kill everyone who has religious views that are different than your own."

Deuteronomy 17:12-13 "Kill anyone who refuses to listen to a priest."

Deuteronomy 18:20 "Kill any false prophets."

Mark 6:11 "Any city that doesn'’t receive the followers of Jesus will be destroyed in a manner even more savage than that of Sodom and Gomorrah."

Jude 5 "Jude reminds us that God destroys those who don'’t believe in him."

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It's a scary thought that the people who have their finger on 'the button' in the U.S. also have their hand on the Bible and use it as their literal guiding force.

Soccer Unites

With the world's attention on the World Cup (minus the U.S. of course) I thought this commercial would be appropriate for this time. You'll need Quicktime to see this.

Click here to Watch

The Kingdom of Jerusalem

June 7th 1099 the siege of Jerusalem began, by July 15th of the same year, the First Crusaders had captured the city and effectively given birth to "The Kingdom of Jerusalem" a Christian nation in the Holy Land. Reason I'm writing this is because this is the first I've ever heard of "The Kingdom of Jerusalem", I mean I know about The Crusades and all that but, man, a Christian nation in Palestine! Cool!! The Kingdom stretched North to Beirut, East of the Jordan river and down to the Gulf of Aquaba (see map below). It was only around for 200 years, but hey, Canada isn't even that old! The Kingdom was officially destroyed in 1291 with the fall of Acre.

The movie The Kingdom of Heaven with Orlando Bloom does a fantastic job of re-creating that time and the fall of Jerusalem, rent it.

Speaking as a Christian, I think the reason I am finding this so amazing is because the idea of having an exclusively Christian nation in Palestine is so ludicrous, kind of like having an exclusive Jewish nation in Palestine. The Holy land is precious to the 3 major religions of the world. It is sacred to Islam, Christianity and Judaism. I don't think any of them should have an exclusive hold on Palestine.

I believe the only solution to the current stand off is a FREE and United Palestine, secular and for all religions.

A final thought: wouldn't it be ironic if all this time the Christian right of the United States aim was to resurrect the Kingdom of Jerusalem but has let Israel take the brunt of the battle for them. Arriving only in the waning days of Israel to sweep up the land....? Just a thought...

Freedom to dePress

OK, here's how the story starts...The Ontario division of Canada's largest union voted to support an international campaign that is boycotting Israel over its treatment of Palestinians. The CBC covered it here.

Yesterday (May 31, 2006), an editorial was published in the Montreal Gazette calling the boycott "misguided and absurd" to which I took acception and wrote a response. Because I felt uncomfortable giving my real name, address and phone number they refused to publish my delicately composed response. As I told the person in charge via email "I think you can understand why I am reluctant to give out that information as my comment is both critical of your newspaper and of Israel". To make things worse this Editorial has propagated itself right across Canada appearing in the Toronto Star and various online newservices. Yet my response or ANY response for that matter goes unpublished.

After you have read the original editorial (not published here to avoid copyright issues) here was my response:

-----

In reference to the editorial in the May 31st edition of the Gazette: "CUPE's boycott is misguided and absurd":

As a Palestinian living and working in Montreal I found the entire editorial offensive in both nature and tone. Belittling the CUPE by calling their decision "misguided and absurd" in my mind is a cleverly subtle attempt to play down their brave efforts. That being said, this is exactly how I would expect the Montreal Gazette to approach this story considering it's historically biased attitudes in favour of Israel's brutal policy's towards the people of Palestine. For example, when Israel pulled out of Gaza it was featured prominently on the front pages of the Gazette, but on the same day of this editorial (May 31st), the story of Israel reentered Gaza militarily is buried on page A17.

At best, Israel is a Fascist government, extremely nationalistic, militaristic and not a democracy as it likes to portray itself in the West, not only towards their Palestinian hosts but to it's own citizens! So it doesn't really matter how "vigorously" Israeli citizens criticize their own government it won't and doesn't do much. This, to answer your question, is why Canada's largest union the CUPE is supporting a boycott against Israel...and why Canadians should applaud and duplicate their decision.

Considering what Israel has been doing for the last 58 years in the name of Judaism, all Jews worldwide should be protesting! Bravo to the CUPE for leading the way, for standing up and doing something to promote a peaceful resolution for Palestine.

Abu-Issa
http://montreal-palestine.blogspot.com

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Listen to what I say, Don't watch what I do...

CNN's crawl below the televised image of Ehud Olmert's speech reveals the nature of the "peace" he discussed at the U.S. Congress, 24 May 2006.

Is It Beyond Your Imagination?

Imagine for a moment if you could that there were no religions. No doctrines to follow, no reason to feel slighted, some call religion an antiquated idea that's primary purpose was to simply explain life after death.

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Imagine for a moment if you don't mind that there were no countries. No borders, no fences or boundaries, no reason for armies with their weapons that kill.

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Imagine for a moment if you would there was no history. Only people living for 'the now', enjoying the sun on your face, the feeling of cool grass at your back and watching the clouds float by.

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You might say I'm impractical, dreaming of a utopian society but I dare say I'm not the only one that wants peace. At the very minimum it is something to strive for. This is the time, we have been handed the place to make it come true in the - Holy Land -, what better place to make God's wish for us to come true?

I believe humanity has come to a crossroads. We need to either accept our mistakes and adopt a peaceful, inclusive, loving nature or continue down this road to self-destruction.

We must throw off the dark cloak of 'fear' and open our hearts to give and receive only 'love'.

Maybe we are "the chosen people" to lead the way to a more peaceful world...

You Can Help Palestinians Right Now

As I am working on my latest post I came across this and wanted to put this up as soon as possible.

ACTION ALERT: Don't Let the House Impose Sanctions on the Palestinians!

When President Truman wrote his memoirs he answered why he had thrown his support behind the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine, despite his strong reservations, he said it was because none of his constituants where Palestinian.

Well, here's your chance to stop things from becoming worse!

Never Far From Home

In 1967, as my family was huddled in the hallway of our home in Jerusalem to avoid getting hit by stray bullets, Montreal was welcoming the world to it's Worlds Fair. As we were in 23-hour a day curfew with almost nothing to eat or drink, Montrealers were sharing their good nature, food and drink with hundreds of thousand of tourists. As the bodies of Jordanian soldiers rotted in the streets of Jerusalem after the 6-day war, here in Montreal they were basking in the sunny glare of the world.

The theme for the 1967 Worlds Fair? "Man and His World"...if they only knew...

One of the many talk pieces of the Worlds fair that year was the building pictured above, aptly called Habitat '67. Unlike many of the other buildings erected that year for the fair, this building continues to stand today. It is one of the more interesting parts of the Montreal landscape for me as a Palestinian, for it's uncanny resemblance to a Palestinian village carefully perched on an ancient hillside in the Holy Land.

After years of wondering, I decided to do some research and discovered that it was designed by renouned architect Moshe Safdie based on his Masters thesis at McGill University here in Montreal. Now here's the irony, Moshe Safdie was born in the town of Haifa, he moved with his family to Montreal when he was a teenager, a move he disliked as a dedicated Zionist! 18 years after Zionists in Palestine had destroyed nearly 500 Palestinian villages trying to create the illusion of a "land without a people", a self proclamed Zionist was re-building this one here! I was amazed and puzzled at this find. Was he subconciously lamenting what had been done? Wishing to make amends somehow?

An additional irony, as if mirroring what happened in Palestine, Habitat '67 was designed as 'affordable housing', housing for everybody, but has become a building for only Montreal's elite.

I feel somehow this building is here as a monument to remind me of who I am, where I come from and the work that needs to be done to rebuild Palestine to it's former inclusive nature...a FREE and United Palestine!

Dispossessed All Over Again

As I was doing research for my next post I came across this article written by an Australian-Palestinian girl who goes back to visit her destroyed village in Israel.

Since my queries of 'going home' again seems to have drawn so much attention I thought reprinting this would be appropriate.

Rihab Charida
October 2004

After spending nearly two months in the West Bank the pull towards my village was growing stronger, especially after being detained twice and threatened with deportation. It has been shocking to witness what Israeli colonialism has done to the land of the West Bank yet inspiring to see what it has not been able to do to the people. The land: divided, exploited, exhausted, tortured. The people: imprisoned and controlled yet united, defiant and beyond control.

What has to a large degree been more shocking and difficult to witness is the occupation of Palestine '48. The Arab character of Palestine '48 has been completley erased, replaced. The streets, buildings, people and lifestyle are mostly European. In some areas there was not one trace of a Palestinian people or history, very similar to Sydney and the sacred Aboriginal land that lies just beneath the concrete paths and buildings there. Everywhere I looked there were basketball courts, soccer feilds, McDonalds, Burger King, skyscrapers, everything but Palestine.

And then we reached Yaffa. Beautiful anceint Yaffa on the coast of Palestine. The old Palestinian homes there are used as Israeli cafes, restaurants or nightclubs. The fliers advertising these places don't even hide the fact that these homes are occupied "an old Arab (never Palestinian) home has been converted into one of Jaffa's finest restaurants." I stood on the beach and thought about all of my freinds from Yaffa who mostly live in refugee camps and I prayed for their return. I cried and screamed inside that they couldn't be here watching the sun set behind the sea on this first day of Ramadan. Israelis swim and shop while Palestinians are trapped behind concrete camp walls. I felt like exploding.

From Yaffa we drove up to Acre where we spent one night. Acre has a large Palestinian poplulation however it is still scarred by European-Jewish colonialism. The area is beautiful yet it is dressed up with the bright colours and neon lights of commercialsim. When Jewish Israel was created, most of Palestine '48 was razed to the ground except for the large, strong and attractive buildings. The newly arrived colonialists were quick to use them for profit or leisure. For me to stand there and watch how they have been expolited was to feel disspossessed all over again.

In the morning we made our way up towards the north of Palestine to visit my village and the nearby town of Safad, the town of a sister living in Australia who too has been dispossessed. The drive up was the most breathtaking experience I have ever had. The untouched nature was beyond anything I had imagined. I didn't realise that I came from such a beautiful part of the world. It somehow hurt more because it was so beautiful. In Safad I stood on a hilltop and thought about Salwa. I thought about her family and filled a bottle with soil for a Palestinian father buried far from home.

From Safad we began making our way to Safsaf. It was in the refugee camps in Lebanon, before even coming to Palestine, that I realised that I had already seen the most important part of my village, its people. Most of the people from Safsaf live in Ain El Helweh refugee camp in Lebanon where the camps are divided up into areas which get their name from the people who live there. When I walked through the alleys of Safsaf in Ain El Helweh I knew that a very big part of me and my history lives within those walls. My cousins and other people from Safsaf asked me to bring them some soil from the grounds of our village and to film it so that we can watch it together during a Safsaf gathering when I return to Lebanon.

I felt angry and somehow guilty that I was able to visit Safsaf and they were not. I remembered photos that my relatives showed me of themselves at the Lebanon/Palestine border standing there with Palestine behind them, the closest they can get. Safsaf can actually be seen from the Lebanese border.

During the drive up I began to recall stories that my father had told me about the day they fled Safsaf. In October 1948 the men of the village fought to protect the lands and people of Safsaf. My father, who was nine at the time, remembered the day when his father returned home after weeks of fighting. His gun had melted and he no longer had the means to fight. The men of the village were insufficiently armed and outnumbered so they decided to gather their families and seek refuge in Lebanon until the situation calmed and they could return after what they believed would only be a few months.

On the 29th October 1948 Safsaf fell. On that day almost half of the 250 villagers were massacred, ten of whom were from my family. Many of the young men were lined up against the wall and shot down in front of their mothers. Those that were able to get away fled to Lebanon and have been dispossessed ever since, living in a refugee camp that is only three hours drive away. Safsaf is one of over 500 localities that were ethnically cleansed and destroyed in 1948-49, each with a history and a story that has been buried for over half a century.

The only reference point that we had to find Safsaf was an Israeli area called Sifsufa (its not just the lands that were stolen, but even the names), which was built by the Jewish Agency in 1949 beside the lands of Safsaf. The only way to find Sifsufa was by using an Israeli map which had all the names of the Jewish areas that had replaced Palestinian ones.

When we arrived to Safsaf I felt a rush through my body. The village is surrounded by beautiful green hills with tall Safsaf trees, the trees that give the village its name. Only three buildings still stand there, half demolished from the attack in 1948 which destroyed everything else in the village. Humbled by the beauty, history and sacrifice of the place I got down on my knees and cried into the earth and into the stones of the buildings.

One of the buildings was being used as a change room and bath for a sports team. Dirty clothes were thrown on the grounds of one room and a dirty bath in another. Each of the buildings had been spraypainted with hebrew words that I cared not to understand. While standing there a few Israelis walked over to the area and began walking through the unused building. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

"What are you doing here?" they asked me.

"What am I doing here? I come from here. This is my village".

What they were doing there was turning one of the buildings into a restaurant.

"But these are Palestinian homes!"

"Maybe".

"No definitely. My father was born here, my grandfather and great-grandfather, all born here. These are our homes".

"Maybe," and with that he walked away to examine the building.

I felt so frustrated and powerless at the same time. They walked around the building right before my very eyes in total disregard for what I had just told them. I shouldn't have been shocked, they have been doing this since 1948, taking what's not theirs with full knowledge of who it belongs to.

I wanted to speak to my father and let him know where I was. I called him and heard his loud voice turn soft. When I heard that he was holding back tears I began to cry. He told me "Baba why are you crying? Haven't I always told you that we will back one day? That it's not over?"

"Of course you did Baba. Of course you did."

Two Sides

As Israeli Jews celebrate Independence Day today, the Israeli Arab community will be marking its own 'Nakba' day or day of 'catastrophe'. Reading this article from Jack Khoury on the haaretz.com website I was amazed and even appalled at some of the comments...58 years later! Israel has evolved into an envious state, but at what price?

There are two sides to every story and I believe that the truth lies somewhere in between.

Here in Montreal, the Arab speaking community continues to grow(according to Statistics Canada) second only to the Italians. The Jewish community continues to be a strong leader for social causes and not just for Jewish social causes I must add. I have great respect for the work Jewish Montrealers continue to do. This among a predominant Christian population and a dynamically developing Muslim community.

All of these groups is what makes up the unique mosaic of what Montreal is...a multi linguistic, multi religious, multi ethnic city of nearly 4-million people. I find it hard to believe that something similar can't happen in the Holy Land.

We all want the same thing: to prosper, to grow, to live....in Peace. Am I naive to believe that because we can do it here it can't be done there?

Out of the Fire, Into the Frying Pan...

Before you write to correct me on the title of this blog entry, the way I wrote it is indeed correct as you'll see when I explain my situation coming from Palestine and landing here in Canada, where a similar situation has been brewing for many years.

Canada was settled by French and English explorers out looking for a quicker way to China...battles broke out between them for territory in the 'New World'. The bottom line being that England won what is now defined as Canada. However, a large French speaking population remains.

Today, there are about 8-million French-Canadians living in Canada, primarily they live in the province of Quebec and make up just over a quarter of the Canadian population. The problem was that in the first 100 years in Canada, that if you were French Canadian you were considered a second class citizen. French Canadians as recent as the the 1970's weren't allowed into managirial positions or positions of authority, they were more likely to get the subserviant roles and were essentially held down by an English power base. Canada has two official languages but outside of Quebec you wouldn't know it. This has changed since the Quebec separtist movement began. Not only has the movement made practical changes but they have also sensitized Canadians of the French history of this great country. The first parliamentary system was actualy based on that of France...later changed to reflect British parliament. Even the word 'Parliament' is based on the French ward 'Parle', to speak...but I digress.

So here I come, a new refugee from Palestine out of that firey situation into what became know as the October Crisis. Quebec separtists kidnapped and killed a political leader...the Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau - a French Canadian himself, call's out the army and declare's martial law! Pretty bad from a Canadian point of view...a step up from a Palestinian point of view.

The difference was I still have my rights.

Natural political process took place and a Quebec separtist party took control of the provincial government in 1976, who called a referendum in 1980 on the separation of Quebec from Canada, to turn Quebec into it's own country. After losing that referendum (and scaring away a good portion of the Quebec English population, not to mention a good portion of corporate Canada who had head offices here in Montreal, the resulting 'depression' if you will stunting the growth of this great province) they vowed to try again, which they did in 1995...this time getting an increased number of voters to vote 'Yes' for separation...but alas again not a majority.

Now, before you jump to conclusions and liken the Palestinians situation to that of the Quebec separtists...as my separtist friends like to believe...that is not what I have in mind for this blog article.

Could you imagine if the British had held a referendum amongst Palestinians (pre-1948) to decide whether they wanted to separate and create a Jewish only area and another area for Muslims and Christians? What do you think the outcome of that would have been??

How about if after the October Crisis in 1970 the United Nations stepped in and gave Canadians a 'partition plan' to divide up the country between it's French speaking population and everybody else...but gave Canadians no say in the situation?

Here's another thought for my readers in Europe: imagine if after decades of abuse from English Canadians the French population decided they wanted to go back to France and create their own "Quebecois" nation within the borders of France...how would that have gone over!?!?

The greatest injustice ever done to the people of Palestine was the creation of a 'Jewish only' nation within their territory, it defies any sense of logic! This injustice needs to be reversed, amends for the 500 or so destroyed Palestinian villages need to be made and finally Palestinians need to be allowed to return home. How can Israel proclaim to be a democracy if it wasn't created democratically?

If PEACE is the goal, we need a united and FREE Palestine now!