The Reality Of Zionism

A refutation of Shelby Steele’s propaganda piece masquerading as a legitimate editorial

By JONATHAN AZAZIAH

1. World opinion is to be divided into two categories. The first category is the category of governments, and the second category is the category of citizens. In the framework of the first category, the overwhelming majority of governments have supported the Israeli massacre of the Freedom Flotilla, because the majority of governments are under the influence and/or subversion and/or control of the Zionist lobby. In that same framework, whatever government officials have offered a condemnation of the ‘attack,’ have not specified who exactly they’re condemning, and this, as aforementioned, is the result of the Zionist lobby. Again, in the same framework, the minute amount of government officials that have actually condemned Israel itself, their condemnations ring hollow, for they will not be backed up with action. In the framework of the second category, it is becoming increasingly evident, that populations of the world, Muslim and Jewish, Christian and Hindu, Black and White, Latino and Asian, lower-class and middle class, have lost their patience with the constant tyrannical, genocidal, and quite frankly, insane behavior of the illegal occupational entity known as Israel. The people are tired of forking over their tax dollars to a state that murders, steals, occupies, rapes, tortures, imprisons for no reason, and now, pirates, when their money could go to their failing social and economic crises. The people are tired of another people, just like them, being unjustly treated in a fashion worse than animals, for 62 years. The people are weary of their governments who continue to lend their irrational, unwavering support to this criminal fraud of a nation. The people, finally, seem to understand the severity of the crimes against the Palestinians, and it seems, they finally want an end to it. When world opinion isn’t divided into these two diametrically opposed categories, then that phrase, is simply a generality being used to mislead on behalf of Israel and its cohorts in America and Britain.

2. The musical acts that have canceled their summer tour stops to Israel are not doing so because condemning Israel is some sort of beneficial and marketable trend that can contribute to their musical careers, considering the majority of the record labels are also owned by Zionists; they are doing so because they find it reprehensible that peace activists were murdered in cold blood in international waters by commando units in the middle of the night with the blessing of a deranged government. The protestor who creatively drew a skull and crossbones over the word ‘Israel’ was doing so because it is the symbol of piracy, and Israel committed an act of piracy, again, in INTERNATIONAL WATERS. The Zionist entity stole monies, credit cards, identifications, belongings, and the very aid itself, and to this moment has not released any of it, or accounted for any of it. That. Is Called. Piracy. In addition, this was a humanitarian ship from Turkey, approved by the Turkish government, carrying aid to a starving people in Gaza, due to the hellish illegal blockade imposed on the Gazans by Israel in 2006. This escalates the crimes of murder and piracy to an outright act of war, due to it occurring in international waters. Helen Thomas, the courageous White House Press veteran who has challenged the unscrupulous behavior of presidents for what seems like the beginning of time, never used the word ‘Jew.’ She was asked if she had a message for Israel, and she responded that ‘they should get the hell out of Palestine. Remember, those people are occupied.’ This is not ugly. This is beautiful, because it is the truth. Al Nakbah is one of the worst crimes in human history, and the catastrophe continues to this day. The UN did absolutely NOTHING to protect the Freedom Flotilla, and despite whatever pitiful condemnations they might have released, they haven’t done anything to punish Israel for its miserable and murderous crimes, as they have not done since Israel’s inception. The Obama administration, which is staunchly Zionist, has not condemned Israel in the slightest, and vetoed the UN resolution for an independent investigation, instead suggesting that Israel should investigate its own criminal conduct. Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s violent & vile chief of staff and the son of a Zionist terrorist, was in Israel just a few days before the Freedom Flotilla massacre took place, to give the Obama administration’s approval to the Netanyahu government to carry out the assault.

3. The accusation of ‘The Jews being scapegoated again’ is not only tiresome, but pathetic. In fact, it is not only pathetic, but pathologically disturbed, and clinically insane, as evidenced by the recent suicide (murder?) of Netanyahu’s psychiatrist who simply couldn’t take the Zionist rhetoric and propaganda anymore. Anybody who is cognizant of the Palestinian plight, and who is educated about Zionism, does not need to hear the equally tiresome discourse of criticism of Israel, or Zionism, or Zionist organizations is tantamount to an attack on the Jews. Israel Shahak (RIP), Ilan Pappe, Joel Kovel, Gilad Atzmon, Michael Hoffman, Norman Finklestein, and Stephen Lendman all vehemently criticize Israel, Zionism, Zionist organizations, and Israeli policies, and they are all Jewish, some are also Israeli. Anti-Zionism does not equal Anti-Semitism, and the repetition of this is getting as old as the accusation itself. Anyone that charges a critic of Israel with anti-Semitism is simply displaying an exuberant amount of cowardice, lack of knowledge, and subservience to the Zionist entity. Israel has absolutely, positively no right to exist. It is a nation founded upon racism and ethnic cleansing, and it only continues to survive to this day by growing more and more oppressive with each passing moment. Such a nation can only fall to the pits of Hell when it is at its end. Anyone that recognizes Israel’s right to exist, condones Al Nakbah, condones the continuing murder, occupation, and rape of Palestine, and condones Israel’s rampant criminality.

4. The apartheid state of Israel is worse than apartheid South Africa. The blockade of Gaza, the separation wall appropriately, and menacingly named ‘The Iron Wall,’ the constant home destruction, the aquifer theft, the thousands of Palestinians (including children) held in Israeli prisons without charge, the abuse of prisoners ranging in physical to psychological to sexual, the inability to move without proper identification, the denial of the right of return for refugees, and the theft of farmland are only some of the brutal policies enforced against the Palestinians by Israel. The white supremacy comparison is accurate, considering, Zionism is a European ideology, and the Ashkenazi Jews who founded this ideology are not descendants of biblical Hebrews like the Mizrahim (Arab Jews) are, they are descendants of the Khazars, a ruthless pagan empire that converted to Judaism for political purposes in 741 A.D. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has never been a territorial dispute, this is a disgusting Zionist lie propagated intensely and often in the media to brainwash and confuse. The land belonged to Palestine. It was stolen by Zionists. There is nothing complicated or intricate about it. Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived in harmonious brotherhood & sisterhood under Muslim rule. All of that changed with the birth of Zionism.

5. This is not about Hamas. It never was about Hamas. This is about unarmed peace activists being murdered in international waters. This is about a people being starved, literally to death, by an illegal blockade imposed upon them because the people did not do what the occupier told them to do, which is vote for the puppet government that is working with their tormentor. Thousands of rockets? This is absurd. The minuscule amount of rockets that were fired into Israeli towns by Hamas were a response of defense, after Israel broke the cease-fire, which started the inhumane & genocidal white phosphorus bombardment of Operation Cast Lead that murdered 1,440 innocent people including 431 children. It left Gaza devastated. And due to the illegal blockade, construction materials cannot reach the government to rebuild, therefore leaving the people in something worse than a concentration camp.

Conclusion:

The massacre of the activists aboard the Freedom Flotilla (may they all rest in peace), the capture of the activists aboard the Rachel Corrie and confiscation of materials on it, and the threats against the Lebanese and Iranian ships set to sail to Gaza are the most recent incidents of evil that have been apart of Zionism’s history since its birth. From the assassination of Lord Moyne in 1944 by the Stern Gang, to the King David Hotel bombing carried out by Irgun, to the Deir Yassin massacre and the assassination of Count Folk Bernadotte also by the Stern Gang in 1948, to the Qibya massacre by Ariel Sharon in 1953, to the Kafr Qasim & Khan Yunus massacres, and the Lavon Affair in 1956, to the attack on the USS Liberty of 1967, to the Kawnin massacre of 1975, to the Bint Jbeil massacre of 1976, to the Abbasieh massacre of 1978, to the Sabra & Shatilah massacre in 1982, to the Beirut barracks bombing by Mossad in 1983, to the massacre at holy Al Aqsa in 1990, to the psychotic assault of Baruch Goldstein in 1994, to the shelling of Qana in 1996, to the diabolical & destructive Mossad operation on 9/11, Israel has only known one policy: a policy of fear & terror. In between the Zionist entity’s massacres, assassinations, and organ smuggling schemes, it continues its everyday activities of the longest-running occupation on earth. Mr. Steele has the audacity to say the Palestinians ‘advertise’ themselves as occupied. Mr. Steele has the audacity to say ‘Israel does not seek to oppress or occupy and certainly not to annihilate.’ And Mr. Steele has the audacity to say, that Palestinians, and the Muslim world are not formulating our opinions of the Zionist entity because of evidence and rational thought, but hatred. If Mr. Steele thinks such wonderful and delusional fantasies are accurate, then Mr. Steele should go live in the largest open air prison in the world known as Gaza. And after he endures a few days without clean water, harsh breathing conditions due to carbon monoxide from leaking generators damaged in Operation Cast Lead and leftover white phosphorus fumes from the same operation, and lack of nutrition due to the inability to acquire healthy food because of the blockade, Mr. Steele can look in a mirror if he can find one that isn’t shattered from Israeli aggression, and ask himself, "Why was I so blind to the reality of Zionism?"

Jonathan Azaziah is an Iraqi-Moroccan Hebrew-Russian MC, poet, activist, and writer from Brooklyn, New York currently residing in Florida. His mixtape, Take The Red Pill Volume 2: Disarm The Octopus will be available for download in mid-July. He can be reached at azaziahtheanomaly@yahoo.com.

http://www.jnoubiyeh.com/2010/06/reality-of-zionism.html

'Free Palestine', Not Only Gaza

By Hasan Afif El-Hasan

One thing is missing in the 'Free Gaza' movement. Activists and civil societies and journalists who support the Palestinian cause are rightfully angry at Israel’s murderous campaign against the aid-loaded 'Freedom Flotilla' that was going to the besieged and starved residents of Gaza, but they ignore the overall conditions in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the refugee camps.

If the Palestinian struggle is for statehood and political and civil rights, rather than to receive international handouts, then life in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and the refugee camps is as bad as in Gaza. Unfortunately, foreign supporters of Israel and even Arab news media and journalists bought into the Israeli and US claim that the conditions in the West Bank are good, the “economic peace” is working, the growth of the economy had surpassed expectations and the people are prospering. They quote Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad government spokes-people that the Palestinians in the West Bank enjoy unprecedented economic boom. There is nothing further from the truth! Growth of economy that is based on international donations and subject to unpredictable daily whims and manipulations of the occupation power is nothing but a lie, empty rhetoric and a sales pitch for Netanyahu’s “economic peace” as an alternative to the end of occupation.

There can be no viable economy to speak of while Israel’s unchallenged control of the occupied lands deprives the indigenous Palestinians from controlling their resources, the land, water, borders and commerce. Palestinians’ houses are being demolished; permits for building are not issued in East Jerusalem and 80% of the West Bank; the farmers are not allowed to dig wells more than one third as deep as the Israeli settlers; and Israel restricts access to the land needed to meet Palestinian population growth. Olive and its oil have always been a major source of income for a large segment of the Palestinian farmers. The Israeli military and the settlers destroyed olive orchards in many localities and prevented the farmers from harvesting what was left of their trees.

The growth of the “economic peace” based on international hand-outs is being advertised so that Israeli military would keep control of the West Bank, including its borders and air-space, people movement and who can live there, while allowing the Palestinian Authority (PA) to police the cities and support raids by the Israeli forces against activists deemed as security threat to occupation. Israel can transform the West Bank economy into a “Gaza style” economy in no time if the PA leaders decided to end their jobs as security contractors to Israel. When Yasser Arafat tried to redeem himself and re-establish his pre-PA status as a freedom fighter, Israel and the US turned off the sources that kept the Palestinians’ economy going, starved the Palestinians, until Arafat died in mysterious circumstances and Mahmoud Abbas was installed as their trusted man in Palestine.

There are striking similarities between the Palestinian 1987-93 First Intifada against the occupation and the “Free Gaza” movement to break the blockade and the siege of the Palestinians in Gaza enclave. Camp refugees in Gaza initiated the two movements, and both movements were civil disobedience responses to Israel’s occupation and violations of the Palestinians’ civil and political rights and the complicity of Israel’s defenders in the West who allow it to pursue a pattern of unlawful excesses with impunity and dismiss its crimes as justifiable “self defense” actions.

The First Intifada main events were grassroots popular demonstrations with mostly stone-throwing Palestinian children demanding end of occupation and asking to live free in their own lands. Israel’s response to the passive uprising was to use its full military power to shoot and kill, arrest under-age protesters, jail and deport the emerging leaders and break bones of Palestinian kids. The Palestinians won the sympathy of World public opinion when they did not resort to acts of violence or use firearms and the Israeli government failed to justify killing and injuring the unarmed civilians, mostly children. Many in the international community recognized the right of the Palestinians to be free and condemned Israel’s response to the Palestinians’ legitimate demands, until Israel’s policy makers called on the PLO leaders in Tunis to step in and squander the gains of the Intifada by signing the Oslo agreements that brought the Palestinians to this point. Oslo agreements gave the Israelis time to create facts on the ground, tighten their grip on the territories and ironically sustain the illusion that the PA rules the Palestinians. After the signing of Oslo agreements, Jewish-only settlements and Jewish-only roads continued to be built and settler population more than doubled; quarter of million settlers live on East Jerusalem Arab confiscated land; the apartheid wall has been built; the Palestinians are asked to keep quiet and succumb to occupation; and the refugees have been forgotten.

Like the First Intifada, the “Free Gaza” movement is a peaceful protest by international peace activists against Israel’s collective punishment of 1.5 million Gazans. For those who do not know or forgot, Gaza is the site of repeated attacks by Israel including the unspeakable massacres committed in December 2008 that took the lives and maimed thousands; and reduced homes, schools, mosques, government civil administration and civil infrastructures to rubble. Israel destroyed Gaza, slaughtered and injured thousands of its civilian population; entire families were wiped out; more than 8,000 homes were destroyed completely, some of them on top of their occupants and 21,000 homes seriously damaged; tens of thousands were rendered homeless; and the survivors were left to face “full fledged humanitarian disaster.” What has been going on in Gaza before, during and after the 2008 massacres is “shocking and troubling beyond words”. All Gaza’s crossing points on the Israeli and Egyptian sides have been closed for three years forcing the besieged population “to act like moles to dig deep underground” to import some of their needs for survival. The potential of production and intellectual “contributions of at least one Gazan generation will be lost” due to the economic hardship that is imposed on them by Israel and its supporters.

When the people of Gaza have been abandoned by the Arab States and the hypocrites of the US and Europe betrayed the principles of justice that they claim their civilized societies hold dear, the peace activists of the “Free Gaza” movement and the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan emerged as the only defenders that Gaza people have.

As part of the “Free Gaza” movement, the “Freedom Flotilla” that had 700 unarmed peace activists from thirty-eight countries attempting to break the Israeli imposed siege on Gaza by bringing humanitarian aid to the destroyed, starved and besieged Gaza. Israel uses its military solution to deal with every confrontation including the peaceful Flotilla.

Israeli helicopter-born military commando raided the Gaza-bound “Freedom Flotilla” with its food and medicine cargo in the international waters killing unarmed activists and wounded scores. The outcry over the bloody attack by the Israelis precipitated widespread international condemnation. The Flotilla massacre has angered Palestinian supporters and embarrassed leaders of countries that had been buying into the Israeli narrative.

Many European officials whose discourse has been to support Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas, blaming the Palestinians for not “acting as behaved prisoners” and provoking the Gaza tragedies, could not defend the unprovoked Israeli action against the peace activists. Several governments summoned the Israeli ambassadors and the UN high commissioner for human rights described the blockade as illegal and asked Israel to open the borders and Gaza port for import and export goods and raw material.

The European Union called Israel’s siege of 1.4 million Palestinians in Gaza “unacceptable” , offered to play a role in opening Gaza borders and end the three-year closure and the United Nations called for impartial inquiry.

President Barack Obama called Gaza closure unsustainable but his administration pressured the UN Security Council not to adopt a resolution criticizing Israel. It produced a non-binding statement that failed even to mention Israel by name. Israel refused the UN call and appointed three experts and two foreign observers to investigate its military commando raid on Gaza-bound flotilla.

Following the mounting international pressure, Israel decided to ease its blockade of Gaza by allowing Gaza to import more “civilian” goods including “soda, jam, spices, shaving cream. Potato chips, cookies and candy.” Israel did not mention what Gaza would be allowed to export, but it will continue to restrict dual-use items that include construction materials that Israelis think may be used to build rockets or bunkers.

Egypt, which kept its Rafah crossing with Gaza closed since 2006, decided to open it for students, patients, visa-holders and some additional humanitarian aid. And Mahmoud Abbas, whose forces had been ousted from Gaza in 2007, insisted Israel must completely lift the three-year-old blockade. One of the declared reasons for Gaza siege had been to bolster Abbas standing among the Palestinians and weaken Hamas.

Palestinian supporters and civil rights activists must not waste this rare moment in history when majority of world public sympathizes with the Palestinians. This is the right time for civil societies and activists in the West Bank to take this moment to heart and provide people of good will all over the world sufficient facts about life under occupation in the West Bank and Jerusalem where the indigenous Palestinians are confined to tiny enclaves surrounded by massive Jews-only settlements, Jews-only highways, roadblocks and the separation wall. They should ask for freedom not only for the people in Gaza but for all Palestinians.

- Hasan Afif El-Hasan, is a political analyst born in Nablus, Palestine. His forthcoming book, Is the Two-State Solution Already Dead? , will be published by Algora Publishing, New York. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.

http://www.jnoubiyeh.com/2010/06/free-palestine-not-only-gaza.html

War crimes suit filed against Barak, Livni in Belgium

Bethlehem - Ma'an/Agencies - Two Belgian lawyers working on behalf of Palestinian filed suit against 14 Israeli leaders on allegations of war crimes committed during Operation Cast Lead, news agencies reported.

The respondents include Israeli opposition chairwoman Tzipi Livni for her role as foreign minister during the Gaza offensive between December 2008 and January 2009, former Israeli premier Ehud Olmert, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai, and other Israeli army officials and Israel's intelligence services, Israeli news site Yedioth Ahronoth wrote.

Much of the 70-page complaint is based on the Goldstone report, Agence France-Presse reported. Claimants include a Palestinian-Belgian national and 13 Gaza Strip residents.

The claim includes an attack on a mosque near the Jabaliya refugee camp during which 16 civilians, including children, were killed. The plaintiffs were either wounded or lost a relative in the attack, the news site wrote.

Lawyers reported estimated that Belgium's attorney general will evaluate the case to determine whether it provides just cause to open a case against the senior Israeli officials "already by the end of August."

Georges-Henri Beauthier and Alexis Deswaef, the two lawyers representing the claimants, said the current charges would be brought against the Israeli leaders using the principle of universal jurisdiction, Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

The claims follow the filing suit by French activists against Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak over the Israeli army's conduct during its raid of the Freedom Flotilla which saw nine passengers killed by Israeli commandos in international waters on 31 May. The move forced Barak to cancel a Paris visit.

An arrest warrant was issued against Livni in the UK in December 2009 after British lawyers filed suit against the official on behalf of Palestinian respondents for her role in Operation Cast Lead.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu criticized the UN and other international institutions for condemning Israel's acts on Wednesday, as he addressed the Knesset.

"They want to strip us of the natural right to defend ourselves. When we defend ourselves against rocket attack, we are accused of war crimes. We cannot board sea vessels when our soldiers are being attacked and fired upon, because that is a war crime," Haaretz quoted him as saying.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=294212

Gaza Flotilla - Facts vs Israel Fiction.

LETTERS FROM PALESTINE

I became friends with Dr. Kenneth Ring after he wrote THIS article about the case of Mohammed Omer almost two years ago to the day…. a case which to this day has not yet been brought to justice.

Dr. Ring has been a devoted friend of the Palestinian Cause for several years and has just co-authored this wonderful book with Ghassan Abdullah, Letters From Palestine. If you want to read the truth about Palestine and its people, this is the book that will do that for you….

About the Book

Many books have been written dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the pro-Israeli perspective. However, relatively few reflect the Palestinian point of view. Letters from Palestine is one of the rare books that offers an American audience the chance to listen to and learn about the lives of actual Palestinian people as they describe what it is like to live in the occupied territories of the West Bank or Gaza, or to grow up as a Palestinian in the U.S.

Many of these stories can be read almost as if each contributor is writing a letter to an American friend that will give the reader a vivid sense both of the writer’s own personality and his or her daily life as a Palestinian. To further this sense of personal intimacy, each contribution is accompanied by a photograph and an introductory paragraph or two about the writer.

The contents include not only accounts of everyday trials, hassles and humiliations that Palestinians suffer, but stories of triumphs over these adversities and the use of humor to cope with the sometimes almost surreal absurdities of life under occupation. These stories — lively, poignant, tragic, funny, reflective, heartbreaking — as a whole contain much to inspire the reader with the resourcefulness of the Palestinian people and to demonstrate their resilience and creativity under the most trying of conditions. There are also stories about life under the destructive sieges of 2002, and the book ends with some searing firsthand dispatches of what people experienced during the savage bombardment of Gaza in 2008-2009.

In sum, here you will meet and come to know Palestinians in all their humanness and begin to see them beyond the usual stereotypes. Most of all, the stories in this book are meant to introduce Americans to contemporary Palestinians who represent both the traditions of their culture and the bright promise of their future.

http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/letters-from-palestine/

Who Says We Can't Criticize Israel?

Libby Davies warned of a new type of McCarthyism in Canada. (MetroNews)

By Peter Ewart Like a postage stamp that has been licked too often, a word can lose its power and authority if it is used indiscriminately. So it is with the word "terrorist" that is now routinely applied by governments all over the world to demonize and marginalize political opposition. And likewise with the word "anti-semitic" which is a label stuck on just about anyone who is not in total support of the state of Israel and its treatment of the Palestinians. Indeed, Jimmy Carter, former President of the United States, was given precisely that label after calling Israel an "apartheid state". Even South African Judge Richard Goldstone, himself Jewish, who led a UN authorized fact-finding mission into Israel's invasion of Gaza last year has been called anti-semitic for his findings which have been labeled as "anti-Israel" by the Israeli government. Closer to home, Canada, the aid organization Kairos had its funding cut off by the Harper government because of, the government alleges, its support for the boycott movement against Israel and its "anti-semitism". Kairos is a joint venture of thirteen Canadian churches and church organizations, including Catholic, Anglican, Christian Reformed, Evangelical Lutheran, Mennonite, Presbyterian, Society of Friends, and United Church. The latest public figure to get the "anti-semitic" label is NDP MP for East Vancouver, Libby Davies. She has had this pinned on her because she expressed support for the international campaign to boycott and sanction Israel for its blockade of Gaza, as well as suggesting that Israel has been "occupying" the land since 1948. Prime Minister Harper has since called for Davies to resign as deputy NDP leader and Liberal Bob Rae has accused her of "hostility and ignorance". Even some members of her own party, the NDP, have attacked her, with Thomas Mulcair NDP MP calling her comments "egregious" and out of step with her party. It is quite interesting that, while the caucuses of the Conservatives, Liberals and NDP are very quick to jump on Davies, they have made no criticism of the killings by Israeli commandoes of the nine people on the ships attempting to break the blockade of Gaza by Israel. It is also quite interesting that, as a 2007 BBC poll shows (see footnote 1), 52% of Canadians have a negative view towards Israel, while only 23% had a positive one. The question should be asked: Just who is out of step with who? Is it Libby Davies or is it the three federal parties in parliament who are out of step with the Canadian people? Indeed, it is these same three federal political parties that have formed "The Canadian Parliamentary Committee to Combat Anti-semitism", the members of which are claiming that criticizing Israel is a "new form" of anti-semitism. Dylan Penner, founding member of Independent Jewish Voices, believes that the ultimate objective of this Parliamentary Committee is "to introduce legislation that would make it a crime to criticize Israel". All of this raises serious questions about freedom of speech and right to conscience in Canada. Parliamentarians and Canadians themselves should have the right to criticize the policies and practices of any of the 190+ countries in the world as they see fit, and that includes Israel. If criticism of Israel is "off limits" and "illegal", how soon before it become a crime to criticize the Canadian government itself? In an interview, Libby Davies has also said that there are other federal MPs who do not approve of Israeli actions, such as the blockade of Gaza and the invasion of Lebanon, but who "are actually afraid to speak out." According to her, this constitutes a new type of "McCarthyism" in Canada. Why are they afraid to speak out? A number of analysts have commented about the strength of the Israel lobby in the U.S. and that members of Congress are afraid to criticize Israel for fear of being targeted by this well-financed lobby. Is that the case in Canada? More than a few believe that is also true (see footnote 2). So what are the implications for politics in Canada if MPs are afraid to speak out because they fear reprisal from the lobbyists and supporters of a foreign government? For one thing, perhaps such MPs should not be in Parliament. If they are intimidated by these lobbyists, how can they be expected to stand up for their own constituents? Secondly, rather than having a parliamentary committee examining and dissecting the beliefs of ordinary Canadians, maybe it’s time would be better spent looking at the power of lobbyists in Ottawa who lobby on behalf of foreign governments and who seek to make criticism of these governments off limits or even illegal. Now that is a postage stamp that might just stick. - Peter Ewart is a writer and columnist based in Prince George, British Columbia. This article was contributed to PalestineChronicle.com. He can be reached at: peter.ewart@shaw.ca. (This article was originally published in Opednews.com) Notes: (1) BBC World Service poll. March 6, 2007. (2) Canada's Israel Lobby. By Peyton Vaughan Lyon, Professor Emeritus, Political Science, Carleton University. http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16074

Netanyahu Vows to ‘Tighten’ Gaza Blockade

Pasta, Coriander May Flow, But Blockade Here to Stay

by Jason Ditz, June 20, 2010

Hours after the Israeli government announced that it was intending to issue a new “banned goods” list for the Gaza Strip, focused on placating international demands to allow more food and humanitarian goods into the tiny enclave, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a pledge that the move would actually “tighten” the blockade.

“Our friends around the world are getting behind our decision and giving international legitimacy to the security blockade on Hamas,” Netanyahu insisted, adding again that “dual use” goods would continue to be barred from Gaza.

Israel’s military has claimed broad swathes of goods to be “dual use” in the past, including imposing a three year ban on shoes under the claim that shoes could theoretically be made the part of a military uniform, and therefore had a military use.

Officials say that banned luxury goods like pasta and cordiander will be allowed into the Gaza Strip under the new list, but so far the government has been mum on the most needed item, cement. Israel has barred all cement from the strip as a “dual use” good as well, leaving the homes in the region in ruins since the January 2009 invasion despite massive pledges of foreign aid. It seems the changes in the blockade may end up being superficial, and done purely for to score points internationally.

http://news.antiwar.com/2010/06/20/netanyahu-vows-to-tighten-gaza-blockade/

A MOTHER’S MESSAGE FROM GAZA: “We embrace hope”

The following is an edited and translated version of a speech that was prepared to be delivered at an UNRWA event in Gaza, but was rejected by the UN organizer for being ‘too political’.

by Dr Suma Baroud - The Palestine Chronicle - 19 June 2010

The Israeli siege on Gaza, which was intended to weaken us, in fact made us stronger. It was meant to break our will, it deepened our resolve. It was intended to humiliate us, but made us even prouder.

In fact, Israel’s foolishness and sheer arrogance has enlivened our cause in world consciousness as if the Nakba (the Catastrophe of 1947-48) happened just yesterday. Israel’s conceit has blinded its leaders from reading our history and learning its lessons; for if they have, they would’ve discovered the simple truth: 62 years have passed since the Nakba, and yet, every day our determination grows by one day worth of resistance, as well as the solidarity we have garnered around the world.

It is a mistake to say that Gaza has been undergoing a siege for nearly four years, for a protracted state of siege has been imposed on Gaza – but on Palestine – for 62 years. Yet we survived and grew even more resolute, especially as our friends and supporters stood and continue to stand by us. Thanks to their solidarity our sumud (steadfastness) carried on for generations.

Here in Gaza, we were heartened by the millions of people the world over who took to the streets in support of us and in protest of the brutality of our tormentors. Individuals, entire communities, NGOs and numerous universities declared their total opposition to a wanton war on a largely defenseless population. What greater evidence does one need than the thousands of activists, of all nationalities, ethnicities, faiths and backgrounds, who crossed seas and continents to come to our aid? Some of them have been brutally murdered for believing that the siege must be lifted and that Palestine must be free.

Our hearts bleed and our eyes cry for those who were killed in the high sea and never touched the soil of Palestine. They have touched our hearts and souls and shall live on in our memory forever.

My daughter was one of the very lucky few who managed to sneak a moment of peace and break from this unfair siege, even if for few weeks. Through the Carter Center for human rights (of former US president Jimmy Carter) my child, along with few others crossed the borders of oppression and inhumanity into a world, which they knew existed, but never had the chance to see.

But touring the many beautiful sites in the United States, these children carried with them the images of torn bodies, blown up homes, uprooted trees; of new refugee camps erected by the old refugee camps. They have been denied their childhood, an innocent moment in a Gaza park, an uninterrupted walk by the Gaza beach. How unfair that these children might live their entire lives looking back at the two weeks they spent in the US as the pleasure in life they may never witness, ever again. And how about the hundreds of thousands of others who may never enjoy that temporary respite?

But I must say, when my child came back from the US and began narrating her adventures, we all lived a movement of freedom. The kindness in the voices of those she met, and reminded her time and again that Palestine is in their hearts, couldn’t be conveyed by words alone. That’s how we know that we are not alone.

What a beautiful moment it was for my daughter when she met the family of Rachel Corrie, the 20-year-old American girl who died for Gaza.

But just before my daughter came back, I worried. I feared that she might make immediate comparisons between America’s boundless freedom and the open air prison of Gaza, and might feel crushed. But I am so happy and proud that my daughter Dalal, came back carrying all the determination of the world with her, so insistent on Gaza’s right to live in the same freedom as America; so proud of her Palestinian identity, her roots, her faith and her history. America gave her more hope, broadened her horizon and imagination, but a tough Palestinian from Gaza she remains.

Thank you to UNRWA, but especially Mr. John Ging for his dedication for Gaza, and to all of those who continue to stand with us during these hard times. One day Gaza and Palestine will be free, and I will have nothing but happy images and contented words to convey. Until that day comes, we stand here before the world and insist on our humanity, our rights, our freedom; we will continue to embrace hope because without it there is nothing but the sound of bombs, the dust of debris, and the images of horror and pain. We deserve better than this, and we shall not cease our struggle, until our land and our people are free.

- Dr. Suma Baroud is a Gaza-based physician and a mother of six.

http://australiansforpalestine.com/24442

Canceled West Bank vote affirms Fatah decline

Abbas' Fatah Party in disarray, afraid of election even with main rival, Hamas, out of picture

MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH
AP News

Jun 19, 2010 07:30 EDT

The Palestinian party expected to help deliver a Mideast peace deal is in such disarray these days, it's afraid to compete in an election even with its main rival out of the picture.

Next month's municipal balloting in the West Bank should have handed an easy victory to the Western-backed Fatah movement since its bitter competitor, the Islamic militant Hamas, decided to sit out the race. However, with strong signs that independents were poised to win in key towns, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah's leader, called off the election at the last minute.

The latest sign of Fatah's decline raises new concerns about a growing political vacuum in the West Bank and sets the stage for a rocky transition once 76-year-old Abbas leaves office.

Abbas has groomed no successor and has already overstayed his term as president by 17 months because his standoff with Hamas — following the militants' violent takeover of Gaza in 2007 — has made it impossible to hold general elections.

Some fear Hamas could try to fill the West Bank void once Abbas is gone. Others see a successor in Abbas' prime minister, Salam Fayyad, an independent, though a poll this week indicated that Fayyad isn't seen as a serious presidential contender, despite his rising popularity.

Fayyad, a former World Bank economist, gets much of the credit for an economic upturn in the West Bank and improved law and order after a decade of violent rebellion, but these achievements don't seem to be scoring any electoral points for Fatah.

Fatah blames its disarray largely on Israel, saying it has been badly hurt by the prolonged stalemate in peace talks. The party hitched its future to a deal with Israel in the 1990s and got to head a Palestinian Authority with a measure of self-government, but it has failed to deliver Palestinian statehood leaving the party without a program.

Israelis and Palestinians have accused each other of sabotaging the negotiations — Israel with settlement expansion and the Palestinians with attacks by armed militants. Fatah gunmen were involved in such attacks several years ago, but have been reined in by Abbas.

"We are in crisis because we couldn't make peace and can't make war, we couldn't achieve our national rights by negotiations or by war," said Hatem Abdel Khader, a senior Fatah member.

The once dominant Fatah has been struggling since 2006, when it was trounced by Hamas in parliament elections. Since then, it has been unable to bounce back or shake its image of being corrupt, rudderless and divided.

Fatah's failure to promote younger activists to top positions also hurt the movement. Last year's party convention, the first in 16 years, was to have been a turning point, but produced no dramatic leadership changes.

Still, it looked sure to triumph in the July 17 elections in 300 towns and villages since Hamas announced it would not compete, fearing its candidates would be targeted in the crackdown Abbas' security forces have waged on the militants since they seized Gaza.

However, last week, with the deadline for registering candidates just hours away, Fatah leaders were getting increasingly worried about problems in many districts. In Nablus, the second largest city, former Mayor Ghassan Shakaa defied local Fatah leaders and formed his own slate, arguing that he would do better as an independent.

In the largest city, Hebron, little-known Fatah candidates seemed poised for defeat by independents.

With these reports in hand, the party leaders called Abbas, who was in Washington at the time, and urged him to cancel the election. Abbas quickly agreed and a terse statement said the vote was being postponed to give reconciliation with Hamas another chance.

Fatah has been burned twice before by heading into elections despite warnings of impending defeat. Hamas scored heavily in 2005 municipal elections and a year later won the parliamentary poll.

Still, the latest decision reflected badly on Fayyad and Fatah's leaders, said Palestinian pollster Khalil Shikaki.

"The public is likely to view the cancellation as an indication of a major failure in state and institution-building, a process led by Fayyad and his government, and an indication of the fragmentation, panic and lack of leadership within Fatah," he wrote in presenting his latest poll this week.

The survey indicates that while Fayyad is increasingly popular as prime minister, he'd trail behind most other hypothetical candidates in a race for president, according to Shikaki, who polled 1,270 respondents with an error margin of 3 percentage points.

For now, Fatah's only hope is to keep Abbas in power as long as possible, otherwise Fatah and the Palestinian Authority "will be in big trouble," said analyst Hani Masri. "Both might collapse."

Source: AP News

http://wire.antiwar.com/2010/06/19/canceled-west-bank-vote-affirms-fatah-decline-5/

Protesters prevent unloading of Israeli ship

(06-20) 12:35 PDT OAKLAND -- Hundreds of demonstrators, gathering at the Port of Oakland before dawn, prevented the unloading of an Israeli cargo ship.

The demonstrators, demanding an end to Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, picketed at Berth 58, where a ship from Israel's Zim shipping line is scheduled to dock later today. The day shift of longshoremen agreed not to cross the picket line.

International pressure to end the Gaza closure has increased since Israeli commandos stormed a flotilla of ships attempting to run the blockade on May 31, killing nine people. Last week, Israeli officials announced that they would loosen but not lift the blockade, allowing more goods to enter the impoverished area.

"Our view is that the state of Israel can not engage in acts of piracy and kill people on the high seas and still think their cargo can go anywhere in the world," said Richard Becker, an organizer with ANSWER, one of many peace and labor groups involved in Sunday's action.

Becker estimated that 600 to 700 people joined the demonstration, many of them arriving at 5:30 a.m. Oakland police, who estimated the crowd at 500 people, reported no arrests.

The demonstrators want to block the unloading of the Zim ship for a full day. After convincing the day shift of longshoreman to honor the picket line, the demonstrators dispersed around 10 a.m., Becker said. The ship is scheduled to arrive in mid-afternoon, and the demonstrators plan to gather again around 4:30 p.m. and re-establish their picket line before the evening shift of longshoremen arrives at 6 p.m.

E-mail David R. Baker at dbaker@sfchronicle.com.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/20/BA0G1E28CV.DTL#ixzz0rRej22Mr

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/20/BA0G1E28CV.DTL

Oakland Longshorman's Union June 20, 2010

NETANYAHU; FOOLING ALL OF THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME

Double talking his way through a cabinet meeting, Netanyahu vows to lift the closure of Gaza without lifting it….. can you make any sense out of his statement? I can’t…

Senior cabinet ministers on Sunday approved steps toward easing Israel’s land blockade of the Gaza Strip, days after Jerusalem had issued a non-binding declaration supporting such a move.

“There will be no civilian closure of Gaza but there will be a security closure,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after the meeting. “That security closure will be tightened from now on.”

You can read more about this HERE

Netanyahu: Security blockade on Gaza will only get stronger

As Israel unveils steps to ease flow of civilian goods to Gaza, PM vows to tighten security controls to prevent weapons reaching the Hamas-ruled territory.

http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2010/06/21/netanyahu-fooling-all-of-the-people-all-of-the-time/

Canadian who was on flotilla slams Israeli policy change

Turkish ship Mavi Marmara with Israeli troops on board approaches the southern port of Ashdod on May 31, 2010.

Photograph by: Menahem Kahan, AFP/Getty Images

Israeli officials said Sunday they are easing a land blockade on the Gaza Strip to allow in everything except for weapons.

The softening of a policy criticized as collective punishment of Gaza’s 1.5 million Palestinians to weaken their hard line Islamist leaders follows an Israeli raid on a flotilla in which nine activists died.

But Canadian activist Rifat Audeh, who was aboard that flotilla bound for Gaza when it was raided on May 31, said Sunday he doubts Israel has done anything to help people in the Palestinian territory.

He dismissed the announcement as “Israeli propaganda.”

“It’s another one of these publicity stunts Israel is conducting,” the former Toronto resident said from Jordan. “I don’t want people — especially in my hometown — to fall prey to this propaganda.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the plan Sunday, together with international Middle East envoy former British prime minister Tony Blair, who had been lobbying Israel to restrict its embargo to a list of specified items.

"Israel seeks to keep out of Gaza weapons and material that Hamas uses to prepare and carry out terror and rocket attacks towards Israel and its civilians," Netanyahu said. "All other goods will be allowed into Gaza."

Israel has been under intense international pressure to ease its blockade of Gaza since the deadly flotilla raid, which made headlines around the world.

“They came attacking us with guns, fully armed commandos in the dead of the night,” said Audeh. “They wanted to scare people and make them not come back. But I think they failed and made people more determined than before.”

Under the new policy, Israel will allow construction materials to be imported for housing projects that are approved by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority and supervised by international organizations.

These include projects for schools, health facilities, water treatment and sanitation, officials said in a statement.

They also said they would keep the right to ban "dual-use" construction materials that could be used by Hamas to manufacture weapons and to rebuild its military facilities.

The coastal strip, where one million Palestinians depend on aid from the United Nations and other international relief agencies, suffered severe damage in a three-week Israeli offensive launched in December 2008.

The United Nations has complained that the ban on construction materials is hampering reconstruction.

The was no immediate reaction from Hamas, which refuses to recognize Israel and seized control of Gaza in 2007 after routing forces loyal to the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Hamas is opposed to the indirect, U.S.-mediated peace talks that Israel has begun with Abbas, who heads the Palestinian Authority and governs the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Audeh said he believes that his participation in the flotilla protest has done some good for Palestinians living in Gaza.

“The protest has brought the siege of Gaza to the attention of the world,” he said. “I look forward to being on another flotilla.”

http://www.canada.com/news/Canadian+flotilla+slams+Israeli+policy+change/3179169/story.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3a+canwest%2fF77+%28canada.com+World+News%29

Israel Fearful Of An All-Women Aid Flotilla

One day after Israel threatened to attack a new Gaza-bound aid ship with only women activists on board, the Lebanese resistance movement of Hezbollah highlights Israel's fear, saying its military ability is "deteriorating."

"Israeli threats against women activists and journalists who are organizing new flotillas serve as proof of the immense fear the Zionists are living in," Israeli dailyYnet news reported Hezbollah's Executive Council Chief Hashem Safieddine as saying on Saturday.

The comment comes after earlier on Friday, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gabriela Shalev called for a halt to the Gaza-bound aid ship scheduled to set sail from Lebanon, warning that Tel Aviv would use "all necessary means" to stop the vessel.

Israel "is terrified by a boat carrying women who want to deliver aid to Gaza. How will this Israel be able to face the rockets and the resistance bloc in the next confrontation?" the Hezbollah official asked.

"This is the Zionist entity in its current state and its deteriorating ability," he went on to say.

A group of 50 female Lebanese and foreign activists have announced a plan to send an aid ship loaded with medical supplies to Gaza, which has been under siege since 2007.

The organizers are yet to announce a departure date for the ship, named "Mariam" in honor of the Virgin Mary.

The pro-Palestinian campaigners planned the mission after Israeli commandos on May 31 stormed the Gaza Freedom Flotilla aid convoy, killing at least 9 civilian activists and injuring dozens of others. Several activists are still unaccounted for.

Israel claims that the new all-women Gaza-bound aid flotilla is linked to the Lebanese resistance movement of Hezbollah. However, Hezbollah has denied having ties with the new convoy, saying it would not join the humanitarian mission as it did not want to give Israel an excuse to attack the Gaza campaigners.

"Hezbollah confirms that it decided from the very beginning to stay away from this humanitarian act in terms of organization, logistic support and participation so as not to give the Israeli enemy any pretext to attack the participants," the group said in a statement.

AGB/CS/HRF

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=131185&sectionid=351020203

Noam Chomsky's Hypocrisy

By Ghali Hassan

20 June, 2010

Countercurrents.org

“I don't regard myself as a critic of Israel. I regard myself a supporter of Israel ... I think the U.S. should continue to support Israel”. [1]

- Noam Chomsky

The American linguist Noam Chomsky is often described by Western media as “arguably the world's most influential intellectual today”. To his friends, Chomsky is a “relentless thorn” in U.S.-Israel Zionist policies. But reading between the lines of his repetitive and recycled propaganda, Chomsky is an opportunistic hypocrite.

On May 16 2010, Noam Chomsky was illegally denied entry to the Israel-Occupied Palestinian Territories of the West Bank. Chomsky was scheduled to meet with members of the Palestinian Authority (PA), including the unelected U.S.-imposed and Israel-backed collaborationist “Prime Minister”, Salam Fayyad.

We know that the Israeli military controls all the borders of Israel-Occupied Palestinian Territories, and subjects Palestinians to prison-like living conditions. Thousands of Palestinians, pregnant women, the elderly, and the sick are denied free movement every day. While Chomsky failed to condemn this Israeli illegal behaviour, he could have entered via Tel Aviv (as he did many times in the past) and gone on to meet Salam Fayyad in Ramallah. Israel has since apologised to Chomsky. In an interview with Democracy Now on May 17, 2010, Chomsky said:

“I was going to meet with the [unelected] Prime Minister. Unfortunately, I couldn't. But his office called me here in Amman this morning, and we had a long discussion. He is pursuing policies, which, in my view, are quite sensible, policies of essentially developing facts on the ground. It's almost – I think it's probably a conscious imitation of the early Zionist policies, establishing facts on the ground and hoping that the political forms that follow will be determined by them. And the policies sound to me like sensible and sound ones. The question, of course, is whether – the extent to which Israel and the United States, which is a determining, factor – the extent to which they'll permit them to be implemented. But if implemented, and if, of course, Israel and the United States would terminate their systematic effort to separate Gaza from the West Bank, which is quite illegal, if that continues, yes, it could turn into a viable Palestinian state”. Noam Chomsky sounds like Shimon Peres.

Chomsky's argument does not withstand the slightest scrutiny. How could Chomsky, who claims to defend the rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, be prepared to meet with an unelected stooge of a Vichy-like collaborationist regime? To present Fayyad as a saviour for the Palestinian people is to ignore his despicable record of collaboration with the criminal oppressors of the Palestinians.

The PA is a corrupt administration and has no significant support among the Palestinian population. Its security apparatus is a brutal militia acting to enforce the Occupation on behalf of Israel. Fayyad was a U.S. servant at the World Bank from 1987 to 1995 and remains so in a different capacity. He is known in Israel as “the Palestinian Ben-Gurion”. David Ben-Gurion – a criminal Zionist much admired by Noam Chomsky as a “great statesman” – was the architect of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their homes and lands in 1948. This period of Palestinian history has come to be known as al-Nakbah (Arabic for ‘The Catastrophe') which was, according to Chomsky, a “war of independence”. More than 750,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed from their homes, thousands of defenceless Palestinians were murder in countless cold-blooded massacred by Jewish terrorists, and more than 500 villages were destroyed. The same continues today.

Chomsky is said to be “encouraged” by Fayyad's recent ranting that “the birth of a Palestinian state will be celebrated as a day of joy by the entire community of nations ... it will come around August 2011”. It is a repackaged Camp David proposal, which was concocted in 2000 by Bill Clinton and his Zionist handlers and courageously rejected by the late Yasser Arafat. According to Fayyad, the new state will:

• recognise Israel as a Jewish “biblical country”;
• allow Israel to build Jewish colonies ‘within the valleys and hills of the West Bank';
• suppress – using U.S.-trained and Israeli-approved Palestinian militias (Keith Dayton-trained death squads) – all forms of resistance to Israel's Zionist colonisation of Palestine; and
• relinquish the Palestinian people's right of return to their homes from which they were ethnically cleansed in 1948.

The so-called “two-state” solution, which Chomsky supports, is a Zionist fraud. It has been around for decades. Israel and the U.S. use this fraud to manipulate the world's public opinion and to continue forcing more Palestinians out of their homes and land. Most of the Palestinian arable land and water resources have been stolen and colonised by illegal Jewish colonists (‘settlers') from the U.S., Poland, and the former Soviet satellite states. The new Palestinian “state” will be just a collection of Nazi-like ghettoes similar to the South African Bantustan hemmed in by Jews-only highways and the Apartheid Wall. Like the “peace process”, the “two-state” solution enables Israel to stall for time and continues the ghettoization of the Palestinians.

The largest of these ghettoes, Gaza, is now complete. Gaza is a state of the art Concentration Camp. It has been under complete Israeli military blockade since 2006, essentially imprisoning 1.5 million men, women, and children, and denying them food, medicine, and essential materials for building their demolished homes. Even the pro-Israel Western humanitarian agencies, including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Amnesty International (AI), described the Israeli blockade is an illegal collective punishment , and an economic warfare aimed at terrorising the civilian population and toppling the democratically-elected administration of HAMAS. Even the Nazis wouldn't resort to such wholesale brutality against 1.5 million innocent civilians. Instead of bragging about his meeting with Fayyad, Chomsky should call for an immediate and total end to the Israeli-imposed blockade and the withdrawal of the Israeli army and the illegal Jewish settlers from Palestinian lands.

For his support of the Palestinians, Chomsky opposes pressure to force Israel to behave according to international law and civilised norms. For example, Chomsky is against the peaceful Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Campaign against Israel. Chomsky believes the boycott will hurt Israelis. The Campaign is based on the international boycott campaign used to end South Africa's Apartheid rule. The BDS Campaign is a call by Palestinian and international civil societies, human rights organisations, unions, and NGOs to boycott Israel and expose Israel's ongoing crimes against the Palestinians. The Campaign is calling upon people of conscience around the world to boycott Israeli products and Israeli institutions that are complicit on Israel's brutal oppression and war crimes. Successive Israeli regimes have violated international law and committed more crimes against the Palestinians. Without international pressure, Israel will not end the Occupation.

The Campaign is part of peaceful international resistance to force Israel to end its Occupation of Palestinian land and end Israel's apartheid system. Chomsky is against boycotting a state with a regime that is enforcing an apartheid system worse than that of South Africa. “Under Israeli military occupation, repression is worse than South Africa's. It's a sophisticated form of social, economic, political and racial discrimination, strangulation, and genocide, incorporating the worst elements of colonialism and apartheid as well as repressive dispossession, displacement and state terrorism to separate Palestinians from their land and heritage, deny them their rightful civil and human rights, and gradually remove or eliminate them altogether”, writes the American writer, Stephen Lendman. Chomsky's objection to the Campaign only underlines the hypocrisy and doublespeak of his alleged support for the oppressed people of Palestine.

For all Israel's crimes and flagrant violations of international law, Chomsky blames the U.S., precisely the White House and the President. Chomsky has no quarrel with the powerful U.S. Congress, where the Zionist Jewish Lobby (the ‘Lobby') exerts complete control. Indeed, the U.S. Congress is far more pro-Israel than the Israeli Knesset. For example, the recent premeditated barbaric murder of at least nine defenceless humanitarian aid volunteers on board the Free Gaza-bounded Mavi Marmara Flotilla by Israeli commandos is unconditionally defended by U.S. Democrat and Republican congressional leaders as an act of “self-defence”, not an act of state terrorism. Chomsky rejects the role of the Lobby and Zionist Jewish Organisations controlling U.S. foreign policies, particularly in the Middle East. Chomsky argues fiercely that the U.S. supports Israel because of Israel's strategic position (close to the oil-rich region) and is “a reliable pro-Western military force protecting Arab dictators”. This argument is flawed and its aim is to deflect attention away from Israel and the Zionist Jewish organisations defending Israel's terror. Credible research by respected scholars shows that Israel is unconditionally supported – financially, militarily, and politically – by the U.S. and European governments because of pressure from wealthy and powerful Zionist Jewish Organisations who are also in total control of nearly all mainstream media outlets, including the Internet, TV channels, and the print media. Indeed, Zionist control over the mainstream media is clearly demonstrated by the biased reporting through an Israel-Zionist lens [2, 3, & 4].

The U.S. does not need Israel to control the oil-rich region of the Middle East. For decades, the U.S. directly dominated the region through its massive military bases in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The U.S. does not need to pay Israel more than $3 billion a year in order to commit war crimes. It is true: Israel doesn't act and commit crimes without the approval of its allies, particularly the U.S. government. They are accomplices to murder.

On Iran, Chomsky is very unclear. While he rightly argues that the U.S. and Israel are seriously threatening Iran, Chomsky has yet to show any evidence that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. Quoting Martin van Crevel, the Zionist military historian at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and adviser to the Israeli military, Chomsky argues that Iran is developing nuclear weapons to deter any U.S.-Israel aggression. If not, the Iranians “are crazy”. There is absolutely no evidence that Iran is enriching uranium for military use. Iran has the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. The rest is anti-Muslim Zionist warmongering propaganda. Iran has broken no agreement and is fulfilling all its obligations to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The real violator is Israel which stands in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and IAEA safeguards obligations. To date, Israel is refusing to open its nuclear facilities for inspection and threatening to use nuclear weapons against Iran.

Furthermore, Chomsky's attack on the Iranian Government is unjustified. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the choice of the majority of the Iranian people (3-1), according to an analysis of multiple polls of the Iranian public conducted by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA). [5] Like most Western “Leftists”, Chomsky believes the elections were rigged and supports the opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, a former prime minister who was complicit in war crimes and crimes against humanity at the end of the Iran-Iraq War in 1988. Chomsky's reliance on anti-Muslim propaganda organs, such as the BBC, FOX News and CNN shows that he is a propagandist.

Given Chomsky's defence of freedom and democratic principles, it was ironic that in 2005 Chomsky and his leftist friends supported the U.S.-staged fraudulent elections in Iraq to install a puppet government as “democratic” and “worthy of praise”. If people like Chomsky fail to condemn fraudulent elections staged by foreign military occupation, then the U.S. will continue to manipulate democracy to serve U.S. imperialist interest. He called the murderous Occupation “incompetence” and attacked the Iraqi Resistance as a “violent insurgency”. It is sad that Chomsky, a leading critic of U.S. imperialism and injustice, could have ignored U.S. imperialist motives.

Furthermore, according to Chomsky, Iraq has become ‘an incubator or a university for advanced training for terrorists'. Where is the evidence? And since when is legitimate resistance to illegal aggression called terrorism? Instead, Chomsky and his leftist friends should condemn the Occupation and demand the immediate and full withdrawal of U.S. troops and mercenaries from Iraq.

It is important to remember that while Chomsky protested against the criminal U.S. invasion of Iraq, he later justified the illegal invasion on the basis that it has “removed” not only Saddam Hussein but also the genocidal sanctions. Seven years after the criminal U.S. invasion, Iraq is far worse today than under Saddam Hussein and the genocidal sanctions. An entire nation has been deliberately destroyed. More than 1.5 million Iraqis have been killed and at least 5 millions Iraqis are refugees, including 2.7 million internally displaced Iraqis. According to the U.S. think-tank, the Brookings Institute, only 20 per cent of the Iraqi population have access to proper sanitation, 45 per cent to clean water, 50 per cent to more than 12 hours a day of electricity, 50 per cent to adequate housing, and 30 per cent to health services. A quarter of Iraq's population is living in extreme poverty. Iraq remains under murderous U.S. military Occupation. The motive remains conspicuous; defending the Zionist state of Israel and enforcing long-lasting imperialist-Zionist control of the region.

It is important to acknowledge that despite Chomsky's contradictions, he is a respected scholar. In addition to his contribution to the field of linguistics, Chomsky has on many occasions provided useful analyses of U.S. terrorism, propaganda, and U.S. imperialist foreign policy. However, his contradictions are not possible to redress.

As a scholar, Chomsky has admitted that all intellectuals (including Chomsky himself) are propagandists who serve power by manipulating the public. “Chomsky feeds our need for truth by providing analysis, an intellectual framework that resides in inaction. [He] feeds the false notion that one can understand the world and one's place in it and oneself by reading books”, writes Denis Rancourt, a former professor of Physics at the University of Ottawa.

Finally, in an opinion poll conducted by the European Union Commission in Brussels between 8 and 16 October 2003 (published in the El Pais and the International Herald Tribune newspapers), a majority of 7,500 Europeans polled from 15 European Union countries (500 citizens from each EU member) said that Israel posed the most serious threat to regional and international peace, ahead of North Korea, Iran, and Afghanistan. The poll proved to be accurate. On 02 March 2010, Martin van Crevel, the Zionist military historian and adviser to the Israeli army, told the Western media: “We [Jews] possess several hundred atomic warheads and rockets and can launch them at targets in all directions, perhaps even at Rome. Most European capitals are targets of our air force … The Palestinians should all be deported ... The people [Israeli Jews] who strive for this are waiting only for the right man and the right time. Two years ago only 7 or 8 percent of Israelis were of the opinion that this would be the best solution, two months ago [January 2010] it was 33 percent and now, according to a Gallup poll, the figure is 44 percent”. The comment shows that Israeli Zionists and those who defend their crimes lack morality and respect for international law.

How can any progressive-minded person support a state that was built on the ruins of Palestinian villages, genocide, and dispossession? How can anyone support a state that openly espouses a racist and fascist ideology and is in flagrant violation of international law and civilised norms?

“I don't think there is one moral person in the world that supports what Israel stands for”, said Ilan Pappé, a Haifa-born Jewish history scholar at the University of Exeter in the UK and author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. It is not unfair to describe Chomsky as the most influential pro-Israel propagandist.

Notes:

1. ???? ?????? ??????? ????? Noam Chomsky interviewed in Israel
2. John Mearsheimer & Stephen Walt, The Israel lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy , Middle East Policy . 13(3),29-87, 2006 ;
3. James Petras, The Power of Israel in the United States , Clarity Press, 2006;
4. M. Shahid Alam, Chomsky on Oil and the Israel Lobby , Dissident Voice , 31 January, 2009.
5. Steven Kull, Clay Ramsay, Stephen Weber & Evan Lewis, An Analysis of multiple polls of Iranian Public , The Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), WorldPublicOpinion.org, Washington DC, February 2010.

Ghali Hassan is an independent writer living in Australia.

http://countercurrents.org/hassan200610.htm

Report: Lebanon forbids launch of Gaza-bound flotilla

Lebanese sources tell Al-Hayat that flotilla organizers had not filed for the necessary permits, adding that travel to an Israel-controlled port is illegal.

By Jack Khoury

A reported Gaza-bound aid flotilla may not be allowed to depart from Lebanon, Lebanese sources told the Arab daily Al-Hayat on Sunday, saying it was illegal for a vessel leaving a Lebanese port to dock in a port under Israeli occupation.

Earlier Sunday, Haaretz reported that Israel had initiated diplomatic efforts designed to prevent the departure of at least one vessel, carrying 50 to 70 Lebanese women and food aid. Israel has been in touch with the UN, United States, France, Spain and Germany. It has also been speaking with the Vatican because the ship is expected to include several dozen Catholic nuns.

	Lebanese school students protest against the Israeli raid on the aid ships as they carry Turkish flags in Lebanon, Thursday, June 3, 2010.
	Photo by: AP

However, according to the Al-Hayat report, it is possible that the flotilla would not be allowed to leave Lebanese shores, as Lebanon forbids a vessel departing one of its ports to reach a port under Israeli occupation. This fact has led Lebanon officials to estimate that organizers would submit a travel plan to a different destination, perhaps Cyprus, only to change course during the course of their voyage.

Sources have also told Al-Hayat that organizers failed to appeal the government for the necessary permits, which include authorizing their departure as well as their travel.

Lebanese officials told the Arab daily that the bureaucratic procedures needed to approve such an endeavor included authorizing the ship's permit by the Lebanese ministry of transportation, including the approving the intended travelers, as well as the type of cargo the flotilla is to hold.

A senior Lebanese official added that, regardless of the procedures required, Lebanese law did not permit the transport of weapons on board ships.

Lebanon's Minister of Labor Ghazi Al Aridi told Lebanon's Al-Nahar that no official "request regarding the flotilla had been submitted," saying that Lebanon would not "allow anyone to preach us over our support of the Palestinians, but there are rules and they must be followed."

Al Aridi added that a permit could be given to any port but Gaza, since it was under Israeli occupation.

Earlier Sunday, Israel informed the United Nations and - through diplomatic channels - the Lebanese government that it reserves the right to use all means necessary to stop ships seeking to breach the naval blockade on the Gaza Strip.

In a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Israel warned that the attempt by the organizers to sail from Lebanon and deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza could escalate tensions and affect peace and security in the region.

"Israel reserves its right under international law to use all necessary means to prevent these ships from violating the existing naval blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip," wrote Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gabriela Shalev.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/report-lebanon-forbids-launch-of-gaza-bound-flotilla-1.297194

Paul Larudee*: Account of my Capture and Imprisonment as part of the Freedom Flotilla

Saturday, June 19, 2010 at 7:12PM Gilad Atzmon

Abuse at the Hands of the Most Moral Army in the World

Sorry if this account is a bit dry. It was created for legal purposes, but I'm not sure I'll ever get a chance to improve upon it, so I thought I should make it available for those who might be interested. Please note that at no time did the prison authorities allow daily outdoor exercise, access to telephones, or access to a lawyer. This is illegal even under Israeli law.

Initial Questionnaire for American Citizens on Gaza Flotilla Boats

http://hurriyya.blogspot.com/

Name	Paul Wilder AKA Paul Larudee
Address	405 Vista Heights Rd., El Cerrito, CA 94530, USA
Date of Birth	25 April, 1946
Nationality	USA
Passport number	xxxxxxxxxxx
Telephone contact details	xxxxxxxxxxxx
Email	Larudee@pacbell.net
Languages spoken	English, French, moderate German, Spanish & Arabic, some Greek
Occupation	Piano technician
Vessel Name	Sfendoni
Describe what happened upon initial Israeli contact	Spotted Israeli soldiers boarding from the rear of our vessel, joined them in going up the stairs to the upper deck. I locked arms with other passengers to defend the wheelhouse. (See more detailed description below.)
Injuries sustained	Twisted joints, widespread contusions, hearing loss (probably temporary), mild concussion
Medical treatment given, including location and any hospitalization	Taken to Israeli hospital, but I refused x-rays and treatment.
Forthcoming availability and willingness to give a full statement	Willing and can be available.
List confiscated equipment and any lost data, pictures, recordings, in detail: what sort of camera, how many photos, written texts - in what circumstances was it taken and by whom	Suitcase not yet recovered, nor hat and shoes. Suitcase had Blackberry and Greek mobile phone inside, along with personal belongings, medications and toiletries. These were all left behind on the Sfendoni when I jumped overboard. In addition, the medications that I had on my person were confiscated and the clothes that were torn off me were not returned to me.

Date	Time	Place	Description
31/5/10	0200	Passenger vessel Sfendoni, 80 miles off the coast of Gaza in the Eastern Mediterranean	Captain Theodoros Boukas alerts us of Israeli communications demanding that we change course away from Gaza. He orders us all to don life jackets.
	0400		Israeli soldiers begin boarding from the rear, head upstairs to upper deck. I do the same. I join other passengers in blocking the wheelhouse by locking arms and preventing entrance. Soldiers break window(s), taser us (me twice on the left arm), throw stun grenades, fire paint pellets, beat us with batons (or something). Two stun grenades go off in enclosed space less two feet from my right ear, causing pain. My left leg is struck with a baton. They pry us away from the wheelhouse and take control, restraining us with plastic ties on the hands. At least one of the soldiers is regularly filming for as long as I am on board.
	0430		I slip away and hide in the space between the wheelhouse and water tanks, where I can overhear the UHF communication from and to the other ships. Also Israeli communication, but I don’t know Hebrew.
	0500		They spot me as the sky begins to lighten, but they do nothing.
	0530		I decide to join the others and exit from my hiding area. I remove my own handcuffs, but the soldiers want to replace them even though they have been removed from everyone else. They order me to sit down; I refuse. The ship’s doctor (Khalid Qabbani) dresses my wounds. He notes that my shirt has been torn for most of its length.
	0600		It is now fully light, and the soldiers have most if not all of the passengers seated on the upper deck. They begin to take them away one at a time for purposes unknown. I refuse and remain, but others comply. I challenge the others to refuse, but they comply. I decide to jump overboard in an act of defiance, to slow the progress of the operation and to encourage others to resist. I climb over the rail and jump into the sea. Most of the passengers as well as some of the soldiers witness the act.
	0630	In the sea, 60 miles off the coast of Ashdod	The Sfendoni stops. After 10 minutes, an Israeli naval vessel (number JL238 or similar) appears. One of the sailors throws a life preserver. I ignore it. They try a grappling hook. I catch it but let go before being pulled on board. After several tries, I attach it to the rope ladder they have slung over the side. They then try a pole with a hook, but I swim away. They manoeuvre the boat with side jets, but I am able to avoid by staying close to the axis. They reverse the boat and then come towards me, but I place myself in the path and they stop. They prepare an inflatable Zodiac and lower it into the water with a crew of four. The outboard gas line appears clogged, and by that time I am much farther away. They throw a line from the larger vessel and tow it close to me. Although the motor only works for 10 seconds at a time, it is enough to reach me at that range. They pull me aboard, punch me and slam my head into the rigid floor, injuring my right eye (black eye results). They fasten my wrists and ankles with nylon ties. They take me to the larger vessel, tie ropes around my mid section and try to hoist me up. The ropes slip and they grab me by the handcuffs and arms. The ties are cutting through my wrists and it feels like my arms are separating from their sockets, but they get me on board. At no time do I actively resist, push or strike back.
	0800	Aboard the JL238	They blindfold me, then take me to the stern of the ship, where they seat me on some jagged material designed to provide traction for their combat boots. They tie me to a pole behind my back, with my hands still fastened in front of me. I am at an awkward angle, requiring me to arch my back, and unable to change my position. I am also getting very cold because of the wet clothes and being exposed to the wind. I begin to shudder uncontrollably. They bring a pair of sweatpants, tear off my own and try to put them on me, but are unable to do so much beyond my crotch. They give me water. My rear is exposed directly to the jagged gripping material and some sections of skin are exposed directly to the sun. I complain. They cover some of the exposed areas and bring the shirt matching the sweatpants to put under my rear. They tell me that they will take me below, but only if I agree to tell them my name and promise not to cause problems, like jumping overboard. However they do not let me answer until later, at which time I agree to not cause additional problems, but not to provide any information. Finally, after 3-4 hours, they take me below, where they feed me a sandwich and allow me to wear the sweatshirt matching the pants. As we reach Ashdod, I ask to use the toilet. They refuse several times, until I threaten to go without a toilet. They relent. Soon after, we arrive at the port. They remove my leg shackles.
	1400	Processing center, port of Ashdod	Around a half dozen officers, presumably from the prison service, are there to meet me upon arrival at the port. I collapse at the dock, refusing to speak, move or otherwise participate in my capture. The officers try to force me to walk by stressing my shoulder, elbow and wrist joints, to no effect except to cause me to scream in pain. They carry me roughly to the processing stations, but soon call for a stretcher, to which they strap me. Much of this appears to be filmed with several cameras, which I assume to be news media. I see a number of other passengers, many of them from the Sfendoni. I am transferred to a gurney, placed into an ambulance and taken to a hospital.
	1500	Hospital	At the hospital, they transfer me from the gurney to a hospital bed, banging my backbone against the bed rail. They look at my wounds and ask where I hurt. I do not respond. They assume that my name is Paul Wilder from the name in my passport, which is in their possession. I am taken for x-ray, but refuse to cooperate. I ask for aspirin, but they refuse and say they will send me back to the processing center. I point out that the sweatpants that were given to me on the boat now have a large tear in the crotch area and that I need a new pair. They refuse and say that a new pair will be given to me at the processing center. I see Sfendoni captain Theodoros Boukas at the hospital with an ear injury, but they don’t allow him to talk to me. I ask to use the restroom, but they say I will have to wait. I ask several more times, then announce that I will use the bed as a toilet. They make a real toilet available. At some point, metal handcuffs with hinge joints are placed on me. They are used to stress my wrists while transporting me to the processing center.
	1630	Ashdod processing center	When we arrive at the processing center, several officers carry me while stressing my hands and legs, suspending me from the metal handcuffs, and then place me in a wheelchair. The officers take me to several stations, where I am photographed and fingerprinted, passively, but without my cooperation. Most of the other Sfendoni passengers appear to be gone. I ask for a new pair of pants, but nothing happens. Passengers continue to be processed, but I recognize few of them. They are probably mostly Turks from the Mavi Marmara. I see Dr. Evangelos Pissias, head of the Greek delegation. He tells me that there were shootings and dead aboard the Mavi Marmara, but no details or confirmation. After at least an hour, I stand and demand a new pair of pants, demonstrating the problem of the wide open crotch area. Two passengers intervene and argue on my behalf. The officers get angry and speak in Hebrew. Approximately ten officers grab me and take me to the other end of the room, where they drop me to the floor, beat me, slam my head against the concrete floor and kick me in the head and midsection. I scream. Pissias comes to my defense and is beaten. I learn later that he suffers a broken leg and at least one broken rib. After they finish, I shout appreciation for the most moral army in the world and continue to demand a pair of pants in a loud voice. They place me in a prison van. I wait and then Captain Theodoros Boukas joins me. The van leaves.
	1830	Givon prison, hospital ward, Ramle	At the hospital ward of the prison, Boukas and I are issued hospital clothes and are processed. We are given a physical examination. My blood sugar is tested and I receive diabetes medication. A “social worker” calling himself Amit asks why I came to Israel. I respond that I was kidnapped and a victim of human trafficking across international borders, and that I would like to cooperate in the prosecution of the party that kidnapped me, i.e. the Israeli navy. Our room is in a special high security section that has only two cells. The television has been removed. We ask to see our lawyer and diplomatic missions. They say that this will be taken care of the next day. We ask to use the telephone. They refuse. I ask why everyone else has a television except us. They say that they have instructions that we are a special case. I ask for paper and pencil. They say that this is reasonable, but they do not bring it. We eat and shower, then sleep.
6/1/10	1100	Givon prison, Ramle	We are taken from the room, with our belongings. We receive some medication and a medical discharge. Our hands and ankles are shackled. We are placed in a security vehicle and driven a short distance to the main prison. Our belongings are inventoried and we are given a receipt, except for my torn clothes, which they say they will destroy. I refuse. They say they will ask me before destroying my clothes. I ask for a receipt. They refuse. They issue me some clothes, but Boukas is allowed to wear his own clothes.
	1300		We are placed in what appears to be a holding cell, near the processing area. It has no window and no fresh air. I ask to see a representative from my embassy. They say that my embassy will be notified. I ask to use the telephone. They refuse.
	1800		I ask for a cell with a window. They refuse. I say that I will refuse food, water and medicine until we have improved accommodation.
	1900		We are moved to a cell with window. The entire wing of the prison is empty of prisoners except for Boukas and me. The televisions have been removed. I ask for paper and pencil. They refuse. I ask to see the representative of my embassy. They say that my embassy has been notified. We both ask to use the telephone. They refuse. At no time are we permitted to go outside for exercise and fresh air. We are not in contact with any other prisoners, although we can see some through the glass of a door separating their section of the prison from ours.
6/2/10	1000	Givon prison, Ramle	I ask when I will see my embassy representative. They say they don’t know. I ask for my lawyer. They refuse. I ask to use the telephone. They refuse. I ask for pencil and paper. They refuse.
	1300		I announce that I will go on a hunger and medication strike until I see my embassy representative. They say that he will be there in the afternoon.
	1400		The prison director says that the U.S. consul general has come to see me. He asks my to put on a shirt over my undershirt. I refuse. He says that it is prison regulations and that he will not allow me to see the consul general without the shirt. I tell him that I know he wants to cover the marks of the beatings, but I want everyone to see them. He gets angry, but allows me to see the consul general.
	1430		I meet with the Consul General, Andrew Parker. He says that he brought reading material but that the prison authorities are refusing to allow me to have them. He is unable to provide me with pen and paper. I inform him of the beatings and other treatment, and authorize him to share all the information with anyone who wants it. He says he will call my wife as soon as he leaves the prison. I ask him to tell her to call my member of Congress, George Miller. He tells me that I am the last of nine Americans that he has visited, and that he had a hard time finding me. The others were at the prison in Bir el-Saba (“Beersheva”). I ask him to contact a lawyer for me. He says he cannot do that, but provides me with a list of lawyers and information about Israeli legal procedures. The prison authorities allow me to have the information. It is paper, but no pencil. I ask him to tell my wife to contact a lawyer for me.
	1600		I ask to see a lawyer. They say we will be leaving before a lawyer can do anything. I say I want a lawyer, anyway. They say that it will be taken care of tomorrow. I ask to use the telephone. They refuse.
6/3/10	1100	Givon prison, Ramle	Boukas and I are moved to another cell, which has one prisoner in it, a one-armed Yemeni businessman named Abdulhakim. He was on the Mavi Marmara and confirms the earlier reports of shooting and deaths. He was brought to the prison with others, including Turks, from the Mavi Marmara, who are in adjacent cells.
	1300		The guards tell the three of us to gather our belongings because we are going to be moved to another prison. However, almost as soon as we do so, a representative from the Greek embassy arrives to talk to Boukas. When he returns, he has a pen and paper for me. He says that all the other Greeks are at the prison in Bir el-Saba.
	1400		The prison director announces that we will be taken to the airport to leave the country. He says that it is required for me to wear a shirt over my undershirt in order to exit the cell. I refuse. He says that I will stay in prison if I don’t wear the shirt. I say I want to talk to my lawyer. He asks me the name of my lawyer. I say Gaby Lasky, and that if she is not available, I will talk to Lea Tsemel, and if not her then Michael Sfard, and if not Sfard then Yael Berda. He finally relents and lets me leave in my undershirt.
	1430		They handcuff us. Our possessions are returned to us except for my medications and torn clothes. I insist on having them returned. They say they have no knowledge of my torn clothes. I remind them of what happened. They say that they have no idea where they are. I refuse to leave. They try to force me. I do nonviolent resistance. They pressure my arm joints and lift me by the handcuffs. I scream. They shout. They say that the clothes are in the van and that I will see them when I go there. I say I will not leave unless I see them first. They bring the clothes. I go to the van, but they do not give me the clothes. They force me into the van. The woman guard in the front seat keeps the orange bag with my torn clothes and promises to give them to me at the airport. Boukas and I are in one section of the prison vehicle on the way to the airport; Abdulhakim, a Turkish professor named Ibrahim and one or two other Turks are in the other section of the van. There are several other vehicles transporting other passengers who were imprisoned.
	1530	Lid (“Ben-Gurion”) Airport	We wait for about two hours in the van at the airport before entering. The guard does not give me my torn clothes. I am taken to a room that has around ten Flotilla passengers for processing. I know some of them. They provide more information about what happened on the Mavi Marmara. One of them has the telephone number of my lawyer, Gaby Lasky, and gives it to me. The officers tell me that I will be put on an airplane to Istanbul. They ask me to sign a paper. I refuse to sign the paper and to go anywhere without first talking to my lawyer. They say that I will not be allowed to leave without signing it. I still refuse, and say that I don’t want to leave without talking to my lawyer, anyway. They say that I will be taken back to prison and that I will not be permitted to see a lawyer for several days.
	1700		The Greek nationals tell me that their government will send an airplane to take them to Greece, and they persuade me to go with them. They say that they have talked to a lawyer and that I will not have to sign anything. We are taken to an exit where several groups of Greeks are taken by bus. Only a few of us remain to be picked up.
	1800		An officer asks me to come with him back through the passport control area. I comply, thinking that this is part of the processing to put me on the Greek aircraft. They take me to an area that has 30-35 passengers seated in several rows, being processed. I recognize some of them, including Nabil Hallak, Abbas Nasser and Ken O’Keefe. They tell me that I need to sign a form and then I will be sent to Istanbul. I tell them that I am not going to Istanbul and that arrangements have been made for me to go on the Greek transport to Athens. They say that this will not be permitted and that I have no choice. I tell them that I have the choice not to sign the form and that even if they force me on the Turkish transport, I will remove my clothes and they will refuse to take me. They tell me that in that case they will take me to prison again. I tell them that I also will not go willingly to prison, and I collapse on the floor. Four or five of them lift me by the metal handcuffs, cutting into the wounds that already exist and causing sharp pain. Others stress the joints in my arms and legs. I scream while being carried away. They start beating me. The other passengers begin shouting and fighting with the officers. I am dropped on the floor, where I hear the commotion behind me, but am in too much pain to do anything. 5-6 officers carry a struggling man to the wall opposite me, drop him on the floor, then beat him and kick him. It seems to me that he must have broken bones. After the noise dies down, they come back for me. They carry me as before, by the metal handcuffs and legs, stressing my joints. One officer hits me several times on the left side of my face. I challenge him to do it again. He does. I tell him it’s not enough, and that perhaps he should try shooting me in the head, and that he’s not very good at torturing a 64-year-old man. They bounce my head off the marble floor, then carry me down the stairs to the place where the busses pick us up. The Greek friends who had been awaiting transport when I was taken away are still there.
	1900		The Greek friend, Dimitris Plionis, who has been acting as liaison, comes for me and apologizes that he didn’t stay with me. We wait for the documents of the other Greeks to be completed. In the meantime, other passengers, mostly apparently Turk, come individually to board another transport. Many of them were apparently part of the fighting on my behalf, and are bearing the wounds. We exchange solidarity words and gestures. The passenger who had been beaten in front of me is carried down by two others. He is obviously in great pain, probably broken ribs and limbs. Ken O’Keefe comes down, his face covered in blood and a split in his forehead. I thank him for his defence of me and ask about his family. He says he plans to reject deportation and fight the case in the courts. I give him the name and number of my lawyer, Gaby Lasky. We all finally leave on a bus, including Ken.
	1930		The bus takes us to the Lid Immigration Detention Center, where the rest of the Greeks are awaiting transport. It is a place I recognize from a two week stay in 2006. I am surprised to discover Gaby Lasky there. We talk and I sign some papers for her to help with charges being filed against Israeli government agencies and persons. I introduce her to Ken. The Greek Ambassador meets with the Greek citizens.
	2100		We are taken to the transport aircraft. After a long wait, apparently due in part to a discrepancy over my name, the plane leaves for Athens.

*Dr. Paul Larudee (born April 25th, 1946) is a San Francisco Bay Area human rights advocate for justice in the region known as Palestine, which includes Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem. He works with the International Solidarity Movement and the Free Palestine Movement, and was cofounder of the Free Gaza Movement.

http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/paul-larudee-account-of-my-capture-and-imprisonment-as-part.html